The former agents were sentenced for their participation in Operation Colombo and the forced disappearance of two members of the MIR leftist movement. DINA was a secret intelligence service focused on eradicating any opposition during the dictatorship. Among the sentenced is Miguel Krassnoff, who is serving over 80 sentences for human rights violations.
The Supreme Court has sentenced 15 ex-DINA (National Intelligence Directorate) agents for the forced disappearance of architects Luis Guendelman Wisniak and Carlos Guajardo Wolff during Operation Colombo in 1974.
Both disappeared were ex-members of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR).
César Manríquez, Manuel Avendaño, Alejandro Astudillo, Demóstenes Cárdenas and Miguel Krassnoff received 10-year prison sentences. Krassnoff is serving over 80 sentences adding up to around 650 years for human rights violations.
The other 10 agents received five-year sentences, although two are already deceased.
Luis Guendelman’s family representative, Nelson Caucoto, was quoted as saying by local media “it’s always good to complete these trials, even if we can’t find the bodies of the disappeared. It has been many years of waiting and eternal impunity.”
DINA
The National Intelligence Directorate was created in November 1973 and dissolved into the CNI in 1977 after its activities came under international scrutiny and Augusto Pinochet feared he could lose control of it.
Evidence has been established linking DINA to the direct killing of 2,279 people and the forced disappearance of 957, in addition to several cases of rape and physical and psychological torture.
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Operation Colombo
Operation Colombo, also known as the 119 case, aimed at eliminating 119 dictatorship opponents, some of which did not even have political affiliations. It included a public opinion manipulation campaign, to which the country’s major outlets – El Mercurio, La Segunda, Las Últimas Noticias and La Tercera – signed up.
The outlets, whose owners have still not reckoned with their role in the dictatorship, published DINA lies about opposition members being killed in turf wars with other organizations. Yet, DINA had killed the individuals and staged confrontations.
Javiera is from Santiago de Chile, she is studying journalism at Universidad de Chile, since 2017 and doing her internship at Chile Today.