On September 14 the Chilean Supreme Court ruled that Augusto Pinochet could be stripped of his immunity and prosecuted for the crimes of Operation Colombo–a macabre effort by his secret police to cover up the disappearances of 119 leftists. To make the disappeared in effect reappear, Pinochet’s agents placed on the streets of Buenos Aires unrecognizable, mutilated bodies tagged with the names of the missing and then planted propaganda indicating that those missing had been killed by fellow leftists.
On September 15, however, the Court issued a procedural ruling that makes it far less likely that Pinochet will be prosecuted for international terrorism crimes related to Operation Condor. Pinochet faces additional charges related to financial corruption and tax evasion.
Peter KornbluhTwitterPeter Kornbluh, a longtime contributor to The Nation on Cuba, is co-author, with William M. LeoGrande, of Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana. Kornbluh is also the author of The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability.