Six victims among the dozens who were murdered in the so-called “Caravan of Death” in Chile in following dictator Augusto Pinochet’s 1973 coup have been identified.
The remains had been buried in a mass grave near the town of San Pedro de Atacama,in northern Chile.
Each had been shot to death, the report by the forensic medical service that was released on Friday concluded, according to AAP.
One of the six was journalist Carlos Berger, who was arrested for refusing to close local radio transmissions the day that Socialist president Salvador Allende was overthrown by Pinochet’s coup.
Other victims included a chauffeur, a Socialist leader and a local government official.
These and 20 others were killed in Calama, nearly 100 kilometers from the mass grave site.
The Caravan of Death mission, commanded by General Sergio Arellano Stark, included executing 75 opponents of Pinochet just a few days after he was installed as dictator on September 11, 1973.
Eight former members of the Chilean military were recently sentenced to jail for taking part in the operation.
Stark was sentenced to six years but did not serve the time after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, according to AAP.
According to official figures, some 3,000 people died and 38,000 were tortured under Pinochet’s dictatorship, which lasted until 1990, although he was commander-in-chief of the army through 1998, when he was arrested in London under an international arrest warrant. He ended up being put on house arrest after he was declared medically unfit to stand trial. He died in December 2006.
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