Carmelo Soria
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Carmelo Soria (
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
, 5 November 1921 –
Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...
, 16 July 1976) was a Spanish-
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
an
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
diplomat. A member of the CEPAL (
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) in the 1970s, he was assassinated by Chile's DINA agents as a part of
Operation Condor Operation Condor ( es, link=no, Operación Cóndor, also known as ''Plan Cóndor''; pt, Operação Condor) was a United States–backed campaign of political repression and state terror involving intelligence operations and assassination of op ...
. Augusto Pinochet was later personally indicted over this case.Más de 300 querellas abiertas
'' El Periodico''


Life

Carmelo Soria was the nephew of the Spanish urban planner Arturo Soria y Mata.El 'caso Soria'
'' El País''
He had three children with his wife Laura González Vera. After the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
(1936–39), Carmelo Soria, who was a member of the
Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain ( es, Partido Comunista de España; PCE) is a Marxist-Leninist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is part of Unidas Podemos. It currently has two of its politicians serving a ...
(PCE),Albert Vallejo
Chile indemniza a la familia de Soria 26 años después de su asesinato
'' El Mundo'', 24 December 2002
exiled himself to Chile, where he obtained double citizenship. He became a UN civil servant in the 1960s. Between 1971 and 1973, during
Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...
's rule, Soria temporarily abandoned his functions to become an advisor to the Popular Unity government. In September 1973, after Augusto Pinochet's coup, he re-joined the UN. He then used his
diplomatic immunity Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country.
status to protect opponents of
Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
by granting them
political asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another ent ...
in various embassies, thus making him a target for the DINA secret police. On 14 July 1976, he was abducted and his corpse found two days later in a car sunk in the Canal del Carmen in the Pirámide sector of
Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...
. Soria was first detained in the Vía Naranja house in the sector of Lo Curro, shared by DINA agent Michael Townley and where Eugenio Berrios also worked. There, he was tortured and subjected to sarin gas. Soria was then detained and tortured again in the Villa Grimaldi. On 18 July 1976, notices of Carmelo Soria's death began to be announced on European radio stations, while it was censored in Chile.Account of Soria's death
by his widow, May 1977, Symposium on "''desaparecidos en el Cono Sur de América Latina''"
On 4 August 1976, another member of Soria's family, Carlos Godoy Lagarrigue, the son of the ex-rector of the
University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.
and former Minister of Education Pedro Godoy, also "
disappeared An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organi ...
". On 15 December 1976, ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' published an article confirming that Soria's death had been caused by torture at the hands of the Chilean authorities, and not a car crash, as pretended by the latter. Despite requests from UN secretary-general
Kurt Waldheim Kurt Josef Waldheim (; 21 December 1918 – 14 June 2007) was an Austrian politician and diplomat. Waldheim was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 and president of Austria from 1986 to 1992. While he was running for t ...
made in 1976, the Chilean justice apparatus refused to open new investigations on the case. The ''Washington Post'' informations were confirmed in 1992 by the testimony of DINA agent Michael Townley. Soria's assassination at the hands of the DINA was confirmed by the
Rettig Report The Rettig Report, officially The National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Report, is a 1991 report by a commission designated by Chilean President Patricio Aylwin (from the ''Concertación'') detailing human rights abuses resulting in dea ...
at the beginning of the
Chilean transition to democracy The Chilean transition to democracy is the name given to the process of restoration of democracy carried out in Chile after the end of the military dictatorship of Pinochet, in 1990, and particularly to the first two democratic terms that suc ...
. Rechazan acuerdo entre Chile y la ONU que indemniza a la familia de Carmelo Soria
,
Senate of Chile The Senate of the Republic of Chile is the upper house of Chile's bicameral National Congress, as established in the current Constitution of Chile. Composition According to the present Constitution of Chile, the Senate is composed of forty-t ...
, 9 November 2005


Chilean transition and trials

In 1991, during the beginning of the
Chilean transition to democracy The Chilean transition to democracy is the name given to the process of restoration of democracy carried out in Chile after the end of the military dictatorship of Pinochet, in 1990, and particularly to the first two democratic terms that suc ...
, the DINA biochemist Eugenio Berríos, already involved in the
Letelier case On 21 September 1976, Orlando Letelier, a leading opponent of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, was assassinated by car bombing, in Washington, D.C. Letelier, who was living in exile in the United States, was killed along with his work colleagu ...
, escaped to Uruguay in order to avoid testifying in both the Letelier case and the Soria case.Rechazan libertad para ex uniformados en caso Berríos
, '' La Tercera'', 12 January 2004 (mirrored by ''Memoria viva'')
In 1994, Carmen Soria, the daughter of the assassinated diplomat, presented a complaint for "assassination" of her father. She then received anonymous calls informing her that the investigations would lead nowhere as the corpse had disappeared from the cemetery. Two years later, the Supreme Court of Chile closed the case, applying the April 1978 Amnesty Law.Caso Soria: nubarrones sobre Alvear
, ''
La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina. Its motto is: "''La Na ...
'', 24 January 2004 (mirrored by ''Memoria viva'')
This led Carmen Soria to present the following year a complaint against
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), charging it with "denigration of justice." The CIDH thereafter requested Chile to open new investigations and to insure Carmelo Soria's family financial compensation for his murder. Furthermore, Soria's widow deposed a complaint to the Spanish judge
Baltasar Garzón Baltasar Garzón Real (; born 26 October 1955) is a former Spanish judge. Garzón formerly served on Spain's central criminal court, the ''Audiencia Nacional'', and was the examining magistrate of the ''Juzgado Central de Instrucción No. 5'', ...
. On 4 May 2001, Garzón ordered the provisional detention of former Chilean Minister of Defence Hernán Julio Brady Roche (1975–1978) on charges of
genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...
,
terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
and
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...
in relation to Soria's assassination, and requested his
extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...
. Brady subsequently denied any knowledge concerning Soria's murder.Brady rechaza acusación de Garzón
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
, 14 May 2001
However, the ''
Audiencia Nacional The Audiencia Nacional (; en, National Court) is a centralised court in Spain with jurisdiction over all of the Spanish territory. It is specialised in a certain scope of delinquency, having original jurisdiction over major crimes such as those ...
'' (high court) archived the case on 31 May 2001, arguing that the Spanish justice was not entitled to pursue the Soria case, despite the universal jurisdiction principle, as it had refused a short time before to pursue
Arnaldo Otegi Arnaldo Otegi Mondragón (born 6 July 1958) is a Basque politician who is currently General Secretary of Basque nationalist party EH Bildu. He was member of the Basque Parliament for both Herri Batasuna and Euskal Herritarrok. He was one of t ...
(leader of
Batasuna Batasuna (; en, Unity) was a Basque nationalist political party. Based mainly in Spain, it was banned in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money. The party is included in the "European Union ...
) for an alleged act of "apology of terrorism" committed in France. Archivan el caso del asesinato de Carmelo Soria en Chile por el precedente de Otegi
'' El País'', 31 May 2002
In May 2002, Soria's corpse was exhumed on orders of the magistrate Andrés Contreras, in order to verify his identity.Exhumados por orden judicial en Chile los restos del español Carmelo Soria
, '' El País'' (mirrored by ''Memoria Viva'') 1 May 2002
Soria's family had presented a complaint two weeks before concerning "illegal inhumation", alleging that during the transfer of Soria's corpse in 1983, a substitution had been made in order to dispose of his corpse. However the corpse's identity was confirmed in July 2002.SML identificó y entregó restos de Carmelo Soria
, ''
El Mostrador El Mostrador is a Chilean online newspaper, founded on 1 March 2000. Its current president is Germán Olmedo Acedvedo and its director is Federico Joannon Errázuriz. History ''El Mostrador'' was launched on 1 March 2000 and is Chile's first exclu ...
'', 27 July 2002 (mirrored by ''Memoria viva'')
In January 2004, Chilean foreign minister
Soledad Alvear María Soledad Alvear Valenzuela (born September 17, 1950), is a Chilean lawyer and Christian Democrat politician, who was a cabinet member of the Aylwin, Frei and Lagos administrations. She was president of the Christian Democrat Party (PDC) fro ...
signed an agreement with Carmen Soria which promised that a law would be voted concerning the funding of US$1.5 million to Soria's family in reparations of Carmelo Soria's death. Alvear then signed it again in March 2004 before the UN. In July 2007, the Senate ratified this agreement with the UN, by 16 votes for against 14.Senado aprobó indemnización para familia de Carmelo Soria
''
Radio Cooperativa Radio Cooperativa is a radio station in Chile, based in Santiago. It is operated by ''Compañía Chilena de Comunicaciones S.A.''. The station is notable for opposing the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973–1990) and denouncing its human rights v ...
'', 18 July 2007
It had beforehand refused this same agreement, in November 2005. In October 2005, the family's lawyer, Alfonso Insunza, presented a request before the Chilean justice demanding that the General
Eduardo Aldunate Herman Eduardo is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the male given name Edward. Another version is Duarte. It may refer to: Association football * Eduardo Bonvallet, Chilean football player and sports commentator * Eduardo Carvalho, Portuguese footbal ...
, second-in-command of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), be heard in the Soria case. According to former DINA agent Carlos Labarca Sanhueza's judicial testimony, General Herman was part of the '' Brigada Mulchén'' special DINA unit involved in Soria's assassination.Familia de Carmelo Soria pidió que se interrogue a militar a cargo de tropas en Haití
''
Radio Cooperativa Radio Cooperativa is a radio station in Chile, based in Santiago. It is operated by ''Compañía Chilena de Comunicaciones S.A.''. The station is notable for opposing the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973–1990) and denouncing its human rights v ...
'', 11 October 2005
The ''Brigada Mulchén'', ultimately placed under the orders of
Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
, was found responsible of Soria's assassination by a Chilean Court of Appeal in 1992. According to Carmen Soria, General Herman was also involved in Eugenio Berríos' assassination at the beginnings of the 1990s. In August 2006, the magistrate Alejandro Madrid, charged with the Soria case, stated that one of the key participant to Soria's assassination, the military officer José Remigio Ríos San Martín, had been detained in 1993 by BIE agents ('' Batallón de Inteligencia del Ejército'', military intelligence agency) in order to convince him to change his judicial testimony. In this statement, Ríos San Martín had accused the Brigadier Jaime Lepe, secretary-general of the Army and a close contact of
Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
, and other DINA agents, of being responsible of Soria's death.Jorge Molina Sanhueza
El último secreto del crimen de Soria abre la puerta para condenar a brigadier (R) Lepe
, ''
La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina. Its motto is: "''La Na ...
'', 21 August 2006
According to the judge Madrid, the order to detain Ríos San Martín was directly issued by the Brigadier Jaime Lepe, whose promotion to General was blocked in 1997 by the former President
Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle Eduardo Alfredo Juan Bernardo Frei Ruiz–Tagle (; born 24 June 1942) is a Chilean politician and civil engineer who served as president of Chile from 1994 to 2000. He was also a Senator, fulfilling the role of President of the Senate from 2006 ...
in 1997 following denunciations by Carmen Soria. According to Ríos San Martín' testimony, the ''Brigada Mulchén'' was headed by the then Captain Guillermo Salinas Torre, who ordered Soria's kidnapping. The DINA then believed that Carmelo Soria was a member of the Chilean Communist Party. Ríos San Martín' testimony relaunched the Soria case by confirming previous statements made by Michael Townley at the end of 1992 concerning Soria's abduction. In May 2016, the Chilean Supreme Court asked for the extradition of American Michael Townley, Cuban Virgilio Paz, and Chilean Armando Fernandez Larios for their alleged roles the murder of Soria.Reuters
/ref>


References


See also

* Augusto Pinochet's arrest and trial {{DEFAULTSORT:Soria, Carmelo 1976 deaths Communist Party of Spain politicians People from Madrid People killed in Operation Condor 1976 in Chile Political repression in Chile during the military government (1973–1990) 1921 births