In brief
In a significant step for Chile’s long‑search for accountability, police recovered Nelson Haase—one of eight officers convicted for the kidnapping and murder of popular folk singer Victor Jara during Augusto Pinochet’s 1973 dictatorship. Haase had fled after a 25‑year sentence was handed down in August 2023 and was located in the south‑western province of Puyehue, 950 km from Santiago. The capture follows other developments, including the suicide of Gen Hernán Chacón during a police raid and the U.S. extradition of retired Army Lt. Pedro Barrientos, who was also found liable for Jara’s death. Together these actions signal a renewed commitment to confronting past human‑rights abuses.
Police in Chile have located and arrested Nelson Haase, a retired colonel who was convicted in 2018 for the kidnapping and murder of renowned folk singer Victor Jara during the military coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power.
Haase, who was jailed for 25 years, fled when his sentencing was announced in August 2023. Police later found him on Saturday in Puyehue, a remote town in the Los Lagos region 950 km south of the capital Santiago.
Jara, famed in the 1960s and 70s for protest and pacifist songs, was tortured and shot 44 times after being arrested five days after the coup. He was one of roughly 5,000 people detained at a sports stadium in Santiago and was executed in a brutal display of the regime’s repression.
Haase was one of eight men found guilty of Jara’s murder. After five years of appeals, Chile’s Supreme Court confirmed his sentences of 15 years for murder and an additional 10 years for kidnapping.
Gen Hernán Chacón, another convicted officer, died by suicide when police attempted to arrest him, while the remaining five men remain in prison. Meanwhile, the United States extradited retired Army Lt. Pedro Barrientos to Chile earlier in 2023 after a Florida jury ruled him liable for the singer’s death.
The arrest of Haase echoes a broader effort to address human‑rights violations committed under Pinochet. Although the regime officially ended 17 years ago, many crimes remain unresolved, with thousands tortured, executed or disappeared during that period.
Victor Jara is still remembered decades later as a victim of the Pinochet regime.
