Blog, Latin America: Week in Review
Chile: U.S. Captain Charged for Disappearance of U.S. Citizens in 1973 Coup
November 30, 2011 By Staff
Today in Latin America
Top Story — A judge has asked Chile’s Supreme Court to authorize the extradition of U.S. Navy Capt. Ray E. Davis to Chile for his role in disappearing two Americans during the country’s U.S.-backed military coup in 1973. The murders of 31 year-old filmmaker Charles Horman and 24 year-old student Frank Teruggi, U.S. citizens living in Chile when the military overthrew President Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973, were made famous by the 1982 Costa-Gavras film “Missing”. Horman was arrested on September 17, taken to the Chilean National Stadium where thousands were detained and tortured, and was never seen again. According to Chile’s national truth commission, Horman was executed on September 18 and Teruggi was executed on September 22. Davis, a former commander of the U.S. Military Group in Chile, allegedly collaborated in the murders with retired Chilean army Brigadier Pedro Espinoza Bravo by providing information about the two men to intelligence agents. Espinoza Bravo is already serving a sentence in prison, but Davis’ whereabouts are unclear. Davis said in a 2000 interview that he had nothing to do with the killings.
Read more from the AP.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- Mexican activist Nepomuceno Moreno, who spoke with Mexican President Felipe Calderón last month about the possibility that police kidnapped and killed his teenage son, was shot dead in Hermosillo on Tuesday.
- Mexican authorities intercepted an arms shipment bound for Nicaragua containing 900 firearms.
- The U.S. deported suspected Zetas cartel member Alfonso Donis Ruiz back to Mexico to face kidnapping charges on Tuesday.
- Another U.S.-Mexico drug tunnel was discovered in San Diego on Tuesday. At least 70 have been found since 2008.
Caribbean
- A delegation of fifteen American religious leaders are awaiting permission to visit U.S. contractor Allan Gross in prison in Cuba, where he has been held nearly two years for crimes against the state.
- A drive-by shooting killed four people in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, including an adult and child in a nearby vehicle.
- Haitian hip-hop star Wyclef Jean defended his charity Yele Haiti against accusations that only a third of its donation money was destined for disaster relief after the January 2010 earthquake.
Central America
- A former Salvadoran military officer who allegedly ordered the 1989 murder of a woman, child, and 6 Jesuit priests was charged with perjury Tuesday in addition to earlier charges that he lied on his visa forms to enter the U.S.
- A U.S. appeals court ordered a Guatemalan woman deported but allowed her sister to remain in the United States. Both women fear violent reprisals from the Valle del Sol gang.
- Former Honduran Foreign Minister Fernando Martínez has built a nativity scene in a Tegucigalpa shopping mall depicting gang and police violence and other news events from this year.
Andes
- Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro led early meetings for the CLACS (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) summit, which will bring 33 Latin American and Caribbean presidents to Caracas on December 2 and 3.
- A state funeral was held in Bogotá on Tuesday for four FARC hostages executed on Sunday. The FARC said in a statement that the men were killed because of the military operation and would have otherwise been released.
- Officials in Ecuador upgraded the eruption warning for Tungurahua volcano, which spewed boulders and hot ash all day Tuesday.
- In an effort to preserve Peru’s glaciers, a group of conservationist-inventors are experimenting with a mixture of lime, sand and water that will “dye” the mountaintops white and keep alpine rocks cooler.
Southern Cone
- Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega will reportedly keep his job as Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff reshuffles her Cabinet in January in an effort to crack down on corruption.
- Argentine researchers reported that the use of Wifi-enabled laptops can damage mens’ sperm counts.
Image: daveeza @ Flickr.
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