JUDGMENT DAY IN CHILE

Peter Kornbluh writes: Chileans and the international human rights community marked a historic day of justice on January 28 when Gen. Manuel Contreras, the former head of the Chilean secret police known as DINA, and four other high-ranking officers from the Pinochet regime were sentenced for human rights crimes and began serving lengthy prison terms. Contreras resisted arrest; he brandished a pistol before being subdued at his home and transported to the Tribunal of Justice in downtown Santiago. A large crowd of his victims gave Contreras a send-off "with a rain of eggs and fruit," according to press reports, to the Cordillera penitentiary, where he is scheduled to reside for the next twelve years. Joining Contreras are four of his deputies, who were also convicted for the disappearance of a young leftist named Miguel Angel Sandoval in 1975. In a separate case, Gen. Hugo Salas Wenzel, the chief of the Center for National Intelligence (DINA's successor), was sentenced along with two of his lieutenants for what is known as the "massacre at Corpus Christi"--in which twelve members of a militant group opposed to the Pinochet regime were ambushed and executed in 1987. Barring a successful appeal, General Salas will serve a life sentence.

SLAVERS' BANK

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