Sergio Arellano Strong
Sergio Victor Arellano Stark (born June 10, 1921 in Santiago de Chile ; † March 9, 2016 ) was a Chilean major general who was one of the main initiators of the military coup of September 11, 1973 and, together with General Hermán Brady Roche, played a key role played the military actions in Santiago de Chile and the capture of the La Moneda presidential palace . On October 22, 1973 he ordered the so-called "Caravan of Death" ('Caravana de la Muerte') , in which over 70 people were killed. During the military dictatorship under General Augusto Pinochet , between 1975 and 1976 he was Chief of the Army General Staff.
Life
Training as an infantry officer and promotion to brigadier general
After attending school, Arellano Stark joined the army (Ejército de Chile) and trained as an infantry officer. Between 1964 and 1965 he completed a command and general staff course at the Command and General Staff College of the US Army at Fort Leavenworth . After his return he was first head of the military house (Casa Militar) as a colonel and then in 1968 as the successor to Colonel Óscar Bonilla Bradanovic aide-de-camp of President Eduardo Frei Montalva .
He then succeeded Colonel Bonilla again in 1969, this time as a military attaché at the embassy in Spain . After his return in 1971 he became the commander of the 2nd Maipo infantry regiment stationed in Valparaíso , while the later director of the CNI (Central Nacional de Informaciones) secret service followed him to the post of military attaché. During his activity as commander of the 2nd Infantry Regiment, he met the admirals José Toribio Merino , Patricio Carvajal and Ismael Huerta for conspiratorial meetings in the Valparaíso garrison since mid-1972 .
In December 1972 he was promoted to brigadier general . As such, he was transferred to Santiago de Chile, where he was commander of the army command in Peñalolén . In this function he was entrusted with the organization of a new operational unit, which combined the Army Aviation Command, the Telecommunications Command and the Engineering Command, and thus also belonged to the General Council.
Preparations for the military coup of September 11, 1973
Arellano was one of the main organizers of the secret meeting, which from July 1973 onwards various officers and civil opponents of President Salvador Allende met in a house in Lo Curro, a suburb of Santiago de Chile. Due to the good relations with the former President Eduardo Frei Montalva, he and General Bonilla also maintained connections with the reactionary forces within the Partido Demócrata Cristiano de Chile (PDC).
In the days before the military coup, General Pinochet let him in on the plans for the coup.
"Al tomar conciencia que sólo se requería su adhesión a una decisión que ya estaba tomada, pareció abrumado. Le manifestó que el general Leigh esperaba en esos momentos su llamado para iniciar la labor de coordinación. Pinochet pidió unos minutos para reflexionar y que lo llamaría más tarde. Leigh no recibió el llamado. Arellano volvió a su domicilio a las cinco de la tarde del día siguiente ,ounter rándose con los almirantes Sergio Huidobro y Patricio Carvajal, y el capitán de corbeta Ariel González, que llegaba con su compromiso suscrito por los comandantes en jefe. Al no haber recibido información contraria, los almirantes entenderían que el contacto entre los jefes del Ejército y la FACH se había producido el día anterior. No hubo explicaciones. El general Pinochet informó que estaba en antecedentes del plan y que se sumaba a él, por lo que suscribió inmediatamente el documento que llevaba. "
“In those days the discussions about the conduct of the army became acute. Several participants in these meetings did not want General Pinochet to include them in these plans. On Saturday, September 8, 1973, Arellano Stark visited General Pinochet in his house to let him know about the plans for the coup. His reaction was both surprise and anger. He seemed overwhelmed when he realized that the decision had already been made. He said the Air Force Commander General Gustavo Leigh should take over coordination from the start of the coup. Pinochet asked for a few moments to think it over and then reappeared. Leigh received a phone call. Arellano returned to his house at five o'clock in the afternoon and met with Admirals Sergio Huidobro and Patricio Carvajal, as well as Corvette Captain Ariel Gonzalez, who was assigned by the commanding officers of the armed forces. Since they had received no conflicting information, the admirals assumed that the leaders of the Army and Air Force had already met on the previous day. There were no explanations. General Pinochet reported that he had taken note of the plans and signed a document. "
On September 10, 1973, Arellano Stark informed all commanders and officers at the communications headquarters in Peñalolén that the coup would begin the following day. At the same time he said that he would go to Santiago de Chile to persuade Pinochet to come to Peñalolén to take command of the units there. At a later meeting in his office at the Ministry of Defense, he briefed the other commanders of the Santiago de Chile garrison. The morning of the next day, along with Óscar Bonilla, César Benavides , Hermán Brady Roche, Javier Palacios Ruhmann , Julio Alberto Polloni Pérez and Gustavo Leigh, he attended another meeting with Pinochet at the Ministry of Defense to plan the day's operations.
The military coup of September 11, 1973
On the day of the military coup, Arellano Stark was placed under General Hermán Brady, the newly appointed commander of the 2nd Army Division, in the garrison of Santiago de Chile. There he took command of the Central Santiago Combat Group (Agrupación de Combate Santiago Centro) , which had been specially formed for the coup and whose area of operation included in particular the La Moneda presidential palace . He set up his headquarters in the Ministry of Defense and received the report on the death of President Salvador Allende from Inspector Pedro Espinoza and Vice-Inspector Julio Navarro of the Homicide Squad. Since the early 1970s, Arellano was one of the main culprits for the coup and thus contributed significantly to the destruction of the political left of the Unidad Popular (UP). According to his later information, the former President Frei knew of the coup against Allende early on.
As special envoy of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, General Pinochet, he was responsible on October 22, 1973 for the so-called “Caravan of Death” ( “ Caravana de la Muerte”) , the military operation of a helicopter squadron in which more than 70 people were killed . These were previously on a conducted from southern to northern Chile flight transport helicopters of the type Aerospatiale SA 330 Puma in Valdivia , Linares , Cauquenes , La Serena , Copiapo , Antofagasta and Calama arrested. In a later questioning before the examining magistrate Juan Guzmán, the then employee of the secret service DINA ( Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional ) , Marcelo Moren Brito, described General Arellano during the action of the Caravan of Death as a “tough, inflexible military of great prestige, whose word law was “('Era un militar duro, inflexible, de gran prestigio, y su palabra era ley ...').
He was then promoted to major general and commander of the 2nd Army Division stationed in Santiago de Chile, which was responsible for the area between La Serena and Rancagua . As such, he was also responsible for all military judges in this area.
Chief of the General Staff, retirement from military service, private sector and indictments
In March 1975 Arellano became Chief of the General Staff of the Army (Jefe del Estado Mayor del Ejército) and held this top military position until he retired from active military service on January 4, 1976. The reason for his resignation from military service were obviously differences of opinion with the director of DINA , Manuel Contreras , and also Pinochet, after criticizing the actions and operations of DINA. However , he refused to accept a post as ambassador offered by Pinochet .
He then switched to the private sector and at the end of 1977 became a co-owner of the Fanaloza company before becoming an administrative advisor in the rank of general director of Banco Hipotecario de Fomento in 1981 .
In 2000, examining magistrate Guzmán declared that Arellano was responsible for the caravan of death . Pretrial detention was suspended until June 2001 on payment of bail. At the same time, he was on a list with the names of 60 people published by the Spanish examining magistrate Baltasar Garzón in 1999. These people are being wanted with arrest warrants to try before Spanish courts for crimes against humanity.
In July 2007, human rights lawyer Hugo Gutiérrez stated that he was preparing an indictment against Arellano in the Court of Appeal (Corte de Apelaciones) . In October 2008 he was charged with responsibility for the Caravan of Death.
At the beginning of the court proceedings, he repeatedly stated that he was unable to stand trial due to his state of health, as he suffered from Alzheimer's, dementia, diabetes and alcoholism.
Arellano Stark was married and had two children.
Web links
- Entry (No. 10) in 11 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 1973: Golpe Militar en Chile
- Entry in memoriaviva.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Leader of Chile's 'Death Caravan' dies . ( Memento of the original from March 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. AFP message Yahoo News , March 10, 2016.
- ^ Sergio Arellano Iturriaga: Más allá del abismo , Ed. Protección, Santiago de Chile, 1985, p. 47 f.
- ↑ Jorge Escalante: La misión era matar , Ed. Lom, Santiago, 2000, p. 35.
- ^ Hijo de general Arellano Stark aseguró que su padre advirtió del golpe a Frei Montalva . In: Cooperativa of May 28, 2012.
- ↑ Jorge Escalante: La misión era matar , Ed. Lom, Santiago, 2000, p. 143.
- ↑ Marcelo Moren Brito, Pedro Espinoza y otros seis ex militares condenados por “Caravana de la Muerte” . In: The Clinic of December 23, 2013.
- ^ Sergio Arellano Iturriaga: Más allá del abismo , Ed. Protección, Santiago de Chile, 1985, p. 64 f.
- ↑ Guzmán dicta procesamientos caso Caravana de la Muerte , in: El Mercurio of July 21, 2003.
- ↑ Corte derrumbó tesis del general (R) Arellano de una "conspiración" en su contra , in: La Nacion October 18 of 2003.
- ↑ Abogado de DD.HH. celebró condena contra Arellano Stark , in: Cooperativa of July 30, 2007.
- ^ Al general (R) Sergio Arellano lo acusaron sus propios hombres de la Caravana de la Muerte , in: La Nación of October 18, 2008.
- ↑ Arellano dice que está demente , in: La Nación of November 4, 2008.
- ^ Arellano Stark: Alzheimer, diabetes y alcoholismo, entre otras cosas , in: The Clinic of November 18, 2008.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Arellano Stark, Sergio |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Arellano Stark, Sergio Victor (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Chilean major general and putschist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 10, 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Santiago de Chile |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 9, 2016 |