There was a time when our government actively supported brutal Latin American anti-Communist dictatorships.
CHILE WANTS TO PROSECUTE FORMER U.S. NAVY OFFICER WHO ‘OVERSAW MURDER OF TWO YOUNG AMERICANS DURING 1973 COUP’
Captain Ray E. Davis commanded U.S. military mission in Chile at the time of coup led by General Augusto Pinochet
By Sam Adams
Mail Online
October 18, 2012
Chile's Supreme Court has approved an extradition request for a former U.S. military officer who is wanted over the 1973 killings of two Americans - including one whose disappearance became the focus of an Oscar-winning film.
Former U.S. Navy captain Ray E. Davis is accused of being 'criminally responsible' for the deaths of journalist Charles Horman and student Frank Teruggi, who were killed during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.
Attorney, Sergio Corvalan, who represents Mr Horman's widow Joyce, said the Supreme Court has approved a request by Judge Jorge Zepeda to seek Capt Davis' extradition to face trial in Chile.
An unnamed court official said the vote would be formally announced today, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Capt Davis commanded the U.S. military mission in Chile at the time of the 1973 coup that ousted the democratically elected government of Marxist President Salvador Allende.
Mr Corvalan said the ruling by Chile's Supreme Court accuses Capt Davis of being 'criminally responsible as author of the crimes of qualified homicide of Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi.'
Mr Corvalan added that Supreme Court prosecutor Monica Maldonado said 'a homicide was committed' that could have been prevented by Capt Davis.
Capt Davis was investigating the two Americans as part of a series of covert intelligence operations by the U.S. Embassy in Santiago targeting those considered subversives or radicals, Corvalan said.
The Supreme Court considered the killings of the two Americans to be crimes against humanity, he added.
A conviction on the charges against Capt Davis carries a penalty of 10 years to life in prison.
After he was charged a year ago his wife, Patricia Davis, is reported to have said her husband denied any involvement in the killings.
She said he no longer talked because of Alzheimer's disease and was in a nursing home.
According to court papers, Mr Horman, a freelance journalist and filmmaker, was arrested on September 17, 1973, two weeks after the coup and taken to Santiago's main soccer stadium, which had been turned into a detention camp for General Pinochet's suspected enemies. He was 31 years old.
A national truth commission formed after the dictatorship ended said Mr Horman was executed the next day while in the custody of Chilean state security agents.
The commission said Mr Teruggi, then a 24-year-old university student, was executed on September 22.
The search for Mr Horman by his wife and his father was the topic of the 1982 movie 'Missing,' which starred Sissy Spacek and Jack Lemmon in the roles.
The film won a best screenplay Oscar.
'Missing' suggested U.S. complicity in Mr Horman's death and at the time drew strong objections from U.S. State Department officials.
The case was practically ignored in Chile until 2000, when Mrs Horman went to the country and filed a lawsuit against General Pinochet.
She said she was acting on behalf of all victims of the dictatorship.
The truth commission has determined that 3,095 people were murdered or 'disappeared' by government agents during General Pinochet's rule.
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