The former Attorney General of the Republic and defense attorney for former dictator Augusto Pinochet in the stripping of immunity proceedings regarding Operation Condor, Ambrosio Rodríguez, refuted having any involvement or having concealed information regarding the disappearance of the Chilean couple Jacobo Stoulman and Matilde Pessa in Buenos Aires in May 1977.

However, the lawyer acknowledged that he was hired by the Stoulman family to travel to Buenos Aires to inquire about their whereabouts. It was during this trip that the then-DINA agent in Buenos Aires, Enrique Arancibia Clavel, mentioned Rodríguez’s stay in that city in a memo dated July 17, 1977, addressed to the head of the DINA’s foreign department.

This evidence, considered “relevant” by the plaintiff lawyers, was mentioned on Thursday during the plenary session of the Court of Appeals. The matter complicated Rodríguez’s position. In the text, Arancibia stated that Rodríguez met in Buenos Aires with Argentine and DINA officers, and that he also met with “our manager,” implying he was referring to Manuel Contreras.

Source: La Nación, May 15, 2004

The current President of the Supreme Tribunal of Renovación Nacional and defender of Pinochet could have gone to live quietly in some remote region of the country, as some have done who prefer to hide in protective anonymity, but he desisted from that and remained at the center of events, as if challenging those who have more than one outstanding account with him.

On September 10 of last year, the FUNA Commission arrived at the Law School of the Universidad de Chile to denounce Ambrosio Rodríguez Quiros, a professor at said school and a well-known man of Pinochet.

Among the "exploits" of the former public official, the funeros denounced "the carrying out of the summary proceedings that ended with the expulsion, after the military coup, of almost all the academics of the School of Journalism of the Universidad de Chile.

Later, as a member of Pinochet’s Ministry of the Interior, he signed expulsions from the country, such as that of his former professor Eugenio Velasco, and also prevented the entry into the country of a 4-year-old child for ‘being dangerous to the homeland’." Despite having been summoned to testify on repeated occasions in the case of the forcibly disappeared Alfonso del Carmen Araya Castillo, he never appeared in court.

As Attorney General of the Republic, a position invented by Pinochet, he supervised the defense of human rights violators, extended the period of "legal" kidnapping determined for the CNI, and denied plaintiffs access to the summary proceedings for the crimes of Operation Albania for months.

He has been part of the defense for criminals such as Augusto Pinochet, Humberto Gordon, those guilty of the Degollados Case, the Valmoval case—better known as the ‘Pinocheques’—and in Operation Albania itself, in conjunction with his partner Fernando Uribe-Etxeverría.

He also assumed the defense of former Supreme Court minister Hernán Cereceda Bravo, removed by the Senate ‘for notable abandonment of duties’ in the case of Alfonso Chanfreau, who disappeared in 1974." Reference was also made to his summons to testify "by Judge Juan Guzmán in the case of the disappearance in Argentina of the Jewish-Chilean couple Stoulman-Pessa, in which he was implicated by DINA agent Enrique Arancibia Clavel," a case that was recalled by human rights lawyer Eduardo Contreras during the recent hearing on the petition to strip Pinochet of his immunity for the Operation Condor Case. The letter from Arancibia Clavel Although he hid behind "professional secrecy" before Minister Juan Guzmán to avoid speaking about his participation in the case of the disappeared Jacobo Stoulman and Matilde Pessa, a letter sent from Argentina by agent Enrique Arancibia Clavel, now sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of the Prats-Cuthbert couple, incriminates him directly. The confessed murderer, who signed his letters as Luis Felipe Alemparte, asserts in one of them that on July 17, 1977, Ambrosio Rodríguez met with "the manager" (Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda) and with him to construct a narrative regarding the disappearance of the Jewish couple. From there, the false lead was born that implicated Jacobo Stoulman in the financing of the Argentine Montoneros and the Uruguayan Tupamaros. In those days, Rodríguez was in Buenos Aires at the request of the Stoulman-Pessa daughters, who had paid him a large sum of money so that, as an influential lawyer for the military regime, he would help them in the search for their parents, who disappeared on May 29, 1977. However, the lawyer had also received payments from others interested in ensuring the Jewish couple did not reappear. These were some of their direct relatives and Jacobo Stoulman’s partners at the Andes exchange house, León Dobry and Enrique Chamorro, who would in this way keep the couple’s assets, while the "grand rabbi" Angel Kreiman avoided confrontations with the dictatorship. The money and the censorship One of those most interested in ensuring the Stoulman couple did not return from Argentina was Rabbi Angel Kreiman Brill, who in those days appeared as an important opponent of the dictatorship. Although in the first days of the disappearance he appeared to be making efforts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to learn of their whereabouts, Kreiman soon forgot about the subject and did not even attend an appointment, arranged by FACH Colonel and Ministry official Jaime Lavín Fariña, to discuss the case in July 1977. But Kreiman was worried about not "making waves," as he had many things to hide that were known to the intelligence services. Together with Cambios Andes and Turismo Top Tour, Stoulman’s businesses, his "partners" proceeded to clean out the accounts held in Switzerland, which today would be equivalent to some 35 million dollars. In this way, in addition to losing their parents, the three Stoulman-Pessa daughters were left without the possibility of recovering part of their investments. The case has been censored on many occasions, especially after the end of the dictatorship, because in addition to accusing prominent figures of the military regime, such as those involved in Operation Condor ranging from lawyer Ambrosio Rodríguez to his client, the former Commander-in-Chief, it crosses the national Jewish community and its ties to the most varied political sectors. Journalist Iván Cabezas, after publishing the report "The million-dollar question: Who made businessman Stoulman disappear with his wife, his fortune, and the PC’s money" in the Revista Semanal of La Nación, did not appear in the publication again. Editor Luis Alberto Ganderats submitted his resignation shortly thereafter. From some ministries, discreet calls were made to TVN, and a 5-minute chronicle produced by journalist Rodrigo Espinoza was made to disappear by the Head of Press, Abel Esquivel, even from the computerized record of reports. A report prepared by journalist Pascale Bonnefoy was also censored on the journalistic website El Mostrador. A call from León Dobry to his friend—and fellow Board member of Dresner Bank—and co-owner of the electronic newspaper, Juan Agustín Figueroa, prevented the publication of the topic. Shortly thereafter, Pascale Bonnefoy’s contractual relationship with El Mostrador was terminated. Alejandra Stoulman Pessa does not forget the money given, despite the economic difficulties they were living through at that time, to lawyer Ambrosio Rodríguez so that he would find out about her parents’ whereabouts. She does not forget that, upon returning from Argentina, the former "Attorney General of the Republic" told them about her father’s relationship with the Montoneros and the Tupamaros. Pinochet’s lawyer hides behind "professional secrecy" before Minister Juan Guzmán, but he had already contradicted himself in other statements, when he admits that he traveled to Buenos Aires with the professional commission of searching for the disappeared couple and later maintains that his trip was the result of "sports-related efforts," as a soccer executive. The truth is that he went to Argentina, that he asked about the Stoulman Pessas, and that he met with "the manager" Manuel Contreras, who has also known his defensive hand in the Chilean courts. The necessity of stripping immunity For lawyer Eduardo Contreras, Operation Condor "is one of the most emblematic criminal episodes of the military dictatorship, at least for three of its singular features. First, for the dramatic nature of the horror applied to the victims, then for its international reach, and finally because, perhaps more than in other cases, here the personal participation of Pinochet as a direct perpetrator is clearer than ever." The stripping of the former dictator’s immunity, today presented as "former president," is requested due to "the existence of the crimes and well-founded suspicions of his participation in them, since to prosecute him it is necessary to remove the protection given to him by the immunity of former presidents of the Republic, created ex profeso in favor of the accused by Law 19.672, published in the Official Gazette on April 28, 2000," as Contreras points out. For the plaintiff lawyers, "the existence of the illicit association and the crimes of qualified kidnapping that this process deals with is amply proven. The participation in the illicit acts of Augusto Pinochet in the capacity of perpetrator—in the terms of Article 15 of the Penal Code—has been fully demonstrated." It is not a minor detail to recall that the proceedings regarding the crime of Orlando Letelier and Ronnie Moffit, the case of the 119 of Operation Colombo, that of the assassination of General Carlos Prats and his wife Sofía, and the attack against Bernardo Leighton and his wife, although they have been treated separately for procedural reasons, are precisely part of the strategy of the Condor Plan. The public statements of the accused himself, the press reports of the time, and the explicit confession of the director of the DINA, Manuel Contreras, confirm it. The crimes we are analyzing do not only violate the provisions of our penal system. They are crimes against humanity that also violate, among other documents, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Geneva Conventions in force in Chile at the time of the illicit acts, and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties." The "incurable dementia" The plaintiffs highlighted the fact that "faced with the impossibility of proving the innocence of the accused, his defense alleged his supervening dementia. Beyond the irregularities of the expert examination to which he was subjected in the Caravan of Death case, which were denounced in a timely manner, the examination showed that his memory, attention, and recognition functions were very good and that he distinguished perfectly between good and evil. That is to say, he is perfectly imputable, and today we have new evidence of that. We attach the video of the interview for Miami television from last December, along with its transcript, where he appears perfectly lucid. Furthermore, the accused himself shows us day by day that he is neither crazy nor demented. A few nights ago, as reported by ‘El Mercurio’, Pinochet attended a lively dinner at the ‘Lily Marlene’ restaurant, where he listened to those Nazi marches that he likes so much. He is seen smiling, brimming with health, so that performing new mental examinations is absolutely possible and necessary."

Source: elsiglo.cl, May 21, 2004

Ambrosio Rodríguez and Operation Condor

On July 17, 1977, a letter sent from Buenos Aires by "Luis Felipe Alemparte" to the DINA headquarters recounts the steps taken by Ambrosio Rodríguez in Argentina, exposing his relationship with the so-called "Operation Condor" and with the security apparatuses of the dictatorships of both countries.

Pinochet’s defender can deny it, but it is the secret documents of his "comrades" themselves that betray him. Enrique Arancibia Clavel, today the only person convicted in Argentina for the murder of General Carlos Prats and his wife, periodically sent information to his DINA bosses in Santiago and, thus, in a report dated July 17, 1977, and addressed to "Cristián," he points out: "I attach a copy of my memo 158-R sent to Luis Gutiérrez." Among other things, in this report he speaks of his detention at Pudahuel: "Regarding this point, I have learned that other DINA officials have had similar problems. Which would indicate a common pattern. If it is necessary to make a direct approach to the Commander of the (…) Division (Floody), I would have no problem doing it, I await your instructions. I would also be interested in knowing if you recovered my Diego Portales card." After speaking of the "Morata Salmerón Case," he moves on to the point "General information from Argentina," in which he elaborates on the presence of Ambrosio Rodríguez: "I attach a copy of my memo 158-R sent to Luis Gutiérrez. I attach the magazine ‘Doctrina Política N° 5’. The people from this magazine are the same ones who are organizing the Congress on State Reform, a copy of whose organization I sent you on 7/7/77. On 7/8/77, Ambrosio Rodríguez contacted me, who stated to me that his stay in Buenos Aires was in danger because he was making inquiries about a couple of Jewish origin, Stutman (sic). Apparently, Rodríguez made contact with high-ranking chiefs of the Argentine Army in the Security area, who indicated to him indirectly that this couple ‘no longer existed’. Rodríguez clarified to me that this couple had ‘been sold’ by Klein (a Chilean, linked to the Graiver case). Rodríguez also informed me that he had made direct contact with our Manager, who had indicated to him that he would gain nothing by coming to Argentina. The official report of the First Army Corps of Argentina is that they were handed over (Stutman) to DINA officials. Rodríguez maintained contact with the Jewish community of B. Aires and also with the Israeli ambassador, who expressed to him the interest in transferring the economic power currently in Argentina to Chile. One must not forget that Rodríguez is a man of Hugo Rosende, a Chilean politician financed for many years by the Chilean Jewish community. Rodríguez stated that he would have an interview with our Manager on Monday 7/11/77, where he would present everything he gathered on his trip. Rodríguez made contact with Colonel Soto of the Embassy to ask for his cooperation, which he refused ‘diplomatically’. Rodríguez was accompanied by Rolando Molina and Carlos Montane; all three traveled to Chile on Saturday 7/9 on Lan Chile. Without further ado, attentive greetings. Luis Felipe Alemparte Díaz." In memo 158-R, sent to Luis Gutiérrez, Arancibia Clavel was clearer in identifying the head of the DINA, pointing out that Ambrosio Rodríguez "informed me that he had made direct contact with our manager Contreras, who had indicated to him that he would gain nothing by coming to Argentina." Other things that Arancibia Clavel refers to in his reports, for example in one from July 6, 1977, refer to personal situations and the sending of materials. The role of Ambrosio Arancibia Clavel’s confirmation regarding Ambrosio Rodríguez’s stay in Argentina allows for the confirmation of several situations. On one hand, it ratifies his extensive knowledge of how the DINA functioned, of its relationship with the repressive apparatuses of Argentina, and the so-called "Operation Condor," which allowed for the transfer of prisoners between the security services of the countries under dictatorship. On the other, the role that Pinochet’s lawyer played in the disappearance of the Jewish couple Stoulman-Pessa is exposed, for after being hired by the family and investigating, he preferred to keep the disappearance at the hands of "Condor" in silence and helped to construct the false lead of a relationship between Stoulman and the Uruguayan Tupamaros and the Argentine Montoneros. In the case, in which he has been called to testify, he has hidden behind alleged professional secrecy to avoid providing details of his work in Argentina. However, a lawyer’s professional secrecy is toward his clients, who in this case are the daughters of the Stoulman-Pessas, who quite some time ago ended their professional relationship with the former Attorney General of the Republic. In his "curriculum," Rodríguez Quiros adds the carrying out of the summary proceedings that ended with the expulsion of almost all the academics of the School of Journalism of the Universidad de Chile. Being a member of Pinochet’s Ministry of the Interior, he signed expulsions from the country, such as that of his former professor Eugenio Velasco, and also prevented the entry of a 4-year-old child for "being dangerous to the homeland." Despite having been summoned to testify on repeated occasions in the case of the forcibly disappeared Alfonso Araya Castillo, he never appeared in court. As Attorney General of the Republic, he supervised the defense of human rights violators, extended the period of "legal" kidnapping determined for the CNI, and denied plaintiffs access to the summary proceedings for the crimes of Operation Albania for months. Together with the Pinochet case, he has defended criminals such as Humberto Gordon, those guilty of the Degollados Case, the Valmoval or "Pinocheques" case, and in Operation Albania in conjunction with his partner Fernando Uribe-Etxeverría. He also assumed the defense of former Supreme Court minister Hernán Cereceda Bravo, removed by the Senate "for notable abandonment of duties" in the case of Alfonso Chanfreau, who disappeared in 1974.

Source: elsiglo.cl, September 18, 2004