The Supreme Court ratified the sentence for the kidnapping and murder of the former DINA chemist Eugenio Berríos. The longest sentence was handed down to Arturo Silva Valdés (15 years and 1 day in prison), who was part of the core group that executed the Army’s most clandestine operations in the 1980s and well into the period of democracy.

The following report, published in 2002 by the magazine Siete+7, reveals that the former officer also holds the secrets of two of the most powerful men in Chile: Augusto Pinochet and Agustín Edwards, owner and director of the newspaper El Mercurio.

Other protagonists of the operation to murder Berríos in Uruguay in 1992 who were sentenced today include Uruguayan military officers Tomás Casella, Eduardo Radaelli, and Wellington Sarli, as well as the former Army Auditor General Fernando Torres Silva and the former director of Army Intelligence Eugenio Covarrubias, among others.

Tall, attractive, elegant, with a gift for command, a man of the world, an intelligence expert, an expert marksman, a polo player, and surrounded by an aura that even earned him the nickname of the "Chilean James Bond." These are some of the characteristics attributed to Major (Ret.) Arturo Rodrigo Silva Valdés, a member of the Secret Service of the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINE), who is identified by at least two testimonies as the Chilean author—the other being Uruguayan—of the shots that ended the life of the DINA chemist, Eugenio Berríos.

But Silva Valdés has other attributes that contributed to enhancing his legend. He is the keeper of the secrets of two of the most powerful men in Chile: Augusto Pinochet and Agustín Edwards, the director and owner of the newspaper El Mercurio. He served as the head of personal security for both, managing their rear guard and movements.

Silva Valdés's name was already known in the courts. He came to the fore when Judge Sergio Muñoz prosecuted him as an accessory to the murder of Tucapel Jiménez. But his identification became known within the heart of the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINE) before he was prosecuted.

And measures were taken. By then, he was serving as Agustín Edwards's personal bodyguard—a role he abandoned abruptly.

One of the aspects remaining to be elucidated in his record is whether, in September 1994, Arturo Silva was indeed sent on a service commission to work for Agustín Edwards by the then-Director of Army Intelligence, General Eugenio Covarrubias.

Because later, when he retired from the military institution, his employment relationship with El Mercurio and Edwards was assumed by the security company SERPROTEC S.A.

This company has two main partners: Juan Luis Herrera Villena and Inversiones Canelo Seis y Compañía, whose main partners are Agustín Edwards Eastman, Agustín Edwards del Río, and Inversiones Nacionales.

Valdés did not arrive alone to work for Edwards. A group of men, all trained in the CNI and in the small, select Secret Service team, accompanied him. Among them were Nelson Hernández Franco, who in 1982 served under the alias "Marcos de la Fuente" in the CNI and who was also prosecuted for the murder of Tucapel Jiménez; Marcelo Sandoval, Nelson Román, and even a woman: Erika Silva.

Later, Major Eduardo Martínez Wogner, who had been an aide to the director of the CNI, would join as chief.

General Eugenio Covarrubias followed the steps of Agustín Edwards's security detail very closely. And their ties tightened when his son, also named Eugenio Covarrubias, assumed the management of SERPROTEC, a position he held until 1999.

Not everything in the life of this exclusive security expert has been adrenaline and glory. To his more than 500 trips around the world, one must contrast the death of one of his children. A wound that destabilized him and left him vulnerable. Today, despite his activities in Ecogas Limitada, Ceqsachile S.A., and Consultsistem Chile S.A., his world is collapsing once again.

VIP ADVISOR

Arturo Silva began to stand out for his skills in intelligence work in the early 80s when he was part of the CNI squads. There are those who say that at that time they called him "Alvarito," drawing a connection to Álvaro Corbalán, the powerful operational chief of the security agency.

Those were times when the connecting vessels between the CNI and the DINE were fluid and diffuse. A relationship that some officers today describe as "perverse" because it involved the institutional intelligence agency, intended for territorial security, in criminal operations, such as the murder of Tucapel Jiménez.

Today, Judge Olga Pérez is investigating another similar event that could have major consequences: the murder of former President Eduardo Frei Montalva via botulinum toxins. His death occurred days before a DINE squad murdered Tucapel Jiménez (1982).

But Silva's time of glory arrived on the occasion of the 1988 plebiscite, when he was able to deploy all his talents by becoming the main "security advisor" to General Augusto Pinochet.

His function began the moment the general decided to take a trip. That was when he went into action. He would travel to the chosen location, interview the hosts and the country's military intelligence agencies, conduct a complete review of the conditions of the potential hotels to choose one, always keeping at least two alternatives in case of emergency; the nearby hospitals, the vehicles that would be used, the drivers, ambulances, check-ups, and medical records at hand.

He reviewed every last detail, including the selection of the men who would make up his security detail, and then he would sit down with Pinochet and his aide-de-camp of the moment to report on the chosen program and refine it.

His mission should have ended there, but the closeness, trust, and affection that Pinochet placed in him were such that it became a custom that when the trip began, Arturo Silva Valdés became his shadow.

To the point that on more than one occasion, the hotels where Pinochet stayed were registered in his name. This happened in October 1993, when Pinochet traveled to Brazil for vacation and the press reported that the former dictator had used the false identity of Arturo Silva Valdés at the Intercontinental Hotel in Rio de Janeiro.

But by then, Silva had become an ultra-secret DINE agent. A path he began in 1990 when he was chosen as one of the operational arms of the "casualty control" operation, the clandestine departure from the country of those military personnel in danger of being imprisoned or prosecuted for kidnapping, torture, or homicide during the dictatorship.

Thus, Silva Valdés was the key piece that operated in the escape of Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross and Carlos Herrera Jiménez. Silva Valdés prepared that operation by traveling to Argentina on September 7, 1991, returning on the 12th, and leaving again on the same day as Herrera: September 19, 1991.

They were intense days. The escape of Eugenio Berríos had already been decided and prepared. But it was cloaked in all special precautions: Berríos was not to fall into Argentine hands. It was Arturo Silva who prepared every last detail, and when Berríos crossed the border in the south toward Río Gallegos on October 26, 1991, Silva did the same toward Argentina, but by air.

From then on, he controlled every one of Berríos's steps in his new residence. And also those of the other "package" he sent to be kept in Uruguay: Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross.

The story that follows was told in edition No. 32 of Siete+7. But there is a chapter to detail. When Berríos escaped from his guards in November '92 from the town of Parque del Plata, 50 kilometers from Montevideo, Arturo Silva Valdés was there, controlling his capture step by step.

Along with him was Major Jaime Torres Gacitúa, one of his best friends and also a "security advisor" to Pinochet and a member of the DINE Secret Service.

When they finally recovered Berríos, the other story began. One that culminates—according to testimonies—with the murder of Berríos, which was allegedly executed by Silva Valdés and the Uruguayan Lieutenant Colonel Eduardo Radaelli (see box).

A witness to the operation was Major Torres Gacitúa. There, a pact would be sealed between intelligence officers that reveals that "Operation Condor" remains a latent danger.

SECRET SERVICE UNDER BRITISH IMPRINT

The transfer of the sash and the pin symbolizing presidential power that General Pinochet made to President Patricio Aylwin on March 11, 1990, marking the beginning of the transition, was the trigger for other movements in the shadows. Shortly thereafter, the Army audit, headed by General Fernando Torres Silva, rang the alarm bell.

According to a high-ranking Army officer of the time, it was with precise instructions from the high command that the first meeting was held between the audit and the institution's Director of Intelligence, plus the head of the Secret Service that depended on the DINE, in which a meticulous analysis was made of which trials were "ripe": which proceedings were in danger of obtaining the identification of uniformed torturers, kidnappers, and murderers.

It was in that core that the strategy was designed to get the military personnel "in danger" out of Chile. And the operational arm was precisely the impregnable and most compartmentalized jewel of the DINE, the Secret Service that for many years was directed by officer Maximiano Ferrer Lima and which was created under the advice of MI6, the Secret Service of Great Britain, spurred by the English invasion of the Falklands in 1982.

That unit was exposed during the course of the investigation into the murder of union leader Tucapel Jiménez, conducted by the minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Sergio Muñoz. But it has been the investigation by Judge Olga Pérez, who is investigating the murder of the chemist Eugenio Berríos, that has allowed the identity of its members to be unveiled, as well as the execution of other criminal-style operations carried out by the group.

According to statements by Brigadier Víctor Pinto Pérez, head of the Army Intelligence Command (CIE), in mid-1982—the invasion of the Falklands took place in April—he chose a small group of intelligence officers to travel to Great Britain and learn about the functioning of MI6 in order to create a similar unit in Chile, naturally keeping proportions in mind.

Major Maximiliano Ferrer Lima was one of the officers who played an important role in the DINA as "Captain Max," one of the founders of the Army Secret Service in his capacity as head of the Counterintelligence Unit of the CIE.

Why incorporate the Secret Service, intended for the mission of shielding territorial security, into activities of covering up murderers and torturers? That is the key question that those responsible for a failed management must answer today.

Because a cursory analysis of the escape operations carried out in '91 allows one to conclude that all of them failed. And mainly, because of the deceptions and errors committed by the men in charge of "casualty control."

This happened with Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross, with Carlos Herrera Jiménez, and with Eugenio Berríos. Not only were they unable to evade justice, but they ended up muddying the institution and, in the process, even compromising national security.

If they had testified before the courts at the time, the Army would have already turned that page, and without any of the costs in money, image, and vulnerability to national security.

Also, and a fact not to be overlooked, is that all those operations meant a millionaire financial expenditure and ended up harboring hotbeds of corruption that have not been investigated to this day. Some questions as an example: to whom did Arturo Silva Valdés account for the expenses he incurred to pay for fake passports, multiple trips, and the stay of the guards and the fugitives abroad?

Where did those funds come from? And if it is true that Sarin gas and other deadly botulinum toxins were sold to Iraq or other countries in the late '80s, how many millions of dollars were received and in which accounts were they deposited?

RADAELLI: THE OTHER SHOT

In 1993, when the scandal of the kidnapping and disappearance of Eugenio Berríos exploded before public opinion in Uruguay, causing what they called a "technical coup" by the military, Lieutenant Colonel Eduardo Radaelli had to be brought in an emergency from Zaire, where he was on a "peace mission."

And if at first it was thought that the officer would be punished and prosecuted, along with Lieutenant Colonel Tomás Casella, very soon the military pressure made it evident that President Lacalle was under tutelage.

Nine years have passed. Radaelli remains active and today must face a charge of homicide. He knows he is not alone. He is considered the "thinking" head of a group of nationalist Army intelligence officers who gathered around the former commander-in-chief, Lieutenant General Fernán Amado. At the time of the Berríos scandal, Amado was the head of Army Intendance.

In that same group, Casella and another of those involved in the kidnapping and murder of Berríos closed ranks: Lieutenant Colonel Wellington Sarli. The three officers are not unknown in Uruguay. They are linked to acts of state terrorism during that country's dictatorship.

Especially a series of bomb attacks perpetrated against dissidents in the late '80s, which included a bomb at the law firm of then-President Julio María Sanguinetti.

The group was known under the acronym "Guardia de Artigas," a group that was born under the protection of the largest and most powerful lodge—"Tenientes de Artigas"—but under a more clandestine profile.

The backstage of the power struggle of that time pitted General Amado against Sanguinetti. Later, when the Berríos scandal broke, the factions fought for power again. According to testimonies from Chilean officers, one prize that was in the middle of the dispute was the production of chemical weapons that Berríos had allegedly begun to carry out for his group of Uruguayan guards.

The truth is that Amado denounced wiretapping. He blamed the Director of Intelligence, General Aguerrondo, who finally had to retire. Now the new factions are mixed with the old and current struggles in a fight for power and impunity. And Radaelli is in the eye of the hurricane.

Source: ciper.cl, August 11, 2015

The Court of Appeals increased the sentences of the perpetrators of the kidnapping with subsequent homicide of the former chemist of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) Eugenio Berríos, and those who formed an illicit association with the purpose of murdering him in 1992 in Uruguay.

In a split decision, the ministers of the Fifth Chamber of the appellate court, Carlos Cerda, Gloria Ana Chevesich, and the participating lawyer Teresa Álvarez, confirmed the sentence of Judge Madrid regarding the criminal aspect and increased the prison terms.

Thus, Major (Ret.) Arturo Silva Valdés was sentenced to an effective prison term of 15 years and 1 day for his responsibility as the author of the crime of kidnapping with homicide, and 5 years and 1 day for illicit association.

The former head of the DINE, General (Ret.) Hernán Ramírez Rurange, received an effective sentence of 10 years and 1 day for his responsibility as the author of the crime of kidnapping; 10 years and 1 day for illicit association, and was acquitted of obstruction of justice, while the former Army Auditor General Fernando Torres Silva was sentenced to 10 years and 1 day for his responsibility as the author of the crime of illicit association.

In the civil aspect, the chamber revoked the resolution that had accepted the claim for compensation in favor of Fabiola Letelier del Solar and Gladys Schmeisser, but maintained the payment of $20,000,000 for the estate represented by the plaintiff Gonzalo Berríos Sagredo.

The rest of the Court's sentences: Eugenio Covarrubias Valenzuela: 10 years and 1 day for his responsibility as the author of the crime of kidnapping; 5 years and 1 day for illicit association, and acquitted of his participation as an accessory to kidnapping with homicide and obstruction of justice.

Without benefits. Jaime Torres Gacitúa: 10 years and 1 day for his responsibility as the author of the crime of kidnapping and 5 years and 1 day for illicit association. Without benefits. Manuel Provis Carrasco: 10 years and 1 day for his responsibility as the author of the crime of kidnapping and 5 years and 1 day for illicit association.

Without benefits. Pablo Rodríguez Márquez: 10 years and 1 day for his responsibility as the author of the crime of kidnapping and 800 days for illicit association. Without benefits. Raúl Lillo Gutiérrez: 10 years and 1 day for his responsibility as the author of the crime of kidnapping and 800 days for illicit association.

Acquitted of the charge of obstruction of justice. Without benefits. Manuel Pérez Santillán: 5 years and 1 day for his responsibility as an accomplice to the crime of kidnapping and acquitted of the charge of illicit association.

Without benefits. Tomás Casella Santos (Uruguayan military officer): 10 years and 1 day for his responsibility as the author of the crime of kidnapping and 5 years and 1 day for illicit association. Without benefits.

Eduardo Radaelli Copolla (Uruguayan military officer): 10 years and 1 day for his responsibility as the author of the crime of kidnapping and 800 days for illicit association. Without benefits. Wellington Sarli Pose (Uruguayan military officer): 5 years and 1 day for his responsibility as an accomplice to the crime of kidnapping and 60 days for illicit association.

Without benefits. Marcelo Sandoval Durán: 10 years and 1 day for his responsibility as the author of the crime of kidnapping, 800 days for illicit association, and acquitted of infringement of Article 295 bis of the Penal Code.

Without benefits. Nelson Román Vargas: 10 years and 1 day for his responsibility as the author of the crime of kidnapping, 800 days for illicit association, and acquitted of the charge of infringement of Article 295 bis of the Penal Code.

Without benefits. Enrique Ibarra Chamorro: acquitted of his responsibility as the author of the crime of illicit association. Mario Cisternas Orellana: acquitted of his responsibility as the author of the crime of infringement of Article 295 bis of the Penal Code.

Nelson Hernández Franco: acquitted of his responsibility as the author of the crime of infringement of Article 295 bis of the Penal Code. Erika Silva Morales: acquitted of her responsibility as the author of the crime of infringement of Article 295 bis of the Penal Code. Emilio Rojas Gómez: acquitted of his responsibility as the author of the crime of obstruction of justice.

The ruling of Judge Alejandro Madrid

In September 2010, Judge Alejandro Madrid released the resolution of the extensive sentence in which he convicted the perpetrators of the kidnapping with subsequent homicide of the former DINA chemist.

The magistrate established in the investigation that Berríos was hidden to prevent him from testifying in the investigation into the homicide of former Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier. In his ruling, he established that the events occurred between the years 1991 and 1993—when the body appeared on a beach—a period "of full validity of the constitutional order," and that it was perpetrated by "active-duty military personnel of the Armies of Chile and Uruguay." At that time, the highest penalty of the 14 convicted was for Major (Ret.) Arturo Silva Valdés, sentenced to an effective prison term of 10 years and 1 day as the author of kidnapping with homicide and 3 years and 1 day for illicit association. The former head of the DINE, General (Ret.) Hernán Ramírez Rurange, was given an effective sentence of 5 years and 1 day for kidnapping and 3 years and 1 day for illicit association, as were Major (Ret.) Jaime Torres Gacitúa and Brigadier (Ret.) Manuel Provis. To the former director of the DINE, General (Ret.) Eugenio Covarrubias, he gave 3 years and 1 day for kidnapping and 541 days for illicit association, with supervised release. To the former Army Auditor General Fernando Torres Silva, he sentenced him to 3 years and 1 day for illicit association without benefits, and to Major (Ret.) Raúl Lillo to 5 years and 1 day for kidnapping and 100 days for illicit association. Added to this are military officers Pablo Rodríguez Márquez, Marcelo Sandoval, and Nelson Román with 3 years and 1 day for kidnapping and 60 days for illicit association. The judge acquitted all those who were prosecuted for obstruction of justice, a crime that is repealed, and for the infringement of failing to report an illicit association. Among them, Mario Cisternas, Nelson Hernández, Érika Silva, and Emilio Rojas. And Colonel (Ret.) Enrique Ibarra, of illicit association.

Source: emol.cl, August 23, 2013