The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Shopping
    • Stores
    • Coupons
    • Daily Double
    • Promotion
    • How It Works
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • Sports

    KNOTT: Pollin honored as a D.C. treasure

  • Sports

    Jamison lights fire under Wizards

  • Politics

    Uninvited White House guests met Obama in line

  • Sports

    Wife aids Woods after SUV crash

  • National

    Volunteers for drug trials hard to find

  • Business

    Dubai debt crisis rocks U.S., Asia markets

  • World

    Piracy threatens fishermen in Yemen

Monday, February 7, 2005

Human rights victories stir resentment

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos

More Stories

  • 3 Americans die in cargo plane crash in China
  • White House: Ticketless couple met Obama
  • Atlantis, crew of 7 back on Earth
  • Uninvited White House guests met Obama in line

By

SANTIAGO, Chile -- Amid jubilation from human rights groups at the unprecedented flurry of victories before Chile's highest courts, a silent storm is brewing among retired and current members of the country's armed forces who feel the quest for justice has gone too far.

"There's a feeling of frustration, of being abandoned and hung out to dry," said retired Gen. Rafael Villarroel, summing up the sentiments of the more than 200,000 retired military officials who make up the veterans union Chile mi Patria ("Chile my Homeland"), of which he is president.

This frustration found a disturbing expression Jan. 17 when retired Col. Germain Barriga Munoz leapt from the 18th floor of an office building.

He was facing four separate trials on human rights charges stemming from his years as a member of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), which with other branches of the military was responsible for the deaths or disappearances of more than 3,000 people in Chile between 1973, when Gen. Augusto Pinochet seized power from an elected government, and 1990, when he was ousted.

In his suicide note, Col. Barriga said the years of public persecution related to his past had become overwhelming, and he told of his difficulties in trying to support his sick wife after losing his job for a third time.

In the note, he complained of "being subject to legal restrictions, which meant I had to testify before four different courts a month, having my resume tarnished by special-interest groups, having friends turn their backs on me, and finding it impossible to find work in an honorable way. ... Please forgive me and try to understand that for me, this has become unbearable."

After retiring from the army in 1991, Col. Barriga worked for two years but was fired after his employer learned he had been part of the DINA. He later found work in a frozen-foods company but was let go. The third firing came last year, after he was targeted by a "funa" -- a march by family members and sympathizers of those he was accused of killing. The marchers, carrying signs and chanting "assassin," appeared outside his home and at the supermarket chain where he worked training security guards.

Such demonstrations have taken on strength in recent years.

In response, Col. Barriga had begun organizing an underground group called the 10th of September Movement, made up of 300 retired military officials opposing the funas -- some say with violence.

David Alvarez, a researcher with the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, an independent think tank, said the funas were born of the frustration of families who weren't finding justice before the courts. "So they decided to take matters into their own hands, to try to ensure that these people wouldn't live in impunity, leading a normal life."

1234Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Commenting is disabled for this entry.
If you feel there is still something worth mentioning about this entry please contact the author or the site admin.

Ask a Question

You Report

Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

Top Stories

Most Read

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. EDITORIAL: The global-cooling cover-up
  3. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  4. Wife aids Woods after SUV crash
  5. PRUDEN: Trouble afoot for high priests
More Top Stories »
  1. In tobacco-loving Virginia, bars give up the habit
  2. Grade-schooler unearths fossil at dinosaur park
  3. Robotic hamster holiday craze
  4. Climate czar rejects doctored data claims
  5. Fenty's approval in D.C. divided by race

Most Shared

  1. EDITORIAL: The global-cooling cover-up
  2. PRUDEN: Trouble afoot for high priests
  3. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  4. University bubble bursting?
  5. In tobacco-loving Virginia, bars give up the habit
More Top Stories »
  1. The United Socialist States of America
  2. Robotic hamster holiday craze
  3. We ain't seen nothing yet
  4. Finance mavens gloomy
  5. Dubai debt crisis rocks U.S., Asia markets

Most Commented

  1. EDITORIAL: The global-cooling cover-up
  2. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  3. PRUDEN: Trouble afoot for high priests
  4. Crashers probe may become criminal investigation
  5. Fenty's approval in D.C. divided by race
More Top Stories »
  1. Ads add heat to health care debate
  2. Grayson's Senate filibuster petition faulted
  3. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  4. Health, climate bills seen to stifle hiring
  5. Climate czar rejects doctored data claims

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

Blogs & Columns

  • Hot Button Blog

    RNC: Breast cancer recommendations may lead to 'rationing'

  • Belief Blog

    Evangelicals OK civil disobedience

  • Out of Context

    Foods that might kill libido

  • On the Fly

    United lifts some 'award' blocking

  • Technology

    Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

  • Redskins 360

    Grimm a semifinalist

  • SNOBlog

    Beyond 'Woody'

Videos

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.