Caravan of Death
The Caravan of Death was an Army squad that roamed Chile in October 1973, following Augusto Pinochet's coup, murdering the regime's opponents. Members of Chile's Socialist Party in particular were targeted.
Members of the group included two infantrymen and several Army officers, among them: Brigade General Sergio Arellano Stark; Lieutenant Colonel Sergio Arredondo González, later director of the Infantry School; Mayor Pedro Espinoza Bravo, an Army Intelligence officer, later operations chief of the DINA secret police; Captain Marcelo Moren Brito, later commander of Villa Grimaldi, the torture camp; Lieutenant Armando Fernández Lario, later a DINA operative and involved in the assassination of Orlando Letelier and others. (From Memoria y Justicia.)
The group traveled from prison to prison in a Puma helicopter, executing political prisoners with small arms and bladed weapons. The victims were then buried in unmarked graves.
In June 1999, Judge Juan Guzmán Tapia ordered the arrest of five retired military officers —including a general— for their part in the Caravan of Death. The members of this squad are accused of travelling in the country in October 1973, shortly after Pinochet's coup, and killing more than 70 opponents of the military government.
In March 2006, Judge Víctor Montiglio ordered the arrest of thirteen former army officers for their participation in the killings on murder charges.
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