INVESTIGATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES, CRIMINAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANTIAGO 002540

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/19/2015
TAGS: CASC PHUM CI
SUBJECT: INVESTIGATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES, CRIMINAL
ACTIVITY AT COLONIA DIGNIDAD

REF: SANTIAGO 1847 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL SEAN MURPHY


1. In a December 19 meeting with Consul General to discuss
the investigation of the 1985 disappearance of U.S. citizen
Boris Weisfeiler, Judge Jorge Zepeda shared information about
the broader aspects of his investigation of human rights
abuses and criminal activity at the German religous colony
south of Santiago formerly known as Colonia Dignidad, now
Villa Baviera.


2. Zepeda said that his investigation has conclusively
established that opponents of the Pinochet regime were taken
to Colonia Dignidad by the DINA (secret police) to be
interrogated and tortured. In some cases, prisoners were
murdered at Colonia Dignidad by DINA agents with the active
collaboration of the Colonia's security force. He said these
activities occurred primarily in the immediate aftermath of
the 1973 coup and again in the late 1970s and early 1980s,
coinciding with an upsurge in anti-Pinochet activities.
Zepeda said that recent excavations at Colonia Dignidad had
discovered indications that human remains, likely belonging
to murdered political prisoners, had been buried in common
graves and subsequently removed. He said he had firm evidence
concerning five political opponents of the regime who had
been tortured, murdered, and buried at Colonia Dignidad.
Sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s, as international
attention on human rights abuses at Colonia Dignidad
intensfied, colony security officials had exhumed the bodies,
cremated them, and dumped the ashes into a nearby river.


3. Zepeda described Colonia's Dignidad's relationship with
the then Chilean security apparatus as extensive and
intimate. He showed the Consul General a photograph of
Schaffer on a night time hunting expedition on colony
property with DINA head Manuel Contreras (convicted in 2004
of killing a regime political opponent and sentenced along
with four other former DINA officials to twelve years in
prison). Zepeda said that connections such as these allowed
Colonia Dignidad to function with near impunity well into
Chile's democratic transition period. He showed the Consul
General still photos from a 1995/1995 video of the arrival at
the Colonia's airstrip of an unidentified VIP aboard a small
plane painted in camouflage colors and bearing what Zepeda
said were German identification numbers on its fuselage. The
VIP is seen being warmly greeted by Schaffer and a large
crowd of colonists. According to Zepeda, voices on the video
can be heard joking that the plane and its passengers did not
pass through any Chilean inspection process upon arrival.
Zepeda said he has referred the matter to Chilean civil
aviation authorities for investigation.


4. Colonia Dignidad founder Paul Schaffer, returned from
Argentina earlier this year to face child abuse charges, has
refused to cooperate with any aspect of the investigation,
Zepeda said. He added that Schaffer receives legal guidance
from Argentinian lawyers previously involved in representing
persons implicated in the bombings of the Israeli Embassy and
the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. Zepeda said that
his investigation has discovered extensive additional
evidence of child abuse at the colony, some involving
bestiality.


5. Zepeda said that he hopes to conclude his investigation by
the end of January. Between now and then, pursuing leads in
the Weisfeiler investigation will be a major focus of the
investigation. He is also pursuing remaining leads about
arms trafficking and the possible illegal importation of
weapons.


KELLY