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CHRONOLOGY - 1986
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JANUARY 15, 1986
United States Senator Edward Kennedy
arrives in Chile to lend support to groups engaged in dialogue and
negotiation towards democracy. On his arrival Kennedy states: "I will
be the first to propose a law in the United States Congress to repeal the
Kennedy amendment if Chile really respects the basic rights of its people
and if democracy were restored. I am not an enemy of the of Chilean people
but I am an enemy of torture, kidnappings, killings and arbitrary
arrests." The amendment Kennedy had sponsored in 1976 blocked military aid
to Chile as long as Pinochet remained in power, and had earned the senator
the label of "national enemy" from the right.
APRIL 28, 1986
Vicaria doctor, Ramiro Olivares and
lawyer Gustavo Villalobos are charged with assisting terrorists.
Following a FPMR assault on a bakery, in which a police officer as well as
one of the assailants die, Olivares gave medical treatment to a man,
unaware that he had been involved in the attack. After charges were
pressed, Olivares was jailed for eight months.
MAY 15, 1986
Thirty-three poblaciones in Santiago are
raided by police and Army troops. An estimated 15,000 people are
arrested.
JULY 2, 1986
Carmen Gloria Quintana and Rodrigo Rojas
are burned alive by a military patrol on the first day of a national
strike. Both are detained during a protest against the regime in the
Nogales area of Central Santiago, by a military patrol which douses them
in kerosene and proceeds to set fire to them. The patrol abandons Rojas
and Quintana in a field, but the two manage to get help. In the hospital,
before he dies four days later, Rojas testifies before a civilian judge.
Quintana sustains burns on 60 percent of her body, which left her
permanently disfigured.
AUGUST 11, 1986
The CNI reports the discovery of a
huge weapons cache, stockpiled by the FPMR, in the vicinity of the
coastal community of Carrizal Bajo, near the town of Vallenar. The CNI
confirms that the arsenal contains more than 1,000 US-made M-16s, 1,900
kilos of explosives, 360,000 5.56 mm rounds of bullets, in addition to
Soviet-made hand grenades and Katiuska rockets. Since 1985, FPMR
operatives, led by Sergio Buschmann and Alfredo Malbrich, had set up an
algae collecting enterprise as a screen for the planned shipment of
weapons. Hiding places were constructed nearby to conceal the weapons
prior to transferring them to Copiapo, Vallenar, La Serena and Santiago.
Although agents of the regime confiscated much of the arms, it is believed
that about one-third has never been located. The Carrizal Bajo arsenal
discovery prompted the Democratic Alliance to distance itself from leftist
groups who advocated armed struggle as a route to recovering democracy.
Buschmann, Malbrich and others were jailed later that year in connection
with the illegal arms shipments.
AUGUST 14, 1986
In an unprecedented court ruling,
Special Prosecutor Carlos Cerda indicts 40 police and military officers,
including former Air Force Commander-in-Chief Gustavo Leigh in the 1973
abduction of 10 Communist Party members. The Appeals Court later threw
out the charges and ordered Cerda to permanently shut the case.
SEPTEMBER 7, 1986
Gen. Pinochet narrowly escapes an
assassination attempt, perpetrated by the FPMR. As he is returning to
Santiago from his El Melocoton property, a mobile home blocks the
entourage on the road near La Obra and FPMR commandos open fire.
Pinochet's chauffeur manages to maneuver the armed vehicle out of range,
but five bodyguards die and ten more are seriously injured. Later,
participants in what the Frente had code-named "Operacion Siglo XX,"
abandon three cars with weapons on the outskirts of Santiago, while
security forces begin combing the city. A state of siege is reinstated and
numerous raids are conducted, with arrests by the CNI. In response to the
ambush, the regime reinforces its repressive policies, unleashing a series
of violent reprisals.
SEPTEMBER 8, 1986
Four opponents of the military
regime are killed in reprisal for the death of the five presidential
bodyguards hours before. The "September 11 Comando" murders Felipe Rivera,
Abraham Muskablit, Gaston Vidaurrazaga, and Jose Carrasco in this
"eye-for-an-eye" revenge operation. Rivera and Muskablit were Communist
Party members, while Vidaurrazaga and Carrasco, the latter an Analisis
magazine editor, were members of the MIR.
SEPTEMBER 8, 1986
A state of siege is declared.
Opposition magazines Apsi, Analisis, Hoy, Cauce, La Bicicleta, and Fortin
Mapocho are closed down. Many political leaders such as Ricardo Lagos,
Patricio Hales, and German Correa are arrested and poblaciones are
raided.
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