Summary
https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2024-10-01/pinochet-regime-50-assassination-general-carlos-prats-and-sofia and https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/32457-document-3-chilean-embassy-buenos-aires-letter-consul-alvaro-droguett-del-pierro
50 years ago, Carlos Prats and Sofia Cuthbert were murdered by the Chilean government.
They were his first victimes. Their family was really hurt, obviously. But what hurts more is knowing that your parents were brutally murdered, and the killer cannot be held responsible for taking away your parents from you. It is even worse to know that several governments collaborated to allow the killers to evade justice. It wasn't until decades later that anything happened, where according to the text “Argentine authorities did eventually arrest DINA agent Enrique Arancibia Clavel, charging him first with espionage and then as an accessory to the Prats assassination. He was imprisoned in Argentina for almost two decades.”. Meanwhile the man who put out the hit, Pinochet, never faced any consequences. As a matter of fact, according to the article “he died on December 10, 2006—ironically, international Human Rights Day—the Chilean military arranged for his open coffin to be viewed by his admirers”
The reason why, you may ask? It’s sadly simple. Pinochet considered them to be a thorn in his side and decided they had to pay with their lives. According to the aforementioned article “But General Pinochet clearly considered the highly respected Prats to be a potential threat to his power. Only six weeks after the coup, Pinochet dispatched one of his top deputies, General Sergio Arellano Stark, to Buenos Aires to conduct secret talks with the Argentine military. Arellano’s top priority, according to a CIA source, was to “discuss with the Argentine military any information they have regarding the activities of General (retired) Carlos Prats. Arellano will also attempt to gain an agreement whereby the Argentines maintain scrutiny over Prats and regularly inform the Chileans of his activities.” In June 1974, Pinochet met with the director of the Chilean secret police, DINA, Colonel Manuel Contreras, and ordered him to eliminate Prats.”
I think this brings up an important reminder of how calculated this all was. As we discussed in class, all the governments were in on it both locally, but also internationally within the Americas, but especially within their respective regions. How else would it be possible to have a Chilean dictator calling in help to murder a man with help from the Argentine government. All of these governments have blood on their hands, and a lot of opportunities to clean said blood, for better and worse.
Chilean Embassy, Buenos Aires, [Letter from Consul Álvaro Droguett del Pierro to the Foreign Ministry regarding Prats Passports], August 12, 1974. (1974, August 12). National Security Archive. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/32457-document-3-chilean-embassy-buenos-aires-letter-consul-alvaro-droguett-del-pierro