Ex-General in Chile Flees to Army Barracks
Former secret police chief Manuel Contreras, facing a six-year jail sentence for murdering a prominent Chilean leftist on a Washington street, fled Sunday to an army barracks, government officials said.
Contreras, who had been holed up at his farm in southern Chile since his conviction was upheld two weeks ago, entered the barracks of the Sangra Infantry Regiment near Puerto Montt, according to a government statement.
Contreras, retired head of the now-disbanded secret police, was sentenced in the 1976 car-bomb murder of Orlando Letelier and an American assistant. Contreras’ son Manuel said the ex-general heard shots early Sunday as unknown assailants allegedly tried to kidnap him at the farm.
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