Chilean authorities have arrested a fugitive retired colonel who had evaded capture for three years following his conviction in the 1973 kidnapping and murder of renowned singer-songwriter Víctor Jara. The arrest brings a measure of justice in a case that has spanned over half a century and highlighted the brutality of Chile's military dictatorship.
Retired Colonel Nelson Haase Mazzei, 80, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the deaths of Jara and the then-Director General of Prisons, Littré Quiroga Carvajal. Haase Mazzei was convicted in 2018, and his sentence was increased in 2023 along with those of six other military officers. He fled before beginning his prison term and was located and imprisoned this past weekend, according to a statement from the Judiciary.
Judge Paola Plaza of the Santiago Court of Appeals ordered Haase Mazzei's immediate imprisonment, identifying him as the last of those convicted to begin serving their sentence. The Judiciary confirmed his arrest on Saturday.
Víctor Jara, a prominent figure of the Nueva Canción (New Song) movement, was arrested on Sept. 16, 1973, just five days after a military coup overthrew President Salvador Allende. Jara, then 40 and a member of the Communist Party of Chile, was taken to the Chile Stadium, which has since been renamed the Víctor Jara Stadium.
At the stadium, Jara was separated from thousands of other prisoners, taken to a private area, tortured, violently assaulted, and ultimately executed. An investigation found he suffered multiple fractures and his body bore 44 bullet wounds. Quiroga was killed alongside him.
Dictatorship's Brutality
In 1991, an official report by the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation classified Jara's killing as a grave human rights violation and a political execution. The report documented that 890 people were killed in the first three months following the coup.
Chile's military dictatorship, led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet, lasted 17 years and is estimated to have resulted in approximately 40,000 victims. These include more than 2,000 executions, 1,469 enforced disappearances, and thousands more who were tortured. Courts have since convicted hundreds of state agents and civilians for crimes committed during this period.
Amanda Jara, daughter of the musician and head of the Víctor Jara Foundation, acknowledged the arrest but expressed that it was difficult to consider it complete justice. "We hope that the police will manage to find all those who fled for crimes against humanity," she stated in a letter published Sunday.
Since 2024, Chile has been implementing a National Search Plan to unify figures and establish a roadmap for locating disappeared detainees, a task that has long been carried out by victims' families.
The case of Víctor Jara remains one of the most emblematic examples of the dictatorship's systematic repression and human rights abuses.