The Supreme Court will also hold a hearing in which a final verdict is expected on the cases against 24 politicians and officers from Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay, and Peru.
On Thursday, Italy’s Supreme Court upheld life sentences for three Chilean former officers involved in the disappearance of Italians during the execution of Operation Condor, a U.S. counterinsurgency strategy implemented in Latin America during the 1970s and 1980s.
In July 2019, the Rome Court of Appeals already sentenced Colonel Rafael Ahumada, Warrant Officer Orlando Moreno, and Brigadier Manuel Vasquez to life imprisonment. Since their lawyer Valentina Perrone did not file new legal appeals, the sentence issued by the Court of Appeals is final.
Previously, the Rome Prosecutor’s Office had already sent arrest warrants to Chile for Ahumada, Moreno, and Vasquez, who were convicted for the murder and disappearance of Omar Venturelli and Juan Montiglio.
“First of all, we are very happy for the relatives of the victims because they have finally found justice… We also hope that the sentence will generate follow-up actions in Chile and other South American countries,” the Italian General Confederation of Labor (CGIL) Secretary Maurizio Landini said upon learning of the convictions of those who participated in the repression unleashed after the 1973 coup d’etat against Chile’s President Salvador Allende.
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