Chilean police have captured Nelson Haase Mazzei, a retired army colonel and the last remaining fugitive convicted of the kidnapping and murder of folk singer Víctor Jara. Haase Mazzei was located on Saturday in a rural plot in Puyehue, within the Los Lagos region, approximately 850 to 950 kilometers south of Santiago, according to reports from the BBC and local media.
The capture follows an order for his immediate imprisonment issued by Paola Plaza, the visiting minister for human rights causes at the Santiago Court of Appeals, as reported by the Poder Judicial. Haase Mazzei had been avoiding justice since August 2023, when the Supreme Court issued a final judgment and he failed to appear voluntarily to serve his sentence.
Sentencing and Legal Accountability
Haase Mazzei was sentenced to a total of 25 years and two days in prison. This penalty consists of 15 years and one day for acting as an author in the homicides of Víctor Jara and Littré Quiroga—the then director general of Prisons—and an additional 10 years and one day for the qualified kidnapping of both victims, according to the Poder Judicial and T13.
The colonel was one of eight officers found guilty of Jara’s murder in 2018. Other individuals convicted in the case include Raúl Jofré González, Edwin Dimter Bianchi, Ernesto Bethke Wulf, and Juan Jara Quintana, while Rolando Melo Silva was convicted as an accessory. The remaining five convicted officers are currently in jail. Two other convicted men did not serve their sentences in the same manner: Gen Hernán Chacón Soto committed suicide when police arrived to notify him of the sentence, and Pedro Barrientos, identified as the author of the final shot that killed Jara, was extradited from the United States in 2023 after a Florida jury found him liable.
The Crimes Against Víctor Jara and Littré Quiroga
The crimes occurred in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 1973, coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power. Littré Quiroga surrendered to military officials on the day of the coup, and Víctor Jara was detained on September 12 at the former Universidad Técnica del Estado. Both were taken to the Estadio Chile—now renamed Estadio Víctor Jara—where more than 5,000 prisoners were held.
Historical Context and Recovery
Víctor Jara’s body was found on September 16, 1973, near the Metropolitan Cemetery on the outskirts of the capital. He was recognized by neighbors and buried clandestinely by his widow, Joan Jara. It was not until December 2009 that the Chilean justice system ordered the exhumation of his remains, leading to a mass official tribute attended by then-president Michelle Bachelet.
The crimes are cited as symbolic examples of the 17-year Pinochet dictatorship. According to official figures, the regime left more than 40,000 victims, including those executed, tortured, or disappeared, with over 3,200 opponents killed by state agents, as noted by elmundo.es.
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