cnn
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A Chilean citizen who was wanted in that country for the murder of leftist singer-songwriter Víctor Jara 50 years ago is now detained in Florida, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
Pedro Barrientos was arrested last week during a traffic stop in Deltona, Florida, ICE announced Tuesday.
Barrientos, a former military officer, was charged by a Chilean judge in 2012 with Jara’s brutal 1973 murder.
“Barrientos will now have to answer to the charges he faces in Chile for his participation in the torture and extrajudicial executions of Chilean citizens,” said John Condon, special agent with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division in Tampa, in a written statement Tuesday.
CNN has contacted Barrientos’ lawyers for comment.
Jara, a communist sympathizer, was among the first victims of Chile’s military coup and dictatorship in 1973. His body was found with 44 gunshot wounds and signs of torture.
“On September 11, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet led a violent coup against Salvador Allende, the democratically elected president of Chile,” ICE said in its statement.
“In the weeks that followed, many people were detained and tortured at Chile Stadium, an indoor sports facility that the military commandeered as a de facto detention center,” ICE said. “Many disappeared or were executed. Víctor Jara, a popular folk musician, was among the most famous victims.”
Barrientos later arrived in the United States in 1990 and overstayed her visa, according to court documents, but was able to obtain U.S. citizenship after marrying an American.
In 2016, a civil jury in Florida ruled that Barrientos was responsible for Jara’s death and found him liable for $28 million in damages to Jara’s surviving family members.
This summer, Barrientos’ citizenship was revoked after a judge determined that Barrientos had lied in his citizenship application by failing to disclose his connection to the Pinochet regime.
