Air Force officer files complaint against newspaper director

(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – On 15 October 2002, Colonel Patricio Provoste, counter-intelligence sub-director for the Chilean Air Force (Fuerza Aérea de Chile, FACH), launched a criminal action against “La Nacion” director Alberto Luengo for libel and associated damages. In a 13 October “La Nacion” article entitled “Current DIFA officials ‘advise’ former agents”, journalist Marcelo Padilla reported on […]

(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – On 15 October 2002, Colonel Patricio Provoste, counter-intelligence sub-director for the Chilean Air Force (Fuerza Aérea de Chile, FACH), launched a criminal action against “La Nacion” director Alberto Luengo for libel and associated damages. In a 13 October “La Nacion” article entitled “Current DIFA officials ‘advise’ former agents”, journalist Marcelo Padilla reported on the existence of a group of military officers working under the Air Force Intelligence Office (Direccion de Inteligencia de la Fuerza Aérea, DIFA). The officers allegedly have collaborated in activities aimed at impeding judicial investigations of human rights violations during the military dictatorship in Chile. According to Padilla’s military sources, Provoste was part of that group, which assisted lawyers representing the implicated military officers.

Provoste, who has been with FACH for 32 years, said before the Santiago Second Criminal Court that he had taken offence to the article. He stated that the allegations were “unsubstantiated” and that the issue has caused him “many problems in recent days.” He claimed that he had no relationship whatsoever with the military officers mentioned in the article and that he had never been in the office where the meetings of those involved in obstructing justice were allegedly held.

The article with which Provoste took issue was part of a “La Nacion” in-depth investigation into human rights violations committed during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, the Chilean courts’ current investigations into the matter and the agreements reached at the so-called “Dialogue Roundtable”, which has brought together military officials and victims of the repression in an effort to clarify what happened during the dictatorship.

Two weeks prior to Provoste’s launching of a legal action, lawyer Jorge Balmaceda, who represents another of the implicated military officers, filed a complaint against journalist Victor Gutiérrez of “La Nacion”. Gutiérrez had written a series of articles quoting a former FACH agent who accused Balmaceda of being behind a number of irregular moves that benefited former members of the military dictatorship in trials that are currently under way (see IFEX alert of 4 October 2002). Balmaceda is the same lawyer who, in February 2001, represented then-general Hernán Gabrielli Rojas of FACH, who had taken legal action against three individuals for alleging in a news report that he had taken part in human rights violations (see IFEX alerts of 14 May and 15 February 2001). At the end of 2001, Gabrielli was removed from his post because of the ensuing scandal.

Curiously, the information that “La Nacion” revealed in September 2002 also resulted in the end of the career of FACH Commander-in-Chief Patricio Ríos, who was sacked after it became known that he had reluctantly provided President Ricardo Lagos with information about the responsibility of several military officials during the Pinochet dictatorship.

Recommended Action

Appeals To

Chilean Air Force High Command
Air Force Commander-in-Chief
E-mail: rrppfach@fach.cl

Please copy appeals to the source if possible.