SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) – Gen. Manuel Contreras, who headed the feared spy agency that kidnapped, tortured and killed thousands during Chile’s military dictatorship, died Friday at a military hospital while serving a combined sentence of more than 500 years for crimes against humanity. He was 86.
Contreras had been hospitalized Sept. 26 because of kidney problems and was later moved to the intensive care unit when his condition degenerated.
Soon after the death was confirmed by the government, a small crowd of several dozen people gathered outside the Santiago hospital waving Chilean flags. They broke into changes of “Murderer!” and toasted with champagne in paper cups to celebrate his death.
After the 1973 military coup led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet that ousted the socialist government of President Salvador Allende, Contreras formed and commanded the DINA spy agency and went on to become the second most powerful and feared figure of the regime after Pinochet himself.
Born on May 4, 1929, in Santiago, Contreras was a career military man who also helped organize Operation Condor, a coordinated effort formed in the mid-1970s by South America’s dictatorships to eliminate dissidents who sought refuge in neighboring countries.