A Chilean judge ordered the arrest Friday of eight ex-army officers for the brutal murder of leftist folk singer Victor Jara, killed in 1973 just days after general Augusto Pinochet came to power. This is the first time a Chilean court has sought to prosecute any suspects in the killing of the pacifist singer - a crime that became emblematic of the bloody Pinochet dictatorship that left more than 3,000 people dead.
Two of the former soldiers were accused of murder, while the others were said to be accomplices, Chilean justice officials said in a statement. An international arrest warrant was issued for one of the suspects, Pedro Barrientos Nunez, who lives in the United States.
"After bringing together many elements, there comes a time when one must end the investigation and try to move toward a resolution," Judge Miguel Vazquez Plaza told reporters. Jara family lawyer Nelson Caucoto said he was "quite satisfied" with the decision. The singer, whose lyrics spoke of love and social protest, became an icon of Latin American popular music with songs like "The Right to Live in Peace," "The Cigarette" and "I remember Amanda."
Jara was married to British dancer Joan Turner, with whom he had two daughters. He was also a member of Chile's Communist Party and a fervent supporter of the Popular Unity coalition that backed Marxist president Salvador Allende, who came to power by popular vote in 1970. Jara was arrested the day after the September 11, 1973 coup that installed Pinochet as dictator. His body was found days later, riddled with 44 machine gun bullets. He had been held, along with around 5,000 other political prisoners, in Santiago's biggest stadium, where he was interrogated, tortured and then killed. He was 40.
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