Chile Jails Long‑Hidden Killer of Music Icon Victor Jara

Police in Chile have captured former army colonel Nelson Haase, the man convicted of kidnapping and murdering singer Victor Jara, eleven years after the Pinochet coup.

The singer was a voice of protest in the 60s and 70s and had supported ex‑president Salvador Allende. In a brutal raid at a stadium shortly after the 1973 military takeover, he was tortured, repeatedly shot and eventually killed.

Haase, who had escaped justice after his 2023 sentencing and disappeared for three years, was found by police in the remote town of Puyehue, about 950 km south of Santiago. He now faces 15 years for murder and an additional 10 for kidnapping.

Five other men convicted of Jara’s death are already behind bars. A further retired lieutenant, Pedro Barrientos, was extradited from the US in 2023.

This stinging arrest signals Chile’s ongoing commitment to reckon with the atrocities of the Pinochet regime and to provide long‑overdue justice for its victims.