Deported from the United States, repressor Pedro Barrientos will arrive today in Chile, where he will face justice on charges of being the perpetrator of the murder of singer and composer Víctor Jara in 1973.

Barrientos will arrive at Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, on a flight from Miami, and from there he will be transferred to the military police battalion of Peñalolén, in the southwest of the city of Santiago.

According to lawyer Nelson Caucoto, Chile has been waiting nine years for the extradition of the retired military officer, accused of serious human rights violations, however, he will arrive in the country as a deportee for non-compliance with US immigration laws.

He recalled that Barrientos gave false information to enter the United States, where he married and obtained citizenship, but when he was discovered, the authorities of that country requested his expulsion.

Chile had already filed an international arrest warrant against him and for this reason he will be placed at the disposal of a Chilean magistrate.

Following a case brought by Jara’s widow, Joan, and his two daughters, Manuela and Amanda, in 2016 a federal court in Florida found the repressor guilty of torture and extrajudicial execution of the singer-songwriter.

Barrientos was also ordered to pay the sum of US$28 million to the family in compensation for damages.

Meanwhile, in Chile, the ex-military officer was prosecuted in 2012 as the material author of the crime and recently the justice system convicted seven retired members of the Army for their responsibility in the crimes of kidnapping and murder of Jara.

For Caucoto, plaintiff in the process on behalf of the musician’s family, the deportation of Barrientos will allow the last stage of the trial to be completed.

Jara was captured by members of the army on September 12, 1973, one day after the coup d’état led by Augusto Pinochet against the Popular Unity government of President Salvador Allende, and taken along with hundreds of people to the Chile Stadium.

Four days later, in the surroundings of the Metropolitan Cemetery his body was found with signs of torture and 44 bullet impacts.

Emblematic figure of the Nueva Canción and one of the pillars of Latin American music, the author of renowned numbers such as El derecho de vivir en paz, Te recuerdo Amanda and Manifiesto, was always characterized by his strong social and political commitment.