Former military officer Nelson Haase Mazzei was captured after fleeing his 25-year prison sentence for the murder of Victor Jara.
The Justice Department reported that retired military officer Nelson Haase Mazzei was captured in the Los Lagos region after fleeing his 25-year sentence for the kidnapping and murder of folk musician Victor Jara. Haase Mazzei was convicted of the death of Jara, who was tortured and murdered with 44 bullets during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Jara was a prominent figure in the New Chilean Song movement. His death occurred in 1973, shortly after Pinochet led a violent coup against Salvador Allende. While seven men were convicted for Jara's death, Haase Mazzei fled when his sentence was announced in 2023. One of the other convicted men, General Hernan Chacon, died by suicide during his arrest, and another, Pedro Barrientos, was captured by ICE as an illegal immigrant in Florida. The murder of which was considered one of the most heinous crimes of the dictatorship, which left a total of 3,200 victims.