adriana

Adriana Rivas: Aide of Pinochet-era spy chief held in Australia

Image copyright Storyboard media Image caption Adriana Rivas worked for Chile's secret police force in the 1970s

Australian police have arrested a Chilean woman living in Sydney over her alleged involvement in a kidnapping during the military rule of Gen Augusto Pinochet in the South American country.

Adriana Rivas worked as a secretary for the infamous chief of Chile's secret police force, Manuel Contreras.

Contreras died in 2015 while serving a sentence of more than 500 years for human rights abuses.

Some 3,000 Pinochet opponents were killed during the 1970s and 1980s.

Chilean authorities accuse Ms Rivas of having participated in the kidnapping and disappearance of the secretary-general of the Communist Party, Víctor Díaz.

'Best days of my life'

Ms Rivas, who is now 66, worked for Manuel Contreras from 1973 to 1976 at the National Intelligence Directorate (Dina), the secret police force founded by Gen Pinochet to hunt down his political opponents.

Image copyright Storyboard media Image caption Ms Rivas said that she enjoyed working for Manuel Contreras (left), who was Pinochet's spy chief

More than 40,000 people were politically persecuted during the Pinochet era, which lasted from 1973 to 1990.

The National Intelligence Directorate was at the centre of Gen Pinochet's campaign to silence opposition to his rule after he seized power in a military coup in September 1973.

Its agents abducted, tortured, killed and "disappeared" thousands of people before the agency was replaced by the equally brutal CNI, an army intelligence battalion.

In a 2013 interview with Australian broadcaster SBS, Ms Rivas described her years at the Dina, as "the best of my life".

'They had to break people'

She described how she was given an allowance for clothes and invited to fancy balls, travelled in luxury cars and stayed at upmarket hotels.

Asked about the torture carried out by Dina agents, she said that "they had to break the people - it has happened all over the world, not only in Chile".

Image copyright Storyboard media Image caption The secret police force which Ms Rivas worked for was infamous for torturing prisoners

While Ms Rivas has denied taking part in any torture sessions, witnesses alleged in interviews given to documentary filmmaker Lissette Orozco that she was one of Dina's "most brutal torturers" who allegedly played a key role in the elite Lautaro Brigade, which was tasked with killing the leadership of Chile's underground Communist Party.

Ms Orozco, who is Ms Rivas' niece, spent five years making a documentary about her aunt, which was screened at the 2017 Berlin film festival.

Ms Orozco told BBC Mundo's Constanza Hola in 2017 that she had originally set out to tell her aunt's side of the story.

But that as she found out more about Ms Rivas's involvement in the secret police, the film became a journey which shows the filmmaker increasingly confronting her aunt in conversations via Skype as well as talking to those fighting for justice for Dina's victims.

'Relief' among victims' families

Ms Rivas left the Dina in 1976 and moved to Sydney in 1978, where she worked as a nanny and a cleaner.

During a visit to her home country in 2006, she was arrested but while under investigation for her alleged involvement in the kidnapping of Mr Díaz, she returned to Australia.

Chile filed an extradition request in 2013 but she was only detained on Tuesday in Sydney.

Lawyer Andrea Navarro, who represents some of the relatives of victims of the Dina, said there appeared to have been "technical issues between the Chilean and Australian judicial systems" which had delayed Ms Rivas' arrest.

Ms Navarro said news of her detentions had been greeted with "relief and satisfaction" by her clients.

Ms Rivas is next due to appear in court in Sydney on 1 March. Bail has not been granted.

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Alleged torturer during Pinochet regime in Chile arrested in Australia

Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Australian authorities arrested a woman for her alleged involvement in kidnappings and killings in Chile during the Pinochet regime from 1973 to 1990.

Adriana Rivas faces possible extradition to Chile after her Tuesday arrest. Authorities took her to a police station in Surrey Hills, a suburb of Melbourne, and she participated in a hearing in Sydney's Central Local Court by video conferencing.

Her arrest was "pursuant to a request from the Republic of Chile for her extradition" a spokesperson for Australia's attorney general, Christian Porter, said in a statement. "This individual is wanted to face prosecution in the Republic of Chile for aggravated kidnapping offences."

The judge adjourned her case until March 1.

Rivas was an intelligence officer in Chile during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, during which thousands of his Chilean opponents were kidnapped, tortured and slain. A lower-level employee at the notorious Simon Bolivar Barracks in Santiago, Chile, told Australian prosecutors that Rivas was involved in tortures and killings.

Rivas arrived in Australia in 1978 and worked as a nanny and house cleaner, and was detained by police when she returned to Chile for a visit in 2006. While out on bail she returned to Australia. She was charged in Chile on seven counts of aggravated kidnapping.

In a 2013 interview Rivas said she was innocent of the charges, but defended the torture of the Pinochet regime.

"They had to break the people. It has happened all over the world, not only in Chile," she said.

Thousands of expatriate Chileans in Australia, many of whom escaped the Pinochet regime, have encouraged Australian authorities to begin extradition proceedings against Rivas.

"We congratulate each other for this fact [the arrest], but we also feel sadness for families, children and grandchildren and for people who have lost their loved ones because they were killed by the armed forces and Chilean security," Adriana Navarro, a lawyer representing families of Pinochet's victims, said.

Navarro added that relatives in Australia have provided information to Chilean authorities about the tortures and killings for the past five years.

Rivas can give her consent for extradition to Chile, or use a variety of review procedures to remain in Australia as long as possible.

Democracy was restored to Chile in 1990. Pinochet died in 2006.

03

Man Sentenced to 25 Years for 48 Pills

Police arrested James Caruso in a Sunrise parking lot for having a handful of hydrocodone pills. That was in 2002.

Seventeen years later, he's still behind bars and has eight years left on his sentence.

"It's really sad for us as a family, he has missed so much in our lives," said his sister, Adriana Friedman.

James Caruso pictured with his parents and sister Adriana Friedman during a visit in prison. Photo credit: Caruso family

James missed his sister's high school and college graduations, her wedding, the birth of her first child and the funeral of their father.

"This doesn't just affect him, it affects the entire family," she said. James was sentenced under old Florida guidelines that have since been revised. If he committed the same offense today, he would receive a seven-year sentence, not 25 years.

"The punishment doesn't match the crime, it doesn't match at all," said Adriana.

James Caruso with his sisters Danielle Caruso (left) and Adriana Friedman (right). Photo credit: Caruso family

Last year, voters approved Amendment 11 which changed the Florida constitution.

One of the things it did was allowing lawmakers to retroactively change criminal sentences if the guidelines were revised after a prisoner was convicted. But James is still behind bars and his family worries he'll have to fulfill his original sentence keeping him in prison until 2023.

In a letter to the NBC6 Investigators, James wrote in part, "I am not an innocent man wrongfully accused. I am a man serving a sentence that is no longer considered acceptable and no longer given."

James went on to write that he suffered from addiction for years before his arrest but said he has turned his life around in prison. He received a bachelor's degree in biblical studies.

James Caruso before he was arrested and sent to prison in 2002. Photo credit: Caruso family

"He's a non-violent drug offender and he's still sitting there," said Adriana. "We're looking for someone who's going to be a trailblazer and help us get him out of there."

The NBC6 Investigators analyzed statewide conviction data and found James isn't the only one serving a drug sentence under old guidelines. Data shows there are more than 1,100 people like James who have been sentenced to prison for similar drug crimes. And that's just in the past decade.

Greg Newburn, the director of state policy for Florida Against Mandatory Minimums, says there's no reason James should still be behind bars.

"It's a complete waste of everyone's time and resources to keep these people locked up for even one more day," said Newburn.

What's unclear with the amendment passing is if the courts can allow inmates to automatically petition to have their sentence reviewed or if lawmakers have to take action first.

Senator Darryl Rouson of St. Petersburg isn't waiting. He filed a bill this month that, if passed, would allow statewide amendments to apply retroactively. The bill would allow James to immediately petition the court for a resentencing hearing. The bill will be heard by a senate committee soon.

James Caruso during a family visit in prison on Christmas day, 2008. Photo credit: Caruso family

"We're here and we're fighting and we don't stop, we're not going to until he's home with us," said Adriana.

Since James was sentenced 17 years ago, Florida lawmakers also changed the amount of the fine he was ordered to pay. If the crime happened today, it would be a $100,000 fine. James was ordered to pay $500,000 back in 2002. It's a fine that is still unpaid.