Víctor Olea Alegría

Víctor Olea Alegría (born 17 June 1950) was a member (militante) of Chile's Partido Socialista.

Víctor Fernando Olea Alegría
Born	(1950-06-17)17 June 1950 Santiago, Chile
Died	c. 28 September 1974(1974-09-28) (aged 24)
Cause of death	was killed
Nationality	Chilean

Olea lived in Santiago, Chile, the national capital. He was detained by "security agents", Chile's secret police, on 11 September 1974^[1] and became one of the more than 3000 "detenidos desaparecidos". Manuel Contreras, the head of DINA, was convicted in 2002 for his abduction.^{[citation needed]}

Detention

Víctor Olea was arrested at his home on 11 September 1974, by agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA). His paternal aunt met the agents and led them to her nephew. The next day, they returned to search the house, focusing on Víctor's bedroom, from which they stole several documents and his identity card.

The arrest and subsequent disappearance of Victor is part of a DINA operation targeting Socialist Party militants. The first of them was a resident of Olea, Claudio Venegas Lazzaro, arrested on 10 September. The following day, Leonardo Rivas Balmaceda was arrested along with Olea. In the following days, they would continue with Juan Carlos González Sandoval, Bernardo de Castro López, Agustín Holgado Bloch, Luis Olivares Toro, Luis Ahumada and his wife (released the same day), Mario Carrasco Díaz, Juan Luis Tapia, the Spanish citizen Helios Figuerola Pujol , his mother Clara Pujol and, finally, Eduardo Aliste González, on 24 September.

Victor, along with all those detained up to 16 September, was interrogated and booked at the Central Investigation Headquarters. They were then taken, blindfolded, to the Venda Sexy facility in the commune of Macul. There, they were interrogated again and then tortured, with Olea being one of the most affected.

On 25 September, they were transferred to Cuatro Álamos [es], a facility also under the control of the DINA. Between 28 and 30 September, they were transferred to Tres Álamos, except for Olea and four other detainees (Carrasco, De Castro, Venegas, and Aliste), who are still missing.^[2] The rest were released on different days, and most were deported abroad. Among the DINA agents who acknowledged their participation in this operation was Osvaldo Romo Mena .

On 15 October 1974, an appeal for protection was filed in favour of Victor before the Court of Appeals of Santiago, which would be rejected on 3 December of that year after receiving negative reports from the authorities regarding the arrest.^[3]

Sentencing

The following people were convicted in the case:

• Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, army general and head of the DINA, would be sentenced to 10 years and 1 day as the author of the qualified kidnappings of Mario Carrasco Díaz and Víctor Olea Alegría.^[4]
• Raúl Iturriaga Neumann, army general and deputy director of the DINA, sentenced to 5 years and 1 day as the author of the qualified kidnappings of Mario Carrasco Díaz and Víctor Olea Alegría.^[5]
• Alejandro Molina Cisternas , a non-commissioned officer of the Carabineros and agent of the DINA, sentenced to 5 years and 1 day as co-author of the qualified kidnappings of Mario Carrasco Díaz and Víctor Olea Alegría.^[6]
• Gerardo Urrich González , army major and head of the Purén Unit of the Metropolitan Intelligence Brigade, sentenced to 5 years and 1 day as co-author of the qualified kidnappings of Mario Carrasco Díaz and Víctor Olea Alegría.^[7]
• Risiere Altez España , inspector of the Chilean Investigative Police and agent of the DINA, sentenced to 3 years and 1 day as co-author of the qualified kidnappings of Mario Carrasco Díaz and Víctor Olea Alegría.^[7]

Both Molina and Urrich received an 8-month sentence reduction in 2012.^[8]

See also

• List of kidnappings
• Operation Condor