Former Chilean army lieutenant from Deltona accused of murder, stripped of U.S. citizenship

A former Chilean army lieutenant, who now lives in Deltona, accused of killing an iconic folk singer 50 years ago, was stripped of his U.S. citizenship Friday after the government learned he lied on his naturalization application papers, according to a federal court.

Pedro Pablo Barrientos, 74, had his citizenship revoked by a federal judge seven years after a jury in a civil trial found him responsible for the September 1973 death of internationally known folk singer Victor Jara, 40. The civil trial was held at the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Orlando in June 2016.

Barrientos was sued by Jara's family under the Alien Tort Statute and Torture Victims Protection Act. This U.S. civil law enables individuals to bring lawsuits against defendants living in the United States for torture and for extrajudicial killing.

A jury determined in 2016 that Barrientos was liable for the torture and extrajudicial killing of Jara and ordered him to pay Jara's family $28 million in damages.

Barrientos was not at the Brady Drive home Wednesday, where he resided seven years ago. Neighbors said the home is now a rental. In Volusia County Property Appraiser's records, the owner is now listed as the Barrientos Family Trust.

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Death squad member

Officials in Chile, who indicted Barrientos for the murder and torture of Jara, and who are working on extraditing him to face justice, said Barrientos was the commander of a death squad known as the Tejas Verdes.

The squad carried out dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet's orders to round up his political opponents and protestors. Many, including Jara, allegedly, were killed at the Chile Stadium, a soccer playground that was converted into a detention camp for political prisoners, officials said.

Chilean officials said Barrientos was in charge of the stadium, now renamed the Victor Jara Stadium.

On Sept. 11, 1973, Pinochet led a U.S.-backed military coup overthrowing democratically elected socialist President Salvador Allende. Pinochet was in power until he was voted out of office in 1990.

The same year that Pinochet lost power, Barrientos came to the United States on a visitor's visa, one he overstayed, according to the federal court order that removed his citizenship status.

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'Barrientos's answers were false'

Then in October 1997, he married a U.S. citizen and applied for permanent residency. During that application, and in a subsequent interview by an immigration officer, Barrientos was asked to list any present or past membership in any political organization in the United States or any other place and to list any foreign military service. Barrientos responded "None," the court order noted.

Barrientos also answered "no" when immigration officials asked him if had participated in any coup, genocide, or the killing of any person because of race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, or political opinion.

In August 2010, Barrientos again applied to change his status in the United States, this time to become a citizen. He was asked similar questions and again Barrientos answered "no," reaffirming the answers he gave in 1997, the court order shows.

What Barrientos concealed from immigration officials came out in the civil trial in 2016, the federal court said.

"Now it has surfaced that Barrientos's answers were false," wrote U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton, Jr. in his order.

Dalton was the same judge who presided over the 2016 civil trial where the former Chilean lieutenant was found liable for Jara's death.

"The Jara case went to trial before the Undersigned, and Barrientos's military and criminal history were revealed via testimony," Dalton noted in his order.

In granting the United States motion and voiding Barrientos's citizenship, Dalton canceled his Certificate of Naturalization effective Dec. 17, 2010, the day Barrientos took the citizenship oath and recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States.

The judge also said Barrientos had 10 days to surrender his passport and all documents pertaining to his citizenship.

Torture and extrajudicial killing

A lawsuit filed on Sept. 4, 2013, by Jara’s wife, Joan Jara, and his daughters, Amanda Jara Turner and Manuela Bunster, stated that Pinochet had the Chilean army initiate a systematic crackdown on all opposition, including ideological enemies considered subversive.

In a roundup on Sept. 15, 1973, Victor Jara was taken from a university, and then to Chile Stadium where Barrientos commanded the Tejas Verdes regiment, based at a concentration camp where political prisoners were taken. The concentration camp, also called Tejas Verdes (Green Tiles) was where new intelligence agents were trained in the methods of torture and repression, according to Chilean officials.

In their case, lawyers with the Center for Justice and Accountability, a San Francisco-based agency that represented Victor Jara's family, said the folk singer was targeted by Pinochet's government.

Victor Jara, who campaigned for Allende and whose politically charged songs helped elect Allende, was singled out by Pinochet's military junta because his songs were filled with messages of liberty, demands for social change, and denunciation of political oppression, according to the lawsuit.

Lawyers with the Center for Justice and Accountability used testimony from conscripts or enlisted soldiers under Barrientos's command. The witnesses spoke of seeing Barrientos at Chile Stadium on the day Victor Jara was murdered. Conscripts also testified that Barrientos boasted in the officers' mess hall to other lieutenants of how he shot Victor Jara in the head with his Luger pistol.

Barrientos’ attorney claimed that Barrientos did not commit the torture or murder of Jara.

Victor Jara's body was found discarded in the outskirts of the Chilean capital with broken bones. He had been severely tortured. His body was riddled with 44 gunshot wounds, officials said.

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Is deportation and extradition close?

Although Barrientos's citizenship has been revoked, his deportation or extradition to Chile is not yet in process, said Carmen Cheung Ka-Man, executive director of the Center for Justice and Accountability on Tuesday.

Barrientos lost his citizenship but under U.S. law, he still has his permanent residency, Ka-Man said.

"The denaturalization can be a first step to removal/deportation," Ka-Man said. "However, our understanding is that there are still at least a few more steps before he can be removed from the United States, as he will likely still have lawful permanent status."

The United States government would have to take steps to revoke Barrientos's permanent residency before they can begin removal/deportation proceedings against him, Ka-Man said.

Extradition to Chile would be a separate issue from the removal of citizenship status.

"An extradition is in response to a request from Chile that Barrientos be surrendered and returned to Chile to stand trial there," Ka-Man said. "The denaturalization is in response to a complaint filed by the United States of America alleging that Barrientos obtained his citizenship through misrepresentation."

Barrientos is the only one of eight former Pinochet lieutenants who has not been arrested and prosecuted.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Murder accusation costs Deltona man U.S. citizenship