The inclusion of Armando Fernández Larios, a former agent of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), the secret police of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship , on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) “Arrested: Worst of the Worst” website, once again highlighted the crimes committed by the Chilean repressor.
The platform gathers cases of arrests highlighted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) and, when filtered by Chile, displays dozens of records associated with Chilean citizens.
The Chilean repressor was captured in Fort Myers, Florida and was wanted by the justice system for his participation in several crimes committed during the dictatorship .
Fernández Larios surrendered to US authorities in 1987 , when he reached an agreement to testify in the investigation for the double homicide and admitted that he participated in the bombing .
Beyond the attack in Washington, Fernández Larios’s record is linked to other serious human rights violations committed in Chile . Organizations such as the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) connect him to the so-called “Caravan of Death ,” the military convoy that traveled the country in October 1973 executing political prisoners, as well as other repressive acts that occurred in the first months of the Pinochet dictatorship .
He is also accused, among other cases, of being responsible for the kidnapping of former Cobre Chuqui manager David Silbermann .
In 2003, a jury in Florida found him responsible for torture, crimes against humanity, and extrajudicial killings , and ordered him to pay $4 million in damages. Two years later, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that verdict.
He was also prosecuted in 2015 for the murder in Santiago, in July 1976, of the Spanish and Chilean citizen, militant of the Communist Party, Carmelo Soria who worked at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
In 2016, the Chilean Supreme Court ruled that it was appropriate to request the extradition of Fernández Larios from the United States , specifically for the aggravated homicide of Ronni Moffitt , as part of the investigation into the bombing. This extradition request remains a valid precedent against him.
The Chilean Supreme Court also ruled in favor of the extradition request in the context of the Pisagua case. In that case, Fernández Larios was prosecuted for the aggravated kidnapping and qualified homicide of socialist leader Manuel Sanhueza Mellado , following his arrest and transfer to the Pisagua prison camp in 1974.
Chilean authorities have actively sought the extradition of Fernández Larios from the United States in several cases . If granted, the former agent would face charges for extremely serious crimes under the Penal Code , related to human rights violations committed during the dictatorship.