Marcelo Luis Manuel Moren Brito (July 27, 1935 – September 11, 2015) was a Chilean retired Army colonel and former agent of the

Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional The Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA; ) was the secret police of Chile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. The DINA has been referred to as "Pinochet's Gestapo". Established in November 1973 as a Chilean Army intelligence unit ...

(DINA), the defunct Chilean

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

, during the

Pinochet dictatorship An authoritarian military dictatorship ruled Chile for seventeen years, between 11 September 1973 and 11 March 1990. The dictatorship was established after the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende was overthrown ...

from 1973 to 1990. During the rule of

Dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute Power (social and political), power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a polity. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to r ...

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

, Moren Brito was the chief of operations at DINA, as well as the head of the

Villa Grimaldi Villa Grimaldi is considered the most important of DINA's many complexes that were used for the interrogation and torture of political prisoners during the governance of Augusto Pinochet. It is located at Avenida José Arrieta 8200 (now 8401) in ...

, DINA's detention center in

Peñalolén Peñalolén (Mapudungun "fraternal meeting place") is a Chilean commune in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. It was founded on 15 November 1984. History The commune was founded on 15 November 1984. In 2019, Chilean police arreste ...

, where thousands of

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

s were interrogated and tortured. He was a member of a

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings, massacres, or enforced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in w ...

of Chilean Army officers who carried out the 1973

Caravan of Death The Caravan of Death () was a Chilean Army death squad that, following the Chilean coup of 1973, flew by helicopters from south to north of Chile between September 30 and October 22, 1973. During this foray, members of the squad ordered or pe ...

, in which at least 75 individuals in military custody were executed, including the singer

Víctor Jara Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (; 28 September 1932 – 16 September 1973) was a Chilean teacher, theatre director, theater director, poet, singer-songwriter and PCCh, Communist political activist. He developed Chilean theater by directing a bro ...

. Moren Brito was accused of the widespread abductions, disappearances, murder and the torture of political opponents of the Pinochet regime. ''

La Tercera (), formerly known as (), is a daily newspaper published in Santiago, Chile and owned by Copesa. It is s closest competitor. is part of Periódicos Asociados Latinoamericanos ( Latin American Newspaper Association), an organization of fourte ...

'', the daily Chilean newspaper, wrote that Moren Briten was "associated with some of the cruelest actions of repression against dissidents of the military government of Augusto Pinochet." Moren Brito was convicted of

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

and sentenced to more than 300 years in prison. He was incarcerated for life at Punta Peuco Prison, which was constructed in 1995 specifically for individuals convicted of human rights abuses. He died from multiple organ failure at Hospital Militar de Santiago, where he had been admitted earlier in the week due to declining health, on September 11, 2015, at the age of 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moren Brito, Marcelo 1935 births 2015 deaths Chilean people convicted of crimes against humanity Chilean anti-communists Chilean people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Chilean detention Chilean Army officers Chilean colonels People of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990) People from Temuco Bernardo O'Higgins Military Academy alumni