Galvarino Sergio Apablaza Guerra (born November 9, 1950), nicknamed "Comandante Salvador," is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

and former member of the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (FPMR) (), which opposed the military dictatorship of

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 ...

. He has participated in several highly publicized kidnappings and murders.

Background

Son of Galvarino Apablaza Orrego and Luisa Guerra Urrutia. He was the leader of the Marxist-Leninist group FPMR, founded in 1983, as the armed wing of the Communist Party of Chile (PCCh). Its mission was to carry out guerrilla attacks against the Chilean military dictatorship of

and is named after Manuel Rodriguez, who is considered a hero in the war of the independence of Chile against Spain. After the fall of Pinochet's regime and the return to democracy in 1989, the organization broke up into two factions: the FPMR Party, which gave up the armed fight, and the FPMR-Autonomous, which continued armed activities. Some of the FPMR most recent attacks include the explosion of a building in which the American company Flour Daniel has offices (August 1994), an attempted bombing of a

Kentucky Fried Chicken KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's s ...

restaurant in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

(September 1993), an explosion near the Chinese Embassy in Santiago (May 1993), and a bombing of a meetinghouse of the

LDS Church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded during ...

in Santiago (December 1992). Apablaza participated in the kidnapping of the Brazilian advertising executive Washington Olivetto in 2001, according to Brazilian police authorities.

Charges

He has been charged by the Chilean judge Hugo Dolmestch for the following crimes: the kidnapping of Cristian Edwards (son of Agustín Edwards Eastman, owner of the newspaper ''

El Mercurio (known online as ''El Mercurio On-Line'', ''EMOL'') is a Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. is owned by El Mercurio S.A.P. (''Sociedad Anónima Periodística'' 'joint stock news company'), which operates a network of ...

'') and the assassination of Senator

Jaime Guzmán Jaime Jorge Guzmán Errázuriz (June 28, 1946 – April 1, 1991) was a Chilean constitutional law professor, politician, and founding member of the conservative Independent Democratic Union party. In the 1960s, he strongly opposed the Universit ...

. Galvarino Apablaza was arrested on November 29, 2004, in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. Chilean authorities requested his expulsion so he could be tried in Chile. He immediately asked for

political asylum The right of asylum, sometimes called right of political asylum (''asylum'' ), is a juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereignty, sovereign authority, such as a second country or ...

with the support of several

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

organizations, but his situation is still unclear. The Argentine supreme court originally approved his extradition to Chile during September 201
1
On September 30, 2010, the government of Argentina granted Apablaza political asylum following a meeting of Conare, the National Commission for Refugees. Apablaza is married to Paula Chain, who happens to be a member of President Cristina Kirchner press relations office at Government House (Casa Rosada) and usually accompanies the Argentine president whenever she travels overseas, the most recent trip was to Germany.Chile to insist on extradition from Argentina of terrorist accused of crimes in democracy
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Exile in Argentina

Apablaza was accused of being the intellectual author of the murder of

and the kidnapping of Cristián Edwards. At the request of the Chilean Justice, an Interpol arrest warrant was issued against him in June 2004. No concrete news of him had been heard until November 29, 2004, when in a special operation by the Argentine police, he was arrested in the town of

Moreno Moreno may refer to: Places Argentina * Moreno (Buenos Aires Metro), a station on Line C of the Buenos Aires Metro *Moreno, Buenos Aires, a city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina * Moreno Department, a depatnent of Santiago del Estero Province, ...

, of

Buenos Aires province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

, where he lived under the false name of "Héctor Daniel Mondaca" for several years with his partner, the Chilean journalist Paula Chahín, who was employed in the Secretariat of Media of the Presidency, and his three sons of Argentine nationality.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Apablaza, Galvarino 1950 births Living people Politicians from Santiago, Chile Communist Party of Chile politicians Chilean revolutionaries Chilean Marxists Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front