6 victims of Chile's caravan of death' identified

Six victims of an infamous "Caravan of Death" that executed some 75 people across Chile following dictator Augusto Pinochet's 1973 coup, have been identified, forensic experts said Friday.The remains of the six were buried in a mass grave near the town of San Pedro de Atacama, in northern Chile. Each had been shot to death, the report by the forensic medical service concluded.One of the dead was journalist Carlos Berger, the husband of a human rights lawyer, who was arrested for refusing to close local radio transmissions the day that Socialist president Salvador Allende was overthrown by the coup.The other victims also included a chauffeur, a Socialist leader and a local government official.They were among 26 people killed in the city of Calama, some 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) north of Santiago and around 100 kilometers from the mass grave site, as part of the "Caravan of Death."That mission, commanded by General Sergio Arellano Stark, toured central and southern Chile via helicopter, summarily executing 75 opponents of Pinochet, a few days after he was installed as dictator on September 11, 1973.Eight former members of the Chilean military were recently sentenced to between three and 15 years in prison for the murder of 14 political prisoners as part of the operation.Arellano was sentenced to six years, but did not serve the time after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's.Some 3,000 people died and 38,000 were tortured under Pinochet's dictatorship, according to official figures.