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Boris Weisfeiler disappeared while hiking in My family – my son Lev, my daughter Anna, and I—have recently returned
from a trip to We went to We hope and believe that with this short visit we were able to create the
momentum that will hopefully culminate in the discovery of Boris' fate as
well as the prosecution of those responsible for his disappearance. When we arrived, we met with our lawyer Hernan Fernandez for our first
face-to-face meeting. Mr. Fernandez has been working on behalf of our family
in During our visit we met with the American Ambassador to We also met with Judge Juan Guzman, discussing ways to accelerate the
investigation. I personally reiterated my accusations against Augusto
Pinochet and Paul Shaffer, the fugitive leader of Colonia Dignidad as well as
others who I believe are responsible for Boris Weisfeiler's disappearance. I found our meeting with Judge Guzman to be very helpful and productive.
He is a very good and congenial person. He listened to our concerns and
assured us that he would do everything in his power to solve the case and
bring the responsible parties to justice. On Isaac Frenkel, a prominent lawyer of the Jewish
community in We met with a well-known Chilean human rights lawyer and Staff Director of
the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, known as the Rettig Commission, Jose Zalaquett. We asked for his legal
advice and opinion regarding my brother's case. It is important to mention that during this trip we met Viviana Diaz, the head of the support group for families
of those who disappeared in She told us that from now on their group would include Boris' name in the
list of family members who disappeared in Chile and she welcomed us into this
extraordinary group of people who are still suffer from crimes committed by
the Pinochet regime. We also discussed my brother's disappearance with Sebastian Brett, the
Human Rights Watch researcher in I was disappointed by the lack of support from the Chilean Mathematical
Society. We learned during our trip that the private investigator hired by
the Chilean Mathematical Society that was paid for with funds collected by
Boris' friends in US, was a former officer of the Carabineros who had been
fired from his position on corruption charges. If, as many sources indicate,
Boris remained alive in Colonia Dignidad, this report could have provided
information leading to his release. This opportunity was lost. I was always very skeptical regarding that report and convinced that it
brought more harm than good to the investigation. The report gave incorrect
information and came to conclusions that were convenient for the parties
involved at the expense of being correct. Despite the recent publicity in In some of the embassy 's correspondence from
1985, the consular officers discussed the chance that widespread publicity
could save Boris' life. Unfortunately, nothing was done to generate the
publicity and all the valuable information regarding Boris' whereabouts was
classified and sealed in the files of the US Embassy and the US State
Department. Now, almost 16 years later when most of the information regarding my
brother's disappearance has been declassified thanks to the tremendous
efforts of Peter Kornbluh, we came to A journalist for the Chilean newspaper La Segunda,
Viviana Candia, who has helped us since the
beginning to move the case forward, published an article regarding Boris'
case and our visit to An interview with a reporter from El Mercurio,
Jorge Castillo, was summarized in an article published in this, the leading
Chilean newspaper, on We thank Pascale Bonnefoy for her tremendous efforts to publicize my
brother's case and his life story by publishing the story on the web
newspaper, El Mostrador. In that article we again
brought up the issue of why the Chilean Government still allows Colonia
Dignidad, a compound responsible for known human rights abuses, to exist. Jorge Escalante from La Nacion
already published a number of articles regarding my brother's disappearance
and will continue to publicize the story, asking for support and answers. Carlos Basso from Cronica of Concepcion
published the story on the front page of the newspaper on We also had interviews with Santiago Pavlovic,
the film producer from Television Nacional de
Chile, and with Sandra Igelka of Argentinean
television. The most common question asked by almost every reporter was, "why did
Boris come to My children and I fell in love with the beautiful mountains surrounding I would like to express my great appreciation and thanks to all who put
forth an effort to help us to come closer to our ultimate goal: to solve
Boris' case, and find out the truth for all of the families of desaparecidos. I would especially like to thank Judge Juan Guzman who, by taking my
brother's case, gave me hope that one day we will find truth and justice in Olga Weisfeiler |