December 14, 2002

 

 

The Honorable Ricardo Lagos Escobar

President of the Republic of Chile
Palacio de La Moneda
Santiago
, Chile

 

 

        Mr. President,

        My name is Olga Weisfeiler. I am the sister of Professor Boris Weisfeiler, the only American who disappeared in Chile under suspicious circumstances during the rule of General Augusto Pinochet. In March of 2001 I sent you a letter introducing myself and the case of my brother's disappearance in the area of Colonia Dignidad in 1985.

        My daughter and I just returned from our second trip to Chile in search of my brother. We had an opportunity to meet with the Chilean government officials - Minister of Defense Michele Bachelet and the Director of the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of Interior, Luciano Fouilloux, as well as judicial and investigative sources, religious leaders and the U.S. ambassador.

         Minister Bachelet, and many others officials, as well as U.S. Ambassador William R. Brownfield, all expressed their strong commitment in helping my family in the search for truth in Chile.

        We also traveled to the place of my brother disappearance in the South of Chile and discovered new, until now unknown, evidences that, I strongly believe, are proving once again a cover-up by the military and by former government officials. During that trip I became convinced more than ever that the key to my brother's fate is hidden behind the gates of Colonia Dignidad.

        With this letter I hope to raise the issue of Colonia Dignidad, now existing as Villa Baviera. For more than forty years the Chilean Government, has, despite many evidences of criminal activity there, allowed that community to exist and continue to commit crimes.

        I feel deeply distressed and sorry for the Chilean and German children subjected to sexual abuse inside of Colonia Dignidad, for the aging residents of Colonia Dignidad who are kept from knowing about the outside world, for the Chilean families of disappeared prisoners who suffer from not knowing the fate of their loved once. I am asking for your help in the search for truth about my brother fate hidden behind the gates and in the files of Colonia Dignidad. 

          I strongly believe that now is the time that you as the President of the new democratic Chilean Government must take drastic measures against Colonia Dignidad and consider shutting it down once and for all. Only unrestricted access to its territory would solve numerous crimes that took place there and help its residents to gain freedom. Your government must end unexplained resistance of the Chilean authorities to the investigation of criminal activity of the community of Colonia Dignidad; you must save dozens of young children and help them to grow up as productive members of democratic Chilean society.

          I appreciate your attention to this matter and hope to hear from you soon.

 

 

 

                  Sincerely yours,       

 

 

 

 

                                                 Olga Weisfeiler

 

 

 

 

 

Cc:

Mario Garrido Montt, President of the Supreme Court

José Miguel Insulza, Interior Minister

Alejandro Salinas, Director of the Human Rights Office of the Foreign Ministry:

Jose A. Viera-Gallo Quesney, Senator VIII Region

Jaime Garmuri Mujica, Senator VII Region

Jaime Naranjo Ortiz, Senator VII Region

Hernan Larrain Fernandez, Senator VII Region

 

Mario Rios Santander, Senator VIII Region

Hosain Sabag Castillo, Senator VIII Region

Enrique Silva Cimma, Senator