Cabello Barrueto v. Fernandez Larios

205 F. Supp. 2d 1325, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10323, 2002 WL 1225258
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedJune 5, 2002
Docket99-0528-CIV
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 205 F. Supp. 2d 1325 (Cabello Barrueto v. Fernandez Larios) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cabello Barrueto v. Fernandez Larios, 205 F. Supp. 2d 1325, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10323, 2002 WL 1225258 (S.D. Fla. 2002).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT

LENARD, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE is before the Court on the Motion to Dismiss Second Amended Complaint (D.E.136), filed November 2, 2001 by Defendant Armando Fernández Larios. On December 12, 2001, Plaintiffs Elsa Cabello, Karin Cabello Moriarty, Aldo Cabello, and Zita Cabello Barrueto filed a Response. On January 5, 2002, Defendant filed a Reply Having reviewed the Motion, the Response, the Reply, and the record, the Court finds as follows.

I. Factual Background

The following factual allegations derive from Plaintiffs’ Second Amended Complaint, filed September 17, 2001. This dispute arises out of the events surrounding the alleged execution of Winston Cabello (“Cabello” or “decedent”) on October 17, 1973. Prior to September, 1973, Cabello worked as an economist appointed by the government of President Salvador Allende to serve as Director of the Regional Planning Office for the Atacarna-Coquimbo region in Copiapó, Chile. (2nd Am. CompU 24.) On September 11, 1973, President Allende was ousted in a coup d’etat led by Chilean military officers, whereby General Agosto Pinochet seized control and began ruling Chile as a military junta. (¶ 26.) One day after the coup, Cabello was arrested and incarcerated in the Copiapó jail. (¶ 27.) Within a few weeks, he was transferred to the Copiapó military garrison. (¶ 28.)

Following the coup d’etat, in October, 1973, a squad of military officers headed by Chilean Army General Sergio Arellano Stark embarked upon what became known as the “Caravan of Death.” (¶ 2.) The squad traveled to a number of cities in northern Chile, where military officers engaged in acts of extrajudicious killing, torture, and abuse of various individuals who were incarcerated due to their perceived or actual opposition to the military junta. (¶ 30.) Defendant Armando Fernández Larios accompanied the Caravan of Death to northern Chilean cities, including Copia-pó, and served as body guard to General Arellano. (¶ 34.) Defendant “was aware of the deaths of the prisoners at or near the time of the Caravan’s visit to each of the cities” and “engaged in acts including acts of violence designed to injure, harm, tor *1327 ture, and result in the deaths of the prisoners.” (Id.) While a membfer of the Caravan, Defendant was armed with various weapons, including a corvo, a “short, curved knife ... designed to inflict wounds that, although ultimately fatal, cause a slow and painful death.” (¶ 35.)

On October 16, 1973, Defendant and five other members of General Arellano’s squad arrived at the Copiapó military garrison. (¶ 36.) They instructed local military officers to provide them with the prisoners’ files, and then selected- thirteen prisoners, including Cabello, for execution. (¶ 37.) All thirteen prisoners were professionals or community leaders, selected for execution as part of the squad’s scheme to eliminate opposition to the Pinochet regime. (¶ 38.) During the night, Cabello and other prisoners were .loaded onto a military truck, driven about ten minutes outside of Copiapó, and ordered to get off the truck. (¶ 42.) When Cabello refused to get off the truck, he was slashed with a corvo. (¶ 43.) The bodies of Cabello and the other prisoners were guarded at a military facility until they were removed to the Copiapó cemetery. (¶ 44.)

On October 18, 1973, the local Copiapó newspaper published an announcement falsely indicating that thirteen political prisoners had been killed “while trying to escape” during their transfer from detention in Copiapó. to another prison. (¶ 45.) Shortly after Cabello’s death in 1973, his family received a death certificate indicating that he was executed by the Chilean military. (¶46.) In 1985, the decedent’s family received a revised death certificate identifying the cause of death as a gunshot wound. (Id.) Once the civilian government under the leadership of President Patricio Aylwin replaced General Pinochet’s military regime in 1990, the Chilean government granted requests to exhume the bodies of Cabello and the other twelve political prisoners killed on October 17,1973. (¶ 49.) The exhumation revealed that many of the victims were slashed with corvos, but did not indicate whether the victims had been killed during an escape attempt. (¶ 50.) In 1991, the family received a final death certificate lacking reference to the cause of death. (¶ 49.)

Between 1973 and 1990, Chilean military authorities deliberately concealed the decedent’s burial location from his family. (¶47.) The Chilean military government in 1978 also gave amnesty to the perpetrators and accomplices of criminal acts committed between September 11, 1973 and March 10, ■ 1978. (¶ 56.) On August 24, 1990, the Chilean Supreme Court extended that decree of amnesty to human rights violations committed by- the military during the foregoing period. (Id.) Plaintiffs thus allege that they are without adequate remedies in Chile. (Id.)

Defendant resigned from the Chilean military in or about January, 1987, by which time had risen to the rank of major. (¶ 14.) At the time of his resignation, he admitted publicly that he had been a member of General Arellano’s squad in October, 1973. (Id.) Defendant secretly entered the United States in .or about January, 1987 and lived in an undisclosed location under the protection of the U.S. Government. (¶ 15.) On or about February 4, 1987, he pled guilty to being an “accessory after the fact” to the 1976 [Directorate of National Intelligence]-sponsored car bombing in Washington, D.C. that killed the ex-Chilean Ambassador to the United States, Orlando Letelier, and his assistant, Ronni Karpen Moffit. (¶ 16.) Currently, Defendant resides in Miami, Florida. (Id. ¶ 10.)

II. Procedural History

A. Proceedings Related to Amended Complaint

The following Plaintiffs filed the original Complaint in this action on February 19, *1328 1999: the Estate of Winston Cabello; Elsa Cabello, mother of Winston Cabello, a naturalized U.S. citizen who resides in California; Zita Cabello Barrueto, sister of Winston Cabello, a naturalized U.S. citizen who resides in California, in her individual capacity and in her capacity as the personal representative for the Estate of Winston Cabello; Karin Cabello Moriarty, sister of Winston Cabello, a naturalized U.S. citizen who resides in California; and Aldo Cabel-lo, brother of Winston Cabello, a Chilean citizen who is a legal permanent resident of the United States, residing in California.

Plaintiffs filed a seven-claim Amended Complaint on April 7, 1999, alleging causes of action for: extrajudicial killing; torture; crimes against humanity; cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; wrongful death; intentional infliction of emotional distress; and civil conspiracy. On April 24, 2000, the Court dismissed the wrongful death and civil conspiracy claims based on Plaintiffs’ notice of voluntary dismissal.

Defendant filed a Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction (D.E.22) and a Motion for Summary Judgment, or, in the Alternative, a Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss (D.E.19) on May 24, 1999.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
205 F. Supp. 2d 1325, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10323, 2002 WL 1225258, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cabello-barrueto-v-fernandez-larios-flsd-2002.