Caso Degollados (Slit-Throat Case)

In late March 1985, during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile, three members of the Communist Party were abducted and murdered in a case that became known as the Caso Degollados ("Slit-Throat Case"). Santiago Nattino, a painter and supporter of the AGECH teachers' union, was kidnapped on March 28, 1985. The following day, AGECH leader Manuel Guerrero Ceballos and José Manuel Parada, a staff member of the Vicaría de la Solidaridad, were also abducted. On March 30, 1985, the bodies of all three men were discovered near Santiago's airport with their throats slashed.

The triple murder caused widespread public indignation and became a significant political scandal in Chile. In response to the outcry, the Supreme Court appointed Judge José Cánovas Robles as a special prosecutor to investigate the killings.

The investigation led by Judge Cánovas proceeded relatively quickly. Within four months, it resulted in the arrest of several members of the national police force (Carabineros), including two colonels, one major, two captains, and two non-commissioned officers. The case's fallout extended to the highest levels of the Carabineros: on August 2, 1985, General César Mendoza — the Director General of the Carabineros and a member of the Government Junta since the September 11, 1973 military coup — resigned. Additionally, DICOMCAR, the Carabineros intelligence agency allegedly responsible for carrying out the kidnappings and killings, was dissolved.

The case drew international attention. In its 1985 special report, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights expressed hope that the ongoing investigation would lead to the identification and punishment of those responsible for the killings.

Ultimately, six members of the police secret service were indicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murders of Nattino, Guerrero, and Parada.

The case remains one of the notable human rights violations documented from the Pinochet dictatorship era and is referenced in later public discussions of that period's abuses.