The former head of the Army’s Intelligence Service, SIE, Colonel Alberto Pinto Cárdenas, was arrested Wednesday morning in Lima’s Chorrillos district after almost three years of evading police, daily La República reported. Pinto is accused of providing economic and logistic support to the Colina group death squad, which targeted suspected supporters of the Maoist Shining Path insurgency in the early 1990s.
Pinto was named SIE chief in 1992 by now jailed ex-presidential advisor Vladimiro Montesinos during the administration of former President Alberto Fujimori, who is on trial for authorizing the Colina group’s murder campaigns.
According to La República, Pinto told police in 2002 that he knew of the Colina group’s existence when he was SIE chief, however wasn’t aware of its activities, particularly the extrajudicial killings.
Pinto is charged with, among other things, first degree murder for his involvement in the 1991 Barrios Altos and 1992 La Cantuta massacres which left 25 people dead. He could face up to 35-years in prison and a fine of 100,000 soles, or about $33,000, if convicted.
