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Manuel Contreras

General Juan Manuel Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda (born May 4, 1929) was the head of Augusto Pinochet's National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) and one of the most powerful men in Chile during Pinochet's rule.

In 1993, a Chilean court sentenced him to seven years in prison for the 1976 assassination of former Chilean government member Orlando Letelier. He completed his sentence in January 2001, after which he was placed under house arrest and then released.

In May 2002, he was convicted as the mastermind of the 1974 abduction and disappearance of Socialist Party leader Victor Olea Alegria. Contreras was also convicted by an Argentinean court in connection with the assassination of former Chilean army chief Carlos Prats and his wife in Buenos Aires in 1974. However, an extradition request by Argentina was denied by Chile.

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