Juan Manuel Aliste Vega, a former member of Movimiento Lautaro, died this Sunday at age 53 at Santiago's Prison Hospital. He was serving a 42-year prison sentence, which included the murder of Carabineros Corporal Luis Moyano.
ADN Radio reported the death based on its own sources. CHV Noticias said his lawyer, Ricardo Bravo Cornejo, confirmed it. Aliste Vega had terminal cancer with metastases.
His death occurred six days after a request for a humanitarian pardon addressed to President José Antonio Kast was submitted to the Ministry of Justice. A pardon is a presidential power to commute or reduce a sentence already imposed. He sought to receive palliative care at home, alongside his wife and children.
According to Chilevisión, the request was still at the information-gathering stage and had not been decided before his death. Justice Minister Fernando Rabat had confirmed that it was submitted on October 5. "No decisions have been made," he said at the time, according to La Tercera.
La Tercera reported that the request was submitted after the Supreme Court upheld the rejection of an appeal by his defense seeking to change how he served his sentence.
The request sparked a political debate. Republican Party Secretary General Vicente Bruna supported granting the pardon. "Justice is not revenge," he said, and proposed extending that criterion to convicted uniformed personnel with serious illnesses.
The case dates back to October 18, 2007, when a robbery at a Banco Security branch in downtown Santiago ended with Corporal Moyano's death as the perpetrators fled.
In 2014, Santiago's Fourth Oral Criminal Court sentenced him to 18 years for Corporal Moyano's murder and 10 years for the attempted murder of Corporal Fernán Abarca, plus sentences for robberies at Security and Santander banks. The sources do not report the case number.
