The Chilean search for justice is reaching across the vast sea to Australia.  The Supreme Court of Chile is asking Canberra to extradite a woman accused of torture and murder in her role in the fascist dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

The justices in Santiago say Adriana Elcira Rivas Gonzalez, secretary to the murderous DINA secret police, is wanted for her role in the murder of Communist Party General Secretary Victor Diaz.  He was disappeared by the government in 1976, beaten and tortured, allowed to heal before being beaten and tortured again.  Eventually Diaz was suffocated and thrown from a helicopter into the ocean. 

Adriana Rivas left Chile for Australia in 1978.  She was detained during a visit to Chile in 2006, but was bailed and escaped back to Australia.  She has told Australian media she is innocent of the charges.

But she also told SBS Radio in an interview last year that she thinks that Chilean state torture of its perceived enemies was okay.

“They had to break the people – it has happened all over the world, not only in Chile,” Rivas said.

The Attorney-General's Department released a statement reading, “It is the longstanding policy of the Australian government not to disclose whether or not it has made or received an extradition request before a person is arrested or brought before a court in accordance with such a request.”