Enrique Arancibia Clavel
terrorist
- October 13, 1944
- April 28, 2011
- 66 years
- stabbed
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About Enrique Arancibia Clavel
Enrique Arancibia Clavel was a terrorist. Born in 1944, Clavel died in 2011 at the age of 66.
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60 Seconds Life Story

Enrique Arancibia Clavel was a Chilean intelligence officer and a self-described terrorist who operated during
Enrique Arancibia Clavel
1944 – 2011
60 Seconds: Enrique Arancibia Clavel's Life Story
A brief overview of the life, career, and death of Chilean intelligence officer and terrorist Enrique Arancibia Clavel.
Transcript
Enrique Arancibia Clavel was a Chilean intelligence officer and a self-described terrorist who operated during a volatile era in South America. Born in 1944, he became a key DINA agent and founded the Nationalist Liberation Offensive political movement. His career included roles in Operation Condor and the 1974 assassination of General Carlos Prats in Buenos Aires. Arancibia was also convicted for the kidnapping and torture of Laura Elgueta and Sonia Díaz. After spending twenty years in prison, he was granted parole in 2007. In April 2011, his life came to a violent end in his Buenos Aires apartment. At sixty-six years old, Enrique Arancibia Clavel was discovered stabbed to death, marking a final, brutal chapter in his history of political violence.
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Full Biography
|Enrique Arancibia Clavel (13 October 1944 – 28 April 2011) was a Chilean Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA) Intelligence officer, terrorist and founder of the fascist Nationalist Liberation Offensive political movement.
Arancibia was convicted in Argentina for his role in the assassination of General Carlos Prats and for the kidnapping and torture of two Chilean women, Laura Elgueta and Sonia Díaz. After spending 20 years in prison, Arancibia was granted parole in July 2007. In April 2011, Arancibia was found stabbed to death in his apartment in Buenos Aires.
Chile
Arancibia was associated with the right-wing group responsible for the botched kidnapping of Chilean Army Chief of Staff René Schneider in 1970, which resulted in Schneider's death. General Schneider had supported Allende's election and advocated for an apolitical military through the Schneider Doctrine. However, Arancibia was not directly linked to Schneider's assassination. After the incident, Arancibia fled Chile and lived in unofficial exile in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Argentina
From March 1974 to November 1978 Arancibia was a part of the DINA, and acted as a liaison between DINA and the Secretariat of Intelligence (SIDE).
Arancibia became involved in the assassination of Prats and his wife, who had sought refuge in Argentina following General Pinochet's 1973 coup. General Prats, who had served as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces during Salvador Allende's administration, strongly criticized the coup that overthrew Allende. This assassination was part of Operation Condor, a campaign of political repression and terror implemented in 1975 by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America against left-wing opponents. Arancibia received assistance from Michael Townley in planning and executing the attack, which reportedly involved Italian terrorist Stefano Delle Chiaie as well. Eventually, the Italian testified against both Townley and Arancibia.
In 1978, shortly after Townley's extradition to the United States for the murder of diplomat Orlando Letelier in Washington, D.C. in 1976, Argentine intelligence officers arrested Arancibia for espionage.
In 2000, Arancibia was sentenced to life in prison for the 1974 assassination of General Carlos Prats and Sofía Cuthbert in Buenos Aires,
The Argentine court confirmed this sentence in August 2004, ruling that crimes against humanity, including those committed during the Dirty War, have no statute of limitations in Argentina.
Townley served 62 months of a 10-year sentence for his role in the assassination of Orlando Letelier. Townley's plea bargain for confessing to the Letelier assassination granted him immunity from further prosecution, preventing his extradition to Argentina on charges related to Prats' assassination.
In 2004, an Argentine court convicted Arancibia and sentenced him to 12 years for the kidnapping and torture of Laura Elgueta and Sonia Díaz, two Chilean women who had been living in Argentina. Elgueta later served as the press chief for former Minister of Defense Vivianne Blanlot. Although the Prats case remained open in Chile, Arancibia was released on parole in July 2007 due to technical reasons after spending nearly 20 years in prison in Argentina.
Personal life and death
On 28 April 2011, Arancibia was found by his partner with 10 to 12 stab wounds across his chest and back in his Buenos Aires apartment. At the time of his death Arancibia was running a taxi business.
It was revealed posthumously that Arancibia was gay.
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Sources
- Wikipedia
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrique_Arancibia_Clavel
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Sep 26, 2026
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- September 29, 2026
- Sep 26, 2026
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