Manuel Contreras given name Manuel
Juan Manuel "Mamo" Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda (4 May 1929 – 7 August 2015) was a Chilean Army officer and the former head of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), Chile's secret police during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. In 1995, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for the murder in Washington, DC, of the Chilean diplomat Dr. Orlando Letelier, which he served until 2001.
At his death, Contreras was serving 59 unappealable sentences totaling 529 years in prison for kidnapping, forced disappearance and assassination.Early life
He was the son of Manuel Contreras Morales and Aída Sepúlveda Cubillos, who died when he was six or seven years old. He completed his primary studies at the English Institute of Macul, in Santiago. His father later moved to Osorno, where he entered that city's Lyceum.Career
He entered the Military School in 1944, where he graduated with first seniority on 23 December 1947. In 1952, after gaining the rank of lieutenant, Contreras again arrived at the Military School, but this time, he joined the Company of Engineers as an instructor for sappers.
In 1953, he married María Teresa Valdebenito Stevenson. The same year, he arrived at the newly-formed San Antonio School of Engineers.
In 1960, he entered the War Academy to complete the General Staff Officer course. There, he met the Captain Augusto Pinochet, the deputy director of the academy and professor of strategy classes. In Pinochet's classes, much of the time was occupied by his concern of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.
Contreras graduated from the War Academy in 1962 as a general staff officer. He stood out as the first of his class and obtained the title of academy professor in the subjects of intelligence and logistics. He returned there in 1966 but this time as an intelligence professor.
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