Juan Guzmán Tapia
Juan Salvador Guzmán Tapia (Spanish pronunciation: [xwaŋ ɡusˈman ˈtapja]; 22 April 1939 – 22 January 2021) was a Chilean judge. He was the first Chilean judge to lead investigations and prosecute Augusto Pinochet for violations of human rights during his dictatorship between 1973 and 1990. As a special prosecutor, he used novel legal strategies to hold Pinochet and members of his military regime accountable for the killings and human rights violations during this period.
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Guzmán and the second or maternal family name is Tapia.
Juan Guzmán Tapia
22 April 1939
22 January 2021 (aged 81)
Chilean
Judge
Early life[edit]
Guzmán was born on 22 April 1939 into a Chilean diplomatic family of Basque descent in San Salvador, El Salvador.[1] His father Juan Guzmán Cruchaga was a diplomat and a poet, while his mother was involved in the arts, having been trained in theater and sculpture.[1][2] However, his godfather was salvadoran dictator: general Maximiliano Hernández Martínez. Guzmán was exposed to US culture early in his life, having spent his early years between 4 and 12 in San Francisco and Washington.[2] He also spent time in Venezuela and Colombia, before going on to studying law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and obtaining a postgraduate degree from the University of Paris in the late 1960s.[2] During his stay in Paris, he witnessed the events of May 68 and met his wife, Inés Watine Dubrulle, the daughter of a World War II French Resistance fighter.
A fluent French speaker, Guzmán played a minor, uncredited acting role in the 1972 Costa-Gavras film, State of Siege (set in Uruguay, but filmed in Chile), which explores American covert actions in South America preceding Operation Condor.
Career[edit]
Early years[edit]
Guzmán started his career as a regional magistrate in the early 1970s and went on to become an appeals court judge in Santiago and Talca by the time Augusto Pinochet gave up power in the early 1990s.[2][3] Speaking of his early years as a sheltered conservative, Guzmán said that he and his family initially cheered as Pinochet overthrew democratically elected socialist President Salvador Allende in a military coup.[2] However, this changed many years later when he learnt of the true extent of the actions undertaken by Pinochet and his secret police.[2]
Media[edit]
The 2008 documentary The Judge and the General documented his efforts to bring Pinochet to justice for the crimes committed by his regime. The documentary was produced and directed by Elizabeth Farnsworth and Patricio Lanfranco. The show was aired on PBS in the United States.[14]
Personal life[edit]
Guzmán was married to French-born Inés Watine Dubrulle. The couple had two daughters.[2] He was an art collector who donated several of his Pre-Columbian South American art collection pieces to museums in Chile including the Museo del Carmen de Maipú.[18][19] Titled the Guzmán–Watine collection, it spanned Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.[20][21]
He lived in Santiago and suffered from dementia in the latter part of his life. He died on 22 January 2021. The cause for his death was not announced. He was 81.[2]