Editing Eugenio Berrios (section)

==Escape to Uruguay and Disappearance==
By 1991, Chile’s transition to democracy under Patricio Aylwin intensified scrutiny of Pinochet’s regime. Berríos, indicted by Judge Adolfo Bañados for his role in the Letelier and Soria cases, became a liability due to his knowledge of DINA’s chemical weapons and assassinations. In April 1991, DINA launched Operación Silencio to silence key figures, spiriting away operatives like Carlos Herrera Jiménez, killer of trade unionist Tucapel Jiménez. On October 26, 1991, Berríos was escorted to Uruguay by the Dirección de Inteligencia del Ejército (DINE)’s Special Unit, led by Maximiano Ferrer Lima, to evade testimony.

Using false passports (Argentine, Uruguayan, Paraguayan, Brazilian) under the alias “Tulio Orellana,” Berríos was hidden in Montevideo, protected by Chilean and Uruguayan military intelligence, part of La Cofradía, a Condor successor network. He stayed in hotels and a residential building, guarded by Uruguayan Colonel Eduardo Radaelli. On November 15, 1992, Berríos escaped and appeared at a Montevideo police station, claiming he was kidnapped. Radaelli and Colonel Tomás Casella retrieved him, after which he vanished.