US arrests Chilean ex-soldier for murder of singer Victor Jara

A former Chilean soldier accused of torturing and killing beloved folk singer Victor Jara 50 years ago during the country's dictatorship was arrested in Florida, officials said Tuesday.

Pedro Pablo Barrientos is in the custody of immigration authorities after being detained in the city of Deltona in the southern US state last Thursday.

The suspect is expected to face extradition to Chile, where he has been wanted by law enforcement since 2013.

"Barrientos will now have to answer the charges he's faced with in Chile for his involvement in torture and extrajudicial killing of Chilean citizens," US Department of Homeland Security agent John Condon said in a statement.

Barrientos, who has lived in the United States since 1989, was stripped of his American citizenship in July when a court determined he had hidden information about his military service.

And a Florida court in 2016 declared him liable for Jara's torture and murder as part of a civil lawsuit filed by the singer's family, which was then awarded $28 million.

Jara, 40, was arrested the day after the September 11, 1973 CIA-backed coup that overthrew Salvador Allende and installed Augusto Pinochet as dictator.

Jara's body was found days later, riddled with 44 bullets. He had been held, along with around 5,000 other political prisoners, in a sports stadium where he was interrogated, tortured and then killed.

One witness told the 2016 Florida trial that he had heard the then-24-year-old lieutenant Barrientos tell someone he had fatally shot Jara.

One of Chile's most beloved folk singers, Jara became an icon for hundreds of artists who suffered human rights violations under Pinochet, and inspired artists internationally including U2, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

The pacifist singer, whose lyrics spoke of love and social protest, became an icon of Latin American popular music with songs like "The Right to Live in Peace," "The Cigarette" and "I remember Amanda."

Barrientos' arrest comes just weeks after Chile's Supreme Court sentenced seven retired military officers to up to 25 years in prison for Jara's kidnapping and murder.