Career
General Prats, who had been vice president in the administration of Salvador Allende, had strongly criticized Pinochet"s 1973 coup which deposed Allende. Prats went into voluntary exile in Argentina. Aranciba was working for the government of Augusto Pinochet.
He was convicted of the assassinations in Argentina.
After serving 20 years in prison, Aranciba was paroled in July 2007. He was found dead in Buenos Aires in April 2011.
General Schneider had supported Allende"s election by writing the Schneider Doctrine, which advocated an apolitical military. Aranciba was not directly linked with Schneider"s death.
After Schneider"s murder, Arancibia left Chile and took up residence in unofficial exile in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In Argentina, Arancibia acted as a liaison between DINA and the Argentine secret police. Arancibia received assistance from Michael Townley in planning and carrying out the attack, which reportedly also involved Italian terrorist Stefano Delle Chiaie. The Italian ultimately testified against both Townley and Arancibia.
In 1978, shortly after the extradition of Townley to the United States for the murder of diplomat Orland Letelier in Washington, District of Columbia in 1976, Arancibia was arrested by Argentine intelligence officers and charged with espionage.
He was convicted and sentenced to life for the 1974 assassination of General Prats in Buenos Aires. This sentence was upheld in an Argentine court in August 2004, the court thereby ruling that crimes against humanity do not have a statutory limit in Argentina, including those committed during the Dirty War.
Townley was also involved in General Prats" assassination, but never tried for the crime. (Townley served 62 months of a 10-year sentence for his role in the assassination of Orlando Letelier, Chilean Ambassador to the United States, who was killed in Washington, District of Columbia in 1976 Townley"s plea bargain for confessing to the Letelier assassination provided immunity from further prosecution, preventing his extradition to Argentina on charges relating to the Prats" assassination).
In addition, Arancibia was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in 2004 by an Argentine court for the kidnapping of Laura Elgueta and another Chilean woman in Buenos Aires.
Elgueta was later charged with relaying communications for the ex–Minister of Defence Vivianne Blanlot. Although the Prats case was still open in Chile, Arancibia was freed under parole for technical reason in July 2007, after nearly 20 years of prison in Argentina. Aranciba was found dead in Buenos Aires in April 2011.