ITALY’S Supreme Court has upheld life sentences for three former Chilean military officials responsible for the disappearance of Italians during Operation Condor, which targeted dissidents in Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s.

Colonel Rafael Ahumada, Warrant Officer Orlando Moreno, and Brigadier Manuel Vasquez were sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2019 for the murder of Omar Venturelli and Juan Montiglio.

Thursday’s decision is final as the trio’s lawyer Valentina Perrone did not lodge any new legal appeals.

Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) general secretary Maurizio Landini welcomed the decision, hoping it would bring back “truth and justice” to Latin American countries and that “forgetfulness and impunity would not prevail.”

“First of all, we are very happy for the relatives of the victims because they have finally found justice... We also hope that the sentence will generate follow-up actions in Chile and other South American countries,” he said.

Mr Venturelli and Mr Montiglio were among the tens of thousands that disappeared after the US-backed overthrow of democratically elected president of Chile Salvador Allende in 1973.

A bloodbath ensued as General Augusto Pinochet came to power in a brutal dictatorship that ruled over Chile until 1990.

As many as 60,000 people were killed, 30,000 disappeared and 400,000 jailed during Operation Condor, which was aimed at preventing the emergence of democratic governments with social democratic or left-wing programmes that could threaten capitalist interests.

Methods were brutal as military dictatorships in Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina colluded in hunting down left-wing activists and political opponents, tens of thousands of whom disappeared or were assassinated.

Justice has however been stymied with many leading perpetrators now either dead or deemed too elderly to stand trial.

Last year saw 28 Argentinian officials jailed over their role in the “dirty war” against political opponents.

Next week Italy’s Supreme Court will deliver a final verdict in the cases against 24 officials and military officers from Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay and Peru.