Juan Emilio Cheyre

Who is Juan Emilio Cheyre?

Juan Emilio Cheyre Espinoza is a retired Chilean Army General. He was Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army from 2002 to 2006. As Commander-in-Chief he attempted to distance the Army from former dictator General Augusto Pinochet, and condemned the human rights abuses of Pinochet's dictatorship.

In 1973 he handed over a two years old child, whose parents had been murdered by the army, to a nunnery.

In 2003, Cheyre as Commander-in-Chief of the Army issued an historically relevant document titled "Chilean Army: End of a Vision," in which he stated that "never again" could the circumstances that led Chile to the collapse of its democracy be met.

Cheyre was succeeded as Commander-in-Chief by Army General Oscar Izurieta on March 10, 2006. He worked later as an academic at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. In 2013 he was appointed as president of the "Servicio de Registro Electoral", but few months later he withdraw from his office as consequence of the controverse about his acts in 1973 as he handed over a child.