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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, along with his Chilean counterpart Sebastian Pinera, in March 2019 in Santiago. CLAUDIO REYES / AFP

Chile announced Monday, August 19, 2019, that it had reached an agreement with Brazil to extradite a former Chilean guerrilla escaped from prison in the 1990s. Mauricio Hernandez aka "Comandante Ramiro", who had fled to Brazil, there was serving another prison term since the early 2000s.

With our correspondent in Santiago, Justine Fontaine

Chile has been demanding it for more than 15 years. Mauricio Hernandez could be extradited this week by Brazil, where he was sentenced for kidnapping an entrepreneur in the early 2000s.

The case is of utmost importance for the ruling right-wing coalition in Santiago, as the former guerrilla, nicknamed "Comante Ramiro", was found guilty and sentenced to life for the assassination of Jaime Guzman.

This politician, the main ideologue of the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet and founder of one of the main right-wing parties, was killed in the streets in 1991, a year after the return of democracy in Chile.

The "Comandante Ramiro" then escaped by helicopter from Santiago's high security prison, before fleeing abroad. The Chilean authorities have not indicated what effective sentence it will serve once extradited.

But his lawyer says that leaving Mauricio Hernandez in prison for more than 30 years would be contrary to international treaties signed by Chile. This would make the extradition of Brazil illegal, he assures.

► To read also: Chile disputes the asylum granted by France to a former guerrilla