Santiago, Aug 8, (RHC-Euronews), -- There have been celebrations on the streets at news of the death of Manuel Contreras, one of the most hated men in Chile.

Contreras headed the South American country’s dreaded Dina intelligence service during the bloody dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s and 80s.

Victims’ relatives say the organisation was behind more than half the cases of murder, torture and disappearance under the Pinochet regime.

Tens of thousands of people are said to have died under “Plan Condor” – a concerted campaign of repression and assassination carried out by US-backed military governments across South America.

As one of the architects, 86-year-old Contreras was sentenced to 500 years in jail for human rights abuses.