Herman Brady

Herman Brady Roche (1919 – 16 May 2011) was a Chilean military officer who reached the rank of lieutenant general in the Chilean Army.

He served as Minister of National Defense during the early years of Augusto Pinochet’s military regime, and later as the first Minister-President of Chile’s National Energy Commission (CNE).

Biography Brady was born in 1919 to Carlos Brady and Margarita Roche. He first married Clara Ruby Smith Charpentier (they had a daughter, Cecilia), and in 1964 married Berta Inés Macchiavello Vásquez, with whom he had a son, Herman Paul.

Role during the Pinochet regime At the time of the 1973 Chilean coup d'état he commanded the II Army Division and the Santiago Garrison, and acted as military judge of Santiago. He ordered the transfer of detainees from La Moneda following the assault on the presidential palace, including members of Allende’s security detail (the «Grupo de Amigos Personales»; GAP).

On 7 March 1975 he was appointed Minister of National Defense, replacing General Oscar Bonilla, who had died in an air crash four days earlier. Brady was considered particularly close to Pinochet — reportedly the only general who addressed him in the familiar form (tutear).

He left the Defense Ministry on 14 April 1978. On 8 June 1978 he became the inaugural Minister-President of the National Energy Commission (CNE), and was confirmed at the rank of lieutenant general that same year. He retired from active service the following year, remaining at the CNE through the end of the regime on 11 March 1990.

Legal proceedings In 2001 an international arrest warrant was issued against him at the request of Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón in the investigation into the murder of diplomat Carmelo Soria; Spain’s Audiencia Nacional later set the warrant aside. In 2004 he was indicted over the disappearance of twelve advisers and officials of the Popular Unity government; the Court of Appeals of Santiago rejected a motion to dismiss on grounds of dementia.

Later years and death In 2003 Brady was among eight retired senior officers close to Pinochet who signed a statement acknowledging “problems in matters of human rights.” He died on 16 May 2011 at the Military Hospital of Santiago at age 92, after two years in a vegetative state.

His funeral was held at the Military Cathedral and he was buried at the General Cemetery of Santiago.