Juan Garcés

Juán Garcés is a Spanish attorney and was the lead prosecutor in the Spanish case against General Augusto Pinochet of Chile. He coordinated and led a multinational team of ten lawyers representing nearly 4,000 plaintiffs in approximately 3,000 cases of assassination, forced disappearance, and torture under Pinochet's regime. Since 2009, Garcés' work has focused on having the Spanish courts investigate the crimes against humanity committed under General Franco's dictatorship. Garcés has published a number of books including Soberanos e Intervenidos. Estrategias globales Americanos y españoles (Siglo XXI, 2008), Allende y La Experiencia Chilena (Siglo XXI, 1976), and Democracia y contrarrevolución (1975). Before the military coup in 1973, Garcés was a political advisor to Salvador Allende. He has also served as the advisor to the General Director of UNESCO. Garcés received the Right Livelihood Award in 1999 for outstanding vision and work on behalf of the planet and its people, and was honored by the French President Jacques Chirac in 2000 with the Chevalier de l'Ordre Nationale du Mérite. He earned a law degree from the University Complutense of Madrid and doctorates in political science from both the University of Madrid and the Sorbonne.