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One of the most serious blows against Schafer came from the testimony of Baar, a onetime member of the colony's inner circle who escaped in 1984, leaving behind nine children. Baar decried his former colleague as a paranoid dictator who rode around the compound in a bulletproof Mercedes-Benz carrying weapons and ammunition.
Later the same year, the unexplained disappearance of Boris Weisfeiler, a Moscow-born U.S. citizen who was hiking near the colony, aroused the concern of the U.S. State Department. Since then, a Chilean government investigation has concluded that Weisfeiler drowned in a nearby river. U.S. officials consider the case still open. The Pinochet government has given the colony its tacit support. West Germany, for its part, has been reluctant to speak out against Schafer in the past because of close ties between Colonia Dignidad and officials at the West German embassy in Santiago.
That reluctance has begun to fade. Last fall, in connection with the Amnesty case, a West German judge asked the Chilean courts to arrange an inspection tour of the colony. Last week the managing director of Amnesty International's West German section announced in Parral that inspections of the surrounding terrain have so far supported testimony by former DINA prisoners who claim they were taken to Colonia Dignidad to be tortured. During the next two days a group that included a Chilean judge, Amnesty Attorney Maximo Pacheco, colony lawyers and representatives of the West German government was allowed inside the colony. According to Pacheco, the group identified four underground rooms that matched descriptions by DINA torture victims. The visitors had less luck with their request to interview Jurgen Szurgelies, 24, who was returned to the colony by local authorities after escaping last month. The West German embassy ; in Santiago has initiated a case in a Chilean court to put Szurgelies under legal protection, and the court is expected to decide this week whether he was taken to Colonia Dignidad against his will.
Meanwhile, some human rights officials are afraid that Schafer, if pushed too far, might take drastic action. Said Baar: "I fear for the lives of the Dignidad people if it comes to conflict there. I am certain that shootings cannot be avoided, and I say that out of deep conviction."