General (ret.) Parera admitted that people were detained in Peldehue

General (ret.) Carlos Parera Silva acknowledged before Judge Sergio Muñoz that the Paratrooper School in Peldehue was a detention site and that forcibly disappeared persons passed through there. Parera also reportedly assumed his command responsibility in the case of the seven former Army "Black Berets" who were discharged in 1970 after being accused of having ties to the PS and the MIR.

It was following this statement that Judge Muñoz decided to leave him in "libre plática" (free communication), contrary to what occurred with General (ret.) Patricio Acevedo, who was detained on Friday, and with Brigadier Rafael Sánchez Vera, Colonel Renato Alarcón Carrasco, Major Carlos Saravia Vera, Sergeant Major Domingo Rosario Cortés, and non-commissioned officers Fidel Segovia Rojas and Hernán Arancibia Rosas.

All of them were held incommunicado. Parera Silva is currently detained at the Military Police Battalion (BPM) awaiting the judge's decision regarding his procedural status this week. In 1973, General (ret.) Parera was third in the unit's chain of command.

The second in command was General Rodrigo Sánchez Casillas, who was interrogated by Muñoz and released. The Paratrooper School was under the command of General Alejandro Medina Lois, who said he would testify on Wednesday or Thursday.

Yesterday, Alejandro Medina Lois went to the BPM and visited Carlos Parera to "give him moral support." The retired general told El Mercurio: "It is a duty as a friend, as his former superior, in a situation in which he is being treated unjustly." The general (ret.) claimed not to have discussed the statements made by Parera to the judge. -Why was he left in "libre plática"? "That is within the judge's powers: whether or not he requires pressure.

But the pressure is quite sinister, because it is psychological, to see if they change their statements or give something they did not give before. It may be that, seeing General Parera as he is, he knew he would get nothing.

But I am generalizing, I do not have any evidence." -Was the School a detention center? "Never. It was never a detention center, much less one for torture, which is what is in fashion. We were involved in something much more important: this unit was the reserve for the Commander-in-Chief of the Army; it depended on my General Pinochet.

Among other tasks that were permanent was the security of him and his family. Also participating in operations of the special anti-guerrilla brigade, developing anti-guerrilla unit commander courses, and the possibility of a border conflict."

Source: El Mercurio, November 28, 2004

Disappearance and execution of former paratroopers: Muñoz resumes human rights case and detains two generals

The judge deprived Generals (ret.) Carlos Parera and Patricio Acevedo of their liberty, holding the latter incommunicado, as he did on Thursday with six other former uniformed personnel in this case. Minister Sergio Muñoz, who in addition to the Spiniak case and the accounts of General Augusto Pinochet at the Riggs Bank in the United States is in charge of investigating human rights cases, resumed one of these and ordered the detention of retired Army Generals Carlos Parera Silva and Patricio Acevedo.

He left the latter incommunicado. The decision was adopted after interrogating them yesterday at the Military Hotel in Providencia regarding the disappearance and execution in September 1973 of former members of the Army Paratrooper Command, known as "Black Berets." Following the interrogations, the magistrate released another general (ret.)—Rodrigo Sánchez Casillas—due to lack of evidence, while he is expected to take a statement next week from the former director of the Paratrooper and Special Forces School, General (ret.) Alejandro Medina.

The detention of Parera and Acevedo is in addition to that of six other retired military personnel—three officers and three non-commissioned officers—apprehended on Thursday night for their connection to the same case.

Judge Muñoz's inquiries aim to clarify the participation of these former uniformed personnel in the disappearance of four former paratroopers and the execution of three others, who had been discharged from the Army in 1970 after being accused of being linked to the PS and the MIR.

According to evidence gathered in the investigation, they were detained after the coup in Peldehue by active officers of that same unit.

Source: El Mercurio, November 27, 2004