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 after this statement that Judge Muñoz decided to leave him in "free speech" status (not held incommunicado), 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 on his procedural status this week. In 1973, General (ret.) Parera was third in the facility'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 given by Parera to the judge. -Why was he left in "free speech" status? "That is within the minister's powers: whether or not he needs to apply pressure.

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

But I am generalizing; I have no evidence." -Was the School a detention center? "Never. It was never a detention center, much less a torture center, 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

Court releases those prosecuted in the "Black Berets" case

The eight retired military officers are charged for their responsibility in the death of seven former members of the Army Paratrooper Command in 1973. The Third Chamber of the Court of Appeals, in a unanimous ruling, granted release today to the eight retired military officers prosecuted by the visiting judge Sergio Muñoz for the disappearance and death of seven former members of the Army Paratrooper Command in 1973, within the framework of the "Black Berets" case.

They are Generals (ret.) Carlos Parera and Patricio Acevedo, Brigadier (ret.) Rafael Sánchez Vera, Colonel (ret.) Renato Alarcón Carrasco, Sergeant Major (ret.) Domingo Cortés, Major (ret.) Carlos Sarabia Vera, and non-commissioned officers (ret.) Fidel Segovia Rojas and Hernán Arancibia.

The former uniformed officers, who had been detained since November 26 after Judge Muñoz interrogated them at the military hotel facilities, will be able to regain their freedom after paying a bail of one million pesos.

Parera, Acevedo, Segovia, Arancibia, Sarabia, and Cortés were charged on November 30 as authors of kidnapping and qualified homicide, while Sánchez and Alarcón were charged as accomplices to the same crimes.

The former officers are being investigated for the alleged responsibility they had in the disappearance and subsequent execution of seven members of the Paratrooper Command, who in the early 70s were discharged from the Army for their alleged connection with the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR).

After their expulsion, the seven remained living in the town of Esmeralda, near Colina, where after the 1973 military coup they were apprehended by those who remained in the Paratrooper Command. Following their detention, they were executed by firing squad, and only the bodies of four of them were found, with three still remaining forcibly disappeared.

General (ret.) Parera, who was the second commander of the Parachuting and Special Forces School, appealed the prosecution, which must be resolved in the coming days by the Court. The Chamber was composed of judges Juan Manuel Muñoz, Víctor Montiglio, and the member lawyer Sandra Pinto.

Source: El Mercurio, December 7, 2004

Judge Muñoz carries out proceedings in Peldehue

Judge Sergio Muñoz traveled this morning to the town of Peldehue to carry out proceedings regarding the disappearances that occurred in that area during the military government. It transpired that the magistrate was with all those who have been prosecuted in that case: Brigadier (ret.) Rafael Sánchez, Colonel (ret.) Renato Alarcón Carrasco, Sergeant Major (ret.) Domingo Cortés, Major (ret.) Carlos Saravia Vera, and non-commissioned officers (ret.) Angel Segovia Rojas and Hernán Arancibia, in addition to General (ret.) Carlos Parera.

The former uniformed officers are prosecuted for the case of the kidnapping and homicide of seven paratroopers from the Peldehue School who were discharged in 1970 for their links to the FMR. At the beginning of January, the magistrate ordered the Investigative Police to carry out a planimetric and photographic survey of the place where seven of the former "Black Berets" met their deaths.

Subsequently, based on this evidence provided by his work team and on statements, Judge Muñoz established how and in what place the paratroopers were executed by firing squad. The magistrate's latest resolution According to the resolution, between September 12 and 15, 1973, in the early morning hours and under the "pretext that they would be transferred to the National Stadium in Santiago, the former Army officials Alberto Ampuero, Luis Barraza, Oscar Delgado, Daniel Estrada Bustos, David González, Julio Martínez, Javier Sobarzo, and Enrique Toledo were made to board a truck with their hands tied behind their backs," as they were being held at the Army's Parachuting and Special Forces School. At kilometer 5 of the road to Santiago on the current General San Martín Highway, Portezuelo Overpass (Colina sector), "they were ordered to descend from the military vehicle, they were lined up with their backs to the La Leona hill and facing the road, and the military contingent guarding them proceeded to position themselves in front and fire at them with their 7.62 caliber SIG rifles," the document states. Throughout the investigation, it was determined that the discharged personnel were deprived of their liberty after September 11, 1973, because "they were providing military instruction to militants of the Revolutionary Left Movement, Luciano Cruz Aguayo faction." To date, the whereabouts of the bodies of Luis Barraza and Vicente Piérola remain unknown. The rest of the bodies were found. The judge maintains that the deprivation of liberty of two of them, as well as the detention and death of the other seven, was perpetrated "outside of any judicial procedure in times of war or peace, as there is no record that war councils were held or that these persons were judged in any way, nor that any sentence condemning them to the death penalty was issued."

Source: El Mercurio, January 17, 2005