Three are Division Generals and the other is a Brigadier General. Four active-duty generals are on the list of those under investigation for Paine. They appear in a 1984 Ministry of Defense official document attached to the case file.

They are from the 1973 graduating class and were assigned as second lieutenants to the San Bernardo Infantry School. In a grimy box at the Franklin neighborhood flea market, on a rainy Sunday morning in winter, the tip of the title of a dusty magazine was barely visible: Cien Aguilas 1973.

It was the magazine of the Military School featuring the class of officers who graduated that year with the rank of second lieutenant, and their assignments to the various branches. Seventy were sent to the Infantry, and of those, 36 arrived at the San Bernardo Infantry School, to which the personnel who murdered the peasants of Paine in 1973 belonged.

An official document dated June 26, 1984, sent to the military justice system and signed by Minister of Defense Patricio Carvajal, attached to the Paine case, intersects with the information in Cien Aguilas.

Carvajal provided a list of 67 officers (including 39 second lieutenants) and 10 non-commissioned officers "who were active in October 1973 at the San Bernardo Infantry School." The document records the names of second lieutenants Guillermo Castro Muñoz, Cristián Le Dantec Gallardo, and Julio Baeza von Bohlen, but the name of Eduardo Ludovico Aldunate Hermann is missing, even though, according to military information, he did arrive at that regiment along with the rest.

Castro is a division general and commander of the II Division of the Metropolitan Region. Le Dantec is a division general and director of Finance. Baeza is a division general and director of Logistics.

Aldunate is a brigadier general and commander of the Division of Schools. The first three were recently promoted. The existence of these active-duty generals was mentioned yesterday by lawyer Pamela Pereira on Radio Cooperativa, although she did not provide their names, which appear in the magazine among those assigned to the Infantry branch.

As long as the names of the two second lieutenants who acted alongside Second Lieutenant Andrés Magaña in the massacre of 22 peasants are not revealed, for the plaintiffs, "all the second lieutenants on the list are suspects."

The Carvajal List

The following is the list of the 39 officers with the rank of second lieutenant who, according to the aforementioned Carvajal document, were serving at the San Bernardo Infantry School as of October 1973.

La Nación does not know if, in addition to the active-duty generals, another officer from this roster is still in service with the rank of colonel, which would be more improbable but not impossible. Since it is known that 36 second lieutenants from the 1973 class arrived at San Bernardo from the Military School (official Army information), therefore, according to this document, there are three second lieutenants (including Magaña) who were already serving at that school and therefore had greater seniority than the new arrivals.

1.- Jorge Acuña Gutiérrez 2.- Pablo Opitz Arancibia 3.- Andrés Magaña Bau 4.- Ricardo Cabrera Santander 5.- Diógenes San Martín Silva 6.- Víctor Campos Valladares 7.- Manuel Rojas Herrera 8.- Jorge Sanz Jofré 9.- Juan Quiñones Vergara 10.- Carlos Fernández Hoffmann 11.- Guillermo Castro Muñoz 12.- Claudio Cruz Fernández 13.- Aquiles González Cortés 14.- Héctor Gaete Chesta 15.- Juan Daguerresar Franzani 16.- Patricio Murúa Olivares 17.- Gonzalo Palacios Cabrera 18.- Marcos Espinoza Mellado 19.- Ricardo Kaiser Zúñiga 20.- Hernán de la Fuente Iribarra 21.- Jorge Vásquez Müller 22.- Héctor Salinas Prado 23.- Julio Baeza von Bohlen 24.- Cristián Le Dantec Gallardo 25.- Julio Franzani Castro 26.- Fernando Duarte Martínez-Conde 27.- Luis Briones Valenzuela 28.- Patricio Guzmán Villarroel 29.- René Meza Larenas 30.- Jorge Villagrán Calderón 31.- Arturo Fernández Rodríguez 32.- Iván Gutiérrez Jorquera 33.- Gabriel Rivera Vivanco 34.- José Enberg Castro 35.- José Bahamondes Bernales 36.- César Rodríguez Cataldo 37.- Luis Brahm Fuchschlocher 38.- Eduardo Serrano Steel 39.- Reinaldo Rosas Varas.

Source: La Nación, January 25, 2008

The Mulchén Brigade had direct contact with the operations plotted at the house that the DINA bought for Townley in Lo Curro, where Sarin gas was manufactured. Former DINA agent and member of the elite Army commando unit that protected former dictator Augusto Pinochet, retired non-commissioned officer Carlos Labarca Sanhueza, declared in 1993 that the Chilean general and current second-in-command of the United Nations Multinational Force in Haiti, Eduardo Aldunate Hermann, was a member of the DINA's Mulchén Brigade.

Human rights lawyer Alfonso Insunza told La Nación that he will ask Minister Alejandro Madrid, the judge investigating the crime of former DINA chemist Eugenio Berríos, to "summon former agent Labarca to testify, so that he can clarify why he mentioned General Aldunate Hermann as a member of the Mulchén Brigade." Minister Madrid is also investigating the suspicious death of former President Eduardo Frei Montalva and the assassination of the Chilean-Spanish diplomat Carmelo Soria.

In an extensive procedural statement in the possession of La Nación, Labarca, a member of the DINA foreign department, said regarding the Mulchén Brigade that "I always had contact with the Mulchén Brigade and I knew the operations they carried out...

I know what I am saying because I was an instructor (commando) for some officers. (...) The other people who operate, I don't know their aliases, there is an Aldunate Hermann from the Mulchén, he was crazy, he worked with Pablo Belmar.

Eduardo Aldunate Hermann was a lieutenant." The Quetropillán group, which included agent Michael Townley, depended on the Mulchén Brigade. The Mulchén had direct contact with the operations plotted at the house that the DINA bought for Townley in Lo Curro, where, among other activities, Sarin gas was manufactured.

Among the crimes attributed to the Mulchén are that of the Chilean-Spanish diplomat Carmelo Soria (1976) and that of the Real Estate Registrar Renato León. Former agent Labarca Sanhueza completed courses in commando, paratrooper, special warfare, assault, guide, explosives, and ammunition, and was an instructor at the DINA's National Intelligence School.

According to his curriculum, General Aldunate completed, among others, the commando course (1976), paratrooper (1977), and basic and advanced intelligence (1979-1983).

Source: La Nación, September 30, 2005

Call to investigate General Aldunate's link to the DINA

Carmen Soria and lawyer Alfonso Insunza asked Minister Alejandro Madrid to summon General Eduardo Aldunate to testify, to clarify his possible participation in the Mulchén Brigade of the former DINA. The head of the Army, General Cheyre, denied Aldunate's membership in the DINA.

Lawyer Alfonso Insunza and Carmen Soria requested the retirement and summons to testify before the justice system of active-duty Chilean Army General Eduardo Aldunate Hermann, recently appointed deputy commander of the United Nations Multinational Force in Haiti.

The latter is the daughter of the Chilean-Spanish diplomat Carmelo Soria, who was assassinated by the DINA's Mulchén Brigade in July 1976. General Aldunate was mentioned as a member of that brigade by former DINA foreign department agent, retired non-commissioned officer Carlos Labarca Sanhueza, information published by La Nación last Friday, September 30.

In the judicial filing made yesterday at the Santiago Court of Appeals, Carmen Soria and lawyer Insunza asked Minister Alejandro Madrid to summon Labarca and General Aldunate to testify so that they can provide more background information on the latter's membership in the Mulchén Brigade, which operated between 1974 and 1977.

Although Labarca does not accuse General Aldunate of participating in the diplomat's crime, for Soria and Insunza, the central point is the possible membership of Aldunate in that brigade, which committed crimes, including that of the diplomat.

Judge Madrid is investigating the crime of former DINA chemist Eugenio Berríos, and through that path, he is also in charge of the inquiry into the suspicious death of former President Eduardo Frei Montalva.

Furthermore, he continues to gather information in the cases of Carmelo Soria and Orlando Letelier, even though the former is amnestied and the latter has been judged. Nevertheless, new information has appeared in the Berríos investigation that links to these two cases.

Carmen Soria asked Minister of Defense Jaime Ravinet and the commander-in-chief of the Army, General Juan Emilio Cheyre, to "discharge" General Aldunate. Furthermore, she stated that she and her lawyer will send the background information to the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, so that he may remove the Chilean general from his post in Haiti.

The daughter of the assassinated diplomat recalled that something similar happened at the end of the 1990s with active-duty General Sergio Espinoza Davies, who in 1973, with the rank of captain, participated in the questioned war councils at the Pisagua prison camp.

General Espinoza had assumed the leadership of the United Nations peacekeeping mission on the border of Pakistan and had to leave the post. "But this is more serious," said Soria, explaining that it is not the same to have participated in war councils as "having been a member of a DINA brigade." In an extensive police statement from 1993, Labarca Sanhueza stated: "I always had contact with the Mulchén Brigade and I knew the operations they carried out...

I know what I am saying because I was an instructor (commando) for some officers... The other people who operate, I don't know their aliases, there is an Aldunate Hermann from the Mulchén, he was crazy, he worked with Pablo Belmar. Eduardo Aldunate Hermann was a lieutenant." Belmar was one of the former agents prosecuted for the Soria crime, a case that the Supreme Court amnestied.

Source: La Nación, October 12, 2005

General Eduardo Aldunate denies having been a member of the DINA

Chilean general and deputy commander of the United Nations Multilateral Force in Haiti, Eduardo Aldunate Hermann, denied having belonged to the DINA's Mulchén Brigade and said he will travel to Chile to testify before a judge and clarify the situation.

Meanwhile, Minister of Defense Jaime Ravinet will receive Carmen Soria today, the daughter of the Chilean-Spanish diplomat Carmelo Soria, who was assassinated in 1976 by members of the Mulchén Brigade.

The controversy was generated by a statement before the Investigations police in 1993 by retired non-commissioned officer Carlos Labarca Sanhueza, a former member of the DINA's foreign department and member of the security team for former dictator Augusto Pinochet, who identified the current General Aldunate as a member of the Mulchén Brigade: "there is a Lieutenant Aldunate Hermann (who) worked with Pablo Belmar." The latter was one of those who participated in the Soria crime.

General Aldunate stated to TVN that "I was never in the Mulchén Brigade. I have a notion from the first years of my career of having known a Labarca, I am not sure it is him (Labarca Sanhueza), but I remember having known him very generally, never having worked with him.

I am not in any summary, I was not in the DINA, and I have the willingness to appear before the authorities that are defined." Both Carmen Soria and lawyer Alfonso Insunza clarified that they have not accused General Aldunate of participating in the diplomat's crime, but rather presented a request for Minister Alejandro Madrid to investigate Labarca's statement, which accuses Aldunate of having been a member of the DINA.

Meanwhile, lawyer Carmen Hertz criticized the commander-in-chief of the Army, General Juan Emilio Cheyre, for referring to a "supposed Mulchén Brigade." Hertz said that "it would seem that he (Cheyre) has not been well informed, as the existence of this criminal organization to exterminate political opponents is proven."

Source: La Nación, October 13, 2005

Ravinet states that Aldunate was in the CNI, but that "that does not constitute a crime"

Minister of Defense Jaime Ravinet confirmed yesterday that General Eduardo Aldunate, the second man in charge of the United Nations peacekeeping troops in Haiti, performed duties in the National Intelligence Center (CNI) for 10 months, but that "that does not constitute a crime." After speaking yesterday with General Juan Emilio Cheyre, Ravinet denounced a "witch hunt" against a uniformed officer who possesses "an impeccable track record." "While he was a lieutenant, Aldunate was assigned to the CNI from January to November 1978, and from March to July he participated in intelligence courses, not participating in operational activities," Ravinet pointed out yesterday to La Tercera, specifying that "having belonged to the CNI is not in itself a crime, or grounds for non-promotion, discharge, or stigma against an officer, nor does it mean per se being a human rights violator or a torturer. That is a case-by-case issue and naturally it must be proven, and that is not the case of General Aldunate." The head of Defense added that he possesses all the background information on Aldunate's career in the Army: "If someone has new data, it is appropriate to provide it to the justice system, but the burden of proof does not fall on the one defending themselves, but on the one accusing." Ravinet added that despite having been linked in 1993 to the Mulchén Brigade, "four visiting ministers have not found any merit, not even to summon him to testify." Meanwhile, the president of the PS (Socialist Party), Ricardo Núñez, said that Aldunate should not continue to occupy such a high position in the peacekeeping mission in Haiti. "We hope that the Army high command takes the appropriate measures," the socialist senator pointed out. And he added: "Certainly, a person who occupies such an important position must not have any stain regarding their past, for the purposes of giving credibility and strength to the delicate mission that the Army and the FACh have in Haiti." Asked if Aldunate's situation could affect the country's image, President Ricardo Lagos reacted yesterday with annoyance: "The image is taken care of by the President of Chile (...) The government does these things in a timely manner in the Ministry of Defense, ask there, because they have more background information." In the same vein as Ravinet, Chancellor Ignacio Walker called for "not prejudging" Aldunate. After a meeting in London with his British counterpart, Jack Straw, Walker said: "Please, in our country, let us get used to the fact that we cannot go around condemning people through the media. Now, of course, if there are responsible allegations, they will have to be investigated."

Aldunate: "I am calm"

After a meeting with the Spanish ambassador, José Antonio Martínez, to whom he asked that his country arrange an investigation before the United Nations regarding Aldunate's movements in the 1970s, Carmen Soria directly linked the general to the death of her father, the diplomat Carmelo Soria, pointing out that he would be "at least an accessory" to the crime that occurred in 1976.

Previously, she said that Aldunate was a member of the DINA's Mulchén Brigade, which carried out the diplomat's assassination. Aldunate, meanwhile, stated yesterday to Radio Cooperativa that he is "calm," that he will not refer to the accusations against him so as not to bypass the regular channels of the Army. "If you ask me how I am, super good and super calm.

Calm with everything that has been done there and also calm that things are going to be clarified and cleared up quickly," he stated.

Source: La Tercera, Tuesday, October 18, 2005

The dark history of General Ludovico, by German Westphal*

According to the current Minister of Defense of Chile, the second-in-command of the UN International Forces in Haiti, Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Hermann, "was in the CNI [the dictatorship's repressive agency, successor to the fateful DINA] taking an investigation course in operational duties" between January and November 1978.

In other words, Aldunate Hermann received training for 10 months in the "operational duties" that were characteristic and priority for the CNI and, therefore, for the military dictatorship at the time: the repression of the "internal enemy," the citizens who refused to submit to the empire of the military boot, who opposed the kidnappings, torture, and murders, those of us who were persecuted with imprisonment and torture, those of us who were arbitrarily dismissed from our jobs, those of us who were forced to seek exile to be able to survive with our families, those of us who denounced the State terrorism implemented precisely through agencies like the DINA and the CNI. According to all the information compiled in the Official Report of the government of Chile on Truth and Reconciliation, also known as the Rettig Report, the CNI was an organization of a clearly criminal nature. This is not in question. Therefore, it is absolutely inconsistent to endorse as "impeccable" the career of a military officer like Aldunate Hermann who was attached to said organization doing precisely "an investigation course in operational duties" that were characteristic of such an agency. In this context, it is also appropriate to keep in mind that the Chilean Army had at the time, just as it currently maintains, an agency for professional training, the War Academy, which institutionally did not act as a repressive agency as far as has been determined. The fact that the aforementioned "investigation course in operational duties" was offered by the CNI and not the War Academy is indicative that it was a course in the repressive functions of the CNI. Otherwise, it would have been offered through the War Academy.

THE CITIZEN'S RIGHT TO KNOW

Considering that courses of this nature are not offered on an individual basis, at this point and given the relevance of the issue for the maintenance and preservation of human rights in Chile, the government should make public the names and ranks of all the individuals who participated in said course, as well as the names of their instructors and the specific subjects of the training.

Given the background information indicated above, it is absolutely inexplicable and unjustifiable that an individual like Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Hermann has reached the rank of General of the Republic during a government that proclaims itself democratic and in favor of the respect and protection of human rights.

However, the fact is that Aldunate Hermann was promoted to General in 2003, when Michelle Bachelet was Minister of Defense, the current presidential candidate for Chile from the coalition of political parties in government.

But as if this were not enough, he also holds nothing less than the "President of the Republic" Decoration in the rank of Grand Officer. Although the curriculum vitae of Aldunate Hermann that was public until recently on the digital site of the Chilean Army does not indicate the year in which the President of the Republic conferred said decoration upon him, there are certainly political responsibilities here for which the government must answer.

Of course, former Minister of Defense Michelle Bachelet must also answer for the promotion to the Generalship in 2003. Unless, of course, it is precisely because of said responsibilities that the government protects and defends the general in question. In fact, there is no cat that, no matter how wet it is, does not try to cover its excrement.

2ND COMMANDER OF UN TROOPS IN HAITI PARTICIPATED IN THE OVERTHROW OF ALLENDE

According to what has been made public in the last few hours, the Chilean general Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Hermann, 2nd commander of the UN troops in Haiti, participated in the assault on the La Moneda Palace on September 11, 1973, and, furthermore, wrote a series of political opinion articles in the magazine Alborada, defending the dictatorship.

Regarding his participation in the assault on La Moneda, Aldunate Hermann alleges that he had just graduated from the Military School and that he limited himself to following orders. However, the fact that he subsequently wrote a series of political articles in favor of the dictatorship demonstrates that it was a mission he fulfilled "with pleasure," despite the fact that such action was an illicit act according to the 1925 Political Constitution, in force at that time.

In other words, Aldunate Hermann is clearly a coup-plotting military officer who managed to reach the generalship in 2003, with the blessing of the former Minister of Defense and current presidential candidate for Chile, Michelle Bachelet.

Whoever defends Aldunate Hermann defends the coup and military subversion. Regarding his opinion articles in favor of the dictatorship, the current Minister of Defense, Jaime Ravinet, defended them by stating that "In itself, writing has never been a crime in democratic, civilized systems; one commits a crime when one breaks the laws, there is no crime of conscience, there is no crime for thinking differently, I think it is very important that you (the press) and we who are enjoying freedom of the press, know how to respect diversity and the capacity to think differently." Which is perfectly legitimate if it were a civilian citizen, but the fact is that it is a matter of an active-duty military officer, who—as such—is prohibited from participating in contingent politics of a partisan nature. In other words, Aldunate Hermann's writings are in themselves a manifestation or deliberative political act that is unacceptable within the Chilean Armed Forces and that is repugnant to the upright national democratic conscience. Finally, it should be noted that if someone like Aldunate Hermann were appointed ambassador to the government of some other country, as soon as his connections with the CNI were revealed—the dictatorship's repressive agency that replaced the fateful DINA—the government would have withdrawn him ipso facto, at the risk of him being declared persona non grata by the host government. In fact, Aldunate Hermann is a kind of ambassador in that the functions he performs in Haiti, he performs as an envoy of the government of Chile and, therefore, he should be withdrawn immediately, regardless of whether he participated in any blood crime or not. His link to the CNI and his coup-plotting and pro-dictatorship history warrant it. It is simply an individual who is unpresentable as a representative of a democratic country, especially in a peacekeeping mission of an international nature. As for the Minister of Defense, Jaime Ravinet, he should resign for having spoken out in favor of political deliberation within the Armed Forces, just as he did when condoning the pro-dictatorship articles published by the general in question in the magazine Alborada. Such condoning of military political deliberation disqualifies him as a minister in any portfolio because it demonstrates his total lack of political and citizen judgment. In fact, Jaime Ravinet's words, apart from being irresponsible, are extremely dangerous for the democratic stability of the country insofar as they formally open the doors to political deliberation within the Chilean Armed Forces. His lack of judgment is simply staggering.

Former Political Prisoner, Isla Teja Prison, Valdivia, 1973. Member of the Cono Sur Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Articles appeared in Política Cono Sur* (http://espanol.groups.yahoo.com/group/politicaconosur).

Source: Política Cono Sur, October 22, 2005

Amidst the questioning of General Eduardo Aldunate, second-in-command of the military peacekeeping forces in Haiti, for having been an official of the CNI, President Ricardo Lagos stated yesterday that a military officer's time in that agency does not disqualify them from being Commander-in-Chief of the Army. "It depends on what they did there, because whether it is a normal assignment or not depends on the characteristics of what they did.

I want to point out to you that the reports made regarding promotions are very, very detailed," he affirmed.

According to estimates reportedly known to La Moneda, one-third of the high command—involving about 13 of its 36 members—had some connection as lieutenants or captains with the CNI, the internal security agency that replaced the DINA in 1977.

Therefore, it is very likely that among them are officers who could form the shortlist from which the name of the successor to Juan Emilio Cheyre as head of the Army would be chosen.

Furthermore, Lagos, who is responsible for appointing the future military chief—a process planned for late November—said yesterday that presidents study these appointments "case by case."

These statements align with the criteria used by the Minister of Defense, Jaime Ravinet, to defend General Aldunate, who was assigned as a lieutenant to the CNI in 1978, and whom the daughter of the Spanish diplomat Carmelo Soria, Carmen, linked to the death of the Spanish official. This latter accusation has been systematically dismissed by the Army and the government.

Executive sources indicate that the mere fact of having served an assignment in the CNI will not be a criterion for the Ministry of Defense to disqualify a general when drawing up the shortlist for Cheyre's succession.

In that vein, the same sources assure that, strictly speaking, it will be the President who decides whether an officer who passed through that security agency meets the requirements to be Commander-in-Chief.

Particularly for the Army and the government, it has been a matter of concern that such time spent in security agencies, without being implicated in cases of human rights violations, might today become a stigma and an obstacle to the promotion of officers.

In this regard, the institution expressed through its communications department that the competent authorities have received "all the background information on the high command and are duly informed of all members of the Army."

Memoriaviva Note

The CNI, like the DINA, was declared an illicit association by the Chilean justice system; therefore, since its purpose was to commit crimes, Lagos's statement that belonging to the CNI does not disqualify one for promotion to the highest command simply shows the levels to which the Concertación has stooped to defend human rights violators in accordance with the pact signed with the military and the right wing for Pinochet to transfer power.

Source: La Tercera, Thursday, October 27, 2005

Four active generals among those sought in the process regarding the victims of Paine

Three of them were recently promoted from Brigadier General to Major General. In August 1973, 36 second lieutenants graduated from the Military School and were assigned to the San Bernardo Infantry School.

Four generals on active duty appear on the list of the 36 second lieutenants who graduated from the Military School in August 1973 and were assigned to the San Bernardo Infantry School, to which those who murdered the peasants of Paine in 1973 belonged. Three of them were recently promoted from Brigadier General to Major General.

They are Major General Guillermo Castro Muñoz, commander of the Army's II Division of the Metropolitan Region, who has already been interrogated by Judge Héctor Solís in the search for the other two second lieutenants who participated in October 1973, alongside the then-second lieutenant Andrés Magaña, in the massacre of 22 peasants in Paine.

Also included is Major General Cristián Le Dantec Gallardo, current Director of Finance of the Army. The other Major General is Julio Baeza von Bohlen, current Director of Logistics for the institution.

The fourth is Brigadier General Eduardo Ludovico Aldunate Hermann, current commander of the Army's Schools Division. Aldunate was mentioned by a former agent as a member of the DINA's Mulchén Brigade while he was the second-in-command of the United Nations forces in Haiti.

The minister in charge of the Paine case, Héctor Solís, is investigating to determine the identity of the other two second lieutenants who accompanied Magaña.

Until now, those two names remain under ironclad protection in a pact of silence between those accused and prosecuted for the massacre of October 16, 1973, in Paine.

Coinciding with the appearance of press information regarding the interrogation of General Castro, the Army removed the list of the high command from its institutional website a few days ago.

The photos of the four generals published in this article appear in the 1973 yearbook of the Military School, "Cien Águilas."

Source: La Nación, January 24, 2008

Voluntary police statement of Mr. Héctor Hugo Vásquez Martínez

In La Serena, on the twelfth day of the month of October of the year two thousand sixteen, at twelve hours and twenty minutes, at the offices of the Homicide Brigade of this city, Commissioner Luis CASTILLO FARIAS and Sub-commissioner Angello MAREY MAFFEI proceed to take a police statement from Mr.

Héctor Hugo VÁSQUEZ MARTINEZ, Chilean, born in Linares on May 5, 1949, 68 years of age, married, identity card No. 7.787.121-7, former official of the Chilean Army, residing at Pasaje Alberto Marín Aracena No. 3236, Las Compañías, La Serena, contact phone 93280960, who reads and writes, stated the following:

"Once the judicial mandate issued by the Illustrious Court of Appeals of Temuco, Extraordinary Visiting Minister Mr. Álvaro MESA LATORRE, is shown to me, which in case file No. 113.958 investigates the crime of qualified homicide of Samuel CATALÁN LINCOLEO, I must say that this is the first time I have testified in human rights cases investigated by the Illustrious Court of Appeals of Temuco.

I joined the Chilean Army in 1969, in the Lanceros Regiment of Puerto Natales, where I completed my mandatory military service. Subsequently, in the same year, 1969, I applied to the Army Non-Commissioned Officers School, entering that same year and graduating in 1971 with the rank of Corporal 2nd Class and the specialty of Nurse.

Once my studies were finished, I was assigned to the La Concepción Regiment of Lautaro, where I performed duties from December 1971 to 1978, the year in which I was transferred to the Miraflores Regiment of Traiguén, a unit where I remained for almost a year, as I was discharged for being placed in list four.

From that date, I disassociated myself from the Army and settled in the city of Temuco in order to be close to my parents who resided in that city, and also to find a livelihood; I even remember having traveled to Argentina for that reason, returning to Temuco in the month of October.

I remember that situation because a few days after my return from Argentina, I was detained by CNI personnel from Temuco to be handed over to officials who were coming from Santiago. I could never see my captors because I was blindfolded at all times.

Upon arriving in Santiago, I was taken to the CNI barracks located on República Street, a place where I had a 15-day captivity, not being tortured at any time, presuming that the reason for my detention was due to my trip to Argentina, as that was what I was asked about during the interrogations.

After those fifteen days, I was transferred to the city of Linares, where CNI personnel handed me over to personnel of the Investigative Police, remaining detained without any order in that police unit for one day, to subsequently move to the Public Jail of that city, where I remained for a year.

After my time in Linares, I traveled to Temuco, where I contacted Colonel Luis ORTIZ LORENZO, whom I knew from the La Concepción Regiment of Lautaro, so I requested work assistance, remembering that he offered me a job at the Professional Institute of Santiago, where I performed duties as a Nurse, a position I held for two years.

I state that I never knew the official reason for my detention and the sentence I served in Linares.

Regarding your inquiry, I must point out that during my stay at the La Concepción Regiment, I performed my duties as a nurse, reporting to the Headquarters and Services Company, not remembering who was in charge of said company.

According to the above, I must point out that it is in my memory that the second section had Sergeant SALAZAR and a Corporal with the surname RAMOS.

Regarding what I am asked about, I must point out that I never saw detained persons inside the regiment, as there were no facilities enabled to hold them; the only facility that could have been used for those situations was the gymnasium, but I cannot confirm that people were kept there in that condition.

Regarding detained persons, I remember an event that occurred in the Puerto Saavedra - Nehuentue sector, where I had to go together with Captain DEL RIO's Battery; on that occasion, when crossing the river that divides both communes, we found a body floating, which is why I remember that DEL RIO gave the order for a non-commissioned officer or soldier to slit its stomach so that it would sink, an act that occurred as such.

I would like to highlight an event of which I had to be a witness, and it relates to the execution of a person; I do not remember the exact date, but it must have occurred in 1974. On that occasion, in the morning, I was required to form a patrol that was in charge of Lieutenant ALDUNATE, made up of about ten military personnel, remembering that among the non-commissioned officers were also Sergeant Carmelo QUEZADA, Corporals GUIÑEZ and ESCOBAR, among others whom I cannot remember.

The fact is that the truck left in the direction of the Piscicultura sector of Lautaro, a place where there was also a forest. Upon arriving at said sector, I could notice that next to a group of military personnel there was a detained person whom they had kneeling, with his hands tied behind his back and his face uncovered, so I noticed that he was of Mapuche descent.

According to my memory, Captain GARCIA FERLICE was at the place, and possibly a Lieutenant with the surname DIAZ, also including a group of conscript soldiers; the fact is that at that moment I did not see the detainee being interrogated, they only proceeded to cover his face with the black t-shirt he was wearing to be executed by Lieutenant ALDUNATE, who rested his SIG rifle on a bush to take aim at his head, causing his death immediately.

I remember that the victim fell to the side, and I was the one who had to confirm his death, presuming that the impact of the projectile lodged in the left side of his head, as I did not dare to remove the t-shirt from his face. Subsequently, we left the place by order of the Officer in charge, leaving his body in that place.

Regarding your inquiry, I must point out that later it was commented that the executed person was surnamed CATALÁN; I do not remember his first name, but within the commentary, it was said that he was linked to the MIR.

To your inquiry, I must point out that I never knew what happened to the victim's body, as the case was never spoken of again.

Finally, I must point out that there is a former Army official who probably has information regarding other cases."

Source: October 12, 2016

Four former officers and one civilian prosecuted for crimes against humanity during the dictatorship

The visiting minister issued a prosecution against the then-Army lieutenant Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Herman, as the perpetrator of the consummated crime of qualified homicide of the worker of the Agrarian Reform Corporation, Samuel Alfonso Catalán Lincoleo.

The extraordinary visiting minister for human rights violation cases in Temuco, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, issued a prosecution against four former Army officers and one civilian who held the position of military prosecutor, for crimes against humanity committed during the military dictatorship.

Specifically, the accused committed human rights violations against eight workers who were victims of repressive episodes in Cautín between September 1973 and August 1974.

The victims are: Hugo Arner González Ortega, Elías Dagoberto González Ortega, Carlos Schmidt Arriagada, Ricardo Augusto Schmidt Arriagada, Juan de Dios Cabrera Figueroa, Héctor Domingo Aguayo Olavarría, Alejandro Escobar Vásquez, and Raúl Marcial Figueroa Burckhardt.

The visiting minister prosecuted the civilian, then-ad hoc military prosecutor Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, and former Army officers Pedro Guillermo Manuel Tichauer Salcedo, Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias, and Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz, as accomplices to the crime of kidnapping with serious injury, committed starting September 13, 1973, at the "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment No. 8 of Temuco, as a crime against humanity, reports Resumen.

The victims, composed of four workers and four students, were militants of the Socialist Party and followers of Salvador Allende.

After the coup d'état perpetrated by Augusto Pinochet, these eight people were detained while trying to leave the country to escape the persecution undertaken against Allende's followers and leftist movements.

What do the investigations say?

According to the investigations, the homes of some of the victims had already been raided by the Carabineros of Villarrica, who were searching for them intensely.

However, while they were trying to flee to Argentina through a border crossing, one of the young men changed his mind, so they all got off the bus. Then they began the march toward Caburgua, taking care not to encounter military or Carabinero patrols so as not to be detected.

During their return, they were detained by Carabineros; however, the officers were in a civilian truck, so they did not suspect anything.

The eight detainees were taken to that police facility and from there transferred to the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, where they were kept detained as political prisoners, reports Resumen.

In that military facility, they were placed at the disposal of the then-Military Prosecutor, the lawyer Alfonso Podlech Michaud, and subjected to torture by officers and uniformed personnel belonging to the contingent of that Regiment.

The eight young men were allegedly executed during the military dictatorship by personnel of the Tucapel Regiment and their bodies were subsequently forcibly disappeared.

Worker of the Agrarian Reform Corporation murdered

On the other hand, the visiting minister issued a prosecution against the then-Army lieutenant Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Herman, as the perpetrator of the consummated crime of qualified homicide of the worker of the Agrarian Reform Corporation, Samuel Alfonso Catalán Lincoleo.

The event occurred on August 27, 1974, in the commune of Lautaro. The now-former Army general was prosecuted for a crime against humanity.

Lincoleo was a militant of the Communist Party and was detained in the early morning and sent to the La Concepción regiment.

The apprehending group was made up of second lieutenant Sergio Fernando Alcayaga Barraza, plus Sergeant Héctor Salazar, some non-commissioned officers, conscript soldiers, and the detective Jorge Eusebio Barriga Soto of the Lautaro Investigative Police.

It is known that Samuel was sent to a forest that was in that place, they made him kneel, they covered his face with a black garment that he himself was wearing, and then, the former officer Aldunate Herman rested his SIG rifle on a bush to take aim at the detainee's head, shooting him and causing his death immediately.

Source: elciudadano.cl, July 12, 2022

Minister Álvaro Mesa prosecutes retired Army officer for qualified homicide of a CORA worker in 1974

The extraordinary visiting minister for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, issued prosecution number 129 in the cases he is processing and charged a retired Army officer for his responsibility in the consummated crime of qualified homicide of the worker of the Agrarian Reform Corporation, Samuel Alfonso Catalán Lincoleo.

The crime was perpetrated on August 27, 1974, in the commune of Lautaro.

In the resolution (case file 113.958), the visiting minister prosecuted the then-Army lieutenant Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Herman as the perpetrator of a crime against humanity.

In the investigation stage of the case, Minister Mesa Latorre managed to gather background information to establish: "That Samuel Alfonso Catalán Lincoleo, 29 years old, worked as an employee of the Agrarian Reform Corporation (CORA) in the city of Pitrufquén since 1970, being in charge of the expropriations of rural properties.

In addition, he was a sympathizer of the Communist Party. In 1973, after the military coup, he requested his transfer to the Temuco office, so he began to travel to that city from Lautaro, where he resided."

"That on August 27, 1974, around two in the morning, a military patrol of the reinforced regiment No. 20 'La Concepción' of Lautaro, made up of Second Lieutenant Sergio Fernando Alcayaga Barraza, plus Sergeant Héctor Salazar, some non-commissioned officers, conscript soldiers, and the Detective of the Lautaro Investigative Police Jorge Eusebio Barriga Soto, traveled to the home of Samuel Catalán Lincoleo located at the Millachiguay Farm of that commune, for which they mobilized in one or two military vehicles.

Once they arrived at the Catalán family's home, the officer in command ordered the property to be raided, for which they entered violently, waking all its occupants, among whom were Rosa Catalán Lincoleo, Hortensia Sinforosa Catalán Lincoleo, Eliecer Jaime Catalán Lincoleo, and Domingo Cayuán Cheuquén.

Immediately after, Second Lieutenant Sergio Fernando Alcayaga Barraza, in charge, entered the room in which Samuel Catalán Lincoleo was sleeping and jumped onto his bed. Immediately, he struck the victim's face with his rifle, producing a deep wound on his forehead, causing him to bleed profusely and leaving him semi-conscious.

At that moment, Second Lieutenant Alcayaga Barraza fired his weapon over Catalán Lincoleo's headboard, leaving a hole in it and in the bed frame."

Subsequently, it continues: "(...) Second Lieutenant Alcayaga Barraza ordered Catalán Lincoleo to be detained and taken out of the house and put into one of the vehicles in which the patrol was traveling, apparently without carrying a judicial order for such purposes.

On that same occasion, Víctor Cristóbal Catalán Trangol, a cousin of Samuel Catalán, who was staying at the home; Domingo Cayuán Cheuquén, a worker for the Catalán family; and José Miguel Pacheco Coliluán, a neighbor of the Catalán family, who had been detained prior to the aforementioned raid, were also detained.

All those affected were taken to the La Concepción Regiment of Lautaro, where they were left in the facilities of that unit."

"That Víctor Cristóbal Catalán Trangol, Domingo Cayuán Cheuquén, and José Miguel Pacheco Coliluán were interrogated and released the following day or on a later date, but not Samuel Alfonso Catalán Lincoleo; likewise, it was commented among the conscripts that a person surnamed Catalán had been detained, according to statements by Héctor Andrés Pinto Pino," it adds.

For the visiting minister: "(...) what is narrated in the preceding considerations shows that there was the formation of patrols in the La Concepción Regiment of Lautaro that patrolled the jurisdiction of Lautaro and proceeded to detain citizens who were identified as terrorist elements or who had links to leftist ideologies, proscribed by the incoming military regime.

This is also evidenced by what happened to José Abel Díaz Toro, José Enrique Conejeros Troncoso, and Juan Bautista Rodríguez Escobar, captured by a patrol of the La Concepción Regiment of Lautaro, in the town of Cajón, according to Case File No. 45.306-A, Cajón Episode; likewise, Case File 45.306-B, Burgos and Haddad and Eligen Ponce Arias Episode, detained by other patrols in the city of Lautaro, both cases with duly executed sentences, as stated at page 2088 at fs. 2193."

"That for the year 1974—the report continues—Héctor Hugo Vásquez Martínez was working as a nurse at the La Concepción Regiment of Lautaro, who in the second half of 1974 was a witness to the execution of a person in the Piscicultura sector of the city of Lautaro, which would correspond to a person surnamed Catalán.

In his capacity as a nurse at the La Concepción Regiment of Lautaro, one morning in the second half of 1974, he was required to form a patrol, carrying only his first-aid bag and no weapons, which was in charge of the then-Lieutenant Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Herman, and which would have been made up of about ten military personnel, including conscripts and non-commissioned officers, in addition to the aforementioned Military Officer.

The patrol left the regiment in a truck, heading toward the Piscicultura of Lautaro, a place where there was a forest. Upon arriving, Vásquez Martínez (nurse) could notice that next to a group of military personnel there was a detained person whom they had kneeling, with his hands tied behind his back and his face uncovered, so he could realize that he was of Mapuche descent."

The resolution records: "That among the military personnel was Captain Rafael García Ferlice, possibly a lieutenant surnamed Díaz, and a group of conscript soldiers. They proceeded to cover the detainee's face with a black garment that he himself was wearing.

Immediately after, Lieutenant Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Herman rested his SIG rifle on a bush to take aim at the detainee's head, shooting him and causing his death immediately. Subsequently, it was commented in the regiment among the military that the executed person was surnamed Catalán and that he was linked to the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR); in this same sense, Pedro Joel Fuentes Sepúlveda, a conscript, declares, noting that he had known Samuel Alfonso Catalán Lincoleo and that through comments inside the regiment he learned that it was a uniformed officer who killed him."

"That likewise, Héctor Hugo Vásquez Martínez clearly remembers Lieutenant Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Herman as the executor of this act, since he states that he was surprised to see who was the executor of the shot with the SIG rifle at the person who was detained in the Piscicultura of the City of Lautaro, that is, Lieutenant Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Herman, since he never saw or heard that Lieutenant Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Herman acted in bloody events or with detainees, remembering Lieutenant Aldunate as a very cultured, jovial person, who even helped at Mass, a story that is consistent with those of conscripts who were under the orders of Lieutenant Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Herman, such as Eduardo Leopoldo Schneider Reinike, who points out... 'he was immensely Catholic. He had a very great attachment to the church, he walked around with saints and religious movement.' Herich Alejandro Hauri Gómez, by pointing out 'he was very structured, very disciplined, very correct.' Roberto del Carmen Cea Urrea, by indicating... 'very good appearance of Lieutenant Aldunate, very Catholic...'," it concludes.

"Attending to the merit of the background information, the nature of the crime, the penalty assigned, the age of the accused LUDOVICO EDUARDO ALDUNATE HERMAN, that is, 70 years of age, and the health situation in which the country finds itself, it is more appropriate for the purposes of the procedure—for now—to decree the personal precautionary measure of total house arrest," ordered Minister Mesa Latorre.

Source: pjud.cl, July 11, 2022

Temuco Court confirms conviction of former Army officer for crime of worker in Lautaro in 1974

The Temuco Court of Appeals confirmed the sentence that convicted the former Army general, a lieutenant at the time of the events, Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Herman, to the penalty of 14 years of effective imprisonment, as the perpetrator of the consummated crime of qualified homicide of the employee of the Agrarian Reform Corporation (CORA), Samuel Alfonso Catalán Lincoleo.

A crime against humanity perpetrated in September 1974, in the commune of Lautaro, Cautín province.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 2105-2024), the Second Chamber of the appellate court ruled out any infringement in the challenged sentence, issued in October 2024 by the extraordinary visiting minister Álvaro Mesa Latorre.

In the case, the appellate court confirmed the three-year prison sentences imposed on the former Investigative Police detective Jorge Eusebio Barriga Soto and the former Army officer Sergio Fernando Alcayaga Barraza, but substituted them for intensive supervised release for the same period, as co-perpetrators of the crime of illegal detention of Samuel Alfonso Catalán Lincoleo, Domingo Cayuán Cheuquén, and José Miguel Pacheco Coliluán.

The facts Samuel Alfonso Catalán Lincoleo, single, 29 years old, agricultural technician, had worked since 1970 as an employee of the Agrarian Reform Corporation (CORA) in the commune of Pitrufquén, being in charge of the expropriations of rural properties.

In 1973, after the military coup, he requested his transfer to the Temuco office, so he began to travel to that city from the commune of Lautaro, where he resided.

The worker, a sympathizer of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), was detained at his home located at the Millachiguay Farm on August 27, 1974, around two in the morning, by a military patrol of the reinforced regiment No. 20 'La Concepción' of Lautaro.

The apprehending group was made up of Second Lieutenant Sergio Fernando Alcayaga Barraza, plus Sergeant Héctor Salazar, some non-commissioned officers, conscript soldiers, and the detective Jorge Eusebio Barriga Soto of the Lautaro Investigative Police.

The patrol, which was mobilizing in military vehicles, arriving at the Millachiguay Farm and the Catalán family's home, entered the property violently, raided the dwelling causing damage, and assaulted Samuel Catalán Lincoleo with rifle butt blows and intimidation shots to then subdue him.

Together with Samuel, on that same occasion, Víctor Cristóbal Catalán Trangol, a cousin of Samuel Catalán, who was staying at the home; Domingo Cayuán Cheuquén, a worker at the place; and José Miguel Pacheco Coliluán, a neighbor of the Catalán family, who had been detained prior to the raid, were also detained.

All the detainees were taken to the La Concepción Regiment of Lautaro, where they were entered as prisoners in the facilities of that unit.

The three people detained together with Samuel Catalán, who was linked to the MIR, were interrogated at the Regiment by military personnel and released in the following days; not so Samuel, of whom there was never any news again regarding his situation and whereabouts.

However, subsequent testimonies allowed establishing that a patrol that was in charge of the then-Lieutenant Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Herman, and which was made up of about ten military personnel, including officers, non-commissioned officers, and conscripts, left from the regiment in a truck, heading toward the pisciculture of Lautaro.

In a forest that was in that place, they made the detainee kneel, they covered his face with a black garment that he himself was wearing, and then, the former officer Aldunate Herman rested his SIG rifle on a bush to take aim at the detainee's head, shooting him and causing his death immediately.

Subsequently, the executing officer, now convicted for this crime, continued his repressive duties in the DINA, as a member of the Mulchén Brigade, and in the CNI, as part of the Anti-Terrorist Unit (successor to the previous one), which operated in the Simón Bolívar Barracks in Santiago.

by Darío Núñez

Source: resumen.cl, July 28, 2025