Laja and San Rosendo

In the towns of Laja and San Rosendo, 19 people were detained by carabineros from Laja between September 13 and September 17:

Juan Antonio ACUÑA CONCHA, 34 years old, State Railway machinist, member of the Partido Socialista, president of the San Rosendo Supply and Price Board (JAP), and union leader. He presented himself voluntarily to the carabineros of San Rosendo and was released. That same day, he was detained by Carabineros arriving from Laja.

Luis Alberto ARANEDA REYES, 43 years old, State Railway machinist and member of the Partido Socialista. He was detained on September 15 by members of the carabineros from the Laja station.

Manuel Mario BECERRA AVELLO, 18 years old, high school student. He was detained on September 13 by members of the carabineros of Laja as he was preparing to board a train to Curacautín.

Rubén Antonio CAMPOS LOPEZ, 39 years old, Director of the Laja Consolidated School, councilman for the same district, and member of the Partido Socialista. He was detained at his home on September 16 by Carabineros officers.

Dagoberto Enrique GARFIAS GATICA, 23 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones. He was detained in San Rosendo on September 15 by members of the carabineros.

Fernando GRANDON GALVEZ, 34 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones, member of the Partido Comunista, and union delegate. He was detained at his workplace by Carabineros from Laja on September 14.

Jack Eduardo GUTIERREZ RODRIGUEZ, 45 years old, contractor and member of the Partido Socialista. He was detained at his workplace on September 13.

José Juan Carlos JARA HERRERA, 17 years old, high school student. He was detained by members of the Carabineros of Laja on September 17.

Mario JARA JARA, 21 years old, furniture maker's assistant. He was detained on September 15 at his home by Carabineros from Laja.

Jorge Andrés LAMANA ABARZUA, 27 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones (CMPC), member of the Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitaria (MAPU), Welfare delegate for the Cóndor company union, and director of the CMPC industrial union. He presented himself voluntarily to police authorities on September 15.

Alfonso Segundo MACAYA BARRALES, 32 years old, merchant and member of the Partido Comunista. He presented himself voluntarily to the Laja station on September 13 and was placed under house arrest. On September 15, he was detained again.

Heraldo del Carmen MUÑOZ MUÑOZ, 27 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones, member of the Partido Socialista, and director of the Supply and Price Board (JAP). He was detained upon leaving his workplace by Carabineros from Laja on September 13.

Wuilzon Gamaniel MUÑOZ RODRIGUEZ, 26 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones. He was detained on September 14 by carabineros from Laja.

Federico RIQUELME CONCHA, 38 years old, employee of the Cóndor company. He was detained on September 13 on the street by members of the Carabineros.

Oscar Omar SANHUEZA ORTIZ, 23 years old, primary school teacher. He was detained at his home by a patrol of carabineros from Laja on September 15.

Luis Armando ULLOA VALENZUELA, 51 years old, laborer and member of the Partido Comunista. He was detained on September 14 at his workplace by carabineros from Laja.

Raúl URRA PARADA, 23 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones, member of the Partido Comunista, union delegate, and firefighter with the Third Company of Laja. He was detained on September 13, upon leaving his workplace, by carabineros from that location.

Juan de Dios VILLARROEL ESPINOZA, 34 years old, laborer, member of the Partido Comunista, and union leader. He was detained by carabineros from Laja on September 14 at his workplace.

Jorge Lautaro ZORRILLA RUBIO, 25 years old, mine worker in Argentina who was on vacation in Chile. He presented himself voluntarily on September 15 at the San Rosendo police station upon learning that he was being sought by Carabineros.

All of them were transported in the early hours of September 18, supposedly toward the Los Angeles Regiment, a place they never reached.

On October 11, 1973, their bodies were discovered by locals buried in a sand pit at the San Juan estate, located on the road between Laja and Yumbel. This fact was reported to the Yumbel Court, which took cognizance of the matter, ordered the exhumation of the bodies, and subsequently their burial in the Yumbel Parish Cemetery, where they remained until 1979.

The Archbishopric of Concepción filed a complaint with the Laja Criminal Court on July 24, 1979, case file No. 2,770, against Carabineros from the same town, which initiated a judicial investigation, and the Illustrious Court of Appeals of Concepción appointed a Visiting Judge.

This investigation allowed for the identification of the victims and determined that they had been executed by members of the Carabineros of Laja on September 18, the same day, at the location where their remains were found. Until that date, their families had searched for them unsuccessfully in various facilities.

On March 18, 1980, the Visiting Judge declared himself incompetent, and the case files were transferred to the Ad hoc Military Prosecutor's Office of Concepción, case file No. 323 80. The case was definitively dismissed on June 9, 1980, by the Judge of the Third Military Court, and the dismissal was approved by the Supreme Court on December 3, 1981, case file No. 564 80.

The amnesty provided by Decree Law 2.191 of 1978 was applied to the perpetrators of the deaths.

Representative Position: Councilman of the Laja Municipality. Member of the Communist Party. Date of Detention: September 15, 1973

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Alfonso Segundo Macaya Barrales, married, father of 3, Councilman of Laja and member of the Communist Party, was detained on September 13, 1973, at approximately 17:00 hours, when he went to the Laja Carabineros Station to present himself voluntarily, accompanied by the teacher Edio Utreras, after having been summoned via a local radio station.

He remained in detention that same day. However, the following day he was permitted to sleep at his in-laws' house, a location to which he was escorted by Sergeant Pedro Rodríguez Ceballos. On September 15, the same Sergeant, accompanied by other police officers, proceeded to detain the victim again, arguing that he would be transferred to Los Angeles to provide statements.

On September 16, Alfonso Macaya was visited at the Station by numerous family members and friends, but by September 18 he was no longer at the facility. On that occasion, the guard personnel reported that, along with the other detainees, he had been transferred to Los Angeles—a place where, as it was later established, they never arrived.

The parish priest of Laja at the time, Father Félix Pedro Eicher B., testified during the judicial investigation, noting that a Carabineros non-commissioned officer named Garcés told him, referring to Macaya, that "once in the hands of the Carabineros, he was under the protection of the law." He even called Macaya and asked him in the priest's presence if he had received any mistreatment, to which the detainee replied that he had not.

Despite this, and Father Eicher's standing, all the agents denied their participation in the events during the course of the judicial investigation.

Subsequently, during a judicial investigation, it was established that all the prisoners—Juan Acuña Concha, Luis Araneda Reyes, Manuel Becerra Avello, Rubén Campos López, Dagoberto Garfias Gatica, Fernando Grandón Gálvez, Jack Gutiérrez Rodríguez, Jose Jara Herrera, Mario Jara Jara, Jorge Lamana Abarzúa, Heraldo Muñoz Muñoz, Wuilzon Muñoz Rodríguez, Federico Riquelme Concha, Luis Sáez Espinoza, Oscar Sanhueza Contreras, Luis Ulloa Valenzuela, Raúl Urra Parada, Juan Villarroel Espinoza, and Jorge Zorrilla Rubio—were executed by their captors on September 18, 1973, at the Fundo San Juan, located on the road between Laja and Yumbel, and their bodies were buried clandestinely. After these were discovered by locals from the aforementioned estate, the Carabineros transferred them to the Yumbel Cemetery.

His family searched for him intensely, and in 1979, as a result of a judicial investigation, his body was found and returned for final burial.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On April 15, 1977, a Writ of Amparo (Habeas Corpus) was filed on behalf of Alfonso Segundo Macaya Barrales, case file 3073, which was rejected on June 2, 1977, on the grounds that "he is not detained and there is no record that his detention has been ordered." This resolution was appealed on June 3 to the Supreme Court, which confirmed the appealed resolution on June 30.

On July 26, 1977, by order of the Concepción Court of Appeals, case No. 2.302 was initiated in the Laja High-Amount Civil Court regarding the alleged disappearance of Alfonso Segundo Macaya Barrales, which was dismissed on February 22, 1978.

However, on July 24, 1979, a criminal complaint was filed for the crimes of "kidnapping and homicide of Fernando Grandón and others"—among whom Alfonso Segundo Macaya Barrales is listed—against Lieutenant Juan Alberto Fernández Mitchel, Sergeant Pedro Rodríguez Ceballos (who later became part of the CNI in Los Angeles), and other officials who served at the Laja Carabineros Station (now a Sub-precinct) as of September 1973.

Following this complaint, Mr. José Martínez Gaensly was appointed as a Visiting Judge (Ministro en Visita), who through the investigation was able to establish that Alfonso Segundo Macaya Barrales was executed along with 19 other detainees at the Fundo San Juan, located about 200 meters from the road connecting the town of Laja with the city of Los Angeles.

The bodies were illegally exhumed by the perpetrators themselves (Carabineros from the Laja Station). Subsequently, they were clandestinely transferred to the Yumbel Cemetery by Carabineros officials from that city.

This occurred despite the fact that the discovery of the bodies had been duly reported by the Yumbel Carabineros to the judge of the Laja High-Amount Civil Court, who ordered the court secretary to keep the Carabineros report in the safe without initiating due process.

On October 2, 1979, the remains of the 19 people for whom their detention and subsequent disappearance had been reported were exhumed at the Yumbel Cemetery. After some proceedings, body No. 20 was found at the same site of the homicide, at the Fundo San Juan.

On November 27, 1979, the remains were handed over to their families, and the funerals were held that same day. On March 18, 1980, the Visiting Judge declared his lack of jurisdiction and ordered the records to be sent to the Military Justice system, where they were registered under No. 323-80 in the Ad Hoc Military Prosecutor's Office of Concepción.

The case was definitively dismissed on June 9, 1980, by the Judge of the 3rd Military Court, and approved by the Supreme Court on December 3, 1981. Those responsible for the crimes of kidnapping and homicide were granted amnesty based on Decree Law 2191 of 1978.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity