Political Affiliation: Member of the Communist Party. Former municipal leader of La Cisterna Date of Detention: September 8, 1975

Alonso Fernando Gahona Chávez, a laborer, married, father of 2 children, and a member of the Communist Party, was detained on September 8, 1975, at approximately 19:00 hours, on a public street while walking toward his home near Paradero 26 de la Gran Avenida.

In a sworn statement dated November 10, 1978, Jorge Parra Parra testified that on the aforementioned date—September 8, 1975—"after finishing his usual duties at the Municipality of La Cisterna, he was riding his bicycle home when, between Paradero 25 and 26 de la Gran Avenida, next to the La Cisterna House of Culture, he was surprised to see a former coworker—Carol Flores Castillo—with a weapon, in the company of two other individuals, also armed, who apprehended his coworker Alonso Gahona Chávez."

"At the moment of the detention, the subjects immediately placed the victim against a wall with his hands raised. They remained like that for about two minutes, before taking him away to an unknown destination."

Carol Flores Castillo, a former communist militant, had been detained in August 1974 by agents of the Air Force Intelligence Service (SIFA), remaining held for about six months at the Air War Academy (AGA). Once released, it is known that he began to collaborate with his captors; later, he was detained again and remains forcibly disappeared to this day.

For its part, the report prepared by the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (created by the President of the Republic, Mr. Patricio Aylwin Azócar, with the purpose of investigating and making known to the country the most serious human rights violations between September 11, 1973, and March 11, 1990) stated: "on September 8, 1975, Alonso Fernando Gahona Chávez, nicknamed 'Yuri', was detained on a public street.

He was taken to 'Nido 20', a place where, according to information received by this Commission, he died as a result of torture, having been left hanging from a shower. His body was allegedly wrapped in plastic and, it seems, thrown into the sea."

The information alluded to in the aforementioned report refers to the testimonies provided by Andrés Antonio Valenzuela Morales, a former member of the Chilean Air Force and member of the so-called Joint Command (Comando Conjunto).

These testimonies have allowed us to reconstruct, to a large extent, the gestation and actions of this illicit association, which was endowed with material means and the guarantees of impunity and anonymity to act in a criminal manner and in open violation of fundamental human rights.

Indeed, the witness stated in a sworn declaration that "after the team had operated in a hangar in Cerrillos, they decided to move to other facilities. One turned out to be a house located at Calle Santa Teresa No. 037, Paradero 20 de la Gran Avenida, known as 'Nido 20', where detainees were held; and another corresponded to a property located at Calle Perú No. 9.053, Paradero 18 de Vicuña Mackenna, called 'Nido 18', where they primarily interrogated and tortured."

"I can remember," he continued, "without determining the exact date, that a detainee died at 'Nido 20'. They called him Yuri, short, curly hair, short brown hair, who worked at the Municipality of La Cisterna, and who had been detained at his workplace (a reference, without a doubt, to Alonso Gahona Chávez).

He arrived sick and died of a fulminant bronchopneumonia because they had him hanging in the bathroom."

"I remember that he was hung in a shower and, since they had applied electricity to him previously, he was very thirsty. He opened the faucet with his mouth and drank water. Then the sentry arrived and turned off the water; but he opened it again and we let the water run. It must have been a few hours with the shower water running over his body."

"After the death of Alonso Gahona, they transported his body to Nido 18 and from there they made him disappear by throwing him into the sea, according to what an Air Force agent recounted."

For further background regarding the Joint Command, in light of the statements of Andrés Valenzuela Morales, see the file detailing the circumstances of the detention and subsequent disappearance of the Communist Party militant, Ignacio Orlando González Espinoza.

His children, who were of pre-school age at the time, were left alone; Alonso Gahona was separated and in charge of them. A paternal aunt and her family took charge of the children.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On September 23, 1975, Pedro Gahona Chávez, the victim's brother, filed a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) on his behalf before the Santiago Court of Appeals, case file No. 1201-75.

Having requested that official letters be sent to the FACH Intelligence Service, the Chief responsible for the Cuatro Álamos Detention Camp, the Ministry of the Interior, and the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), the Court only granted the request for the latter two.

The Minister of the Interior reported that Alonso Gahona Chávez had not been detained by order of that Secretariat of State, and the DINA, in its Official Letter (R) S.G. 3550/16/66, stated that the person in question had no records in their files, nor had he been detained by personnel of that agency.

Based solely on the merit of the aforementioned reports, the Seventh Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals, on October 9, 1975, dismissed the filed writ of amparo, ordering the referral of the records to the corresponding Criminal Judge so that they could investigate the possible commission of a crime regarding the victim's disappearance.

The resolution rejecting the amparo was appealed and confirmed by the Supreme Court on October 14 of the same year. The records were sent to the 4th Criminal Court of San Miguel, which received them on October 24, immediately ordering the initiation of the respective summary proceedings and the sending of official letters to the Legal Medical Institute and the Civil Registry, with the case registered under No. 10.161.

Both the Legal Medical Institute and the Civil Registry reported negatively regarding the entry of the victim's body into said establishment and stated that his death was not registered in that public office.

On December 22, the Court officially ordered that an official letter be sent to the Cuatro Álamos Detention Camp, after Margarita Jiménez Saavedra declared in the case files that she had received unofficial information that Alonso Gahona was being held in that facility.

However, on January 28, 1976, a report sent by Sergio Guarategua Peña, Army Lieutenant Colonel and Acting National Executive Secretary of Detainees, was added to the process, stating that there was no record of the victim's detention.

On the same date, the summary was declared closed, and bearing in mind that, despite the investigation being exhausted, the perpetration of the reported crime was not fully justified in the records, the case was temporarily dismissed until better investigative data could be presented.

On March 31, the dismissal was approved by the Santiago Court of Appeals, and the files were returned to the original court and archived in April 1976.

On April 25, 1979, a complaint for the crime of aggravated kidnapping committed against the victim was filed before the Fourth Criminal Court of San Miguel against Carol Flores Castillo. The filing was supported by a duly authorized copy of a sworn statement made before a Notary by the eyewitness to Alonso Gahona's detention, Jorge Parra Parra.

On April 26, the Court accepted the filed complaint, nullifying the dismissal resolution, ordering the continuation of the investigation, and consolidating it with the case for alleged disappearance, Case No. 10.161.

Likewise, it was ordered to dispatch an investigation order, authorizing the detention of Carol Flores Castillo and those persons upon whom well-founded suspicions of having participated in the investigated act might fall; as well as the sending of an official letter to the Central Identification Cabinet to report on the addresses registered by the aforementioned Flores, and the summoning of the eyewitness to the victim's detention.

On July 19, the report from the Central Identification Cabinet was added to the process, according to which the last registered address for Flores Castillo corresponded to Calle Sandro Escalona No. 320 in San Bernardo; and it was ordered to summon the aforementioned person.

On July 20, Jorge Parra Parra appeared before the court and ratified the circumstances of the victim's detention, as already stated when recounting the repressive situation of which he was a victim.

The investigation order sent to the Investigative Police did not yield any information that would allow for the establishment of the fate or whereabouts of Alonso Gahona, nor did it yield any results regarding the location and detention of Carol Flores.

On August 24, the Court ordered the addition of the previous order to the process and ordered the issuance of an arrest warrant, under penalty of proceeding in absentia against Carol Flores if he was not found, without prejudice to which an arrest warrant was ordered to be sent to the Sixth Police Station of San Bernardo, which was reiterated on August 30.

On December 5, Carol Flores Castillo was declared in contempt (rebelde), after it was certified in the records that, despite the corresponding arrest warrants being issued, said person had not been found and had not appeared within the legal term.

On January 9, 1980, the Court, bearing in mind that the accused Carol Flores Castillo had been declared in contempt and that the summary records provided sufficient merit to bring an accusation against him for the crime of aggravated kidnapping, temporarily dismissed the case until the accused appeared or was found.

The Court of Appeals of the Presidente Aguirre Cerda (P.A.C.) Department, upon reviewing the previous resolution, ordered on August 18, 1980, that since the investigation appeared to be exhausted, the effects of the dismissal be suspended, ordering the reopening of the summary for the purpose of carrying out new, mostly insubstantial, procedures, such as sending an official letter to the Municipality of La Cisterna to verify if Carol Flores was indeed an employee there, and summoning the current occupant of the Sandro Escalona property, where Flores had lived, to indicate when the person or organization that placed him there arrived, and the procedures carried out for such purposes.

At page 60 of the records, there is an official letter sent by the Minister on Extraordinary Visit, Servando Jordán López, to the Court of Appeals of Presidente Aguirre Cerda, requesting that case file No. 10.161 be sent to him for review during his visit regarding alleged disappearances.

The Court ordered the return of the case to the Fourth Criminal Court, which had to rule on the previous request. On August 29, the lower court ordered the referral of the case to Minister Jordán, and in the same resolution, ordered the execution of the procedures ordered by the Court of Appeals.

At page 62, there is an official letter sent to the Court by the Minister on Visit, dated September 3, 1980, by which the case file No. 10.161 is returned.

The Mayor of the Municipality of La Cisterna reported that Carol Flores Castillo worked in said Municipality starting on November 17, 1971, working at the municipal swimming pool, and subsequently worked in the Cleaning and Ornamentation Department between February 15 and October 6, 1972, when he submitted his voluntary resignation.

On February 3, 1981, the then-owner of the house at Sandro Escalona No. 320 in San Bernardo appeared before the court and stated that he did not know and was unaware of any information regarding the sought-after Carol Flores, and that he acquired the property through SERVIU.

On April 20, having exclusively completed the procedures ordered by the Court of Appeals, the Court declared the summary closed.

Upon appeal of this resolution, the Pedro Aguirre Cerda Court of Appeals resolved that, since the investigation was incomplete, the closure of the summary was revoked, ordering the lower court to carry out the procedures requested by the plaintiff in her brief supporting the appeal, which were: to order the summoning of the neighbors of the property on Calle Sandro Escalona and to send an official letter to SERVIU, both to obtain information regarding Flores Castillo; and to send an official letter to the Central Identification Cabinet to send the filiation extract of said person.

Likewise, the Court ordered ex officio that an official letter be sent to the Minister on Visit, Mr. Jordán, so that he could report if the accused in the case appears mentioned in the process he is instructing for alleged disappearances, and especially if any body corresponding to Carol Fedor Flores Castillo has been identified.

On July 7, the neighbor Pedro Osorio Barra appeared and stated that "indeed, in 1970, I met Carol Flores Castillo at a land occupation. We were always neighbors; he lived next to my house. After the 1973 Military Coup, this person disappeared, and I learned from neighborhood comments that he had been detained by the military, although I do not know the reasons."

On July 14, the Deputy Director of Housing Operations of SERVIU only reported that the dwelling located in Población El Olivo B-1, Block 39, Lot 13 was assigned in April 1972 to Carol Flores Castillo, who applied through the "22 de julio Venceremos" Homeless Committee, and that his family group was composed of his spouse, Jeannette Córdova Pérez, and his son, Christian.

For its part, the filiation extract of Carol Flores was also added to the process. With only these reports, the Magistrate of the Fourth Criminal Court of San Miguel declared the summary closed again on October 30.

However, on November 5, he nullified this resolution, ordering an account of the official letter sent to Mr. Servando Jordán, Minister on Extraordinary Visit, in accordance with the provisions of the P.A.C. Court of Appeals.

The previous procedure was reiterated on May 31 and July 6, 1982. Likewise, in the first of the resolutions, it was ordered that the resident of the property at Calle Sandro Escalona No. 318 in San Bernardo be summoned to appear before the court.

A certificate dated July 5, 1982, from the Clerk of the Second Criminal Court of Santiago, is in the records, which reads: "Case file No. 18.160 of the Puente Alto Court was sent for archiving on June 23 of the current year, in which Carol Flores Castillo is possibly mentioned."

On August 11, the Court ordered an official letter to be sent to the First Criminal Court of Puente Alto to report if Carol Flores Castillo is mentioned in case file No. 18.160. On the 27th of the same month, it was ordered to request an account of this procedure as a matter of urgency.

At page 99 of the records, there is a certification sent by the First Criminal Court of Puente Alto regarding case file No. 18.160, for the crime of discovery of an N.N. (unidentified) body, in which case file No. 18.296 for the crime of death of an N.N., initiated on July 22, 1976, is consolidated.

In said certificate, the statements made in the aforementioned processes by Jeannette Córdova Pérez and by Boris and Lincoyán Flores Castillo—spouse and brothers of the aforementioned Carol Flores Castillo—are transcribed, all of whom state that the indicated person was detained by subjects dressed in civilian clothes in August 1974, remaining held at the Air War Academy, dependent on the FACH, for approximately six months, after which he was released, only to disappear subsequently in 1976, without any further news about his person.

Based on the merit of the previous certification, the Court ordered the dispatch of an investigation order to locate Carol Flores Castillo, setting a maximum period of ten days for the completion of the procedure.

Once the management was completed, it did not yield favorable information. It only remains to be stated that it was recorded in the order that: "Carol Flores Castillo is registered in the Identification Cabinet, general No. 6.128.498-1; local 49.856; Chilean, native of Santiago; born on August 29, 1948; son of Oscar and Ana; single; employee; residing at Calle Sandro Escalona No. 320, San Bernardo."

On September 23, 1982, the Court again decreed the closure of the summary. And on the 29th of the same month and year, bearing in mind that it is not fully justified that the act that gave rise to the formation of the summary constitutes a crime or quasi-crime, it temporarily dismissed the case until new and better investigative data are presented.

The previous resolution having been elevated for consultation, the Presidente Aguirre Cerda Court of Appeals revoked it, ordering the case to be returned to the summary state in order to carry out the procedures requested by the plaintiff in the brief in which she requested the revocation of the dismissal order.

Namely, to summon the spouse, father, and brothers of Carol Flores Castillo to testify, to send an official letter to Interpol and the Identification Cabinet to send the filiation extract of the accused, with a photograph, and to send an official letter to the Chilean Air Force to report on the rank and current assignment of the soldier Guillermo Bratti Cornejo (a member of the Joint Command, detained together with Carol Flores, whose body appeared in the Maipo River).

All of this was ordered by the Court on August 31, 1983.

For its part, the Fourth Criminal Court, after ordering the execution of the noted procedures, ordered on October 25, 1983, that case file No. 18.160-E be requested from the First Court of Puente Alto for the purpose of conducting an ocular inspection.

During the month of November 1983, Jeannette Córdova Pérez, Oscar Flores Cabrera, and Boris and Lincoyán Flores Castillo—spouse, father, and brothers of the accused, respectively—gave judicial statements, all of whom coincided in affirming that Carol Flores was detained, together with his brothers Boris and Lincoyán, by members of the Chilean Air Force in August 1974, being released gradually and the accused recovering his freedom after his brothers, after they remained held at the Air War Academy.

From the time of his release, Carol Flores was permanently sought and harassed by his captors, who would go to his home and with whom he began to associate. Among them, his spouse remembers several FACH members, whom she knew by their nicknames: Otto, Chirola, Lalo, Fifo, Wally (whose identity she later learned as that of Roberto Fuentes Morrison, an Air Force Lieutenant at that time), and Guillermo Bratti, nicknamed "Lito", with whom Flores had close contact.

Finally, the declarants expressed that they do not know the current whereabouts of Carol Flores, as he has been disappeared since June 1976, the last news they had of him being that he went to his father's office, located at Moneda and Brasil, a place where he received a call from members of the FACH security service, apparently leaving—as he stated—to meet with them.

For its part, the Chief of the Personnel Department of the Air Force, Squadron Captain Carlos Corsi Villegas, informed the Court that Guillermo Bratti does not appear in the FACH staff.

The Department of Foreigners and International Police stated, for its part, that Carol Flores Castillo has no travel records.

At the request of the plaintiff, an official letter was sent again to the FACH Personnel Department, this time to report on Roberto Fuentes Morrison, to whom the judicial statement of the accused's spouse alludes.

Said agency reported, on April 24, 1984, that the cited person provides his services in the Chilean Air Force as a reserve officer called to Active Service, holding the rank of Squadron Commander and currently being assigned to the Intelligence Directorate of the Institution.

Thus, on June 1, the Court ordered the appearance of Roberto Fuentes Morrison.

On July 17, 1984, the Air Force Intelligence Directorate sent an official letter, stating that, given the fact that Squadron Commander Roberto Fuentes M. is prevented from appearing before the Court due to urgent service reasons derived from his duties, it was requested that the practice of the procedure be entrusted to the corresponding Military Investigating Judge, by virtue of the provisions of Art. 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Thus, the Court, on October 11, 1984, ordered that an official letter be sent to the Duty Aviation Court, so that it may proceed to interrogate Roberto Fuentes Morrison. A rogatory commission was sent for its purpose containing the following interrogations: a) the effectiveness of having worked in the detention of persons, having Carol Flores Castillo under his orders; b) the identity of the persons who made up Flores' team, especially "Otto", "Chirola", "Lalo", and "Fifo"; c) the identity of the persons who detained Alonso Fernando Gahona Chávez on September 8, 1975.

In the response sent by the pertinent Aviation Court, the appearance of Roberto Fuentes Morrison is recorded.

on November 28, 1984, who stated, in response to the question marked with the letter a) it is not true; to the one marked with the letter b) I do not know the persons mentioned; and to the one marked with the letter c) he does not know their identities.

At the request of the plaintiff, the Court granted the following requested proceedings: a summons for FACH Colonel Edgar Ceballos Jones (who was the Chief of the FACH Intelligence Service), to testify regarding the veracity of the claim that Carol Flores was part of a FACH apprehension group that detained the victim, and that the detention operations were centered at Juan Antonio Ríos Nos. 152 or 156, 5th floor, telephone 36319; an official letter to the FACH General Command, to indicate whether the property located at the aforementioned address was occupied by the Air Force in the years 1974 and 1975; and the issuance of an investigation order for the owner of a Datsun vehicle, license plate DC-156, year 74, from Las Condes, which participated in the detention of Carol Flores, according to the statements of eyewitnesses.

On March 12, 1985, the FACH Personnel Department requested that the Court commit the summons and interrogation of Colonel Edgar Ceballos to the corresponding Military Court, in accordance with the provisions of Article 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Given this, the Court ordered the official letter to be reiterated, in order to obtain a response to the inquiry regarding the current assignment of the aforementioned officer.

For his part, the Chief of the FACH General Staff, Aviation General Carlos Desgroux Camus, reported that no branch of the institution occupied the properties marked with numbers 152 or 156 on Juan Antonio Ríos street, and likewise that there is no information to determine that telephone number 36319 belonged to any Air Force organization.

The Court then ordered that an official letter be sent to the Telephone Company to report on the matter. That entity reported, for its part, that it was impossible at the moment to respond to the inquiry, as the warehouses containing subscriber records were seriously damaged as a result of a strong earthquake that occurred in recent days.

The investigation order issued to establish the owner of a Datsun vehicle, license plate DC-156, determined that after inquiries were made at the Las Condes Municipality, it was stated that records prior to 1978 had been incinerated, in accordance with instructions issued by the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic.

The Air Force Personnel Command reported in April 1985 that Aviation Colonel Edgar Ceballos Jones currently provides services at the National Aeronautical Enterprise (ENAER). On June 29, an account was requested regarding the summons ordered to be issued to the FACH officer, Edgar Ceballos, without prejudice to which it was reiterated.

Colonel Edgar Ceballos himself sent an official letter to the Court, noting that, given his status as an active-duty Air Force officer, it is necessary for his summons to be communicated to his direct superior, who will take the pertinent measures for its compliance.

And, for his part, the President of the National Aeronautical Enterprise, Air Brigadier General Caupolicán Boisset Mujica, requested that the Court apply Article 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in this case, so that the procedural action be carried out by means of a writ sent to the Aviation Court. The Court granted the request on September 26, 1985.

The writ issued was reiterated on October 18 of the same year. And, on the same date, the Court being aware through the media that Roberto Fuentes Morrison is in detention, at the disposal of the Extraordinary Visiting Minister Mr.

Carlos Cerda Fernández, it ordered a writ to be sent to said Minister, to report whether the aforementioned Fuentes has acknowledged any participation in the detention of communist militants, and specifically in that of Alonso Fernando Gahona Chávez.

In an official letter sent by Visiting Minister Carlos Cerda, dated October 18, 1985, he stated that it is not considered appropriate to place Roberto Fuentes Morrison at the disposal of Your Honor.

On December 31, 1985, the proceeding carried out by the Aviation Court was added to the case file, which reports that on November 15 of the current year, Colonel Edgar Ceballos Jones gave a statement in accordance with the previously formulated questions.

In this regard, the declarant stated: "I do not know Carol Flores Castillo or Alonso Gahona Chávez, so I have no knowledge of the detention of the latter. I do not know if detention operations were carried out at Juan Antonio Ríos No. 152 or 156 in the years 1974 and 1975.

I do point out, however, that the Air Force Intelligence Directorate operates at No. 6 of that street, without being able to say if telephone number 36319 corresponds to that place, as I do not know it."

At page 164 and following, photocopies of the publication contained in the magazine "Cauce" dated July 23 to 29, 1985, were added to the case file, which contains the statements of the former member of the Chilean Air Force and member of the self-styled Joint Command, Andrés Valenzuela Morales.

In them, the witness states that the victim was detained by members of the Command, being taken to one of their facilities located at Santa Teresa Street No. 037, Paradero 20 of the Gran Avenida, and known as "Nido 20," a place where Alonso Gahona Chávez allegedly died as a result of pneumonia, after remaining for hours hanging in the shower of a bathroom in the building.

Once the new information was known, by virtue of the statements made by Valenzuela Morales, which account for the existence of an illicit association composed of members of the various armed and security institutions, whose primary objective was the repression of members of the Communist Party of Chile, detaining and forcibly disappearing many of their victims, the Court ordered on July 12, 1986, the practice of a number of proceedings, among which are noted: a new summons for the eyewitness to the victim's detention, so that he may expand his statements; a new summons for Carol Flores' spouse; a request to the First Criminal Court of Puente Alto to send case files Nos. 18.160 and 18.296, in order to have them available for review, and to relate the deceased found with the forcibly disappeared persons in the case; the summons of relatives of the FACH soldier, Guillermo Bratti, in order for them to provide information about him, with an investigation order issued to that effect; the issuance of an order to the OS-7 of the Carabineros, to investigate whether offices of the Air Force Intelligence Service currently exist or existed at the property at Juan Antonio Ríos No. 152 or 156; a new official letter to the Telephone Company to report in whose name telephone 36319 was registered in the years 1973 and 1974; a report to the CIAT, to state whether it has information on the DATSUN vehicle, license plate DC-156 from Las Condes, year 1974; a new summons for Colonel Edgar Ceballos Jones, to explain his activities in the Air Force Intelligence Service; the sending of an official letter to the Chief of the San Miguel Preventive Detention Center, to report whether Miguel Estay Reyno ("Fanta") is still imprisoned in that establishment and at the disposal of which Court; and once done, that an official letter be sent to said Court to place the detainee at its disposal, in order to interrogate him about his participation between the years 1974 and 1976 with Air Force Intelligence and his relationship with Carol Flores Castillo, Guillermo Bratti, Andrés Valenzuela, Roberto Fuentes Morrison ("Wally"), and Edgar Ceballos Jones ("Inspector Cabezas").

On August 22, 1986, the accused in case file Rol 2-77, substantiated by Visiting Minister Carlos Cerda, Miguel Estay Reyno, nicknamed "El Fanta," appeared.

The declarant stated that he had been kidnapped in 1975, remaining in these conditions for about 4 months, without identifying his captors or the facility in which he was held. After being released, he broke ties with the Communist Party, to which he had belonged until his detention.

In 1977, he made contact with a person who identified himself as a member of the Air Force—Roberto Fuentes Morrison—who offered him a certain degree of protection in exchange for his eventual collaboration on matters of opinion regarding the political conduct of the Communist Party, and he maintained sporadic contacts with this subject.

He also added that he did not know and had never seen Carol Flores, Guillermo Bratti, Andrés Valenzuela, Edgar Ceballos, or Alonso Gahona Chávez. Regarding the nicknames "Chirola," "Lalo," "Otto," and "Fifo," he stated he had never heard them. Nor is he familiar with the address at Juan Antonio Ríos Nos. 152 or 156 or the telephone number 36319.

On September 22, 1986, photocopies of publications that appeared in the newspaper "La Prensa Austral" of Punta Arenas were added to the case file, which contain the statements made to said newspaper by the former member of the so-called Joint Command, Otto Trujillo Miranda.

For its part, the Carabineros Police Advisory and Information Section reported regarding the DATSUN brand automobile, license plate DC-156, that said organization possesses records only from the year 1982 onwards and that, upon consulting the Municipality of Las Condes, it reported that the documentation regarding vehicles from the year 1974 had been incinerated for having met its regulatory time limit.

The investigation order issued to the Investigations police, in order to establish whether offices of the FACH Intelligence Service exist or existed at Juan Antonio Ríos No. 152 or 156, stated that it had been established clearly and precisely that a military facility or premises exists at Juan Antonio Ríos No. 6, to which access was not granted due to its nature.

For its part, the Compañía de Teléfonos de Chile S.A. reported to the Court that No. 36319 appears in its records as a private line since December 26, 1974, in the name of the Ministry of National Defense, Chilean Air Force, General Command, installed at Calle Presidente Ríos No. 6, office 509.

On January 8, 1987, at the request of the plaintiff, the Court agreed to add to the case file photocopies of various documents from the case substantiated before the Extraordinary Visiting Minister Carlos Cerda Fernández, case file No. 2-77, as they contain invaluable information for the investigation of the current case.

Indeed, as a result of the statements of Andrés Valenzuela Morales, a former FACH intelligence agent, the existence of an Anti-Subversive Joint Command that in the years 1975-1976 kidnapped, tortured, and killed a large number of Communist Party militants became evident.

From the tenor of these statements, it also becomes evident that Valenzuela clearly identifies Alonso Gahona Chávez (whom he remembers they called "Yuri") as one of the victims of this Joint Command, who allegedly died in one of the clandestine facilities used for their criminal actions.

Minister Cerda managed to prove in its entirety and gather more and better information about the Joint Command denounced by Andrés Valenzuela in the aforementioned case.

At page 232 and following, an account is given of the proceeding verified by the Court on March 4, 1987, which contains the ocular inspection carried out on case file No. 18.160 of the First Criminal Court of Puente Alto, regarding the discovery of unidentified corpses in the Cajón del Maipo sector in 1976, one of which was positively identified as that of the FACH soldier and member of that institution's Intelligence, Guillermo Bratti Cornejo.

That case was ultimately temporarily dismissed.

Likewise, it was ordered to add to the case file some documents from the previously mentioned case. Among others, the statement given on September 9, 1981, by the Air Force Reserve Lieutenant, Roberto Fuentes Morrison, in which he stated that he began working in FACH Intelligence (DIFA) since it was created in 1975.

On some occasions, he acted in the detention of persons, without being able to specify the dates on which this occurred, but it must have been in 1975 and late 1976, he added.

For his part, the declarant stated that he saw Guillermo Bratti Cornejo in Intelligence activities; in that capacity, he would arrive at his office on Presidente Ríos street in search of logistical support.

On more than two occasions—he noted—he accompanied Bratti to the house of Carol Flores Castillo, who was a Communist Party informant who provided data to the Bratti group. Subsequently, he allegedly became aware that Guillermo Bratti had been murdered, ignoring further details in this regard.

Finally, Fuentes Morrison stated that he had information that before his death, Bratti had been discharged from the FACH.

Given the proceedings decreed by the Court, which were reiterated on various occasions, and after the FACH Personnel Command stated by official letter that any information regarding officials of the Institution should be requested directly from the Ministry of National Defense, this Secretariat of State reported to the Court on April 8, 1988, that the Chilean Air Force Identification Card No. 66.650 contains the following data: 1st Soldier, Valenzuela Morales, Andrés Antonio, I.D. 39.632 of La Ligua, expiration date September 3, 1987; and that the citizen Guillermo Bratti Cornejo effectively provided services at the El Bosque Air Base between the years 1974 and 1975, performing orderly functions, being discharged from the Institution on February 29, 1976, with his current address unknown.

Likewise, authorized photocopies of the Service Records of Aviation Colonel Edgar Benjamín Ceballos Jones and 1st Soldier (R) Andrés Antonio Valenzuela Morales are attached to the official letter, noting that the latter has not belonged to the Air Force since August 31, 1984, with his current whereabouts unknown.

On June 28, 1988, the Court decreed that FACH Colonel Edgar Benjamín Ceballos Jones be summoned to a first hearing, requesting an account of the proceeding on August 31 of the same year.

Subsequently, on September 9, the Court reiterated the summons to Ceballos Jones, doing the same on October 25 and December 20, 1988.

At page 356 is an official letter sent to the Court by the Military Judge of Santiago, by virtue of which he states that "being aware that case file No. 10.161 is being investigated in this Court, in which officers of the Armed Forces and Public Order and Security would be involved, it is requested that you be pleased to send it, in order to have it available for review."

On January 26, 1989, the Court did not grant what was requested by the Second Military Court of Santiago, since the case is in the summary stage with pending proceedings.

The Minister of Defense, on January 19, reported, in response to the summons issued to Colonel Edgar Ceballos Jones, that said officer is performing duties in Base Wing No. 5, based in the city of Puerto Montt.

And in view of what has been stated, it is requested that a writ be issued to the Aviation Prosecutor's Office of that city, in order to obtain the required statements. That request was accepted by the Court.

At page 373, the proceeding carried out through the Aviation Prosecutor's Office of Puerto Montt is recorded, in order to take the statement of Colonel Edgar Ceballos Jones.

Asked to state what activities he performed in the Air Force Intelligence Service, and his relationship with those nicknamed "Ricardo" (Carol Flores Castillo) and "Pelao" (Guillermo Bratti Cornejo)—of whom photographs are shown to him—as well as if he knows the whereabouts of Alonso Gahona Chávez, the declarant responds: "having served in the Air Force Intelligence Directorate for a period of approximately four months, his work consisting of the analysis of documentation collected during the operation of the FACH Wartime Tribunals.

Regarding the persons mentioned to him and whose photographs are shown to him, he stated he did not remember their names or their images, nor did they remind him of any person who had worked with him; the same occurs regarding Gahona Chávez."

Asked about who called him "Inspector Cabezas," he states that during his time in the Institution he was never aware that he was designated by that nickname. (He called himself by that nickname, according to numerous testimonies that prove it).

Asked if Adolfo Palma Ramírez was his subordinate and if he knows his current whereabouts, he indicated that he did not remember knowing a person by that name and, therefore, is unaware of his current whereabouts.

Asked about Andrés Valenzuela Morales (nicknamed Papudo) and about what was declared by this person in the magazine Cauce in 1985, he indicated that he does not remember the name or the photo of this person, who would have been an official of the Intelligence Directorate.

Finally, asked about his relationship with "Wally" (Roberto Fuentes Morrison), he stated that Fuentes was a subordinate non-commissioned officer, with whom they reported to the same chief, that during the operation of the Wartime Tribunals he was placed under his orders to carry out proceedings that said Tribunals ordered, these consisting of detentions of persons or raids, related to the infiltration of the Air Force and military apparatuses by extreme left-wing parties.

At page 375 is a new official letter sent by the Second Military Court of Santiago, requesting that this case be sent to it to be available for review, adding that such a request is not creating any conflict of jurisdiction, but rather that it is necessary to have knowledge of the reasons why military personnel are being required in the process of Your Honor, without prejudice to establishing the facts that eventually involve them.

The Court ordered on April 17, 1989, that an official letter be sent to the Second Military Court of Santiago, to indicate in which case of said Court case file No. 10.161 is requested. On June 12, 1989, the Second Military Court of Santiago stated, by official letter, that it has become aware that Your Honor is investigating case file No. 10.161, in the investigation of facts in which military personnel would be involved, in the act of service, so keeping in mind the provisions of Article 5, Nos. 1 and 3 of the Code of Military Justice, which determines the jurisdiction of Military Courts, it has been resolved to request Your Honor to be pleased to refrain from continuing to hear the aforementioned case, as its knowledge and resolution correspond to this Court.

On June 21, 1989, the Court resolved that, keeping in mind that the facts subject to this investigation are not included among the cases provided for in Article 5 of the Code of Military Justice and, therefore, correspond to a common crime not subject to military jurisdiction, they must be heard by an Ordinary Court; the request for inhibition of jurisdiction is denied.

And attended to the terms of the aforementioned request, let the corresponding conflict of jurisdiction be considered established and let the case files be elevated, so that the Honorable Supreme Court may resolve it.

There is no record of the resolution of the Honorable Supreme Court on the matter. Only the report of the Prosecutor of the Highest Court of the Republic is recorded in the analyzed information, in whose opinion the Fourth Criminal Court of San Miguel is competent to continue hearing the case.

On the occasion of the detention and disappearance of 13 high-ranking leaders of left-wing political parties, 11 of them from the Communist Party and 2 from the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) in November and December 1976, and after the respective writs of amparo filed were rejected, relatives of the victims requested the Honorable Supreme Court to designate a Visiting Minister, in order to investigate such an irregular situation.

The Highest Court of the Republic ordered the Santiago Court of Appeals to make such a designation, which fell to Minister Mr. Guastavino, who, after requesting a report from the Ministry of the Interior—which reported that the victims had left the country through a mountain pass toward the Argentine Republic—dismissed the case.

That resolution was revoked by the Santiago Court of Appeals, as was the case on the second occasion when a new closure of the summary was decreed.

Subsequently, and taking charge of the process—known as the "process of the thirteen"—Minister Carlos Letelier Bobadilla, who came to substitute for the previous Minister, closed the summary in August 1978, "not being able to advance in the investigation."

That resolution was challenged by the lawyers who pointed out to the Minister that he could indeed advance in the investigation, due to the existence of pending proceedings requested and because other proceedings would arise from the state of the process to be ordered. It was thus that Minister Letelier left his own resolution without effect, decreeing proceedings.

Later, upon resuming his functions, Minister Guastavino decreed a definitive dismissal by application of Decree Law 2.191, in December 1980. The Court of Appeals, this time, revoked the resolution of closure of the summary, and the Visiting Minister himself left the decreed dismissal without effect, due to the omission of a legal formality. In this way, the processing continued.

Already in the year 1983, Minister Mr. Carlos Cerda Fernández took charge of assuming the investigation for the "process of the thirteen."

Minister Cerda issued hundreds of proceedings, consisting of summons of persons, recognitions of places and persons, expert reports, review of criminal files, issuance of official letters requesting reports from State services, branches of the Armed Forces, private institutions, and others of vital importance.

In sum, he received nearly 200 testimonies from eyewitnesses to the detentions of the victims and their confinement in clandestine facilities. Among these testimonies were also those of members of the Armed Forces, who partic participated in Intelligence Services, as well as officials from the Carabineros and the Investigations police.

Likewise, the testimonies of civilians who collaborated with the Security Services are included, as is the case of Otto Trujillo and Miguel Estay Reyno ("El Fanta"). Also included was the statement of the first-class soldier of the Chilean Air Force, Andrés Valenzuela Morales—who deserted from this institution in 1984—who, through his statement, provided accounts and data that in the mid-70s a so-called Joint Command or Anti-Subversive Joint Command began to operate, composed of members of the different branches of the Armed Forces and Order, plus some civilians who belonged to leftist parties and who, after being detained by the Intelligence Services and subjected to pressure or extortion, became collaborators. Said Command had material means at its disposal, such as vehicles, weaponry, transmission equipment, and clandestine detention centers. At this stage of the investigation, Judge Carlos Cerda managed to establish valuable and clarifying data regarding other cases of human rights violations, some of them involving the forcible disappearance of persons, even ordering the referral of some parts of the "case of the thirteen" to other courts that were hearing criminal cases involving them. Among the latter is the case of Alonso Fernando Gahona Chávez. Faced with the refusal of the Honorable Supreme Court to the request of Judge Cerda to extend his Extraordinary Visit to the knowledge of the present illicit act, the Magistrate ordered, on August 14, 1986, that authorized copies of the following parts of the proceedings be sent to the Fourth Criminal Court of San Miguel, as they pertain to its Case File No. 10.161, which is currently being processed for the crime of aggravated kidnapping of the victim. That of page 5,019, which contains the statement given before Judge Cerda by Víctor Hugo Salinas Vilches on December 5, 1985. In it, the witness states that he was detained on September 13, 1975, by a group of about 18 subjects dressed in civilian clothes, heavily armed, covering their faces with wool hats, and was taken to a secret detention center located on Gran Avenida—according to other information, it was known by the name "Nido 20"—from which he was taken to another place to be severely tortured. In "Nido 20," he added, he remained with other detainees he knew from before, among whom he recognized Alonso Gahona Chávez, whom his captors called "Yuri." Yuri—the declarant continued—constantly asked for water, being dragged out, surely to be taken to the bathroom, since he said he could not walk. Despite his condition, the victim continued to be beaten by the agents. And from the document on page 2,426, which contains authorized copies of the sworn statements given by the former member of the Air Force and member of the Joint Command, Andrés Antonio Valenzuela Morales, in the months of August and October 1984, which were attached and added to the case files, there is no record of the sending or referral of the noted pieces. For further information regarding the so-called "case of the thirteen," substantiated fundamentally by the Extraordinary Visiting Judge, Mr. Carlos Cerda Fernández, see the file that recounts the detention and subsequent forcible disappearance of the communist militant, Reinalda del Carmen Pereira Plaza. In April 1991, a new complaint was filed before the 4th Criminal Court of the Presidente Aguirre Cerda Court for the kidnapping of Alonso Fernando Gahona Chávez. This entered processing under case file 10161-11 and, as of December 1992, was in the summary stage with important proceedings pending. The agent of the so-called Anti-Subversive Joint Command, Miguel Estay Reyno, was arrested on December 20, 1992. That day he arrived in the country, expelled from Paraguay, where he had been living in hiding. Days earlier, the former communist militant alias "El Fanta" had been arrested. His arrest is related to the process investigating the kidnapping and throat-slitting of three professionals in 1985, which is being substantiated by the Visiting Judge, Milton Juica. In the aforementioned case, the agent had been charged as the perpetrator of the crime of unlawful deprivation of liberty of the architect Ramón Arriagada Escalante in February 1985; as a co-perpetrator of the crime of kidnapping a group of AGECH teachers in March 1985; and as an alleged perpetrator of the crimes of kidnapping and homicide of José Manuel Parada, Manuel Guerrero, and Santiago Nattino. On the other hand, in the 5th Criminal Court of Santiago, he was charged in a case for usurpation of identity and alleged forgery of a public document. Estay Reyno had left the country in 1989; his family had done so two years earlier. Both for his transfer and his installation in Paraguay, he relied on a support network in which retired members of the Chilean Air Force participated. The former security agent, as already noted, testified in 1986 in the trial for thirteen forcibly disappeared persons that was substantiated by the Visiting Judge, Carlos Cerda Fernández. In said case, the actions of the repressive group called the Joint Command were investigated. As of December 1992, already in custody, several relatives of victims of the Joint Command were studying the background information so that the Court would request his appearance, and others to request the reopening of summary proceedings. In the case of Alonso Gahona Chávez, it is expected that he will be interrogated by the Court.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity

In an interview with the Mayor of the La Cisterna commune, Santiago Rebolledo, what does it mean for you to be present at this act for Alonso Fernando Gahona Chávez, at the former clandestine house NIDO 20 in the La Cisterna commune?

Mr. Gahona was detained on September 8, 1975, while walking home after work. He was kidnapped by armed subjects and taken to the clandestine detention center known as NIDO 20. Mayor, what memories do you have of this former house of detainees?

For me, it is a tremendous honor to be in this place, remembering the memory of Alonso and so many fallen, so many tortured and murdered in this house of terror, which the Dictatorship established, and now we have the house of hope, within the framework of the new generations and that respect for human rights in the country.

Alonso was a Municipal official of La Cisterna, a union leader, an exemplary father, a comrade who fought just as this Mayor has, after the Dictatorship. Well, this is a tremendous act, which implies a "never again" to a coup d'état, never again to break the Democratic Framework in our country.

In these times, important changes are taking place in the country and fascism, the oligarchy is present as never before; that is why we have to organize the people, politicize them to defend our democracy, so that we build a fairer and more egalitarian country as Alonso wanted.

And I thank you for this invitation, because in this Museum of Human Rights in La Cisterna, we have been working hard in our schools, with our children on human rights matters, so that they know what happened in Chile and so that that tragedy with the Forcibly Disappeared never happens again.

We do not lose hope of knowing WHERE THEY ARE. Would you be inviting the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, Jorge Robles Mella, to this place of former clandestine detention? Yes, I spoke with him personally; I pointed out to him how the Air Force devastated with repression, death, and torture after the coup d'état in the southern zone of Santiago, particularly our commune of La Cisterna, and well, we are waiting for an answer from him.

He is a man who has a different vision, General Robles. I also discussed it with the Minister of Defense, Gómez, and I also invited him to hold an act in this NIDO 20 house, the Alberto Bachelet house museum, so that the Air Force makes a gesture of forgiveness, a gesture of "never again," that the armed forces break the democratic framework and dare to generate such a dramatic scenario due to the death and disappearance of so many Chileans.

He was willing; I believe that this act is going to take place and we hope it will be as soon as possible. Mayor, while you ask for that gesture from the Minister of Defense, would you be in favor of integrating 200 former CNI agents into the Army staff?

Actually, I do not have that information. Also arriving at the activity were the President of the Association of Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared Detainees, Lorena Pizarro Sierra, Ana González, Viviana Díaz, and the Trio Memorial, as well as a group of theater actors and artists who beautified the activity in Tribute to Alonso Gahona. By: Marcos Rodríguez González.

Source: cronicadigital.cl 6/9/2015 Date: 06-09-2015

MEMORIAL FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES VICTIMS OF THE DICTATORSHIP TO BE INAUGURATED

This Monday, September 8, the National Association of Public Employees (ANEF) will hold a ceremony to inaugurate a memorial in honor of the public officials who were forcibly disappeared and killed during the dictatorship, a tribute that will be attended by government authorities, social organizations, and Human Rights organizations. "This is done with all the respect that preserving the memory of our country has for us as an association.

On this occasion, we want to immortalize our officials and leaders, who also bequeathed us their ethics and union struggle and who were murdered in the worst period of our history. And by remembering our fallen comrades, we also make a call for life and peace," commented the general secretary of ANEF, Bernardo Jorquera.

Along with the ANEF leaders who announced the memorial, they were accompanied by Deputy Tucapel Jiménez—son of the ANEF union leader of the same name, murdered by Army agents in 1982—as well as the leader of the Association of Relatives of Political Executions, Alicia Lira.

There are more than 380 cases that will appear on a plaque at the ANEF headquarters, which will be inaugurated on Monday, September 8, at 11 a.m. The list was provided to the union by the Ministry of the Interior, where President Salvador Allende Gossens and Tucapel Jiménez stand out. "This inauguration dignifies the working class and the union movements," said Alicia Lira, who is the widow of a Treasury official murdered in the first days after the Coup d'État. "These acts of keeping memory alive, remembering the fallen, are important because memory is fragile and it is good to keep it alive.

We want young people not to live through that dark history that we went through as a country, and that is why it is important to remember the fallen and seek truth and justice, with the purpose that these things never happen again," affirmed Deputy Jiménez.

Source: cronicadigital.cl 5/9/2014 Date: 05-09-2014

Tribute to My Father... ALONSO FERNANDO GAHONA CHAVEZ

September again, September eighth, September thirty-three years… the same number of years you were when they made you disappear, the same number of years I have counted that you have not returned… You know, it is not that long in relative terms, more than a third of what it is estimated human beings can live.

Sometimes I have measured this time as the course of a depression or in the multiple times that anxiety has turned into a panic attack, social phobia, and a multiplicity of other strange symptoms… when I was a child, it was a headache at dusk, which coincided with the hour you were supposed to return and did not… cardiac arrhythmia, damp hands, insomnia, impossible dawns, anguish resistant to all types of medication, pain, deep sorrow… After so many years, I think it is not the number of years that is the most terrible thing about this time, nor all the symptoms listed.

This time is so infinite because it is the rage, the helplessness, the sorrow, the pain, the deep and disheartening truth that to no one or very few does your ordeal matter, the irremediable and hateful wait for 'things to change', that your death and that of so many others might have been in vain, the horror of the 'state of things' where impunity, silence, and oblivion are the words with which some powerful people trade every drop of your blood, every piece of your wounded body, every electric shock, every blow, every slap, every spit, every curse, every threat, every swear word, every rifle-butt blow, every 'submarine', every 'telephone', every hanging, every fingernail ripped out by the root, every lock of hair pulled by force from your head, every tear in every joint, every suffocation, every desire to die already... to die, to die and not keep feeling, every overwhelming pain for every silence of your mouth, every silent cry, every "where will my children be?", "who will be taking care of them?", every "where will my wife be?", every time my name and my sister's name were multiplied into the silence where you were lost… every waking moment in which you were still alive, every new companion who arrived to suffer the same fate, every time and every coordinate completely lost, every contained cry, every destroyed strength, every forgotten number, every vanished address, all the helplessness, the humiliation, the perversity with which they killed you at every instant. That, Dad, is what torments me. Because with the anxiety of an experience like that, one could learn how to live, but one cannot live each day when the 'how' is not accompanied by actions that provide reparation. Because what traumatizes is not what happened, but what continues to happen to you every day that there is no peace or justice in your name. Thirty-three years without reparation for you, for me, or for anyone. No one can repair you because that would mean returning you to life exactly to the minute before you were kidnapped and your assassins counted the exact days until your death, the exact form of your suffering, the word 'torment' with which they sealed your fate… but I am alive and every day of these thirty-three years I have hoped that this damage would diminish, every day especially since March 1990. Every day I have waited, not only for you, but for the thousands of names of other absent ones and others cowardly murdered, every day waiting for the whole world to know the truth, for the whole world to know of the courage of your example, for there to be justice and truth for everyone… for the guilty to be punished, for no one to forget their names so that never again would anyone have to live with this wound. And the years pass and the days and the minutes and the seconds and in Chile there is no Truth, and in Chile there is no Justice, and in Chile there is complicity with the criminals, in Chile there is forgiveness and oblivion, in Chile they turn a blind eye, in Chile there is no memory, in Chile this terrible truth of the forcibly disappeared is of no interest, of clandestine graves, of those thrown into the sea tied to rails, of dynamited bodies, of cowardly assassins, of raped women, of tortured men and women, of those bled to death, of those burned alive with blowtorches, of survivors… In Chile there was no mourning, in Chile there was promotion for the generals of death, in Chile there are grace pensions for their daughters, in Chile there are medals and decorations for the dead, there are public tributes, there are private prisons like luxury hotels, there are dismissals of cases due to the application of amnesty, there are deputies and senators who sponsored the tyranny, there are owners of supermarkets and newspapers who paid for every communist, socialist, radical, Christian democrat, MIR member, Marxist, liberation theologian, progressive Christian, for every Allendista, every soldier of the people murdered or forcibly disappeared by the dictatorship… Today the criminals are a daily part of our lives, they do not pay, they do not take responsibility, they cling to democracy, this democracy they never promoted, this democracy they loathe, the same one to which they file a complaint or a constitutional accusation every day… this democracy they call citizen security, general education law, reserved laws… this same democracy that pays with contempt for the life you gave for those who govern today. And that is why this bitterness and this sorrow do not pass, it is because they want to erase your name and your memory, because they do not want a flyer with your face and your name printed on it to continue being raised, they do not want more hunger strikes or protests in Congress or in the courts, they do not want to ratify the International Criminal Court, they do not want to tell all of Chile the name of every assassin, of every accomplice, of every cover-up artist… they do not want the State Defense Council to stop appealing for the application of amnesty, they do not want us to continue taking cases to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, they do not want more chaining… and they call on us to turn the page, to forget the generosity of your life, to forget who we are… But I resist that sentence, I resist this forced silence, I resist the label of victim, I resist forgiving by decree. I want truth, I want justice, I want punishment for the guilty… I want it to be called genocide, I want it to be called extermination, I want every secret prison to be known, every corner of torture, every stadium and building used as a refuge for the sadism of the tyranny, I want every street to have the names of the absent ones, I want a Rettig Report with the names of the traitors, I want a Valech Report with the identification of the organizational chart of death… For me, there are thirty years of oblivion and injustice, and so for me, after thirty years without reparation, there is no forgiveness or oblivion for your name, for your face, for your hands, for your embrace, for your games, for your courage, for your optimism, for your smile, for your almond-shaped eyes, for your proud spirit, for your integrity, for your deep love, for your Allendismo, for your life… your beautiful inherited life… They made you disappear but you did not disappear and you will not disappear as long as someone remembers your name and calls you to the present to build the future. Turi Gahona Son of Alonso Fernando Gahona Chávez

Source: angelicapalleras.blogspot.com 11/9/2008

Date: 09-11-2008

Court of Appeals to reduce deadlines

Despite the positive evaluation, it is indicated in the courts that the entry into the final phase of the investigations is a factor that suggests that "so much time" is not necessary to continue with their work.

It is indicated that only four of the five exclusive judges would remain in this rank and a new magistrate would be added to the select group. In the final stretch of their investigation, the five judges with exclusive dedication await the next Monday, July 22, for the Courts of Appeals of Santiago and San Miguel to rule on the extension of the deadlines to continue with their human rights processes, although on this occasion it is expected that the work periods will be shortened.

This is the first time that the higher courts will analyze the status of the special judges, after the Supreme Court delegated this responsibility to the direct superiors of the sitting magistrates. In light of the progress of the processes, judicial sources estimate that four of the five magistrates would be maintained.

Those remaining in the race would be the incumbent of the Ninth Criminal Court of Santiago, Raquel Lermanda; of the Eighth Criminal Court of Santiago, María Ines Collin; the incumbent of the Fourth Criminal Court of San Miguel, María Teresa Díaz; and the incumbent of the First Court of Letters of San Bernardo, Cecilia Flores.

Forecasts say that the magistrate of the Tenth Criminal Court, Juan Antonio Poblete, would be excluded from the select group, the only one on the team who has not prosecuted anyone in his cases and who—according to the same sources—will hardly advance in his cases.

On the other hand, it is assumed that the incumbent of the Third Criminal Court of Santiago, Mario Carroza, will re-enter the group, having already requested his change from preferential to exclusive status from the Supreme Court.

The Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior did the same a few days ago, whose director, Luciano Fouillioux, met with the president of the Court of Appeals of Santiago, Carlos Cerda, requesting the incorporation of Carroza.

Despite the optimism surrounding the evaluation of the magistrates, there is also the certainty that there is little to nothing left to do in some processes, a fact that would influence the extension being more limited and no longer for three months.

The response remains in the hands of the higher court, which will set these deadlines by virtue of the report that the magistrates deliver monthly and which is deepened at the end of their period with a more extensive document.

It is estimated that if there are pending proceedings that are practicable and that contribute to the investigation, there would be no obstacles to the extension. In that line, the report of the visiting minister of each court plays a decisive role.

The cases Independent of the final resolution of the Court, the magistrates continue to advance in their cases. Thus, the most important turn is that adopted by the Ninth Criminal Court in the so-called Air War Academy (AGA) case.

Judge Lermanda is trying to unravel whether the version of a former conscript of the Air Force (FACH) who told the Archbishopric that three agents transported an inert body, covered with bags, from the basement of the AGA to a helicopter that took it to an unidentified location is effective.

The information provided at the Dialogue Table indicates that the final destination of the corpse would have been the sea, and Judge Lermanda's leads indicate that—preliminarily—it could be José Luis Baeza, the only forcibly disappeared person mentioned in the extensive process that already totals three thousand pages.

The thesis is handled with absolute caution for fear that there may be errors or that it may be another person. In this case, retired Lieutenant Franklin Bello Calderón, retired Colonel Ramón Cáceres Jorquera, retired General and former director of the Air Force Intelligence Service (Sifa) Edgar Cevallos Jones, and former Gendarmerie official José Aladino Cerda Córdoba are under prosecution for the homicide of Alfonso Carreño and the disappearance of José Luis Baeza, both detained in July 1974.

The investigations carried out by the magistrate have also contributed to the parallel process regarding survivors of the AGA, which is sponsored by CODEPU in the same court, and to the review appeal of retired General Alberto Bachelet, which remains pending in the Supreme Court.

In parallel, the magistrate is advancing in the final stage of the Víctor Olea Alegría process, a forcibly disappeared person at the Venda Sexy. In this case, the top leadership of the DINA was charged, including retired Brigadier Raúl Iturriaga Neumann, Gerardo Urrich, and Alejandro Molina Cisternas, a retired Carabineros officer.

In another court, the Fourth of San Miguel, magistrate María Teresa Díaz also has the investigation into the disappearance of Cecilia Bojanic Abad, on October 2, 1974, when she was three months pregnant, finalized.

In the case, Orlando Manzo Gutiérrez, former head of the 4 Alamos prison camp, was prosecuted. For the disappearance of Alonso Gahona, the magistrate charged Eduardo Cartagena Maldonado, a FACH civilian; Manuel Agustín Muñoz Gamboa, retired Carabineros Captain; Luis Palma Ramírez, FACH civilian; Otto Trujillo Miranda, FACH; and Fernando Patricio Zúñiga Canales, also a FACH civilian.

In the Eighth Court, Judge Collin has been quite a surprise for the human rights community. From the beginning, the magistrate was envisioned with a profile reluctant to these processes; however, with the passage of time, there was a drastic turn to the point of establishing that she has 80% resolved in the processes she handles.

In fact, the only point against her is the case of Oscar Rojas Cuellar, a process that she has not been able to clarify due to a lack of background information, and it is presumed that the dismissal will be issued shortly.

In another court, the Court of Letters of San Bernardo, magistrate Cecilia Flores stands out for her role in the Cerro Chena case, but she has also recorded progress in the Jenny Barra case and transferred one of her processes regarding the Comando Conjunto—the death of communist militant David Edison Urrutia—to the hands of magistrate Carroza.

The balance of the plaintiff lawyers in these processes is favorable, to the point of thinking that the closing of the summary and the beginning of the plenary period is imminent.

Source: Primera Linea July 10, 2002

Date: 07-10-2002

Human Rights: freedom denied to FACH non-commissioned officers

The Court of Appeals of San Miguel denied yesterday the release on bail to FACH non-commissioned officers Eduardo Cartagena and Fernando Zúñiga, both prosecuted by the judge of the Fourth Criminal Court of that commune, María Teresa Díaz, for the disappearance of Alonso Gahona Chávez.

The higher court, by two votes to one, considered that the non-commissioned officers, prosecuted for the crime of kidnapping and illicit association, must continue in preventive detention at the FACH Artillery Regiment in Colina, considering them a danger to society, thus revoking the decision of the judge, who had granted them release on bail.

In the case, there are three other uniformed officers under prosecution, two of them former members of the FACH, in addition to a retired Carabineros commander. The Gahona case is the second where former FACH officers are charged.

In the Ninth Criminal Court of San Miguel, retired Colonel Edgar Ceballos Jones, retired Lieutenant Franklin Bello, and retired officer Ramón Jorquera are under prosecution for the disappearance of Luis Baeza Cruces and Alfonso Carreño Díaz.

Source: TERCERA (BRIEFS) - JULY 7, 2000

Date: 07-07-2000

Supreme Court sentences former agents of the Comando Conjunto for the disappearances of two PC members

The highest court sentenced 8 former agents of the repressive organization for the qualified kidnapping of two communist militants in 1975. Among those sentenced are former members of the FACH, Carabineros, and civilians.

The Second Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court issued a final sentence in the case that investigated the crime of Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Gallardo (23), a lathe operator, and Alonso Gahona Chávez (32), an official of the La Cisterna Municipality, both militants of the Communist Party (PC), detained and forcibly disappeared since August 28 and September 8, 1975, respectively, at the hands of agents of the Comando Conjunto.

In this way, the highest court rejected all the cassation appeals filed by the defense of the former agents and one by the plaintiff party, and sentenced Otto Trujillo Miranda (FACH) to 10 years and 1 day of major imprisonment in its medium degree, as the author of both qualified kidnappings.

Similarly, Fernando Patricio Zúñiga Canales (FACH), Sergio Fernando Contreras Mejías (FACH), Emilio Mahias del Río (Civilian), Gonzalo Eduardo Hernández de la Fuente (Civilian), Manuel Agustín Muñoz Gamboa (Carabinero), and Juan Francisco Saavedra Loyola (FACH) were sentenced to 5 years and 1 day of major imprisonment in its minimum degree, as authors of the qualified kidnapping of Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Gallardo.

Regarding the crime of qualified kidnapping of Alonso Gahona Chávez, Juan Luis Fernando López López (FACH) was sentenced along with Otto Trujillo as an author of said illicit act, to the penalty of 5 years and 1 day.

In the course of the investigation, other agents linked to the qualified kidnapping of Gahona Chávez passed away, among whom are: Freddy Ruiz Bunger (director of FACH intelligence), Edgar Cevallos Jones (FACH), Jorge Cobos Manríquez (FACH), Guillermo Bratti Cornejo (FACH), Roberto Fuentes Morrinson (FACH), César Palma Ramírez (Civilian), and Carol Flores Castillo (Civilian).

The court also sentenced Fernando Patricio Zúñiga Canales (FACH) and Otto Silvio Trujillo Miranda to 541 days of minor imprisonment in its medium degree, as authors of the crime of illicit association.

Meanwhile, for the same charge and participation, Manuel Agustín Muñoz Gamboa is sanctioned with 5 years and 1 day of major imprisonment in its minimum degree. For plaintiff lawyer Nelson Caucoto, representative of the families of both victims, "beyond the low penalty applied to the agents in this case, it is necessary to highlight the persistent activity displayed by the Second Criminal Chamber of the highest court, which with this ruling inaugurates the year 2024 with a sentence against the Comando Conjunto.

It is striking that in this specific case, justice has not been able to reproach all the agents involved in the crimes, due to their prior death, in a clear manifestation of what is called biological impunity." Despite the above, Caucoto points out that "the important thing is that justice continues to advance and resolve the crimes of the dictatorship." The facts In the investigation stage of the case, the visiting minister established the following facts: "That, on the morning of August 28, 1975, around 08:00 hours, in a neighborhood in the southern sector of Santiago, on the way from his house to work, the member of the Communist Party of Chile, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Gallardo, political alias 'Quila' or 'Quilaleo', was detained, who had been located previously by repressive agents of the State and, until the morning of his detention, was watched and followed by an investigation team of Air Force officials, who communicated by means of the mobile equipment they carried to a second team made up of civilians who acted under the perimeter security coverage of a group of agents, who continued the tracking relay of the victim when he got on a bus, and who proceeded to his detention. That a third team of civilians operated very close to the team that carried out the detention, approximately fifty meters away, in order to provide them with coverage in their actions and ensure the physical integrity of the apprehenders. That Rodríguez Gallardo, on the day of his detention, remained handcuffed and blindfolded in a building on Calle Bulnes, Santiago, to be taken in the afternoon to a hangar at the Cerrillos Airport, where he was tortured and, during the long time he remained a prisoner, he was kept chained by his hands and feet, being transferred to different illegal detention centers and continuously tortured, described on page 3293 by the prisoner of 'Nido 1', Juan Bautista Sepúlveda Arancibia, as 'a skeleton with clothes and his face a skull with skin', losing his trail at Remo Cero. That, on September 8, 1975, around 19:00 hours, an operational team made up of two officials of the Chilean Air Force and a collaborator, a former militant of the Communist Youth and former political prisoner at the Air War Academy, when they were circulating at the height of the 26th bus stop of Gran Avenida, the latter recognized Alonso Fernando Gahona Chávez, a communist militant, alias 'Yuri', giving notice to his companions, with whom, carrying firearms, they proceeded to approach and detain him (which was observed by a co-worker of the detainee who was circulating through the sector at a short distance), transferring him to the detention center known as Nido 20, located at Calle Santa Teresa No. 037, La Florida, his whereabouts or destination remaining unknown to date."

Source: elmostrador.cl 2/1/2024

Regional Ministerial Secretary of Labor attended ceremony in memory of public officials who were victims of the dictatorship

The Regional Ministerial Secretary (Seremi) of Labor and Social Security of the Metropolitan Region, María Eugenia Puelma, attended this Wednesday the ceremony in tribute to the public officials who were victims of the dictatorship, an activity organized by the National Association of Fiscal Employees (ANEF).

In the commemoration, the legacy of the 380 officials who appear on the ANEF memorial was remembered, led by the former President of the Republic, Salvador Allende, and the president of the organization, Tucapel Jiménez.

The act was led by the president of ANEF, Raúl de la Puente, and was attended by the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Ximena Rincón; the Undersecretary of Social Security, Julia Urquieta; union leaders; and representatives of Human Rights Groups.

Source: mintrab.gob.cl (no date)

Detained and made to disappear on September 8, 1975.

Dear Alonso. I write to you for the first time a letter I have never written to you, a letter that begins thirty-two years later, on a September day in which time is reinterpreted, life and its circumstances are adhered to that moment in which our life changed forever.

Today is another September and it was so long ago but it still feels like so little. For me in September, the day your trail was lost forever, something broke and it is useless to try to fix it; these days since September appears are days of sadness.

Sometimes I think that so much time has passed and I do not understand why the sorrow comes to me uncontrollably. I know it is the symbolism of the date and I also know it is part of the trauma that means knowing you are dead but not having the possibility to leave flowers on your grave and having the certainty that you are there in a physical place where I can be closer to you as is done with the ritual of death.

I know it is the tragedy that forces me to put a terrible name to your absence, to the absence you did not seek, the absence no one wanted, it is the sadness of thinking where you were, what they did to you, what they told you, it is having the certainty of knowing that they suffocated you, stripped you, beat you, told you to talk or your children would pay for your stubborn silence, they hung you from a shower, it is the certainty of knowing that they vented their rage on your greatness, on your luminous eyes, on your unconditional love for life, a better life for everyone, they vented their rage on your persistence, on your hopes, on your desires to conquer joy. Today after so much time, all the meaning of your painful absence is condensed into one September day. Sometimes I avoid thinking about what life would have been like with you. There are so many things that disappeared along with you, not only did you disappear, but that act is multiplied in everything we lost. I think, for example, that I would have liked you to teach me how to shave, that we would have had discussions about current events, that we would have read the same book, that we would have gone to a concert together. I imagine you somewhere in a protest having warned me before, "son, take care," and me telling you, "you take care too, see you later at home." Or perhaps going with you to the movies or to have a beer. I imagine myself growing up and you by my side unconditionally. For many years the pain of your absence was daily; today it is condensed into this cursed day in which this whole experience is anchored to a date, to a certain moment in the afternoon, to a month full of tragedy, in the small fragments that configure the day they made you disappear. And I continue to miss you as if it were possible to change the circumstances in any way, but it is not so; irremediably you are disappeared, irremediably there is no justice, irremediably the word 'disappeared' makes everything that meant and means every day of our lives disappear. Beloved Alonso, how to tell you everything I miss you, everything I have missed you since you are not here. Just tell you that I have not forgotten you and your name accompanies me every day since that day. Tell you that all your pain is not forgotten by me, that you are present in my dreams of changing things. Tell you that your grandchildren are big, that Maneshita finishes school this year, Alonso and Nacho seem more like friends than brothers, Vivita is so hardworking in her studies, and Nico perhaps would remind you of me when I was little, just as mischievous, just as restless, just as cute as all your grandchildren. There is so much to tell you, this life of searching for you is populated with anguish, with loneliness, with hope. It is full of other children, other friends so dear, so persevering in this fight to prevent your name and so many other names full of life from being forgotten, so many brave friends who do not cease to make visible the names made invisible by those responsible, those friends who write or shout your name through the streets, those friends who do not tire of breaking the hard fortress with which the criminals have built their impunity. Thirty-two years have passed and many more will undoubtedly pass, and every day is an effort so that your name is not forgotten. In your memory—dear father—I have written a thousand words, with your memory in my mind I have walked infinite streets, with your smile and the love you gave us in those few years we were together, I have been able to resist the passage of time and the forced sadness of this history. Just tell you, comrade Alonso, that there is no forgiveness and there will be no oblivion and that you are present... now and always. Prosecuted for the kidnapping of Alonso Fernando Gahona Chávez Eduardo Cartagena Maldonado, FACH, Civilian Manuel Agustín Muñoz Gamboa, retired Carabineros Captain Luis Palma Ramírez, FACH, Civilian Otto Trujillo Miranda, FACH, Civilian Fernando Patricio Zúñiga Canales, FACH, Civilian (All members of the Comando Conjunto)

Source: Received from Yuri Gahona (ygahona@gmail.com) on 9-8-07