41 years old, farmer, forcibly disappeared on October 20, 1973, in Lautaro. Benedicto Poo Alvarez, a Communist militant, was detained that day on a public street in Lautaro by Carabineros officers. He has remained disappeared since then.

According to statements provided by witnesses, due to his political activism, Benedicto Poo had been detained on several occasions by Carabineros from the Lautaro Police Station. On those occasions, he had suffered mistreatment, for which he had filed formal complaints against his captors, which had caused greater animosity against him, especially on the part of the Police Commissioner of that unit.

According to eyewitnesses, the final detention occurred on a public street and was carried out by Carabineros who were traveling in a pickup truck. Family members who went to the police station were denied that he was being held there.

Two weeks after the disappearance, the same Carabineros who, according to witnesses, had detained Benedicto Poo, raided his home and seized all documentation referring to him. Considering the evidence gathered and the investigation carried out by this Corporation, the Superior Council reached the conviction that Benedicto Poo Alvarez was detained by State agents and disappeared while being held in that status.

For this reason, it declared him a victim of human rights violations.

Source: Corporation Report

Minister Álvaro Claudio Mesa, on an extraordinary visit for human rights violation cases, sentenced retired Carabineros officer Jorge Enrique Schweizer to 12 years in prison for aggravated kidnapping. The crime, classified as a crime against humanity, was committed against the farmer Benedicto Poo Álvarez, who was kidnapped in October 1973 in the commune of Lautaro, La Araucanía region.

Minister Mesa also permanently and absolutely disqualified the former officer from holding public office and positions, and, according to the ruling, imposed "absolute disqualification for professional titles for the duration of the sentence; in addition to the payment of court costs." Additionally, in the civil sphere, Mesa ordered the State to pay compensation of $50 million pesos for moral damages to Myriam Rosa Flor Poo Carrasco, the victim's niece.

The kidnapping The resolution details that, starting on September 11, 1973, at the 1st Carabineros Police Station of Lautaro, Major Jorge Enrique Schweizer, together with Captain Marcial Edmundo Vera (deceased), organized and coordinated a special group of Carabineros who, under the orders of Lieutenant José Orlando Huerta (deceased), collaborated with army personnel from the La Concepción Regiment of Lautaro, carrying out patrols to obtain information on those who were considered opponents of the military regime, in order to then detain these people, interrogate them, and transfer them to locations that remain unknown to this day. Benedicto Poo Álvarez, a 41-year-old farmer and Communist militant residing in Lautaro, left his home on October 20, 1973, to go to the center of the commune to run errands, accompanied by his partner. They then proceeded to visit Benedicto Poo's cousin, and later the farmer left the house alone. "Around noon, while Benedicto Poo Álvarez was walking through the center of Lautaro, specifically on Calle O’Higgins, he was detained by a Carabineros patrol belonging to the 1st Police Station of Lautaro; who placed him in the back of the vehicle, which then proceeded to move," the ruling details. According to the evidence, Benedicto's niece saw the detention and heard her uncle tell her to notify his father about the event, which led the farmer's partner to inquire about the detention at the 1st Police Station of Lautaro, where they denied the event and told her to inquire at the commune's regiment. According to the document, Poo was indeed being held at the police station. Following this, the resolution details that "the victim's family members never again received news regarding his whereabouts, with the account currently existing in the Museum of Memory and Human Rights remaining, which reports his disappearance after his detention on that day, October 20, 1973." Furthermore, it states that "to date, no public official of the Carabineros de Chile or any other branch of the Armed Forces and/or Order and Security who served at the time of the events has provided any information to the respective authority in relation to what happened to Benedicto Poo Álvarez, maintaining to this day the concealment of all types of information regarding his whereabouts."

Source: biobiochile.cl, June 15, 2021

Date: 06-15-2021

Retired Carabineros officer accused of the kidnapping of Benedicto Poo Álvarez in 1973

The minister on an extraordinary visit for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of the Courts of Appeal of Temuco, Valdivia, and Puerto Montt, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, issued an indictment against two retired Carabineros as perpetrators of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Benedicto Poo Álvarez.

In the resolution (case file 45.364), the visiting minister indicted Jorge Enrique Schweizer Gómez and Marcial Edmundo Vera Ríos as perpetrators of the crime committed on October 20, 1973, in the commune of Lautaro.

During the investigation stage, Minister Mesa was able to establish the following facts: "A.- That starting on September 11, 1973, at the 1st Carabineros Police Station of Lautaro, the command in charge of the unit, which included a Major and a Captain, organized and coordinated a special group of Carabineros that included Juvenal Santiago Sanhueza Sanhueza, Enrique Ferrier Valeze, Mario Ponce Orellana (all deceased), and a Corporal, among others, who, under the orders of Lieutenant José Orlando Huerta Ávila (deceased), collaborated with army personnel from the La Concepción Regiment of Lautaro, carrying out joint patrols through the rural area under the aforementioned police unit, while proceeding to identify the names and addresses of people who were classified as opponents of the Military Regime. These individuals were subsequently detained and taken to the Police Station to be interrogated in different areas of the facility, or removed by this special group of Carabineros or by military personnel to be transferred to locations that remain unknown to this day. B.- That Benedicto Poo Álvarez, a 41-year-old farmer and Communist militant residing in the "San Carlos" area located on the middle road 8 km from the commune of Lautaro, on that day, October 20, 1973, together with his partner, Ms. Hilda del Carmen Fuentes Ortega, went to the commune of Lautaro to carry out errands in the city. Upon arriving, they proceeded to visit Mr. Urbano Poo (deceased), a cousin of Benedicto Poo Álvarez, who resided in a property located at 276 Vicuña Mackenna Street in the commune. After some time, around 11:30 a.m., the victim left the property alone to go to the city center to carry out the errands for which he was there. C.- That around noon, while Benedicto Poo Álvarez was walking through the center of Lautaro, specifically on Calle O’Higgins, he was detained by a Carabineros patrol belonging to the 1st Police Station of Lautaro; who placed him in the back of the vehicle, which then proceeded to move. At that moment, Ms. Myriam Poo Carrasco, Benedicto's niece and daughter of Mr. Urbano Poo, who was circulating through the center of the city, heard the voice of her uncle, who from inside the moving vehicle shouted to her, "Myriam, tell my uncle that the Carabineros are taking me." After the aforementioned alert, she immediately went to her father's house, where she informed Ms. Hilda Fuentes Ortega of what had happened, who in turn immediately went to the 1st Police Station of Lautaro in order to obtain information regarding what had occurred. Upon arriving at the police unit, the guard on duty denied the victim's detention and suggested that Ms. Fuentes inquire about Benedicto at the commune's regiment. D.- That on that day, Víctor Matus Vásquez, a 1st Corporal of the same police unit, was on guard at the 1st Carabineros Police Station of Lautaro, and he knew Benedicto Poo Álvarez personally from having played soccer with him. Because of this, he was able to perfectly recognize Benedicto at the very moment he was being brought into the police station as a detainee, stating that the arresting personnel belonged to Lieutenant Huerta's group; that is, Mr. Ferrier, Mr. Ponce (both deceased), and the officer with the surname Campos from the same unit. E.- That in this context, the major of the 1st Police Station of Lautaro also remembers the event with precision, stating consequently that Benedicto Poo Álvarez was indeed being held as a detainee in the facilities of the unit under his command on that October 20, 1973. He specified that he remembers the event because he knew an officer with the rank of Captain with the surname Poo, with whom he communicated after Benedicto's detention. F.- That after the episodes described above, the victim's family members never again received news regarding his whereabouts, with the account currently existing in the Museum of Memory and Human Rights remaining, which reports his disappearance after his detention on that day, October 20, 1973. G.- Finally, to date, no public official of the Carabineros de Chile or any other branch of the Armed Forces and/or Order and Security who served at the time of the events has provided any information to the respective authority in relation to what happened to Benedicto Poo Álvarez, maintaining to this day the concealment of all types of information regarding his whereabouts."

Source: tiempo21.cl, February 16, 2018

Date: 02-16-2018