On May 20, 1974, Alvaro Modesto VALLEJOS VILLAGRAN, a militant of the MIR, was arrested at his home in Maipú. Numerous consistent witness accounts confirm his presence at the Londres 38 facility.

On July 29, he was taken by plainclothes agents to his parents' home, where he remained for approximately 15 minutes. There is testimony regarding his later presence at Cuatro Alamos. The last place he was seen was Colonia Dignidad.

The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of State agents, who thereby violated his human rights.

Alvaro Modesto Vallejos Villagrán, married, one child, medical student, and MIR militant, was detained on May 20, 1974, at approximately 8:30 PM, at his parents' home located at Pasaje Prat 3250, Maipú, by DINA agents who verbally identified themselves as members of the Military Intelligence Service.

The agents, armed with submachine guns, were looking for him because he was a member of the MIR Central Committee and allegedly possessed dollars to finance guerrilla activities. The family was abruptly separated into different rooms of the house, and all were interrogated.

The agents threatened the victim, telling him that "he would not withstand the torture," considering his physical condition; he was short and thin. He was then handcuffed and taken away in a white Chevrolet C-10 pickup truck. It was later learned that he was taken to the secret DINA detention center located at Londres 38.

His spouse, María Lucía Villavicencio, went to a brother's house, where the agents arrived later. After interrogating the homeowners, they proceeded to take her into custody. She was also taken to Londres 38, where she realized her presence there was intended to pressure her husband.

The agents claimed that if he talked, they would commit to getting her out of the country. After being blindfolded—just like her spouse—she was taken to an interrogation room where she was harassed, threatened, and insulted amidst beatings. Later, she was taken to her in-laws' house and placed under house arrest.

Days later, on May 25 and 27, the same individuals returned to his home and raided it, taking everything of value (a typewriter, money, a gold ring, etc.).

A month later, they raided the home again, removing more items such as suitcases and clothing, claiming that "everything was stolen" or "financed with extremist money."

During those days, they also went to look for his sister, only 14 years old, whom they forced to accompany them to the victim's home.

The family had contact with Alvaro Vallejos on July 29, 1974, the date he was brought to his parents' house. The security personnel indicated that he was being released and that he had to go sign in at the Maipú Carabineros station every 3 days.

However, fifteen minutes later, about 15 agents returned with a large surveillance deployment. They showed his father—an active-duty Army Sergeant Major—the corresponding identification cards and told him they were taking him to sign in and that he would return.

From that moment on, no one in his family ever saw him again.

Alvaro Vallejos was seen at the secret detention center at Londres 38 by several prisoners who were with him and were subsequently released. Among them was Raimundo Elgueta Pinto, who had been detained at that location since May 6, 1974.

He stated that the victim told him he had been tortured. Elgueta was a witness to Vallejos being taken three times in a single day to interrogations involving long sessions of torture. He says the last time he saw him was on May 30 of that year, in poor physical condition, with his legs immobilized as a result of electricity and "hanging" torture.

He had been beaten severely, barely spoke, and told him that if he did not say what they wanted to know, they would kill him in the next interrogation.

On the last Saturday of May, Blanca Troncoso also arrived at the Londres street facility, and after midnight, she was taken along with the victim to the interrogation room. The young man entered first, while she remained outside and heard him moaning.

These sessions were directed by agent Osvaldo Romo, who, after a while, ordered the witness to enter. Inside the room, she could still hear the victim's moans; at one point, when her blindfold slipped, she saw him hanging from a bar.

On June 5, she was transferred to the Estadio Chile. Another detainee, Eliana Medina, who arrived on June 16, 1974, from another facility located in the basements of Plaza Bulnes, stated that Vallejos, along with two other prisoners, Jorge Grez and Agustín Reyes, were constantly taken out for interrogations and returned in very poor condition.

Apparently, towards the end of June, Vallejos was transferred to Cuatro Alamos and later returned to the house on Londres street. The same happened with Jorge Grez, Agustín Reyes, and another detainee they called "Lolo," which is why they were called "the 4 Alamitos." This is recalled by Cristián Van Yurick, who was detained on July 12, 1974, and taken to Londres 38.

Van Yurick notes that as soon as he arrived, he was interrogated and tortured, and later placed in the room where the other detainees were, but separated from the rest. He says Vallejos approached him with blankets and calmed him down. They had known each other previously.

Adriana Pino, who also arrived as a detainee on July 12 at the Londres street house, remembers something similar. She says that Alvaro Vallejos would accompany her to the bathroom by order of the guards, at which time he would tell her that he was tortured in that same bathroom, where they would submerge his head in a hole in the floor that apparently contained water and excrement, then soak him completely and apply electricity.

Graciela Mathieu Loguercio also remembers Alvaro Vallejos during her confinement at Londres 38, where she arrived as a detainee at midnight on July 15. She says the victim spoke a lot and challenged the agents, telling them they were being used. She says he was one of the few who did not show fear of his captors, which had earned him a sort of respect from these individuals.

This attitude is also recalled by Patricia Barceló, detained around July 23, 1974. She says the victim would click his heels, tell jokes, and walk around the room, in circumstances where the rest were not allowed to do so.

During the last week of July, several detainees were transferred to Cuatro Alamos, and Vallejos must have been among them, as many say they saw him again after this date at that facility. Among those who saw him there are Adriana Pino, Francisco Lagos, and Lilian Yáñez.

Alvaro Vallejos Villagrán had remained for a very short time at Cuatro Alamos, as at the end of July or beginning of August 1974, he was taken out and brought to Colonia Dignidad, according to the statement of former DINA agent Samuel Fuenzalida Devia on October 30, 1979, in Germany, during the trial brought by Colonia Dignidad against Amnesty International.

Fuenzalida stated that on that date, he accompanied an Army Captain named Fernando or Fernández to Cuatro Alamos to pick up a prisoner he remembered by his nickname: "Loro Matías," who was quite well-known among DINA agents.

He knew he was the son of an Army Sergeant and that he was destined for "Puerto Montt," as he saw in that organization's index cards. In the DINA, this term was used to indicate that they were going to kill a prisoner by land. Another term, "La Moneda," was used to indicate that they would do the same to a prisoner, but by throwing them into the sea.

The former agent recounted that Vallejos was handcuffed and asked for permission to take his personal belongings, but the Captain replied that he would not need them.

They made the trip in a Chevrolet pickup truck, and before starting, they put tape over the victim's eyes and dark glasses over that. Upon arriving in Parral, at the Catillo junction, they crossed paths with another pickup truck with civilians with whom they exchanged a password.

The Captain got out, and when they were left alone, Vallejos told Samuel Fuenzalida that he had the impression they were taking him to a place where he had already been taken previously, because it was the same road.

Upon arriving at the "Germans'" facility, as they called Colonia Dignidad in the DINA, a light blue Mercedes Benz car was waiting for them with two Germans inside; one of them, the older one, appeared to be the boss and they called him "The Professor." The prisoner was put into this vehicle, and then everyone entered the facility.

Fuenzalida did not know which sector they took Vallejos to, because he entered a large house and the victim continued with "The Professor" and the Captain (Fernando or Fernández). The Officer arrived a few minutes later, and a while later "The Professor" arrived, who said "fertig" (in German: finished) and made a gesture that the witness understood to mean the prisoner was dead.

Upon returning to Santiago, he noticed that the "Loro Matías" file had disappeared from the detainees' index. It should be noted that the Officer spoke in German with "The Professor."

Alvaro Vallejos's name was included in a list provided to the press in February 1975, when the DINA staged a "Press Conference" with four MIR detainees: Cristián Mallol, Humberto Menanteaux, Hernán González, and Hernán Carrasco, who were forced to say that the MIR was destroyed and simultaneously publicly provide the names of numerous members of its leadership, who were allegedly dead, detained, in asylum, or out of the country.

Alvaro Vallejos was listed as "exiled." This "Conference" was the responsibility of Major Pedro Espinoza Bravo, at that time Chief of the DINA facility known as Villa Grimaldi, and carried out by Lieutenant Miguel Krassnoff and other DINA Officers.

The four MIR militants forced to carry out this operation had been detained at the end of 1974 and subjected to systematic interrogation and torture. After participating in this setup, they remained detained and were released months later. However, Menanteaux and Carrasco were detained again and appeared dead, with their bodies destroyed and clear signs of torture on a hill in Buin.

The authorities initially denied the detention of Alvaro Vallejos, but later acknowledged it through an Exempt Decree from the Ministry of the Interior dated June 10, 1974, but at the same time reported that he had been released by another Decree dated August 29 of the same year.

His spouse had to leave the country for security reasons. For many years, she was prohibited from entering Chile.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On May 29, 1974, a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) was filed on his behalf before the Santiago Court of Appeals, case file 535-74.

Eighteen days later, the Minister of the Interior, General Oscar Bonilla, informed the Court that Alvaro Vallejos was not being held by order of any administrative authority, nor was there any information regarding his whereabouts. This response is dated June 17, 1974.

On June 21, it was resolved to officially request the Ministry of Defense to determine if there was any order against him issued by a Military Tribunal. This request was reiterated four times over the following five months, without receiving a response.

On November 7 of that year, the Minister of the Interior informed that the victim had been released according to Exempt Decree No. 349 of that Ministry. No date is mentioned, neither for the arrest nor the release.

It was also added in this response that this "had already been informed to the Court by Official Letter No. 158 dated June 17 of that year." Indeed, the number of the Official Letter corresponded to the previous response from the Minister, General Cesar Benavides, but not its content.

Based on the merit of this last response, on November 8, 1974, the 6th Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals resolved to reject the writ of amparo and remit the records to the corresponding Criminal Court, since in the argument, the lawyer had indicated that the victim remained forcibly disappeared. This resolution was appealed.

The Supreme Court, to resolve the appeal, ordered an official request to the Ministry of Defense, noting that this inquiry had been reiterated on five occasions by the Court of Appeals and had not been answered. It also ordered the Ministry of the Interior to send a photocopy of the aforementioned Exempt Decree No. 349 mentioned in its previous report.

On November 22, Vallejos's spouse informed the Supreme Court that the previous day, November 21, she had been informed at the International Red Cross that the Executive Secretary of SENDET, Colonel Jorge Espinoza Ulloa, had sent an official response to that international organization indicating that Alvaro Vallejos was detained at Tres Alamos.

That same day, they had gone to the SENDET offices to request information directly and were told that the young man was indeed detained, but they could not indicate the place where he was being held. With this information, the high Court was requested to immediately order the appearance of the victim or the commission of a Minister or Prosecutor of the Court of Appeals.

Despite this new information, the Supreme Court limited itself to acknowledging receipt of the document and waiting for the responses to the inquiries made to the Ministries of Defense and Interior.

The Ministry of Defense responded that it had no knowledge of this detention since it had not been reported to a military Tribunal as informed by SENDET, so it had forwarded the inquiry to the Ministry of the Interior.

The latter, on the other hand, sent the photocopy of Exempt Decree No. 349 which ordered the release of Alvaro Vallejos. It was dated August 29, 1974, and rendered void Exempt Decree No. 140 of that Secretariat of State, dated June 10, 1974, which had ordered his arrest.

The date of detention mentioned here also does not correspond to the facts, since the victim had been taken from his parents' home by DINA agents on May 20 of that year, twenty days before this Decree was issued.

With these responses, and notwithstanding the evident contradictions in the information provided by the authorities, including the first response from the Minister of the Interior who denied his arrest, the chamber of the Supreme Court presided over by Minister Israel Bórquez confirmed the appealed resolution, rejecting the amparo, and the records were then remitted to the 7th Criminal Court to investigate the reported facts.

Thus, case file 76.542 was initiated in said Court regarding the alleged disappearance of Alvaro Vallejos Villagrán.

Complying with the order to investigate issued by this Tribunal, the Investigations police made inquiries at SENDET, where they were informed that Alvaro Modesto Vallejos Villagrán had been received "from the DINA" on July 16, 1974, and had remained confined at Tres Alamos until August 29 of the same year, the date of his release.

On February 24, 1975, his spouse filed a complaint for the disappearance of the victim, which was accumulated into the case being processed. In this filing, information regarding the "Press Conference" of the detained MIR members, which had taken place that same month, was provided, where the victim is mentioned as an exile.

It was also requested to reiterate official inquiries to the authorities in relation to this new information. Furthermore, it was requested that the four MIR members be summoned to testify, which was not accepted by the Tribunal.

The Minister of the Interior took three months to respond, reiterating his release and stating that subsequently no order had been issued against him.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs took almost a year to send its response, and although it appeared dated in July 1975, it was attached to the file on January 31, 1976. It indicates that the victim did not appear as an asylee.

This information had already been received by the Tribunal in July 1975 through the Foreigners' Office, which indicated that Vallejos did not appear as an asylee, questioned person, or refugee.

After a final response from SENDET, which again states that the victim had been released by virtue of the Interior Decree dated August 29, 1974, the Tribunal resolved to close the summary proceedings on April 13, 1976.

On that same date, the temporary dismissal of the case was ordered, as the commission of a crime in the disappearance of Alvaro Vallejos Villagrán had not been proven. On July 2 of that year, the Santiago Court of Appeals approved said dismissal.

On May 29, 1991, his sister, Verónica Vallejos Villagrán, filed a complaint for kidnapping before the same Tribunal (Case File 76.742), in which information known subsequently regarding the young medical student's stay in Colonia Dignidad and the testimonies of other prisoners at the house on Londres 38 street who were with the victim was provided.

As of December 1992, this case was in the summary stage.

Recently, in this case, two agents have been charged: Osvaldo Romo Mena in November 1992—the aforementioned agent, who lived in Brazil under a false identity, was expelled from that country in November 1992 and detained in Chile—and the other agent is Fernando Gómez Segovia, who has been charged as an accomplice to kidnapping since December 3, 1992.

Source: Vicaría de la Solidaridad