Minister Álvaro Mesa indicts seven former uniformed personnel for unlawful coercion.

The Minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights cases of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, indicted seven retired officers of the Army and Carabineros as co-perpetrators of the crime of unlawful coercion, perpetrated in the commune of Galvarino, Cautín province, in 1973.

In his resolution, the Magistrate indicted and ordered the preventive detention of the former uniformed personnel: Gonzalo Baldemar Soto Sandoval, Luis Alberto Araneda Gutiérrez, Felidor del Carmen Morales Flores, Carlos del Tránsito Parra Rodríguez, Luis Gerardo Ibacache Salamanca, Manuel Gustavo Sandoval Cifuentes, and Erasmo Alberto Fuentes Sepúlveda, for their responsibility in the torture applied against 11 inhabitants of the sector, crimes perpetrated between September and October 1973.

According to the evidence gathered in the investigation, Minister Mesa was able to establish that “subsequent to September 11, 1973, the Galvarino Carabineros Station, which at the time had a staff of at least sixteen officers, was reinforced by a military contingent from the 'La Concepción' Regiment of Lautaro, carrying out joint patrols through the city and the rural area under the jurisdiction of the aforementioned police unit (…).

According to the accounts collected in this process from people who were deprived of liberty in Galvarino and from some conscript soldiers of the 'La Concepción' Regiment of Lautaro, who reinforced the staff of the station in that city, the Galvarino Carabineros proceeded to systematically torture the detainees who were inside that police unit, with Lieutenant Enrique Arturo Zepeda Ramírez, in charge of the unit, some corporals, and other carabineros standing out in such activities.

The torture consisted of the application of electricity, beatings, whipping, and mock executions, while they were asked about weapons and the names of members of any combatant group. The resolution added that, during the months of September and October 1973, the Galvarino Carabineros went at night to different rural homes in the aforementioned commune, which they proceeded to raid and physically coerce those who were in them, whether they were men, women, or minors.

While they proceeded in this way, they shouted that 'now they were in charge.'” The eleven victims of said crimes are Jorge Carol Contreras Villagra, José Armando Llanos Jorquera, Segundo Daniel Llanos Jorquera, José Ernesto Millalén Otárola, Carlino Segundo Ñiripil Paillao, Rubén Calvillán Ortiz, Rosa Amelia Lizama Huaiquimil, Victorino Collío Millanao, Bruno Nahuel Melín, Francisco Paillal Llevul, and Héctor Rosauro Ñiripil Paillao.

Source: Judiciary, October 29, 2014

Minister Mesa issues convictions for homicide and unlawful coercion committed by Carabineros in Galvarino, 1973

The minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights violation cases of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, convicted 6 retired Carabineros for the homicide of Segundo Osvaldo Moreira Bustos and for unlawful coercion against Juana de Dios Rojas Viveros, perpetrated in the commune of Galvarino in October 1973.

The magistrate sentenced Manuel Gustavo Sandoval Cifuentes and Gonzalo Baldemar Soto Sandoval to 10 years and one day in prison for their responsibility as perpetrators of the qualified homicide of Segundo Moreira Bustos and to a 60-day prison sentence for their responsibility as accomplices to the unlawful coercion of Juana de Dios Rojas Viveros.

Meanwhile, he sentenced Felidor del Carmen Morales Flores, Luis Gerardo Ibacache Salamanca, and Luis Alberto Araneda Gutiérrez to 541 days in prison for their responsibility as accessories to the homicide of Segundo Moreira Bustos and to 60 days in prison for their responsibility as accomplices to the coercion of Juana de Dios Rojas Viveros.

Finally, Carlos del Tránsito Parra Rodríguez was sentenced to 541 days in prison for his responsibility as an accessory to the homicide of Segundo Moreira Bustos and to 300 days in prison as a perpetrator of unlawful coercion against Juana de Dios Rojas Viveros.

In the investigation, the instructing minister established that "at the beginning of October 1973, a patrol composed of four Carabineros from the Galvarino Station was moving in the afternoon along the road toward the town of Aillinco, in a jeep requisitioned from a public office.

At a certain moment, they crossed paths with Segundo Osvaldo Moreira Bustos, who was traveling along the road mounted on his horse, who, when he saw the patrol approaching, turned around and began to gallop away from the vehicle.

Then, Carabinero Sandoval, in command of the patrol, ordered the driver of the vehicle to stop, perform maneuvers to return along the road, and set out in pursuit. While they were chasing the victim, the patrol opened fire against Moreira Bustos, striking him in the back, and he fell down immediately, incapacitated.

Immediately thereafter, the patrol approached the victim and proceeded to give him a beating that ended up hastening his death. Immediately after, the members of this group of uniformed personnel proceeded to cover his body with branches, leaving him lying on the side of the road," the ruling details; adding that "once the relatives of Moreira Bustos learned of the event, they went at different times both to the place where the victim's body was and to the Galvarino Station to request information about what had happened and to ask for authorization to remove the body.

After several hours of pleading before the officer in command, Lieutenant Enrique Arturo Zepeda Ramírez (deceased, according to page 865), who at first denied the possibility of handing over the body and even threatened to burn his remains, the family managed to get him to agree to their requests, so the body was removed with the help of neighbors of Galvarino and was taken immediately to his parents' house.

In that place, the family was able to verify that the victim had a fractured lower jaw and both wrists, that his face was completely bruised, and that his two thumbs were missing. That night he was waked and the next day interred in the local cemetery.

There is no evidence to ensure that the required legal autopsy was performed on the body. Nor is there any record that the respective military or Carabineros superiors were informed about what happened, nor that an investigation had been initiated into what occurred." Likewise, Minister Álvaro Mesa was able to determine that "the Galvarino Carabineros, during October 1973, went on four occasions at night to the home of Mrs.

Juana de Dios Rojas Viveros, after her spouse was executed on the public road by a patrol of military and Carabineros from that commune. In one of those raids, Juana de Dios Rojas was taken barefoot from the house and brought to the place where her husband was murdered, leaving her abandoned there.

One of the members of the patrol, before leaving the place, told her 'save yourself if you can.' On another occasion, she was detained and taken along with her daughter—who was months old—to the Station, where she remained locked up for two days in the cells, being able to notice that there were more detainees.

During her stay at the Galvarino Carabineros Station, she was subjected to torture, such as kicks and punches and threats with a firearm. In the same way, the torturers interrogated her about the rest of the members of the Communist Party of Galvarino.

The victim was released without being charged and without being given any explanation regarding the actions of the Carabineros." Minister Álvaro Mesa was appointed instructor of human rights cases in place of minister Fernando Carreño Ortega starting in September 2011.

At the time of assuming the position, he received 41 cases in the summary stage. He currently oversees 112 cases that have a total of 307 volumes, of which 93 are in the summary stage, 11 are in the plenary stage, and 8 have been ruled upon.

Of the latter, cases with file numbers 27.525, from the criminal registry of the Carahue Court of Letters for the crime of qualified homicide, Cayul Tranamil episode; 27.526, from the criminal registry of the Carahue Court of Letters for the crime of qualified homicide, Palma and Saravia episode; 45.345, from the criminal registry of the Lautaro Court of Letters, for the crime of qualified homicide of Juan Tralcal Huenchumán; 18.780, from the criminal registry of the Curacautín Court of Letters, for simple homicide of Jorge San Martín Lizama; 113.990, from the registry of the First Criminal Court of Temuco, for the crime of simple homicide of Manuel Burgos Muñoz, are all convictions and final judgments; and in cases with file numbers 45.342, from the criminal registry of the Lautaro Court of Letters, for the crime of simple homicide of Gumercindo Gutiérrez, a conviction confirmed by the Temuco Court of Appeals, currently pending a hearing for the filed cassation appeal; and 29.877 from the criminal registry of the Pitrufquén Court of Letters, for the crime of qualified homicide of Nicanor Moyano Valdés, a conviction pending a hearing for an appeal against the final judgment. In total, he has recorded 76 indictments since he assumed his investigative work, with 48 currently in force, corresponding to 26 cases with indictments; there are also 122 people indicted, 43 accused, and 8 convicted. To date, he has dismissed 6 cases, in addition to having declared himself incompetent in 2 others. In his work, the collaboration of the investigative team has been increasing year by year, starting in 2011 with 1 judicial clerk and 2 detectives from the PDI's Investigative Brigade for Crimes against Human Rights. As of 2016, Magistrate Mesa is assisted by five judicial clerks and, as of 2015, by eight detectives from the aforementioned brigade.

Source: araucaniacuenta.cl, April 5, 2016

7 retired uniformed personnel convicted for unlawful coercion during the dictatorship

Seven retired Army and Carabineros personnel were convicted for unlawful coercion against ten people, events that occurred in Galvarino, Araucanía region, between September and October 1973, with the state also being ordered to pay a millionaire indemnity.

The minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights violation cases of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, sentenced Felidor del Carmen Flores Morales to a single penalty of 3 years and one day in prison for his responsibility as the perpetrator of 7 crimes of unlawful coercion and to 3 sentences of 20 days in prison as an accomplice in 3 cases.

Manuel Gustavo Sandoval Cifuentes, Luis Alberto Araneda Gutiérrez, and Carlos del Tránsito Parra Rodríguez were sentenced to a single penalty of 3 years in prison for their responsibility as perpetrators of 5 crimes of unlawful coercion and 5 sentences of 20 days in prison for their responsibility as accomplices in 5 cases.

Luis Gerardo Ibacache Salamanca and Gonzalo Baldemar Soto Sandoval were sentenced to 5 sentences of 20 days in prison for their responsibility as accomplices in 5 cases of coercion and 5 sentences of 20 days for their responsibility as accessories in 5 other cases.

Erasmo Alberto Fuentes Sepúlveda was sentenced to 6 sentences of 60 days in prison for his responsibility as the perpetrator of unlawful coercion against an equal number of prisoners and to 4 fines of 10 Monthly Tax Units for his responsibility as an accomplice to coercion against other prisoners.

The magistrate granted Erasmo Alberto Fuentes Sepúlveda, Gonzalo Baldemar Soto Sandoval, and Luis Ibacache Salamanca the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence for a period of one year, and to Luis Araneda Gutiérrez, Carlos Parra Rodríguez, Manuel Gustavo Sandoval Cifuentes, and Felidor Morales Flores, the benefit of intensive supervised release for a period of four years.

In the civil aspect, the minister ordered the State to pay the sum of 135 million pesos as compensation for damages, for moral injury resulting from the crime of unlawful coercion, in amounts distributed in the sentence.

Source: biobiochile.cl, August 29, 2016

Temuco Court reduces sentence for retired Carabineros members for homicides in the commune of Galvarino.

The appellate court reduced the sentence for Manuel Gustavo Sandoval Cifuentes, Felidor del Carmen Morales Flores, and Carlos del Tránsito Parra Rodríguez to 15 years and one day in prison. In a unanimous ruling, the Temuco Court of Appeals reduced the sentence for 7 retired Carabineros members for their responsibility in the homicides of Segundo Lepín Antilef, Juan Nahuel Huaquimil, Julio Ñirripil Paillao, Juan Levío Llaupe, Víctor Yanquín Tropa, and Heriberto Collío Naín, crimes committed in October 1973, in the commune of Galvarino.

The appellate court reduced the sentence for Manuel Gustavo Sandoval Cifuentes, Felidor del Carmen Morales Flores, and Carlos del Tránsito Parra Rodríguez to 15 years and one day in prison. Likewise, it reduced the sentence for Erasmo Alberto Fuentes Sepúlveda to 10 years and one day in prison.

Along with this, it maintained the 5-year prison sentence, with the benefit of supervised release, for Gonzalo Baldemar Soto Sandoval, Luis Gerardo Ibacache Salamanca, and Luis Alberto Araneda Gutiérrez.

In the investigation stage, the Minister on assignment for human rights cases of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, established the following facts as proven: That at the beginning of October 1973, at night, a Carabineros patrol from the Galvarino Station under the orders of Sergeant Arturo Lizama Pulgar and also composed of at least one Carabineros Corporal from the staff of the aforementioned unit, went to the Levío Indigenous Community located in the Panco sector, Galvarino–Lautaro Road, where the members of this patrol proceeded to violently raid a home and where Andrés Lorenzo Levío Malo and Segundo Levío Llaupe were detained, apparently without carrying a judicial order that authorized them for such an act. The group of captors led the detainees along the local road toward Galvarino to the Huallepenco ravine sector of the Miripi Community, a place where they proceeded to execute the detainee Segundo Levío Llaupe using their firearms, leaving his body in that place. Also during the month of October 1973, a Carabineros patrol from the Galvarino Station under the orders of Sergeant Arturo Lizama Pulgar and also composed of at least one Corporal and five Carabineros from the staff of the aforementioned unit, in addition to an Army Corporal belonging to the "La Concepción" Regiment of Lautaro, traveled for two days through the indigenous communities of the Llufquentúe sector of the commune of Galvarino with the purpose of locating, detaining, and eliminating people, apparently without carrying a judicial order that authorized them for such an act. This patrol was supplied with provisions during that period at the home of Alfredo Acuña, who was a wealthy farmer in the area and provided collaboration to both the Carabineros and the Army. That on the night of October 7 or 8, 1973, the aforementioned patrol arrived at the Huilcaleo Community sector, proceeding to violently raid the home of the 63-year-old farmer Heriberto Collío Naín, who lived with his son Victorino Collío Millanao, whom they took out to the patio of the house to subsequently beat Collío Naín severely until causing him significant damage. Immediately thereafter, Carabinero Lizama used his carbine against Collío Naín, causing his death as a result of the bullet impacts he received, leaving his body dumped at the place. Subsequently, Victorino Collío Millanao was beaten and ordered to bury his father's corpse immediately. Finally, they forced him to flee and immediately opened fire against him while he was running, without managing to kill him. The next morning, Collío Naín's corpse was found by his son Victorino Collío Millanao, who returned to the place accompanied by neighbors from the sector. His father's body showed a cleft in the skull, multiple contusions all over the body, and three bullet impacts. Subsequently, the corpse was removed by the neighbors and relatives themselves, being illegally interred in the indigenous cemetery of Mina Huimpil, Galvarino commune. It is also considered that on the night of October 7, 1973, Segundo Lepín Antilaf, 30, a small farmer from the Mañiuco sector, was taken from the home he shared with his wife Mercedes Millalén Antilao and their small children by a patrol of Carabineros and military personnel who hit him on the back of the neck and tied his hands behind his back. To carry out this action, the members of the patrol proceeded to knock down the front door of the house and climb onto the roof of the dwelling. In addition, they asked the victim's wife for all the documents she possessed, after which they burned them in the patio of the dwelling. Mercedes Millalén Antilao was able to recognize Carabineros Lizama and Pérez among the members of the patrol. Subsequently, the uniformed personnel took Segundo Lepín Antilao to the home of Lucila del Carmen Millalén Antilao with the object of going in search of her husband, Pedro Lepín Ñirripil, a cousin of the victim, who was not in the house. In that place, Carabineros Lizama and Pérez, members of the patrol, executed Segundo Lepín Antilaf in the presence of the rest of the uniformed personnel who accompanied them, shooting him once in the chest and once in the stomach, leaving his body lying in a low-lying area. Lepín Antilaf's wife and father went to the Galvarino Station to request burial permits, being rebuked by Lieutenant Enrique Arturo Zepeda Ramírez and the other carabineros who were in the police unit, and being threatened by the officer in command with burning the body if they did not bury it immediately, which they did in the indigenous cemetery of Mañuco, Galvarino commune. That on the night of October 7, 1973, Juan Segundo Nahuel Huaiquimil, 23, a small farmer, was taken from his father's home at night by a patrol of Carabineros and military personnel, among whom Sergeant Lizama, Carabinero Pérez, and a Corporal could be identified, all from the staff of the Galvarino Station, who, after raiding the house and beating its occupants, proceeded to execute the victim by firing their service weapons against him. Later, relatives of Segundo Nahuel Huaiquimil interred him in the Juan Cariqueo cemetery, in the Llufquentúe sector of Galvarino. Julio Augusto Ñirripil Paillao, 16, a small farmer from the Huilcaleo Community, was taken from his parents' home in the early morning of October 7, 1973, by a patrol of Carabineros and military personnel among whom Corporal Lizama, Carabinero Pérez, and another Carabineros Corporal were recognized, all from the staff of the Galvarino Station. The uniformed personnel entered the home and proceeded to beat the victim while asking him about the location of weapons. Subsequently, the parents, siblings, and the victim were taken to the exterior of the dwelling where they were all beaten by the members of the patrol of uniformed personnel, after which they took Ñirripil Paillao to a secluded place where he was executed through the action of the firearms that the carabineros carried, this being observed by the Army Corporal who was at a short distance. After the patrol withdrew from the place and once it dawned, the victim's family, helped by neighbors, proceeded to examine the corpse, which showed two bullet impacts in the chest and in the lower part of the abdomen, to subsequently inter it in the Andrés Cariqueo indigenous cemetery of the Llufquentúe sector of Galvarino. Víctor Yanquín Tropa, a small farmer from the Huilcaleo Community, around 03:00 in the morning of October 7 or 8, 1973, was taken from his home by a patrol of Carabineros and military personnel who raided the house and proceeded to beat the victim, taking him to a secluded sector, where he was executed through the action of firearms. Hours later, Yanquín Tropa's relatives found his body, being able to notice that he had multiple bullet impacts and a deep wound in the head and neck. After being waked in his home, Yanquín Tropa's corpse was interred in the San Luis cemetery of the Llufquentúe sector of Galvarino.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl, June 18, 2018