Mario Hernán Arias Díaz, DINA agent, his name appears on the list of DINA personnel published by Cambio 21 in April 2012. As has been established, at the end of 2007, the Army undertook the task of constructing, for the first time, a list of officers and non-commissioned officers who were part of the DINA.

The task was recorded in a "secret" document, dated August 28, 2008, signed by the then Chief of the Army General Staff, General Alfredo Ewing Pinochet. This document contains the list of officers and non-commissioned officers who "carried out extra-institutional missions at the Army General Command, assigned to the DINA, between September 11, 1973, and December 1977." The list of agents also reveals that the DINA existed from September 11, 1973, itself.

The document remained stored until 2012. Information Sources: Cambio 21; Memoriaviva Archive

Source: cambio21.cl, April 12, 2012

Early last Friday, March 7, the former minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Alejandro Solís, learned that he would no longer be able to continue collaborating with the seven ministers designated in Santiago to work full-time on the hundreds of pending cases regarding crimes and torture committed during the dictatorship.

He lasted only one month in his duties. A period that illustrates the strength that the military still maintains to make its interests prevail. Because, in strict terms, what happened with Solís is only a fringe of the pressure that began from within the Army itself when, last November, a general (ret.), brother of General Humberto Oviedo Arriagada—who had just assumed the Army's general command—was prosecuted and charged.

The ruling issued by the minister of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa, fell like a bomb within the Army. There were 25 military personnel and civilians whom Mesa prosecuted and charged for the murder of five university students, one laborer, and one farmer—all communists—on the night of November 10, 1973.

And among them was General (ret.) Carlos Eduardo Oviedo Arriagada, accused of being the material author of the seven qualified homicides and an accomplice to the torture to which the "prisoners" were subjected.

By then, it was already a fact that his brother, Humberto Oviedo, would be appointed by President Piñera as the new head of the Army, which was made official only ten days later: on November 19. A first glimpse of military pressure fell upon Supreme Court Minister Hugo Dolmestch, national coordinator of human rights crime cases since June 2012.

Consulted by CIPER, Dolmestch denied having been pressured, but acknowledged that he called Minister Álvaro Mesa, as the latter "refused to receive the military side to coordinate, as has always been done, through the CAE (Army Administrative Command) and the military police, the transfer of the prosecuted uniformed personnel to the respective court." From Temuco, Minister Álvaro Mesa acknowledged having received that call, but pointed out: "It is not true that I refused to receive the military side.

In fact, they never requested an audience with me. I had asked the three police officers who work here on these cases to coordinate that transfer. When Minister Dolmestch called me, I agreed to what he requested because the essential part had already been done: the prosecutions and the charges." Minister Mesa says he did not find out until days after issuing his ruling that one of the main defendants was the brother of the new commander-in-chief.

And Minister Dolmestch did not want to reveal how he found out that the new Army chief's brother had been prosecuted and refused to identify to whom he expressed the complaint. He also did not explain why he called Minister Mesa, since it is not among his powers to intervene in the measures adopted by each of the 32 judges throughout the country who are dedicated to this function with full authority over their actions.

What is a fact is that in the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, where Minister Hugo Dolmestch has his seat, the Army auditor, Waldo Martínez, also has his place, joining it only when cases arriving from the Court Martial are seen in that chamber. A proximity that facilitates communication.

AN UNEXPLAINED DELAY

After Minister Dolmestch's intervention, the military personnel prosecuted by Minister Álvaro Mesa in Temuco were transferred with all the care required by the Army to the Temuco Court. Once notified that the minister's ruling denied them provisional release—considering them "a danger to society"—the defendants were taken to the Tucapel Regiment, awaiting the result of the appeal.

As was foreseeable, all were released a few days later by resolution of the Temuco Court. But no one explains why murders that were disguised as extremist attacks, where there was premeditation, torture, and summary executions, devoid of all legality even in a period of war, took 40 years to obtain a ruling that would bring justice.

Furthermore, if that ruling had been issued three years earlier, one of the defendants, former military prosecutor Alfonso Podlech, would have had to face more severe situations in the Italian justice system.

One of the reasons that could explain that delay is that several of the accused military personnel came to occupy general and high-command positions in the Army. And also, that opening that floodgate implies immersing oneself in the complicity that officials of the Judiciary in that area, who built their careers there, had with impunity.

Another fact illustrates the anomaly of this situation in the Temuco jurisdiction: Minister Álvaro Mesa, dedicated exclusively to human rights violation cases in the Temuco Court of Appeals, holds the record for cases filed in 2013 in the entire country: 50.

The one who follows him is Minister Mario Carroza, of the Santiago Court of Appeals, with 49. The murder of the seven people took place shortly before midnight on November 10. The next day, their families would learn through a military communiqué published in the press that the seven men were part of an extremist group and died when they tried to assault the ammunition depot located in the "Isla Cautín" sector.

The version was false from beginning to end, but ratified to the press and the families of the seven victims by the regiment commander, Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse. And expanded in the following days with details of how, in a heroic action, the Tucapel Regiment contingent managed to repel the attack to subsequently go in search of the "extremists" who managed to flee.

The message was clear: the extremists were roaming the city. And there would later be other deaths, also coldly executed during the night, which were again passed off as deaths in an "attempted escape" or "extremist attack." There was nothing heroic in the action deployed by the Tucapel Regiment contingent in 1973.

Killing men who were tied up, mutilated, and at the limit of their strength due to the application of electricity and beatings is not worthy of appearing in any logbook of courage and bravery. But that was the version that was profusely disseminated by the press and that traveled the streets of Temuco.

The testimonies of those who were also prisoners in the Tucapel Regiment, who managed to get out alive and claimed to have seen the "ammunition depot extremists" in very poor physical condition prior to the alleged assault, were of no use.

No one listened to them. Neither did the courts, where judicial personnel on special assignment in the military prosecutor's office, in charge of the interrogations, exerted their influence for the denial of justice.

What no one can explain is how the murderers and their accomplices held the threads of power and managed to make 40 years pass so that, finally, a judge in Temuco would do justice and clarify step by step how that false attack on the "Isla Cautín" ammunition depot occurred.

TORTURE AT THE TUCAPEL REGIMENT

The military took control of Temuco on September 11, 1973, with the commander of the Tucapel Infantry Regiment, Colonel Pablo Iturriaga, being appointed governor of the city. That same day, the regional Military Prosecutor's Office was put into operation, in charge of Major Luis Jofré Soto, reinforced by clerks and a rapporteur from the Court of Appeals of that city, which appointed them to that function on "special assignment." The primary role in the trials and proceedings that began was held by the lawyer Alfonso Podlech Michaud, who was later the military prosecutor of Temuco.

Podlech was arrested in 2008 by the Italian justice system, accused of serious human rights violations. After remaining detained and held in that country, he was released in 2011 and was able to return to Chile.

Until the last minute, he denied having participated in the torture and murder of opponents of the military regime. Minister Álvaro Mesa's ruling indicates that he failed to tell the truth. Returning to November 1973, Podlech was one of the protagonists of the new military power in Temuco, in which the Intelligence Section of the Tucapel Regiment, in charge of Captain Nelson Ubilla Toledo, played a key role, to which personnel from the Carabineros and Investigations were added.

Its members conducted the interrogations of the large number of prisoners who very soon overflowed the local jail and the facilities of the regiment itself. For those interrogations, two special places were set up inside the Tucapel Regiment: a site located between the Headquarters and Mortar companies; and a gymnasium located to the side of the place designated for the conscripts' mess hall.

The investigation carried out by Minister Álvaro Mesa was able to determine that torture took place in both facilities. The testimonies coincide: the prisoners were tied up and electricity was applied to different parts of their bodies, "in addition to applying other types of torment with kicks and punches." Most of the regiment's officers and some regular soldiers participated in the interrogations.

Some soldiers and conscripts of the Second Hunters Company of the Tucapel Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Manuel Vásquez Chahuán, played an important role in the custody and torture applied to the prisoners.

The group received the name "Patrulla Chacal" (Jackal Patrol) and was placed in charge of Second Lieutenant Manuel Espinoza Ponce. Vásquez Chahuán continued to rise in the Army, carrying with him the fame he acquired as one of the important members of the DINA, an organization in which he was part of two of its most brutal brigades: the Mulchén and the Purén.

In those months of late 1973 and early 1974, an undetermined number of people were murdered inside the Tucapel Regiment, among whom is the group that motivated the prosecution and charging of the brother of the current Army commander-in-chief and 24 other military personnel and civilians.

The seven men murdered on November 10, 1973, are: Florentino Molina Ruiz, who was missing an arm due to a work accident and who was taken from his home and brought to the Tucapel Regiment on November 6, 1973; Juan Antonio Chávez Rivas, a student at the then Technical University of the State (UTE, today Usach), who was also taken to the regiment on the same date; Víctor Hugo Valenzuela Velásquez, arrested at his workplace at the Real Estate Registrar of Temuco and taken as a prisoner to the regiment on November 7; Juan Carlos Ruiz Mancilla, a Civil Construction student at the UTE, who was arrested at his family home in Punta Arenas and taken by plane to Temuco, entering the regiment on November 7; Amador Montero Mosquera, an Electrical Engineering student at the UTE, arrested at his home and taken to the regiment on November 7; Pedro Mardones Jofré, a UTE student, arrested at his home and also transferred to the regiment, and Carlos Aillañir Huenchual, a farmer, arrested by a military patrol at his brother's house in the town of Quepe. Minister Mesa's investigation, in which even Bishop Bernardino Piñera testified, established the sequence of what actually happened that night. The unusual movement began around 11:00 PM on November 10, 1973. The seven "prisoners" mentioned above were huddled in a small gymnasium inside the Tucapel Regiment. They were guarded by members of the "Patrulla Chacal." Everyone was in terrible physical condition. To the point that the student Pedro Mardones, one of whose hands was very damaged, was unable to hold the glass of water that a conscript from the Hunters Company offered him (testimony of the conscript himself). Suddenly, the company commander, Vásquez Chahuán, and his second-in-command of the Hunters, surrounded by other uniformed men from the regiment, burst into the facility. The engine of a truck drowned out the voices of command as it parked at the entrance to the small gymnasium. Vásquez Chahuán's order was peremptory. One by one, the "prisoners" were loaded onto the truck. Their guards also boarded. Their bosses would do so in a jeep. Everyone would leave in a caravan heading for the entrance of the Tucapel Regiment.

SHOTS DIRECTLY TO THE HEAD

Shortly after, the entourage arrived at the sector called "Isla Cautín." And at the shooting range, they would be executed by the members of the patrol. Without wasting time, they collected the bodies, which were taken to the morgue, where an autopsy was performed on them.

That of Florentino Molina, the worker who had lost an arm in a work accident, concluded that he died from a "cranial-encephalic explosion" resulting from multiple projectiles. The others are similar. Forty years later, with only two days left until the anniversary of that massacre, Minister Álvaro Mesa accused 25 military personnel and civilians as authors and accomplices of the murder of the seven alleged attackers of the ammunition depot and of the torture to which they were subjected.

Among the authors of the seven qualified homicides is General (ret.) Carlos Eduardo Oviedo Arriagada, brother of the general who assumed the position of new Army commander-in-chief on Sunday, March 9. As authors of the crimes and also of the torture, the following military personnel were charged: Jaime García Covarrubias (he was head of DINA Counterintelligence; in 1988 he was appointed by Pinochet as Undersecretary General of Government, and between 1995 and 1997 he was director of the War Academy; he was also a student at the School of the Americas in 1970); Raimundo García Covarrubias; Pablo Gran López (he rose to the rank of general and became the second-in-command of the Army and director of the Military Geographic Institute in 2003; he registered a course at the School of the Americas in 1971; together with Lieutenant Manuel Espinoza Ponce, he directed the operation that culminated in the throwing of 18 corpses into the Allipén River; he was DINA staff and was in charge of the security of the general headquarters); and Mario Hernán Arias Díaz (Army non-commissioned officer, he was a member of the DINA). Charged as authors of the seven homicides and accomplices to the torture to which the deceased were subjected, Minister Mesa charged: Carlos Eduardo Oviedo; Norberto Uribe Moroni; Pedro Tichahuer Salcedo (he worked in the finance area of the DINA; he even had the power to sign, along with Manuel Contreras, on the account that the organization opened at the Banco de Crédito e Inversiones; he appears receiving extra payments with DINA checks; he was a member of the company called "Pedro Diet Lobos," a front for that secret organization; he has commercial companies and businesses in the gastronomy sector); Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz (Army second lieutenant; in 1973 he registered a course at the School of the Americas and was a member of the CNI) and Juan Bautista Labraña Luvecce. As accomplices to the seven qualified homicides and authors of torture, the following were prosecuted: Orlando Moreno Vásquez (already convicted a year earlier as the author of torture in the same court), Aquiles Alfonso Poblete Muller, Raúl Binaldo Schonherr Frías, Daniel San Juan Clavería, Omar Burgos Dejean (Carabineros non-commissioned officer, already prosecuted and convicted for his participation in various crimes, from the application of torture to disappearances, such as that of the Ecuadorian student José Félix García Franco, for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, being granted the benefit of supervised release; a year ago, in another process for the application of torture, he was sentenced to two 80-day prison terms); Alfonso Podlech Michaud (lawyer and former military prosecutor of Temuco) and Hernán Quiroz Barra. As authors of the homicides, but not of the torture, the following were prosecuted: Manuel Campos Ceballos (conscript), Juan Carlos Concha Belmar (conscript), Sergio Vallejos Garcés, Gabriel Alfonso Dittus Marín (he belonged to the DINA and the CNI, like his sister María) and Héctor Villablanca Huenulao. And as authors of the torture: Juan Carrillo Rebolledo; Libardo Hernán Schwartenski Rubio (member of the DINA) and José Raúl Insunza Rubio. Finally, Colonel (ret.) Hernán Ramírez Ramírez, who was commander of the La Concepción Regiment and administrative and military chief of the Cautín province, was charged as an accomplice to the seven summary executions, as well as the respective torture. Given the gravity of the crimes, Minister Mesa Latorre did not grant them provisional release. But thanks to the immediate ruling of the Temuco Court, today they all enjoy freedom.

HUMAN RIGHTS PROCESSES: SLOW DEATH

When former minister Alejandro Solís began his collaboration work on Human Rights trials last February, none of the seven ministers of the Santiago Court of Appeals who have that responsibility expressed their objection: Mario Carroza, Leopoldo Llanos, Alejandro Madrid, Jorge Zepeda, Miguel Vásquez, Patricia González, and Hernán Crisosto.

And it is understandable; in the plenary stage alone, there are 80 cases registered, not counting the hundreds that are waiting in the summary stage, totaling 1,022 cases in process, according to the account given by the president of the Supreme Court, Sergio Muñoz, on March 1.

The seven appointed ministers know that ending that list of horror is an impossible task. Given Alejandro Solís's experience in the area, and his capacity for work and seriousness, his help would be important.

It was Minister Sergio Muñoz himself who alerted the plenary of the Supreme Court in 2012, when he was the national coordinator of the Human Rights area, about the enormous workload that the pending task represented.

And also about the urgent need to adopt measures to expedite the processes. Hence the agreement with which the incorporation of Solís was received, who was a minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals until December 2012 and who carried the trial for the murder of General Carlos Prats and his wife (1974) to the end, among others.

The first task that the new president of the Supreme Court entrusted to Alejandro Solís was the creation of a database that would allow the 32 ministers with exclusive dedication in the country in the matter to have the key information to be able to advance in their investigations.

This was published by the newspaper El Mercurio on March 7. In the same note, the lawyer for the prosecuted military personnel, Jorge Balmaceda, expressed his rejection of Solís's appointment: "It is improper, unless it is for administrative tasks, but performing the work of a judge, he cannot do it.

I believe that the ministers have the capacity, or if not, I ask myself: did the high magistrates make a mistake in appointing them?" "Improper." That was exactly the argument used in court by some Supreme Court ministers who have always advocated for amnesty and the statute of limitations.

What was surprising is that it was also the reason that Minister Hugo Dolmestch, national coordinator of the area, would argue to challenge the hiring of Alejandro Solís. And this is because who better than Dolmestch, who handled the Operation Albania case, to know the seriousness of Solís's work.

CIPER asked Hugo Dolmestch about the real reasons that led him to say that the hiring was improper. And he replied that it was because it is not appropriate for a former minister of the Court of Appeals to return to do that work. -But Minister Dolmestch, isn't that what court rapporteurs and clerks do every day in all the courts of the country, drafting rulings that they hand over to the respective judges so that they can deepen, modify, or redo them in the full exercise of their functions? -Yes, but I repeat, it is improper, because it is not appropriate for a former minister of the court to do that work. It is not appropriate. -So, what you are questioning is a problem of form and not of substance. -Call it what you want, but it is improper. What should have been done is to hire him under my authority to organize the database and other support. And that is what I was going to propose at the plenary on Friday (March 7). But he already resigned. It is not my responsibility. Beyond the fact that the military achieved their objective and as of March 11, Alejandro Solís no longer collaborates in human rights trials, this story will have new chapters in the courts. The pressure exerted after Minister Álvaro Mesa's ruling and the abrupt departure of Alejandro Solís have caused annoyance and discomfort in several ministers of the Courts of Appeals and also of the Supreme Court. Both episodes are added to others that reveal the strategy used by the Army and the Navy to obstruct justice: delaying the processes so that important witnesses are no longer here to recount the facts or the convicted are exempted from going to jail due to age. Hence the urgency for the Supreme Court to adopt substantive measures that allow for the true expedition of Human Rights processes.

Source: ciperchile.cl, March 12, 2014

El Polvorín Case: Minister Álvaro Mesa sentences military (ret.) and Army collaborators for homicides and illegal coercion of seven detained victims

In the civil aspect, the visiting judge accepted the filed lawsuit and ordered the State to pay a total compensation of $2,780,000,000 (two billion seven hundred eighty million pesos) for moral damages to the victims' families.

The minister in extraordinary visit for human rights violation cases within the jurisdictions of the Courts of Appeals of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, issued sentence number 78 on the matter, sentencing 23 retired military personnel and Army collaborators for their responsibility in the qualified homicides and illegal coercion against Florentino Alberto Molina Ruiz, Juan Antonio Chávez Rivas, Víctor Hugo Valenzuela Velásquez, Juan Carlos Ruiz Mancilla, Amador Francisco Montero Mosquera, Pedro Juan Mardones Jofré, and Carlos Aillañir Huenchual, perpetrated in the commune of Temuco in November 1973.

In the sentence (case file 113.089), Minister Mesa Latorre sentenced:

Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud

to life imprisonment for his responsibility as the perpetrator of the 7 qualified homicides and 10 years of imprisonment for his responsibility as the perpetrator of 7 crimes of illegal coercion against the seven victims.

Meanwhile, Daniel San Juan Clavería, Omar Burgos Dejean, Hernán Raúl Quiroz Barra, Raúl Binaldo Schonherr Frías, Orlando Moreno Vásquez must serve a sentence of life imprisonment as accomplices to the 7 qualified homicides and a sentence of 10 years of imprisonment as perpetrators of illegal coercion.

The accused Juan Guillermo García Covarrubias, Pablo Domingo Gran López, Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz, Carlos Eduardo Oviedo Arriagada, Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias, Norberto Francisco Uribe Moroni, Pedro Guillermo Manuel Tichahuer Salcedo, Juan Bautistas Labraña Luvecce, will serve life sentences as accomplices to the 7 qualified homicides and 427 days of imprisonment as accomplices to the 7 counts of illegal coercion.

Manuel Abraham Vásquez Chahuán

will serve a life sentence as the perpetrator of the 7 qualified homicides.

Additionally, Gabriel Alfonso Dittus Marín, Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao, Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés, Juan Carlos Concha Belmar, Manuel Rafael Campos Ceballos will serve a life sentence as accomplices to the 7 qualified homicides.

Arnoldo Aedo Matus

will serve a sentence of 20 years of imprisonment as an accomplice to the 7 homicides.

Libardo Hernán Schwartenski Rubio

will serve a sentence of 10 years of imprisonment as the perpetrator of 7 crimes of illegal coercion.

Finally, José Raúl Inzunza Reyes was sentenced to 427 days of imprisonment as the perpetrator of 7 crimes of illegal coercion.

In the sentence, Minister Mesa Latorre established the following facts:

A.- That, immediately following the military coup of September 11, 1973, the armed forces and order forces took control of the city of Temuco, with the Colonel Commander of the "La Concepción" Regiment of Lautaro, Hernán Jerónimo Ramírez Ramírez (deceased, as recorded on page 6,060 of volume XVII), establishing himself as Intendant; and the Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased, as recorded on page 1,298, volume IV), Commander of the N° 8 "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment of this city, as Governor of Temuco, who also remained as Chief of the Temuco Garrison.

B.- That on the same day, September 11, 1973, the Temuco lawyer Oscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, who was also a Reserve Lieutenant of the Chilean Army, was called to collaborate with the new regime to support the work of the Military Prosecutor's Office that operated within the unit and was in charge of the Second Commander, Major Luis Jofré Soto (deceased, as recorded on page 1,295, volume IV).

This officer, however, had to assume greater functions as Second Commander of the Tucapel regiment shortly thereafter. From that day forward, civilians began to arrive at the regiment, having been called to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office through edicts published in the written press and on the radio, or brought in as detainees from different parts of the region by police and military patrols.

Given the high number of detainees and people called to testify, the Military Prosecutor's Office was reinforced to carry out its work with Judiciary officials who were requested from the Temuco Court of Appeals by the aforementioned lawyer Podlech Michaud, who, acting as Ad-Hoc Prosecutor, made a presentation to the Plenary of the Appellate Court (Minutes from page 3010 to 3011, volume IX), after which some clerks from different courts and a Court Rapporteur were assigned on service commission.

Due to a lack of knowledge in criminal procedural matters, added to his weak character and his work as Second Commander of the regiment, Major Luis Jofré Soto began delegating functions as Military Prosecutor to the lawyer Oscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, advisor to the Prosecutor's Office, who began to hold the position of de facto Prosecutor, to the point that he conducted jail visits and that lawyers, family members, and even ecclesiastical dignitaries consulted him regarding the fate of the detainees.

However, Major Jofré Soto continued to sign administrative documents most of the time and participated in some interrogations of detainees.

C.- That the people called to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office and those brought in as detainees were kept in facilities located next to the guardhouse and in the large gymnasium. Once interrogated by personnel from the Military Prosecutor's Office, by detectives Aquiles Alfonso Poblete Müller (deceased, as recorded on page 3,800, volume XI), Daniel San Juan Clavería, and Hernán Raúl Quiroz Barra of the Investigative Police attached to the regiment, or by the officers themselves who participated in these activities—among whom were Jaime Guillermo García Covarrubias, Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias, Pablo Domingo Gran López, Mario Hernán Arias Díaz (deceased, as recorded on page 7,531, volume XXI), Carlos Eduardo Oviedo Arriagada, Norberto Francisco Uribe Moroni, Pedro Guillermo Manuel Tichahuer Salcedo, Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz—and non-commissioned officers, among whom were Juan Bautista Labraña Luvecce, Orlando Moreno Vásquez, and Raúl Binaldo Schonherr Frías, some were released, others were sent to their homes under house arrest, and others were taken to the public jail where they remained while their procedural situation was resolved.

D.- That also, by September 1973, the Second Section of Information and Intelligence existed at the N° 8 "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment of Temuco, which was in charge of Captain Nelson Manuel Uldaricio Ubilla Toledo (deceased, as recorded on page 1,296, volume IV), under whose dependency some non-commissioned officers of that institution also performed functions, among whom were Juan Bautista Labraña Luvecce, Orlando Moreno Vásquez, and Raúl Binaldo Schonherr Frías.

This work was reinforced after September 11, 1973, with the addition of Investigative Police officials Aquiles Alfonso Poblete Müller (deceased, as recorded on page 3,800, volume XI), Daniel San Juan Clavería, and Hernán Raúl Quiroz Barra, mentioned above, and Carabineros, among whom was Omar Burgos Dejean, who provided political information to the aforementioned officer regarding all those persons subject to an investigation by the Military Prosecutor's Office.

Likewise, some officers, among whom was Manuel Abraham Vásquez Chahuán, as well as non-commissioned officers and conscripts of the regiment, joined the intelligence tasks. As the days went by, the Military Prosecutor's Office and the Second Intelligence Section began to work jointly to interrogate the detainees, as in this case, who remained recluse in the jail or in some facility of the Tucapel regiment.

To articulate this work, two locations were enabled in the military unit, one located between the Headquarters Company and the Mortar Company, and another in an old, disused gymnasium located to the side of the conscript soldiers' "mess hall." Thus, the detainees were taken to and from the jail to the regiment by military personnel of the Second Section, being interrogated at the Military Prosecutor's Office and physically coerced in one of the aforementioned facilities to "soften them up" before or after these interrogations, as in this case.

In both interrogation and torture rooms, there were implements to tie up the detainees and apply electricity to different parts of their bodies, in addition to applying other types of torment such as kicks and punches, as in this case.

Conscript soldiers participated in this task, among whom were Manuel Rafael Campos Ceballos, Juan Carlos Concha Belmar, Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés, Gabriel Alfonso Dittus Marín, Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao, Juan Humberto Carrillo Rebolledo, Libardo Schwartenski Rubio, and José Raúl Inzunza Reyes, and a Carabinero, Omar Burgos Dejean, who collaborated with Captain Nelson Ubilla Toledo and the Investigative Police detectives who were there, Aquiles Alfonso Poblete Müller (deceased, as recorded on page 3,800, volume XI), Daniel San Juan Clavería, and Hernán Raúl Quiroz Barra.

Most of the officers of the "Tucapel" regiment and some non-commissioned soldiers from the Headquarters and Services Companies, among whom were José Raúl Inzunza Reyes, from the Mortar, Hunter, and Second Section companies, all of whom entered these facilities at different times, also participated in the interrogation and/or torture sessions of detainees in those places.

E.- That within the aforementioned military unit, a special group called the "Patrulla Brava" (Brave Patrol) or "Patrulla Chacal" (Jackal Patrol) was formed, integrated by non-commissioned soldiers and conscripts of the 2nd Hunter Company, among whom were Manuel Rafael Campos Ceballos, Juan Carlos Concha Belmar, Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés, Gabriel Alfonso Dittus Marín, Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao, Juan Humberto Carrillo Rebolledo, and Libardo Schwartenski Rubio, under the orders of Second Lieutenant Manuel Espinoza Ponce (deceased, as recorded on page 1,299, volume IV), who in turn received orders from Lieutenant Manuel Abraham Vásquez Chahuán, who was in command of the Company. This group was in charge, among other functions, of guarding the detainees who were kept in the facilities of the "Tucapel" regiment of Temuco.

F.- That during the days following September 11, 1973, a significant number of people were killed or forcibly disappeared in the IX region, with several of these deaths being explained by regional military authorities through the publication of edicts issued either from the Intendancy or the Temuco Military Garrison.

The edict that explained the events subject to this investigation, in light of the evidence gathered in this process, provides an implausible version of how the events of the night of November 10, 1973, unfolded, taking into consideration the statement of Manuel Ángel Fernández Carranza (p. 222), who, after the events of November 10, 1973, and upon returning from a mission he was entrusted with toward the Pucón sector in search of guerrillas, was summoned by the then-commander of the N° 8 Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased, as recorded on page 1,298, volume IV), to inform him that the assault on the ammunition dump had not been such, but rather an execution carried out at the shooting range, information he gave him personally so that he would not find out through rumors.

G.- That Florentino Alberto Molina Ruiz, a member of the Central Committee and Regional Secretary of the Communist Party, was detained and taken from his home on Monday, November 5, 1973, by two Carabineros members of the Civil Commission, who transported him in a red pickup truck to the Second Police Station of Temuco, where he spent the night in a cell.

In the early hours of the following day, he was transferred to the "Tucapel" Regiment of Temuco by order of the Temuco Military Prosecutor's Office, remaining recluse there until the night of November 10, 1973.

During that period, his wife went daily to leave him clothes and food, which were channeled through the guards at the entrance of the military compound. In turn, Molina Ruiz would send her his used clothes as a sign that he was still detained in that place.

Molina Ruiz, who was missing an arm due to a work accident, was seen as a detainee inside the aforementioned military compound by Hermán Carrasco Paúl, who was also in the same condition, who stated that both were victims of illegal coercion. He was also recognized due to his disability by some conscripts who guarded them.

H.- That Juan Antonio Chávez Rivas, a student at the State Technical University, Regional Secretary, and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth, was detained on November 6, 1973, by two Carabineros members of the Civil Commission, who transported him in a red pickup truck to the Second Police Station of Temuco, where he spent the night.

The following day, he was transferred to the "Tucapel" Regiment of Temuco. The detainee's family members approached the military unit to ask about him, where they were told he was not there, despite the fact that he was seen in the courtyard of the military compound, heavily guarded and in very poor physical condition.

I.- That Víctor Hugo Valenzuela Velásquez, a public employee and propaganda secretary of the Communist Youth of Cautín, was detained on November 7, 1973, around 10:00 a.m., at the Real Estate Registrar of Temuco, where he worked.

The arresting personnel, who were dressed in civilian clothes, belonged to the Army Intelligence Service, one of them being a Sergeant of the "Tucapel" Regiment of Temuco. The detainee's family members went to the "Tucapel" Regiment, where they confirmed the detention and, for three days, delivered clothes and blankets for him at the guardhouse.

J.- That Juan Carlos Ruiz Mancilla, a Civil Construction student at the State Technical University and member of the Communist Youth, traveled to the city of Punta Arenas, where his parents lived, after September 11, 1973. In that place, he was detained on November 7 of that same year and transported by plane to Temuco, where he was taken to the "Tucapel" Regiment.

K.- That Amador Francisco Montero Mosquera, an Electrical Engineering student at the State Technical University and member of the Communist Youth, was detained at his home on November 7, 1973, by personnel of the Carabineros Civil Commission and transported to the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco. Family members went to that place to find out about his situation and to deliver food and clothes to him.

L.- That Pedro Juan Mardones Jofré, a student at the State Technical University, was detained at his home and transported to the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco. The conscript soldier of the 2nd Section of the 2nd Hunter Company, Luis Humberto Llamunao Huaiquinao (pp. 1234 to 1235 and pp. 1323 to 1324), stated that it was his duty to bring water to Mardones Jofré, who was recluse in a storage room located inside a mechanical workshop.

At that moment, he noticed that the detainee had a severely wounded hand, making it impossible for him to hold the glass offered to him.

M.- That Carlos Aillañir Huenchual, a farmer and supporter of the Unidad Popular government, was detained on November 6, 1973, by a military patrol moving in an institutional 3/4 truck. The detention took place in the rural sector of Pelales, in the town of Quepe, where the house of one of the detainee's brothers was located.

The military officer in charge of the patrol stated that the detainee was going to be taken to the Tucapel regiment of Temuco.

N.- That at the end of the day on November 10, 1973, while the aforementioned detainees were recluse in the "small" gymnasium of the Tucapel regiment of Temuco, guarded by conscript soldiers of the 2nd Hunter Company belonging to the "Chacal patrol," Lieutenant Manuel Abraham Vásquez Chahuán, Commander of the aforementioned company, and Second Lieutenant Espinoza (deceased, as recorded on page 1,299, volume IV) appeared, accompanied by other military personnel from the regiment.

In addition, an institutional truck parked at the location, backing up in front of the entrance to the compound where the victims were detained. Said vehicle, due to its characteristics, was recognized as the one usually used to transport meat and bread, and on some occasions, to transport conscripts for guard duty relief.

Immediately thereafter, Lieutenant Manuel Abraham Vásquez Chahuán instructed the subordinate personnel to make the detainees board the truck along with them. Then, the truck with the detainees, plus the officers and their companions, left the place.

Regarding this same truck, the following day, its cleaning was ordered, among others, to conscript soldier Héctor Florentino Navarrete Leiva, who stated that it was full of human flesh and brain remains (p. 2150).

Ñ.- That minutes later, sentries at the guard post located at the entrance sector to the military compound known as "Isla Cautín" saw a caravan of institutional vehicles enter the place, composed of at least one Toyota jeep and the truck indicated in the previous paragraph.

O.- That in the final hours of November 10, 1973, the aforementioned detainees were taken out of the Tucapel regiment of Temuco, loaded into the aforementioned military vehicle, and transported to the shooting range sector of the "Isla Cautín" military compound by the officers and their companions.

In that place, the victims of the case were tied to stakes that had been arranged there in a row. Shortly thereafter, Captain Rodolfo Vargas Campos (deceased, as recorded on page 1,297, volume IV), Sergeant Hernán Rodrigo Santiesteban Domínguez (deceased, as recorded on page 4,953, volume XV), and Sergeant Anacleto Aguirre Rivera (deceased, as recorded on page 10,240, volume XXIX), all from the 1st Hunter Company, plus Sergeant José Gajardo Gajardo (deceased, as recorded on page 4,954, volume XV) from the 2nd Hunter Company, joined the group of military personnel present in that sector.

Second Sergeant of the First Hunter Company, Arnoldo Aedo Matus, was also part of this entourage.

P.- That once the patrol commanded by Captain Vargas arrived at the place, he ordered its members to position themselves behind the detainees who were tied to the stakes, with the exception of Second Sergeant Arnoldo Aedo Matus of the 1st Hunter Company, whom he told to position himself in another, distant place and to proceed to fire shots toward the trees located in a specific sector of Isla Cautín.

This Sergeant Aedo Matus was able to observe that the commander of the regiment, Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased, as recorded on page 1,298, volume IV), was present at the place, accompanied by an officer of medium-tall stature, and that two civilians were also witnessing the maneuvers in the same sector, recognizing one of them as the advisor lawyer to the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco, Oscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud.

Q.- That subsequently, the detainees in those conditions were executed at the place one by one and finished off with bursts of gunfire, after which their bodies were sent to the morgue of the Temuco regional hospital, where the mandatory autopsy was performed, determining the causes of their deaths as follows: Molina Ruiz, craniocerebral explosion, multiple blunt force gunshot wounds; Chávez Rivas, craniocerebral explosion, multiple blunt force gunshot wounds; Valenzuela Velásquez, craniocerebral attrition, multiple blunt force gunshot wounds; Ruiz Mancilla, shock, comminuted fracture of the pelvis and right femur, multiple gunshot wounds; Montero Mosquera, craniocerebral attrition, multiple blunt force gunshot wounds; Mardones Jofré, craniocerebral attrition, multiple blunt force gunshot wounds; Aillañir Huenchual, primary shock, multiple blunt force transfixing gunshot wounds to the thorax, abdomen, and limbs. Finally, a military edict was drafted to be published in the press the following day, which reported an attempted assault on the Isla Cautín ammunition dump by a group of extremists.

R.- That the day after these events occurred, news appeared in the local written press indicating that an assault had occurred on the Isla Cautín ammunition dump of the Tucapel Regiment, in which an undetermined number of extremists had participated, news that was ratified by Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased, as recorded on page 1,298, volume IV), which must be contrasted with the statement of Manuel Fernández Carranza, who, after the events of November 10, 1973, and upon returning from a mission he was entrusted with toward the Pucón sector in search of guerrillas, was summoned by the then-commander of the N° 8 Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased, as recorded on page 1,298, volume IV), to inform him that the assault on the ammunition dump had not been such, but rather an execution carried out at the shooting range, information he gave him personally so that he would not find out through rumors. During the following days, details continued to appear in the press about how these events had allegedly occurred and the way in which military personnel had allegedly repelled said attack and subsequently gone out in search of the supposed extremists who were not killed in the confrontation and who managed to flee the scene.

In the civil aspect, the visiting judge accepted the filed lawsuit and ordered the State to pay a total compensation of $2,780,000,000 (two billion seven hundred eighty million pesos) for moral damages to the victims' families.

Source: pjud.cl, September 21, 2023