The Temuco Court of Appeals confirmed the sentence for the aggravated kidnapping of former Radical deputy Luis Lobos Barrientos, which occurred after the military coup in the town of Pitrufquén, Araucanía Region.

In a unanimous ruling, justices Héctor Toro, Víctor Reyes, and Julio César Grandón ratified the decision of judge Fernando Carreño, who on August 29 last year sentenced Gonzalo Arias González, Eduardo Riquelme Olivares, and Juan Fritiz Vega to eight years in prison.

This is the eleventh conviction issued by the Temuco Court of Appeals in a human rights violation case and the 13th since 2004. Lobos Barrientos was first detained on September 13, 1973, by Carabineros officers from the Pitrufquén station at his home.

He was taken directly to that police unit, from where he was transferred to Temuco, and from there to the Tucapel Regiment. On that occasion, the former military prosecutor Alfonso Podlech—currently imprisoned in Europe—authorized him to be taken to his home in Pitrufquén under house arrest.

He remained in that condition until October 5, the date on which Carabineros officials, under the command of then-lieutenant Carlos Moreno, appeared at his home, transferring him to the Second Carabineros Station of Temuco and later, by order of Carabineros prosecutor Gonzalo Arias González, he was taken to the Public Jail of the regional capital.

He remained in that prison until October 11, the day he was taken to the Carabineros prosecutor's office, where he was granted unconditional release for lack of evidence. The release was granted at 7:40 PM and the curfew began at 8:00 PM, meaning he had 20 minutes to reach Pitrufquén, located 30 kilometers from Temuco, without money, documents, or a watch.

However, his release was only an administrative formality, as witness accounts state that the victim was put into a helicopter headed for an unknown destination. diarioelgong.cl August 16, 2007

Court of Appeals rules: PREVENTIVE DETENTION FOR FORMER CARABINEROS OFFICIALS ACCUSED OF THE DISAPPEARANCE OF GASTÓN LOBOS

The Second Chamber of the Court of Appeals confirmed preventive detention for former Carabineros officers accused of the kidnapping and disappearance of former intendant Gastón Lobos Barrientos. The decision was adopted by the second chamber, which determined to maintain preventive detention for the former Carabineros officials, retired general Gonzalo Arias González and lieutenant colonel Eduardo Riquelme Rodríguez, who are accused of the kidnapping and disappearance of the former intendant and deputy, Gastón Lobos Barrientos, an event that occurred on September 11, 1973, in the city of Pitrufquén. Subsequently, the former authority was transferred to the Temuco Jail, where he was last seen on October 11 of the same year. At that moment, he was transferred by Carabineros officials Juan de Dios Fritz and Omar Burgos to the facilities of the Second Station, from where he has remained disappeared to this day. It is worth mentioning that González, Riquelme, Fritz, and Burgos were found guilty of the kidnapping and disappearance of the leader of the National Directorate of Commerce, José San Martín Benavente, and were sentenced in the first instance by the investigating judge for human rights violations, Fernando Carreño, to eight years in prison. Now, they are denied provisional release for the disappearance and kidnapping of Gastón Lobos Barrientos.

Source: La Nación, December 5, 2008

Supreme Court acquits four former Carabineros implicated in aggravated kidnapping after the military coup

The Second Chamber of the Supreme Court resolved to release from criminal liability four former police officials accused of the aggravated kidnapping of José Isaías San Martín Navarrete, which occurred after the military coup in the city of Temuco, La Araucanía Region.

The sentence pronounced by magistrates Nibaldo Segura, Jaime Rodríguez, Rubén Ballesteros, Hugo Dolmestch, and Carlos Künsemüller acquitted Gonzalo Enrique Arias González, Eduardo Orlando Riquelme Rodríguez, Juan de Dios Fritz, and Omar Burgos Dejean due to lack of participation.

According to the ruling made official this Wednesday, there is no evidence in the proceedings to link the four former members of the Carabineros to the crime of aggravated kidnapping of San Martín Navarrete, and therefore the first-instance sentence issued by the visiting judge Fernando Carreño of the Temuco Court of Appeals was revoked. "Since only judicial presumptions are available as a means of proof to establish the factual assumptions in question, these facts do not satisfy the legal requirement (real and proven) and it is not permitted to infer from them other presumptions with which to arrive at having the alleged participation proven with the degree of certainty that the law requires," the ruling states. The text adds that "the Message of the Code of Criminal Procedure establishes as a general basis, superior to any legal demonstration, that the judge's conviction acquired through legal means of proof is indispensable in every respect to convict. If that conviction is not formed, the judge may acquit without further grounds, regardless of the evidence the proceedings may yield against the accused; this assertion is enshrined in positive law in Article 456 bis of the Code of Criminal Procedure." In the view of the jurisprudence, "presumptions that allow one to deduce that a crime has been committed and that it must have been carried out by a person or one of several persons indicated therein are not sufficient to convict if they do not manage to establish precisely who committed it or that all of them did; that is, presumptions that serve to prove the corpus delicti but do not discover the identity of the perpetrator are not sufficient to convict." In the first instance, judge Fernando Carreño had determined an 8-year sentence for the four implicated on July 26, 2007, which was ratified by the Temuco Court of Appeals on July 21, 2008.

Source: El Mostrador, April 7, 2010

Judge sentences two former Carabineros for kidnapping of student during dictatorship

The visiting judge of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Leopoldo Llanos, sentenced two retired Carabineros for the aggravated kidnapping of Luis Almonacid Dumenes, which occurred starting in September 1973 in the city of Temuco.

The magistrate issued a sentence of 10 years and one day in prison to the then-members of the uniformed police, Gonzalo Arias González and Eduardo Orlando Riquelme Rodríguez, both as perpetrators of the crime.

The magistrate noted in his resolution that the Carabineros Intelligence Service (Sicar) was established as a true secret police in the city, acting without prior orders to detain people who had political ties to the Unidad Popular.

The detainees were not registered in any logbook and were not even summoned to the Military Prosecutor's Office, with many of them being held in the Infantry Regiment No. 8 or the city's Public Jail. In that context, Almonacid Dumenes, 22, a social work student at the U. de Chile nicknamed "the hippie," was detained by personnel of this section and brutally tortured in the Temuco Jail, only to be taken from that place to a police unit, with his whereabouts remaining unknown to this day.

In the civil aspect, the judge ordered the State to pay compensation of 100 million pesos to Herminio Almonacid Rivera and Eranelia Dumenes Barría—the victim's parents—and 50 million pesos to Liliana Almonacid Dumenes (sister), for moral damages caused by State agents.

Source: Cooperativa.cl, November 13, 2013

Retired Carabineros general prosecuted for kidnapping and torture of young worker in Temuco

The events occurred during September 1973. The accused must maintain partial nightly house arrest for the duration of the investigation. The visiting judge for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of the Temuco, Valdivia, and Puerto Montt Courts of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, issued an indictment against retired Carabineros general Gonzalo Arias González as a co-perpetrator of the crime of torture and aggravated kidnapping against the 21-year-old worker, Socialist Party militant, and neighborhood leader of the "Ampliación Amanecer" settlement, José Edulio Muñoz, in Temuco during September 1973. According to information provided by the investigation, witness Mario San Martín adds that the worker was taken to a police facility which he "recognizes as the 2nd Carabineros Station of Temuco, a place where he shared a cell with José Edulio Muñoz Concha (worker) and Luis Almonacid Dumenez, witnessing how personnel from the Station transferred them to another area of the same facility to be interrogated and tortured, hearing their cries of pain after the tortures; which consisted of the application of electricity to different parts of their bodies." The document also states that the witness noted that "finally, both José Edulio Muñoz Concha and Luis Almonacid Dumenez arrived in very poor physical condition. Their whereabouts remain unknown to this day, as he was the only survivor." The accused will maintain partial nightly house arrest for the duration of the investigation.

Source: soychile.cl, February 23, 2018

Judge Álvaro Mesa sentences two retired Carabineros for illegal coercion and aggravated kidnapping of a forcibly disappeared person

In the ruling, judge Mesa Latorre sentenced former officers Eduardo Orlando Riquelme Rodríguez and Gonzalo Enrique Arias González to 3 years and 12 years of effective prison time, respectively, as perpetrators of the crimes of illegal coercion and aggravated kidnapping committed against the 21-year-old worker and social leader, José Edulio Muñoz Concha.

The visiting judge for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, sentenced two retired Carabineros officers for their responsibility in the crimes of aggravated kidnapping and illegal coercion, classified as crimes against humanity.

The crimes were perpetrated in the regional capital of La Araucanía in September 1973. In the ruling (case file 114.051), judge Mesa Latorre sentenced former officers Eduardo Orlando Riquelme Rodríguez and Gonzalo Enrique Arias González to 3 years and 12 years of effective prison time, respectively, as perpetrators of the crimes of illegal coercion and aggravated kidnapping committed against the 21-year-old worker and social leader, José Edulio Muñoz Concha.

During the investigation stage of the case, the visiting judge established the following facts: "A.- That starting on September 11, 1973, as a result of the events in the country, an operational group called the 'civil commission' was formed in all police stations, dedicated to intelligence work consisting of gathering information regarding violent groups, detaining people considered in military decrees, among others; that is, they were tasks that escaped common police procedures.

In the case of Temuco, said commission was composed of lieutenant Eduardo Riquelme Rodríguez, in charge of directing the group; Juan Fritz Vega, Omar Burgos Dejean, and non-commissioned officers Hugo Opazo Inzunza and Ernesto Garrido Bravo from that same police unit.

Although the aforementioned uniformed officers were part of the staff of the Second Carabineros Station of Temuco, the orders given to them on intelligence matters were directed directly by Mr. Gonzalo Enrique Arias González, Carabineros sub-prefect of Cautín, who also performed functions as a Carabineros prosecutor.

Furthermore, the information gathered on intelligence matters by the group led by Riquelme was communicated directly to the same Carabineros sub-prefect. B.- That said Carabineros sub-prefect and military prosecutor of Cautín, named Gonzalo Enrique Arias González, after September 11, 1973, was performing duties in the city of Temuco, as stated in his service record.

Except for November 26, 1973, as indicated in the replacement sentence of the Supreme Court. C.- That the people detained by the aforementioned group were apprehended either at their homes, on public roads, or at torture sites, to then be taken to the common cells of the Second Carabineros Station of Temuco, and could only be interrogated or visited by the members of this civil commission.

D.- That José Edulio Muñoz Concha, 21, a worker, neighborhood leader of the 'Ampliación Amanecer' settlement in Temuco, and a militant of the Socialist Party in the same city, was detained after September 11, 1973, a date on which he was searched for unsuccessfully by his mother in the different facilities that housed political prisoners at that time, managing to find his whereabouts in the records of the public jail of the city of Temuco, an occasion on which she was also informed that her son would be released.

E.- That after the events described above and around the third week of September 1973, the political detainees who were inside the Temuco public jail, including José Edulio Muñoz Concha, were subjected to a recognition round by two uniformed officers, including a Carabineros lieutenant named Eduardo Orlando Riquelme Rodríguez and another higher-ranking officer named Gonzalo Enrique Arias González, who from an interior office of the aforementioned prison facility proceeded to identify the detainees, to subsequently separate a specific group of them among whom were José Edulio Muñoz Concha, Luis Almonacid Dumenez, Zbigniew Rubinek Mazur, and Mario San Martín Molina, who after being separated from the general formation, were forced to remain against a wall with their hands raised to finally be taken to an isolation cell. F.- That a witness to all of the above was Mr. Víctor Maturana Burgos, who although he was in that recognition round as a political detainee, was not separated from the general formation; however, he was able to know the identity of the police officials who were in charge of that instruction, since at the very moment the political detainees were returned to the patio where they were originally located and those separated were taken to the isolation facility, he was called to go to that office, a place where he could notice that among the uniformed officers was Carabineros lieutenant Eduardo Orlando Riquelme Rodríguez, whom he knew perfectly well because he had taken the instruction course with him at the Carabineros institution, at which moment this officer introduced him to his superior, Gonzalo Enrique Arias González, asking the latter to intercede for Mr. Maturana. That said authority and superior of lieutenant Riquelme corresponded precisely to the one indicated in letter B of this presentation. G.- That in this context, and the following day, that is, September 25, 1973, and after remaining in an isolation cell, the political detainees separated from the general formation, with the exception of Zbigniew Rubinek Mazur, were released by order No. 21 issued by the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco, as stated at page 672. However, upon leaving the guard area of the jail, they were forced to enter again as detainees into a red Chevrolet pickup truck, inside which were around 4 Carabineros officials, the civil commission group that was in charge of the aforementioned recognition round, one of whom Mario Rafael San Martín Molina recognizes as a 2nd Carabineros Station of Temuco official named Juan Fritz Vega, who had been his neighbor in the city of Nueva Imperial and also knew his father, at which moment said official took the opportunity to ask him about him. H.- That they were immediately taken to a police facility, which Mario San Martín Molina recognizes as the 2nd Carabineros Station of Temuco, a place where he shared a cell with José Edulio Muñoz Concha and Luis Almonacid Dumenez, witnessing how personnel from the Station transferred them to another area of the same facility to be interrogated and tortured, hearing their cries of pain after the tortures; which consisted of the application of electricity to different parts of their bodies. He finally reports that both José Edulio Muñoz Concha and Luis Almonacid Dumenez arrived in very poor physical condition. Their whereabouts remain unknown to this day, as he was the only survivor." In the civil aspect, the judge ordered the State to pay total compensation of $900,000,000 (nine hundred million pesos) for moral damages to the victim's relatives.

Source: pjud.cl, May 5, 2021

Judge Álvaro Mesa sentences retired Carabineros and a civilian to 12 years in prison as perpetrators of aggravated kidnapping of student in Temuco

The visiting judge Álvaro Mesa Latorre issued sentence number 64 on the matter, and sentenced retired Carabineros Gonzalo Enrique Arias González, Omar Burgos Dejean, and civilian Jorge Nibaldo Chovar Aguilera to 12 years of effective prison time as perpetrators of the crime of aggravated kidnapping, classified as a crime against humanity, of Luis Bernardo Maldonado Ávila.

The crime was perpetrated starting on September 22, 1973, in the commune of Temuco. The visiting judge for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, issued sentence number 64 on the matter, and sentenced retired Carabineros Gonzalo Enrique Arias González, Omar Burgos Dejean, and civilian Jorge Nibaldo Chovar Aguilera to 12 years of effective prison time as perpetrators of the crime of aggravated kidnapping, classified as a crime against humanity, of Luis Bernardo Maldonado Ávila.

The crime was perpetrated starting on September 22, 1973, in the commune of Temuco. In the ruling (case file 53.680), judge Mesa Latorre also applied to the sentenced individuals the legal accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for public offices and political rights, and absolute disqualification for professional titles for the duration of the sentences.

In addition, judge Mesa Latorre sentenced Eduardo Orlando Riquelme Rodríguez to serve a 5-year prison sentence as an accomplice; while Hugo Opazo Inzunza and Ernesto Ildefonso Garrido Bravo must serve 3 years in prison as accessories to the aggravated kidnapping of the mechanical engineering student from the State Technical University.

In the sentence, judge Mesa Latorre established the following facts: "A.- That starting on September 11, 1973, as a result of the events in the country, an operational group called the 'civil commission' was formed in all police stations, dedicated to intelligence work consisting of gathering information regarding violent groups, detaining people considered in military decrees, among others; that is, they were tasks that escaped common police procedures.

In the case of Temuco, said commission was composed of lieutenant Eduardo Riquelme Rodríguez (prosecuted at page 1.569 (Vol. V) of this case) in charge of directing the group; Juan Fritz Vega (deceased as stated at page 3.414 (Vol.

X)), Omar Burgos Dejean (prosecuted at page 1.139 (Vol. IV) of this case), and non-commissioned officers Hugo Opazo Inzunza and Ernesto Garrido Bravo (prosecuted at page 1.569 Vol. V) from that same police unit.

Although the aforementioned uniformed officers were part of the staff of the Second Carabineros Station of Temuco, the orders given to them on intelligence matters were directed directly by Gonzalo Enrique Arias González (prosecuted at page 1987 Vol.

VI), Carabineros sub-prefect of Cautín, who also performed functions as a Carabineros prosecutor. Furthermore, the information gathered on intelligence matters by the group led by Riquelme was communicated directly to the same Carabineros sub-prefect.

B.- That said Carabineros sub-prefect and Carabineros prosecutor of Cautín, after September 11, 1973, was performing duties in the city of Temuco, as stated in his service record at page 1.619. Except for November 26, 1973, as indicated in the replacement sentence of the Supreme Court that appears from page 1.961 to page 1.970 of this process.

C.- That the people detained by the aforementioned group were taken to the common cells of the Second Carabineros Station of Temuco, and could only be interrogated or visited by the members of this civil commission, with the rest of the unit's staff being unable to have contact with them.

D.- That maintaining the previous line of events, on September 22, 1973, Luis Bernardo Maldonado Ávila, a student of Mechanical Engineering at the State Technical University, was talking outside said university, located on Prat Street—between Rodríguez and Portales streets—in this city, together with Orwald Casanova Cameron, a fellow student, and a professor surnamed San Celedonio.

At that moment, Casanova Cameron saw a Chevrolet pickup truck circling on several occasions, boarded by people in civilian clothes and driven by Jorge Chovar Aguilera (prosecuted at page 1.139, Vol. IV of this case), a known sympathizer of the National Party, of the Patria y Libertad group of the time, and known for his closeness to uniformed personnel of different armed institutions, being seen on repeated occasions together with them on the streets of Temuco.

Upon saying goodbye, Casanova Cameron saw how Maldonado Ávila headed down Prat Street toward Portales Street, losing sight of him at that intersection. E.- That the same day, an official from the Welfare Department of the State Technical University of this city informed some students of that institution that she witnessed the moment Luis Maldonado Ávila was approached by uniformed officers and put into a vehicle.

Together with the uniformed officers was Jorge Chovar Aguilera, cooperating in the apprehension of Maldonado Ávila. The aforementioned event was commented on among the students of the State Technical University and even among members of the National Party and the Patria y Libertad group of that time.

F.- That at a later date, Alberto Arturo Neumann Adriazola (deceased as stated at page 3.417 (Vol. X)), a 1st corporal of the Second Carabineros Station of Temuco, commented to his spouse that he had seen Luis Maldonado Ávila in one of the cells of the Second Carabineros Station of Temuco—whom he knew due to a friendship with his family—but that he could not have contact with him, alluding to the prohibition that personnel who were not part of the civil commission of the 2nd Carabineros Station of Temuco had regarding contact with the detainees of that group.

G.- That Carabineros Sergeant of the Second Carabineros Station of Temuco, Juan de Dios Fritz Vega (deceased as stated at page 3.414 Vol. X), accompanied by Omar Burgos Dejean (prosecuted at page 1.139 Vol.

IV of this case) and other Carabineros of said commission, appeared at the home of corporal Neumann in a reddish C-10 model pickup truck, so that the wife of the aforementioned corporal would accompany them.

They went with her to a house in front of Teodoro Schmidt plaza, where Irma Martínez Delgado was located together with other people, among them Mrs. Claudina Ávila (deceased as stated at page 3.413 Vol.

X), mother of Luis Maldonado Ávila—with whom Neumann Adriazola's spouse had shared hours before and talked about her son's situation—proceeding the uniformed officers to enter the home, apprehend Mrs. Claudina Ávila, with her hands tied and eyes blindfolded, and take her to the 2nd Carabineros Station of Temuco.

H.- That finally, to this 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 regarding what happened to Luis Bernardo Maldonado Ávila, maintaining to this day the concealment of all types of information regarding his whereabouts.

That to this date, and despite the search by his relatives, it has not been possible to locate the whereabouts of Luis Bernardo Maldonado Ávila."

Source: pjud.cl, October 5, 2022

Supreme Court confirms conviction of civilian for crime against student in Temuco in 1973

The Supreme Court rejected the cassation appeal in form and substance filed against the sentence that convicted the right-wing civilian Jorge Nibaldo Chovar Aguilera for his responsibility in the crime of aggravated kidnapping of the then-university student Luis Bernardo Maldonado Ávila, committed starting on September 22, 1973, in the city of Temuco.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 201.561-2023), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of justice Manuel Antonio Valderrama, justices María Teresa Letelier and María Cristina Gajardo, and acting lawyers Pía Tavolari and Eduardo Gandulfo—confirmed the sentence that convicted the former member of the fascist group Patria y Libertad and later gastronomic businessman, Jorge Chovar Aguilera, to a sentence of 12 years of effective prison time, as a perpetrator of the crime, classified as a crime against humanity.

In this way, the Supreme Court rejects the appeal filed against the sentence of the Temuco Court of Appeals of June 2023, which in turn fully ratified the first-instance ruling issued by judge Álvaro Mesa Latorre in September 2022.

Likewise, regarding the also sentenced 12-year prison term for former Carabineros officer Gonzalo Enrique Arias González, in whose favor a cassation appeal in substance had also been filed, the Court omits ruling on it due to the death of the criminal, which occurred in July 2023.

Other sentenced individuals did not file appeals before the Supreme Court; former Carabineros 2nd sergeant Omar Burgos Dejean was sentenced to 12 years of effective prison time as a perpetrator of the crime.

In addition, former Carabineros officer Eduardo Orlando Riquelme Rodríguez was sentenced to serve a 5-year prison sentence as an accomplice; while former non-commissioned officers Hugo Opazo Inzunza and Ernesto Ildefonso Garrido Bravo must serve 3 years in prison as accessories to the aggravated kidnapping.

In the sentence, the legal accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for public offices and political rights and absolute disqualification for professional titles were applied to the convicted individuals for the duration of the sentences.

The convicted and implicated individuals in this case were part of the staff of the Second Carabineros Station of Temuco and were members of an operational group called the "civil commission" whose function, after the military coup, was destined for repressive or intelligence tasks consisting of the search and detention of people who were considered dangerous to the dictatorial regime.

In repressive and intelligence matters, they received orders issued by the Carabineros sub-prefect of Cautín, Gonzalo Enrique Arias González, who also performed functions as a Carabineros prosecutor. The aforementioned civil commission was composed of then-lieutenant Eduardo Riquelme Rodríguez in charge of directing the group; Juan Fritz Vega (deceased), Omar Burgos Dejean, and non-commissioned officers Hugo Opazo Inzunza and Ernesto Garrido Bravo, all from the same police unit.

The information gathered by the group led by Riquelme Rodríguez was communicated directly to the same sub-prefect Arias González. The people detained by the aforementioned group were taken to the common cells of the Second Carabineros Station of Temuco, and could only be interrogated or visited by the members of this civil commission, with the rest of the unit's staff being unable to have contact with them.

On September 22, 1973, Luis Bernardo Maldonado Ávila, 24 years old, a student of Mechanical Engineering at the State Technical University, was detained by the members of this "civil commission" who were accompanied by the civilian collaborator Jorge Nibaldo Chovar Aguilera, a known sympathizer of the National Party and member of the Patria y Libertad group of the time, known for his closeness to uniformed personnel of different armed institutions, being seen on repeated occasions together with them on the streets of Temuco.

The civilian informant acted as the driver of the private vehicle in which the repressive group moved. Since that date, the whereabouts of the detainee Maldonado Ávila remain unknown. Various testimonies account for the student's presence in the cells of the Second Station.

In the following days, Claudina Ávila, the detainee's mother, was taken into custody and led gagged and blindfolded to the same police unit, with the purpose of intimidating her and preventing search actions for her son. The mother passed away without being able to find an answer regarding the whereabouts of her son Luis Maldonado Ávila. by Darío Núñez

Source: resumen.cl, July 11, 2025