Representative Position: President of the Student Center of the School of Sociology at the Universidad de Concepción, linked to the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR). Date of Detention: September 25, 1974

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Ariel Martín Salinas Argomedo, married, with one daughter, a sociology student at the Universidad de Concepción and linked to the MIR, was detained on September 25, 1974, by security agents. That same day, around 11:30 p.m., two individuals dressed in civilian clothes—one young and one middle-aged—appeared at the home of Julio René Salinas Argomedo, the victim's brother.

They identified themselves as members of the Military Intelligence Service. They informed him that Ariel had been in their custody since that morning and that they needed him to hand over money that Ariel had left with him for safekeeping. He refused, and after their persistent demands, they asked him to come out with them to the vehicle parked outside the house.

Julio Salinas went out accompanied by his wife, his brother Patricio, and two other guests. Inside the vehicle, a red C-10 pickup truck, were a driver and the victim. Ariel was sitting, handcuffed, and in poor physical condition; his face was swollen and he was doubled over.

They interrogated him, and when asked about the money, Ariel replied that it was at his house. This provoked the anger of one of the agents, who struck him, causing him to fall to the floor of the truck, and berated him for "wasting their time." They then got into the vehicle and drove away.

The brothers decided to follow them in their car and observed that they arrived at the victim's home on Calle París. Unable to do anything further, they withdrew due to the late hour and the enforcement of the curfew. Since that date, the whereabouts of Ariel Salinas Argomedo remain unknown.

Alicia Sepúlveda Salinas, the victim's cousin, declared in the judicial proceedings for the Recurso de Amparo (writ of habeas corpus) that an unknown person approached her in April 1975 and told her that her cousin Ariel was being held incommunicado at the Cuatro Álamos camp. She visited the site on several occasions, and was always told that he did not appear on the lists.

Numerous witnesses confirm his presence in DINA detention centers, such as Villa Grimaldi, José Domingo Cañas, and Cuatro Álamos. All report his terrible state of health as a result of torture, noting specifically that he complained of severe back pain.

Among the witnesses to his imprisonment are:

Rosalía Martínez Cereceda, who saw him at the José Domingo Cañas facility. In her three sworn statements—given in Paris in August 1975, in Israel in November 1975, and in Santiago in August 1990—she recounts that Ariel was in very bad shape, suffered from severe pain, and was very worried about his family.

Mónica Isabel Uribe Tamblay saw him at Villa Grimaldi and spoke with him between September 25 and 27, 1974; she declares that he was in a precarious state of health. Edmundo Lebrecht and his wife, María Teresa Bottai, declared in Germany in January 1978 that they had seen and spoken with him at the José Domingo Cañas facility.

Edwin Patricio Bustos Streeter, in a sworn statement made in Milan, Italy, in January 1991, relates that DINA agent Osvaldo Romo, knowing of his friendship with the victim, commented on Ariel's fortitude during his imprisonment.

Manuel Salinas Letelier declared in November 1976 that he had seen him at the Cuatro Álamos camp. Hernán Schewmber Fernández, in a sworn statement made in London, England, in February 1978, stated that he had seen him at the Cuatro Álamos camp and that he was removed from that facility on October 25 along with Antonio Llidó Amengual and Carlos Guajardo, and that he never saw him again.

In subsequent months, on July 25, 1975, a news item appeared in the newspaper Las Últimas Noticias reporting that the magazine O'DIA of Curitiba, Brazil, mentioned that Argentine security forces had killed 59 Chilean MIR members, among whom was the name of the victim.

Subsequently, following judicial actions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that there were no official records to establish that these individuals had actually died abroad or that they had left the country.

This publication appeared only once. The names on this list, added to another 60 from a similar publication that appeared in Argentina, correspond to 119 people detained by Chilean security services who were forcibly disappeared after their arrest.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On October 28, 1974, the victim's brother, Patricio Salinas Argomedo, filed a Recurso de Amparo in his favor before the Santiago Court of Appeals, which was registered under No. 1326. In the initial proceedings, information was requested from the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Defense, and the National Executive Secretariat of Detainees to indicate if there was an arrest warrant and if he appeared in the records of those secretariats.

They responded to these inquiries by stating that there were no records against the victim, upon which the Court of Appeals rejected the Recurso de Amparo on November 13, 1974, and sent the records to the Fourth Criminal Court to initiate a summary proceeding for "Presumed Misfortune" (disappearance).

On January 13, 1975, the victim's cousin, Alicia Sepúlveda Salinas, filed a second Recurso de Amparo, registered under No. 67-75; in it, she requested the appointment of a Visiting Judge (Ministro en Visita).

The Court resolved that, to gain knowledge of the matter, reports should be requested from the Ministers of the Interior and National Defense. They responded to this request by stating that there were no records that the victim was detained or that there was an arrest warrant against him.

The Court reiterated its request to the Ministry of Defense on March 7, 1975, and also asked the DINA to report if this person was detained. The Director of the DINA responded on March 18, 1975, that they should address the National Executive Secretariat of Detainees, which had the mission of providing that type of information.

On April 25, 1975, the Recurso de Amparo was declared void and the records were sent to the corresponding court.

On April 30, a "Presumed Misfortune" case was filed before the Sixth Criminal Court of Santiago and registered under No. 91.591. Among the first steps taken was an order to investigate, the summoning of family members to testify, and an official request to SENDET to report if Ariel Salinas Argomedo was detained.

Among the witness statements, it is worth noting that, after his detention, his brother Julio Salinas received an anonymous call indicating that Ariel was in Tres Álamos. Furthermore, in the statement of his sister-in-law, María Eugenia Rojas, she alluded to the fact that the Red Cross had records of the victim's stay at the Tres Álamos camp.

The response from the Executive Secretariat of Detainees indicated on May 16, 1975, that the victim was not among the detainees controlled by that agency.

The Investigations Service responded to the Court through Inspector Mariano Fuentes Granadino, who, on June 4, 1975, stated verbatim: "From the inquiries made, it appears that Ariel Salinas Argomedo was possibly detained by the Intelligence Service, and once released, he has not dared to appear before his family or common friends out of shame." Subsequently, once summoned to the Court, he declared regarding this that the conclusion was a personal opinion.

On July 7, the presiding judge temporarily dismissed the case, noting that the evidence provided to the process did not fully justify the perpetration of a crime. The case went to the Court of Appeals for consultation, and on July 15, the Prosecutor requested that the effects of the dismissal be suspended, based on: "It is the duty of the Courts to exhaust investigations, even if it is reasonably presumed that there is no object, since the conviction is reached that the person is detained; and is there not sufficient legal authority to detain and maintain the detention, even?

It is not the path of the summary, of the investigation order, etc., etc., that will achieve the minimum of peace and legal order. It is more about exhausting the investigations." On August 27, 1975, the Court of Appeals decided to return the case for being incomplete.

Among the measures ordered upon reopening the case, the Court requested information from the International Red Cross and summoned María Eugenia Rojas, the victim's sister-in-law, to testify. The witness ratified her information, and the Red Cross responded on October 23 that "in a visit made on October 11, 1974, by delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross to the Tres Álamos camp, according to information given by some detainees, Mr.

Salinas Argomedo may have been held incommunicado in some pavilion of said camp, information that could not be verified."

Despite these responses, the Court temporarily dismissed the case on November 6, 1975. It went to the Court of Appeals for consultation, and this time the Prosecutor, on November 12, 1975, approved it, noting: "With all the legal efficacy that the case records might have in the sense that Ariel Salinas Argomedo is detained, the truth is that when the relevant agencies were consulted, they responded that he is not.

Justice has no adequate answer." On January 21, 1976, the dismissal was approved in consultation, and the case was archived on January 23, 1976.

On May 28, 1975, a complaint was filed for the mass kidnapping of 150 cases of forcibly disappeared persons, which included the case of Ariel Salinas Argomedo. The appointment of a Visiting Judge was requested, with the petition supported by a sworn statement for each case; however, the request was denied.

Subsequently, on August 20, 1976, and in May 1978, his name was included in new petitions before the Courts to request the appointment of a Visiting Judge, which were also denied.

Ariel Salinas Argomedo's wife filed a request for "presumed death" before the 2nd Criminal Court of Temuco, a case registered under No. 39116. There is no record of the result of that filing.

Source: Vicaría de la Solidaridad

The former rodeo arena (Medialuna) has undergone another intervention, as a commemorative plaque was installed this Friday naming it a "Space of Memory and Resignification," which also recalls words from former President Salvador Allende.

It should be noted that the former Maipú rodeo arena was transformed into a detention and torture center under the command of the Guardia de Los Andes Regiment, whose prisoners were mainly workers from the Maipú-Cerrillos Industrial Belt.

According to the Valech Report, most of the detentions were recorded in 1973 at this site, which was intended for rodeos. Those who testified to the commission indicated that this place was used as a transit point for male and female prisoners held by police forces, where interrogations and torture were carried out before sending the detainees to other facilities.

Decades later, during the administration of Cathy Barriga, the site was transformed into a skating rink and renamed "Plaza Los Toros." Today, under the administration of the new mayor, Tomás Vodanovic, a process of resignification of the site as a space of memory has begun, based on the testimonies of survivors.

Regarding the intervention at the former rodeo arena, Tomás Vodanovic states: "Generating spaces of memory and encounter is fundamental, not only to recognize and take responsibility for our history, but above all to understand what kind of society we want to build for the future.

This administration understands the unrestricted defense of human rights as the fundamental pillar of the new Chile and the new Maipú that we must build."

Miguel Romero, a survivor of detention at the former rodeo arena, referred to this initiative by saying: "I hope that this site of memory will be, if possible, an active site of memory. Where they tortured us in the office, I hope it can be transformed into a library.

Because this space has been invisible; I see many people in the commune who do not know what happened here. It is time for this space to be transformed into an active site of memory." Carlos Aguilera, who was also detained at the former rodeo arena, spoke about the initiative and the participation of youth in recent times, stating: "Memory must continue, because we are part of history, we are all part of history.

I look and I am pleased to see young people, and that is gratifying for one, because the seed must be passed on to the youth."

A mural will be painted at the site to remember the forcibly disappeared and political executions of the dictatorship, authored by the local Ramona Parra Brigade.

Furthermore, the Municipality of Maipú announced that this Saturday, September 11, the audiovisual account "Space of Memory and Resignification" will premiere, where Miguel Romero and Carlos Aguilera will tell their stories regarding the 1973 coup d'état.

Source: lavozdemaipu.cl, 09/11/2021 Date: 09-11-2021

Santiago Court sentences 26 former DINA agents for the aggravated kidnapping of sociology student Ariel Martín Salinas Argomedo

SANTIAGO – The Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced 26 agents of the dissolved National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for their responsibility in the crime of aggravated kidnapping of sociology student Ariel Martín Salinas Argomedo, who was detained on September 25, 1974, and passed through the clandestine centers of José Domingo Cañas, Villa Grimaldi, and Cuatro Álamos, before his name appeared as one of the victims of the so-called "Operation Colombo."

In a unanimous ruling (case file 305-2016), the Seventh Chamber of the appellate court—composed of ministers Jessica González, Marisol Rojas, and Juan Carlos Silva Opazo—sentenced former agents César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, and Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann to 13 years in prison as authors of the crime.

Meanwhile, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Hermón Helec Alfaro Mundaca, Julio José Hoyos Zegarra, Silvio Antonio Concha González, José Ojeda Obando, Luis Rigoberto Videla Inzunza, Teresa del Carmen Osorio Navarro, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, Alejandro Francisco Astudillo Adonis, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Pedro René Alfaro Fernández, Palmira Isabel Almuna Guzmán, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Francisco Maximiliano Ferrer Lima, Fernando Eduardo Lauriani Maturana, and Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos must serve 10 years in prison as authors of the illicit act.

During the investigation phase of the case, conducted by Visiting Judge Hernán Crisosto Greisse, the following sequence of events was established:

"That in the morning hours of September 25, 1974, ARIEL MARTÍN SALINAS ARGOMEDO, a militant of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR), was detained on a public street by agents belonging to the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), who transferred him to the clandestine DINA detention center called 'Ollagüe,' located at José Domingo Cañas No. 1367 in the commune of Ñuñoa.

Subsequently, ARIEL MARTÍN SALINAS ARGOMEDO was transferred to the clandestine detention centers called 'Villa Grimaldi,' located at Lo Arrieta No. 8200, in La Reina, and 'Cuatro Álamos,' located at Calle Canadá No. 3000, in the commune of Santiago, facilities that were guarded by armed guards and to which only DINA agents had access;

That the victim, SALINAS ARGOMEDO, during his stay at the José Domingo Cañas, Villa Grimaldi, and Cuatro Álamos barracks, remained without contact with the outside world. And in the first two locations, he was blindfolded and tied, being continuously subjected to interrogations under torture by DINA agents who operated in said barracks for the purpose of obtaining information regarding members of the MIR, in order to proceed with the detention of the members of that organization;

That the last time the victim, Salinas Argomedo, was seen alive by other detainees occurred on an undetermined day in the month of November 1974, and he remains disappeared to this day;

That the name of Ariel Martín Salinas Argomedo appeared on a list of 119 people published in the national press after it appeared on a list published in the Brazilian magazine 'O'DIA,' dated June 25, 1975, which reported that ARIEL MARTÍN SALINAS ARGOMEDO had died in Argentina, along with 59 other people belonging to the MIR, due to internal disputes among its members; and that the publications that declared the victim, Salinas Argomedo, dead had their origin in disinformation maneuvers carried out by DINA agents abroad."

Source: larazon.cl, 10/05/2020 Date: 10-05-2020

UdeC 100 years: Meet the list of students and graduates of the Universidad de Concepción who fell during the dictatorship

The Universidad de Concepción (UdeC) begins to celebrate its first centenary, 100 years of history and direct connection with the city and the country. A history that had an active participation in the social reality of Chile, where the strong political participation and militancy of its students had a boom in the 60s and 70s, and which, during the dictatorship, translated into strong repression, torture, and death.

The "U de Conce" was the alma mater of men and women who gave their lives to build a more just society, or in the resistance to the military-business dictatorship that plagued the Chilean people. The names of a large part of these people (54 of the 71 in total) are present on the memorial next to the Los Patos lagoon; others, like Caupolicán Inostroza, are remembered with a plaque in the Humanities parking lot, the place where he was murdered by the Carabineros in March 1984.

However, it is necessary to acknowledge all the students and graduates who are also part of the history of the University and of Chile.

Source: Resumen.cl, 03/22/2019 Date: 03-22-2019

U. de Chile to award posthumous degrees to 104 executed and disappeared persons

SYMBOLIC RECOGNITION WILL BE DIRECTED AT FORMER STUDENTS MURDERED DURING THE MILITARY REGIME.

Through exempt decree number 0030766 of the Universidad de Chile, authorized by the Comptroller General of the Republic on September 4 of this year, said university was enabled, for the first time in its history, to award posthumous and symbolic degrees to students who were political executions victims and those who became forcibly disappeared during the military regime.

The official ceremony, which will be led by Rector Ennio Vivaldi, will take place next Monday the 11th, in the Domeyko courtyard of the central building, starting at 12:30 p.m.

For Vivaldi, "this initiative has two very profound meanings. On one hand, it is a gesture of reparation for the victims themselves and for their families, who also affectively associate their loved ones with this great institution that is the U. de Chile.

On the other hand, the U. de Chile feels that it is fulfilling its moral duty by not granting the dictatorship the terrible objective of, in addition to having cut their lives short, erasing their achievements as students and future professionals for Chile."

The list includes 104 former students of the university who were murdered by state agents between 1973 and 1989.

Among the most remembered cases is that of history student Jécar Nehgme, who also appears as the last victim of the Augusto Pinochet regime. This former leader of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) was found dead on September 4, 1989, on Calle General Bulnes, a few days before the elections that would mark the return to democracy.

After a long judicial process, which was resolved in 2008, it was established that the authors of the murder were the metropolitan chief of the CNI, Brigadier (ret.) Enrique Levy Araneda; Colonel (ret.) Pedro Guzmán Olivares; and Captain (ret.) Luis Sanhueza Ross.

Social organizations valued the gesture. The president of the Association of Families of Political Executions Victims (AFEP), Alicia Lira, pointed out that "it is a great gesture, which we recognize enormously.

With this, Rector Vivaldi fulfills a pending task that the Universidad de Chile had, since similar gestures had already been fulfilled by other universities such as the U. de Santiago and the Austral de Valdivia. But it is a huge signal for democracy and for a true 'never again' to be fulfilled in Chile."

Among those honored is Ariel Martín Salinas Argomedo, a sociology student, forcibly disappeared on 09/25/1974 in Santiago (excerpt from the complete list).

Source: cctt.cl, 04/01/2017 Date: 04-01-2017

Memorial inaugurated in Maipú in memory of victims of the dictatorship

"Memorial for the Forcibly Disappeared and Political Executions Victims of Maipú" is the name of the new space dedicated to remembering the 68 neighbors of that commune who suffered the abuses of the military dictatorship, and which was inaugurated by the community last Saturday, May 19, in the Plaza de Maipú.

The ceremony was attended by family members, children, grandchildren, and others close to the victims, who were accompanied by the mayor of Maipú, Alberto Undurraga, by councilors of the National Institute of Human Rights—Enrique Núñez and Roberto Garretón—and by representatives of civil society organizations.

The new space of memory inaugurated in Maipú hopes to constitute not only a tribute to the victims of state terrorism, but also a place where family members and future generations of Maipú residents remember what happened, with the hope of forging a better future in which peace, dialogue, and mutual respect prevail.

"This Memorial will be a space of remembrance and reflection, so that human rights abuses are never again committed in Chile, as happened to our companions in times of dictatorship, just for the fact of thinking differently," the group maintained.

Source: indh.cl, 05/22/2012 Date: 05-22-2012

Operation Colombo: Supreme Court confirms convictions of 24 former DINA agents for the aggravated kidnapping of a UdeC leader in Santiago in 1974

The Supreme Court rejected the appeals for cassation in form and substance filed by the defense against the sentence that convicted agents of the dissolved National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for their responsibility in the crime of aggravated kidnapping of sociology student Ariel Martín Salinas Argomedo, committed starting on September 25, 1974, in Santiago.

The name of Ariel Salinas Argomedo appeared, subsequently, on the list of 119 forcibly disappeared persons included in the disinformation maneuver implemented by the DINA and the dictatorship known as "Operation Colombo."

In a unanimous ruling (case file 135.568-2020), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Haroldo Brito, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, Minister María Teresa Letelier, and lawyer (i) Pía Tavolari—accepted the appeal for cassation in form filed by the plaintiff, the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, and, consequently, invalidated the challenged sentence, only in the part that acquitted the accused Manuel Heriberto Avendaño González and, in a replacement sentence, sentenced him to 10 years in prison as an author of the crime.

The Supreme Court's ruling confirmed the sentences of former Army officers and former DINA leaders César Raúl Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, and Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, who must serve 13 years in prison for their responsibility as authors of the aggravated kidnapping.

Meanwhile, in addition to the aforementioned Manuel Heriberto Avendaño González, former officers Francisco Maximiliano Ferrer Lima, Fernando Eduardo Lauriani Maturana, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Palmira Isabel Almuna Guzmán, and former agents Hermón Helec Alfaro Mundaca, Julio José Hoyos Zegarra, Silvio Antonio Concha González, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Luis Rigoberto Videla Inzunza, Teresa del Carmen Osorio Navarro, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, Alejandro Francisco Astudillo Adonis, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Pedro René Alfaro Fernández, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, and Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos must serve 10 years of imprisonment, all convicted as authors of the crime.

Another 12 agents, also convicted in the first-instance ruling issued by Judge Hernán Crisosto Greisse in October 2015, died during the course of the process.

Regarding the case of the accused Manuel Avendaño González, the Criminal Chamber points out: "(...) under such conditions, the appeal proposed by the Human Rights Program of the relevant Ministry must be accepted, since from the mere reading of the challenged sentence, it is evident that it contains foundations that are completely contradictory, canceling each other out, making the decision that acquits the accused Avendaño González, which is declared in the operative part, devoid of any foundation, configuring the vice of invalidation denounced."

"In effect, at the time of the events, these accused were part, as hierarchical superiors and operational agents, together with other defendants whose participation was analyzed in the following considerations, of the groups belonging to the National Intelligence Directorate that carried out the kidnapping of the members of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria, among whose members was Salinas Argomedo, in such a way that, although they did not remember the specific name of this person, it is indisputable to conclude, just as the a quo does, that they took part in the illegitimate deprivation of his liberty immediately and directly in the manner provided by the aforementioned norm and that, for the same reason, they are punishable co-authors of this illicit act."

Operation Colombo

Ariel Martín Salinas Argomedo was a former sociology student at the Universidad de Concepción. The young man, 26 years old, married and father of a daughter, was a militant of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR), was part of the university leadership of the MIR in Concepción, and, until the military coup, was president of the student center of the sociology program at the UdeC.

After the coup, he had to go into hiding to avoid being captured. He moved to Santiago to continue his militant activity and a year later was detained.

In the first-instance ruling, Visiting Judge Hernán Crisosto Greisse established that in the morning hours of September 25, 1974, Ariel Salinas was detained on a public street by agents belonging to the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), who transferred him to the clandestine DINA detention center called 'Ollagüe,' located at José Domingo Cañas No. 1367 in the commune of Ñuñoa.

Subsequently, he was transferred to the clandestine detention centers called 'Villa Grimaldi,' located at Lo Arrieta No. 8200, in La Reina, and 'Cuatro Álamos,' located at Calle Canadá No. 3000, in the commune of Santiago, facilities that were guarded by armed guards and to which only DINA agents had access.

According to the testimony of surviving prisoners, during his stay at the José Domingo Cañas, Villa Grimaldi, and Cuatro Álamos barracks, the detainee Ariel Salinas remained without contact with the outside world. In the first two locations, he was blindfolded and tied, being continuously subjected to interrogations under torture by DINA agents who operated in said barracks.

The last time Ariel Salinas Argomedo was seen alive by other detainees occurred on an undetermined day in the month of November 1974, and he has been disappeared since that date.

By Darío Núñez

Source: resumen.cl, February 26, 2024