Arturo Enrique Koyck Fredes
Electricista Maestranza FF.CC. Jefe de Grupo — 48 years old.
Background
Arturo Enrique Koyck Fredes
Electricista Maestranza FF.CC. Jefe de Grupo — 48 years old.
Case summary
Arturo Koyck Fredes was a 48-year-old electrician, a group leader at the Maestranza de Ferrocarriles in San Bernardo, and a member of the Communist Party. He was arrested at his home by a military patrol on September 28, 1973, and was a victim of political execution by members of the Army on October 6 of that year, alongside ten other workers from the same railway workshop.
Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos[1]
On October 6, 1973, the following individuals were killed by members of the Ejército:
Héctor Enrique HERNANDEZ GARCES, 17 years old, a high school student at a school in Puente Alto and a sympathizer of the Juventudes Socialistas. He was detained on September 27, 1973, at his home by military personnel who were tracking one of his friends, Francisco Viera.
Arturo KOYK FREDES, 48 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista. He was detained in the early hours of September 28 at his home by the same military patrol that captured Mauricio Cea and Roberto Avila.
Alfredo ACEVEDO PEREIRA, 27 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.
Raúl CASTRO CALDERA, 23 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.
Hernán CHAMORRO MONARDES, 29 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.
Manuel GONZALEZ VARGAS, 46 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.
Adiel MONSALVES MARTINEZ, 41 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways, a union leader, and a militant of the Partido Comunista.
José MORALES ALVAREZ, 31 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways, Vice President of the Railway Workers' Council, and a militant of the Partido Comunista.
Pedro OYARZUN ZAMORANO, 36 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways, a union leader, and a militant of the Partido Comunista.
Joel Guillermo SILVA OLIVA, 37 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.
Ramón VIVANCO DIAZ, 44 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.
(Juan Guillermo Cuadra Espinoza, Gustavo Martínez Vera, and Carlos Ortiz Ortiz met the same fate; they had been detained in Paine and taken to the Cerro Chena detention center. However, the situation affecting them is recounted in the section corresponding to the town of Paine.)
The eleven individuals mentioned above were detained on September 28, 1973, by military personnel during an operation carried out at the Maestranza de Ferrocarriles in San Bernardo.
Javier Antonio PACHECO MONSALVE, 31 years old, a furniture maker and a member of President Allende’s GAP for a time; his wife, María Isabel Beltran Sánchez, is a forcibly disappeared person; he was a militant of the MIR. He was detained on October 5 by military personnel.
All of the aforementioned individuals were executed on October 6, 1973, by members of the Ejército at the Cerro Chena detention center, suffering multiple gunshot wounds. Their deaths are recorded in death certificates, many of which list the Escuela de Infantería de San Bernardo as the place of death.
Regarding the case of Arturo Koyk, although his death certificate indicates the date as September 28, 1973, the Commission possesses evidence that confirms his death occurred alongside the railway workers on October 6.
The families only learned of the deaths upon discovering their bodies at the Instituto Médico Legal. Some of the bodies were not recovered by their next of kin and were buried in Patio 29 of the Cementerio General.
Faced with the concern of relatives and coworkers, military authorities in the area called a union assembly where they reported that those affected had been participating in paramilitary activities and had attempted to escape from Cerro Chena, which had allegedly motivated the military to kill them.
On the other hand, witnesses who spoke with the workers while they were detained stated that the workers had told them they were being accused of intending to blow up the gasometer or gas pipeline of the Maestranza, which would have caused half of San Bernardo to explode.
The Commission reached the conviction that the deaths of those affected constituted a case of human rights violations and could not accept the version provided to the families, based on the following considerations:
– There is no official document that supports the version of an escape given by the military interventor, nor is there any press information or judicial investigation to that effect. – The testimonies received by this Commission regarding the conditions in which the detainees were held at Cerro Chena also disprove a possible escape.
Before arriving at the site, the detainees were blindfolded, remaining in that condition throughout their detention. Furthermore, the detention camp was entirely surrounded by barbed-wire fences. The paths were lined with small ditches into which the detainees often fell precisely because they could not see. – An attempted escape would have implied prior coordination among the victims, which was impracticable because the detained railway workers were not grouped together but distributed in different sectors of the facility. – Autopsy protocols confirm that all victims died from gunfire, with most shots fired from a long distance and in an upward trajectory. This corroborates testimonies received by the Commission, which indicate that the victims were taken from their cells and brought to the hill, where they were forced to climb while soldiers fired at them from behind. – All bodies were sent to the Instituto Médico Legal with the notation that they had been "found" at the Escuela de Infantería de San Bernardo. This Commission verified that there was no judicial proceeding regarding the discovery of bodies at that facility.
This Commission reached the conviction that all the victims were executed outside of any legal process by agents of the State.
Judicial Case Files[2]
Episodio San Bernardo
- Hector Solis
- 03-02-f
- 1462-2007
- 6379-2010
- Metropolitana De Santiago
- Escuela De Infanteria De San Bernardo Cuartel Dos Cerro Chena
- Victor Pinto Perez
References
- 1Museum of Memoryhttps://interactivos.museodelamemoria.cl/victims/?p=2450
- 2Judicial Case Fileshttps://expedientesdelarepresion.cl/causa/episodio-san-bernardo/