In his resolution, Judge Carroza maintains that agents Humberto Leiva Gutiérrez, Hugo Acevedo Godoy, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross, Víctor Caro Pizarro, Armando Ávila Fierro, and Juan Farías Orellana had direct participation in the operation that ended the lives of both young men.

Minister Mario Carroza initiated proceedings against six agents of the defunct CNI involved in the qualified homicide of two young MIR militants, Iván Palacios and Eric Rodríguez, who were murdered in a pre-arranged ambush on April 18, 1989, in the commune of Quinta Normal.

In his resolution, Judge Carroza maintains that agents Humberto Leiva Gutiérrez, Hugo Acevedo Godoy, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross, Víctor Caro Pizarro, Armando Ávila Fierro, and Juan Farías Orellana had direct participation in the operation that ended the lives of both young men.

The case of the young MIR members Eric Rodríguez and Iván Palacios is remembered because it was the result of an infiltration operation orchestrated by the CNI and led by an individual known as "Miguel," a civilian employee of that repressive apparatus of the Pinochet dictatorship, who provided weapons to young people in the working-class neighborhoods of Greater Santiago.

Both young men were ambushed in the area of Calle San Pablo and Radal, where Palacios was shot and killed by the agents, while Rodríguez passed away days later in a medical center. In his investigation, Minister Carroza established that after shooting at both young men, the CNI agents "carried out a series of maneuvers at the crime scene with the aim of feigning the occurrence of a confrontation between the security agency's agents and the victims."

Source: Cambio21, February 17, 2015

About 60 people gathered to protest against former CNI agent Victor Rolando Caro Pizarro

The minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, issued an indictment in the investigation he is conducting regarding the qualified homicide of Iván Palacios Guarda and Eric Enrique Rodríguez Hinojosa, crimes perpetrated in Santiago in 1989.

In the resolution (case file 220-2010), Minister Carroza charged the following former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) as co-authors of the crime: Humberto Leiva Gutiérrez, Hugo Acevedo Godoy, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ros, Víctor Rolando Caro Pizarro, Armando Rodolfo Ávila Fierro, and Juan Raúl Farías Orellana.

Likewise, Magistrate Mario Carroza resolved to definitively and partially dismiss the case against the former colonel in charge of the anti-subversive division of the CNI's metropolitan unit, Enrique Leddy Araneda, due to his presentation of a state of dementia, according to a mental capacity report conducted by the mental health area of the SML.

According to the evidence gathered during the investigation phase, Minister Carroza was able to establish that: "On April 18, 1989, at 9:00 PM, while the victims Eric Enrique Rodríguez Hinojosa and Iván Palacios Guardia were on Calle San Pablo near No. 4000 in this city, having been contacted by an individual identified as 'Miguel,' a civilian employee of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) who had infiltrated working-class neighborhoods claiming to be the zonal head of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) to recruit young people to join the so-called 'Resistance Command,' and who provided weapons and military instruction, they were intercepted by CNI officials. In a vast operation in the sector, they proceeded to gun down the victim Iván Palacios Guarda on the public thoroughfare, leaving Eric Enrique Rodríguez Hinojosa wounded, who later died at the Asistencia Pública on September 4, 1989, without giving them a chance to react, whether to protect themselves, flee, or repel the attack. Subsequently, said CNI agents carried out a series of maneuvers at the crime scene with the aim of feigning the occurrence of a confrontation between the security agency's agents and the victims, a scenario that was intended to be supported by the statements of the participants when they testified under operational names before the Military Prosecutor's Office that handled the facts at the time, providing the official version that the two people were preparing to place explosive devices on high-voltage towers located in the area."

Source: diarioelitihue.blogspot.com, November 18, 2015

Operation Colombo: Espinoza, Krassnoff, and Iturriaga Neumann sentenced to 13 years in prison for qualified kidnapping

Last Thursday, November 5, the minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Hernán Crisosto Greisse, issued a sentence for the crime of qualified kidnapping of Juan Carlos Perelman Ide, perpetrated starting on February 20, 1975.

The episode is part of the investigation into the so-called "Operation Colombo." In the resolution, the presiding judge sentenced former DINA agents Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, and Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann to 13 years in prison as co-authors of the crime of qualified kidnapping; they were simultaneously acquitted of the crime of illicit association.

Meanwhile, he sentenced 31 other former state agents to 10 years in prison, also as co-authors, including Basclay Zapata Reyes and Francisco Maximiliano Ferrer Lima. In the case of co-author Samuel Enrique Fuenzalida Devia, the magistrate sentenced him to 541 days.

Likewise, Minister Greisse sentenced 19 others to 4 years in prison as accomplices and acquitted 15 agents. Regarding civil matters, Minister Hernán Crisosto accepted the claims filed by the victim's siblings and partner, ordering the State of Chile to pay a total compensation of $155,000,000 for moral damages.

CARROZA'S RESOLUTIONS

For his part, on November 6, the Santiago Court of Appeals minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights violation cases, Mario Carroza, initiated proceedings against former Army sub-officer Juan Osvaldo Pardo Villarroel as the author of the qualified homicide of Ángel Patricio Carmona Parada, perpetrated in May 1974 in Santiago.

Today, Carroza also issued an indictment in the investigation he is conducting regarding the qualified kidnapping of Miguel Enrique Rodríguez Vergara, a crime perpetrated in November 1975 in Santiago. In the resolution, the presiding judge initiated proceedings against former Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA) agents Sylvia Teresa Oyarce Pinto and Rolf Gonzalo Wenderoth Pozo as responsible for the crime.

Carroza also issued an indictment in the investigation regarding the qualified homicide of Iván Palacios Guarda and Eric Enrique Rodríguez Hinojosa, crimes perpetrated in Santiago in 1989. In the resolution, the presiding judge charged former Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) agents Humberto Leiva Gutiérrez, Hugo Acevedo Godoy, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ros, Víctor Rolando Caro Pizarro, Armando Rodolfo Ávila Fierro, and Juan Raúl Farías Orellana as co-authors of the crime.

Likewise, the magistrate resolved to definitively and partially dismiss the case against the former colonel in charge of the anti-subversive division of the CNI's metropolitan unit, Enrique Leddy Araneda, due to his presentation of a state of dementia, according to a mental capacity report conducted by the mental health area of the SML. by Daniel Labbé Yáñez

Source: elciudadano.cl, September 11, 2016

6 CNI agents sentenced for the 1989 murders of 2 MIR militants in a staged confrontation

The minister on assignment for Human Rights cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza Espinosa, sentenced six former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for the homicides of young men Eric Rodríguez Hinojosa (20) and Iván Palacios Guarda (19), militants of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionario (MIR), who were executed on April 18, 1989, in the commune of Quinta Normal.

The magistrate sentenced the former Army general, who was Director of the CNI at the time of the crimes, Humberto Leiva Gutiérrez, and former Army lieutenant colonel Hugo César Acevedo Godoy, who was head of the CNI's Anti-Subversive Division at the time, to 15 years and one day in prison for their responsibility as authors of the homicide.

Meanwhile, agents Juan Raúl Farías Orellana, Víctor Rolando Caro Pizarro, and Jorge Enrique Rivas Arancibia must serve a sentence of 5 years and one day in prison. The latter individual infiltrated popular and resistance organizations operating in the commune of Pudahuel, in Santiago, using the alias "Miguel," presented himself as a MIR member, and set the trap that led to the murder of the two victims.

Former Army captain Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ros, alias "El Guiro," who was head of the CNI's Blue Brigade at the time of the events, must serve a sentence of 3 years and one day in prison for his responsibility as an author.

Minister Carroza granted this criminal the benefit of supervised release. The ruling acquits agent Armando Rodolfo Ávila Fierro. Previously, former Army brigadier and then-head of the CNI's Metropolitan Division, Enrique Leddy Araneda, had been acquitted due to dementia.

Minister Carroza established that the Anti-Subversive Division of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) organized an operation in search of militants of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionario of the time, for which it infiltrated an agent from its ranks into the organization who used the alias "Miguel." "Thus, on April 18, 1989, at approximately 9:00 PM, two militants of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionario, Eric Enrique Rodríguez Hinojosa and Iván Palacios Guarda, were summoned to meet on Calle San Pablo near No. 4000 by an individual identified as Miguel, who ultimately turned out to be an agent of the Central Nacional de Informaciones who had infiltrated working-class neighborhoods, claiming to be the zonal head of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionario (MIR), his role being to recruit young people to join the so-called 'Resistance Command.' To gain the trust of the movement's members, this individual provided them with weapons and military instruction," the resolution states. It adds: "Prior to the victims' arrival at the aforementioned meeting, CNI officials from the Anti-Subversive Unit had deployed a vast operation in the sector with the purpose of preparing an ambush for them. Therefore, when they arrived at the location and positioned themselves in the meeting zone, some of the agents appeared and ordered them to stop, and before they could react—whether to protect themselves, flee, or repel the attack—the CNI personnel initiated a shootout that wounded and took the life of victim Iván Palacios Guarda at the scene, and left his companion, Eric Enrique Rodríguez Hinojosa, seriously wounded, who had to be rushed to the public hospital, where he remained in a coma and died on September 4, 1989, as a result of the complicated, non-exit cranial gunshot wound inflicted upon him at that time." Furthermore, it is considered that: "Subsequently, eyewitnesses have indicated that the CNI agents, once the shootout ended, carried out a series of maneuvers at the crime scene with the object of simulating a confrontation with the victims, arranging a context that was intended to be supported by the statements of the participants when they testified under operational names before the Military Prosecutor's Office, providing the official version that the victims were preparing to place explosive devices on two public lighting poles that supported a transformer, but that when ordered to stop, they fired at them and they had no other alternative but to repel said attack with the consequences already described."

Source: resumen.cl, July 7, 2018

Santiago Court sentences CNI agents for homicides in a staged confrontation in Quinta Normal

The Fourth Chamber of the appellate court sentenced Hugo Acevedo Godoy, Juan Farías Orellana, Víctor Caro Pizarro, and Jorge Rivas Arancibia to 15 years and one day in prison; and Luis Sanhueza Ross to 10 years and one day, as authors.

The Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced five agents of the defunct Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for their responsibility in the consummated and repeated crime of qualified homicide of Iván Gustavo Palacios Guarda and Erick Enrique Rodríguez Hinojosa, militants of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR), who were executed in a staged confrontation on April 18, 1989, in the commune of Quinta Normal.

In a split decision (case file 1.443-2019), the Fourth Chamber of the appellate court—composed of ministers Hernán Crisosto Greisse, Antonio Ulloa Márquez, and acting lawyer Jorge Benítez Urrutia—confirmed the appealed sentence in the part that sentenced former agent Hugo César Acevedo Godoy to 15 years and one day in prison as the author of the crimes.

Likewise, the chamber confirmed the conviction issued against Juan Farías Orellana, Víctor Caro Pizarro, and Jorge Rivas Arancibia, with the declaration that the sentence they must serve as authors of the crimes is increased to 15 years and one day in prison; and in the case of former agent Luis Sanhueza Ross, the sentence he must serve as an author was increased to 10 years and one day of effective imprisonment.

In the case, the Santiago Court of Appeals revoked the first-instance resolution and decreed the acquittal of the then-head of the CNI, Humberto Leiva Gutiérrez, and confirmed the acquittal of agent Armando Rodolfo Ávila Fierro. "That the crimes sub-lite were committed by state agents in the context of the final stages of a period of grave, massive, and systematic human rights violations, with the victims being an instrument within a general policy of exclusion, harassment, and persecution of a large group of people, composed of politicians, workers, students, professionals, and anyone who, since September 11, 1973, during the duration of the military regime, was accused of belonging to or being ideologically aligned with the deposed political regime or considered suspicious of opposing or hindering the military government's project," the ruling maintains. The resolution adds: "Thus, the established facts show that the victims were subjected to inhumane treatment, devoid of all due respect for the dignity inherent to human beings; without the most elementary pity for a fellow human, and devoid of all moral principle by instigating two people to carry out acts of resistance only to, after preparing the site and place of the event, feign a confrontation and kill two people, thereby configuring a multiple and continuous violation of numerous rights, which has been qualified by the Organization of American States General Assembly as 'an affront to the conscience of the Hemisphere and constitutes a crime against humanity,' crimes that the world community has committed to eradicate, as such acts deserve a categorical condemnation from the universal conscience, as they attack fundamental human values that no convention, pact, or positive norm can derogate, weaken, or conceal. That, therefore, the crimes in the case must be qualified as crimes against humanity." Meanwhile, regarding the acquittal of the head of the CNI at the time of the events, the chamber reasons that: "(...) the conduct of the accused Humberto Leiva Gutiérrez during the directorship he held at the CNI, in the opinion of this Court, resembles a profile of an administrator, destined to terminate it and reallocate its resources, with an anti-subversive unit that was dismantled, as it became the Metropolitan Intelligence Brigade, in charge of Brigadier Enrique Ledy, without the performance of operational or combat activities." "Indeed," it continues, "there is no indubitable evidence indicating that the accused ordered or arranged the murder of the young victims of these crimes, or that he participated in a coordination meeting, or appeared at the scene of the events, or signed any communiqué. There is no evidence that can attribute an order or instruction to Ledy, Acevedo, or Sanhueza. Nor did he participate in the falsification of information to the military justice system that was already investigating." "That, given what has been reasoned and by virtue of what is established by Article 456 bis of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which provides that no one can be convicted of a crime unless the court judging them has acquired, through legal means of proof, the conviction that a punishable act has truly been committed and that the accused has had culpable participation in it as penalized by law, these sentencers of the majority vote deem the foundation used by the first-instance judge to convict Leiva Gutiérrez insufficient, as the criminal type of author of the qualified homicides of Mr. Iván Gustavo Palacios Guarda and Mr. Erick Enrique Rodríguez Hinojosa, under No. 1 of Article 391 of the Penal Code, which occurred in this city on April 18, 1989, is not configured with respect to him. Therefore, dissenting from the prosecutor's report, he will be acquitted, thus dissenting from the opinion of the Judicial Prosecutor who was in favor of confirming the sentence in this regard," it concludes. Regarding civil matters, the appellate court confirmed the sentence ordering the treasury to pay a total compensation of $100,000,000 (one hundred million pesos) for moral damages to the plaintiffs: two siblings and a cousin of the victim Palacios Guarda. The decision was adopted in the criminal aspect with the dissenting vote of Minister Crisosto Greisse, who was in favor of confirming the appealed sentence in the part that sentenced Leiva Gutiérrez to 15 years and one day in prison as the author of the crimes; and in the civil aspect, with the dissenting vote of acting lawyer Benítez Urrutia, who was in favor of revoking the sentence and rejecting the claim, considering the statute of limitations for the compensation action to have expired. Staged confrontation In the first-instance ruling, the minister on extraordinary assignment Mario Carroza established the following facts: 1.- That the Central Nacional de Informaciones, created on August 13, 1977, established through Decree Law No. 1878 its structure, powers, and faculties similar to those of its predecessor, the DINA, and like it, was dependent on the Ministry of the Interior, its primary function being to gather and process all national information coming from various fields of action that "...the Supreme Government requires for the formation of plans and programs, and the adoption of necessary measures for the safeguarding of national security, the development of national activities, and the maintenance of institutional order." 2.- That this intelligence organization was militarized, and therefore had personnel from the armed forces and civilian personnel for the performance of its functions, was endowed with its own means and also detention centers, all under the charge of a General Director who exercised command at the national level and to whom all its members were subordinate; 3.- That in the Metropolitan Region, subordinate to the command of the National Directorate, was the Anti-Subversive Division, installed in the República Barracks, located on Calle Grajales, and dependent on the CNI's Intelligence Department. It aimed to organize itself at the top around an Officer who headed the operational groups, also established the guidelines, objectives, and set work priorities; then, field activities were carried out by groups or work teams, composed of members of the Armed Forces, Carabineros, Investigative Police, and civilians; 4.- That thus, on April 18, 1989, at approximately 9:00 PM, two militants of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria, Erick Enrique Rodríguez Hinojosa and Iván Palacios Guarda, were summoned to meet on Calle San Pablo near No. 4000 by an individual identified as Miguel, who ultimately turned out to be an agent of the Central Nacional de Informaciones who had infiltrated working-class neighborhoods, claiming to be the zonal head of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR), his role being to recruit young people to join the so-called 'Resistance Command.' To gain the trust of the movement's members, this individual provided them with weapons and military instruction; 5.- That prior to the victims' arrival at the aforementioned meeting, CNI officials from the Anti-Subversive Unit had deployed a vast operation in the sector with the purpose of preparing an ambush for them. Therefore, when they arrived at the location and positioned themselves in the meeting zone, some of the agents appeared and ordered them to stop, and before they could react—whether to protect themselves, flee, or repel the attack—the CNI personnel initiated a shootout that wounded and took the life of victim Iván Palacios Guarda at the scene, and left his companion, Erick Enrique Rodríguez Hinojosa, seriously wounded, who had to be rushed to the public hospital, where he remained in a coma and died on September 4, 1989, as a result of the complicated, non-exit cranial gunshot wound inflicted upon him at that time; 6.- That subsequently, eyewitnesses have indicated that the CNI agents, once the shootout ended, carried out a series of maneuvers at the crime scene with the object of simulating a confrontation with the victims, arranging a context that was intended to be supported by the statements of the participants when they testified under operational names before the Military Prosecutor's Office, providing the official version that the victims were preparing to place explosive devices on two public lighting poles that supported a transformer, but that when ordered to stop, they fired at them and they had no other alternative but to repel said attack with the consequences already described."

Source: pjud.cl, October 1, 2021