“Do you want to die, kid?” he said to his victim before firing a shot that would subsequently cause the death of Gumercindo Gutiérrez Contreras. Visiting Judge Álvaro Mesa issued an indictment against former Army officer Carlos Enrique Blanco Plummer in the investigation into the homicide of Gumercindo Gutiérrez Contreras, a crime that occurred on March 20, 1981, in the town of Lautaro.

Previously, in 1980, Gumercindo Gutiérrez Contreras arrived at the “La Concepción” regiment in Lautaro, having been called up to fulfill his mandatory military service. Also present there was Army officer Carlos Enrique Blanco Plummer, recently arrived from the Military School.

The latter, according to a Judiciary file, was known for boasting about his handling and mastery of the weapons he carried, which included threatening the conscripts at the location. His actions, as detailed in the case file, included placing "his pistol against the temple, in the mouth, or on the neck of whichever conscript was nearby." Thus, during the morning of March 20, 1981, Blanco Plummer was walking through the "La Concepción" regiment and began threatening conscripts who were cleaning the area, asking them: “Do you want to die, kid?”.

Then, "he headed toward the guard post where Gumercindo Gutiérrez Contreras was stationed, climbing the stairs that led to that watch post. In that place, he repeated the action described above, placing his service weapon in the victim's mouth and firing, which caused a wound of such magnitude to the victim that it caused his death almost instantaneously."

Source: soychile.cl, January 24, 2014

Retired Army officer sentenced to 5 years and 1 day for homicide of soldier in Lautaro

The Criminal Chamber of the country's highest court sentenced retired Army second lieutenant Carlos Enrique Blanco Plummer to serve five years and one day in prison as the perpetrator of the homicide of conscript soldier Gumercindo Gutiérrez Contreras on March 20, 1981, in the commune of Lautaro.

The case was investigated by the extraordinary visiting minister for human rights violation cases of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Alvaro Mesa Latorre, who established that the young victim of this event was called up to fulfill his mandatory military service on October 15, 1980, at the No. 20 “La Concepción” Infantry Regiment in Lautaro, being assigned to the Andean Company, an activity he performed without variation or incident until March 20, 1981.

That day, the young man was assigned to fulfill a guard shift at post No. 2 of the regiment, having to remain in a guard booth located at that spot. Serving in the same unit was Second Lieutenant Carlos Enrique Blanco Plummer, recently graduated from the Military School, who, since arriving at the regiment, made himself known for his manifest inclination to boast about the handling and mastery he had over the weapons he carried.

With this, he intimidated soldiers during instructions and the rounds he made during guard shifts, placing his pistol against the temple, in the mouth, or on the neck of whichever conscript was nearby; furthermore, on some occasions, he would throw his corvo (military knife) at the soldiers, according to him, as an exercise.

On the day of the investigated events, the officer entered the guard booth where Gumercindo Gutiérrez Contreras was, placing his service weapon in the victim's mouth and firing, which caused a wound that resulted in his death almost instantaneously.

Source: biobiochile.cl, August 9, 2016

He executed a conscript: the nephew of Pérez de Arce benefited by Larraín in “silent” sentence reductions

Human rights lawyers denounced “arbitrary” judicial decisions in favor of criminals against humanity. Here is the brutal murder committed by one of them, Carlos Blanco Plummer. In recent days, a group of human rights lawyers denounced through a public document that the government of Sebastián Piñera granted penal benefits during the year 2020 to those convicted of crimes against humanity, whether through sentence reductions granted by the Ministry of Justice; through presidential pardons signed by the president; or through the Minister of Justice, Hernán Larraín, by order of the country's top authority. Jurists Nelson Caucoto, Francisco Ugás, Pablo Fuenzalida, Francisco Bustos, Andrea Gattini, and Carolina Vega obtained the information through the Transparency Law, denouncing with its dissemination that “the Ministry of Justice, through its head, Hernán Larraín Fernández, has begun silently to reduce sentences for human rights violators, relying on Law No. 19.586, thereby expressly contravening the Rome Statute and other norms of International Law that prohibit reducing sentences and generating impunity.” In that sense, the lawyers add that when they point out that these benefits have been applied “silently,” it is because “regarding none of these cases were the relatives of the surviving victims notified, nor is there any record that international human rights standards were weighed, such as the obligation to impose effective sanctions, generating repeated situations of impunity, without any judicial control.” After exposing this, the litigants in human rights cases provided a list of 10 repressors who were benefited, among them Army officer Carlos Blanco Plummer, favored in December 2020 with a reduction of the 5-year-and-one-day sentence he was serving for murdering a “comrade-in-arms.” Here is the brutal story starring the inmate of Punta Peuco, who is also a relative of the renowned Pinochet-supporting lawyer and former El Mercurio columnist, Hermógenes Pérez de Arce.

“HE PUT HIS WEAPON IN HIS MOUTH AND FIRED”

On October 9, 2015, the Lautaro Court of Letters sentenced retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Enrique Blanco Plummer to 5 years and one day in prison for the murder of Gumercindo Gutiérrez Contreras, with the crime classified as “simple homicide (…) in its capacity as a crime against humanity.” The justice system's investigation established that Gumercindo Gutiérrez was called up to fulfill his mandatory military service in October 1980 at the No. 20 La Concepción Infantry Regiment in Lautaro, being assigned to the Andean Company.

An activity that—it is noted—“he performed without incident until March 20, 1981, the day he was assigned to fulfill a guard shift at post No. 2 of the Regiment.” Serving in the same military unit called the Andean Company was Carlos Blanco Plummer, then an officer recently graduated from the Military School with the rank of second lieutenant (he would later rise to lieutenant colonel). “This officer began to intimidate conscript soldiers during instructions and the rounds he made during guard shifts, placing his pistol against their temples, in their mouths, or on their necks, and on some occasions, he would throw his corvo at them as an exercise,” the judicial rulings read. During the morning of that March 20, 1981, and while Blanco Plummer was fulfilling his role as officer of the guard, he passed by post No. 2 where the victim of this case was located, and carried out the following: “He stopped and took out his service weapon in front of some conscript soldiers who were performing cleaning duties in the courtyard and put the weapon to the neck of one of them. Subsequently, he headed toward the guard booth where Gumercindo Gutiérrez Contreras was. He climbed the stairs that led to that watch post and, in that place, put his service weapon in the conscript's mouth, firing, which caused a wound of such magnitude that it caused his death almost instantaneously.”

A “SUICIDE”

What did Blanco Plummer’s lawyer say?: “That in reality, what his client did was conduct an inspection since the soldiers could not have loaded weapons, and for which he asked the soldier (Gutiérrez) to show the weapon and prepare it (…) It was at that moment that, upon turning around, he heard a shot and could see that blood was flowing from the soldier's mouth, calling for help immediately.

He insists that the soldier had shot himself with his revolver.” Along with this, the officer linked the victim's alleged actions to “mistreatment received during military service by the soldier and his complicated romantic relationship with his head teacher at the high school where he studied,” the reason why Gumercindo had allegedly decided to take Blanco’s weapon and fire it into his own mouth.

For this reason, the military officer added, it constituted a suicide and not a simple homicide in the capacity of a crime against humanity, which was what the then-lieutenant colonel was being accused of.

In fact, that was the version that—according to what Berta Contreras, Gumercindo’s mother, declared to the justice system—was given to her that same day by the chaplain of the La Concepción regiment, Pablo Isler Venegas, who indicated to her that “her son had suffered an accident and was wounded,” only to later inform her that he had died.

These same false accounts have also been disseminated by the renowned lawyer and former El Mercurio columnist, Hermógenes Pérez de Arce, who in April 2020 published a column on his blog titled We Are All Punta Peuco, where, in addition to noting that Blanco is his second-degree nephew, he maintains that Gutiérrez “asked” the officer for the revolver and “unexpectedly committed suicide.” Carlos Blanco Plummer challenged the resolution of the Lautaro Court of Letters that sentenced him to 5 years and one day in prison before the Temuco Court of Appeals.

However, this was confirmed on January 15, 2016, by the appellate court. The Army officer’s defense then went to the Supreme Court through an appeal for cassation, an instance that on August 2 of that same year finally reaffirmed the sentence against the former military officer.

Source: lavozdelosquesobran.cl, August 16, 2021