The investigating judge, Sergio Muñoz, issued only 16 indictments in the case regarding the homicide of labor leader Tucapel Jiménez, while three other individuals involved in the events had their charges dismissed due to a lack of sufficient evidence to convict them.

The individuals in question include the former Army intelligence officer and trusted aide to Augusto Pinochet, Arturo Silva Valdés, who helped the material author of the crime, Major (Ret.) Carlos Herrera Jiménez, leave the country in 1991 under the false identity of Mauricio Gómez, when he was sought by the justice system for the murder of the carrier Mario Fernández.

Arturo Silva also possesses an extensive record of trips abroad as a member of the advance team or "producer" for Pinochet during his travels. This is why his passport shows repeated destinations such as Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil.

He traveled to these countries to provide money to certain military personnel currently linked to human rights violation trials. In fact, Silva Valdés was mentioned in a special program that TVN produced a few months ago regarding the disappearance and death of the DINA chemist, Eugenio Berríos, as one of those responsible for his death.

As a result, the head of the Sixth Criminal Court of Santiago will carry out the procedure of reviewing and transcribing the video to summon him to testify. Before being arrested and prosecuted as an accessory in the Tucapel case, Silva Valdés worked at a prestigious security firm, from which he was fired upon the revelation of his involvement in this case.

The other two The second person dismissed is a former Carabineros officer, Rolando Pino, who was prosecuted throughout the duration of the trial as an accomplice to the crime against Tucapel Jiménez. This is because he was allegedly the one who had Tucapel Jiménez detained on February 25, 1982, so that Major Carlos Herrera and the non-commissioned officers who accompanied him, Miguel Letelier and Manuel Contreras Donaire, could assassinate him.

Pino was prosecuted by Muñoz because he had incriminated himself in the act before the family of Tucapel Jiménez, with whom he maintained a close family relationship. However, Judge Muñoz deemed that his statement alone was not enough to issue an indictment against him.

The third person dismissed is the former agent and head of personnel of the defunct National Intelligence Center (CNI), Humberto Calderón Luna. The decision to release him from responsibility was due to the fact that the evidence in the case was also insufficient to issue an indictment against him.

Muñoz used the same criteria as last year, when he released seven former CNI agents for lack of evidence; they were linked to the Labor Brigade that spied on the labor leaders grouped in the National Association of Fiscal Employees, of which Tucapel Jiménez was the president.

The accused Currently, the following are accused as authors of the Tucapel Jiménez crime: Major (Ret.) Carlos Herrera Jiménez; General (Ret.) and head of the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINE), Arturo Álvarez Scoglia; DINE Brigadier Víctor Pinto Pérez; DINE Commander Maximiliano Ferrer Lima; and non-commissioned officers of the same secret service, Manuel Contreras Donaire and Miguel Letelier.

As accomplices, the following are charged: CNI Brigadier Roberto Schmied, Captain Miguel Hernández, DINE Major Juan Carlos Arriagada, dentist Jorge León Alessandrini, former ANEF employee and personal friend of Tucapel Jiménez, Julio Olivares, and General (Ret.) Hernán Ramírez Hald.

As accessories, the following are charged: former Army auditor Fernando Torres Silva, former military justice lawyer Enrique Ibarra, former CNI operational chief Major (Ret.) Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, and former DINE chief Hernán Ramírez Rurange.

Source: El Mostrador, August 27, 2000

Investigating Judge Sergio Muñoz: 7 indictments annulled for T. Jiménez crime

A resolution coinciding with the death of General (Ret.) Humberto Gordon marks the exoneration of union members and some agents.

Coinciding with the death of General (Ret.) Humberto Gordon, although—according to investigating judge Sergio Muñoz—without any relation to it, the indictments of seven individuals prosecuted for the homicide of labor leader Tucapel Jiménez Alfaro were rendered void yesterday.

Although one cannot speak of a reversal, since the main lines of the investigation remain, the magistrate's resolution clears the path toward the final establishment of responsibilities and bears the personal mark of the investigating judge in the case, given that six of the seven exonerated were part of the twelve prosecuted by the Third Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals last year.

With Muñoz's decision and the death of Gordon, which will lead to his definitive dismissal, the investigation will remain with 14 defendants, mostly former agents of the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINE), whose agents appear until now as the material executors of the president of the National Association of Fiscal Employees (ANEF).

The resolution, which was notified yesterday to the beneficiaries, favors the former general secretary of the unions, Misael Galleguillos; the former president of the Ministry of Public Works workers, Valericio Orrego Salas; and former agents of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Raúl Descalzi, Nelson Hernández Franco, Carabineros Captain (Ret.) Héctor Lira Aravena, Carabineros non-commissioned officer (Ret.) José Ramírez Romero, and Raúl Lillo Gutiérrez.

Of the seven exonerated, only Descalzi appeared as an alleged author of the homicide recorded in 1982. Galleguillos and Orrego were mentioned as the labor leaders who, through the National Syndicalist Movement, had supposedly intervened in the first stage of the plan.

The other four favored by the resolution appeared linked to the surveillance of Tucapel Jiménez prior to his assassination.

All those exonerated were summoned by Judge Muñoz before General (Ret.) Humberto Gordon died, so it was ruled out that the decisions were related to the death of the former member of the Government Junta.

The plaintiffs now have the possibility of appealing to the Santiago Court of Appeals to request that the indictments annulled by Judge Muñoz be maintained. Lawyer Jorge Mario Saavedra has already announced that he will appeal to have the charges reinstated against the majority of those exonerated.

Judge Muñoz's resolution excluding five former CNI agents from criminal responsibility does not leave that intelligence agency above all suspicion. The prosecutions of the former CNI metropolitan chief, Brigadier Roberto Schmied Zanzi (for complicity), former agents Humberto Calderón Luna, linked to the personnel area (alleged author), Carabineros Captain (Ret.) Miguel Hernández Oyarzo, alleged accomplice, and Major (Ret.) Carlos Herrera Jiménez (direct author) remain in force.

Judge Muñoz has refined the prosecutions to the charges that his investigation has been able to establish, and he is nearing the closure of the investigation's summary.

GORDON ATTEMPTED TO EXONERATE THE CNI

The resolution known yesterday excludes the union members from responsibility and releases some agents of the labor brigade, which had been established as having monitored the labor leader before the crime, from blame.

Gordon's manifest intention to totally exclude the CNI from charges in this case will now be maintained by his lawyer, Fernando Uribe-Etxeverría. In the coming days, the professional will present to the investigating judge the documents that, in his opinion, exonerate that agency.

The intention, according to the lawyer, is that "the guilty are punished and the innocent are acquitted."

Although the professional did not shed light on the content of the documents, one element that has remained in the case relates to the compartmentalization that allegedly existed between the DINE and the CNI. While it is a fact that at different times Major Carlos Herrera Jiménez belonged to both agencies, it is still not entirely clear to which agency he belonged in February 1982.

In the process, the Army has reported that Herrera was a member of the CNI, but new evidence would indicate that the transfer to the DINE could have occurred about eight months before the crime.

As authors of the homicide, in addition to Herrera, the following are prosecuted: General (Ret.) Ramsés Arturo Alvarez Sgolia, former director of the DINE; retired Major Francisco Ferrer Lima; Brigadier Víctor Pinto Pérez; non-commissioned officer Manuel Contreras Donaire; Miguel Letelier Verdugo; civilian Galvarino Ancavil; and former CNI agent Humberto Calderón Luna.

As accomplices, the following remain prosecuted: CNI agent Miguel Hernández Oyarzo, Julio Olivares Silva, Carabineros non-commissioned officer (Ret.) Luis Pino Moreno, and Brigadier Roberto Schmied.

Charges remain as alleged accessories against General (Ret.) Hernán Ramírez Rurange and former agent Arturo Silva Valdés.

Source: Emol.com, June 17, 2000

Major (Ret.) Carlos Herrera asks for forgiveness for the assassination of Tucapel Jiménez

Addressing the son of the former labor leader, Tucapel Jiménez Fuentes, Herrera said he was the confessed author of the death of Tucapel Jiménez Alfaro. "But as a matter of conscience, I felt that I still had to perform an action of paramount importance: to try to explain the inexplicable and ask for forgiveness."

In an unprecedented event, retired Army Major Carlos Herrera Jiménez acknowledged last night before TVN cameras his authorship of the crime against the former president of the National Association of Public Employees (ANEF), Tucapel Jiménez Alfaro, publicly asking for forgiveness from the family of the murdered labor leader.

Addressing the son of the latter, Tucapel Jiménez Fuentes, who was in the television studio when the testimony was broadcast, Herrera said that "I am the person who is being prosecuted for being the confessed author of the death of your father, Mr. Tucapel Jiménez Alfaro."

He said that "as is known, judicially I took responsibility for the high level of participation I had in the homicide of your father in the court where that case is based."

"But as a matter of conscience, I felt that I still had to perform an action of paramount importance: to try to explain the inexplicable and ask for forgiveness."

"It is true, Mr. Jiménez, I fatally killed your father on that February 25, 1982. I did it, not as a personal matter or on my own initiative; I was ordered to do it and I was told that Mr. Tucapel Jiménez was a traitor to the Fatherland, and as such, he was causing much harm to Chileans," he expressed.

He continued by noting that "unfortunately for Chile, and very especially for your family, and why not say it, also for my family, I carried out that order in the form, time, and manner as I was ordered.

It is good that you know, Mr. Jiménez, that for a long time I felt proud of having provided such a service to the Fatherland," he maintained, admitting, however, that "with the passage of time and the 13 years of prison I have served, I understood that it was a disgraceful, clumsy, and irrational homicide that has no justification."

"From that moment on, I began to carry a heavy cross that was somewhat lightened when I judicially declared the truth of the facts, at the same time that I did the same with my family," he said, adding that "furthermore, it is good to say that the mere circumstance that you are listening to me on this occasion, apart from highlighting your humanity, constitutes for me an authentic catharsis."

"Mr. Jiménez, in the most humble and sincere way, I ask you and your family for forgiveness. I am aware that I cannot pretend to be forgiven in this act; I understand, of course, that the process of forgiving the murderer of the husband, father, and grandfather whose life was cut short simply for thinking differently is long and no less difficult," Herrera stated.

"Probably it will be said that behind this act is the hidden intention of obtaining benefits for myself; frankly, the repentance and the need for forgiveness are authentic, but it is also true that I would not like to spend the rest of my days in prison."

He insisted that "I aspire to be forgiven, first by the family of Mr. Tucapel Jiménez and then by the administrative authorities of the country to obtain a pardon or other alternative measure for serving the sentence similar to those that, some time ago, Mr.

Patricio Aylwin Azócar, in the use of his presidential powers, granted to 285 people, political prisoners of the time, many of them, like me, involved in acts of bloodshed."

"Perhaps there are people who, as on other occasions, will declare to the press that I am trying to ask for forgiveness because I suffer from a terminal illness and have nothing left to lose. Cancer does not make one delirious, but rather allows one to see life from a more human perspective," he declared, then concluded by thanking them for "sincerely this opportunity."

Meanwhile, Tucapel Jiménez Fuentes, son of the former labor leader, appeared shocked by Herrera's statements, which he listened to attentively in front of the cameras.

"I am no one to forgive; I believe that if he must ask for forgiveness from someone, it is from God," he said, still astonished, noting, however, that he believed in the repentance of the Major (Ret.), who is already sentenced to life imprisonment for the assassination of the carpenter Juan Alegría Mondaca.

He maintained that he had never had the opportunity to hear a testimony like this, and at the same time, he ruled out the possibility of meeting with Herrera. "I don't think I am capable of meeting him. I do value his testimony, his repentance, but it is a very difficult subject," he maintained.

On the other hand, Herrera Jiménez's testimony took place one day after investigating judge Sergio Muñoz closed the investigation into the crime against the former president of the ANEF.

With the end of the summary, which lasted for 19 years, the magistrate is now preparing to begin the plenary stage, a decisive period for the first-instance convictions against those accused in the case, which is classified as one of the so-called emblematic cases of human rights violations committed under the military government.

Tucapel Jiménez Alfaro was assassinated on February 25, 1982, in an operation organized by agents of the Army and the dissolved National Intelligence Center (CNI), in an attempt to neutralize the labor movement and, therefore, the opposition to General (Ret.) Augusto Pinochet Ugarte.

To perpetrate the crime, according to the investigation, security agents controlled the steps of the then-leader of the ANEF in detail, for which they devised an intelligence plan that ended his life inside his taxi in the El Noviciado sector, through the firing of five shots into the skull and three deep cuts in the neck area.

To simulate a robbery, the agents seized various objects, even cleaning their fingerprints. The expert reports and statements allowed for the determination that the individuals who followed the leader and assassinated him were Carlos Herrera Jiménez, Manuel Contreras Donaire, and Miguel Letelier Verdugo.

For this case, 22 agents of the DINE and the dissolved CNI are being prosecuted. Among them, the following appear as authors of the homicide: General (Ret.) Ramsés Arturo Alvarez Sgolia; Brigadier (Ret.) Víctor Pinto Pérez; Major (Ret.) Carlos Herrera Jiménez; Colonel (Ret.) Maximiliano Ferrer Lima; civilian agents Galvarino Ancavil and Humberto Calderón Luna; and retired non-commissioned officers Manuel Contreras Donaire and Miguel Letelier Verdugo.

As accomplices in the process appear the late General (Ret.) Humberto Gordon Rubio; General (Ret.) Hernán Ramírez Hald; Brigadier (Ret.) Roberto Schmied Zanzi; Julio Olivares Silva, civilian agent; Captain (Ret.) Miguel Hernández; and retired non-commissioned officers Luis Rolando Pino Romero, Juan Carlos Arriagada, and Jorge León Alessandrini.

Meanwhile, as accessories to the assassination appear General (Ret.) Hernán Ramírez Rurange; former Army auditor, General (Ret.) Fernando Torres Silva; Major (Ret.) Arturo Silva Valdés; Major (Ret.) Álvaro Corbalán Castilla; civilian agent Hugo Alarcón; and the last of the defendants in this case, Colonel (Ret.) Enrique Ibarra Chamorro, who served as a lawyer for the Army Auditor's Office.

Repentance of Herrera Jiménez is valued

The vice president of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared, Mireya García, valued the attitude of public repentance of Army Major (Ret.) Carlos Herrera Jiménez, the confessed author of the homicide of labor leader Tucapel Jiménez; however, she said, "the issue here is who forgives."

This, as she explained to TVN, is because this is an attitude so intimate and personal that it should involve only the people who were asked for forgiveness.

She added that the most valuable thing about "this mea culpa" is having said that it was a crime without any justification whatsoever.

Source: Emol.com, April 26, 2001

Case No. 1.643; qualified homicide case of Tucapel Jiménez Alfaro

Humberto Julio Calderón Luna, on page 679, declares that he served as head of personnel of the National Intelligence Center from March 1980 to December 31, 1981, when he became an advisor to the director of the Military Hospital on administrative matters.

The hiring of officials in the National Intelligence Center was carried out based on the requirements that were made, limiting himself to selecting and hiring the personnel, but he was unaware of the functions they were going to perform or the identity of the direct boss they would report to, all in relation to civilian personnel, since those coming from the armed institutions were assigned without him taking part in it.

On page 878, he states that he indeed met Galvarino Ancavil Hernández when he arrived on one occasion at the National Intelligence Center where he was head of personnel and had received the task of carrying out the "Delta" plan, which consisted of hiring suitable people to systematize information that would be stored in computers.

Thus, Galvarino Ancavil appears, saying that he worked in the computer area of the mobilization directorate and that he wanted to work at the National Intelligence Center; for this reason, he was asked to fill out the DHP (Personal History Declaration) sheets approximately in mid-1981, then he continued to come to his office periodically and this could have...

Source: Judiciary, August 5, 2002