Visiting judge Miguel Vázquez Plaza sentenced 23 former CNI agents, among them the former Canal 13 official and former general producer of the Viña del Mar festival, Sergio Canals Baldwin (photo), and right-hand man to the late and famous television director Gonzalo Bertrán, for the crime of two people in the Quinta Normal commune, on Calle Janequeo, which occurred in September 1983.

This information emerged from the courts 48 hours ago and brought with it a novelty for the media and especially for television, due to the influence that this agent and human rights violator—who was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison, most likely in Punta Peuco—came to have.

The rumor was well known in the television world that this producer had been a human rights criminal, but he denied it. And he was confused with another Sergio Canals, a psychiatrist who worked in television but who had nothing to do with, nor was he anywhere near, the dark life of this Sergio Canals Baldwin.

Canals, who arrived at TV in the 80s, participated as a perpetrator, according to the ruling, in the homicides of Alejandro Salgado Troquián and Hugo Ratier Noguera, a serious crime perpetrated on September 7, 1983, in a staged shootout on Calle Janequeo in the Quinta Normal commune, a criminal action that DINA and CNI agents, most of them Army officials, were accustomed to carrying out.

What did they do? The agents would locate a leader or militant of the left. They would follow them. They would locate their workplaces, their family, their friends, and their home address. And they would arrive at the criminal conviction that they should not be arrested.

That they had to be murdered. And how did they do it? They murdered them in cold blood on public roads, using the pretext of an armed confrontation. They would place a pistol in the corpse's hand and then photograph it, and the photo would be handed over to some written media outlets.

Sometimes they would record them and hand those videos over to television channels. And then the spokespeople for the dictatorship, such as Francisco Javier Cuadra (former RN)—with the support of the media of the time—would say that "there was a fierce confrontation" that resulted in the death of such and such a person.

Almost all of this same group of convicts participated in the massive crime known as the "Corpus Christi Massacre," a name given by human rights defenders, or "Operation Albania," the name used by the human rights violators.

These agents murdered twelve people in the Recoleta commune on June 15 and 16, 1987. All in staged shootouts. In the same case, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla was sentenced to 20 years, along with 21 other former uniformed personnel, as perpetrators or accomplices.

Corbalán is imprisoned in Punta Peuco, and this sentence is added to twelve others, totaling more than 120 years... How the crime happened The judge managed to prove that the former CNI agents, including former producer Sergio Canals, within the framework of the investigation into the attack against the Intendant of Santiago, General Carol Urzúa, surrounded the residence at Calle Janequeo No. 5707, Quinta Normal commune, which had been under surveillance for several weeks, and opened fire without any provocation, as a result of which the MIR leader, Hugo Ratier Noguera (José), was killed by various gunshot wounds in the backyard of the house. Furthermore, as he was arriving at the same address where he resided, Alejandro Salgado Troquián, also of the MIR, was gunned down by multiple gunshot wounds on the public road, that is, on Calle Janequeo in front of number 5946. They fired more than 150 bullets. The justice system, at this stage, determined that both deaths were caused by shots to the back fired by the CNI agents. According to the conclusion of their respective autopsies, the deaths occurred, in the case of Ratier, due to thoracic, abdominal, and upper and lower limb trauma from bullets, two of which were received in the back; and, in the case of Salgado, due to craniocerebral, facial, pelvic, and left upper and right lower limb trauma from bullets, all with entry points in the back. Canals, the violator who arrived at TV According to the Memoria Chilena website, Sergio Canals Baldwin, while a lieutenant, performed security duties at the Estadio Nacional, a matter that the former agent denies to this day. Several prisoners, one of them a schoolmate, claim to have seen him at the stadium and subsequently in Chacabuco, where he was the officer in charge of security at the Prisoner Camp; he held this position on several occasions. In a telephone conversation with Pascale Bonnefoy Miralles, author of the book “Terrorismo de Estadio, Prisioneros de guerra en un campo de deportes” (Stadium Terrorism, Prisoners of War in a Sports Field), Canals denied having been at the Estadio Nacional. He claimed that at the time of the coup d'état, he was with the Army in Antofagasta. Canals joined the Army in 1968 and retired in the eighties. He denied having been a member of the CNI. The website that preserves human rights issues in our country, Memoria Chilena, asserts that he became the second-in-command of the CNI's Metropolitan Region Intelligence Division between 1981 and 1983, acting on occasions as commander of said Division, which reported directly to Álvaro Corbalán. Another task he performed within the CNI was that of team leader of the Presidential Advance Security Unit of that organization. In other words, he worked directly with the dictator Augusto Pinochet, guarding the vanguard of the then-head of state. Canals was also prosecuted as an accomplice in the crime of union leader Tucapel Jiménez. Following his time in the CNI, Canals founded the event production company SCB (named after his initials), where one could read his CV: “Vast experience in the Television and Entertainment industry, 25 years at Canal 13 actively participating in the production team of the prominent director Gonzalo Bertrán, and eight years as General Producer of the Viña del Mar International Song Festival.” It is here that it is unknown how a violator of such serious human rights situations arrived at Canal 13. Officials of the channel at the time point out that he arrived through the imposition of figures from the dictatorship, to have a "snitch" or informant within the television station. Later, with "his dark influences and that hidden power," he came to participate in the main television team of what was the Universidad Católica channel, which produced great television productions headed by the late director Gonzalo Bertrán, recognized as the best producer Chilean television has had in its history. The other "brave soldiers" convicted Within the framework of the ruling for the murder of these two people, Roberto Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles González Cortés were sentenced to 20 years in prison; while José Aravena Ruiz, José Salas Fuentes, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross, Egon Barra Barra, Jorge Vargas Bories, Norman Jeldes Aguilar, Fernando Rojas Tapia, Manuel Morales Acevedo, Sergio Canals Baldwin, and José Vidal Veloso must serve a sentence of 15 years and one day; as perpetrators of the crimes. For their part, Raúl Méndez Santos, Rodolfo Olguín González, Ema Ceballos Núñez, Miguel Gajardo Quijada, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Francisco Orellana Seguel, Juan Carlos Vergara Gutiérrez, Raúl Escobar Díaz, Rafael Ortega Gutiérrez, and Luis Gálvez Navarro were sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison; albeit under the status of accomplices.

Source: Cambio 21, July 28, 2019

Punta Peuco expanded. 16 new CNI "residents" arrive who murdered two young men in cold blood in 1983

There are 18 CNI agents who must be arrested in the coming hours. They participated in a supposed “confrontation” in which they riddled two members of the MIR with bullets in the Quinta Normal commune.

The group is led by Álvaro Corbalán, who is already in the Punta Peuco prison serving sentences for various human rights crimes. There are 18 people prosecuted for the Janequeo Case, but 2 are already in the prison: Álvaro Corbalán (in the photo) and Jorge Vargas Bories.

The rest are former agents who had not passed through the courts nor had they been detained in the special prisons for human rights violators, the former Cordillera and Punta Peuco. All the CNI criminals—most of them active members of the Army and Carabineros at that time—participated in the supposed "confrontation" in which they riddled two unarmed members of the MIR in cold blood.

Visiting judge Miguel Vázquez Plaza issued an arrest warrant against 18 former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for the qualified homicides of Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquian, which occurred on September 7, 1983, on Calle Janequeo, in front of numbers 5707 and 5946, in the Quinta Normal commune.

For this case, the agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones were prosecuted as perpetrators. These are the members who riddled Ratier Noguera and Salgado Troquian with bullets and who should enter Punta Peuco in the coming days to join "Mamo" Contreras and Corbalán. 1- Roberto Schmied Zanzi.

Former deputy director of the CNI. Prosecuted for several crimes. Army 2- Sergio Canals Baldwin. Army 3- Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, operational chief of the CNI and author of several crimes. Army 4- Aquiles González Cortés.

Army 5- Fernando Rojas Tapia. Army 6- Jorge Vargas Bories. Imprisoned in Punta Peuco for several crimes. Army 7- José Aravena Ruiz. Army 8- José Salas Fuentes. Army 9- Arturo Sanhueza Ross. Carabineros 10- Egon Barra Barra.

Carabineros 11- Norman Jeldes Aguilar. Army 12- Manuel Morales Acevedo. Carabineros 13- Raúl Méndez Santos. Army 14- Rodolfo Olguín González. Carabineros 15- Zinaida Vicencio González. Army

As accomplices, the prosecuted are

16- Rafael Ortega Gutiérrez. 17- Raúl Escobar Díaz. 18- Eduardo Chávez Baeza. According to the background of the process, it has been determined so far that a group of agents from the Central Nacional de Informaciones focused on investigating the activities of people who were part of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionario, MIR.

The group was also tasked with the investigation into the homicide of General Carol Urzúa Ibáñez, Intendant of Santiago, proceeding to arrest people who were adherents to the aforementioned movement on the afternoon of September 7, 1983.

Within those activities, on September 7, 1983, an unspecified number of CNI subjects went to the address located at Calle Janequeo 5707, Quinta Normal commune, which had been under surveillance for several weeks, where they proceeded to surround the place and fire, without any provocation and with great firepower against the property, as a result of which Hugo Ratier Noguera was killed by various gunshot wounds in the backyard of the property.

Furthermore, Alejandro Salgado Troquian, when arriving at his home, was gunned down by multiple gunshot wounds on the public road, that is, on Calle Janequeo in front of number 5946. According to the conclusion of their respective autopsies, the deaths occurred, in the case of Ratier, due to thoracic, abdominal, and upper and lower limb trauma from bullets, two of which were received in the back; and, in the case of Salgado, due to craniocerebral, facial, pelvic, and left upper and right lower limb trauma from bullets, all with entry points in the back.

An arrest warrant was issued against all the prosecuted, except for Corbalán Castilla and Vargas Bories, who are being held in the Punta Peuco Prison for a myriad of human rights cases.

Source: Cambio21, October 13, 2013

Judge Vázquez issues indictments for homicides in “Víctor Jara” and “Janequeo” cases

The visiting judge of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Miguel Vázquez Plaza, issued indictments in two human rights violation cases he is investigating, determining the entry into preventive detention of members of the Army and CNI agents.

In the first case, the magistrate also determined to prosecute Juan René Jara Quintana as responsible in the capacity of accomplice for the homicide of the singer-songwriter Víctor Jara Martínez, which occurred on September 16, 1973, in the then-Estadio Chile.

There are eight more people prosecuted for this case, previously. In the second resolution, the magistrate submitted 18 people to trial for the qualified homicides of Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquian, which occurred on September 7, 1983, on Calle Janequeo, Quinta Normal commune.

For this case, the CNI agents Roberto Schmied Zanzi, Sergio Canals Baldwin, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, Aquiles González Cortés, Fernando Rojas Tapia, Jorge Vargas Bories, José Aravena Ruiz, José Salas Fuentes, Arturo Sanhueza Ross, Egon Barra Barra, Norman Jeldes Aguilar, Manuel Morales Acevedo, Raúl Méndez Santos, Rodolfo Olguín González, Zinaida Vicencio González, Rafael Ortega Gutiérrez, Raúl Escobar Díaz, and Eduardo Chávez Baeza were submitted to trial.

According to the background of the process, it has been determined that “on September 7, 1983, an unspecified number of subjects from the organization called 'CNI' went to the address located at Calle Janequeo No. 5707, Quinta Normal commune, which had been under surveillance for several weeks, where they proceeded to surround the place and fire, without any provocation and with great firepower against the property, as a result of which Hugo Ratier Noguera was killed by various gunshot wounds.

Furthermore, Alejandro Salgado Troquian was gunned down by multiple gunshot wounds on the same street.” An arrest warrant was issued against all the prosecuted, except for Corbalán Castilla and Morales Acevedo, who are being held in the Punta Peuco Prison for other human rights cases.

Source: Resumen Fasic, October 11, 2013

Justice system sentences 23 former CNI agents for the death of opponents

Roberto Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles González Cortés were sentenced to 20 years in prison for a staged shootout in Quinta Normal, in 1983. This Monday, the visiting judge for human rights cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Miguel Vásquez Plaza, sentenced 23 former CNI agents for the murders of two opponents of the military regime perpetrated in 1983.

In the ruling, Judge Vásquez sentenced Roberto Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles González Cortés to 20 years in prison for the homicide of Alejandro Salgado Troquián and Hugo Ratier Noguera.

In the same vein, former agents José Aravena Ruiz, José Salas Fuentes, Luis Sanhueza Ross, Egon Barra Barra, Jorge Vargas Bories, Norman Jeldes Aguilar, Fernando Rojas Tapia, Manuel Morales Acevedo, Sergio Canals Baldwin, and José Vidal Veloso must serve 15 years and one day in prison, as perpetrators of both crimes.

In addition, Raúl Méndez Santos, Rodolfo Olguín González, Ema Ceballos Núñez, Miguel Gajardo Quijada, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Francisco Orellana Seguel, Juan Carlos Vergara Gutiérrez, Raúl Escobar Díaz, Rafael Ortega Gutiérrez, and Luis Gálvez Navarro were sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison, as accomplices.

In the investigation stage of the case, Judge Vázquez managed to establish that the victims died in a staged shootout on Calle Janequeo in the Santiago commune of Quinta Normal. This occurred on September 7, 1983, when a significant number of CNI agents and the Chilean Investigative Police and other repressive organizations went to the address located at Calle Janequeo No. 5707, which had been under surveillance for several weeks, proceeding to surround and cordon off the place.

Subsequently, with different types of weaponry, they fired without any provocation and with great firepower against the property, as a result of which Ratier Noguera was killed by various gunshot wounds in the backyard of the house.

Furthermore, when he was arriving at the same address where he resided, Salgado Troquián was gunned down by multiple gunshot wounds on the public road, that is, on Calle Janequeo in front of number 5946. In the civil aspect, the ruling accepted the claims presented and ordered the convicted and the treasury to pay a total compensation of 420 million pesos to the victims' families.

Source: La Tercera, July 22, 2019

AN ENTIRE CNI BATTALION PROSECUTED: 16 BEDS MAY BE MISSING IN PUNTA PEUCO

There are 18 people prosecuted for the Janequeo Case, but 2 are already in the prison: Álvaro Corbalán (in the photo) and Jorge Vargas Bories. The rest are former agents who had not passed through the courts.

They participated in the “confrontation” in which they riddled two members of the MIR with bullets. Visiting judge Miguel Vázquez Plaza [issued an order] against 18 former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for the qualified homicides of Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquian, which occurred on September 7, 1983, on Calle Janequeo, in front of numbers 5707 and 5946, in the Quinta Normal commune.

For this case, the CNI agents were submitted to trial as perpetrators. 1- Roberto Schmied Zanzi. 2- Sergio Canals Baldwin. 3- Álvaro Corbalán Castilla. 4- Aquiles González Cortés. 5- Fernando Rojas Tapia. 6- Jorge Vargas Bories. 7- José Aravena Ruiz. 8- José Salas Fuentes. 9- Arturo Sanhueza Ross. 10- Egon Barra Barra. 11- Norman Jeldes Aguilar. 12- Manuel Morales Acevedo. 13- Raúl Méndez Santos. 14- Rodolfo Olguín González. 15- Zinaida Vicencio González.

As accomplices, the prosecuted are

16- Rafael Ortega Gutiérrez. 17- Raúl Escobar Díaz. 18- Eduardo Chávez Baeza. According to the background of the process, it has been determined so far that:

• A group of agents from the Central Nacional de Informaciones focused on investigating the activities of people who were part of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionario, MIR, and those who collaborated with said organization. The group was also tasked with the investigation into the homicide of General Carol Urzúa Ibáñez, Intendant of Santiago, proceeding to arrest people who were adherents to the aforementioned movement on the afternoon of September 7, 1983.
• Within those activities, on September 7, 1983, an unspecified number of CNI subjects went to the address located at Calle Janequeo 5707, Quinta Normal commune, which had been under surveillance for several weeks, where they proceeded to surround the place and fire, without any provocation and with great firepower against the property, as a result of which Hugo Ratier Noguera was killed by various gunshot wounds in the backyard of the property. Furthermore, Alejandro Salgado Troquian, when arriving at his home, was gunned down by multiple gunshot wounds on the public road, that is, on Calle Janequeo in front of number 5946.
• According to the conclusion of their respective autopsies, the deaths occurred, in the case of Ratier, due to thoracic, abdominal, and upper and lower limb trauma from bullets, two of which were received in the back; and, in the case of Salgado, due to craniocerebral, facial, pelvic, and left upper and right lower limb trauma from bullets, all with entry points in the back.

An arrest warrant was issued against all the prosecuted, except for Corbalán Castilla and Vargas Bories, who are being held in the Punta Peuco Prison for other human rights cases.

Source: La Nación, October 11, 2013

Army intelligence deputy director prosecuted for Tucapel case

The investigating magistrate Sergio Muñoz prosecuted the deputy director of the DINE, Colonel Fernán González, for the crime of attempted obstruction of justice. He also included Colonel (r) Enrique Ibarra and the lawyer for the Army Audit Office, Víctor Gálvez, for obstruction of justice. The Army provided legal counsel to the first of the accused.

SANTIAGO.- The investigating magistrate Sergio Muñoz prosecuted the deputy director of the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINE), Colonel Fernán González, for the crime of attempted obstruction of justice. He also included Colonel (r) Enrique Ibarra and the lawyer for the Army Audit Office, Víctor Gálvez, for obstruction of justice. The Army provided legal counsel to the first of the accused.

It was reported that the Army is providing legal counsel to the deputy director of the DINE.

This was stated when consulted on the matter by the acting head of the Communications Department of the military branch, Colonel Sergio Béjares, who indicated that said legal counsel was provided to González, "as is his right."

On January 13, Judge Muñoz refused to prosecute 10 accused individuals.

Due to the evidence against them not being sufficiently precise, the visiting judge Sergio Muñoz refused to prosecute ten individuals in the case regarding the crime against union leader Tucapel Jiménez, among them four generals.

The resolution of January 13 favored the current director of the Army Intelligence Directorate, General Roberto Arancibia Clavel, the reincorporated non-commissioned officer Leonardo Quilodrán Burgos, non-commissioned officer José Cáceres Castro, non-commissioned officer José Roa Vera, officer (r) Sergio Canals Baldwin, officer Pablo Rodríguez Márquez, General (r) Eugenio Covarrubias Valenzuela, General (r) Rodrigo Sánchez Casillas, and General (r) Gustavo Abarzúa.

The magistrate left pending the resolutions regarding the prosecutions of Brigadier Fernán Gálvez Fernández, Colonel Enrique Ibarra, the lawyer Víctor Gálvez, and the former Army auditor, General (r) Fernando Torres Silva.

Currently, Torres is charged as an accessory, but the State Defense Council requested his prosecution for obstruction of justice.

Request to prosecute 14 military personnel, including 5 active-duty, in the Tucapel case.

Jorge Mario Saavedra, a plaintiff lawyer in the case regarding the death of unionist Tucapel Jiménez, requested on Friday, December 15, 2000, the prosecution of fourteen active-duty and retired military personnel, accused as accessories, accomplices, and material authors of the crime.

Among the names mentioned are 5 active-duty uniformed personnel, most notably the director of the Army Intelligence Directorate, Major General Roberto Arancibia Clavel, as an accessory; Brigadier General Fernán González, deputy director of the DINE; and Colonel Ricardo Opazo, a member of the DINE.

Meanwhile, the retired military personnel for whom prosecution was requested, all as accessories to the death of Tucapel Jiménez, are the following: Rodrigo Sánchez Casillas, Ricardo Abarzúa, Eugenio Covarrubias, and Paulo Rodríguez Márquez.

As authors of the crime, Saavedra identified the following military personnel (r): non-commissioned officer Leonardo Quilodrán; retired officer José Roa Vera; and retired non-commissioned officer José Cáceres Castro. The latter served as an operator at the Coihueco barracks in La Reina.

For the same case, furthermore, the lawyer for the State Defense Council (CDE), Cristián Arias, requested two new prosecutions, affecting Colonel Enrique Ibarra -also requested by Saavedra- and Víctor Gálvez, both accused of obstruction of justice.

The judicial action was filed in the office of the visiting judge Sergio Muñoz, and on that occasion, the professional also requested the expansion of the prosecution against the former Army Prosecutor Fernando Torres Silva from accessory to obstruction of justice.

Complete list of persons requested for prosecution:

For accessory

1. Major General Roberto Arancibia Clavel, director of the DINE 2. Brigadier General Fernán González, deputy director of the DINE 3. Colonel Ricardo Opazo, member of the DINE.

-Members of the military prosecutor's office for obstruction of justice- 4. Enrique Ibarra, colonel (r) of justice. 5. Víctor Gálvez, lawyer for the military prosecutor's office. 6. Fernando Torres Silva, for his prosecution to be expanded from accessory to obstruction of justice. 7.

Retired General Rodrigo Sánchez Casillas, accessory. 8. Retired General Eugenio Covarrubias, accessory. 9. Retired General Gustavo Abarzúa, accessory. 10. Retired Captain Paulo Rodríguez Márquez, accessory. 11.

Retired non-commissioned officer Leonardo Quilodrán, author. 12. Retired non-commissioned officer José Cáceres Castro, author. 13. Retired officer José Roa Vera, author. 14. Retired Major Sergio Canals, accomplice.

Source: El Mercurio, January 16, 2014

The Viña del Mar Festival and the assassination of Tucapel Jiménez Alfaro: The two faces of the "Gaviota"

Show business hides not only the difficulties one might be experiencing, but also certain individuals who wish to conceal dark passages of their past.

It has always been said that the Viña del Mar festival was used by the military regime to hide the atrocities committed at that time against those who dissented, in addition to making people forget for a while the economic hardships they were living through.

Many thought that the main show business event of the year had shed that burden, but it seems the old regime always survives, because while many watch the "monster" devour artists every night, a real beast directs the show.

We are talking about Sergio Canals, director of programming for the Viña show, who held positions of high responsibility in the Army's intelligence apparatus during the long night the country lived through.

The general producer of the Viña del Mar Song Festival, Sergio Canals, has a substantial track record at Canal 13. For this reason, the allegations by journalist Víctor Gutiérrez on the program "SQP," who denounced that he was an agent of the military dictatorship's security services, were surprising. He is not wrong.

Sergio Canals Baldwin was one of the main collaborators of the late Gonzalo Bertrán in the production of programs such as "Viva el Lunes." He was engaged in that activity in June 2000, when the State Defense Council requested that visiting judge Sergio Muñoz prosecute him as an accomplice to the homicide of the former president of the ANEF, Tucapel Jiménez, which occurred on February 25, 1982.

In the sentence of the case issued by Muñoz, it was recorded that, on pages 1162 verso and 1166 verso, Canals' statements were noted, in which he expressed that "he was an Army officer and served in the National Intelligence Center (CNI)."

He was the "second commander of the Intelligence Division of the Metropolitan Region between 1981 and 1983," he said, specifying that he performed administrative functions and deputized for the Division commander when he was absent, "with whom the unit heads met weekly, where instructions were given regarding the priorities of the operational part and the means they had for it."

One of the unit heads he mentioned was Alvaro Corbalán Castilla, in charge of the CNI's Anti-Subversive Unit.

And he recalled the groups for Sports, Education, Union Affairs, Religious Affairs, and a General Affairs Office, which "had to dedicate themselves to seeking information according to orders emanating from the General Staff," in circumstances where "no operation was carried out without the knowledge of the division commander."

On page 3856, Canals clarified that Colonel Roberto Schmied Zanzi was the commander of the Metropolitan Intelligence Division, in which he worked. He added that "within the functions performed by the agents were follow-ups, surveillance, telephone interceptions, and information gathering in general.

Regarding telephone interceptions, Colonel (Jorge) Vizcaya was in charge, and the unit was located at the back of the central barracks."

He pointed out that the intelligence analysis was processed and gave rise to reports that were prepared daily, or every other day, which "were delivered personally by the director to the President of the Republic, with whom he met for these purposes every day, every other day, or whenever the President required it."

In addition, he said, "the director was a member of the Political Committee and attended Cabinet meetings." He stated that he joined the National Intelligence Center in 1980 and retired in February 1983, and from that date until 1985, he provided "indirect security" to Pinochet on the trips he took on the Carretera Austral.

In that last task, he observed that "he made visits to the south in the summer months, where he received the daily information sent to him about the situation in the country."

On pages 1150 and 3183, Roberto Schmied declared that while he served as commander of the Metropolitan Intelligence Division, "nothing was done without his knowledge, since he was aware of everything, without being able to answer for what happened in his absence, when Sergio Canals remained as second commander." For his part, in Alvaro Corbalán's investigative statement, on pages 2408 and 3133, he said that in the CNI he was in charge of "an information-seeking unit dependent on the Metropolitan Intelligence Division, commanded by Roberto Schmied and with Sergio Canals as second-in-command."

The other face of the "Gaviota" can be observed in those who truncate the desire of those who, like Canals, thought that by killing people, their ideas were killed, since, as every year since his assassination, a large number of people gathered to make a pilgrimage to Tucapel Jiménez's grave at the General Cemetery.

On the occasion, all participants highlighted the example of the struggle for democracy and social justice that the union leader embodied.

What was different was that on this occasion, the tribute was attended by the president-elect, Michelle Bachelet, who focused on praising the qualities of the late leader.

Michelle Bachelet indicated that during her government, she will take the necessary steps for workers to achieve those rights for which Tucapel fought so hard, giving priority to the commitments established with the union world, such as collective bargaining for all and the possibility of being elected as parliamentarians.

For his part, Tucapel Jiménez Jr. was grateful that for the first time since the crime against his father, a president attended the pilgrimage in his honor, which elevates the figure of the martyr president of the ANEF.

The deputy-elect also expressed his concern about the possibility of measures being repeated, such as the presidential pardon for Manuel Contreras Donaire, the material author of his father's assassination.

Raúl De La Puente, president of the ANEF, agreed in highlighting Jiménez's virtues as a representative of public employees and his enormous determination to confront the dictatorship, striving for the unity of the workers.

It is that consistency that, according to De La Puente, led the figures of the dictatorship to end his life, since they considered the work of Tucapel Jiménez and other leaders for the unity of the labor movement a danger to the stability of the regime.

It must be highlighted that the pilgrimage to Tucapel Jiménez's grave has become the milestone through which public sector workers renew their decision to fight to improve their diminished labor situation, caused by the dictatorship's policies, which have not been corrected by the Concertación governments.

It is for the above that the attendance of Michelle Bachelet and the commitments she signed with the workers open a small light of hope for those who are usually forgotten when state policies are designed, which highlights the need for workers to recover their capacity for organization since, as Tucapel Jiménez Alfaro himself preached to his fellow fighters, it is only through the unity of the workers that social transformations can be achieved, "since we workers have never been given anything."

Note: The references to the sentence of Judge Sergio Muñoz, in the case of the assassination of Tucapel Jiménez Alfaro, were extracted from an investigation by journalist Víctor Osorio (Editor's Note: one of the prominent "secondary actors").

Source: Generacion80.cl, February 28, 2006

20 former CNI agents sentenced for the 1983 Fuente Ovejuna street crimes

The minister in extraordinary visitation for Human Rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza Espinoza, issued a sentence against 20 former agents of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) for their responsibility in the qualified homicides of former militants and leaders of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) Lucía Orfilia Vergara Valenzuela, Arturo Vilavella Araujo, and Sergio Peña Díaz, crimes perpetrated on September 7, 1983, on Fuenteovejuna street in the commune of Las Condes.

The event was an episode of a fake confrontation with which the CNI and the dictatorship intended to hide crimes and murders, with the active complicity of the corporate press. In the ruling (case file 539-2011), Judge Carroza sentenced former Army Brigadier Roberto Urbano Schmied Zanzi, former head of the CNI's Metropolitan Division, to 15 years and one day in prison as the author of the qualified homicides.

Meanwhile, former Army officers Aquiles Mauricio González Cortés, alias "Caracha," former head of the Blue Brigade at the time of the crimes; Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla, former head of the CNI's anti-subversive division; Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, alias "Gorilón," former member of the Special Brigade; and former Army civilian employee Manuel Mariano Ventura Laureada Núñez, alias "Piolín," also an agent of the Special Brigade, were sentenced to 10 years and one day, also as authors of the crimes.

In the case, former Army officer and Schmied Zanzi's second-in-command in the Metropolitan Division, Sergio María Canals Baldwin, and former agents Juan José Pastene Osses, Patricio Leonidas González Cortez, Luis René Torres Méndez, Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, Luis Hernán Gálvez Navarro, Sergio Daniel Valenzuela Morales, Juan Modesto Olivares Carrizo, Raúl Hernán Escobar Díaz, Eduardo Martín Chávez Baeza, and Luis Eduardo Burgos Cofré, Raúl Horacio González Fernández, Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, and Juan Alejandro Jorquera Abarzúa were sentenced to 3 years and one day in prison, with the benefit of intensive supervised release, as accomplices.

Meanwhile, former Special Brigade agent Egon Antonio Barra Barra, alias "Siete Fachas," was acquitted of participation in this episode (the group he participated in was simultaneously committing other crimes on Janequeo street).

Blue Brigade In the investigation stage of the case, Judge Mario Carroza managed to establish that, after the assassination of the Intendant of the Metropolitan Region Carol Urzúa Ibañez, committed on August 30, 1983, the director of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), Humberto Gordon Rubio (deceased), ordered the Metropolitan Anti-Subversive Division, under the command of Roberto Schmied Zanzi, to form a new group: the Blue Brigade, to investigate the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR).

In that context, on the morning of September 7, 1983, the arrest of MIR members who were in the property at Fuenteovejuna 1330, which had been previously located, was ordered. A considerable number of agents were sent to that place in the afternoon under the command of Álvaro Corbalán Castilla (commander of the Metropolitan Anti-Subversive Brigade) and Aquiles González Cortés (head of the Blue Brigade).

"In the initial actions, the agents installed a fire base in front of the property, consisting of a Rheinmetal machine gun, 7.62 mm caliber, mounted on the roof of a jeep, which on that occasion was driven by Manuel Ventura Laureada Núñez, and the weapon operated by at least two people, one who fired, Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, and the other in charge of passing the ammunition belt, with a firing capacity of 10 per short burst and a full firing capacity of 500 per minute, with tracer bullets," the ruling states.

The resolution adds that

"already having the fire base in position, the officer in command orders it to be directed and fired against the property for about a minute, that is, about 500 shots, then they stop their action and through loudspeakers order the occupants of the property to surrender."

"One of them -it continues-, Sergio Peña Díaz, decides to surrender and comes out with his hands on the back of his neck, but at the moments he was walking toward the agents, they shoot him and his wounds cause his death, which incites the reaction of the only woman in the group, who confronts them with a weapon; before this reaction, Álvaro Corbalán again gives the order to fire the fire base in the direction of the property, which causes not only the death of Lucía Orfilia Vergara Valenzuela, by gunshot wounds, but also the burning of the house and the calcination of the third member of the movement, Arturo Vilavella Araujo."

On the same day, September 7, 1983, the CNI carried out a simultaneous operation on Janequeo street, in Quinta Normal, where two other MIR militants were executed.

This episode, however, is being substantiated in a separate case and by another visiting judge.

Source: resumen.cl, January 18, 2018

Former CNI agents sentenced for fake confrontation

The events occurred in the commune of Quinta Normal on September 7, 1983. The visiting judge sentenced Roberto Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles González Cortés to 20 years in prison.

For their responsibility in the homicides of Alejandro Salgado Troquián and Hugo Ratier Noguera, the minister in extraordinary visitation for Human Rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Miguel Vázquez Plaza, sentenced 23 former agents of the National Intelligence Center (CNI).

The events occurred in the commune of Quinta Normal on September 7, 1983, and were made known at the time as a confrontation, which turned out to be fake.

Judge Vázquez sentenced Roberto Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles González Cortés to 20 years in prison. Meanwhile, former agents José Aravena Ruiz, José Salas Fuentes, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross, Egon Barra Barra, Jorge Vargas Bories, Norman Jeldes Aguilar, Fernando Rojas Tapia, Manuel Morales Acevedo, Sergio Canals Baldwin, and José Vidal Veloso must spend 15 years and one day in prison as authors of the crimes.

Sentenced as accomplices to 10 years and one day in prison were Raúl Méndez Santos, Rodolfo Olguín González, Ema Ceballos Núñez, Miguel Gajardo Quijada, Rosa Ramos Hernández, Francisco Orellana Seguel, Juan Carlos Vergara Gutiérrez, Raúl Escobar Díaz, Rafael Ortega Gutiérrez, and Luis Gálvez Navarro.

During the investigation of the case, Judge Vázquez managed to establish that Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquián died from gunshot wounds received in the back, after agents of the CNI, the Chilean Investigative Police, and other repressive agencies began to fire without any provocation and with great firepower against the property located at Janequeo 5707.

Source: eldinamo.cl, July 22, 2019

Santiago Court sentences 23 former CNI agents for murders in 1983 fake confrontation

The Santiago Court of Appeals confirmed the first-instance sentence issued by Judge Miguel Vásquez Plaza on July 19, 2019, which sentenced 23 former agents of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) for their responsibility in the crimes of qualified homicide of Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) militants Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquián.

The crimes were perpetrated on September 7, 1983, in a fake confrontation on Janequeo street in the commune of Quinta Normal.

In the ruling (case file 4741-2019), the Third Chamber of the appellate court - composed of judges Verónica Sabaj Escudero, Alejandro Aguilar Brevis, and Rodrigo Carvajal Schnettler - resolved to reject the appeals and cassation motions filed by some of the convicted and confirm the first-instance sentence with the declaration of reducing from 20 to 17 years in prison the sentences applied to former Army officers and former CNI leaders Roberto Urbano Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles Mauricio González Cortés, as co-authors of the crime.

The first of the convicted, Schmied Zanzi, served as head of the CNI's Metropolitan Division; Corbalán Castilla was head of the Anti-Subversive Division; and Aquiles González acted as head of the Blue Brigade, specialized in the repression of the MIR.

Meanwhile, former Army officers Sergio María Canals Baldwin, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ros, Fernando Rafael Mauricio Rojas Tapia, Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, and former agents José Abel Aravena Ruiz, José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, Egon Antonio Barra Barra, Jorge Octavio Vargas Bories, Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, and José Isaías Vidal Veloso must serve 15 years and one day in prison as authors of the crimes.

For their part, former agents Rodolfo Enrique Olguín González, Ema Verónica Ceballos Núñez, Luis Hernán Gálvez Navarro, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Francisco Javier Orellana Seguel, Miguel Fernando Gajardo Quijada, Juan Carlos Vergara Gutiérrez, Raúl Boris Méndez Santos, Raúl Hernán Escobar Díaz, and Rafael Ricardo Ortega Gutiérrez were sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison as accomplices to the crimes.

In the case, the acquittal of agents Zinaida Lena Vicencio González, Jorge Raimundo Ahumada Molina, and Eduardo Martín Chávez Baeza was decreed, as their participation in this event was not proven. Another person prosecuted in this case, former PDI agent Jorge Arnaldo Barraza Riveros, died during the course of the process; meanwhile, the prosecuted former Carabineros officer Miguel Ángel Patricio Soto Duarte remains a fugitive.

This fake confrontation was carried out by the CNI on the same day and immediately after it perpetrated the executions of three other MIR militants on Fuenteovejuna street, in a criminal act also orchestrated as a fake confrontation. Judicially, both events are processed as separate episodes, in circumstances where it was a single repressive operation.

In the investigation of the repressive act, it was demonstrated that the dictatorship's repressive agency developed a tracking and surveillance operation during the months prior on a group of MIR members who were acting in the underground in the resistance struggle against the tyrant regime.

With the data obtained from that prior observation, the CNI orchestrated the extermination operation that meant the arrest of a dozen people, the attack and murder of the three residents of the house on Fuenteovejuna street, in the commune of Las Condes, and then the attack and murder of two other militants in the house on Janequeo street in the commune of Quinta Normal.

On September 7, 1983, dozens of agents from the CNI, the SIFA, the Investigative Police, and other repressive agencies went to the address located at Janequeo No. 5707, commune of Quinta Normal, which had been under surveillance for a few weeks, proceeding to surround and cordon off the place, to then, through the use of a fire base and other weaponry, fire without any provocation and with great firepower against the property, as a result of which Hugo Ratier Noguera, 39 years of age, died from various gunshot wounds in the backyard of the home.

In addition, upon arriving at the same home where he resided, Alejandro Salgado Troquián, 30 years of age, was gunned down by multiple gunshot wounds and executed on the public road, that is, on Janequeo street in front of number 5946.

A minor, an adopted son of Salgado and a resident of the home along with Salgado and Ratier, was a victim and witness to the events but, in the middle of the shooting, managed to flee to neighborhood houses, thus saving his life and later denouncing the criminal attack.

Source: resumen.cl, November 18, 2021

The Supreme Court confirmed the convictions of 22 agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for their responsibility in the qualified homicide of Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) militants Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquián.

The crimes were perpetrated on September 7, 1983, in a staged confrontation on Calle Janequeo in the Quinta Normal commune, in Santiago.

In a unanimous ruling, the Second Chamber of the high court (case file 10.047-2022)—composed of ministers Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Leopoldo Llanos Sagristá, Jean Pierre Matus, and acting lawyers Gonzalo Ruz L. and Leonor Etcheberry C.—dismissed claims of legal error in the sentence and rejected the cassation appeals filed by nearly all of the convicted individuals against the ruling of the Santiago Court of Appeals, issued in November 2021, which had in turn confirmed, with some modifications, the first-instance ruling issued in July 2019 by Minister Miguel Vásquez Plaza.

In the resolution, the Second Chamber confirms the sentences applied to former Army officers and former CNI leaders Roberto Urbano Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles Mauricio González Cortés, who are sentenced to 17 years in prison as co-perpetrators of the crime.

The first of the convicted, Schmied Zanzi, served as head of the CNI’s Metropolitan Division; Corbalán Castilla was head of the Anti-Subversive Division, and Aquiles González acted as head of the "Brigada Azul," which specialized in the repression of the MIR.

Meanwhile, former Army officers and CNI operatives Sergio María Canals Baldwin, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ros, Fernando Rafael Mauricio Rojas Tapia, Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, and former agents José Abel Aravena Ruiz, José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, Egon Antonio Barra Barra, Jorge Octavio Vargas Bories, and José Isaías Vidal Veloso must serve 15 years and one day in prison as perpetrators of the crimes.

For their part, former agents Rodolfo Enrique Olguín González, Ema Verónica Ceballos Núñez, Luis Hernán Gálvez Navarro, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Francisco Javier Orellana Seguel, Miguel Fernando Gajardo Quijada, Juan Carlos Vergara Gutiérrez, Raúl Boris Méndez Santos, Raúl Hernán Escobar Díaz, and Rafael Ricardo Ortega Gutiérrez were sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison as accomplices to the crimes.

Agent Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, also convicted in previous instances, passed away during the course of the proceedings.

Staged confrontation

On September 7, 1983, dozens of agents from the CNI, the SIFA, the Investigative Police, and other repressive agencies went to the residence located at Calle Janequeo No. 5707, in the Quinta Normal commune, which had been under surveillance for several weeks.

They proceeded to surround and cordon off the area, and then, using a base of fire and other weaponry, fired without any provocation and with great firepower against the property. As a result, Hugo Ratier Noguera was killed by various gunshot wounds in the backyard of the home.

Simultaneously, as he was arriving in the neighborhood and at the same residence where he lived, militant Alejandro Salgado Troquián was gunned down by multiple bullet wounds and executed on the public thoroughfare, specifically on Calle Janequeo in front of number 5946, two blocks from the attacked home.

Hugo Norberto Ratier Noguera, 39 years old, was an Argentine national, originally from Misiones, and had resided in Chile since 1970. He was a leader of the MIR and remained active in the underground. He was married and a father of three; shortly before these events, his wife and children had left the country for security reasons.

Alejandro Salgado Troquián, 30 years old, a veterinarian by profession and also a militant of the MIR, was married and a stepfather to his partner's children.

A minor, the adopted son of Salgado and a resident of the home along with Salgado and Ratier, was a victim and witness to the events, but in the midst of the gunfire, he managed to flee to neighboring houses, thus saving his life and later denouncing the criminal attack.

This staged confrontation was carried out by the CNI on the same day and immediately following the execution of three other MIR militants on Calle Fuenteovejuna, in the Las Condes commune, in a criminal act also orchestrated as a staged confrontation where Arturo Vilavella Araujo, Lucía Orfilia Vergara Valenzuela, and Sergio Peña Díaz were murdered.

The three had returned clandestinely to Chile to join the struggle against the dictatorship. Judicially, both events are processed as separate episodes, despite the fact that it was a single repressive operation.

In the investigation of the repressive act, it was demonstrated that the dictatorship's repressive apparatus developed an operation of tracking and surveillance during the months prior against a group of MIR members who were acting in the underground in the resistance struggle against the tyrannical regime.

With the data obtained from this prior observation, the CNI orchestrated the extermination operation that resulted in the detention of a dozen people, the attack and murder of the three residents of the house on Calle Fuente Ovejuna, and then the attack and murder of two other militants at the house on Calle Janequeo in the Quinta Normal commune.

by Darío Núñez

Source: resumen.cl, January 27, 2024

Minister Mesa prosecutes two retired military officers for qualified homicides in Neltume in 1981

The minister for extraordinary visits for human rights violation cases in the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, initiated proceedings against retired Army Major Sergio María Canals Baldwin and retired Army Lieutenant Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross as perpetrators of the consummated crime of qualified homicide of: Rodrigo Obregón Torres, René Eduardo Bravo Aguilera, Julio César Riffo Figueroa, and Juan Ángel Ojeda Aguayo.

These crimes were perpetrated in the locality of Neltume, Panguipulli commune, in 1981.

In the resolution (case file 1675-2003), Minister Mesa Latorre placed Canals Baldwin and Sanhueza Ross under the precautionary measure of preventive detention, in consideration of the nature of the crime and the penalty they face for their responsibility in the crime against humanity.

"Given the merit of the background information, from which it is clear that the freedom of the accused constitutes a danger to the safety of society; taking into account, also, the probable legal sanction for the crimes in which they are attributed participation; and having seen the provisions of Article 363 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the benefit of provisional release will not be granted to them," the resolution states.

"Having knowledge that the accused are currently being held in the 'Colina I' Penitentiary Center of the Gendarmería de Chile, serving a sentence for crimes investigated by another court, the preventive detention decree is suspended until the completion of the aforementioned sentence, and they shall be admitted at the appropriate time," the sentence concludes.

During the investigation stage, Minister Álvaro Mesa gathered sufficient evidence to establish the following facts:

A) That during the month of March 1979, a group of Chilean exiles belonging to the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionario (MIR), who were residing in Europe, decided to create a guerrilla front in the southern zone of Chile.

To this end, they met in Paris at the end of 1980, traveling from Madrid to Argentina and entering our country, specifically the Neltume area, through unauthorized border crossings, creating the group called "Destacamento guerrillero Toqui Lautaro." In this place, they began a period of logistical work and military preparation, building shelters for the purpose of keeping their food, weapons, and clothing protected.

B) That the local residents noticed this situation and reported it to the Carabineros of the Neltume Station, in the current Los Ríos region, so in the month of June 1981, a group composed of personnel from the "Llancahue" Special Command Troops Detachment No. 8, under the instruction of Captain Rosauro Martínez Labbé, went to that sector for the purpose of verifying whether the reports received were real or false.

C) That subsequently, on June 26, 1981, this group in charge of checking the area discovered one of the camps created by the members of the aforementioned Detachment and decided to assault it. As a result of this military operation, the Detachment group split, and the Army seized some of the belongings found in their shelters (maps, passports, food, weaponry).

D) That from that moment, the military operation led by Captain Rosauro Martínez Labbé officially began, which had as its objective the annihilation of the members of this group of young guerrillas, with the following military and Carabineros units participating in this operation: Rancagua Aviation Regiment; Special Command Troops Company No. 8; Valdivia Carabineros Prefecture, and all their dependent units.

E) That during the second fortnight of August 1981, and with the purpose of reinforcing the battalion led by Rosauro Martínez Labbé, the Anti-Terrorist Unit of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI), composed of approximately 15 uniformed personnel and led by Captain Conrado Vicente García Giaier, arrived in the conflict zone.

By this date, the units of the Central Nacional de Informaciones from Santiago and Valdivia were already attached to the battalion commanded by Rosauro Martínez Labbé, as well as its "Grupo Rojo," which was led by Chilean Army Captain Enrique Erasmo Sandoval Arancibia.

F) That in this context, also having to keep in mind the inclement weather and scarce food that caused health problems for the young people belonging to the "Destacamento guerrillero Toqui Lautaro" group, the following situations occurred:

1) That on August 30, 1981, Julio Riffo Figueroa and René Bravo Aguilera, while both were resting after being fed by locals Pedro Morales and Julia Navarro, were detained by a patrol composed of three Carabineros officers from the Malalhue Station in the Huellahue sector.

After their detention, they were sent to Valdivia, specifically to the Las Ánimas Station. There, they were interrogated by the OS7 Carabineros from Santiago. Subsequently, Julio Riffo Figueroa and René Bravo Aguilera were transferred to the Cuartel Borgoña in Santiago, belonging to the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI), where they were tortured and interrogated.

On September 16, 1981, Julio Riffo Figueroa and René Bravo Aguilera were transported back to the conflict zone, particularly to Neltume, for the purpose of being used by the battalion in charge of Rosauro Martínez Labbé in the search for the other guerrilla camps and their members.

Finally, on September 21, 1981, they were executed, with the cause of death for René Bravo Aguilera listed as craniocerebral and thoracic gunshot wounds, and for Julio Riffo Figueroa as a craniocerebral gunshot wound.

2) That Pedro Juan Yáñez Palacios, in the course of his journey, suffered gangrene in his feet, so he had to be left by his companions in the hollow of a tree with a rifle; however, due to the strong smell of medicine he emitted, he was detected by the group of soldiers from the "Llancahue" Command No. 8—also including Conrado García Giaier—who were monitoring the area, and they killed him, his precise cause of death being a craniocerebral gunshot wound.

3) That as a result of the information provided by the detainees Julio Riffo Figueroa and René Bravo Aguilera regarding the meeting place and the password, a group of soldiers, including Jerez Prussing and Enrique Sandoval Arancibia—already prosecuted in this case—and others from the "Llancahue" Command No. 8 under the command of Rosauro Martínez Labbé, managed to find and kill Raúl Rodrigo Obregón Torres on September 13, 1981, when he was going to meet his companions, his precise cause of death being a cervicothoracic gunshot wound.

4) That around the middle of 1981, one of the young men, Juan Ángel Ojeda Aguayo, arrived at the house of a relative named Isaías Aguayo Márquez, located in the "Quebrada Honda" sector, in the vicinity of the locality of Neltume, Panguipulli, staying in that place on repeated and discontinuous occasions where he went to look for food.

Specifically, on November 28, 1981, a group of Army and Carabineros personnel stationed in the Neltume sector approached the mentioned house, where, after urging the residents to leave their home, Juan Ángel Ojeda Aguayo came out, where he was gunned down by a group of soldiers who fired multiple shots at him, resulting in a craniocerebral-facial gunshot wound, in addition to multiple cervicothoracic gunshot wounds with rupture and bursting of organs and gunshot wounds to the lower extremities, which caused his death.

5) That Patricio Alejandro Calfuquir Henríquez, Próspero del Carmen Guzmán Soto, and José Eugenio Monsalve Sandoval arrived at the house of Mrs. Floridema Jaramillo, in Remeco Alto, who provided them with food and immediately took actions to report them to the Carabineros, which was ultimately achieved by sending her son, Juan Carlos Henríquez Jaramillo, who went on horseback to the Neltume Station reporting this fact.

Together with Carabineros, they headed back to her home, and upon passing in front of the Remeco school, they notified soldiers who were in a camp in the area, who in turn gave notice by radio. Upon returning to the house, there were some Carabineros stationed in various places, around four, but at the same time, Captain Rosauro Martínez Labbé arrived accompanied by at least two lower-ranking soldiers—among them Corporal 2nd Class Julio Araki Tepano—who, after urging the guerrillas to leave the house, fired against the property until it was left practically unusable.

As a consequence, Patricio Calfuquir Henríquez, Próspero Guzmán Soto, and José Eugenio Monsalve Sandoval were killed. Subsequently, a large military contingent arrived that continued with the operation and the transport of the deceased guerrillas.

6) Miguel Cabrera Fernández, known as "El Paine" and who was the leader of the group, died in the locality of Choshuenco on October 15, 1981, in a supposed confrontation with Carabineros belonging to the staff of the station in that locality.

His precise, necessary, and immediate cause of death indicates "Cervicothoracic gunshot wound, anteroposterior, in a line, complicated by rupture of blood vessels and left lung."

G) That in events 1 through 4, Rosauro Martínez Labbé participated in his capacity as Captain, who at the time of the events held the position of Commander of the "Llancahue" Command Company No. 8, of the Battalion dependent on the IV Army Division, a Company that was directing the operation in Neltume during the entire period it lasted.

The aforementioned Captain Martínez was in charge of organizing the different groups that mobilized through the sector, providing weaponry and giving instructions, among which it was highlighted that "they were at war" and that "upon seeing any man with the characteristics of a guerrilla, one should shoot to kill."

H) That among the members of the Command Company No. 8 that was collaborating with the operations commanded by Captain Martínez was Corporal 2nd Class Julio Araki Tepano, who was part of the reconnaissance group and, among his participation in the search and detention tasks of the guerrillas, was in charge of notifying the group leader, Lieutenant Ivan Fuentes Sotomayor, that they had discovered a guerrilla base.

I) Likewise, regarding the events indicated in point 1, that is, Julio César Riffo and René Bravo Aguilera, Army Lieutenant Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross, dependent on the Command Company No. 8, participated.

He was one of the officers in charge of one of the sections that was sent to the Neltume zone. Thus, according to statements from conscript soldiers who were members of the squad that was under the charge of Lieutenant Sanhueza Ross, they have indicated their knowledge regarding detainees who were under the charge of CNI personnel, describing that they were guerrillas, with their hands tied and a stick crossing their backs that was tied with wires at each end of it at the height of their wrists, recounting how they were ordered to guard them and that subsequently, about fifty meters from where they were together with Lieutenant Sanhueza Ross, these detainees were executed, and then the same conscripts were ordered to wrap the bodies in polyethylene and load them into the interior of a helicopter that transported them to the Company in Valdivia. In the same way, regarding the events indicated in number 4, that is, Juan Ángel Ojeda Aguayo, Lieutenant Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross participated in them, as he commanded the patrol that was in the vicinity of the locality of Choshuenco and, upon receiving a notice from the Carabineros of that locality, he went together with the patrol under his charge to the house where Ojeda Aguayo was, setting up a security operation around the dwelling and participating in the events that resulted in the death of Juan Ángel Ojeda Aguayo.

J) That the Anti-Terrorist Unit of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (UAT), directed by Captain Conrado García Giaier, also formed a fundamental part of this operation, actively participating in the search, detention, and subsequent death of some of the mentioned victims, which is also accredited in the prosecution files.

K) That in the same way, Army Major Sergio Canals Baldwin fulfilled active participation in the events described in numbers 1 and 3, that is, Julio Riffo Figueroa, René Bravo Aguilera, and Raúl Obregón Torres.

Major Canals Baldwin was part of the "Grupo Plomo" of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) and was sent to the Neltume zone, stationing himself together with his group and the other members of the CNI at the Termas de Liquiñe, occupying the entirety of the cabins during the entire time they remained in that locality, premises in which Julio Riffo Figueroa and René Bravo Aguilera were detained, and that as a result of the information provided by these detainees, it was possible to find and kill Raúl Obregón Torres.

This officer performed operational and information-gathering tasks regarding the activities in the zone and was the Army officer with the highest rank in the group of people who made up the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) and who were sent from Santiago to support the tasks of other branches of the Armed Forces that were in the zone.

That in all the reports that account for the death of the members of the "Destacamento Toqui Lautaro," it is mentioned that they died as a result of confrontations, which is implausible, since one cannot ignore the unequal and deteriorated condition in which the members of the "Toqui Lautaro" group were, not only in terms of weaponry and preparation, but mostly in their physical conditions, remembering that the victims were in a state of malnutrition and one of them even with part of his foot amputated.

The disproportion in the use of force by the State agents was evident, since they could have simply apprehended the members of the group without the need to go so far as to execute them.

Source: diarioelranco.cl, August 30, 2024