Unanimously, the Eighth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals revoked the dismissal of charges granted in the first instance to two former Carabineros, within the framework of a trial for human rights violations that occurred in the II Region.

The resolution affects former Carabineros implicated in the case of the La Veleidosa mine in Tocopilla. The decision satisfied lawyer Juan Pavín, representative of the family of the physician Claudio Loyola, one of the victims in the case.

In June 2002, Judge Juan Guzmán had dismissed the charges against Alex Alberto Cantín Leyton and Juan Manuel Bonilla Castro, accepting the defense's argument, which claimed that these former Carabineros officials were acting under the influence of due obedience.

Source: El Mostrador, October 22, 2003

Court prosecutes former Carabinero involved in twelve homicides in Tocopilla

Resolution affects Alex Cantín Leyton, who was charged as the perpetrator of crimes against opponents of the dictatorship. The Second Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals prosecuted a former Carabinero this Friday as the perpetrator of twelve qualified homicides committed after the 1973 military coup in the city of Tocopilla, in the Antofagasta Region.

The resolution affects the former uniformed officer Alex Adalberto Cantín Leyton, who had initially been acquitted by the visiting minister Joaquín Billard. The decision was adopted by ministers Haroldo Brito, Carlos Gajardo, and the member lawyer Nelson Pozo, who also ordered the judge to issue an arrest warrant against the former Carabineros official.

According to the ruling, it is established that on September 11 and October 4, 1973, Carabineros officials from Tocopilla detained Claudio Rómulo Tognola Ríos, Carlos Miguel Garay Benavides, Luis Orocimbo Segovia Villalobos, Agustín de la Cruz Villarroel Carmona, Reinaldo Armando Aguirre Pruneda, and Freddy Alex Araya Figueroa.

The detainees were held in the cells of the First Carabineros Police Station, then transferred to the Public Jail of said port, and finally, on October 6, they were taken handcuffed to the mine shaft known as “Mina La Veleidosa” —also called “La Descubridora”— located about 30 kilometers east of Tocopilla, where they proceeded to kill them with firearms, the ruling adds.

Subsequently, they threw the bodies of Tognola, Garay, Segovia, and Villarroel into the mine shaft—which at the time was approximately six hundred meters deep—whose remains were partially recovered and identified in 1991; while the bodies of Aguirre and Araya were taken to the morgue of the Marcos Macuada Hospital in Tocopilla.

The ruling also points out that it is justified that Julio Enrique Brewe Torres, Breno Benicio Cuevas Díaz, Vicente Ramón Cepeda Soto, and Carlos Oscar Gallegos Santis were detained between September 16 and 20, 1973, by Carabineros and transferred to the city's First Police Station.

They were held there until the early hours of October 23 of that same year, when they were killed inside the cells where they were being held with machine guns; their bodies were then taken to the morgue of the Marcos Macuada Hospital.

Source: Ciudadano.cl, January 9, 2007

Alex Cantin prosecuted for dictatorship crimes in Tocopilla

The Second Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals prosecuted a former Carabinero this Friday as the perpetrator of twelve qualified homicides committed after the 1973 military coup in Tocopilla. The resolution affects the former uniformed officer Alex Adalberto Cantín Leyton, who had initially been acquitted by the visiting minister Joaquín Billard.

The decision was adopted by ministers Haroldo Brito, Carlos Gajardo, and the member lawyer Nelson Pozo, who also ordered the judge to issue an arrest warrant against the former Carabineros official. According to the ruling, it is established that on September 11 and October 4, 1973, Carabineros officials from Tocopilla detained Claudio Rómulo Tognola Ríos, Carlos Miguel Garay Benavides, Luis Orocimbo Segovia Villalobos, Agustín de la Cruz Villarroel Carmona, Reinaldo Armando Aguirre Pruneda, and Freddy Alex Araya Figueroa.

The detainees were held in the cells of the First Carabineros Police Station, then transferred to the Public Jail of our port, and finally, on October 6, they were taken handcuffed to the mine shaft known as “Mina La Veleidosa” —also called “La Descubridora”— located about 30 kilometers east of Tocopilla, where they proceeded to kill them with firearms, the ruling adds.

Subsequently, they threw the bodies of Tognola, Garay, Segovia, and Villarroel into the mine shaft—which at the time was approximately six hundred meters deep—whose remains were partially recovered and identified in 1991; while the bodies of Aguirre and Araya were taken to the morgue of the Marcos Macuada Hospital in Tocopilla.

The ruling also points out that it is justified that Julio Enrique Brewe Torres, Breno Benicio Cuevas Díaz, Vicente Ramón Cepeda Soto, and Carlos Oscar Gallegos Santis were detained between September 16 and 20, 1973, by Carabineros and transferred to the city's First Police Station.

They were held there until the early hours of October 23 of that same year, when they were killed inside the cells where they were being held with machine guns; their bodies were then taken to the morgue of the Marcos Macuada Hospital.

Source: El Polemico, August 31, 2007

Santiago Court of Appeals convicts retired Carabineros for homicides and kidnapping in Tocopilla

The Eighth Chamber of the appellate court rejected the appeals filed against the first-instance sentence, issued by the special minister Mario Carroza, and confirmed it with the declaration that the sentences and the participation of some of the convicted individuals were modified from accomplices and cover-ups to perpetrators of the crimes.

The Santiago Court of Appeals issued a second-instance sentence in the investigation into the qualified homicides of Claudio Rómulo Tognola Ríos, Carlos Miguel Garay Benavides, Luis Orocimbo Segovia Villalobos, Agustín de la Cruz Villarroel Carmona, Reynaldo Armando Aguirre Pruneda, Freddy Álex Araya Figueroa, Julio Enrique Brewe Torres, Breno Benicio Cuevas Díaz, Vicente Ramón Cepeda Soto, and Carlos Óscar Gallegos Santis; and the qualified kidnapping of Manuel del Carmen Muñoz Cornejo.

These crimes were committed in September and October 1973, in the commune of Tocopilla. In a unanimous ruling (case file 1.748-2019), the Eighth Chamber of the appellate court—composed of ministers Mireya López Miranda, Rafael Andrade Díaz, and María Inés Lausen Montt—rejected the appeals filed against the first-instance sentence, issued by the special minister Mario Carroza, and confirmed it with the declaration that the sentences and the participation of some of the convicted individuals were modified from accomplices and cover-ups to perpetrators of the crimes.

Thus, the court resolved that the prosecuted individuals Luciano Astete Almendras, Álex Adalberto Cantín Leyton, and Gilberto Arturo Santiago Egaña García, “are convicted as perpetrators of the repeated crimes of qualified homicide of Claudio Rómulo Tognola Ríos, Carlos Miguel Garay Benavides, Luis Orocimbo Segovia Villalobos, Agustín de la Cruz Villarroel Carmona, Reynaldo Armando Aguirre Pruneda, Freddy Álex Araya Figueroa, Julio Enrique Brewe Torres, Breno Benicio Cuevas Díaz, Vicente Ramón Cepeda Soto, and Carlos Óscar Gallegos Santis; and for the qualified kidnapping of Manuel del Carmen Muñoz Cornejo, to each suffer the corporal penalty of FIFTEEN YEARS of presidio mayor in its medium degree, in addition to the accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for public offices and political rights, and absolute disqualification for professional titles for the duration of the sentence.” Meanwhile, Raúl Darío Almonacid Valdivia “is convicted as a perpetrator of the repeated crimes of qualified homicide of Claudio Rómulo Tognola Ríos, Carlos Miguel Garay Benavides, Luis Orocimbo Segovia Villalobos, Agustín de la Cruz Villarroel Carmona, Reinaldo Armando Aguirre Pruneda, and Freddy Alex Araya Figueroa, to suffer the corporal penalty of EIGHT YEARS of presidio mayor in its minimum degree. In addition, he is imposed the accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for public offices and political rights, and absolute disqualification for professional titles for the duration of the sentence.” Finally, regarding the criminal aspect: “The aforementioned sentence is confirmed with the declaration that Luis Ramón Guerrero González and Ivar Liborio Muñoz Peña, who are convicted as perpetrators of the crime of qualified kidnapping of Manuel del Carmen Muñoz Cornejo, shall each suffer the corporal penalty of FIVE YEARS of presidio menor in its maximum degree, in addition to the accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for public offices and political rights, and absolute disqualification for professional titles for the duration of the sentence.” “Given the quantum of the penalty imposed on the convicted individuals Luciano Astete Almendras, Alex Adalberto Cantín Leyton, Gilberto Arturo Santiago Egaña García, Raúl Darío Almonacid Valdivia, Luis Ramón Guerrero González, and Ivar Liborio Muñoz Peña, and not meeting the requirements referred to in Law 18.216, they are not granted the benefits of substitute sentences, and each must effectively serve the corporal penalty imposed, considering for this purpose the credits that appear in the first-instance sentence,” the resolution states. Participation When resolving the participation in the events of the convicted individuals Astete Almendras and Cantín Leyton, the Santiago Court “(…) agrees with the conclusion reached by the first-instance judge, contained in the Ninth and Tenth considerations respectively, that with the information gathered during the investigation, it is possible to construct various judicial presumptions that, by meeting the requirements of being based on real and proven facts, being multiple, serious, precise, direct, and concordant, are sufficient to maintain with the judicial conviction referred to in Article 456 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, that these accused had intervention as perpetrators, in the terms of No. 2 and 1, respectively, of Article 15 of the Penal Code, in the repeated crimes of qualified homicide of Claudio Rómulo Tognola Ríos, Carlos Miguel Garay Benavides, Luis Orocimbo Segovia Villalobos, Agustín de la Cruz Villarroel Carmona, Reynaldo Armando Aguirre Pruneda, Freddy Álex Araya Figueroa, Iván Florencio Morán Araya, Ernesto Manuel Moreno Díaz, Julio Enrique Brewe Torres, Breno Benicio Cuevas Díaz, Vicente Ramón Cepeda Soto, and Carlos Óscar Gallegos Santis; and of qualified kidnapping of Manuel del Carmen Muñoz Cornejo.” The resolution adds: “In his case, the accused Luciano Astete Almendras was the Prefect of Carabineros of Tocopilla as of September 1973, and by virtue of that, based on his orders, a civil commission was formed, remaining under the command of the Carabineros Lieutenant at that time, Álex Adalberto Cantín Leyton. Through said group, in that city, opponents of the military government of the time were repressed, affecting in the case sub judice, first the liberty, and then the life of the persons indicated above. The foregoing is according to the evidentiary background already detailed in the appellate sentence, concluding in the Twenty-Third and Twenty-Fourth foundations that both accused had participation as perpetrators. Under such conditions, it is appropriate to maintain the conviction of these defendants.” “That, regarding the participation of the accused Gilberto Arturo Santiago Egaña García and Raúl Darío Almonacid Valdivia, this Court shares the opinion of the Judicial Public Ministry that both are perpetrators and not accomplices in the investigated events, given the real and exact participation of both accused that has been reconstructed regarding the investigated events. Indeed, from the accumulation of background information detailed in the Eleventh consideration, which includes what was declared by Egaña García himself, who in his capacity as a Carabinero was part of the civil group under the command of Lieutenant Adalberto Cantín and participated directly in the detentions of the victims. Although in principle Egaña denied having been part of Cantín's group, the truth is that he ended up acknowledging it by stating in the process, ‘…that he acknowledges that he went out to carry out political detentions in a group, but did not participate in the group of Cantín Leyton’; to later indicate ‘…that he was part of Cantín's group, because the Carabinero Cisternas left the group, and Cantín chose him and took him…’ Furthermore, the testimony of several uniformed officers points to him as a member of Cantín Leyton's group. Also contributing to reaching the conviction of guilt is the accumulation of statements summarized in the Twenty-Sixth foundation of the first-instance sentence, which place Gilberto Egaña precisely as a member of the group under the command of Lieutenant Cantín,” the resolution details. For the Eighth Chamber of the appellate court: “It being clear that the detentions of Claudio Rómulo Tognola Ríos, Carlos Miguel Garay Benavides, Luis Orocimbo Segovia Villalobos, Agustín de la Cruz Villarroel Carmona, Reynaldo Armando Aguirre Pruneda, Freddy Álex Araya Figueroa, Julio Enrique Brewe Torres, Breno Benicio Cuevas Díaz, Vicente Ramón Cepeda Soto, and Carlos Óscar Gallegos Santis; and of Manuel del Carmen Muñoz Cornejo, culminated in the murders of each of them as well as in the disappearance of the last one, the truth is that Egaña García's responsibility is that of a perpetrator, having carried out direct conduct in relation to these persons by detaining them, and such detentions concluding in the qualified homicide of most of them, and in the qualified kidnapping of the last one, it results that the work of this accused is that of a perpetrator executing conduct that ended in the death and disappearance of the victims of the case sub judice.” Likewise, the participation that Almonacid Valdivia “had in the events that are the subject of the case is that of a perpetrator, and it derives from the background gathered in the criminal investigation carried out, which reveals that he participated as a member of the firing squad at the ‘La Veleidosa’ mine; therefore, his participation in such events cannot be other than that of a perpetrator-executor of the homicide of such victims, thus sharing this Court's opinion with the Judicial Public Ministry.” “Indeed, the sentence under review in the Eighteenth consideration collects the statements of this accused, given in the process, and he indicated that as of September 11, 1973, he was a second corporal in the Navy, and on page 2,683 he acknowledged that he was part of the squad and explains in his version ‘…that he did not manage to fire along with the others, and that he then pulled the trigger of the weapon but the person who was standing in front fainted, but he did not see him with blood, and an army officer approached and gave him a coup de grâce…’ The statement of this accused allows him to be placed precisely as part of the firing squad at the ‘La Veleidosa’ mine, in the vicinity of the city of Tocopilla, on October 6, 1973, even firing; in this way, his behavioral work cannot be other than that of a perpetrator-executor of the crime of qualified homicide of these persons,” the chamber concludes. “To the above—it deepens—must be added the assertion of witnesses who place him as part of the firing squad at the ‘La Veleidosa’ mine on that occasion. To this effect, the statements of witnesses and co-defendants collected in the Thirtieth foundation, which give an account of such participation, must be considered. From what has been stated, it flows that the participation of Raúl Darío Almonacid Valdivia is that of a perpetrator of the repeated homicides and qualified kidnapping of the victims of the case.” Regarding the participation of Luis Ramón Guerrero González “in the punishable events that are the subject of the case, and having the rank of sub-lieutenant of Carabineros as of September 1973, and despite the fact that he denies participation in them, as noted from his judicial statements collected in the Twentieth foundation of the sentence, it happens that according to the evidence collected in the case, it is clear that he was part of the group in charge of Lieutenant Adalberto Cantín Leyton, being also the secretary of the Ad-Hoc Military Prosecutor of the time, the Sub-prefect of Carabineros Juan de Dios Salazar Lantery (deceased), this despite the fact that this accused points out that he never exercised such secretary functions,” the resolution states. “Indeed—it continues—Guerrero González himself acknowledges in his judicial statements that he was appointed secretary of the indicated Ad-Hoc Military Prosecutor, and yet, without giving it much meaning, he points out that he never actually exercised such functions. Contrary to the exculpatory claim of the accused Luis Guerrero González, the statements summarized in the Thirtieth foundation of Diocario Contreras Labrín, who places Luis Guerrero González as part of the group headed by Cantín Leyton, serve to prove his participation as a perpetrator, indicating ‘…that on one occasion he ordered him to accompany him to detain Manuel del Carmen Muñoz Cornejo, who was the Manager of Soquimich, and thus, all on board a pickup truck, they traveled and detained him at said company’; of Waldo Humberto Retamales Argandoña, indicating ‘…that he places sub-lieutenant Luis Guerrero as part of the group under the command of Lieutenant Adalberto Cantín Leyton, who brought detainees to the police station’; in the same sense, there are the statements of Juan Manuel Bonilla Castro ‘…who mentions sub-lieutenant Luis Guerrero as participating in the operations of the group directed by Cantín Leyton’. Also, and in the same vein, are the statements of the co-defendant Ivar Liborio Muñoz Peña, who points to sub-lieutenant Luis Guerrero indicating ‘…that it seems to him that he was part of the group that was under the command of Lieutenant Cantín Leyton, and that this group used, to carry out interrogations, a kind of room or warehouse located on the first floor, and after the interrogation, on some occasions they were handed over to the Gendarmerie’.” “According to what has been indicated, this Court reaches the judicial conviction that Luis Ramón Guerrero González is criminally responsible as a perpetrator of the crime of qualified kidnapping of Manuel del Carmen Muñoz Cornejo, an event that occurred in Tocopilla on September 14, 1973, thus sharing the criterion in that sense of the Judicial Prosecutor,” it concludes. In the case of Ivar Liborio Muñoz Peña, “his own judicial statement, recorded in the Twenty-First consideration of the appellate sentence, must be considered; he indicated, in summary, ‘…that he worked as head of the First Carabineros Police Station of the city of Tocopilla, indicating that it operated in the same building as the Prefecture, under the command of which was Luciano Astete Almendras, adding that the detentions...”

political interrogations were carried out by Lieutenant Cantín and his group, and the interrogations were conducted on the unit's premises, in a storeroom, during the night hours; he also states that he participated in the detention of the governor, Mario Arqueros’”.

For the appellate court: “Despite this defendant’s denial of participation in the investigated events, the truth is that, given the chain of command held by Muñoz Peña as of September 11, 1973, his participation is that of a perpetrator, since it cannot be considered that his participation was merely that of an accessory as was maintained in the lower court’s sentence, at least regarding the aggravated kidnapping of Manuel del Carmen Muñoz Cornejo, as there is evidentiary background in the case that this victim was detained by State agents and taken that day, September 11, 1973, and was held for three days in the facilities of the First Carabineros Police Station of Tocopilla, with his whereabouts remaining unknown to this day. The aforementioned police unit was under the command of, precisely, this defendant, a Carabineros officer at the time”. “Indeed, in the present case, several testimonies were collected that place Muñoz Peña precisely in charge of the police station, in his capacity as Commissioner. Adalberto Cantín Leyton, in his judicial statement collected in the Tenth Recital, maintains ‘ … the officer in charge of the First Police Station was Muñoz Peña, and upon the closing of the Precinct that was under his command, he was placed at the disposal of the First Carabineros Police Station ’, adding ‘ … that the prefecture operated on the second floor of the same police station building and the Prefect was Luciano Astete Almendras, and the sub-prefect was Juan de Dios Salazar Lanteri, and orders were given to detain several people and the Governor and the Mayor of Tocopilla were detained and sent to Antofagasta, and later he learned that General Arellano Stark’s entourage carried out executions of these people ’”. In his case, Luis Ramón Guerrero González, in his judicial statement recorded in the Twentieth Recital of the appellate sentence, declares ‘ … that in charge of the First Police Station was Commissioner Muñoz and under his command were about 60 officials, and the civil commission was under the command of Lieutenant Cantín Leyton ’. Regarding the disappearance of Manuel Muñoz Cornejo, he states ‘ … that he was detained on September 11, 1973, he was one of the heads of Soquimich, he was detained by Carabineros personnel and taken to the First Police Station and after a few days transferred to the jail and later he learned that his wife was complaining because she had not been able to find him ’”, the ruling transcribes. “In his case –it continues–, Jorge Veliz Alvear also testified judicially, a statement that appears in the Twenty-Second Recital of the sentence, indicating that regarding the disappearance of Manuel Muñoz Cornejo, he can declare that he saw Muñoz Cornejo detained in the facilities of the First Carabineros Police Station of Tocopilla. The police report from the PDI’s Human Rights Crimes Brigade maintains in its report 1,219, dated November 14, 2012, ‘ that in the First Carabineros Police Station of Tocopilla, a civil commission was formed under the command of Lieutenant Cantín Leyton ’. Hernando Silva Soto also provided a judicial statement, which is recorded in the Twenty-Fourth Recital, who ‘ … stated that he was the sub-commissioner at the time of the First Police Station of Tocopilla, and indicates that the detainees, while they were in the police station, were guarded by subordinate personnel of the unit' . Additionally, Ángela del Carmen Vega Lang testified judicially, pages 7197 and 7274, who stated ‘ … that she was the spouse of Manuel del Carmen Cornejo Muñoz and details how on September 11, Carabineros personnel arrived at her house asking for her husband, and forced the entrance, and upon seeing that he was not there, they left; later she received a phone call from her husband, indicating that he would turn himself in voluntarily because he knew they were looking for him ’. She then refers ‘ … that from the balcony of her house, one could see the facilities of the Soquimich company in the distance, and she could see that the same vehicles in which the Carabineros who were looking for her husband were moving were now transporting him and he was seen leaving the facility ’. She then adds ‘ … that that day she brought blankets and food to the First Carabineros Police Station of Tocopilla, and later they told her that he was no longer there and she never saw him again ’”. Thus, for the Eighth Chamber: “From the accumulation of details set forth above, it can only be concluded that Ivar Liborio Muñoz Peña, then a Carabineros commissioner, and given the rank of major in that institution, and being in charge of the First Carabineros Police Station of Tocopilla, knew that Manuel Muñoz Cornejo remained detained in the cells of the unit, of which he was the commanding officer, and by virtue of this, his participation is that of a perpetrator under the terms of Article 15, number 3, of the Penal Code, since although he did not participate directly in the detention, there is no doubt that he witnessed the fact that this person was detained in the facilities of his police unit, and he accepted it, in the manner of consenting to a detention not adjusted to the law”. Decision adopted with the caveat of Minister Andrade Díaz, who was in favor of imposing higher sentences on all those convicted. Compensation In the civil aspect, the ruling regulated the compensation that the State of Chile must pay to each of the victims, for moral damages: Georgina Ramírez Gallardo, María Gregoria Torres Flores, Ariela Lau Núñez, and Adriana Benavides Espinoza, mothers and spouses, in the sum of $100,000,000 (one hundred million pesos) each. In the case of the plaintiffs Carlos Gallegos Ramírez, Georgina Gallegos Ramírez, Silvio Cuevas Martínez, Carolina Cuevas Martínez, Breno Cuevas Martínez, Hernani Cuevas Martínez, Maritza Cuevas Vega, Tania Brewe Lau, Mayra Tognola Vega, Alejandrina Mireya Muñoz Vidal, and Ángela Ema Sanhuesa Vega, children of the victims, each must receive the sum of $50,000,000 (fifty million pesos). Meanwhile, the siblings of the victims, Mercedes Brewe Torres, Rita Moreno Díaz, Catalina del Carmen Morán Araya, Lucía Cepeda Muñoz, Sonia Garay Benavides, Patricia Garay Benavides, Adriana Garay Benavides, and José Ezequiel Garay Benavides, must each be compensated by the treasury with the sum of $20,000,000 (twenty million pesos). Finally, the plaintiffs Rebeca Vega Carrasco, Rosa Vega Carrasco, Ivonne Villalobos Salcedo, Jocelin Valeska Muñoz Macías, and Sandra Constanza Muñoz Macías must be compensated with $10,000,000 (ten million pesos) for moral damages, in their capacities as partners of Breno Benicio Cuevas Díaz and Claudio Tognola Ríos, respectively, for the first two; and the third in her capacity as cousin of Luis Orocimbo Segovia Villalobos. Executions In the first instance, Minister Mario Carroza established the following facts: “ A.- Events that occurred on September 18, 1973, which caused the death of Iván Florencio Morán Araya and Ernesto Manuel Moreno Díaz. On September 18, 1973, in the night hours, around 8:00 PM, Carabineros personnel from Tocopilla commanded by Raúl Gaete Cuevas (deceased), Juan Bonilla Castro (deceased), and Diocario Contreras Labrín (deceased), detained Iván Florencio Morán Araya and Ernesto Manuel Moreno Díaz at their homes to take them to the police station of that city, where they would be interrogated; however, in the early hours of the following day, both were executed outside the police station by police officers who were following orders from their superiors under the pretext of having attempted to escape, their bodies subsequently being handed over lifeless with gunshot wounds at the morgue of the Marcos Macuada Hospital in Tocopilla; B.- Executed by firing squad at the Mina La Veleidosa. On another occasion, these same officials from the Tocopilla Police Station detained, during the course of the days from September 11 to October 4, 1973, several people identified as Claudio Rómulo Tognola Ríos, Carlos Miguel Garay Benavides, Luis Orocimbo Segovia Villalobos, Agustín de la Cruz Villarroel Carmona, Reinaldo Armando Aguirre Pruneda, and Freddy Álex Araya Figueroa, and kept them deprived of liberty first in the cells of the First Carabineros Police Station of that city and later in the Public Jail of said port, the latter place from which they were taken on October 6 of that year, handcuffed, to the mine shaft called ‘Mina La Veleidosa’ or ‘La Descubridora’, located at a distance of approximately 30 kilometers to the east of the center of the city of Tocopilla. At that place, they were ordered to get out and a firing squad was formed, integrated by officials from the Carabineros, Investigations, Navy, and Army, who were ordered to fire their firearms at them to take their lives. Subsequently, the lifeless bodies of Tognola, Garay, Segovia, and Villarroel were thrown into the aforementioned shaft, which at that date had a depth of over six hundred meters; their remains were partially recovered and identified during the year 1991. However, the bodies of Aguirre and Araya were taken to the morgue of the Marcos Macuada Hospital in Tocopilla, with the argument that they had died during an escape attempt while an operation to search for weapons and explosives was being carried out in the sector of an unnamed mine; The events that caused the death of Julio Enrique Brewe Torres, Breno Benicio Cuevas Díaz, Vicente Ramón Cepeda Soto, and Carlos Óscar Gallegos Santis, in the early hours of October 23 of that same year. That, for their part, Julio Enrique Brewe Torres, Breno Benicio Cuevas Díaz, Vicente Ramón Cepeda Soto, and Carlos Óscar Gallegos Santis were detained between September 16 and 20, 1973, by personnel under the same Carabineros Prefecture of Tocopilla, taken to the First Police Station of that city, where they were kept in the cells until the early hours of October 23 of that same year, on which occasion the four were killed inside their cells, using machine guns for this purpose. Their bodies were subsequently handed over to the morgue of the Marcos Macuada Hospital, and the public was informed that the detainees had snatched a Sig rifle from a sentry who was guarding them, which they could not use due to lack of knowledge, and because of this, the police unit’s service personnel had to open fire and cause their deaths; Aggravated kidnapping of Manuel del Carmen Muñoz Cornejo, which occurred on September 14, 1973. That, as previously stated, for September 11, 1973, in the context of the events that occurred in the country, the mission was given to Prefect Delegate Luciano Astete Almendras to create an operational group for political repression in Tocopilla, for which he designated as Ad-Hoc Military Prosecutor the Carabineros Sub-prefect Juan de Dios Salazar Lantieri (deceased), and the latter, to fulfill his task, proceeded to designate certain officials of the First Police Station of Tocopilla to be in charge of the detention and interrogation of people known as supporters of the government deposed by the military coup. This Carabineros operational group was directed by Lieutenant Alexis Cantín Leyton and permanently integrated by police officials who had full knowledge of the illegality of the acts that were committed and even so, cooperated in their execution with prior or simultaneous acts; Thus, on September 11, 1973, these Carabineros officials appeared at the SOQUIMICH Company, commanded by Lieutenant Álex Cantín Leyton, and detained Manuel del Carmen Muñoz Cornejo, whom they took to the Tocopilla Police Station, then to a cell in the Preventive Detention Center of Tocopilla, and he remained in that place for three days under cruel and inhuman torture. On September 14, 1973, he was taken from the jail by the same Lieutenant Cantín and his subordinates to an unknown location, where his trail was lost, and to this date, his destination or whereabouts remain unknown”.

Source: pjud.cl, September 2, 2021

Supreme Court convicts former uniformed personnel for homicides and kidnapping of 11 people in Tocopilla in 1973

The Supreme Court convicted six former uniformed personnel of the Carabineros and the Navy for their responsibility in the crimes of aggravated homicide of Claudio Rómulo Tognola Ríos, Carlos Miguel Garay Benavides, Luis Orozimbo Segovia Villalobos, Agustín de la Cruz Villarroel Carmona, Reynaldo Armando Aguirre Pruneda, Freddy Álex Araya Figueroa, Julio Enrique Brewe Torres, Breno Benicio Cuevas Díaz, Vicente Ramón Cepeda Soto, and Carlos Óscar Gallegos Santis, and the aggravated kidnapping of Manuel del Carmen Muñoz Cornejo.

The crimes were committed between September and October 1973, in the commune of Tocopilla. In a unanimous ruling (case roll 82.318-2021), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Haroldo Brito, Jorge Dahm, minister Eliana Quezada, and lawyers (i) Pía Tavolari and Carolina Coppo—sentenced former Carabineros officer Luciano Astete Almendras and former non-commissioned officer Gilberto Arturo Santiago Egaña García to 20 years in prison, in their capacity as perpetrators of the crimes.

Meanwhile, former Navy non-commissioned officer Raúl Darío Almonacid Valdivia must serve 15 years and one day in prison as a perpetrator of the aggravated homicides. Former Carabineros officers Luis Ramón Guerrero González and Ivar Liborio Muñoz Peña were sentenced to serve 5 years and one day in prison as perpetrators of the aggravated kidnapping.

Finally, former Carabineros officer Juan José Rojas Fuentes was sentenced to 800 days in prison as an accomplice to the kidnapping, with the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence. Former Carabineros officer Álex Adalberto Cantín Leyton, who had been sentenced to 15 years in prison in previous instances, passed away during the course of the proceedings.

In the ruling, the highest court established an error in the appealed sentence because it applied the partial statute of limitations to those convicted of crimes against humanity. The events In the judicial investigation, it was established that the detentions of Claudio Rómulo Tognola Ríos, 42; Carlos Miguel Garay Benavides, 25; Luis Orozimbo Segovia Villalobos, 28; Agustín de la Cruz Villarroel Carmona, 34; Reynaldo Armando Aguirre Pruneda, 28; Freddy Álex Araya Figueroa, 21; Julio Enrique Brewe Torres, 26; Breno Benicio Cuevas Díaz, 45; Vicente Ramón Cepeda Soto, 31; and Carlos Óscar Gallegos Santis, 30; and of Manuel del Carmen Muñoz Cornejo, 32, culminated in the murders of the first 10, as well as the disappearance of the last of them. The executions of the prisoners were carried out at the "La Veleidosa" mining site located about 30 kilometers from Tocopilla at the beginning of October 1973. As a consequence of the military coup of September 1973, Navy Captain Humberto Fuentes Morales assumed the position of governor of Tocopilla, who, due to health problems, handed over that responsibility to Carabineros Prefect Luciano Astete Almendras, who designated the then-lieutenant Álex Adalberto Cantín Leyton to dedicate himself, in coordination with military personnel, the Navy, and Investigations, to executing operations against the civilian population of the city, consisting of raids, detentions, interrogations, torture, and summary executions. Thus, on September 18, 1973, in the night hours, Carabineros personnel from Tocopilla commanded by Raúl Gaete Cuevas (deceased), Juan Bonilla Castro (deceased), and Diocario Contreras Labrín (deceased), detained Iván Florencio Morán Araya and Ernesto Manuel Moreno Díaz at their homes to take them to the police station of that city. In the early hours of the following day, both were executed outside the police station by police officials under the pretext of having attempted to escape, their bodies subsequently being handed over lifeless with gunshot wounds at the morgue of the Tocopilla Hospital. These same officials from the Tocopilla Police Station detained, between September 11 and October 4, 1973, several people, among whom were Claudio Rómulo Tognola Ríos, Carlos Miguel Garay Benavides, Luis Orozimbo Segovia Villalobos, Agustín de la Cruz Villarroel Carmona, Reinaldo Armando Aguirre Pruneda, and Freddy Álex Araya Figueroa, and kept them in the cells of the First Carabineros Police Station of that city and, later, in the Public Jail of said port. From this last place, they were taken on October 6 of that year, handcuffed, to the mine shaft called 'Mina La Veleidosa' or 'La Descubridora', located at a distance of approximately 30 kilometers to the east of Tocopilla. At that place, they were made to get out and a firing squad was formed, integrated by officials from the Carabineros, Investigations, Navy, and Army, who were ordered to fire their firearms at them to take their lives. Subsequently, the lifeless bodies of Tognola, Garay, Segovia, and Villarroel were thrown into the aforementioned shaft, which at that date had a depth of over six hundred meters. Their remains were partially recovered and identified during the year 1991. However, the bodies of Aguirre and Araya were taken to the morgue of the Tocopilla Hospital, arguing that they had been killed during an escape attempt while an operation to search for weapons and explosives was being carried out in the sector of an unnamed mine. On the other hand, between September 16 and 20, 1973, Julio Enrique Brewe Torres, Breno Benicio Cuevas Díaz, Vicente Ramón Cepeda Soto, and Carlos Óscar Gallegos Santis were detained by personnel from the same Carabineros Prefecture of Tocopilla, being taken to the First Police Station of that city, where they were kept in the cells until the early hours of October 23 of that year. On that date, the four detainees were killed inside their cells, using machine guns for this purpose. Subsequently, their bodies were handed over to the morgue of the Tocopilla Hospital, and the public was informed that the detainees had snatched a Sig rifle from a sentry who was guarding them, and because of this, the police unit’s personnel had to open fire and cause their deaths. On that same day, September 11, 1973, a group of Carabineros commanded by Lieutenant Álex Adalberto Cantín Leyton appeared at the SOQUIMICH Company and detained, among others, Manuel del Carmen Muñoz Cornejo, whom they took to the Tocopilla Police Station, then to a cell in the Preventive Detention Center of Tocopilla, and he remained in that place for three days under cruel and inhuman torture. On September 14, 1973, he was taken from the jail by the same Lieutenant Cantín and his subordinates to an unknown location, where his trail was lost, and to this date, his destination or whereabouts remain unknown.

Source: resumen.cl, August 31, 2023