On November 3, 1976, at approximately 11:30 a.m., on Nataniel Cox Street, between Coquimbo and Aconcagua, and shortly after being struck by a Vivaceta route bus driven by professional driver Luis Rojas Reyes—an incident that left him severely injured—Carlos Contreras Maluje was detained by DINA personnel.

These individuals identified themselves as such to Carabineros Captain Clemente Nicolás Burgos Valenzuela, who, having attempted to provide aid to the injured man, was forced to collaborate in the detention operation in compliance with superior orders in effect at the time regarding these matters.

The captors were traveling in a Fiat 125 automobile, license plate EG-388, from Las Condes, which ultimately proved to belong to the Air Force Intelligence Directorate (DIFA) and was, according to his own repeated statements, at the exclusive service of the head of said security service at that time, the current Air Force Brigadier General and Intendant of Puerto Montt, Jorge Ruiz Bunger.

Despite his precarious condition, the detainee managed to shout for help, denouncing his captors as members of the DINA, stating their capacities, names, and surnames, as well as his own status as a militant of the Communist Youth and a Councilman for the city of Concepción.

He asked the public to communicate the events to his family in that city, specifically to the "Maluje" Pharmacy, owned by his mother, María Mercedes Maluje David. Those who kidnapped him forced him into the car they were using and disappeared, heading south on Nataniel Street.

Regarding these events, the following witnesses have testified during the processing of the Amparo (Habeas Corpus) appeal, Case File 1.020-76: 1) Clemente Nicolás Burgos Valenzuela, Carabineros Captain, who stated: "...I must say that it fell to me to attend, in principle, to the case of Carlos Humberto Contreras Maluje.

In the month of November, I do not remember the exact date, while I was traveling in a jeep toward the 12th Precinct of San Miguel, upon arriving at Copiapó, I observed that a traffic accident had occurred.

I stopped and saw that there was a bus, and on the ground, about five or six meters from the bus, an individual was lying on his back, who, according to the people who had gathered there, had thrown himself at the bus and it had run him over. His head was bleeding a lot."

"Due to the crowd, I left the jeep about 40 meters away, and when I approached to look at him, I heard him perfectly saying that 'he was a former communist councilman from Concepción' and that they should notify his Maluje family, who had a pharmacy in Concepción.

After this, I walked toward the jeep in order to request an ambulance and communicate to the Radio Center what was happening, since the sector was not in my jurisdiction. In those moments, as I was reporting to my superiors, a Fiat 125 car arrived—at this moment I do not remember its license plate—from which four individuals in civilian clothes got out, who showed me a DINA card and at the same time stated that they were DINA officials and that they had been pursuing this individual, that is, Contreras Maluje.

Furthermore, when I approached the injured Contreras, he was shouting that he was fleeing from DINA personnel. According to the general procedures within the service with Intelligence Service personnel, when they take over the procedure, we withdraw."

"...I left a record of the events I have related above in my own handwriting in the Guard book of the 6th Precinct on the same day, immediately after the respective procedure was finished..."

2) On page 77 of the aforementioned appeal, Jaime Osvaldo Ubilla Ubilla, Carabineros Captain, testified, stating in part: "...I remember that Captain Burgos told me that on the occasion when he was handling the procedure to which I have referred previously, DINA personnel appeared, identified themselves to him, and took the injured man away..."

3) On page 79, Luis Rojas Reyes, a driver, appeared and stated: "...On November 3 of last year, I was driving the Vivaceta-Matadero route bus No. 20, and on Nataniel between Coquimbo and Aconcagua, a man over thirty years old threw himself into the path of the vehicle.

Fortunately, I managed to brake, but he hit the back of the machine with his head. I stopped, and since a Carabineros jeep was coming behind the bus, a captain named Burgos got out and looked at the injured man...

The captain was looking at the injured man when a light blue Fiat 125 car arrived, from which four or five people in civilian clothes got out and, it seems—I don't remember well—spoke with the captain. The civilians from the Fiat 125 picked up the injured man and forced him into the car. I say forced because the injured man was shouting for them not to take him and to let him die in peace."

An Amparo appeal, Case File 1.020-76, was filed before the Santiago Court of Appeals.

The numerous reports requested from the Ministry of the Interior yielded negative results; however, the reports requested from the 6th Precinct of Santiago confirmed the fact of the detention and its circumstances.

"I did not see the license plate of the light blue Fiat 125. I also remember that Captain Burgos, upon telling me that this matter was not going to go to court, expressed to me that this was not necessary, since DINA personnel, or some similar acronym, had intervened in the procedure, which I could not specify."

4) On page 79 verso of the aforementioned appeal, Claudio Jimenez Cabieres appeared and stated: "On November 3 of last year, around noon, I was working at the SICIMETAL Hardware Store located on Nataniel between Coquimbo and Aconcagua.

Suddenly, a person came in to buy something and said that an accident had occurred. In view of this, I went out to the sidewalk and saw that a man about thirty years old was lying on the ground, and a bus.

The latter was to one side, the injured man in the center, and on the other side a light blue Fiat 125 car. There, the injured man shouted again: 'I am Carlos Contreras, notify the Maluje Pharmacy in Concepción.' The car immediately left along Nataniel heading south, and the Carabineros also withdrew..."

5) Luis Enrique Hasbun Fuentes declared in case file 148-77 the following: "At the end of last year (1976), I do not remember the exact date nor the time, the fact is that I was traveling on a Vivaceta-Matadero route bus along Nataniel Street toward the south in the company of my friend Fernando Meneses Gutierrez.

At the moments we were traveling along said artery and shortly before reaching Avda. Matta, I realized that an individual suddenly came running into the street. In my opinion, he threw himself at the wheels of the bus, but the driver tried to balance it, but it was impossible, impacting said subject in the head, as blood was coming from it.

After the collision, the guy was shouting for them to save him, and I heard the following phrases: 'Save me from the DINA and please call the Estrella Pharmacy in Concepción.' About 2 or 3 minutes later, a light blue Fiat 125 car arrived at the scene with four people inside, who got out and picked up the injured man, and as they put him in the car, they punched him in the ribs.

I point out to the Tribunal that these people were armed with revolvers at their belts and with handcuffs, so it gave me the impression that they were detectives. Apparently, at the moment the accident occurred, there was a Carabinero very close by, since this official immediately took charge of the procedure, but worrying more about the driver than the injured man."

6) Fernando Carlos Meneses Gutierrez, who testified in the previously mentioned process, stated: "At the end of 1976, around 12:00 hours, while I was traveling on a Vivaceta-Matadero bus along Nataniel Street toward the south in the company of my friend Luis Hasbun, and shortly before reaching Avda.

Matta, I saw something on the side of the bus, and immediately afterward, the driver made a sharp turn to the left while applying the brakes. At that moment, I saw a person who was thrown by the impact, falling shortly before the tail of the bus.

I immediately got off to provide aid to the injured man; I believe I was the only one, and this is because I have knowledge of first aid, so I asked this subject not to move, as his intentions were to get up.

I saw blood on his face, but I could not say where it was emanating from. To what the Tribunal asks me, I could say that the only thing I remember this subject saying was 'to notify a pharmacy in Concepción, apparently named Estrella or Concepción.' Shortly after, or rather 2 minutes later, Carabineros personnel arrived at the scene, who told me to move away, so I got on the bus, and as I proceeded to sit down, I saw a car arriving.

It gave me the impression that they were detectives, as they looked well-presented. In said vehicle, about three or four people were traveling, of which two got out and took the injured man, who resisted when they were putting him in the car, so they had to take him firmly..."

On the other hand, in report No. 72-102 (110-1-77) from the Investigations Police directed to the 5th Major Crimes Court of Santiago, the following is recorded among other circumstances: "It is my duty to inform Your Honor that, together with the delivery to the undersigned of the photostatic copy by Mr.

Luis Contreras Aburto, he also provided a photograph of his son, which, when shown along with about six other photographs to Luis Rojas Reyes, he recognized among them the person of Carlos Humberto Contreras Maluje as the person who threw himself at the bus he was driving and who was subsequently thrown into a light blue vehicle by four or five individuals in civilian clothes.

Likewise, the driver Rojas Reyes observed that the stranger was wearing optical glasses at the moment the events occurred."

OTHER BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Among the evidentiary background regarding the kidnapping of the affected party that was accumulated during the processing of the Amparo appeal, Case File 1020-76, is the special record of the events stamped by Carabineros Captain Clemente Nicolás Burgos Valenzuela, in his own handwriting, in the Population News Book of the 6th Carabineros Precinct.

It states verbatim: "In the margin: 13:00 hours. Record regarding traffic procedure with DINA participation. Traffic Accident Record. Service Officer Captain Clemente N. Burgos Valenzuela. At 11:30 hours on Nataniel in front of No. 943, while the bus license plate RX-614 Providencia, driven by Luis Rojas Reyes, 31 years old, driver, identity card 4.188.235-2, Santiago, class A license 51.399, Santiago, address Sta.

Teresa 1548, Pob. Nogales, was traveling along Nataniel from north to south, upon arriving at Aconcagua, about 30 meters from the corner, the pedestrian who said his name was Carlos Contreras Maluje threw himself at the wheels of the bus, resulting in head injuries due to the collision.

Upon the arrival of the undersigned at the scene, he was lying in a prone position, so an ambulance and personnel from the 6th Precinct were requested through the Carrera Central. Before they arrived at the scene, the car license plate EG-388 Santiago, Fiat 125, light blue, arrived, and four people got out who said they were from DINA and, without identifying themselves, took the individual and violently put him into the vehicle, taking him from the scene.

While he was on the ground, the individual who said his name was Carlos Contreras Maluje shouted that he was a former communist Councilman from Concepción and that he had attempted suicide because he had been detained by DINA and had escaped, where they had whipped him. 3 minutes later, DINA personnel arrived, whom the injured man recognized, saying, 'It's them, the DINA, don't let them take me again and notify my relatives at the Maluje Pharmacy in Concepción.'"

"Witnesses were the bus passengers, Marta Donoso Alarcon, ID 21.657.714, Santiago, residing at 10 de Julio 1212, and Irene Díaz, ID 2.605.607, Santiago, residing at El Molino 1866, Vivaceta. Of this fact, the undersigned gave telephone notice to the Pregesant.

Capt. Mr. Robinson Medina Galaz, who, after consultation with the 2nd Chief Prefect, Col. Mr. Martinez, ordered that the bus driver be detained, placed at the disposal of the 2nd Military Court for injuries apparently less serious in a collision, released on provisional liberty, and reported by confidential letter to the headquarters.

In the report to the Tribunal, DINA WAS NOT TO BE MENTIONED. The procedure was handed over to Capt. Mr. Jaime Ubilla."

"The driver continued his route, Santiago, November 3, 1976. Signed: Clemente Borjas Valenzuela, Carabineros Captain."

LEGAL ACTIONS

Regarding the processing of the Amparo as well as the cases followed before the Military Prosecutor's Office and the 5th Major Crimes Court, it can be noted:

1. The statements of several Carabineros officers, but especially those of the Captain of said Corps, Clemente Nicolás Burgos Valenzuela. 2. The Carabineros reports that formed the basis of the Amparo complaints. 3. Statements of the civilian witnesses Claudio Ernesto Jiménez Cabieres, Luis Rojas Reyes, Irene Díaz, Luis Enrique Hasbún Fuentes, and Fernando Meneses.

The Santiago Court of Appeals, by a majority vote, exceptionally granted the Amparo appeal and ordered the Ministry of the Interior to proceed to release Carlos Humberto Contreras Maluje.

Once the Ministry of the Interior, responding to the Santiago Court of Appeals, replied that it could not release Carlos Humberto Contreras Maluje, the Court, meeting in plenary session, ordered the background information to be elevated to the Supreme Court, given that it was a matter of such relevance in which the problem of the power of "imperium" was implicit, which could only be handled by said high Tribunal.

The Supreme Court ordered a curious measure: to return the case to the Court of Appeals so that it could continue, through the Ruling Chamber, the Fifth Chamber, the proceedings for the fulfillment of the sentence that accepted the Amparo dated January 31, 1977.

The evidence produced in the Amparo was reinforced by a document even more convincing than those previously added to the case files. Indeed, in a special book kept by the 6th Carabineros Precinct of Santiago, called the Population News Book, Carabineros Captain Clemente Nicolás Burgos Valenzuela stamped on November 3, 1976, a detailed account of the facts related to the kidnapping of Contreras Maluje (transcribed previously, in the section on the facts).

With the background information elevated again by the Fifth Chamber of the Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court, the latter, in a simple official letter, formed an "administrative matters" file, evading what the appellant party asked of it, which was to represent to the Executive Branch that the ruling must be complied with.

It remained, in any case, that in accordance with Art. 311 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Public Prosecutor's Office should file a complaint against the author or authors of the abuse within the legal period (10 days).

After numerous vicissitudes, which even included a Complaint Appeal accepted by the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Leticia Contreras Squella, filed a complaint before the Santiago Aviation Court against the DINA, current CNI, DIFA, and SICAR, for the crimes of illegal arrest and kidnapping of Carlos Humberto Contreras Maluje.

Apart from the Amparo appeal, the father of the protected party filed before the Second Military Court of Santiago some petitions authorized by the Code of Military Justice for civilians and private individuals, given that, as a result of the collision of the protected party, a police report was filed at the Carabineros Precinct against the bus driver Luis Rojas Reyes for injuries apparently less serious in a collision.

This case was entered before said Court and the Military and Carabineros Prosecutor's Office under number 2.641-76.

And, for her part, the spouse of Carlos Humberto Contreras Maluje, María Adriana Pablos Torres, filed a complaint for kidnapping before the 5th Criminal Court of Santiago, a case that was registered under No. 103.372.

In practice, case 148-77 was followed against Luis Rojas Reyes for the alleged disappearance of Carlos Humberto Contreras Maluje, to which the case files 1.020-76 regarding Amparo, the kidnapping case from the 5th Criminal Court, and the case regarding injuries apparently in a collision that was followed before the 2nd Military Court have been accumulated.

This case No. 148-77 is followed before the Aviation Court, due to a declaration of incompetence by the Military Court and the 5th Criminal Court, and the Court Martial of Justice also intervenes in it.

On July 5, 1978, a temporary dismissal was decreed in the case for "the perpetration of the reported crime not being sufficiently proven."

The defense of the detainee has presented an appeal before the Court Martial, which is pending.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity

Party and Youth leaders visit Concepción: Municipality grants the name of Carlos Contreras Maluje to the Hall of Honor and participates in an expanded meeting with militants.

Top Party leaders, Guillermo Teillier, President; Lautaro Carmona, Secretary General, together with Reynaldo Morales, Secretary General of the JJ.CC. (Communist Youth), visited the city of Concepción. In the capital of the VIII region, the leaders participated in an important public act: The renaming of the municipal Hall of Honor to that of Carlos Contreras Maluje.

Interviews were also given to local media and an expanded meeting was held with the Party and the "Jota" (Communist Youth) of the area.

Since Friday, June 15, the Hall of Honor of the Illustrious Municipality of Concepción has been named Councilman Carlos Contreras Maluje. A tribute to the former councilman of the Concepción municipality, forcibly disappeared on November 3, 1976; the Hall of Honor of the municipality will bear his name from this date.

Before the act, there was an exchange meeting with the mayor of Concepción, Álvaro Ortiz (DC), who, as the highest municipal authority, supported the initiative presented by Councilman Alex Iturra.

An emotional activity in which the Illustrious Municipality of Concepción, through its Council, decided to give the name of Carlos Contreras Maluje to the Hall of Honor of that Corporation, in tribute to who was a Councilman of the city (1971-1973) and a communist militant.

Carlos Contreras Maluje, a chemical pharmacist, married, with two children; was detained by the DINA in 1976, tortured to death, and forcibly disappeared.

This symbolic gesture heads a necessary current for Chile; thanks to the mayor and the Municipal Council for keeping the memory alive.

Carlos, a Chemical Pharmacist by profession, did his studies at the University of Concepción. He was also a student leader and a militant-leader of the Communist Youth of Chile. He had a prominent participation in the University Reform process of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The coup d'état and the subsequent dictatorship led him to assume political responsibilities in clear resistance to the regime. In 1976, he was kidnapped by the repressive apparatuses of the tyranny. He was subjected to the most brutal torture until his death.

His body has still not been found. The evidence of what is stated exists and is known. Such disastrous, inhuman episodes occurred when Carlos was 29 years old.

Just like Carlos, thousands of other students and professionals from the U of Concepción were the object of unjust arbitrariness, expulsions, imprisonment, torture, and murders by the civil-military dictatorship regime during the period from 1973 to 1990.

It was the hard price paid by those who were consistent with their principles, their ideas, and their struggle for a just society. None of those who lost their lives will be forgotten. The demand for truth and justice is a demand that remains forever.

Honor and glory to all of them.

Together with the Party in Concepción: For more democracy and social justice, to build the unity of the people.

An important expanded meeting was held in the area, where comrades Guillermo Teillier, Lautaro Carmona, and the Secretary General of the JJ.CC., Reynaldo Morales, listened attentively to questions and opinions from militants of some communes of the region.

The national and international political moment was also addressed, and the challenges of the period were raised, both for the national political aspect and for the challenges of the Party and the Youth in the region. A frank and open debate ahead of the upcoming National Conference that will take place in the following months.

Source: pcchile.cl 17/6/2018

Date: 06-17-2018

The Santiago Court of Appeals ordered the state to pay a total indemnity of $40,000,000 (forty million pesos) to the siblings of CARLOS HUMBERTO CONTRERAS MALUJE, who was detained by members of the so-called Comando Conjunto in November 1976 in the city center, the date from which he has been forcibly disappeared.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 7.422-2020), the Fifth Chamber of the appellate court—composed of ministers Alejandro Rivera, Mireya López, and lawyer (i) Jorge Benítez—confirmed the challenged sentence issued by the 18th Civil Court of Santiago, with the declaration that the sum the state must pay the plaintiffs for moral damages amounts to $20,000,000 (twenty million pesos) for each, plus the interest indicated in the first-instance ruling.

"This Court shares the arguments of the first instance to dismiss the exceptions raised," the ruling states.

The resolution adds: "Indeed, and in relation to the exception of preterition, it is true that before the disappearance or death of a person—even more so under the conditions in which the former circumstance occurred regarding Mr.

Carlos Contreras Maluje—pain is caused to all those persons who are linked to him by family ties or who in some way knew him, and from that perspective, it seems reasonable that the pain of all of them cannot be compensated, for otherwise, distant relatives and even friends could ask for reparation for that suffering."

"However," it continues, "in that scenario, the evidence that can be presented to demonstrate the real impact of the harmful act is relevant, and that is why, if close relatives such as direct or collateral ascendants or descendants by consanguinity, or spouses or partners are compensated, it may be considered that the damage caused has been repaired to some extent and that it is not necessary then to repair the grief that may have been caused to more distant relatives such as, for example, brothers-in-law, cousins, nephews, etc."

"Nevertheless, a priori, it is not possible to exclude them solely due to the circumstance that parents, children, or spouses of the victim have been compensated, because if the evidence provided manages to demonstrate a true impact from the harmful act, reparation must be granted because the Civil Code mandates it," it adds.

For the appellate court: "In the case presented, the plaintiffs are siblings of Mr. Contreras Maluje; that is, they are people who were absolutely close to the victim, and therefore it is reasonable to believe that they suffered and continue to suffer from his disappearance, and this has been attested to by two people who appeared in court and gave an account of that pain or suffering due to what happened; therefore, it was appropriate to dismiss the exception of preterition just as was done."

"Nor can the symbolic reparation made by the State of Chile or the benefits granted by the PRAIS Program be considered sufficient, as these are general reparations that fail to repair the particular and specific damage suffered by the relatives of victims of human rights violations, which can only be determined in a trial in which the particular situations of each case can be weighed, so it was also appropriate to dismiss the exception of reparation raised," it concludes.

Source: adprensa.cl 26/01/2021

Date: 01-26-2021

Municipality and Communist Party to hold tribute to former Concepción councilman and forcibly disappeared person

The Municipality's Hall of Honor will be named after Carlos Contreras Maluje, who was detained on November 3, 1976. The Municipality of Concepción and the Communist Party will hold a tribute to the former city councilman and forcibly disappeared person, CARLOS HUMBERTO CONTRERAS MALUJE, who was arrested on November 3, 1976, and who prompted the first recurso de amparo (writ of habeas corpus) filed under these circumstances.

Starting this afternoon, the municipality's Hall of Honor will bear the name of Contreras Maluje, in an activity that will be attended by the president of the Communist Party, Guillermo Tellier, as well as the leader's widow and friends.

Carlos Humberto Contreras Maluje was detained in Santiago on November 2, 1976, and on January 31, 1977, the Santiago Court of Appeals accepted the recurso de amparo filed on his behalf, in view of the multiple statements from witnesses, including carabineros, who attested to his detention by security agents.

"This afternoon's act seeks to rescue his figure both for his trajectory and for his roots in the capital of the Biobío," said Mayor Alvaro Ortiz, inviting the community to attend.

Source: soychile.cl 15/06/2018

Date: 06-15-2018

Former Pinochet agent convicted for death of Allende's aide-de-camp dies

César Palma Ramírez, alias "El Fifo," died due to a terminal illness at the Air Force hospital, to which he had been transferred from Punta Peuco. SANTIAGO.— César Luis Palma Ramírez, a former agent of the military regime, convicted of human rights violations and prosecuted for other cases, died last night, as reported this Sunday by his lawyer, Raúl Meza.

Palma Ramírez, known as "El Fifo," died due to a terminal illness at the Air Force hospital, to which he had been transferred from Punta Peuco. A former member of "Patria y Libertad," he was part of a commando that on July 26, 1973, assassinated Navy Commander Arturo Araya Peeters, President Salvador Allende's naval aide-de-camp, at his home.

For that crime, he was sentenced to 543 days in prison, but years later he was pardoned like other members of the group. He then joined the "Comando Conjunto." In that capacity, he was convicted in 2007 to three years in prison for the kidnapping and disappearance in 1976 of the communist militant and pharmaceutical chemist CARLOS CONTRERAS MALUJE, and in 2010, to five years for the qualified kidnapping of Humberto Fuentes Rodríguez, a member of the PC detained in 1975.

César Luis Palma remained a fugitive from justice until 2008, when he was discovered in the south of the country. In addition to those convictions, "El Fifo" was prosecuted in six other cases for the disappearance of 13 Communist Party leaders that occurred between 1975 and 1976.

Lawyer Meza said the former agent will be buried this Monday at the General Cemetery of Santiago. A little over a hundred former agents are serving sentences at the Punta Peuco prison. In recent days, Minister of Justice Jaime Campos has shown support for those suffering from terminal or incurable illnesses, or who are of advanced age, to be included in a general rule that would allow them to be released.

The idea has been rejected by the relatives of the forcibly disappeared.

Source: emol.com 18/12/2016

Date: 12-18-2016

Students remembered 54 UdeC members who were victims of repression

The last commemorative act for the 40th anniversary of the coup d'état, organized by the Human Rights, Solidarity and Social Conflicts Office of the FEC, was held this morning with the unveiling of the refurbished plaque bearing the names of the 54 students, alumni, professors, and staff of the University of Concepción who were murdered during the military regime, many of whom remain as forcibly disappeared to this day.

Gabriel Provoste, human rights representative of the FEC, indicated that this is the final expression of the activities they have organized for September, stating that "the objective is to commemorate the comrades of the UdeC who were victims of the military dictatorship."

Provoste pointed out that over the course of these last 20 years—the memorial was erected in 1993 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the coup—the monument has suffered constant deterioration, explaining that "we have changed the plaque and added the name of ten other comrades who were not on the previous one, and at the same time restored the piece." The student leader recalled that the idea for the memorial was linked to a plaza for reflection, for which they are still working and seeking resources.

Around 150 people attended the activity, including associations of former political prisoners of the MIR, student organizations, and the Bautista van Schouwen Vasey mutualist society.

The sculpture "Tribute to the forcibly disappeared students" is a sculptural group made of concrete and mosaic, representing four erect figures in a synthesis recognizable as human figures, tied together with metal rings.

They are arranged in a semicircle whose center is occupied by an inclined slab, on which rests a bronze list engraved with the names of the university students who were forcibly disappeared in the 1973-1990 period.

The members of the UdeC community, victims of the dictatorship's violence, who were recognized today are Enrique Carreño, Eduardo Crisóstomo, Ogán Lagos, Fabián Ibarra, Fernando Alvarez, Jaime Eltit, Dignaldo Araneda, Muriel Dockendorff, Héctor González, Alexei Jaccard, César Negrete, Wladimir Araneda, José Aguayo, Miguel Catalán, Silvia Calfulén, Ricardo Ruz, Héctor Rodríguez, José Bordaz, Alan Bruce, Edgardo and Miguel Enríquez Espinoza; Caupolicán Inostroza, Marcos Montecinos, Juan Perelman, José Randolph, Freddy Torres, Arturo Villabela, Felipe Campos, Luis Barra, Jorge Grez, Arturo Hillerns, Fernando Krauss, Bautista Van Schouwen, Carlos Rioseco, José Carrasco Tapia, José Carrasco Vásquez, Juan Espinosa, Sonia Ríos, Carlos Contreras Maluje, José Jara, Héctor Zúñiga, Elizabeth Cabrera, Roberto Chávez, Washington Cid, Carlos Fernández, Jorge Fuentes, Juan Carlos Gómez, Nelson Herrera, Sergio Lagos, Luis Pincheira, Sergio Riffo, Ariel Salinas, Patricio Sobarzo, Héctor Velásquez, Manuel Villalobos, Rolando Angulo, Jaime Araya, and Luis Cornejo.

Source: udec.cl 22/03/2016

Date: 03-22-2016

César "Fifo" Palma, the last fugitive former agent of the dictatorship, falls

The former member of the Comando Conjunto and Patria y Libertad was arrested by the Human Rights Brigade of the Investigative Police, hidden in a trailer inside a plot of land, eight kilometers from Freire, Ninth Region.

Members of the Human Rights Brigade of the Investigative Police located and arrested the last fugitive former agent convicted of crimes against humanity, César Luis Palma Ramírez, alias "El Fifo."

"El Fifo," a former agent of the Comando Conjunto, was found hiding in a trailer inside a plot of land, eight kilometers from the commune of Freire, on the so-called Camino a Boroa, in the IX Region.

The former agent was fleeing to avoid serving a three-year prison sentence for the kidnapping and disappearance in November 1976 of the communist militant and former councilman for Concepción, the pharmaceutical chemist CARLOS HUMBERTO CONTRERAS MALUJE.

On November 3 of that year, Contreras was detained, but managed to flee by throwing himself under the wheels of a bus on Nataniel Cox street, in order to alert others of his arrest. However, the agents recaptured him, and he has been disappeared ever since.

Palma Ramírez's criminal record is extensive. He took his first steps in crime in the ranks of the far-right group Patria y Libertad, led by lawyer Pablo Rodríguez.

ARAYA AIDE-DE-CAMP

On the night of July 26, 1973, Palma was part of the group that naval justice accused of the assassination of Allende's aide-de-camp, Navy Captain Arturo Araya Peeters.

Subsequently, and this is still being investigated in a new trial by the ordinary justice system, clues appeared that would lead to the conclusion that the perpetrator of the aide-de-camp's homicide was not part of that group, which allegedly only acted as a screen, but that the shots came from a sniper stationed elsewhere.

It is known that Palma was one of the few in the group who that night was aware of the true objective of the far-right squadron's outing: to cover for the true perpetrator of the shots.

All of this was part of a plot to accelerate the coup d'état in which civilians like Jorge Ehlers participated alongside high-ranking Navy officers, blaming the left for the attack, as indeed happened at the beginning.

After a brief detention following the coup d'état, Palma and the rest of the group were pardoned by the former dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Later, Palma, a civilian agent attached to the Air Force, joined the Comando Conjunto (CC) starting in 1975, the criminal organization that the FACH created to compete for the power of repression with the DINA.

He is currently being prosecuted in numerous cases for human rights violations, including the homicides of former CC agents Carol Flores and Guillermo Bratti.

Source: rebelion.org 17/03/2008

Date: 03-17-2008

Human Rights: former repressor arrested in a trailer

Hidden in a trailer inside a farm located in the commune of Freire, in the Araucanía Region, the former civilian repressive agent of the Air Force, Cesar Palma Ramírez, was captured to serve his sentence in the case of the kidnapping of communist militant Carlos Contreras Maluje.

Personnel from the Human Rights Brigade of the Investigative Police carried out the operation to achieve compliance with the sentence of 3 years and one day in prison ratified against him by the Supreme Court in November 2007.

Palma Ramírez belonged to the far-right extremist group during the government of Salvador Allende, "Patria y Libertad," and later joined the Chilean Air Force (FACH) as a civilian agent, becoming a member of the Comando Conjunto, the group with which he committed the crime for which he was sought.

The prefect of the National Headquarters of Crimes against Human Rights, José Luis Cabión, commented that the former repressor "fled approximately a month and a half ago" and, upon being located, was "inside a trailer on a plot of land 8 kilometers inside the commune of Freire."

The officer ruled out any resistance from the subject upon encountering the police. "It was a totally clean arrest, like the previous procedures we have handled in similar cases," in allusion, for example, to the capture of Jorge Iturriaga Neumann.

For the kidnapping of Carlos Humberto Contreras Maluje, former Councilman of Concepción, the retired FACH general Freddy Ruiz Bunger was also convicted, as well as Juan Francisco Saavedra Loyola, Daniel Gimpert Corvalán, Manuel Muñoz Gamboa, Alejandro Sáez Mardones, and Rodrigo Cobos Manríquez.

Source: La Nacion, March 11, 2008

Date: 03-11-2008

Contreras Maluje: Court increased Comando Conjunto sentence

With a divided vote, the Second Chamber of the Court of Appeals resolved yesterday to increase the sentences handed down against the members of the Comando Conjunto in their capacity as perpetrators of the qualified kidnapping of Communist Party militant Carlos Contreras Maluje.

The appellate court raised the sentence from three years with conditional remission of the sentence to five years and one day in prison without benefits for the retired (R) Air Force Brigadier General Freddy Ruiz Bunger, Colonel (R) Juan Saavedra Loyola, Frigate Captain (R) Daniel Guimper, and FACH officers Manuel Muñoz Gamboa and César Palma Ramírez.

The first-instance ruling was issued by special judge Juan Eduardo Fuentes, who granted everyone the benefit of the gradual prescription of the sentence, except for Palma, whom he kept under night detention.

The chamber also confirmed the conviction of Jorge Cobos, who was serving three years and one day in prison. With this ruling, the Court ratified the thesis of kidnapping as a permanent crime in human rights cases.

The chamber was composed of ministers Sonia Araneda, Jorge Zepeda, and lawyer Emilio Pfeffer. The dissenting vote was from the latter, who was in favor of reclassifying the crime of qualified kidnapping to that of qualified homicide.

This was because he considered that the current criminal procedural system does not require that a person's death be proven solely by the appearance of their remains, "even more so if almost 30 years have passed since the date on which their whereabouts became unknown."

Contreras Maluje was detained in November 1976 by security agents, who transferred him to the "La Firma" facility, where he was interrogated and tortured, and his whereabouts remain unknown to this day.

In civil matters, the chamber confirmed what was resolved by the first-instance court, which denied the victim's family the compensation they requested. On this occasion, the dissenting vote was from Minister Zepeda, who maintained that economic reparations are included in international human rights treaties.

Source: La Nacion, August 2, 2006

Date: 08-02-2006

Seven former members of the Comando Conjunto convicted

Judge Juan Fuentes Belmar today sentenced seven former members of the Comando Conjunto responsible for the disappearance in November 1976 of communist leader Carlos Contreras Maluje to various penalties, judicial sources reported.

In his resolution, the magistrate did not apply the Amnesty Law issued in 1978 by former dictator Augusto Pinochet, but did apply the gradual prescription of the sentence, taking March 11, 1990—the date of the return to democracy—as the end date of the qualified kidnapping.

The first-instance convictions affect four retired Air Force (FACH) officers, one former member of the Navy, and two from the Carabineros, members of this group of State agents and far-right civilians coordinated by the four intelligence agencies of the Armed Forces, which operated between 1975 and 1976.

The judge sentenced the director of the FACH Intelligence Service, Freddy Ruiz Bunger, Colonel Juan Saavedra Loyola, Navy officer Daniel Guimpert, and former Carabineros officer Manuel Muñoz Gamboa to three years of remitted prison (served in freedom).

The same sentence, but with night detention, was given to former FACH member César Palma Ramírez and retired police officer Alejandro Sáez Mardones, who has been serving another sentence for human rights violations since August 2003.

In that sense, he also sentenced former FACH Captain Jorge Cobos Manríquez to three years and one day in prison.

Finally, Fuentes Belmar dismissed a civil lawsuit against the State filed by the victim's family lawyer, Nelson Caucoto.

The case of Carlos Contreras Maluje was one of the few in which the Court of Appeals of the time accepted a recurso de amparo filed by his family after his detention.

On November 2, 1976, Contreras Maluje, then 29 years old, a former councilman of Concepción and a pharmaceutical chemist by profession, was detained by Comando Conjunto agents and taken to the facility known as "La Firma" (located on Dieciocho street, where the offices of the newspaper Clarín previously operated), where he was tortured.

Subsequently, according to the Rettig Report, the leader was taken by the agents to a place where Contreras was supposedly going to make a contact, on Nataniel street, at which point he threw himself under the wheels of a bus, shouting his name and his kidnapping situation.

Immediately, the agents took him back to the "La Firma" facility and executed him that same night on a road near Santiago, where his remains were buried clandestinely without having been found to this day.

Source: La Nacion, November 30, 2005

Date: 11-30-2005

Justice reaches the Comando Conjunto

The Comando Conjunto case, a group of State agents and far-right civilians coordinated by the four intelligence agencies of the Armed Forces that operated between 1975 and 1976, has entered its final phase.

It is perhaps one of the emblematic human rights violation trials due to the ferocity used against the victims (nearly 70) and because it is the only case in which all branches of the military participated, although the most involved were the FACH and the Carabineros. In fact, some of its members joined the Dicomcar in the 80s.

The judge with exclusive dedication at the Third Criminal Court of Santiago to investigate the crimes committed by this repressive body, Graciela Gómez, issued the first accusations in recent days against its agents, those responsible for the kidnapping of Carlos Contreras Maluje, son of the first UP intendant in the province of Concepción, former councilman for the commune of Concepción, and leader of the Communist Party.

This is one of the four episodes that divide this trial, but it is the most symbolic, because the events surrounding the kidnapping of the left-wing militant exposed the acts committed by the CC and provoked the immediate dissolution of the repressive body.

Names As intellectual authors of the kidnapping, retired FACH General Freddy Enrique Ruiz Bunger and retired Colonel of the same institution Juan Francisco Saavedra Loyola were accused. Meanwhile, as material authors, Alejandro Sáez Mardones (who is currently serving a sentence for the "degollados" case), Jorge Cobos Manríquez (alias 'Kiko' and retired FACH lieutenant), Daniel Guimpert Corvalán (retired Navy lieutenant), César Palma Ramírez (alias 'Fifo', a civilian formerly of Patria y Libertad and mentioned in at least 15 murders), and Manuel Muñoz Gamboa (alias 'Lolo', a retired Carabineros major who was also convicted in the "degollados" case) were accused.

Ruiz Bunger was in charge of FACH Intelligence and was a trusted man of the then commander-in-chief of the Air Force and member of the Military Junta, General Gustavo Leigh, whom he accompanied when he was dismissed by General Augusto Pinochet in 1978.

The facts In her resolution, Judge Gómez reaches the conviction that the agents kidnapped Contreras Maluje and, after torturing him, used him to set up an operation where they intended to capture other communist militants.

On November 2, 1976, after obtaining information provided by another detainee under torture, the agents intercepted him on Nataniel street and forcibly took him to the detention center known as La Firma (located on Dieciocho street, where the offices of the newspaper Clarín previously operated).

After subjecting him to illegal coercion, the former councilman offered to take the agents to a place where they could capture another communist militant. But Contreras Maluje's plans were different. As established, the following day the CC set up an operation on Nataniel street.

Upon arriving at the scene, the judge states, Contreras Maluje "manages to elude his guards and throws himself into the path of a public transport vehicle that was traveling in a southerly direction along Nataniel street, becoming injured as a result of the impact, without prejudice to which he asks for help from passersby and a Carabineros officer." He said he was kidnapped, but the officers could do nothing because a vehicle with license plate EG-588 appeared, which was later proven to belong to the FACH and was for the exclusive use of Ruiz Bunger, head of FACH Intelligence.

Its occupants identified themselves as DINA agents. Nothing more was heard of Contreras Maluje.

Source: La Nacion, November 24, 2004

Date: 11-24-2004

New remains found at Fuerte Arteaga

Visiting Minister Amanda Valdovinos confirmed that human skeletal remains, corresponding to three people, were found inside the Justo Arteaga Army Regiment in Colina. The diligence corresponds to what was ordered by the Supreme Court after receiving the report from the Dialogue Table that concluded in January and which, according to the information provided by the Armed Forces, stated that the remains of some 20 people were buried in that military facility.

Caucoto: "They are from the Comando Conjunto"

Lawyer Nelson Caucoto told La Voz that all the remains that can be located in the Colina sector correspond to victims of the so-called Comando Conjunto.

According to the Rettig Report, some of the disappeared persons are Humberto Fuentes Rodríguez, Luis Moraga Cruz, Ricardo Weibel Navarrete (identified), Ignacio González Espinoza (identified), Miguel Rodríguez Gallardo, Nicomedes Toro Bravo, José Sagredo Pacheco, Carlos Contreras Maluje, Juan René Orellana, Luis Emilio Maturana and Juan Gianelli Company, Fernando Navarro Allendes, Horacio Cepeda Marinkovic, Lincoyán Berrios Cataldo, Juan Fernando Ortiz Letelier, Waldo Pizarro Molina, Héctor Veliz Ramírez, Luis Lazo Santander, and Reinalda Pereira Plaza, among others.

For this reason, the professional considers the system of designating special judges that the Supreme Court carried out at the government's request to be "inefficient." "The system has caused confusion, because there is no doubt that more progress is made with a minister in charge of specific cases."

Source: Primera Linea, July 19, 2001

Date: 07-19-2001

President Michelle Bachelet, along with Minister of Labor Javiera Blanco, participated in the inauguration of a memorial for detained public servants

President Michelle Bachelet, along with the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Javiera Blanco, attended the inauguration of the memorial for forcibly disappeared public servants and political executions, victims of the military dictatorship between 1973 and 1990.

"We are accompanying Raúl de la Puente, president of the ANEF, in this heartfelt tribute to 380 public servants, forcibly disappeared and political executions; and we join in the memory of 15 women who were also public servants. It has been a heartfelt tribute of great justice." – Minister Javiera Blanco

She added that the work process "that we are doing with the ANEF regarding so many demands that existed in the framework of public servants, which today we continue working on and advancing in a series of tables that we have installed," also does justice to the memory of political executions and the forcibly disappeared, said the Minister.

Source: ministeriodeltrabajo.gob.cl