Representative Position: Counselor of the Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex Union representing the Fundo Paimún. Socialist Party. Date of Detention: October 10, 1973

On October 10, 1973, between 9:00 PM and 11:00 PM, the following individuals were detained in the Liquiñe sector, within the Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex: Luis Alfredo Rivera Catricheo, timber worker, with no known political affiliation; Eliseo Maximiliano Tracanao Pincheira, timber worker, linked to the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.); Miguel José Tracanao Pincheira, timber worker, linked to the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.); Alejandro Antonio Tracanao Pincheira, timber worker, linked to the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.); Salvador Alamos Rubilar, timber industrialist, member of the Socialist Party; José Héctor Bórquez Levicán, timber worker, foreman at the Trafún estate, member of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.); Alberto Segundo Reinante Raipán, timber worker, member of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.); Ernesto Reinante Raipán, timber worker, member of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement; Modesto Juan Reinante Raipán, timber worker, member of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.); Luis Armando Lagos Torres, timber worker, member of the Socialist Party; Carlos Segundo Figueroa Zapata, timber worker, counselor for Fundo Paimún to the Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex Union, member of the Socialist Party; Mauricio Segundo Curiñanco Reyes, carpenter, member of the Socialist Party; Isaías José Fuentealba Calderón, Area Chief at the Trafún estate of the Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex, member of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.); Daniel Antonio Castro López, merchant, correspondent for the newspaper "El Clarín" in Temuco, member of the Socialist Party.

For its part, the Rettig Report includes the names of the following victims as part of this same repressive situation: Carlos Alberto Cayumán Cayumán; and the 27-year-old teacher from Puerto Fuy, a member of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), Bernarda Rosalba Vera Contardo.

The detentions were carried out by uniformed personnel who carried a list with the names of the detainees. The apprehending group was composed of military personnel wearing combat uniforms who belonged to the No. 3 Maquehua Helicopter Group of the city of Temuco, of the Chilean Air Force (FACH); some Carabineros officers from the Liquiñe station, and civilians from the area.

They moved in private vehicles, a pickup truck belonging to the Agriculture and Livestock Service (S.A.G.), a police vehicle, an ambulance from the Liquiñe station, and they also had the support of a FACH helicopter.

The captors acted in several groups, which met at the Coñaripe junction, close to all the places where the detentions were carried out. There, they took the road to Villarrica, and around 2:00 AM on October 11, 1973, at the bridge over the Toltén River, they proceeded to kill them and throw their bodies into the water.

Some of the bodies were found days later by a group of people working on the banks of the Toltén River. The bodies were placed in sacks with stones so they would not float; however, some bodies surfaced. This situation was immediately reported to the Carabineros, who, by order of the officer on duty, proceeded to push the bodies back into the river's current.

Among the testimonies obtained is that of Honorinda Lagos Sepúlveda, spouse of Isaías Fuentealba Calderón, Area Chief of the Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex, who points out regarding her husband that he left early on the morning of October 10, 1973, after his driver picked him up, and they traveled from Trafún to Liquiñe, about 14 km away.

Upon returning in the afternoon, at a place called Los Canelales, the victim was detained by Carabineros, who left Isaías Fuentealba's briefcase with the driver, which contained documentation from the Timber Complex, so that he could deliver it to his spouse.

Part of this testimony indicates that the detainees were taken to the Liquiñe Inn, owned by Tulio García, where they were beaten and kept in a cabin. After that, they were taken out tied up and blindfolded, being transported in vehicles.

For its part, the family of Salvador Alamos Rubilar pointed out that the victim had been detained previously, remaining in that condition from September 18 to 28, 1973, for alleged links to a failed ambush on the Neltume station.

His captors on that occasion were Carabineros; they detained him along with his 17-year-old son, Salvador. Alamos Rubilar was tortured. His arrest on October 10, 1973, was carried out by military personnel in the presence of his daughter, Mirta Alamos, who pointed out that in the vehicle where they loaded her father, tied by his hands and feet, there were more detainees.

The victim's spouse, Mrs. Elcira Figueroa, immediately began searching for him in different places such as: the Valdivia Logistics Battalion, the Public Jail, the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco, etc.

On one occasion, when interviewing the Military Prosecutor, a high-ranking officer who was present intervened, telling her that the operation was carried out by "Black Beret" Commandos from Colina, so the local military authorities had nothing to do with it, adding: "you had better mourn and grieve for the dead."

All the aforementioned victims, executed outside of any legal process by State agents who violated their right to life and then hid their bodies, preventing their families from giving them a dignified burial, remain in the status of forcibly disappeared.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

There is no knowledge that judicial actions have been taken.

Eliseo Maximiliano Tracanao Pincheira appears in the Rettig Report, and in a sworn statement by his mother, Mrs. Margarita del Carmen Valenzuela González, as Eliseo Maximiliano Tracanao Valenzuela. This surname had to be rectified, because the young man is effectively registered in the Civil Registry by his grandmother with the surnames Tracanao Pincheira.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity

The Santiago Court of Appeals confirmed this Friday the 18-year sentence.

The peasants were from the town of Liquiñe and worked at a timber complex in the area. The appeals court rejected an appeal filed by Guerra Jorquera to invalidate the sentence imposed by Judge Alejandro Solís in January 2006, which is currently the harshest sentence handed down for human rights violations.

The retired Army colonel was also ordered to pay 250 million pesos (about 480,000 dollars) as compensation, by virtue of a civil lawsuit filed against him by five relatives of the victims. According to the Rettig Report, which documented human rights violations during the regime of the late dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), the agricultural workers were detained in a joint operation by the Carabineros police of the Liquiñe station, Army personnel, and civilians.

The peasants were taken to the Villarrica bridge, over the Toltén River, where they were executed and their bodies were never found. Among those executed are the brothers Modesto, Ernesto, and Alberto Reinante Raipán, all three workers and members of the Panguipulli timber complex union.

The plaintiff lawyer, Nelson Caucoto, celebrated the ruling because, as he said, it confirms the crimes and establishes exemplary punishments against the accused.

Source: August 03, 2007 El Mostrador

Date: 08-03-2007

Judge Solís handed down the highest penalty to date in human rights cases

The magistrate sentenced a retired Army lieutenant colonel to 18 years of major imprisonment in its maximum degree for the aggravated kidnapping of 11 peasants in Liquiñe. Minister Alejandro Solís handed down this Thursday the highest penalty known for a case linked to human rights violations during the military regime led by General (R) Augusto Pinochet.

The magistrate sentenced retired Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Alberto Guerra Jorquera to 18 years of major imprisonment in its maximum degree as the perpetrator of repeated crimes of aggravated kidnapping, in the so-called "Liquiñe episode." The ruling is based on the repression suffered starting on October 10, 1973, by a group of 11 peasants who sympathized with the Popular Unity (UP), in the Andean foothills sector of the Tenth Region of Los Lagos.

Among the victims are Salvador Álamos Rubilar, José Héctor Bórquez Levican, Daniel Antonio Castro López, Carlos Alberto Cayuman Cayuman, Mauricio Segundo Curiñanco Reyes, Carlos Figueroa Zapata, Isaías José Fuentealba Calderón, Luis Armando Lagos Torres, Ernesto Juan Reinante Raipan, Modesto Juan Reinante Raipan, and Luis Alfredo Rivera Catricheo.

The retired Army officer was also ordered to pay a total sum of $250 million as compensation, by virtue of a civil lawsuit filed against him by five relatives of the deceased. The beneficiaries, with $50 million each, will be Miguel Ángel and Isaías Julián Fuentealba Lagos, as well as Héctor Hernán, Hugo Raúl, and Didier Antonio Figueroa Arraigada.

Additionally, the owner of the Liquiñe Hot Springs, a civilian identified as Luis Osvaldo García Guzmán, was convicted, and in his capacity as the perpetrator of the aggravated kidnapping of Luis Armando Lagos Torres, he received a sentence of five years and one day.

Source: January 26, 2006 El Mostrador

Date: 01-26-2006

Individual involved in Liquiñe case processed

The investigating judge, Juan Guzmán Tapia, decided tonight to process Luis Osvaldo García Tapia as the perpetrator of aggravated kidnapping, for the case of Luis Armando Lagos Torres, 50 years old—a worker at the Panguipulli timber complex—a Socialist militant detained in Curranco in 1973.

Luis Lagos was detained in 1973 along with 15 other people in the south, in the so-called "Caravanita Chica," in the Ninth Region.

The 16 disappeared

Salvador Alamos Rubilar José Héctor Bórquez Livican Daniel Antonio Castro López Carlos Alberto Callumán Callumán Mauricio Segundo Curiñaco Reyes Carlos Figueroa Zapata Isaías José Fuentealba Calderón Luis Armando Lagos Torres Alberto Segundo Reinante Raipán Ernesto Juan Reinante Raipán Modesto Reinante Raipán Luis Rivera Catricheo Alejandro Antonio Tracanao Pincheira José Miguel Tracanao Pincheira Eliseo Maximiliano Tracanao Valenzuela Bernarda Rosalba Vera Contardo

Source: El Mostrador – May 23, 2001

Date: 05-23-2001