The Seventh Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced the former chief of the CNI, General (Ret.) Odlanier Mena Salinas, to ten years and one day in prison as the perpetrator of the triple homicide of three Socialist leaders.

The crimes were committed on October 19, 1973, in Arica, when Mena was a colonel and commander of the Rancagua Regiment. That day, PS leaders Oscar Ripoll Codoceo, Julio Valenzuela Bastías, and Manuel Donoso Doñobeitía were taken from the barracks where they were being held and transported to the Cuesta Chaca, where they were shot to death by non-commissioned officers of that regiment, René Bravo Llanos and Luis Carrera Bravo.

Both were also sentenced to ten years and one day in prison. The act was covered up as an accident, for which the non-commissioned officers drove the vehicle off a cliff with the bodies inside, already lifeless.

Officially, the then-Colonel Mena, who was also the military judge of Arica, reported that the three leaders died when the vehicle in which they were being transported fell into a ravine—an accident in which, according to his version, two corporals from that barracks also died, which proved to be false.

This is the first conviction against the former CNI chief that he must serve in prison, unless the Penal Chamber of the Supreme Court, acting as a court of cassation, reduces his sentence or grants him other benefits.

These events were investigated as the Arica episode of the Caravan of Death, given that the date of the crime coincides with the stay of General Sergio Arellano Stark and his entourage in Iquique, Pisagua, and Arica.

Source: La Nación, August 17, 2007

Former political prisoners of Arica question right-wing candidate

They say it is necessary for the self-styled “candidate friend” to provide an explanation “because with this photo, he would be whitewashing the image of a murderer.” While last Tuesday the Alianza mayoral candidate in Arica, Nino Baltolu, was posing for posterity, smiling broadly next to Sebastián Piñera, a group of members of the Association of Users of the Comprehensive Health and Human Rights Reparation and Care Program (Prais) requested an explanation for another photograph.

Why does Baltolu appear in one of the images distributed in his campaign accompanied by Army non-commissioned officer (Ret.) Luis Carrera Bravo, who participated in the Caravan of Death? That was the question that struck the members of Prais, and which, apparently, still has no answer.

Through a public statement, the association questioned the opposition candidate’s propaganda and asserted that they are completely outraged. "We had a disagreeable experience seeing the photograph of Nino Baltolu next to Carrera, one of the most ruthless criminals recorded in the violation of human rights in the north of the country, shortly after the military coup," state Hernán Mery, Isabel Córdova, and Walton López, members of the Arica Political Prisoners group, in the document.

They added that it is necessary for the self-styled "candidate friend" to provide an explanation, "because with this photo he would be whitewashing the image of a murderer sentenced by the justice system to ten years and one day in prison." Furthermore, they questioned the date the propaganda began to circulate, "since thousands of innocent victims of the Pinochet dictatorship are being remembered, who apparently, with his attitude, would not be considered friends by the right-wing candidate." In the letter sent by Prais to La Nación, the moment the events occurred for which they question the presence of the former Army non-commissioned officer is detailed. "To remind Mr. Baltolu of the memory, we want to outline that Luis Carrera’s crimes were committed on October 19, 1973, in Arica, as part of the Caravan of Death," they noted. They added that on that day, Socialist Party leaders Óscar Ripoll, Julio Valenzuela, and Manuel Donoso "were taken from the barracks where they were being held and transported to the Cuesta Chaca, where they were shot to death by non-commissioned officers René Bravo and Luis Carrera." Likewise, the Arica Political Prisoners Group points out that the justice system classified these events as crimes against humanity. "In their resolution, the magistrates argued that the State of Chile is obligated to prosecute crimes committed during the past dictatorship, because international criminal legislation that protects human rights demands it," they point out. Prais emphasizes in the statement that "it seems to us an aberration against the thousands of victims that Mr. Baltolu is backed by Carrera, without the slightest questioning of this murderer, who was part of the most brutal campaign against human rights in the history of our country." Although La Nación tried to communicate with the businessman of Italian origin yesterday, his campaign team asserted that he would be campaigning all day in Caleta Vitor and was therefore unreachable. Supreme Court issues sentence for Arica episode of the Caravan of Death Odlanier Mena, Julio Valenzuela, and Luis Carrera face a six-year prison sentence for three homicides, while Sergio Arellano Stark was acquitted due to lack of participation in the events. With maximum sentences of six years in prison, the Supreme Court closed the case for the crimes of the Caravan of Death during its passage through Arica by issuing convictions today against three former uniformed officers. The Penal Chamber of the court ruled in a split decision regarding the homicides of Óscar Ripoll Codoceo, Julio Valenzuela Bastías, and Manuel Donoso Doñabeitía, which occurred on October 20, 1973, in the city of Arica. Ministers Nibaldo Segura, Jaime Rodríguez, Rubén Ballesteros, Hugo Dolmestch, and Carlos Künsemüller applied the following sentences:

• Odlanier Mena Salinas: 6 years in prison for his responsibility as the perpetrator of three homicides.
• Rene Bravo Llanos: 6 years in prison for his responsibility as the perpetrator of three homicides.
• Luis Carrera Bravo: 6 years in prison for his responsibility as the perpetrator of three homicides.
• Sergio Arellano Stark: Acquitted due to lack of participation.

Judges Rodríguez, Dolmestch, and Künsemüller were in favor of issuing a conviction, accepting the appeal for cassation filed against the ruling of the Santiago Court of Appeals (docket 7668-2006) which had established 10-year sentences for the three convicted men.

Meanwhile, Segura and Rubén Ballesteros were in favor of acquitting the three convicted men, applying the principle of the statute of limitations for criminal action. In the civil portion, the lawsuit against the Chilean Treasury was rejected with the dissenting vote of Ministers Dolmestch and Künsemüller, who were in favor of granting payment.

Source: La Nación, Thursday, October 2, 2008

Seven military personnel prosecuted for kidnapping and homicide of two conscripts in 1974

The accused are military personnel who had not been previously prosecuted for human rights cases.

For the Army, the conscripts are, to this day, deserters. The Fourth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals unanimously resolved to prosecute military personnel Juan Iván Vidal Ogueta, Sergio Mercado Valenzuela, Luis Guillermo Carrera Bravo, Horacio Hugo Camillieri Soto, Hernán Alejandro de la Fuente Iribarra, Eulogio Carrasco Carrasco, and José Miguel Ortega Blu as perpetrators of the crimes of aggravated kidnapping and homicide to the detriment of Amador Pantoja Rivera and Juan Francisco Peña Fuenzalida, both third-year high school students.

In October 1974, both were performing their military service in the Rancagua Regiment of Arica, with an assignment in the town of Putre. According to the judicial resolution issued by Ministers Dobra Lusic, Manuel Valderrama, and the participating lawyer María Victoria Valencia, on October 3, 1974, both conscripts were illegally deprived of their liberty by military personnel of the Rancagua regiment in Putre, to then be transferred as prisoners to the central barracks of that regiment in Arica, being subjected to interrogations and torture.

Subsequently, on an undetermined date, without having regained their liberty and finding themselves defenseless at the hands of the perpetrators, both were executed by members of the same institution, proceeding to bury their bodies in the vicinity of the Lauca park.

According to the Court, the described events are covered by the norms contained in the 1949 Geneva Conventions, ratified by Chile and in force at the date of the crime. Nelson Caucoto, a lawyer for FASIC and a plaintiff in the case, pointed out "that this resolution comes to provide justice after so many years in which the relatives of the conscripts are still waiting for their children to return, who were providing service to the homeland, and have never until now received official information in this regard." Caucoto added "that if the Army were consulted today about these conscripts, the updated official information would say 'that they deserted,' that is, they escaped from the army, which has been shown to be an immense institutionalized lie that must be corrected. The conscripts are not in a state of desertion, but were murdered by the military personnel who had them under their custody and protection, who, after taking their lives, buried them illegally to finally exhume them in the same manner, to make their remains disappear." Minister Juan Guzmán, who instructed the process before Minister Joaquín Billard took it over, went to Putre, to the place where the bodies had been buried, finding only bone vestiges that allowed for the identification of both conscripts after they were removed from that place. The accused are military personnel who had not been previously prosecuted for human rights cases. Minister Joaquín Billard must issue arrest warrants for these military personnel so they can be notified of this resolution.

Source: Fasic.org, October 21, 2008

Minister Vicente Hormazábal prosecutes retired Army members for aggravated kidnapping of a Uruguayan citizen in Arica.

In the resolution, Minister Hormázabal indicted retired Army officials Juan Iván Vidal Ogueta and Luis Guillermo Carrera Bravo as perpetrators of the crime. The minister on extraordinary visit for human rights violation cases of the La Serena Court of Appeals, Vicente Hormazábal, issued an indictment in the investigation he is conducting for the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Uruguayan citizen Mónica Benaroyo Penco.

The illicit act was perpetrated starting in late 1973 in the city of Arica. In the resolution (case docket 64.428-Arica), Minister Hormázabal indicted retired Army officials Juan Iván Vidal Ogueta and Luis Guillermo Carrera Bravo as perpetrators of the crime.

According to the information gathered in the investigation stage, the visiting minister established that Mónica Benaroyo Penco was detained in Arica by officers of the Investigative Police on September 14, 1973, remaining in the city's police barracks for 6 days, and was placed at the disposal of the Army Military Prosecutor's Office, which ordered her entry into the city's public jail, granting her freedom on September 25.

However, the victim did not return to her place of residence and, on the contrary, between October and December 1973, "she was seen detained and being tortured in the facilities of Department or Section II of the Rancagua Regiment." This is the section where Lieutenant Juan Vidal Ogueta and Second Sergeant Luis Guillermo Carrera Bravo performed operational duties.

On July 16, 2008, skeletal remains of Benaroyo Penco were found in a military facility located in the "Pampa Chaca Oeste" sector of the city. Vidal Ogueta and Carrera Bravo are currently serving sentences as perpetrators of the crime of aggravated kidnapping in the "Arica Conscripts Episode" case, at the Punta Peuco prison and the Arica Penitentiary Complex, respectively.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl, March 6, 2019

Former Army officer sentenced for crime against Uruguayan citizen in Arica

The minister on extraordinary visit for human rights violation cases of the La Serena Court of Appeals, Vicente Hormazábal Abarzúa, sentenced former Army Colonel Juan Iván Vidal Ogueta to 10 years and one day of effective prison time as the perpetrator of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Uruguayan citizen Mónica Benaroyo Penco.

The illicit act was committed starting in September 1973 in the city of Arica. In the ruling (case docket 64.428), the visiting minister also applied to the former officer the legal accessories of absolute perpetual disqualification for public offices and positions and political rights, and absolute disqualification for professional titles for the duration of the sentence.

Mónica Cristina Benaroyo Penco, 48 years old, was a political refugee of Uruguayan nationality, of Romanian origin, and a militant of the Tupamaros Movement of Uruguay; she lived in Arica and worked in a local factory.

She was detained in her home (a room she rented) by Arica Investigative Police officers on September 14, 1973, and taken to the public jail of that city on the 20th. In subsequent days, she was taken from that prison facility by military personnel belonging to the Intelligence Service of the "Rancagua" Regiment of Arica.

These agents of the so-called Section II of that military unit made repeated incursions into the prison, at any hour of the day or night, to interrogate political prisoners held there, or to take them from the place and lead them to the facilities of the aforementioned regiment.

Among these agents were the head of Section II, the then-Major Luis Aguayo Benard (now deceased), the then-Lieutenant Juan Vidal Ogueta, who seconded Aguayo, and Sergeants Luis Guillermo Carrera Bravo, Juan Cereceda Lawson, and Sergio Mercado Valenzuela (all deceased), among others, who walked in civilian clothes and dealt with the political detainees in the jail.

At the same time, it was ordered that a contingent of Carabineros go to reinforce the jail, assisting in the task of guarding detainees. The Arica regiment was under the command of the then-Colonel Odlanier Mena Salinas, who years later directed the National Intelligence Center (CNI), a repressive entity in which the now-convicted Juan Vidal Ogueta also held hierarchical functions, operating in Santiago as head of the anti-subversive division.

An Investigative Police report states that Mónica Benaroyo Penco was admitted to the Arica prison on September 20 at 3:20 PM. It also states that she was taken from that facility on September 25 at 8:50 PM by the aforementioned military personnel.

This, added to statements from prison guards, Carabineros, and detainees who saw and shared time with Mónica Benaroyo in the prison. Statements from other surviving witnesses and former Army officials coincide in having seen her inside the "Rancagua" regiment, at least during the following two months, as a prisoner in facilities controlled by Section II of that unit.

In this regard, the judicial resolution states: "That the facts described in the preceding motives constitute the crime of aggravated kidnapping, in the consummated degree, provided for in Article 141, paragraph 3 of the Penal Code, since the detention and confinement of the victim Mónica Benaroyo Penco, which was initially carried out by officers of the Arica Investigative Police, being subsequently derived to the Public Jail of said city by order of the Arica Military Prosecutor's Office, and then to Department II of the 'Rancagua' Regiment, resulted in her death possibly after December 1973, thus resulting in serious damage to the person or interests of the victim." In this regard, it is useful to consider the fact that the mortal remains of the victim were found in July 2008 in the Pampa Chaca sector, an area where the army habitually conducted military exercises since before 1973. Furthermore, certain elements discovered next to her mortal remains, such as a cigarette pack, a lighter, etc., place her death at a time close to her detention. The ruling states that: "even existing indications as already established when analyzing the cause of death, that the victim must have been executed by her captors, the truth is that by not having been scientifically determined in a thorough manner that her death was due to a deliberate act of the kidnappers, it can be stated that, as established by the Legal Medical Service, there are indications of criminality, but they are not sufficient to classify them as aggravated homicide, this being the reason to establish that we are in the presence of an aggravated kidnapping."

Source: resumen.cl, November 4, 2023