The head of the II Division, Guillermo Castro Muñoz, appeared before the visiting judge Héctor Solís in the capacity of an accused person. The judge also interviewed the former head of the Special Affairs and Human Rights Brigade of the Investigative Police, Rafael Castillo.

Visiting judge Héctor Solís, who is substantiating the investigation into the forcibly disappeared of Paine in October 1973, interrogated the head of the Army's II Division, General Guillermo Castro Muñoz, this Monday in the capacity of an accused person.

The proceeding took place at the Armed Forces building following a request to that effect by the plaintiff lawyer Pamela Pereira, whose father, Andrés Pereira Salsberg, is among the victims. Until now, according to sources linked to the investigation, the evidence is not conclusive, but the magistrate preferred to require the testimony of the active-duty military officer to fulfill a basic requirement for a potential indictment.

Castro was stationed at the Infantry School in 1973, which is why the plaintiffs suspect he may have had a role in the events under investigation. Solís, who recently indicted six civilians and one retired military officer, took a statement from the former head of the Special Affairs and Human Rights Brigade of the Investigative Police, Rafael Castillo, who was once in charge of the inquiry.

Source: El Mostrador, January 15, 2008

Bachelet approved promotion of general interrogated regarding the forcibly disappeared of Paine

In October 2003, the then-Minister of Defense, Michelle Bachelet, received the proposal from the Army high command that included the promotion of Colonel Guillermo Castro Muñoz to brigadier general; the same officer who on Tuesday testified in the capacity of an accused person before Judge Héctor Solís, who is substantiating the investigation into the forcibly disappeared of Paine.

On that occasion, Bachelet had no objections to approving his inclusion on the list, nor did former President Ricardo Lagos. Clearly, neither of them knew this information. Nor his past. And at the end of last year, the Army's Officer Qualification Board determined to promote Castro Muñoz to division general.

The proposal was approved by the Minister of Defense, José Goñi, and supported by the current President of the Republic. In this way, the proceeding carried out by Judge Solís this Monday at the Armed Forces building once again calls into question the way in which promotions are approved for personnel who were at a post linked to human rights violations cases at the time of the military coup.

Until now, according to sources linked to the investigation, the evidence is not conclusive, but the magistrate preferred to require the testimony of the active-duty military officer to fulfill a basic requirement for a potential indictment.

In this regard, the Army's policy is that as long as no member of its ranks is convicted, they may continue in the institution, because the presumption of innocence prevails.

In situ The current head of the Army's II Division was 20 years old at the time of the 1973 military coup and was serving as a second lieutenant at the San Bernardo Infantry School. It was from that military unit that the repression in Paine was executed, which counted on the help of civilians who coordinately aided in the disappearance of 23 people.

During his career as an officer, Castro has held the positions of director of the same department, military attaché in Argentina, director of the National Academy of Political and Strategic Studies (ANEPE), and head of Army personnel.

Undoubtedly a brilliant trajectory, which is why he is defended in military spheres, where it is asserted that he is not involved in the events for which he is being investigated.

Controversial promotions

At the time of determining officer promotions, the Army indicated that a careful review of the officers' service records is carried out, especially regarding those who will become part of the Corps of Generals. "The entire military career is analyzed," a source from the military institution told El Mostrador.cl, adding that the issue of human rights is also looked at. "Sometimes those records are even incorporated into the Ministry of Defense." After that, the list with potential promotions is passed to the ministry, where the background of each officer is also evaluated, although sources close to Defense point out that "there is no intelligence mechanism." It was explained that generally, those promoted to general are known to Government authorities for the different tasks they have performed as colonels, but more care is taken when the shortlist is drawn up to choose the commander-in-chief. This, however, is not the only case in which officer promotions approved by Concertación governments have been challenged. The most remembered is that of 1997, when then-President Eduardo Frei vetoed the promotion to general of Brigadier Jaime Lepe, former escort to Pinochet and former secretary-general of the Army, suspected of being linked to the death of the Spanish diplomat Carmelo Soria. Also during the Frei era is the episode of the Dialogue Table, when he accepted that General Patricio Ríos, as commander-in-chief of the FACH, designate then-General Patricio Campos as liaison for the body. The latter, married to Viviana Ugarte, a former member of the Joint Command, hid information about forcibly disappeared persons. The other case was the second-in-command of the FACH, Hernán Gabrielli, denounced in 2001 by former political prisoners Héctor Vera, Juan Ruz, and Carlos Bau, who accused him of having brutally beaten the Inacesa leader Eugenio Ruiz-Tagle, one of the victims of the Caravan of Death. In addition, there is the case of Colonel Pedro Pablo Bustos, who served as a military attaché at the United Nations, and when he was about to be promoted to general in 2003, El Mostrador.cl published that he belonged to the dissolved CNI. Although the Army clarified that he performed "non-operational duties" in 1982, it was decided not to promote his advancement. Others who may possibly not be able to be promoted are Colonels Mortimer Jofré and Juan MacLean, indicted in the investigation into Pinochet's millionaire accounts in the Riggs case, along with other collaborators of the former dictator.

Source: El Mostrador, January 16, 2008

Judge investigates General Castro in Paine case

The minister of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, Héctor Solís, is investigating background information regarding the probable participation in the crimes of Paine by the military judge of Santiago and commander of the II Division of the Army based in the Metropolitan Region, General Guillermo Castro Muñoz.

General Castro was interrogated on Monday at Army facilities by the magistrate at the request of lawyer Luciano Fouillioux, who legally represents the lawyer Pamela Pereira in this case. The professional's father is among the 29 peasants and small industrialists murdered between the first days after the military coup of September 11, 1973, and October 16 of that year.

The military judge was interrogated in the capacity of an "accused person" as requested by lawyer Fouillioux. According to sources linked to the investigation, there would be two military personnel who allegedly named General Castro as part of the group of officers and non-commissioned officers of the San Bernardo Infantry School who allegedly participated in these events.

At that time, the general held the rank of second lieutenant or lieutenant. Yesterday, the now-retired prefect of the Investigative Police, Rafael Castillo, also gave a statement for four hours before Judge Solís, although in the capacity of a witness.

He was also confronted with retired Colonel Andrés Magaña Bau, one of those indicted as the perpetrator of these crimes against humanity. The judge needed Castillo to judicially ratify part of the investigations that the police carried out, in which indications of an alleged participation of the current General Castro in these events emerged.

Until now, Judge Solís continues to gather background information to resolve the judicial situation of the general. Lawyer Fouillioux will ask Judge Solís in the coming days for the indictment of the military judge of Santiago.

Sources from the investigation stated that, until now, the evidence regarding criminal responsibility of General Castro in this case "is not sufficiently conclusive." On January 4, Judge Solís indicted seven other people for these illicit acts.

Indicted The six civilians declared defendants who participated in these crimes, all farmers and transport entrepreneurs from the area, are: Juan Francisco Luzoro, Rubén González Carrasco, Claudio Oregón Tudela, Juan Quintanilla Jerez, and the brothers Mario Emilio and Ricardo Jorge Tagle Román.

Retired Army non-commissioned officer José Vásquez Silva was also charged. To date, with Magaña, there are eight people indicted for these crimes.

Source: La Nación, January 16, 2008

Four active generals among those sought in process for Paine victims

Three of them were recently promoted from brigadier general to division general. In August 1973, there were 36 second lieutenants who graduated from the Military School and were assigned to the San Bernardo Infantry School.

Four are the generals in active service who appear on the list of the 36 second lieutenants who in August 1973 graduated from the Military School and were assigned to the San Bernardo Infantry School, to which those who murdered the peasants of Paine in 1973 belonged.

Three of them were recently promoted from brigadier general to division general. This concerns Division General Guillermo Castro Muñoz, commander of the Army's II Division of the Metropolitan Region, who has already been interrogated by Judge Héctor Solís in the search for the other two second lieutenants who in October 1973 participated, along with the then-second lieutenant Andrés Magaña, in the massacre of 22 peasants in Paine.

There is also Division General Cristián Le Dantec Gallardo, current director of Army Finance. The other division general is Julio Baeza von Bohlen, current director of Logistics for the institution. The fourth is Brigadier General Eduardo Ludovico Aldunate Hermann, current commander of the Army's Schools Division.

Aldunate was mentioned by a former agent as a member of the DINA's Mulchén Brigade, while he was the second-in-command of the United Nations forces in Haiti. The minister of the Paine process, Héctor Solís, is investigating to learn the identity of the other two second lieutenants who accompanied Magaña.

Until now, those two names remain under ironclad protection in a pact of silence between the accused and indicted for the massacre of October 16, 1973, in Paine. Coincidentally with the appearance of press information regarding General Castro's interrogation, the Army removed the list of the high command from its institutional website a few days ago.

The photos of the four generals published in this article appear in the 1973 "Cien Aguilas" magazine of the Military School.

Source: La Nación, January 24, 2008

Government backs General Castro amidst strong questioning over his CNI past

In the Executive branch, it was pointed out that the situation of the Army Chief of Staff is different from that of the three former advisors—also linked to the intelligence services of the Military Regime—who were dismissed from the Ministry of Defense. "Other legal norms and other understandings operate there to make decisions," said Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter.

To the investigations into alleged irregularities that are currently affecting the three branches of the Armed Forces, there are now added the links that members of the Army had with the security services of the Military Regime.

After the dismissal on Monday of five former officers of the institution who provided consulting services for the Ministry of Defense due to this issue, a new controversy opened yesterday following the revelation that the Army Chief of Staff, Division General Guillermo Castro Muñoz, was an agent of the National Information Center (CNI) from 1979 to 1982.

This was confirmed by Castro himself in a judicial statement he gave before Judge Héctor Solís, who is investigating the murder of 22 peasants in Paine in October 1973, a case in which the general testified in the capacity of an accused person in 2008.

After these facts became known, the Minister of Defense, Andrés Allamand, analyzed in detail with the ministry's main advisors the case of the Chief of Staff, second in the Army's line of command. In the study of this scenario, it was concluded that Castro's situation is different from that of the dismissed former advisors, mainly because he is an active-duty military officer who was never objected to regarding his continuity or the promotions he obtained within the institution. "Other legal norms and other understandings operate there to make decisions," said the Minister of the Interior, Rodrigo Hinzpeter, who was in charge of delivering the official version of the event. "The decision of Minister Allamand, which we share, is that, dealing with fee-based advisors, there are certain behaviors that are at odds with the spirit of our government," he added. This is why the Executive emphasized Castro's trajectory during the Concertación governments, which always had knowledge of the background linking the officer to the CNI: Commander of the Maipo Regiment (during the Frei Ruiz-Tagle era); military attaché in Argentina (with Lagos); and promoted to general in 2003 (again with Lagos and with Michelle Bachelet as Minister of Defense).

"The position he occupies today within the Army is a position he reached with a military trajectory within the Concertación governments, not as a product of decisions of this government," explained Hinzpeter.

This version was acknowledged by the former Concertación defense minister, Francisco Vidal, who maintained having known Castro's history. "The policy of our government was: to the extent that that officer is indicted and accused, his resignation is requested.

As long as there is no accusation, his resignation is not requested (...) In the case of General Castro, he had obviously given statements before the judge handling the Paine Case. But that judge declared him free of responsibility," he explained.

In that line, Vidal maintained that in his time as minister, 20% of Army officers passed through the CNI (that is, 1 in every 5 officers). Given this information, opposition parliamentarians and representatives of human rights organizations requested the departure of General Castro from the Army. "Whoever belonged to the DINA or the CNI has some degree of responsibility for the crimes.

Besides discharging Castro, all his honors must be stripped," maintained Lorena Pizarro of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared. In turn, the president of the PS, Osvaldo Andrade, expressed that "it would be a gesture of minimal dignity if he did not serve as an active-duty military officer of the Army." The PC deputy, Hugo Gutiérrez, said in turn that "no person who has been part of the DINA or the CNI in security agencies of the military dictatorship has the necessary probity to hold a public office."

Source: La Nación, February 2, 2011

Controversy over General Castro marks Piñera's return from vacation

Before entering a meeting with Minister of Defense Andrés Allamand, the leader answered questions about the case of the Army Chief of Staff, Division General Guillermo Castro Muñoz, who admitted in a judicial statement that he was an agent of the National Information Center (CNI) from 1979 to 1982.

Piñera emphasized that for the current administration, the "commitment to human rights is total and unwavering," specifying that "no person who has responsibility for human rights violations will be part of the Armed Forces or our government." And since Castro Muñoz has not been indicted in repression cases, for the government there is no problem with him being the number two of the Army, as Minister Allamand specified.

According to the Secretary of State, the mere fact of having belonged to a repressive agency like the DINA or the CNI does not disqualify people from continuing to have a career in the Army or even in the fiscal apparatus.

Allamand remarked that the same criterion that was followed during the "Concertación governments" will be applied, alluding to the history of promotions of the now-questioned general, who from commander of the Maipo Regiment (during the Frei Ruiz-Tagle era), went on to be a military attaché in Argentina (with Ricardo Lagos) and then promoted to general in 2003 (again with Lagos and with Michelle Bachelet as Minister of Defense).

In this way, the Executive reinforces the thesis that the situation of the Army Chief of Staff is different from that of the former advisors—also linked to the intelligence services of the Military Regime—who were dismissed from the Ministry of Defense. "Other legal norms and other understandings operate there to make decisions," according to what Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter said this Tuesday.

Source: La Nación, February 2, 2011

Judge of the Paine case: "There is no background information involving General Castro"

Visiting judge Héctor Solís, in charge of the case of the massacre of 22 peasants of Paine that occurred in October 1973 during the military dictatorship, confirmed that the current Army Chief of Staff, General Guillermo Castro Muñoz, is not involved, for now, in the event.

This is what he maintained after the judicial statement made by the general in 2003, where he acknowledged having been an agent of the National Information Center (CNI), was leaked. "He described his professional trajectory and within it mentions having worked in the CNI.

In accordance with that background information provided by him and that which the court had available, he was left at liberty," declared the judge. Solís added that "effectively, against him there is no background information, for now, that allows him to be charged." The visiting judge explained that "there are some soldiers who mention that in the events, apart from Lieutenant Andrés Magaña (indicted in the case), 1 or 2 officers had participated, but upon being shown the photograph of all the officers of the time, none was able to identify Guillermo Castro Muñoz."

Source: La Nación, February 2, 2011

Current "number 2" of the Army was allegedly a former CNI agent

This was stated by General Guillermo Castro Muñoz himself, current Chief of Staff, in a judicial statement to which the EFE agency had access. General Guillermo Castro Muñoz, current Army Chief of Staff, acknowledged having been an agent of the National Information Center (CNI) during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, according to a judicial statement to which the EFE agency had access.

The general, a specialist in the intelligence area and the second most senior military officer in the military institution, acknowledged his membership in the CNI in a judicial statement he gave in the investigation into the massacre of 22 peasants in Paine that occurred in October 1973.

In the statement, from June 19, 2003, and in which he participated in the capacity of a witness, the current "number two" of the Army relates that he was at the San Bernardo Infantry School, near Santiago, until the end of December 1973, and at the beginning of 1974, he took a course in Panama. "In March 1974, I was assigned to the 16th Infantry Regiment of Talca, and in 1979 I was sent to the Commander-in-Chief, to the National Information Center," the uniformed officer indicated.

Castro added that he remained in that repressive agency until 1982, when he went "to the Fourth Legislative Commission (of the Military Junta) and in 1985 I entered the War Academy." Until now, the duties the general performed in the CNI, an agency that replaced the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) at the end of 1977, are unknown.

In the judicial process for the death of the 22 peasants, Judge Héctor Solís is still trying to identify an Army officer who in 1973 was serving at the San Bernardo Infantry School with the rank of second lieutenant, and who participated in the massacre along with retired Colonel Andrés Magaña, who is indicted.

On January 14, 2008, General Castro gave a second statement in the investigation of the same case, although this time in the capacity of an accused person. In that statement, to which EFE had access, the uniformed officer admitted that after the military coup, he was also part of a rifle company in the so-called "Cuartel Dos" of the San Bernardo Infantry School, a facility known as the "Cerro Chena" detention center.

However, Castro told the magistrate that "in 'Cuartel Dos' I never saw detainees and only found out later through the press that there were any." General Castro is currently the "number two" of the Army, and is in charge, among other functions, of signing the reports and documents that the institution sends to the judges who investigate the participation of uniformed personnel in crimes against humanity committed during the military dictatorship (1973-1990).

Both the previous Army commander-in-chief and current Undersecretary of Defense, General Oscar Izurieta, and the current head of that military branch, General Juan Miguel Fuente-Alba, have stated that in the institution's corps of generals, there is no former DINA or CNI agent remaining in active service.

Source: EFE, February 1, 2011

AFDD asks to discharge General Guillermo Castro Muñoz

Lorena Pizarro, president of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared, cannot understand how former CNI agents still hold high positions in the Army. With indignation, the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared (AFDD) has received the fact that former agents of repressive services of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship, such as the DINA and the CNI, continue to have important positions in public offices and in the Armed Forces.

This is the case of General Guillermo Castro Muñoz, current Army Chief of Staff, and former Brigadier Pablo Belmar Labbé, who was hired by the Ministry of Housing to be the head of security for the Metropolitan Park.

Lorena Pizarro, president of the AFDD, expressed to Radio Cooperativa regarding General Castro that "I cannot understand it, I cannot accept it. I don't know if people grasp the barbarity of what we are talking about.

We are talking about the second man within the Chilean Army, we are talking about a criminal, we are talking about a subject who participated in the massacre" of 22 peasants of Paine, a case for which the representative of the military institution testified in the capacity of an accused person and where he acknowledged having been a CNI agent. "Apparently that didn't mean anything during all these years within the Army, other than making them promoted and making him have a brilliant career within the institution that in theory they sell us the idea that it belongs to all Chileans," she added.

Pizarro declared that she had background information on the matter. "We have pointed out many times very serious situations linked to human rights violators and on many occasions this situation is relativized.

In the case of Castro and many other cases, we have said that whoever belonged to the repressive apparatuses of the dictatorship can never be treated with the criterion of the presumption of innocence.

I am not committing a legal aberration; what I am saying is that whoever belonged to the DINA or the CNI, to repressive apparatuses of a terrorist State, has some degree of responsibility for the crimes," she asserted.

She requested that "besides discharging Castro, all his honors must be stripped. All of these are murderers and criminals. Today we have the second man of the Chilean Army linked to crimes against humanity." In relation to Brigadier Belmar, indicted in the crime of Carmelo Soria, she stated that "what is happening at the Metropolitan Park is very serious; we are talking about subjects who fulfill functions where they relate to people.

Besides the impunity and the rudeness, it is serious because they are people who should be in jail. These people are again assigned control and protection positions, subjects who are criminals and murderers.

What barbarity, what brutality, what lack of ethics, what lack of responsibility is what is happening in Chile and what has been happening for years!" "If the Armed Forces were purged institutions that take distance from what the military dictatorship was, they would never allow subjects like these to have had a career," she added.

Pizarro affirmed that this situation can be repeated. "With (General Juan Miguel) Fuente-Alba, maybe the same thing can happen, and with (Juan Emilio) Cheyre, there has also been talk of possible participation in crimes.

Before promoting people, before they reach the responsibilities that, for example, Juan Emilio Cheyre reached, one must ensure and guarantee their non-linkage to crimes," she maintained. Regarding the dismissal of former CNI agents who were working in the Undersecretariat of Defense, the leader stated that "what Andrés Allamand (minister) did in Defense, we hope it is not just a sample of something" and added that this "is only the tip of a giant iceberg." Pizarro denounced a lack of political will from this government as well as from the Concertación governments, to whom she asked to explain why they were not capable of taking a decision like the one Allamand had in Defense. "We spoke with all the Ministers of Defense of the previous governments, without exception, and we pointed out these complaints to them and demanded the cessation of functions of the sub-chiefs linked to cases of human rights violations," she informed.

Source: La Nación, February 1, 2011

Army Chief of Staff was a CNI agent

General Guillermo Castro Muñoz, current Army Chief of Staff, acknowledged having been an agent of the National Information Center (CNI). Castro acknowledged his participation in the CNI in a statement he gave regarding the death of 22 people in Paine in 1973.

The military officer revealed that he was part of that agency until 1982. The officer had to testify twice. The second was in 2008, in the capacity of an accused person, in a process led by Judge Héctor Solís.

In that statement, he admitted that he was part of a rifle company at the San Bernardo Infantry School, a facility that was used as a detention center. Castro assured the judge that "I never saw detainees and only found out later through the press that there were any." Despite the acknowledgment, it is unknown what duties Castro Muñoz performed in the CNI.

THEY ASK FOR REMOVAL

Upon learning of General Guillermo Castro's past, the president of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared, Lorena Pizarro, asked for the military officer's removal. "If in this country the Armed Forces were institutions that take distance from the military dictatorship, they would never have allowed subjects like these to be promoted," Pizarro pointed out to Radio Cooperativa.

Pizarro asked the State to "discharge them and strip them of all honors now," in relation to the uniformed personnel implicated in crimes against humanity.

Source: La Cuarta, February 10, 2011

Acknowledgment by current Chief of Staff General Guillermo Castro Muñoz of having been a CNI agent

The president of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared (AFDD), Lorena Pizarro, launched harsh criticisms following the revelations that former agents of repressive agencies of the dictatorship fulfill functions in the Ministry of Defense and the high command of the Armed Forces.

Regarding the acknowledgment by the current Chief of Staff, General Guillermo Castro Muñoz, of having been an agent of the National Information Center, Pizarro said that "if in this country the Armed Forces were institutions that take distance from the military dictatorship, they would never have allowed subjects like these to be promoted." The "second man" of the Army acknowledged having belonged to the repressive agency until 1982, although until now the duties he may have performed in the CNI are unknown.

The uniformed officer admitted that after the coup, he was also part of a rifle company in the so-called "Cuartel Dos" of the San Bernardo Infantry School. "Today this Government that talks and rinses its mouth with the issue of crime," but "is full of terrorists in the institutions of the State," manifested the president of the AFDD. "This is not going to be the first nor the last case; we demand from the State of Chile the end of the policy of impunity," sentenced Pizarro, urging the State to "discharge them and strip them of all honors now" to the uniformed personnel implicated in crimes against humanity.

Source: Cooperativa.cl, February 1, 2011