The minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, has prosecuted five former CNI agents as responsible for the murders of Arturo Vilavella Araujo, a member of the MIR political commission, and Lucía Vergara Valenzuela and Sergio Peña Díaz, militants of that same party.

The three had clandestinely re-entered Chile and were living in a house located at Calle Fuenteovejuna 1330, in Las Condes, which on September 7, 1983, was machine-gunned and set on fire by CNI agents.

Those prosecuted for the qualified homicides of the three MIR members are former Army Major Alvaro Corbalán Castilla (an executioner implicated in numerous CNI crimes), Aquiles González Cortés, Norman Jeldes Aguilar, Roberto Schmied Zanzi, and Sergio Canals Baldwin.

According to Minister Carroza’s investigation, the three MIR militants had been under surveillance by the CNI for at least three months. The judicial ruling dismantles the dictatorship's version that this had been a "confrontation." The judge notes: "The development of this investigation allows us to argue that the confrontation, in the terms presented in the official version, did not exist, since the preparation of the detention operation—both through the permanent tracking and surveillance of the victims and the advance notice with which they had been located, the knowledge that the brigade in charge of the investigation and repression of the MIR had regarding its members, the preparation of the site by cordoning it off and emptying the neighboring houses, and the subsequent alteration of the crime scene—leads one to believe it is certain that their detention could have been carried out without the need to seek their death as a result."

On the same night as the murder of Arturo Vilavella, Lucía Vergara, and René Peña, the CNI extermination squad moved to Calle Janequeo 5707, in Quinta Normal, where they murdered Hugo Ratier Noguera (39 years old, Argentine, in charge of the MIR's military structure in Santiago) and Alejandro Salgado Troquián, a militant of that structure.

NAVY OFFICERS PROSECUTED

Furthermore, 25 years after the death of Marcelo Barrios, a student at the Universidad de Playa Ancha in Valparaíso and a militant of the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez, his relatives filed a criminal complaint against the former Navy officers who appear responsible for that crime.

They are Corvette Captain Sergio Schifelle Kirby, Frigate Captain Francisco Pavez Puga, Sergeants Jorge Figueroa Castro and Silverio Fierro Peña, and Corporals Luis Ceballos Guerrero and Oscar Aspee Aspee. The perpetrators, who belonged to the Marine Infantry in 1989, have been identified, but years have passed and no sentences have yet been handed down against them.

Gladys Barrios, sister of the murdered young man, who filed the new complaint, stated that the minister of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Jaime Arancibia, "has already reopened cases that had been dismissed and the guilty parties have been prosecuted, which gives us a glimmer of hope to continue fighting for justice in Marcelo's case."

Various acts were held in Valparaíso in memory of Marcelo Barrios, including a tribute at the Universidad de Playa Ancha and at the 18 de Septiembre Neighborhood Council in Cerro Yungay.

JUSTICE IS SLOW, BUT SOMETIMES IT ARRIVES

Meanwhile, the minister of the Concepción Court of Appeals, Carlos Aldana Fuentes, ordered the arrest and incommunicado detention at the Talcahuano Naval Base of retired Navy Captain Julio Alarcón Saavedra, accused of the murder of union leader Hugo Candia Núñez on October 11, 1973.

A former conscript of Marine Infantry Detachment No. 3, Patricio Salamanca, has testified in the proceedings that he witnessed the homicide of Hugo Candia at the hands of the then-lieutenant Julio Alarcón Saavedra. The murderer is currently a businessman, academic, business consultant, and security and defense analyst.

Hugo Candia was secretary of the Sigdo Koppers employees' union in September of '73. The president of that union, Máximo Neira, was murdered on the same day and in the same place. The Navy handed their bodies over to their families in sealed coffins.

The plaintiff lawyer, Nelson González Bustos, pointed out that former Navy Captain Julio Alarcón is the same officer who killed the Huachipato worker, José Constanzo Vera. Although Alarcón had confessed to that crime, the Supreme Court acquitted him due to the statute of limitations and amnesty, in contravention of the Geneva Conventions on crimes against humanity.

Minister Carlos Aldana also ordered the arrest and incommunicado detention of retired Rear Admiral Ari Acuña Figueroa, former head of Department Two (Intelligence) of the II Naval Zone at the time of the homicides of Hugo Candia, José Constanzo Vera, Máximo Neira, and Ricardo Barra Martínez at the facility known as "La Ciudadela," belonging to the Marine Infantry in Talcahuano.

The retired rear admiral is accused by Minister Aldana of being an accomplice or accessory after the fact.

The four murdered workers were MIR militants in the Concepción area.

Source: resumen.cl, September 20, 2014

Minister Jaime Arancibia issues indictments for the 1989 homicide of Marcelo Barrios Andrade

The minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights violation cases of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Jaime Arancibia Pinto, issued seven indictments against those responsible for the death of Marcelo Barrios Andrade, an event that occurred in 1989 in Cerro Yungay, Valparaíso.

Carlos Fernando Schnaidt Parker, Francisco José Pavez Puga, Sergio Patricio Esteban Chiffelle Kirby, Jorge Segundo Figueroa Castro, Silverio Máximo Fierro Peña, and Oscar Arturo Aspée Aspée were indicted as authors of the crime of qualified homicide; while Fernando Benedicto Pereda Navarro was prosecuted as an accessory after the fact.

According to the background information recorded in the case, "on the afternoon of August 31, 1989, a Marine Infantry detachment of the Chilean Navy carried out a raid on the property located at Pasaje Latorre, house 7, Cerro Yungay in Valparaíso, in compliance with an order issued by the Commander of the local Garrison of Valparaíso, and within the context of an investigation in which several homes in the region were raided and other people detained.

As a result of this operation, the occupant of said place, Marcelo Esteban Barrios Andrade, died. He was the target of numerous bullet impacts fired by Marine Infantry personnel carrying out the action, resulting in him being riddled with bullets.

Additionally, they detonated explosive charges in the home. There was no relationship between the action deployed on that occasion, the weaponry used, and the result of the operation, with any possible reaction from the deceased, who allegedly defended himself with a pistol. The aforementioned Barrios Andrade died from 'skeletal and visceral trauma due to projectiles'."

Furthermore, the indictment states that "an attempt was made to cover up the facts through a statement issued by the Chilean Investigative Police, linking these events to a robbery of the Valparaíso Stock Exchange that occurred at an earlier date, in which Barrios Andrade was allegedly accused of participating, which has not been legally established."

Source: cronicadigital.cl, July 13, 2015

Minister María Fierro Reyes convicts retired Marine Infantrymen for qualified homicide in Cerro Yungay

The minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights violation cases of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, María Cruz Fierro Reyes, convicted three retired members of the Navy's Marine Infantry for their responsibility in the crime of qualified homicide of Marcelo Barrios Andrade, an illicit act committed in Cerro Yungay in August 1989.

In the ruling (case roll 997-2010), Minister Fierro Reyes sentenced Sergio Patricio Esteban Chiffelle Kirby, Luis Osvaldo de Lourdes Ceballos Guerra, and Óscar Arturo Aspée Aspée to effective prison terms of 10 years and one day, plus the legal accessories of absolute perpetual disqualification from public offices and political rights, and absolute disqualification for professional titles for the duration of the sentences.

In the case, the acquittal of Fernando Benedicto Pereda Navarro was decreed regarding the accusation that identified him as an accessory after the fact to the homicide of Barrios Andrade.

In the resolution, the visiting minister deemed it proven, beyond any reasonable doubt, that on the afternoon of August 31, 1989, "(...) a Marine Infantry detachment of the Chilean Navy carried out a raid on the property located at Pasaje Latorre, house 7, Cerro Yungay, Valparaíso, in compliance with an order issued by the commander of the Local Garrison of Valparaíso, within the context of an investigation in which several homes in the region were raided and other people detained.

As a result of this operation, the occupant of said place, Marcelo Esteban Barrios Andrade, died. He was the target of numerous bullet impacts fired by Marine Infantry personnel carrying out the action, resulting in him being riddled with bullets.

Additionally, they detonated explosive charges in the home. There was no relationship between the action deployed on that occasion, the weaponry used, and the result of the operation, with any possible reaction from the deceased, who allegedly defended himself with a pistol. The aforementioned Barrios Andrade died from 'skeletal and visceral trauma due to projectiles'."

The established facts constitute, for the court, a crime of qualified homicide in the context of crimes against humanity, "(...) provided for and sanctioned in Article 391, No. 1, Fifth circumstance, that is, with known premeditation, since in light of the gathered evidence there was deliberation and planning over time of the military operation that culminated in the death of Marcelo Barrios Andrade.

This inevitably flows from it having been conceived beforehand, from its organization by determining in advance the work that each officer had to perform at the scene, each with a previously assigned task, carrying elements suitable for causing the death of a person, all of them also Marine Infantrymen of recognized military training, acting with the assistance of personnel from the same branch who monitored the property to report any movements noticed of its occupant, with armed personnel who kept third parties who intended to approach away from the sector, placing explosive elements at least in one of the windows of the property, located immediately next to the access door, using grenades when entering the home, and with an order to shoot as soon as they were ordered to do so by the person leading the team, all of which reveals a planned and coordinated action that, given the war material used, could only conclude with the death of Marcelo Barrios Andrade."

Likewise, Minister Fierro Reyes dismissed the notion that the actions were legal, as it had been ordered "(...) to detain the victim and raid his home, and it was not justified that Marine Infantrymen, who make up a highly specialized combat force of the Chilean Navy, were commissioned for this.

Regarding this, the accused Sergio Chiffelle Kirby stated that neither he nor the members of the operation belonged to any type of counter-subversive, counter-terrorist, intelligence, or counter-intelligence organization.

They were members of the Marine Infantry Special Forces Command, whose combat or reconnaissance missions were oriented toward Argentina and Peru, so each of those who participated in the armed action in question had been in the North and South theaters of operations in the conflicts with said neighboring countries.

He adds that the instruction and training they receive is intense and rigorous, oriented toward succeeding in their missions, and exceptionally, due to their preparation, they were called by the Command-in-Chief of the First Naval Zone to form the combat patrol in question, in which military and combat procedures were used, for which they were trained and knew what they had to do."

Source: Judiciary, September 2, 2023

Valparaíso Court sentences retired Navy officer to 15 years and one day in prison for qualified homicide in Cerro Yungay

The Valparaíso Court of Appeals sentenced retired Navy officer Sergio Patricio Esteban Chiffelle Kirby to an effective prison term of 15 years and one day, as the author of the consummated crime of qualified homicide of Marcelo Esteban Barrios Andrade, an illicit act committed in Cerro Yungay on August 31, 1989.

In a unanimous ruling (case roll 2.868-2023), the Second Chamber of the appellate court—composed of Minister Silvana Donoso Ocampo, Minister Rodrigo Cortés Gutiérrez, and lawyer (i) Felipe Caballero—confirmed the appealed sentence, with the declaration that the penalty of 10 years and one day of imprisonment, issued by the visiting minister María Cruz Fierro Reyes, is increased.

Likewise, the court maintained the 10-year and one-day sentences imposed on the non-commissioned officers at the time of the events, Luis Osvaldo de Lourdes Ceballos Guerra and Óscar Arturo Aspée Aspée, as co-authors of the crime.

In the civil aspect, the second-instance court confirmed the first-degree sentence, with the declaration that the total sum for moral damages to the victim's siblings is increased to $280,000,000.

"Regarding the crime of qualified homicide that has been deemed established, provided for and sanctioned in Article 391 No. 1 of the Penal Code, the ninth foundation of the appealed sentence states: '...

That, on the afternoon of August 31, 1989, a Marine Infantry detachment of the Chilean Navy carried out a raid on the property located at Pasaje Latorre, house 7, Cerro Yungay, Valparaíso, in compliance with an order issued by the Commander of the local Garrison of Valparaíso, within the context of an investigation in which several homes in the region were raided and other people detained.

As a result of this operation, the occupant of said place, Marcelo Esteban Barrios Andrade, died. He was the target of numerous bullet impacts fired by Marine Infantry personnel carrying out the action, resulting in him being riddled with bullets.

Additionally, they detonated explosive charges in the home. There was no relationship between the action deployed on that occasion, the weaponry used, and the result of the operation, with any possible reaction from the deceased, who allegedly defended himself with a pistol. The aforementioned Barrios Andrade died from 'skeletal and visceral trauma due to projectiles...'", the ruling reproduces.

The resolution adds: "That this Court shares the establishment of the facts and their legal qualification as constituting the crime of qualified homicide described and sanctioned in Article 391 No. 1, fifth circumstance of the Penal Code, according to the wording in force at the time of the events, perpetrated against Marcelo Esteban Barrios Andrade (...), coinciding with the first-instance Court."

"That, regarding the concurrence of the qualifying circumstance provided for in Article 12, number 1 of the Penal Code, jurisprudence and doctrine understand that treachery (alevosía) constitutes a mode or form of execution of the crime that requires on the part of the agent the concealment of their criminal intention, to execute the homicide with security, without risks for themselves, proceeding with caution and on the safe side, in a perfidious and insidious manner, attacking suddenly, by betrayal or by surprise, when the victim is caught off guard or defenseless, it being essential that this situation of advantage has been sought, procured, or taken advantage of by the aggressor," it adds.

"It has also been maintained," it continues, "that acting 'on the safe side' is the lurking, ambush, or agguato in the Italian Penal Code, which derives from the Spanish 'aguaitar,' even though among us it is broader, since it 'also includes cases in which the means are hidden and not necessarily the person of the perpetrator.' 'The note of moral reproach arises when the conditions of assurance have been especially sought or procured by the perpetrator, which also reveals the existence of the treacherous intent' (Alfredo Etcheberry, 'Derecho Penal,' Editorial Jurídica de Chile, year 1998 T.III, pages 60 and 61)."

Likewise, the ruling states: "Acting on the safe side means creating or taking advantage of factual conditions that allow the agent to rule out any risk to their person in the commission of the act. There are two modalities of acting on the safe side, both constituting treachery.

The agent can create a situation especially intended to provide security to their action or to marginalize any risk to their person. It can also happen that the agent simply takes advantage of the concrete conditions in which the victim finds themselves and which offer them security in their action, not prepared or determined by them. (Mario Garrido, 'El Homicidio y sus Figuras Penales,' Editorial Jurídica Conosur, second edition, year 1994, pages 157 and 158)."

"On the other hand, acting with known premeditation assumes the concurrence of the prior resolution to commit the crime, the existence of a more or less prolonged interval of time between such resolution and the execution of the act, the persistence during said interval of the will to commit the crime, and the coldness and tranquility of mind at the moment of executing the act, all elements verified through external facts different from the mere recognition of the author (Ossandón Widow, María.

Delitos contra la Vida. (2022) In Rodríguez Collao, L. (Ed), Derecho Penal. Parte Especial. Editorial Tirant lo Blanch. pp. 88)," it cites.

For the appellate court, in this case: "(...) said qualifying circumstance was sufficiently proven with the accumulation of evidentiary background information outlined in the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th foundations of the appealed sentence, which constitute a set of judicial presumptions that, when legally assessed, allowed for the proof that at the appropriate moment and place, scrutinizing conveniently and deliberately the propitious instant, Marine Infantrymen—on the occasion of complying with a search warrant and without complying with it as the law indicates—suddenly and without the knowledge of the only person who was inside the property located at Pasaje Latorre, house 7, Cerro Yungay, Valparaíso, ensured in this way an action exempt from risks coming from an eventual defense by the victim, who was the target of numerous bullet impacts fired by said Marine Infantry personnel, among whom were the sentenced individuals who carried out the action, resulting in Marcelo Esteban Barrios Andrade being riddled with bullets, who—furthermore—detonated explosive charges, with the known consequences."

"In that sequence of attacks, Marcelo Esteban Barrios Andrade had no possibility of repelling or avoiding an eventual attack, facts known to the Marine Infantrymen, circumstances that were created and that were carefully fostered according to the plan and that left them safe from all danger, ensuring their impunity," the resolution affirms.

"All these elements leave no room for doubt regarding the concurrence of the objective and subjective requirements demanded by the qualifying circumstance of treachery, which is why it is considered to be present," it highlights.

"That, the crime of qualified homicide perpetrated against the person of Marcelo Esteban Barrios Andrade, given the nature of the proven events, was in the nature of a crime against humanity, since the investigated illicit act occurred in a context of serious, massive, and systematic human rights violations, verified by State agents, constituting the victim of this case and many others an instrument within a general policy of exclusion, harassment, persecution, or extermination of a group of numerous compatriots who, in the period immediately following and subsequent to September 11, 1973, were labeled as ideologically belonging to the deposed political regime or who, for any circumstance, were considered suspicious of opposing or hindering the realization of the social and political construction devised by those holding power, guaranteeing impunity to the executors of said program through non-interference in their methods, both through the concealment of reality before the request of ordinary courts of justice for relevant reports, and through the use of state power to persuade local and foreign public opinion that the complaints formulated to that effect were false and responded to a campaign tending to discredit the authoritarian military regime. Thus, people who use state means and instruments to perpetrate such serious crimes against the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual wrap themselves in a mantle of impunity woven with resources belonging to the State," it concludes.

Source: Judiciary, June 14, 2024

Supreme Court convicts Navy members for homicide of university student in a fake confrontation in Valparaíso

The Second Chamber of the highest court sentenced the then-Corvette Captain Sergio Patricio Chiffelle Kirby to 15 years and one day for his responsibility as the author of the crime. Meanwhile, non-commissioned officers Luis Osvaldo Ceballos Guerra and Óscar Arturo Aspée Aspée were sentenced to 5 years in prison, with the benefit of supervised release, for their responsibility as authors of the illicit act.

The Supreme Court convicted three retired Navy members for the qualified homicide of university student Marcelo Esteban Barrios Andrade, which occurred in August 1989 in Cerro Yungay, Valparaíso, within the framework of a fake confrontation with security forces.

In the sentence (roll 25.022-2024), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of Minister Leopoldo Llanos, Ministers María Cristina Gajardo, Eliana Quezada, Dobra Lusic, and lawyer (i) Leonor Etcheberry—sentenced the then-Corvette Captain Sergio Patricio Chiffelle Kirby to 15 years and one day for his responsibility as the author of the crime.

Meanwhile, non-commissioned officers Luis Osvaldo Ceballos Guerra and Óscar Arturo Aspée Aspée were sentenced to 5 years in prison, with the benefit of supervised release, for their responsibility as authors of the illicit act.

The Criminal Chamber of the highest court accepted the cassation appeal and reduced the sentence for the two non-commissioned officers, considering that there was an error in not considering the special mitigating circumstance of acting in compliance with a superior order as "highly qualified."

"That, in particular, regarding the mitigating circumstance in dispute, that is, the one provided for in Article 211 of the Code of Military Justice, it is the forty-fifth foundation of the first-instance ruling that refers to this topic, ensuring that this institution is inapplicable to the situation at hand, 'since the order given was only to raid and detain Marcelo Barrios Andrade, deploying, instead, a military war operation.' To this, it is added that it is also 'required for these purposes that the superior positively manifest having given the corresponding order, which does not occur in this case.' In short, it considers that the configuration elements are not met in this case, which was replicated by the appellate judges, who confirmed the initial ruling in that aspect," the ruling says.

It adds: "That, entering into the matter, it should be noted that the rule in dispute is Article 211 of the Code of Military Justice, which refers to a special mitigating circumstance and which states: 'Outside of the cases provided for in the second paragraph of Article 214, it shall be a mitigating circumstance in both military and common crimes to have committed the act in compliance with orders received from a hierarchical superior.

And if they were related to the service, it may be considered a highly qualified mitigating circumstance.'"

The sentence adds: "That, in light of the above, it is possible to verify that the requirements of the same are met regarding the defendants Ceballos Guerra and Aspée Aspée, given that their action was based on an order emanating from a superior authority which, in this case, was issued by the Corvette Captain, Sergio Chiffelle, who, due to his rank and commission, was with respect to them within the hypotheses of the cited Article 430 of the Code of Military Justice and, certainly, was in command of the operation, assigning specific tasks that the sentenced individuals fulfilled; however, he reserved the specific details regarding them and placed the accused in a position of ignorance in which they could not even represent the illegality of their task, since they not only accessed scarce information but were assigned a minor task in the criminal framework that was sought to be carried out, in such a way that, even when they share the intent to kill, the truth is that their actions are governed by different motivations that allow them to be categorized under the mitigating circumstance under study."

"That, in this order of things, by ignoring the aforementioned mitigating circumstance, added to the one already recognized for the accused, a violation of the law has been produced that substantially affects the decision adopted since, at this point, Article 68, paragraph 3 of the Penal Code is also threatened, because, although this Court has been constant in declaring that said rule confers a power in the reduction of the penalty, the exercise of which would be entirely discretionary, in the case where two or more mitigating circumstances concur without aggravating circumstances concurring at the same time, the truth is that, in this specific case, the entity of the same requires a correspondence in the penalty, a reason that allows accepting the cassation appeals formulated as will be explained."

The investigation by the minister on assignment for human rights cases of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, María Cruz Fierro Reyes, established: "That, on the afternoon of August 31, 1989, a Marine Infantry detachment of the Chilean Navy carried out a raid on the property located at Pasaje Latorre, house 7, Cerro Yungay, Valparaíso, in compliance with an order issued by the Commander of the local Garrison of Valparaíso, within the context of an investigation in which several homes in the region were raided and other people detained.

As a result of this operation, the occupant of said place, Marcelo Esteban Barrios Andrade, died. He was the target of numerous bullet impacts fired by Marine Infantry personnel carrying out the action, resulting in him being riddled with bullets.

Additionally, they detonated explosive charges in the home. There was no relationship between the action deployed on that occasion, the weaponry used, and the result of the operation, with any possible reaction from the deceased, who allegedly defended himself with a pistol. The aforementioned Barrios Andrade died from 'skeletal and visceral trauma due to projectiles'."

Source: pdju.cl, September 10, 2025