Cecil Patricio Alarcón Valenzuela, married, father of 2, an INDAP official, former student leader, and member of the Socialist Party, was detained on September 16, 1973, on Calle Yerbas Buenas in Chillán by soldiers from the regiment in that same city.

Following the military coup of September 11, 1973, and fearing for his physical safety, the affected party made the decision not to return home for a few days, heading instead to the countryside. On September 16, upon returning to the city around noon, Cecil Patricio Alarcón Valenzuela had an encounter with Mr.

Jaime Mora Muñoz, whom he had known previously. Around 3:00 p.m., both headed to a restaurant called "El Rosedal," located at the intersection of Calle Ecuador and Independencia in that city, as Cecil Patricio Alarcón Valenzuela had not eaten for several days.

During lunch, they listened to the latest news regarding events in the city and learned of the assassination of the Mayor of Chillán and fellow Socialist Party leader, Ricardo Lagos Reyes, his wife, who was several months pregnant, Sonia Ojeda Grandón, and his son from his first marriage, Carlos Eduardo Lagos Salinas.

Upon hearing this, Cecil Alarcón Valenzuela became nervous, and they quickly left the premises, boarding the white Fiat 600 automobile owned by Jaime Mora Muñoz. On Calle Independencia, upon reaching Calle Bulnes, they encountered the affected party's brother, Carlos Iván Alarcón Valenzuela, and the brothers began a conversation outside the vehicle.

At that moment, they noticed they were being watched by a member of the Cazenave family, who was known to the local people as a military informant. Given the risk they were facing, Cecil Patricio Alarcón Valenzuela and Jaime Mora Muñoz resumed their journey, heading to Calle Yerbas Buenas, between Gamero and Itata, to a private house they entered, leaving the car parked on the street.

Upon leaving the house, they were intercepted by two military patrols. One of them was traveling in a white 2,500-kilo Ford pickup truck driven by Tito Alvarez, a driver for the Public Works department; this vehicle was heading along Calle Itata from Independencia toward Avenida Argentina.

The other military patrol was circulating on the same street, Yerbas Buenas—a two-way street—from Gamero in the direction of Itata, to the precise location where the affected party and his companion had just entered the car.

Both were detained, forced to get out of the Fiat, and immediately assaulted, as the captors recognized Cecil Alarcón Valenzuela from a photograph they were carrying, as they had been searching for him.

The affected party was loaded into the Chevrolet pickup truck and thrown face down on the floor, while Jaime Mora Muñoz was forced back into his Fiat, guarded by a non-commissioned officer who kept a weapon pointed at him.

Both were taken to the Chillán Regiment, where they were brought into a room at the entrance of the facility and forced to remain face down, with their hands on the back of their necks, each guarded by two soldiers who kept their weapons pointed at them.

In that position, Cecil Patricio Alarcón Valenzuela managed to advise Jaime Mora Muñoz to provide a satisfactory explanation to their captors, in order to avoid involving him in an even more conflictive situation.

Other detainees were also present in that place: Jorge Carpenter, Mario Hermosilla, and shortly thereafter, Eduardo Stevens Sandoval arrived in the same condition; all of them were later released. While still in that room, Carabineros and soldiers entered with bundles containing bedding, books, magazines, and a walkie-talkie, stating that they belonged to the house of the Mayor of Chillán, Ricardo Lagos Reyes, who had been assassinated along with his family hours earlier, and through which, as they commented, he had been communicating with Cecil Alarcón Valenzuela.

Around 6:00 p.m. that same day, a patrol of Carabineros and soldiers arrived, including, among others, an Army Lieutenant named Morales, linked to the Military Intelligence Service (SIM), two detectives in military uniform, Carabineros Sergeant Márquez Riquelme, and a Carabineros Corporal named Opazo.

The latter official entered the room where the detainees were being held, grabbed Cecil Patricio Alarcón Valenzuela violently, pushed him, and took him out of the room. From that moment on, the affected party was never seen again.

Jaime Mora Muñoz, for his part, was released around 7:00 p.m. on September 16. The following day, September 17, the victim's father-in-law, Mr. Hugo Soto Ulloa, was informed by workers extracting gravel on the banks of the Ñuble River that a young man with the characteristics of Cecil Alarcón Valenzuela had been murdered at the Old Bridge of the aforementioned river, about 50 meters from the southern bank, along with another person.

In addition to the father-in-law, his brother Carlos Iván Alarcón Valenzuela and Jaime Mora Muñoz went to the site with the intention of recovering the body, but they were unable to find anything, unable to determine if the river had carried them away or if they had been buried.

According to information in the possession of the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation, it was established that the victim's body was under the old bridge that crosses the Ñuble River, and could not be recovered due to the current of the water, and that his captors were linked to the deaths of Mayor Ricardo Lagos Reyes and his family.

According to this same source, in October 1973, information appeared in the press that a guerrilla school had been dismantled, in which Cecil Alarcón Valenzuela had allegedly been the instructor, and that he and his leader, Reinaldo Poseck Pedreros—who is also in the status of forcibly disappeared—were fugitives.

This official statement declaring him a fugitive is not credible, given the circumstances that he was detained and it was never reported that he had been released or had escaped. Mrs. María Cecilia Soto San Martín, the spouse of the affected party, states in a sworn affidavit that she went to the Chillán Regiment, where she was attended to by the guard on duty, who, while searching through some documents belonging to the people detained at the facility, found the identity card of Cecil Patricio Alarcón Valenzuela, along with his Sermena credential, even though his name did not appear registered on the lists of detainees. During those same days, she visited other detention centers without obtaining information about her husband, even going to the Intendencia to request an interview with the Intendant of the time, Juan Guillermo Toro Dávila, who, according to Mrs. María Cecilia Soto, refused to receive her and ordered her to be removed from his office, being taken out with threats by the armed conscripts of the guard. Some time later, the spouse continues to relate, she was received by Lieutenant Morales, who was in charge of the detainees at the Chillán Regiment, and in whose office there was a folder with photos of militants from the Unidad Popular parties; among these was that of Cecil Alarcón Valenzuela and that of Reinaldo Poseck Pedreros. Both photos, and others, were surrounded by a red circle. When asked by Mrs. María Cecilia Soto, Lieutenant Morales tried to explain that these were people who needed to be detained, denying the fact that they were already in that condition, even though the affected party's wife affirmed that there were witnesses who had been detained along with her husband and that she had seen her husband's documents in a box in the guardroom. Lieutenant Morales had the aforementioned box brought in; upon being checked, the documents of Cecil Patricio Alarcón Valenzuela were no longer there. It should be noted that the brother of the affected party, Carlos Iván Alarcón Valenzuela, was detained days later, remaining in prison for fourteen months.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS

Mrs. Cecilia Soto San Martín, spouse of Cecil Patricio Alarcón Valenzuela, filed a complaint for the presumed disappearance of her husband in August 1990 before the Chillán Court of Letters; the result of the processing of the case is currently unknown.

To the date of this report, no authority has responded regarding the detention and whereabouts of Cecil Patricio Alarcón Valenzuela, who remains in the status of forcibly disappeared.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity

A central act of recognition alongside their families, a plaque permanently fixed to a wall with their names, and posthumous inclusion as members of the National Association of INDAP Officials (ANFI) were received by the 13 workers of this institution who were victims of political execution or were forcibly disappeared after the 1973 coup d'état, in a tribute to their memory held this Wednesday at the facilities of the National Directorate of this service of the Ministry of Agriculture.

These are 12 men and one woman between 21 and 49 years old, who worked as drivers, secretaries, journalists, administrative staff, technicians, and Area and Zone chiefs, of whom 4 were murdered by agents of the dictatorship and the other 9 remain disappeared, following arrests under different circumstances in various cities from Quillota to Quellón.

The widows of some of these victims, their children, a son-in-law, and even the great-grandson of one of them were the main guests at the ceremony, organized by ANFI and the INDAP directorate, where they received greetings from current officials, leaders, and Government authorities led by the Undersecretary of Agriculture, Claudio Ternicier, and the National Director of INDAP, Octavio Sotomayor.

Fernando Moraga, national president of ANFI, the entity that promoted this act which also featured a performance by folklorist Fernando Yáñez, stated in his message to those present that the honorees were executed or disappeared “for the sole fact of working at the institution.” The leader emphasized that “there was no one here who was a danger to society; people were killed here because they could be killed.

The dictatorship killed for the sake of killing, for pleasure, because someone told them to. Our colleagues were taken from their offices to be executed; they would come to return a vehicle and they would execute them.

We can never forget what happened in that era, and God willing, the damage caused to all Chilean men and women will be paid for on this earth.” On behalf of the Government, Undersecretary Ternicier delivered a message in which he thanked “this great initiative to fulfill the duty of remembering our fallen colleagues and not forgetting what happened to Chile” and highlighted “the solidarity, the condolences, and the commitment to help justice and truth in Chile.” “The only way to build Chile in the future is on the basis of justice and truth,” he emphasized.

Director Octavio Sotomayor, who also greeted the family members and guests at the act, noted afterward his satisfaction because it was, he said, “a very beautiful and solemn ceremony as we wanted. We had also lost contact with the families.

These are 13 colleagues who died for a commitment to the country; that could have happened to any of us. We wanted to commemorate this so that it does not happen again.” The act was also attended by authorities from other agricultural services such as Loreto Mery (National Irrigation Commission) and Michel Leporati (Achipia), as well as the representative of IICA in Chile, Jaime Flores, and the metropolitan regional director of INDAP, Christian Suarez.

GRATEFUL FAMILY MEMBERS

The most emotional moment of the activity was when the family members were invited to the central hall of the building to unveil a plaque made by ANFI with the name and main details of each of these thirteen officials who were victims of the coup d'état.

Among those attending this act, Martín Hassler Jeldres, 11, great-grandson of Reinaldo Jeldres, referred to this moment and what the memory of his great-grandfather meant: “I feel a bit of sadness, emotion, and I also felt important (...) I only know that they killed him and threw him into the river and that they have already prosecuted those who killed him; that is the only information I have.” Eduardo Cifuentes, son-in-law of Reinaldo Poseck, commented that it was “very intense, but I think it was necessary and very important that many people from INDAP came.

Unfortunately, his wife passed away, his children are outside of Chile and could not be here.” He described his father-in-law as “a person with a very strong character, but in private, at lunches at home, he was a very funny guy.

He was also very hardworking and committed.” Mauricio Flores, son of Nelson Flores Zapata, said he was “happy that they did this; for me, it is very symbolic that they remember him.” Regarding the memory he has of his father, with whom he lived in the Robert Kennedy housing project in Maipú, he commented that he remembers “some games where he would make matchsticks disappear.

I was 4 years old when they executed him.”

THE FOLLOWING IS THE LIST OF HONOREES

Enrique Ernesto Morales Melzer (F.D., driver, Santiago), Héctor Arturo Santana Gómez (F.D., Area Chief, Quellón), Cecil Patricio Alarcón Valenzuela (P.E., official, Chillán), Luis Eduardo Vergara Corso (F.D., official, Polcura), Reinaldo Luis Jeldres Riveros (P.E., official, Chillán), Etienne Marie Louis Pesle de Menil (F.D., cooperative technician, Temuco), Nelson Jorge Flores Zapata (P.E., official, Maipú), Reinaldo Salvador Poseck Pedreros (P.E., Zonal Chief, Chillán), Eliseo Segundo Jara Ríos (F.D., Area Chief, Victoria), Rebeca María Espinoza Sepúlveda (F.D., secretary, Santiago), José Leonardo Pérez Hermosilla (F.D., journalist, Santiago), José Miguel Rivas Rachitoff (F.D., journalist, Santiago), Pablo Gac Espinoza (F.D., administrative officer, Quillota). (DETAILS OF THIS PERIOD AND OF EACH OF THE CASES CAN BE REVIEWED IN THE BOOK "TODA UNA VIDA: HISTORIA DE INDAP Y LOS CAMPESINOS (1962-2017)")

Source: INDAP.GOB.CL 29/11/2017

Date: 11-29-2017