The resolution was adopted against former officials José Lucedino Aude Añazco, Carlos Ulises Cifuentes Hernández, and Diógenes Ulloa Bahamondes, as co-perpetrators of the crimes of applying torture to 9 people who were detained between September 1973 and September 1974 at the Second Police Station of Castro.

The visiting judge of the Court of Appeals of Puerto Montt , Leopoldo Vera , issued an indictment against three retired Carabineros investigated for the application of torture in a police unit in the city of Castro , capital of the Island of Chiloé.

The resolution was adopted against former Carabineros officials José Lucedino Aude Añazco , Carlos Ulises Cifuentes Hernández , and Diógenes Ulloa Bahamondes , as co-perpetrators of the crimes of applying torture to nine people who were detained between September 1973 and September 1974 at the Second Police Station of Castro.

According to the investigation, the former members of the uniformed police, "(...) proceeded to intentionally inflict physical and mental duress upon them, causing them severe pain and suffering, facts that account for crimes against humanity and are therefore imprescriptible and non-amnestiable," the magistrate's resolution states.

Source: lanacion.cl, February 29, 2016

Castro: sadistic torture confirmed inside the Carabineros Police Station

Last Thursday, the ruling by the extraordinary visiting judge for human rights violation cases of the Courts of Appeals of Temuco, Valdivia, and Puerto Montt, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, was finally made known regarding a series of tortures practiced by two Carabineros against seven people inside the Castro Police Station between the months of September 1973 and September 1974.

In the case, the second sergeant (ret.) of the Carabineros, Luis Diógenes Ulloa Bahamonde, and the former carabinero Carlos Ulises Cifuentes Hernández were accused; regarding José Lucedino Aude Añazco, the case was dismissed due to his death.

In the ruling reviewed by La Opinión de Chiloé , it was concluded that "the victims were detained in different places between September 11 and the end of 1974 and taken to the Second Carabineros Police Station of Castro, where officials of the Civil Commission - Carabineros Intelligence Service (Sicar) subjected them to various illegitimate duress over different periods of time." During the investigation, a series of beatings, fractures, the application of torture with electricity to genitals, gums, eyes, and other parts of the body, sustained attempts to drown several by submerging them in putrid water or excrement, and long sessions of starvation were recounted, among other sadistic and inhuman humiliations. Some victims were left with lifelong physical sequelae such as hearing loss or chronic pain, while others allege psychological damage not only due to what happened to them, but also due to other events they witnessed at that time, such as cowardly torture and rape of women by Carabineros, for example. Mesa Latorre reached the conclusion that " the accused are responsible for the illicit acts of applying torture or using unnecessary rigor, as per the aforementioned article, against the persons of Mario Enrique Contreras Vega, César Vladimir Leiva Garrido, Domingo Álvarez Cárdenas, Raúl Ángel Andrade Oyarzún, Carlos Jerges Torres Vera, Noé Alejandro Cárdenas Alvarado, and Werne Víctor Haro Oyarzún, a total of 7 crimes." Ulloa Bahamonde and Cifuentes Hernández tortured their victims to extract information following alleged suspicions of a pseudo-armed resistance in Chiloé that was never proven, never. The now former active Carabineros officials were sentenced to 4 years of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree, with access to the benefit of intensive supervised release. The judge, Mesa, also sentenced Ulloa Bahamonde and Cifuentes Hernández to absolute perpetual disqualification from political rights and absolute disqualification from public offices and positions during the time of the sentence, plus the costs of the trial. In the civil sphere, the ruling ordered the Chilean State to pay compensation of $20,000,000 (twenty million pesos) for moral damages to Carlos Jerges Torres Vera, Werne Víctor Haro Oyarzún, Noé Alejandro Cárdenas Alvarado, and Domingo Álvarez Cárdenas, that is, a total of eighty million pesos. In conversation with La Opinión de Chiloé , the writer Mario Contreras Vega indicated that "criminally, what a remitted sentence is is clear. It seems correct to me. Late, but correct. I imagine that Ulloa and Cifuentes are old. It is not good news for their family that in the twilight of their lives, justice sanctions them as torturers. Even if only nominally. I forgave those who mistreated me personally many years ago." Regarding the compensation, he indicated that unlike those who did receive it, at this stage he was seeking a criminal sanction in the first instance, but "once I am notified, we will file that lawsuit. It is the least that is appropriate."

Source: laopiniondechiloe.cl, December 29, 2017

Visiting judge investigates torture at Castro police station

The judge with exclusive dedication to human rights cases, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, concluded today—Friday, July 14—the two days of proceedings he carried out at the Court of Appeals of Puerto Montt, within the framework of two processes he is investigating in the jurisdiction.

This is the second time he has visited this city, after the Plenary of the Supreme Court reassigned him the investigations of the cases for human rights violations in the jurisdictions of Puerto Montt and Valdivia, in addition to the cases he was processing in Temuco, and in this way fulfill the commitment made to the victims' families, in order to avoid them having to travel to the capital of the Araucanía region. "Following the mandate of the Supreme Court and what was discussed with the plaintiff lawyers and human rights leaders, I return for the second time and, in this case, to carry out several proceedings. First, to interview different plaintiff lawyers and, specifically, we are taking evidence in two cases that are already in the plenary stage," he explained. "The first case is regarding the application of torture at the Castro Police Station (docket 50.035), where there are more than 8 victims and the accused are several Carabineros from that time, with the surnames Cifuentes, Aude, and Ulloa," he added. The judge detailed that in the plenary stage, the proceeding consists of taking statements from different witnesses, "so that they can account for the victims' side, what they know about their suffering after those tortures. And on the side of the defendants and the accused, many Carabineros have testified as to whether they knew the accused, what other relevant background they had on them, and the characteristics of the police station." During today's session, meanwhile, Judge Álvaro Mesa carried out proceedings in the case (docket 10.868) regarding the application of torture causing the death of Juan Lleucún, in which the only person prosecuted is Germán Lovera Contreras. "It has been very important for me to be here and take advantage of taking these statements in person," he stressed. Regarding the other cases in this jurisdiction, Judge Mesa indicated that "there are other cases that are also in the plenary stage, which means that the indictments are being answered, and the majority are from Puerto Montt, more than 25 that are in the summary stage, and they are mainly cases of duress and torture, both in the Investigations barracks and in other facilities of the Armed Forces or Carabineros. But all the cases at this moment, according to the latest report, have valid investigation orders, and the Human Rights Brigade of the Investigative Police is working very solidly on them; the results are reaching me, and new proceedings are being decreed." The judge indicated that he will return to Puerto Montt in the second half of August to interview the lawyers and leaders of the victims' and families' groups, take statements, and carry out other types of proceedings. "According to the first conversation we had with the human rights leaders, I promised them that I would indeed be coming, and personally, I have kept that promise, so that many victims do not have to go to Temuco, but rather their statement is taken either by me or through letters rogatory by another court," he concluded.

Source: elclarin.cl, July 16, 2017

Judge Mesa sentences retired Carabineros as co-perpetrators of torture in Castro

The extraordinary visiting judge for human rights violation cases of the Courts of Appeals of Temuco, Valdivia, and Puerto Montt, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, sentenced the second sergeant (ret.) of the Carabineros, Luis Diógenes Ulloa Bahamonde, and the former carabinero Carlos Ulises Cifuentes Hernández to a penalty of 4 years of imprisonment, with the benefit of intensive supervised release, as co-perpetrators of the consummated crimes of illegitimate duress against Mario Enrique Contreras Vega, César Vladimir Leiva Garrido, Domingo Álvarez Cárdenas, Raúl Ángel Andrade Oyarzún, Carlos Jerges Torres Vera, Noé Alejandro Cárdenas Alvarado, and Werne Víctor Haro Oyarzún. Illicit acts perpetrated between the months of September 1973 and September 1974, in the commune of Castro. Judge Mesa also sentenced Ulloa Bahamonde and Cifuentes Hernández to absolute perpetual disqualification from political rights and absolute disqualification from public offices and positions during the time of the sentence, plus the costs of the trial. In the investigation stage, the extraordinary visiting judge was able to establish that: "The victims were detained in different places between September 11 and the end of 1974 and taken to the Second Carabineros Police Station of Castro, where officials of the Civil Commission - Carabineros Intelligence Service (Sicar) subjected them to various illegitimate duress over different periods of time." In the civil aspect, the ruling ordered the State to pay compensation of $20,000,000 (twenty million pesos) for moral damages to Carlos Jerges Torres Vera, Werne Víctor Haro Oyarzún, Noé Alejandro Cárdenas Alvarado, and Domingo Álvarez Cárdenas.

Source: elclarin.cl, December 30, 2017

Judge Álvaro Mesa prosecutes Carabineros for illegal detention and illegitimate duress at Castro police station

The extraordinary visiting judge for human rights violation cases of the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique perpetrated in 1974. The extraordinary visiting judge for human rights violation cases of the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, subjected two retired Carabineros non-commissioned officers to prosecution for their responsibility in the crimes of illegal detention and illegitimate duress against José Quintul Muñoz.

Illicit acts perpetrated in the facilities of the Second Police Station of Castro, in 1974. In the resolution, Judge Mesa Latorre placed the prosecuted Carlos Ulises Cifuentes Hernández and Luis Diógenes Ulloa Bahamonde under the precautionary measure of total house arrest, in their capacity as authors of crimes against humanity. "Given the merit of the background information, the nature of the crime, the assigned penalty, the age of the prosecuted—that is, 87 and 71 years old respectively—and the health situation in which the country finds itself, it is more appropriate for the purposes of the procedure—for now—to decree the personal precautionary measure of total house arrest," the indictment order states. "Given the merit of the background information, from which it is clear that the freedom of the prosecuted constitutes a danger to the security of society; also taking into account the probable legal sanction for the crimes in which they are attributed participation; and having seen the provisions of article 363 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the benefit of provisional release will not be granted to them," it adds. In the investigation stage of the case, the visiting judge was able to establish the following facts: A.- That starting on September 11, 1973, as a result of the events that occurred in the country, an operational group called a 'civil commission' was formed in all police stations, dedicated to intelligence work that consisted of finding out information regarding violent groups, detention of people who were considered in military decrees, among others; that is, they were tasks that escaped common police procedures. In the case of the Second Police Station of Castro, such a civil commission was composed of Sergeant Carlos Ulises Cifuentes Hernández, First Corporal Luis Diógenes Ulloa Bahamondes, and Second Corporal José Lucendino Aude Añazco (who is deceased), being led by the first of those mentioned. B.- That among the tasks performed by this civil commission were carrying out detentions, raids in search of political literature, and other procedures within the jurisdictional territory of the unit. The detentions carried out by this civil commission were performed without showing a judicial order, to subsequently take the detainees to the stables of the 2nd Police Station of Castro, a place where they were interrogated, beaten, subjected to mock executions, and tortured, especially with the so-called 'submarine,' a torture that consisted of submerging the detainees' heads in a drum with decomposing water, all of which was carried out by Carlos Cifuentes Hernández, Luis Ulloa Bahamonde, and José Aude Añazco. C.- That the group integrated by Cifuentes, Aude, and Ulloa, on a day in the month of April 1974, went to the rural sector of Las Chacras, located in the city of Castro, in search of the home of José Quintul Muñoz, a socialist militant, with the objective of detaining him due to a complaint against him that related to him having firearms in his possession. Once at Mr. Quintul's home, they raided the house and detained him without an apparent judicial order, transferring him to the 2nd Police Station of Castro, a place where he was interrogated and harshly tortured by his captors. Subsequently, he was transferred to the city of Puerto Montt, where on April 22, 1974, he was placed at the disposal of the Military Prosecutor's Office, being sentenced by a War Council to serve a penalty of 260 days of minor imprisonment in its minimum degree as the author of the crime of illegal possession of weapons and 540 days of minor imprisonment in its minimum degree for his responsibility as the author of the crime of illegal carrying of firearms. Said sentence was served by the victim in the Chin Chin prison in the city of Puerto Montt, a place where he was seen in very poor condition, with permanent pain in his spine and difficulty walking. The above was the result of the torture suffered before arriving at the indicated penitentiary center. The victim finished serving his sentence in the Castro prison in the month of July 1976, a date on which he was already unable to walk on his own, being finally diagnosed with "flaccid paraplegia due to complete transverse spinal cord section due to vertebral crushing at D11 and of possible neoplastic etiology." Finally dying in the city of Castro on May 16, 1979, as a result of a myocardial infarction.

Source: verticetv.cl, May 1, 2021

Judge Álvaro Mesa sentences retired Carabineros for illegal detention and illegitimate duress in Castro

In the sentence, the visiting judge sentenced the sergeant at the time of the events, Carlos Ulises Cifuentes Hernández, and the first corporal, Luis Diógenes Ulloa Bahamonde, to single penalties of 8 years of effective imprisonment, for illicit acts perpetrated between September 1973 and September 1974.

The extraordinary visiting judge for human rights violation cases of the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, sentenced two retired Carabineros officers for their responsibility in the consummated crimes of illegal detention and illegitimate duress.

Illicit acts perpetrated in the city of Castro, between September 1973 and September 1974. In the sentence (docket 10.867), the visiting judge sentenced the sergeant at the time of the events, Carlos Ulises Cifuentes Hernández, and the first corporal, Luis Diógenes Ulloa Bahamonde, to single penalties of 8 years of effective imprisonment, in their capacity as authors of illegitimate duress against Mario Enrique Contreras Vega, César Vladimir Leiva Garrido, Domingo Álvarez Cárdenas, Raúl Ángel Andrade Oyarzún, Carlos Jerges Torres Vera, Noé Alejandro Cárdenas Alvarado, and Werne Víctor Haro Oyarzún; and illegal detention and illegitimate duress as crimes against humanity, of José Raúl Quintul Muñoz, perpetrated at the Second Carabineros Police Station of the commune, in April 1974. The visiting judge also applied to the convicted the legal accessories of absolute perpetual disqualification from public offices and positions and political rights and absolute disqualification from titular professions for the duration of the sentences, plus the payment of the costs of the process. In the civil sphere, the court accepted the lawsuit filed and ordered the State to pay total compensation of $100,000,000 for moral damages to the siblings of Quintul Muñoz. In the sentence, Judge Mesa Latorre considered the following facts proven: "A.- That starting on September 11, 1973, as a result of the events that occurred in the country, an operational group called a 'civil commission' was formed in all police stations, dedicated to intelligence work that consisted of finding out information regarding violent groups, detention of people who were considered in military decrees, among others; that is, they were tasks that escaped common police procedures [The above is recorded in dockets 113.987 of the First Criminal Court of Temuco, 14-2013 of the Illustrious Court of Appeals of Temuco, 45.359 of the Lautaro Civil Court, among others, all followed by this Tribunal and which are of public knowledge]. In the case of the Second Police Station of Castro, such a civil commission was composed of Sergeant Carlos Ulises Cifuentes Hernández, First Corporal Luis Diógenes Ulloa Bahamonde, and Second Corporal José Lucendino Aude Añazco (deceased as recorded in the death certificate on page 673, of volume II), being led by the first of those mentioned [as recorded in the statements of Héctor Vargas Gallardo on page 113 (Volume I), of José Cárdenas Díaz on page 115 (Volume I), of Rubén Oyarzún Cárdenas on page 344 (Volume I), of Luis Ulloa Bahamonde on pages 404 and 535 (volumes I and II respectively), of José Lucendino Aude Añazco on 406 (Volume I), among other background information]. B.- That among the tasks performed by this civil commission were carrying out detentions, raids in search of political literature, and other procedures within the jurisdictional territory of the unit. The detentions carried out by this civil commission were performed without showing a judicial order, to subsequently take the detainees to the stables of the 2nd Police Station of Castro, a place where they were interrogated, beaten, subjected to mock executions, and tortured, especially with the so-called 'submarine,' a torture that consisted of submerging the detainees' heads in a drum with decomposing water, all of which was carried out by Carlos Cifuentes Hernández, Luis Ulloa Bahamonde, and José Aude Añazco [as recorded in the statements of César Leiva Garrido on page 73 and page 304 (Volume I), of Mario Contreras Vega on page 304, of Domingo Álvarez Cárdenas on page 411 (Volume I), of Raúl Andrade Oyarzún on page 421 (volume I), of Werne Aro Oyarzún on page 522 (volume II), among other background information]. C.- That the group integrated by Cifuentes, Aude, and Ulloa, on a day in the month of April 1974, went to the rural sector of Las Chacras, located in the city of Castro, in search of the home of José Quintul Muñoz, a socialist militant, with the objective of detaining him due to a complaint against him that related to him having firearms in his possession. Once at Mr. Quintul's home, they raided the house and detained him without an apparent judicial order, transferring him to the 2nd Police Station of Castro, a place where he was interrogated and harshly tortured by his captors. Subsequently, he was transferred to the city of Puerto Montt, where on April 22, 1974, he was placed at the disposal of the Military Prosecutor's Office, being sentenced by a War Council to serve a penalty of 260 days of minor imprisonment in its minimum degree as the author of the crime of illegal possession of weapons and 540 days of minor imprisonment in its minimum degree for his responsibility as the author of the crime of illegal carrying of firearms (as can be inferred from the military file docket N° 97-74, brought for review on page 649 of volume II). Said sentence was served by the victim in the Chin Chin prison in the city of Puerto Montt, a place where he was seen in very poor condition, with permanent pain in his spine and difficulty walking. The above was the result of the torture suffered before arriving at the indicated penitentiary center. [As recorded in the statements of Héctor Quintul Muñoz on page 65 (Volume I), of Mario Contreras Vega on pages 71, 87, and 304 (Volume I), of César Leiva Garrido on page 73 (Volume I), of Domingo Álvarez Cárdenas on page 411 (Volume I), of Jaime Moraga Zamorano on page 488 (Volume I), of José Lucendino Aude Añazco on page 533 (Volume II), of Carlos Cifuentes Hernández on page 534 (Volume II), among other background information]. The victim finished serving his sentence in the Castro prison in the month of July 1976, a date on which he was already unable to walk on his own, being finally diagnosed with a 'flaccid paraplegia due to complete transverse spinal cord section due to vertebral crushing at D11 and of possible neoplastic etiology' (as recorded in the medical certificate on page 20 of volume I), finally dying in the city of Castro on May 16, 1979, as a result of a myocardial infarction (as recorded in the death certificate on page 107 of volume I)".

Source: pdju.cl, July 18, 2023