On January 1, 1975, MIR militant Agustín Alamiro MARTINEZ MEZA was arrested on a public street in Santiago, along with his young son, who was returned to his home.

On January 3, 1975, his friend and fellow MIR militant Herbit Guillermo RIOS SOTO went to Martínez's home in the Vivaceta sector, where he was arrested by DINA agents.

On January 6 and 7, respectively, MIR militants Jilberto Patricio URBINA CHAMORRO and Claudio Enrique CONTRERAS HERNANDEZ were arrested on public streets; both were politically linked to the aforementioned individuals.

The four detainees were seen by witnesses at the Villa Grimaldi facility, from where they were forcibly disappeared while in the custody of the DINA.

The Commission is convinced that the disappearance of these four individuals was the work of State agents, who thereby violated their human rights.

Occupation : Civil Constructor; Civil Engineering student at the Universidad Técnica del Estado.

Political Affiliation : Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) Date of Detention : January 7, 1975

Claudio Enrique Contreras Hernández, single, Civil Constructor, and member of the MIR, left his home around 1:00 PM on January 7, 1975. He told Mariana Carvajal, with whom he lived, that he was heading to the Estación Central area to run some errands and would return around 8:00 PM.

However, this did not happen. He was detained around 7:00 PM by agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), who brought with them two people who had been held for days at the secret DINA detention and torture center known as Villa Grimaldi—Hugo Ernesto Salinas Farfán and Herbit Ríos Soto (currently a forcibly disappeared person)—in order to identify him.

The three—the victim, Salinas, and Ríos—were taken to Villa Grimaldi, where the victim was seen by seven witnesses who testified in the corresponding legal proceedings. Hugo Ernesto Salinas himself was confronted with Claudio Contreras on January 7 upon arriving at the Villa.

Furthermore, on January 8 of the same year, agents took them out to witness the detention of Luis Humberto Piñones Vega (also a forcibly disappeared person). On this occasion, Salinas saw that the victim had a broken left arm.

On the night of Tuesday, January 14, in the administrative offices of Villa Grimaldi, Salinas and Claudio Enrique were confronted for a second time, after which they were taken to the torture room where they were subjected for 45 minutes to the "parrilla" (an iron bed frame to which naked victims were tied to be subjected to electric shocks across their entire bodies).

According to the witness, the victim remained in Villa Grimaldi until January 25, 1975, the date on which he was taken from the facility along with Patricio Urbina Chamorro, Carlos Guerrero Gutiérrez, and Luis Piñones Vega, to an unknown destination. Nothing was heard of any of them afterward.

For her part, Mariana Carvajal Zamora testified that on January 13, 1975, she was detained at the Las Condes residence, which she shared with the victim, Manuel Edgardo Cortez Joo (who would later be detained and also forcibly disappeared), and the latter's spouse, Gabriela Wenger Meza, who would also be detained at a later date.

The detention of Mariana Carvajal was carried out by DINA agents who, upon not finding her, forced open the front door, entered, and proceeded to raid the property, remaining there until she arrived. They stayed in the home throughout the night, and the following day, Mariana Carvajal was taken to Villa Grimaldi, where, on January 16, 1975, she saw Claudio Contreras for the first time as he passed in front of a window in the women's room.

He was in a long line, blindfolded, with his left arm wrapped in rags and in a position that suggested a fracture. Later, the witness learned that the injury had been caused by his torturers when the victim was "hung."

Manuel Alejandro Cuadra—also detained in Villa Grimaldi—was in a "cajonera" (cells measuring one meter per side in which 4 people were locked for several days, forcing them to remain standing or crouching) adjacent to the victim's.

Claudio Enrique Contreras did not look well and his left arm was very swollen. On one occasion, the victim had to lean on the witness while being taken to the bathroom, telling him that his collarbone had been fractured during torture. Around January 10, 1975, Manuel Alejandro Cuadra had to accompany the victim to the medic who was at Villa Grimaldi.

Despite his poor physical condition, Claudio Enrique Contreras commented to María Alicia Salinas, also held at the Villa, that he was in good spirits.

Angeles Beatriz Alvarez, detained at the Villa at the time of the events and who also saw the victim, testified before the Court that at that time, the DINA facility was under the command of Army Officer Marcelo Luis Moren Brito, who was called "El Ronco" (The Hoarse One) due to the tone of his voice.

Among the agents who detained, interrogated, and tortured were Osvaldo Romo Mena, involved in numerous cases of disappearances of MIR militants; Fernando Adrián Laureani Maturana (Army Lieutenant); an agent they called "the Psychologist"; and Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko.

During the proceedings, Miguel Krassnoff testified, acknowledging his membership in the DINA but denying having participated in detentions. For his part, Marcelo Moren Brito, on June 2, 1980, before the Military Prosecutor's Office investigating the events, stated that work at Villa Grimaldi was compartmentalized, that he received direct orders from General Manuel Contreras, and that detainees were taken to Tres Alamos and Cuatro Alamos, not to the Villa, where there was never an agent called Commander Rodrigo, but rather a cook and non-commissioned officer named Rodrigo Garcés.

Finally, Rolf Gonzalo Wenderoth Pozo claimed to have worked only in the Analysis Unit and that he never had anything to do with detainees.

The victim had been sought since September 11, 1973. During that year, the homes of his parents and his sister (Alicia Contreras) were raided by agents looking for Claudio Enrique. Subsequent to his detention, the victim's name appeared on the list of 119 Chileans who had allegedly died in clashes abroad (July 1975).

These names appeared in two media outlets: one in the magazine LEA in Argentina and another in the newspaper O'DIA in Curitiba, Brazil; the victim's name appeared in the latter. The veracity of this fact could never be proven; furthermore, with the passage of time, its falsehood has been established.

Moreover, no government, neither the Chilean nor the Argentine, ratified it officially. The 119 names on these lists were all people who had disappeared after being detained between the months of June 1974 and February 1975, and most of them had been seen by witnesses in secret DINA detention centers.

The detention and disappearance of Claudio Enrique Contreras occurred during a strong DINA crackdown against the MIR in the summer of 1975. During those days, significant groups of militants and leaders fell, some of whom were in hiding, and many of them remain on the lists of the forcibly disappeared to this day.

In relation to the victim, others were detained, including Agustín Alamiro Martínez Meza (January 1, 1975), Herbit Ríos Soto (January 3 of the same year), and Jilberto Patricio Urbina Chamorro (January 6 of the same year). All four were politically linked and were seen by numerous witnesses in Villa Grimaldi, from where they disappeared.

Judicial and/or Administrative Actions

On March 14, 1975, a recurso de amparo (writ of habeas corpus) was filed for Claudio Enrique Contreras in the Santiago Court of Appeals, which was registered under No. 363-75. In response to the Court's inquiries, the Minister of the Interior and Division General, Raúl Benavides Escobar, replied on three occasions that the victim was not being held by order of that Ministry (March and May 1975).

For his part, the Colonel of Carabineros and Interim Director of Intelligence, Rubén Romero Gormaz, reported on May 12, 1975, that the victim had not been detained by personnel of that Directorate. Three months after the amparo was filed and five months after Claudio Enrique's detention, and solely based on the negative reports from the authorities, the appeal was rejected, and the records were sent to the corresponding Criminal Court (June 17, 1975).

Thus, on June 20, 1975, case file No. 91841 was opened at the 6th Criminal Court of Santiago. Alicia Contreras Hernández filed a complaint for the kidnapping of her brother in July 1975. The press information reporting the death of 119 Chileans in Argentina was attached to it.

In this regard, it was requested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs be officially notified to provide all information regarding these events (how the bodies were identified, circumstances surrounding the alleged clash, possibility of repatriating the remains, etc.).

The Court did not grant these requests and, instead, notified the National Secretariat of Detainees (SENDET). Only on October 7, 1975, did Colonel Jorge Espinoza Ulloa, National Executive Secretary of that body, respond officially, stating that "this Secretariat has no records regarding the detention or death of Claudio Contreras, nor regarding the veracity of said press publication."

Also during the processing of this case, the Court convened at the headquarters of the National Intelligence Directorate in order to take statements from General Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, Director of the DINA.

However, "said procedure could not be carried out because it was prevented by the guard personnel of the aforementioned organization" (April 21, 1977). Faced with this situation, the Judge set aside the measure, which led the plaintiff's side to insist on the procedure by appealing the Court's resolution.

In June 1977, the Santiago Court of Appeals confirmed the Court's order to convene at the National Intelligence Directorate.

However, while this procedure was pending, the Minister of the Interior and Division General, Raúl Benavides Escobar, requested the case file in order to determine the jurisdiction of the Military Courts (August 18, 1977).

On September 26 of the same year, the Military Justice system requested that the 6th Criminal Court declare itself incompetent to continue hearing the case. Brigadier General Enrique Morel Donoso, Judge of the 2nd Military Court of Santiago, signed said request.

The Judge of the 6th Criminal Court of Santiago declared himself incompetent on September 30, 1977, sending the records to the 2nd Military Prosecutor's Office, which registered them under No. 891-77. Immediately after the Army Colonel, Hernán Brantes Martínez, Director of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), denied on February 3, 1978, that the victim and Mariana Carvajal, María Alicia Salinas, Beatriz Miranda, Hugo Salinas, and Manuel Cuadra (all witnesses to the victim's detention) had been at Villa Grimaldi, as well as other forcibly disappeared persons, the Prosecutor's Office closed the summary proceedings (February 27, 1978) and temporarily dismissed the case (March 9, 1978). After the corresponding appeals, the Martial Court revoked the measure on June 15, 1978, ordering the Court to convene at the CNI barracks, to take a statement from the former Director of the DINA, General Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, and to interrogate the person who was the Head of Villa Grimaldi in January 1975.

In relation to these proceedings, in August 1978, the Military Prosecutor's Office officially requested the Ministry of the Interior to provide the names and locations of detention centers existing in Santiago in 1975, identifying those that belonged to the DINA; the names of the heads of the Villa Grimaldi and Puchuncaví facilities; and whether that Ministry had any record of the detention of Claudio Enrique Contreras.

Only on November 20 of the same year did the Minister of the Interior, Sergio Fernández Fernández, officially respond to the 2nd Military Prosecutor's Office, providing the requested answer and attaching an official letter that had been sent to him by Brigadier General (R) Odlanier Mena Salinas, National Director of the CNI.

In said response, it was noted that in 1975 in Santiago, there were only the detention centers of Tres Alamos and Cuatro Alamos, with only the latter being under the supervision of the DINA. The books corresponding to Tres Alamos were in the possession of the "Presidente Aguirre Cerda" Prefecture of Carabineros, and those of Cuatro Alamos "were incinerated for security reasons upon the dissolution of the National Intelligence Directorate." Regarding Villa Grimaldi, it was stated that the CNI took possession of said vacant place, without personnel in charge, "and there is no documentation of any kind, therefore the identity of those who occupied it is unknown." Regarding Puchuncaví, "it is known that it was administered by the Chilean Navy." Finally, regarding the victim, it was reported that there was a lack of information about him.

In this same vein, the Prosecutor's Office proceeded to take statements from Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, who was detained at the Military Hospital of Santiago, at the disposal of the President of the Supreme Court.

The procedure took place on July 13, 1979, and in it, General Contreras stated that he did not know the victim. He added that if his name did not appear in the detention decrees issued by the Ministry of the Interior, "it is because he was never detained by the National Intelligence Directorate." Regarding Villa Grimaldi, he said he did not remember the name of the person who was in charge, given the time elapsed and the fact of the rotation of personnel that was permanently carried out in the DINA.

A month later, in August of the same year, Manuel Contreras testified before the Visiting Minister Servando Jordán, who was investigating the detention and disappearance of numerous victims. In these statements, the former Director of the DINA affirmed that Villa Grimaldi, Londres 38, José Domingo Cañas, and the Santa Lucía Clinic were not detention centers of the organization he directed; adding, in open contradiction with the information provided to the Court by the Minister of the Interior, Sergio Fernández, that the files corresponding to Cuatro Alamos should be in the hands of the CNI.

In March 1980, in a new statement before Minister Jordán, General Contreras specified that Officers Moren, Krassnoff, and Wenderoth performed specific intelligence functions within the DINA. Regarding the DINA's files and assets, he pointed out that the dissolution of the National Intelligence Directorate and the creation of the CNI constituted a single event, and that he continued in charge of the CNI, although without an official designation, so it was not necessary for a handover document to be drawn up.

According to Contreras, he effectively handed over the position in November 1977 to General Odlanier Mena Salinas.

Prior to General Contreras's statements, Rear Admiral Jorge Alarcón Johnson, Chief of the Navy General Staff, had informed the Military Prosecutor's Office that "Puchuncaví has not been under the administration of the National Navy" (December 19, 1978).

Also in March 1979, the Court had convened at the National Intelligence Center barracks, only to confirm that Claudio Enrique Contreras was not being held at those facilities.

For its part, the plaintiff's side requested the summons of Osvaldo Romo Mena, identified as one of those responsible for the detention and disappearance of numerous MIR militants. However, it was not possible to locate him.

Following the statements of Marcelo Moren Brito (June 1980), Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko (March 1982), and Rolf Gonzalo Wenderoth Pozo, the summary proceedings were closed on June 19, 1982, and the case was temporarily and totally dismissed on August 4 of the same year.

This resolution was appealed, pointing out that the investigation was not exhausted, as there were pending procedures. Among these were the summons of Army Colonel Hernán Brantes Ramírez, who in an official letter (already noted) denied the detention of the victim's fellow prisoners at Villa Grimaldi; and a confrontation requested between the witness Angeles Beatriz Alvarez, who identified Miguel Krassnoff and Marcelo Moren Brito as DINA agents at Villa Grimaldi, and said officials.

Although the records are incomplete in this regard, it is known that in 1983 the case was reopened and that the aforementioned confrontation had taken place. In this last procedure, both Marcelo Moren Brito and Miguel Krassnoff maintained their previous statements, affirming that they had not participated in detentions nor had they had any relationship with detainees.

Marcelo Moren acknowledged having worked at Villa Grimaldi, but added that that facility was not a detention center.

Also, the family of Claudio Enrique Contreras Hernández, on August 1, 1978, went to the 10th Criminal Court of Santiago and joined the kidnapping complaint filed by 70 relatives of forcibly disappeared persons against General Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, Marcelo Luis Moren Brito, and Rolf Gonzalo Wenderoth Pozo, Army Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel, respectively.

The Judge declared himself incompetent and the records were sent to the Military Justice system, which assigned them to the 2nd Military Prosecutor's Office of Santiago, which gave them case No. 553-78.

On November 20, 1989, Army Lieutenant Colonel Enrique Ibarra Chamorro, Military Prosecutor General, requested the application of the Amnesty Decree Law (D.L. 2.191) for this case because the process had had as its exclusive purpose the investigation of alleged crimes that occurred during the period between September 11, 1973, and March 10, 1978, and because, during these 10 years of processing, it had not been possible to "determine the responsibility of any person." On November 30, 1989, the request was accepted by the 2nd Military Court, which totally and definitively dismissed the case—which was still in the summary stage—due to "the criminal responsibility of the persons allegedly accused of the reported events having been extinguished." The plaintiff parties appealed said resolution to the Martial Court, which confirmed the ruling in January 1992. A Complaint Appeal was then filed before the Supreme Court of Justice, which, as of December 1992, had not yet issued its resolution.

(Further background in the case of Eduardo Enrique Alarcón Jara).

Osvaldo Romo Mena, who had been summoned to testify by the 2nd Military Prosecutor's Office in case 891-77 for the disappearance of Claudio Contreras, was detained in November 1992 upon his arrival in Chile, having been expelled from Brazil, the country where he lived, due to proceedings ordered by the 3rd Criminal Court of Santiago in the case regarding the disappearance of Alfonso Chanfreau Oyarce.

The aforementioned Romo Mena had left the country at the end of 1975, after several summons from Courts in cases involving forcibly disappeared persons. At that time, the DINA had provided him with the means to leave Chile, including false identity documents for him and his family. His identity was that of Osvaldo Andrés Henríquez Mena.

Since he was detained, as of December 1992, he had been charged in six cases of forcibly disappeared persons and had several summons to testify in Courts.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity