On December 9, 1974, Claudio Enrique GONZALEZ NUÑEZ, an employee of the School of Public Health at the University of Chile with no known political affiliation, was detained by plainclothes agents at his workplace in Santiago.

The location to which he was taken remains unknown. The Commission has reached the conviction that Claudio González disappeared due to the actions of State agents, in violation of his human rights.

Source: (Rettig Report)

Claudio Enrique González Núñez, married, a maintenance assistant at the University of Chile with no known political affiliation, was detained on December 9, 1974, at approximately 10:30 a.m. by three plainclothes individuals who identified themselves as members of the Military Intelligence Service.

The events took place at the facilities of the School of Public Health of the University of Chile, while the victim was performing his duties as a maintenance assistant at the aforementioned university site.

At the indicated time, the aforementioned individuals approached Claudio González and informed him that he was under arrest. According to witnesses, the victim requested authorization to go to the staff restroom to change out of his work overalls.

He used this opportunity to inform a coworker that he was being taken into custody, as the coworker later recounted to the victim's spouse, Virginia Tapia. Immediately thereafter, the agents led him out to the street, where they placed him in the back of a vehicle and departed for an unknown destination.

About two hours after the detention, Mrs. Gladys González Serrano, Administrative Chief of the aforementioned school, arrived at the victim's home to inform his spouse of what had happened. As she stated in the judicial proceedings, after the detention, she reported the events to the Director of the School and to the Prosecutor of the University of Chile, who told her that they could do nothing and that it was a matter for his family.

After the coup d'état of September 11, 1973, due to the restructuring of the Public Health Service, Claudio González was suspended from his duties for about five months due to his sympathy for the Unidad Popular, and was subsequently reinstated to his position as a permanent employee.

To this date, Claudio González Núñez remains disappeared after being detained by plainclothes individuals who did not identify themselves.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On December 12, 1974, a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) was filed on behalf of the victim before the Santiago Court of Appeals, which was registered under case number 1,619-74. On December 31, 1974, the Aviation Command informed the Court that personnel under its authority had not detained the victim, nor was any process being initiated against him.

The Minister of the Interior, an Army Division General, reported on January 16, 1975, that there was no record of the detention of the person in question. One month after the official letter was sent, on January 20, 1975, Army Colonel Hernán Ramírez Ramírez, Chief of Staff of the State of Siege Zone Headquarters, replied to the Court that no case was being investigated against the victim in the 2nd Military Court, nor had he been detained within its jurisdiction.

On January 27, 1975, the Court dismissed the appeal based on the merits of the reports received, ordering a summary investigation to be initiated in the corresponding Criminal Court. On January 30, 1975, a summary investigation, case number 117,533-6, was initiated in the 3rd Criminal Court of Santiago regarding the victim's alleged disappearance.

On March 19, 1975, the Court received a report regarding an investigation order issued to the Investigative Police, which stated that witness and family statements confirmed the reported events. Furthermore, the official letter signed by an officer indicated: "regarding the camps for political prisoners... 'Tres Alamos' and 'Cuatro Alamos', in one of them are the detainees who can be visited by their relatives, and regarding the other, those who are held incommunicado are kept there, and in that place, they do not provide information to any institution." On February 19, 1975, a complaint for the kidnapping of the victim was filed before the Court, which would later be consolidated with case number 117,533-6 in the same court. On April 30, 1975, family members and witnesses to the victim's detention appeared before the judge and confirmed the investigated facts. However, that same day, the magistrate decided to close the summary investigation and, given that "the perpetration of any crime was not fully justified," temporarily dismissed the case. The Court of Appeals confirmed the ruling of the 3rd Criminal Court of Santiago judge on September 12, 1975.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity

A sculpture and a plaque located at the Central SEMDA are a testament to the students, academics, and staff of the health programs who were executed or forcibly disappeared for political reasons during the civil-military dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet starting in 1973.

With the presence of family members, friends, representatives of professional associations, authorities, and members of the university community, this Thursday, December 21, the memorial was inaugurated to remember all the people linked to the North Campus of the University who are currently disappeared or were murdered by the dictatorship.

In total, there are twenty-eight people, including students, academics, and staff from the health units, who lost their lives due to the actions of State agencies between 1973 and 1990, starting with Salvador Allende himself, who died at the La Moneda Palace during the coup d'état of September 11.

The memorial site consists of a sculpture created by artist Miguel Lecaros, as well as a plaque with the names of the victims, which was made possible through the joint work of the School of Public Health of the Faculty of Medicine, the Vice-Rector's Office for Student and Community Affairs, the Human Rights and Public Health Days collective, the Center for Mental Health and Human Rights, and the Projects, Memorials, and Institutional Management Area of the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of Justice.

The ceremony, which was hosted by actress Malucha Pinto and featured a performance by singer-songwriter Elizabeth Morris, began with the words that President Michelle Bachelet sent for the occasion. In her message, she highlighted the tribute to the victims of our institution: “I am honored to know that the University of Chile, your House of Studies, your refuge, your home, today honors your memory with this work and, through it, also honors the persistence and courage of your family members, your friends, and your colleagues, because it is thanks to all of them that our executed and disappeared have never died, because they live as an example in the memory of each one of us who recognize in their life stories, testimonies of conviction and tenacity.” Then, on behalf of the Undersecretary of Human Rights, Lorena Fríes, María Soledad Silva, coordinator of the Projects and Memorials Area, read a greeting in which the memorial was highlighted within the framework of promoting a society in which dialogue and peace prevail: “Projects like these contribute to integrating civil society and new generations, creating awareness about the importance that human rights have for each person and for society as a whole.” Also present at the event were the Vice-Rector for Student and Community Affairs, Juan Cortés; the Vice-Rector for Research and Development, Flavio Salazar; the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Manuel Kukuljan; the Director of the School of Public Health, Patricia Frenz; the academic coordinator of the Human Rights Chair of the Vice-Rector's Office for Extension and Communications, Claudio Nash; and former directors of the School of Public Health, Giorgio Solimano and Óscar Arteaga, among other authorities and former authorities of our institution. Rescuing the values of the public, truth, and justice Rector Ennio Vivaldi spoke at the event, pointing out the need for a cultural change that prevents society from falling back into the abuses committed during the military regime, and he also highlighted everything that was lost along with the people who were victims: “Each of these people represents the best that Chile had to offer, the transcendent values that our country had, and that we were able to know,” he indicated. Those values, he noted, can be brought into the present to analyze how, for example, the educational situation is faced: “Today we can see how distorted a concept as essential as ‘the public’ is in its sense of common good, of something that belongs to all of us and makes us feel solidarity. It is impressive how those concepts are lost at the same time that the people who were persecuted were lost.” Finally, on behalf of the victims' families, Jaime Lorca, brother of the disappeared physician Carlos Lorca Tobar, addressed the public and highlighted the strength of those close to the victims, as well as the institutions and organizations that welcomed them, so as not to forget what happened and to uphold the cause of Human Rights. “That is how we have managed not to turn the page, and also achieved a bit of justice, which is still quite insufficient,” he noted. “We do not demand truth and justice only because it is important in personal or family terms, but we do so thinking about the future, about the next generations, and about the Chile that we are building day by day, so that these events can never happen again,” Lorca concluded. Following the speeches, the plaque with the names of those honored in the Memorial was unveiled. Their names are as follows: Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens 11.9.1973 Pablo Ramón Aranda Schmied 17.9.1973 Óscar Eduardo Avello Avello 24.6.1976 Jorge Ávila Pizarro 18.9.1973 Gabriel Castillo Cerna 11.10.1976 Sara de Lourdes Donoso Palacios 15.7.1975 Héctor Victoriano García García 13.8.1974 Carlos Enrique Godoy Lagarrigue 4.8.1976 Eduardo Alberto González Galeno 10.9.1973 Ramiro Carlos Gonzáles Gonzáles 15.9.1973 Claudio Enrique González Núñez 9.12.1974 Iván Sergio Insunza Bascuñán 4.8.1976 Jorge Mario Jordan Domic 16.10.1973 Georges Klein Pipper 11.9.1973 Carlos Enrique Lorca Tobar 25.6.1975 Jorge Eduardo Ortiz Moraga 12.12.1974 Juan Antonio Eduardo Paredes Barrientos 11.9.1973 Egidio Enrique Paris Roa 11.9.1973 Reinalda del Carmen Pereira Plaza 15.12.1976 Héctor Ricardo Pincheira Núñez 11.9.1973 Hernán Sarmiento Sabater 28.7.1974 Renato Alejandro Sepúlveda Guajardo 12.12.1974 Samuel Eduardo Silva Contreras 25.3.1974 Ricardo Cristián Silva Soto 16.6.1987 Rosa Elvira Soliz Poveda 7.7.1975 Claudio Rómulo Tognola Ríos 16.9.1973 Álvaro Modesto Vallejos Villagrán 20.5.1974 Absalón del Carmen Wegner Millas 13.12.1973

Source: uchile.cl 21/12/2017

Date: 21-12-2017