The town of Paine holds the sad record of having the highest number of political executions and forcibly disappeared persons in proportion to its inhabitants. After the military coup, bands of civilians, police, and military personnel operated there, leaving a trail of blood and pain, murdering peasants from "settlements" born out of the Agrarian Reform.

In Paine, victims and perpetrators still live side by side under a cloak of impunity and oblivion. In 1979, the Military Justice system took it upon itself to dismiss the cases opened regarding the events in Paine by virtue of the 1978 Amnesty Law, approved by General Pinochet himself to cover up his crimes.

After 29 years, Judge María Estela Elgarrista is nearing the truth. The Agrarian Reform, initiated in the 1960s and intensified under the government of Salvador Allende and the Unidad Popular, allowed many peasant families to benefit from the allocation of lands that, until then, had belonged to a handful of large landowners.

Thus, the peasants gave life to the "settlements," but in Paine, as in the rest of the Chilean countryside, everything was set back on September 11, 1973. Bands of far-right civilians, police, and military personnel exacted "revenge," murdering union leaders and "settled" peasants.

The crimes, impunity, and fear spread through the small localities of Paine, Hospital, Huelquén, Culitrín, Chada, Rangue, El Vínculo, Pintué, and Laguna de Aculeo. Many peasants and their families witnessed how local civilians guided the uniformed men through the "settlements," providing names and, more often than not, participating directly in the repression and crimes.

Two weeks ago, and after 29 years, the judge of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, María Estela Elgarrista, summoned family members and perpetrators for various face-to-face confrontations. Holanda Vidal, wife of the forcibly disappeared Cristian Cartagena Pérez, states: "I was summoned regarding the lawsuit for the kidnapping and murder of my husband, who disappeared on September 18, 1973.

Our goal is for the guilty to be prosecuted: Carabineros from the Paine sub-precinct and civilians who acted in concert. I identified several of them: Sergeant Retamal, Corporal Ortiz, Albornoz, and Víctor Sagredo; and civilians: Darío González Carrasco, now a merchant, a member of Patria y Libertad, who admitted that he detained my husband at the Chada School House where we lived, taking him to the sub-precinct at six in the morning." The former Carabineros have denied their participation in the crimes during the confrontations, arguing that they "were on guard duty." "That caused me a shock with paralysis of my arms, a crisis of crying and anguish. It is terrible to relive everything that happened, to see them so close, their cynicism, their audacity in denying the truth. To see them so arrogant, without accepting that what they did was atrocious. These are the first confrontations after 29 years of complaints, searches, and knocking on doors. This step was possible because of all our effort and work as an Association. We have not compromised on the trial and punishment of the guilty, and that they pay for their crimes with prison." After the confrontations, prosecutions should follow. The judge has a long list of civilians, Carabineros, and military personnel from the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment. "One of the murderers is Lieutenant Magaña Baum, and among the Carabineros, Sergeant Verdugo, a torturer who now presents himself as an old man who has done nothing," adds Holanda Vidal. "Everyone saw them" Juan Maureira is the son of René Maureira Gajardo, who was forcibly disappeared on October 16, 1973, along with 22 other peasants from the Campo Lindo, 24 de Abril, and Nuevo Sendero settlements. As president of the Paine AFDD (Association of Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared), he recalls that military personnel from the San Bernardo Infantry School also participated in the repression and murders: "The judge is investigating nearly 40 complaints filed before Judge Guzmán. In Paine, there are more than 70 victims, of whom about 40 are still missing. These are the cases compiled in the Rettig Report, but others were never reported. We presume that there are around 100 murdered in Paine, most of them peasants from settlements. The minister will eventually have to prosecute the Carabineros, civilians, and military personnel involved. It is what we expect and what we have asked for, that true justice be done and that we can find our relatives... We know that Lieutenant Magaña has information about what happened to my father and 22 other peasants, among other cases. He killed our relatives... The Carabineros have denied their participation, but they are the same ones who still live in the town. How can they deny it if everyone saw them? The same happens with the civilians who acted. Paine is a small town." According to the relatives, the judge has acted with rigor, caution, and intelligence. They trust the testimonies and statements she has managed to collect. For them, everything points to the fact that some of those involved will be prosecuted. "Many were even seen entering houses. There is a countless amount of information collected since that time." So far, they are satisfied with the investigation and the proceedings carried out by the judge. For them, it is the first investigation after 29 years without achieving justice. Up to this minute, civilians and Carabineros have been summoned, and some confrontations have taken place: "Which gives us a bit of satisfaction because it had never been achieved before. For the moment there are no prosecuted individuals, but the minister continues working. And we have been able to verify that," says Juan Maureira. Meanwhile, most of the civilians and Carabineros who murdered the peasants of Paine continue to live in the small rural town, in complete impunity. "As far as we have been able to see, for the first time there is an investigation as it should be. The criminals will have to provide information about what happened. They are the same Carabineros, civilians, and military personnel who are mentioned in most of the cases," he concludes. Murderers of Paine Carabineros Nelson Bravo Espinoza, Captain; Raúl Ortiz Maluenda, 2nd Sergeant; Carlos Aburto Jaramillo, 1st Corporal; José Retamal Burgos, 1st Corporal; Víctor Sagredo Aravena, 1st Corporal; Reyes, Sergeant; Luis Jara, Lieutenant of Pintué; and Carabineros Samuel Ahumada Cabello; Raúl Donoso Figueroa; Alamiro Garrido Ubal; Jorge González Quezada; Víctor Labarca Díaz; Eduardo Molina Armijo; José Piñaleo Pérez and Jorge Verdugo, among others. Civilians Hugo Aguilera, Fernando Aguilera, Francisco Luzoro, Jorge Sepúlveda, Tito Carrasco, Claudio Oregón, Darío González Carrasco, Luis Guerrero, Mario Tagle, Ricardo Tagle, Yule Tagle, Jorge Aguirre. Military - San Bernardo Infantry School Leonel Köening Alternatt, Director; Samuel Rojas Pérez, Lieutenant Colonel; Mario Morales Durán, Conscript; Andrés Magaña Baum, Lieutenant; Pedro Montalvo Calvo, Colonel; Iván de la Fuente Sáez, Major; Hernán Pizarro Collarte, Major; Ciro Ahumada Miranda, Major; Juan Carlos Nielsen Stambuck, Captain; Sergio Rodríguez Rautcher, Captain; Luis Cortés Villa, Captain; Víctor Pinto Pérez, Captain; Marcial Cobos Farías, Captain; Jorge Romero Campos, Captain; Luis Villarroel Contreras, Captain; Héctor Maturana Zúñiga, Captain; Luis Garfias Cabrera, Captain; Eduardo Silva Bravo, Captain; Sergio Valdivia M., Captain; and Julio Cerda Carrasco, Captain, among others.

Source: elsiglo.cl, February 25, 2003

Paine Case: 15 former uniformed personnel prosecuted for the executed and disappeared of El Escorial

Within the framework of the judicial investigation into the chilling events of the "Paine Case," where seven dozen comrades from the area were executed and/or forcibly disappeared, the judge in charge is delving into the repressive events that occurred in the El Escorial sector, which resulted in the murder of two peasants and the disappearance of a child.

For the murder of comrades JUAN GUILLERMO CUADRA ESPINOZA (26 years old) and CARLOS MANUEL ORTIZ ORTIZ (18), committed between September 24 and October 6, 1973, and for the abduction of a minor (with subsequent disappearance), IGNACIO DEL TRÁNSITO SANTANDER ALBORNOZ (17), committed starting on September 24, 1973, the minister in extraordinary visitation for human rights violation cases of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, Marianela Cifuentes Alarcón, issued the prosecution against 15 criminals against humanity.

In her resolution, the minister prosecuted the former military, police, and investigative officers Alfonso Faúndez Norambuena (head of intelligence at the San Bernardo Infantry School, member of the DINA—eventually becoming head of Villa Grimaldi—and later the CNI), Escipión Escobar Norambuena, Mario Campos Ripley, Óscar Vergara Cruces, Roberto Rozas Aguilera, Sergio Ávila Quiroga (former Carabinero officer, murderer at the Cerro Chena extermination camp and later of the Joint Command), Jorge Romero Campos (former Army Captain), Carlos Kyling Schmidt, José Vásquez Silva, Carlos Durán Rodríguez, Carlos Lazo Santibáñez, Jorge Reyes Cortés, Jorge Saavedra Meza, and Víctor Sandoval Muñoz, as authors of the aforementioned crimes. Meanwhile, the magistrate subjected the recognized and inveterate murderer Osvaldo Andrés Magaña Bau to prosecution as the author of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Carlos Manuel Ortiz Ortiz, committed starting on October 2, 1973, and modified the 2003 resolution that prosecuted the same defendant as a co-author of the repeated crimes of kidnapping and aggravated homicide of Juan Guillermo Cuadra Espinoza and Ignacio del Tránsito Santander Albornoz, perpetrated starting on September 24, 1973, in the localities of Paine and San Bernardo, with Magaña Bau now prosecuted as the author of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of the aforementioned comrades. The "Paine Case" According to the information gathered during the investigation stage, the visiting minister established the following facts: a) That, on September 24, 1973, in the El Escorial sector of Paine, soldiers of the Second Rifle Company of the San Bernardo Infantry School, commanded by Captain Jorge Romero Campos and under the charge of Second Lieutenant Osvaldo Andrés Magaña Bau, illegally detained Juan Guillermo Cuadra Espinoza and the adolescent Ignacio del Tránsito Santander Albornoz, among others. b) That, after their detention, Cuadra Espinoza and Santander Albornoz were transferred to the Prisoner Camp that the San Bernardo Infantry School maintained inside Cerro Chena, under the charge of Lieutenant Alfonso Faúndez Norambuena, a place where Army Second Lieutenant Carlos Walter Kyling Schmidt also served, along with personnel from the Investigative Police, including Mario Jesús Campos Ripley, Oscar Hernán Vergara Cruces, and Roberto Arcángel Rozas Aguilera, and Carabinero Lieutenant Sergio Heriberto Ávila Quiroga, where they were kept illegally imprisoned. c) That, subsequently, on October 2, 1973, in the El Escorial sector of Paine, soldiers of the Second Rifle Company of the San Bernardo Infantry School, commanded by Captain Jorge Romero Campos and under the charge of Second Lieutenant Osvaldo Andrés Magaña Bau, illegally detained Carlos Manuel Ortiz Ortiz. d) That, likewise, Ortiz Ortiz was transferred to the aforementioned Prisoner Camp, under the charge of Lieutenant Alfonso Faúndez Norambuena, where he was kept illegally imprisoned. e) That, finally, inside the aforementioned place, Juan Guillermo Cuadra Espinoza and Carlos Manuel Ortiz Ortiz were executed by firing squad on October 5 and 6, 1973, respectively, with the whereabouts of Ignacio del Tránsito Santander Albornoz remaining unknown to this date. Uniformed and civilian culprits of the repression in Paine The vile murder and disappearance of these 3 comrades, one of them still a child, is part of the bloody repression in Paine following the 1973 military coup, an illicit act perpetrated by State agents and right-wing civilians between September and October 1973, which resulted in 70 executed, 40 of them forcibly disappeared. This massive reprisal was the civilian and military response to the affront that it represented for the powerful that the peasants and workers of the area (and the country) dared to demand their long-delayed rights and began to decide on the type of society they desired for themselves and their families. Participating in the unbridled repression were Carabineros: Nelson Bravo Espinoza, Captain (who now faces preventive detention); Raúl Ortiz Maluenda, 2nd Sergeant; Carlos Aburto Jaramillo, 1st Corporal; José Retamal Burgos, 1st Corporal; Víctor Sagredo Aravena, 1st Corporal; Reyes, Sergeant; Luis Jara, Lieutenant of Pintué; and Carabineros Samuel Ahumada Cabello; Raúl Donoso Figueroa; Alamiro Garrido Ubal; Jorge González Quezada; Víctor Labarca Díaz; Eduardo Molina Armijo; José Piñaleo Pérez and Jorge Verdugo, among others. Also fully involved were military personnel from the San Bernardo Infantry School: Colonel Leonel Köening Alternatt, Director of the San Bernardo Infantry School; Samuel Rojas Pérez, Lieutenant Colonel; Mario Morales Durán, Conscript; Andrés Magaña Baum, Lieutenant; Pedro Montalvo Calvo, Colonel; Iván de la Fuente Sáez, Major; Hernán Pizarro Collarte, Major; Ciro Ahumada Miranda, Major; Juan Carlos Nielsen Stambuck, Captain; Sergio Rodríguez Rautcher, Captain; Luis Cortés Villa, Captain; Víctor Pinto Pérez, Captain; Marcial Cobos Farías, Captain; Jorge Romero Campos, Captain; Luis Villarroel Contreras, Captain; Héctor Maturana Zúñiga, Captain; Luis Garfias Cabrera, Captain; Eduardo Silva Bravo, Captain; Sergio Valdivia M., Captain; and Julio Cerda Carrasco, Captain, among others. We must not forget the participation in this shameful wave of post-coup murders, torture, and humiliation in Paine by right-wing civilians: landowners, businessmen, and the lumpen paid by the former. Thus, the following civilians are pointed out as murderers of the people: Hugo and Fernando Aguilera; the aforementioned Francisco Luzoro Montenegro and Rubén González Carrasco; Jorge Sepúlveda; Tito Carrasco; Claudio Oregón; Luis Guerrero; Mario, Ricardo, and Yule Tagle; Jorge Aguirre; Christian Kast; Luis Mondaca; Segundo Suazo; Miguel González; Patricio Meza; Jorge Nazar and Ruperto Concha (the latter 6 mentioned in the judicial statement of survivor Alejandro del Carmen Bustos González, October 22, 2001; Paine Case, Page 1726 of Volume VII).

Source: acciondirectachile.blogspot.com, July 12, 2017