Occupation: Merchant, correspondent for the newspaper "El Clarín" in Temuco. Political Affiliation: Socialist Party Date of Detention: October 10, 1973

Name

ISAIAS JOSE FUENTEALBA CALDERON

ID: 25.220 of Villarrica DOB: 04-07-44, 29 years of age at the time of detention Address: Fundo Trafún, Liquiñe Marital Status: Married Occupation: Area Chief, Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex, Fundo Trafún Political Affiliation: Member of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.) Date of Detention: October 10, 1973

Name

MAURICIO SEGUNDO CURIÑANCO REYES

ID: No information DOB: 38 years of age at the time of detention Address: Liquiñe, Valdivia Marital Status: Single Occupation: Carpenter/Artisan Political Affiliation: Socialist Party Date of Detention: October 10, 1973

Name

CARLOS SEGUNDO FIGUEROA ZAPATA

ID: 25.911 of Curacautín DOB: 07-25-26, 47 years of age at the time of detention Address: Fundo Paimún, Liquiñe, Valdivia Marital Status: Married, 6 children Occupation: Timber worker Political Affiliation: Counselor of the Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex Union representing Fundo Raimún. Socialist Party. Date of Detention: October 10, 1973

Name

LUIS ARMANDO LAGOS TORRES

ID: No information DOB: 50 years of age at the time of detention Address: Liquiñe, Valdivia Marital Status: Widower, 9 children Occupation: Timber worker Political Affiliation: Socialist Party Date of Detention: October 10, 1973

Name

MODESTO JUAN REINANTE RAIPAN

ID: No information DOB: 18 years of age at the time of detention Address: Fundo Trafún, Liquiñe, Valdivia Marital Status: Single Occupation: Timber worker Political Affiliation: Member of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.) Date of Detention: October 10, 1973

Name

ERNESTO REINANTE RAIPAN

ID: No information DOB: 29 years of age at the time of detention Address: Fundo Trafún, Liquiñe, Valdivia Marital Status: Single Occupation: Timber worker Political Affiliation: Member of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.) Date of Detention: October 10, 1973

Name

ALBERTO SEGUNDO REINANTE RAIPAN

ID: No information DOB: 39 years of age at the time of detention Address: Fundo Trafún, Liquiñe, Valdivia Marital Status: Married, 4 children Occupation: Timber worker Political Affiliation: Member of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.) Date of Detention: October 10, 1973

Name

JOSE HECTOR BORQUEZ LEVICAN

ID: No information DOB: 01-22-31, 42 years of age at the time of detention. Address: Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex Marital Status: Married, four children. Occupation: Timber worker and administrator of the Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex Political Affiliation: No known political affiliation Date of Detention: October 10, 1973

Name

ALEJANDRO ANTONIO TRACANAO PINCHEIRA

ID: No information DOB: 22 years of age at the time of detention Address: Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex Marital Status: Widower, two children Occupation: Timber worker Political Affiliation: Linked to the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.) Date of Detention: October 10, 1973

Name

MIGUEL JOSE TRACANAO PINCHEIRA

ID: No information DOB: 25 years of age at the time of detention Address: Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex Marital Status: Single Occupation: Timber worker Political Affiliation: Linked to the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.) Date of Detention: October 10, 1973

Name

ELISEO MAXIMILIANO TRACANAO PINCHEIRA

ID: No information DOB: 10-22-55, 17 years of age at the time of detention Address: Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex Marital Status: Single Occupation: Timber worker Political Affiliation: Linked to the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.) Date of Detention: October 10, 1973

Name

LUIS ALFREDO RIVERA CATRICHEO

ID: No information DOB: 54 years of age at the time of detention Address: Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex Marital Status: Single Occupation: Timber worker at the Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex Political Affiliation: No known political affiliation Date of Detention: October 10, 1973

Name

SALVADOR ALAMOS RUBILAR

ID: No information DOB: 45 years of age at the time of detention Address: Liquiñe, Valdivia Marital Status: Married, 9 children Occupation: Timber industrialist Political Affiliation: Socialist Party Date of Detention: October 10, 1973

On October 10, 1973, between 9:00 PM and 11:00 PM, the following individuals were detained in the Liquiñe sector, within the Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex: Luis Alfredo Rivera Catricheo, timber worker, no known political affiliation; Eliseo Maximiliano Tracanao Pincheira, timber worker, linked to the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.); Miguel José Tracanao Pincheira, timber worker, linked to the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.); Alejandro Antonio Tracanao Pincheira, timber worker, linked to the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.); Salvador Alamos Rubilar, timber industrialist, member of the Socialist Party; José Héctor Bórquez Levicán, timber worker, work supervisor at Fundo Trafún, member of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.); Alberto Segundo Reinante Raipán, timber worker, member of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.); Ernesto Reinante Raipán, timber worker, member of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement; Modesto Juan Reinante Raipán, timber worker, member of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.); Luis Armando Lagos Torres, timber worker, member of the Socialist Party; Carlos Segundo Figueroa Zapata, timber worker, counselor for Fundo Paimún to the Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex Union, member of the Socialist Party; Mauricio Segundo Curiñanco Reyes, carpenter/artisan, member of the Socialist Party; Isaías José Fuentealba Calderón, Area Chief at Fundo Trafún of the Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex, member of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement (M.C.R.); Daniel Antonio Castro López, merchant, correspondent for the newspaper "El Clarín" in Temuco, member of the Socialist Party.

For its part, the report of the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation includes the names of the following victims as part of this same repressive situation: Carlos Alberto Cayumán Cayumán; and the 27-year-old teacher from Puerto Fuy, a member of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), Bernarda Rosalba Vera Contardo.

The detentions were carried out by uniformed personnel who carried a list with the names of the detainees. The apprehending group was composed of military personnel wearing combat uniforms who belonged to the No. 3 Maquehua Helicopter Group of the city of Temuco, of the Chilean Air Force (FACH); some Carabineros officials from the Liquiñe station, and civilians from the area.

They moved in private vehicles, a pickup truck from the Agricultural and Livestock Service (S.A.G.), a police vehicle, an ambulance from the Liquiñe station, and also had the support of a FACH helicopter.

The captors acted in several groups, which met at the Coñaripe junction, close to all the places where the detentions were carried out. There, they took the road to Villarrica, and around 2:00 AM on October 11, 1973, on the bridge over the Toltén River, they proceeded to kill them and throw their bodies into the water.

Some of the bodies were found days later by a group of people working on the banks of the Toltén River. The bodies were placed in sacks with stones so they would not float; however, some bodies surfaced. This situation was immediately reported to the Carabineros, who, by order of the officer on duty, proceeded to push the bodies back into the river's current.

Among the testimonies obtained is that of Honorinda Lagos Sepúlveda, spouse of Isaías Fuentealba Calderón, Area Chief of the Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex, who points out regarding her husband that he left early on the morning of October 10, 1973, after his driver picked him up, and they traveled from Trafún to Liquiñe, about 14 km away.

Upon returning in the afternoon, at a place called Los Canelales, the victim was detained by Carabineros, who left Isaías Fuentealba's briefcase, which contained documentation from the Timber Complex, with the driver so that he could deliver it to his spouse.

Part of this testimony indicates that the detainees were taken to the Liquiñe Inn, owned by Tulio García, where they were beaten and kept in a cabin. After that, they were taken out tied up and blindfolded, and transported in vehicles.

For its part, the family of Salvador Alamos Rubilar stated that the victim had been detained previously, remaining in that condition from September 18 to 28, 1973, for alleged links to a failed ambush on the Neltume station.

His captors on that occasion were Carabineros; they detained him along with his 17-year-old son, Salvador. Alamos Rubilar was tortured. His arrest on October 10, 1973, was carried out by military personnel in the presence of his daughter, Mirta Alamos, who pointed out that there were more detainees in the vehicle into which they loaded her father, tied by his hands and feet.

The victim's spouse, Mrs. Elcira Figueroa, immediately began searching for him in various places such as the Logistics Battalion of Valdivia, the Public Jail, the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco, etc.

On one occasion, while interviewing the Military Prosecutor, a high-ranking officer who was present intervened, telling her that the operation was carried out by "Black Beret" Commandos from Colina, so the local military authorities had nothing to do with it, adding: "it is better to mourn and grieve for the dead."

All the aforementioned victims, executed outside of any legal process by State agents who violated their right to life and then hid their bodies, preventing their families from giving them a dignified burial, remain in the status of forcibly disappeared.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

There is no knowledge that any judicial proceedings have been carried out. Eliseo Maximiliano Tracanao Pincheira appears in the report of the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation, and in a sworn statement by his mother, Mrs.

Margarita del Carmen Valenzuela González, as Eliseo Maximiliano Tracanao Valenzuela. This surname had to be rectified, because the young man is actually registered in the Civil Registry by his grandmother with the surnames Tracanao Pincheira.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity

The book "The crimes that shook Chile" by journalists Jorge Escalante, Nancy Guzmán, Javier Rebolledo, and Pedro Vega, collects in more than 600 pages and 25 chapters the crimes of greatest national and international impact committed under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. 40 years after the coup d'état, the work will be presented at 12:00 PM next Thursday, September 12, in the Hall of Honor of the former Congress in Santiago.

The speakers will be the former minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals and former judge with exclusive dedication to investigating crimes against humanity, Alejandro Solís, the human rights lawyer Nelson Caucoto, and the journalist Marcia Scantelbury.

The book also contains photographs and official lists of former DINA and CNI agents, including the names of civilians who were part of these repressive organizations. The vast majority of these accounts are based on investigations carried out by the newspaper La Nación, starting from the end of the military regime in 1990.

The chronicles are also supported by the judicial files of the various proceedings. For the authors, this is a work unprecedented until now in Chile that, being a contribution to Historical Memory, collects in a single volume the crimes against humanity that have led to the prosecution and conviction of the majority of the more than 800 former DINA and CNI agents to date.

The 25 chapters are as follows: Víctor Jara; José Tohá; Miguel Woodward; Peasants of Paine; Caravan of Death including Pisagua; Liquiñe Massacre; Detention and torture centers; Air War Academy and Joint Command; General Carlos Prats and Sofía Cuthbert; Operation Colombo; Operation Condor; Colonia Dignidad; Lautaro Brigade and Delfín Group; DINA chemist Eugenio Berríos; Orlando Letelier; Carmelo Soria; Operation Television Set Removal; Eduardo Frei Montalva; Tucapel Jiménez; The fall of generals and other active officers; Beheaded Communists; Operation Albania; The 5 frontists; Jécar Neghme; and an Epilogue with various related episodes.

Source: elmostrador.cl 09/05/2013

Date: 09-05-2013

Detained at midnight in Liquiñe, Panguipulli, along with 14 people, they were killed in the Toltén River. All are forcibly disappeared.

ACTIVITIES

Correspondent for Clarín in Temuco, a city where he also worked as a merchant. Born in the north, near Tocopilla, he was a member of the Socialist Party. He was married and had 7 children. Very little is known about the life of Daniel Antonio Castro López, correspondent for the newspaper Clarín in Temuco.

His name appears alongside that of 15 other victims detained in the hamlet of Liquiñe of the Panguipulli Timber and Forestry Complex, located in the vicinity of Valdivia. Uniformed personnel provided with a list of the victims carried out the detentions between 9 and 11 at night on October 10, 1973.

Most of the detainees were workers of the timber complex, several members of the Tracanao and Reinante families, Isaías José Fuentealba Calderón, area chief of the Complex at the Trafún estate, and the teacher from Puerto Fuy, Bernarda Rosalba Vera Contardo.

The criminal group was composed of military personnel in combat attire, FACH personnel from the No. 3 Maquehua Helicopter Group of Temuco, Carabineros from the Liquiñe station, and civilians from the area.

Elcira Figueroa, wife of Salvador Alamos Rubilar, another of the victims, recounted that while she was inquiring about her disappeared spouse at the military prosecutor's office in Temuco, a high-ranking officer she does not identify told her that the local military authorities had little to do with it because the operation was carried out by "Black Beret" Commandos from Colina. "It is better to mourn and grieve for the dead," were his words.

They used a pickup truck from the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG), a police vehicle, the ambulance from the Liquiñe station, numerous private vehicles, and a helicopter from the No. 3 Group of the Air Force of Temuco.

According to testimonies, at the Liquiñe Inn, owned by Tulio García, head of a prosperous family established in the area to the present day, they were tortured and punished until exhaustion. Other criminal groups acted simultaneously in the area, taking 15 to 20 people from each hamlet.

The captors met at the Coñaripe junction, equidistant from all the places where detentions were carried out, to take the road to Villarrica. When they arrived at the bridge over the Toltén River, around 2 in the morning on October 11, the corvos (knives) flashed.

They put all the detainees to a horrific death. Then they threw their bodies into the water. Days later, some bodies emerged to the surface, although the bodies were placed in sacks with stones. Carabineros quickly appeared at the site of the macabre discovery to... push the bodies into the river's current.

All the victims in the area (Neltume, Chihuío, Liquiñe, and other hamlets) were murdered by uniformed personnel without any parody of a trial, not even the hackneyed court-martial. They hid their bodies to prevent the news from becoming known and to deprive their families of giving them an honorable burial.

All are forcibly disappeared. French filmmaker Agnes Denis made a documentary —"The Preventive War"— about the massacres of the Panguipulli Complex, in collaboration with the Chileans Patricio Paniagua, director, and Paco Peña, screenwriter.

According to the investigation by the film's producers, the extermination operation was in charge of Lieutenant Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased), commander of the Tucapel regiment of Temuco, under the supervision of General Bruno Siebert, now a senator for the eighth region.

The families who lost their loved ones in Liquiñe live with the perpetrators. Furthermore, they suffer social segregation from locals as modest as they are: "If they killed your husband, there must have been a reason," "It was because of them that so many things happened," are the most frequent reproaches they must endure.

They are not inclined to talk about their tragedy, nor is there information that they have carried out any judicial action to clarify the fate of their loved ones. In Liquiñe, "the basic trust for healthy communication has been transformed into a multifaceted and permanent distrust," states the second volume of Persona, Estado, Poder (Studies on mental health), recently published by the Committee for the Defense of the People's Rights (CODEPU).

The relatives of the victims are reluctant to receive researchers who dig into the past. This attitude, "has hindered the achievement of spaces of solidarity and democracy in the process of transition to democracy and has hindered the knowledge of the truth," estimates CODEPU.

It has also prevented meetings from being held in Liquiñe. For the researchers, it was impressive to verify how the relatives of the victims keep their memories, the fear, "the intense emotion and the anguish of that time" vivid.

Daniel Antonio Castro López operated as a correspondent for Clarín in Temuco, but his main activity was commerce. According to his daughter María Miriam Castro Reyes, a resident of Rancagua, her father lived in Liquiñe, and not in Temuco, with a new spouse, Ernestina Muñoz.

There he owned a general store, a business that supplied a wide range of products. The daughter does not know how her father became linked to journalism and Clarín, but remembers that he was an enthusiastic member of the Socialist Party. "My father was very loved in the area because he helped people a lot, he was very supportive of the poor; he taught the peasants who had become timber workers to read and write," said María Miriam Castro Reyes.

In "The Preventive War," only a sign with his name appears among the victims of Liquiñe. The director of Clarín in 1973, Alberto Gamboa, does not remember his name, nor having known him. He recommended contacting the person who coordinated the newspaper's correspondents, the journalist Alejandro Arellano, who lives in Australia, but he does not remember him either.

We do not know how Castro López became linked to journalism and came to be a correspondent for the most popular newspaper of his time. But we have nevertheless preserved his place among the journalists victimized by violence.

Ernesto Carmona is a journalist and editor. This information has been extracted verbatim from: Morir es la Noticia (To Die is the News) Ernesto Carmona Editor (Journalists recount the history of their murdered and/or disappeared colleagues) (Third Edition); SANTIAGO DE CHILE 1998

Source: Morir es la Noticia Ernesto Carmona Editor

Remembering journalists murdered during the dictatorship in Chile

The Latin American College of Journalists issued a statement commemorating and remembering the journalists and journalism students murdered in Chile during the dictatorship. Statement from the Latin American College of Journalists: Today, September 11, 2013, marks 40 years since the Coup d'état perpetrated by Augusto Pinochet against the democratic regime established at the ballot box and against the government of the Popular Unity, presided over by Salvador Allende.

With this, a military regime was established that took power through violence and with anti-democratic methods. The Latin American College of Journalists rejects them in their entirety. This event altered the entire recent history of Chile, transforming it to its deepest roots: it meant a radical change in the conception of politics, the economy, culture, and freedoms.

During the coup and the subsequent years of military dictatorship, human rights were violated with death and torture. Journalism and journalists were not left on the sidelines of these events. Freedom of expression was reduced to its minimum manifestation, with the establishment of prior censorship that forcefully limited the possibilities of communicators to transmit the internal reality of Chile and also from abroad, to the audience to whom they are accountable.

On such a significant date as today, September 11, 2013, the representation of the Latin American College of Journalists (COLAPER) in Chile wants to pay tribute to the journalists who died during the days of the Coup d'état and throughout the entire dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in the following nearly 17 years.

Likewise, COLAPER wants to pay tribute to all those who suffered torture, reprisals, were threatened, or, in some way, were limited in the exercise of freedom of information and expression throughout those years.

Their names do not appear in this letter, but the recognition of the Latin American College of Journalists is also for them. Santiago de Chile, September 11, 2013, Signed Juan Delgado Celis, President of the Latin American College of Journalists (COLAPER) Claudia Castro Quintas, General Secretary of Human Rights of COLAPER, Roberto Vilches, representative of COLAPER (Chile), Guido Cengiarotti Aumatell, President of the Latin American Journalist Network.

List of journalists disappeared and murdered during the dictatorship. Source: Morir es la Noticia 1.- Diana Arón Svigiliski. Journalist, graduated from the Catholic University. Forcibly disappeared, arrested in Santiago, November 18, 1974. 2.- Carlos Bascuñán Mourgues-Dewet.

Journalist, University of Concepción. His remains appeared in the mountain range, 225 km south of Copiapó, on November 5, 1973. 3.- Carlos Berger Guralnik. Journalist by choice. Lawyer graduated from the University of Chile.

On October 19, 1973, executed by firing squad on the outskirts of Calama. 4.- Juan Manuel Bertoló Rivas. Self-taught journalist, reporter for the newspaper El Mercurio. He was detained on February 10, 1990, by Carabineros; his death is not clarified. 5.- Mario Eduardo Calderón Tapia.

Journalist, graduated from the University of Chile in Valparaíso in 1971. Forcibly disappeared, arrested in Santiago on September 25, 1974. 6.- Augusto Carmona Acevedo. Journalism graduate from the University of Chile.

Detained December 7, 1977, at 2524 Barcelona Street, San Miguel. 7.- José Humberto Carrasco Tapia. Journalist, University of Chile. On September 8, 1986, he was riddled with bullets in the Parque del Recuerdo cemetery. 8.- DANIEL ANTONIO CASTRO LOPEZ.

Correspondent for the newspaper Clarín in Temuco. October 10/11, 1975. Detained in Liquiñe along with 14 people, they were killed in the Toltén River. 9.- Sergio Contreras. Radio and PR journalist. Detained at La Moneda on September 11, 1973. 10.- Luis Eduardo Durán Rivas.

Journalist from the U. of Chile. Forcibly disappeared, arrested in Santiago on September 14, 1974. 11.- Guillermo Gálvez Rivadeneira. Reporter (ORBE agency), director of a media outlet (Hechos Mundiales magazine).

Forcibly disappeared, kidnapped on July 28, 1976. 12.- Máximo Antonio Gedda Ortiz. TV director, journalist. Forcibly disappeared, arrested on a bus in Santiago on July 16, 1974. 13.- Leonardo Henrichsen.

Cameraman, correspondent for Swedish television and Channel 13 of Buenos Aires. Santiago, murdered on June 29, 1973, while reporting on the military uprising of the Armored Regiment 2, known as "El Tanquetazo," suppressed by General Carlos Prats González. 14.- Charles Edmund Horman Lazar.

Harvard University graduate, journalist and screenwriter. Detained on September 17, 1973. Executed on September 18, 1975, at the National Stadium. 15.- Ricardo Cristian Mortecinos Slaughter. Freelance photographer and filmmaker, Chilean-American and resident in the United States.

Santiago, October 17, 1975. Kidnapped from his apartment and executed by firing squad that same night in the Lo Prado tunnel. 16.- Archibaldo Morales Villanueva. Self-taught journalist and announcer. Disappeared on November 5, 1973. 17.- Augusto Olivares Becerra.

Editor, columnist, and radio and television commentator. La Moneda, September 11, 1973. 18.- José Leonardo Pérez Hermosilla. Opinion article editor. Forcibly disappeared, he was arrested on January 5, 1974, in Santiago and probably murdered in Tejas Verdes in the month of February of that year. 19.- José Miguel Rivas Rachitoff.

Self-taught journalist. Forcibly disappeared, arrested on January 3, 1974, in Santiago. 20.- José Tohá González. Editorialist and political leader. Santiago, March 15, 1974. Died in captivity at the Military School. 21.- Ernesto Traubmann Riegelhaupt.

Correspondent, radio operator. Detained in the early hours of September 12, 1973, his trail was lost at the Ministry of Defense. 22.- Ricardo Troncoso León. Journalist, photographer, playwright, theater director, and actor.

Forcibly disappeared, he was arrested at his home in Chillán on October 1, 1973. 23.- Jorge Bernabé Yáñez Olave. Journalist and poet. Forcibly disappeared, he was arrested on September 16, 1973, on the road from Chanco to Cauquenes.

Journalism students murdered and disappeared. Luis Eduardo Alaniz, Jaime Aldoney, Juan Elías Espinoza, Arcadia Flores, Rodolfo Jacinto Fuenzalida, Jorge Eduardo Jara, Nenhad Teodorovic Sertic.

Source: elobservatodo.cl 09/11/2013

Date: 09-11-2013

Court confirms major sentence for human rights violations during the dictatorship

The Santiago Court of Appeals confirmed this Friday the 18-year prison sentence against retired Colonel Hugo Alberto Guerra Jorquera for the kidnapping of 11 peasants who were executed in 1973 but whose bodies never appeared, judicial sources reported.

The peasants were from the town of Liquiñe and worked in a timber complex in the area. The appellate court rejected an appeal filed by Guerra Jorquera to invalidate the sentence imposed by Judge Alejandro Solís in January 2006, which is currently the harshest sentence handed down for human rights violations.

The retired Army colonel was also ordered to pay 250 million pesos (about 480,000 dollars) as compensation, by virtue of a civil lawsuit filed against him by five relatives of the victims. According to the Rettig Report, which documented human rights violations during the regime of the late dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), the agricultural workers were detained in a joint operation by the Carabineros police of the Liquiñe station, Army personnel, and civilians.

The peasants were taken to the Villarrica bridge, over the Toltén River, where they were executed and their bodies were never found. Among the executed are the brothers Modesto, Ernesto, and Alberto Reinante Raipán, all three workers and members of the Panguipulli timber complex union.

The plaintiff lawyer, Nelson Caucoto, celebrated the ruling because, as he said, it confirms the crimes and establishes exemplary punishments against the accused.

Source: August 03, 2007 El Mostrador

Date: 08-03-2007

Judge Solís handed down the highest penalty to date in human rights cases

The magistrate sentenced a retired Army lieutenant colonel to 18 years of major imprisonment in its maximum degree for the qualified kidnapping of 11 peasants in Liquiñe. Minister Alejandro Solís handed down this Thursday the highest penalty known for a case linked to human rights violations during the military regime headed by General (R) Augusto Pinochet.

The magistrate sentenced retired Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Alberto Guerra Jorquera to 18 years of major imprisonment in its maximum degree as the perpetrator of repeated crimes of qualified kidnapping, in the so-called "Liquiñe episode." The ruling is based on the repression suffered starting October 10, 1973, by a group of 11 peasants who sympathized with the Popular Unity (UP), in the foothills sector of the Tenth Region of Los Lagos.

Among the victims are Salvador Álamos Rubilar, José Héctor Bórquez Levican, Daniel Antonio Castro López, Carlos Alberto Cayuman Cayuman, Mauricio Segundo Curiñanco Reyes, Carlos Figueroa Zapata, Isaías José Fuentealba Calderón, Luis Armando Lagos Torres, Ernesto Juan Reinante Raipan, Modesto Juan Reinante Raipan, and Luis Alfredo Rivera Catricheo.

The retired Army officer was also ordered to pay a total sum of $250 million as compensation, by virtue of a civil lawsuit filed against him by five relatives of the victims. The beneficiaries, with $50 million each, will be Miguel Ángel and Isaías Julián Fuentealba Lagos, as well as Héctor Hernán, Hugo Raúl, and Didier Antonio Figueroa Arraigada.

Additionally, the owner of the Liquiñe Hot Springs, a civilian identified as Luis Osvaldo García Guzmán, was convicted, who in his capacity as the perpetrator of the qualified kidnapping of Luis Armando Lagos Torres received a sentence of five years and one day.

Source: January 26, 2006 El Mostrador

Date: 01-26-2006

Involved party in the Liquiñe case is prosecuted

The investigating judge, Juan Guzmán Tapia, decided tonight to prosecute Luis Osvaldo García Tapia as the perpetrator of qualified kidnapping, for the case of Luis Armando Lagos Torres, 50 years old - a worker at the Panguipulli timber complex - a socialist militant detained in Curranco in 1973.

Luis Lagos was detained in 1973 along with 15 other people in the south, in the so-called "Caravanita Chica," in the Ninth Region. The 16 disappeared Salvador Alamos Rubilar José Héctor Bórquez Livican Daniel Antonio Castro López Carlos Alberto Callumán Callumán Mauricio Segundo Curiñaco Reyes Carlos Figueroa Zapata Isaías José Fuentealba Calderón Luis Armando Lagos Torres Alberto Segundo Reinante Raipán Ernesto Juan Reinante Raipán Modesto Reinante Raipán Luis Rivera Catricheo Alejandro Antonio Tracanao Pincheira José Miguel Tracanao Pincheira Eliseo Maximiliano Tracanao Valenzuela Bernarda Rosalba Vera Contardo

Source: El Mostrador – May 23, 2001

Date: 05-23-2001