On September 11, Patricio Fernando de la Fuente Ibar held the rank of lieutenant and was serving in the Special Forces Prefecture, commanded by Colonel Carlos Hinrichsen. He was in charge of section 1-0, composed of about twenty carabineros, including sergeants, corporals, and carabineros.

Patricio de la Fuente Ibar joined the Carabineros in 1968.

On September 11, Patricio Ibar was surrounding La Moneda with the Special Services Group, known as the Mobile Group, who joined the coup-plotting military early in the morning. At that time, the Mobile Group operated out of Calle San Isidro, in downtown Santiago.

After handing over the detainees at the Sixth Precinct, he did not return to the Intendencia but was sent on an operation to the rooftops of the Ministry of Defense.

In 1990, he held the rank of major and was in charge of the Quilpué Precinct.

Until 1998, he was the head of the Carabineros Emergency Service, 133.

His last position was as Site Chief of the II Northern Zone, based in Antofagasta.

He was called to retirement in October 1999 with the rank of general.

From the early hours of that September 11, Carabineros Special Forces were in the vicinity of La Moneda. They were led by Lieutenant José B. Martínez (50) and Lieutenant Patricio De La Fuente Ibar (51). They belonged to the Carabineros Special Services Group, which operated at that time at Calle San Isidro 330 and whose Prefect was Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Hinrichsen (52).

Three important statements were subsequently made by the officers responsible for the detentions: the first appeared in the Revista de Carabineros de Chile, No. 222, in October 1973; the second appeared in the newspaper La Segunda in September 1973; and the last and most important is the one made by these officers in the lawsuit for the murders of Enrique Ropert and Manuel Cantú (14), in November 1990.

The Revista de Carabineros de Chile published an article titled, "The day that changed the history of Chile," written by Lieutenant Patricio De la Fuente.

In the lawsuit for the cases of Manuel Cantú and Enrique Ropert, the Carabineros officers testified: Lieutenant José Martínez, Lieutenant Patricio De la Fuente, Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Hinrichsen, and Major Jorge Retamales (53), Commissioner of the Sixth Precinct, the place where the detainees were taken.

Lieutenant Patricio De la Fuente testified the following:

"On September 11, 1973, I held the rank of Lieutenant and was serving in the Special Forces Prefecture, which was in charge of Colonel Hinrichsen; I was in charge of a section that was 1-0 and there were about twenty men with me...

On the day of the military uprising, I was with my troops in charge of guarding the Santiago Intendencia. I do not remember the name of the Intendant at that time. In charge of the interior of the Intendencia was a Carabineros lieutenant named Martínez, who also belonged to Special Forces.

I reported this to Lieutenant Martínez and we both agreed to control this since the Arms Control Law was being violated. Together with my personnel, we positioned ourselves in strategic places and once we saw that two more trucks were coming, also with weaponry, we proceeded to detain them and take them inside the Intendencia, to the Carabineros facilities, about twelve to fourteen people.

Among these people was Blanco Tarrés, and Lieutenant Martínez drew up a report for the crime of violating the Arms Control Law. The report was drawn up for the Sixth Precinct. Subsequently, in a Carabineros minibus under my command, I proceeded to take the detainees to the Sixth Precinct, where they were handed over to the guard, who was waiting for us because Special Forces had notified them that we were bringing said detainees.

I do not remember the official who received the detainees, but it was an Officer... I want to clarify that the people who were in the truck and the Renault van that first arrived at the Intendencia garage were also taken inside the Intendencia and sent to the Sixth Precinct."

Lieutenant José Martínez also testified, providing the same background information as De la Fuente, but "not remembering" the details.

Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Hinrichsen testified in the same case as follows:

"(...) In September 1973, I held the rank of lieutenant colonel in charge of the Special Services group where I was Prefect, which operated on Calle San Isidro. (...) In the Unit, at the moment of the coup, detainees were not being received, but on this occasion, I received the order to receive detainees in transit who were subsequently sent to different detention centers such as the National Stadium, Chile Stadium, and the Sixth Precinct of Santiago, which was close to my Unit....

The detainees who remained in my Unit were more than ten. They remained in my Unit until September 12 and were then sent to the National Stadium. ....I also received detainees who belonged to President Allende's Guard and these were sent to the Sixth Precinct... The Chief of the Sixth Precinct was Mr. Jorge Retamal Berríos...".

And finally, the following is the statement of Major Jorge Retamal, commissioner of the Sixth Precinct:

"...On September 11, 1973, I received about ten to eleven adult men who belonged to the personal guard of former President Allende. These people were in the Unit for more or less two days and were sent to me through the Carabineros Special Forces Commander Carlos Hinrichsen.

The reason for sending them was because Special Forces did not have cells... they placed them at my disposal around eleven to eleven-thirty in the morning. On the second day, an Army official arrived at the unit who was a major named Pedro Espinoza with the purpose of having me hand over the detainees, which I did not do because he did not bring any order from a competent authority to be able to remove them.

The next day, during the morning, an Air Force Major arrived, who brought a document signed by the War Council of that branch to be able to remove the detainees. I handed them over, leaving an express record in the guard book and at the same time signed by said officer.

They were members of President Allende's personal guard and among the detainees was a gentleman named Bruno (15) Blanco who always communicated with me at the time of the detention and the others pointed him out as their leader".

On the day of the military coup, the Army had intervened in the Investigations Police, taking charge of it, General Ernesto Baeza together with the military aide-de-camp of President Salvador Allende (16), Lieutenant Colonel, Commander Sergio Badiola (54).

They have never been called to testify in any of the lawsuits filed for these crimes, despite the testimonies and official documents that certify that the group of people detained in the vicinity of La Moneda were transferred to said facility.

Thus, in the trial of Domingo Blanco Tarrés (17) and that of Enrique Ropert, detective Carlos Espinoza Pérez, who presented himself at the Investigations General Headquarters on September 13, 1973, after having been released from the Tacna Regiment, formulated the following statement: "...(that day) I saw Domingo Blanco, better known as "Bruno", at the Investigations Headquarters, on Calle General Mackenna.

He was accompanied by a son of Payita (18), surnamed Ropert, and others from the GAP, whom I did not know as they were all inside the cells. I brought them cigarettes for two days, and on the third day, when I returned, the guard personnel told me that by order of the Army officers attached to Investigations, they had been handed over to the DINE (19).

That is the last I heard of them, as they disappeared from there."

Furthermore, according to the background information compiled in the book "Detenidos Desaparecidos" (Forcibly Disappeared), by the Archdiocese of Santiago (20), "The members of the Presidential Guard who were detained by Carabineros in front of the Intendencia were taken to the Investigations Headquarters, which had been occupied by the Army.

There they were subjected to torture and then taken from the place and executed by firing squad."

Up to this point, we know that the group was detained in the cells of the Investigations General Headquarters, on Avenida General Mackenna, and according to the Archdiocese of Santiago, subjected to torture and then taken from the place and executed. The statements and documents that we provide below contribute elements regarding these executions.

The book "Detenidos Desaparecidos" of the Archdiocese indicates that Domingo Blanco was "the only one who was sent to the Public Jail on September 13, 1973 (21), where he remained until September 19, the date on which he was taken by a military patrol to an unknown destination, although the sentence to which he was sentenced seems to be ten years in prison." (22)

Indeed, there is only confirmation, through official documents and press notes of the time, but above all through the certificate issued by the Acting Warden Santos Armijo (55) -in the framework of the lawsuit for his disappearance- that "Domingo Blanco entered the Public Jail on September 15, 1973, with report No. 664 from Investigations, at the disposal of the Second Military Prosecutor's Office for violation of the Arms Control Law, being released on September 19, 1973, by order of the same Military Prosecutor's Office."

This information contradicts what was stated in the trial of Enrique Ropert by the head of the Gendarmerie guard of the Public Jail, Luis Pozo Ormeño, who points out that on September 15, 1973, Domingo Blanco did indeed arrive at the Public Jail of Santiago, and that while he was taking his data to register him, he was removed by a military patrol commanded by an Army officer, who did not present any document.

Pozo stated: "(...) When I was head of the guard, an Army officer came to the former Public Jail, wearing a "fatigue" uniform, that is, with infantry boots and his pants tucked in, who did not wear any rank insignia, and I assume he was an officer by the way he expressed himself since he was not rude but very arrogant, who demanded that I immediately hand over the detainee Domingo Blanco Tarrés, better known as "Bruno".

This officer entered the guardroom with fifteen soldiers, all of whom carried rifles and were in a firing position. At that moment, I had "Bruno" in the guardroom because I was taking his data to register him.

All this was very fast since it had been no more than five minutes since the Carabineros had handed him over to the jail, and a few minutes later the military arrived with all kinds of arrogance. Due to the intimidation I was subjected to, I did not dare to ask the officer for his name or rank. "Bruno" was handcuffed and the officer himself proceeded to put a hood over his head and take him away.

Said officer stated that they were taking "Bruno" to the Ministry of Defense."

To this statement, one must add what Luis Pozo related to Enrique Ropert's sister when she was investigating the circumstances of his death. "Luis Pozo pointed out to me that, faced with this situation, he had one of the gendarmes, the Gendarmerie first sergeant, Juan Gómez, accompany the patrol that was taking Domingo Blanco away in handcuffs, to have some record of the detainee's destination, since they had not given him any removal order.

The next day, the gendarme Juan Gómez told Luis Pozo that the patrol arrived at the Ministry of Defense, they went down to the basement, and the officer ordered Domingo Blanco to walk down one of the hallways and shot him in the back, killing him." When he was called to testify in the trial, the gendarme Juan Gómez denied having any information in this regard and even refused to sign his own statement denying the fact, "so as not to have anything to do with it."

A third version regarding the fate of Domingo Blanco Tarrés, and perhaps not the last, is the background information provided by the former Army Dental Health major until the coup d'état and brother of President Allende's secretary, Jaime Puccio, who relates that he remained under house arrest from September 12, 1973, until the 15th or 16th of the same month, when he was transferred to the Public Jail of Santiago.

There he was held incommunicado for nineteen days. Later he was transferred to a cell where other prisoners were, among them José Gómez López, the Maipú councilman surnamed Osorio, and two assistants from the Municipality, who told him that during the nights, a patrol would take Domingo Blanco, "Bruno", out for interrogation, where he was brutally tortured.

Finally, they informed him that one of the interrogators, "out of pity, had killed him with a shot, saying subsequently that Domingo Blanco died trying to escape."

So, we cannot state anything categorically about the final fate of Domingo Blanco Tarrés. The stories are contradictory; until now, no one has told the truth. And as we will see later, there is one last version provided by the military to the Dialogue Table.

His body was allegedly thrown into the sea on September 13, 1973. Consequently, he would not have been in the Jail, nor in Investigations, nor in the Ministry of Defense, nor in any other place.

Other background information arises from the judicial statements made in the lawsuits before the courts for these crimes. On September 16, 1973, the day after this group was allegedly taken from the Investigations Headquarters, the Army officer Pedro Espinoza (56) was asked by Enrique Ropert's father about his son's whereabouts, and he replied that "they could have been transferred to the Buin Regiment, the destination—according to him—of the detainees at the Intendencia." In those days, the Buin Regiment was in charge of Army Colonel Felipe Geiger.

A WAR COUNCIL

In addition to the information mentioned above, other elements complicate these background facts.

On September 20, 1973, Enrique Ropert's father, Enrique Ropert Gallet, was detained and taken to the National Stadium and then to the Public Jail. His lawyer, Fernando Guarello Zegers, declared in 1990 in the lawsuit for his client's son that "...in those days I spoke by phone with my friend, the prosecutor Horacio Ried Undurraga, secretary of the Court Martial, to request information about the whereabouts of one of his clients, Ángel Parra, and to reassure me, Ried gave me as an example that the process against the GAP had already been resolved, being sentenced to five years and one day." Guarello adds that in October '73, when requesting the file of his client, Enrique Ropert Gallet, from the corresponding Military Prosecutor's Office, "the official made a mistake and proceeded to hand me a file titled 'Enrique Ropert and others,' and which said that these GAP people, among them Enrique Ropert Contreras, had been sentenced to five years and one day in prison. The sentence was signed by Hermán Brady Roche... The file said on the cover that it was War Council No. 1 of the Army" (23).

When called by the tribunal, General Hermán Brady declared by official letter that, "if the Tribunal does not present the document in which his signature would appear, he cannot provide background information about it."

On September 19, 1973, María Virginia Arancibia, wife of Domingo Blanco, currently deceased, read in the press that her husband had been released from the Public Jail by order of the Second Military Prosecutor's Office of Santiago and with charges under the Arms Control Law.

However, her husband never arrived home. Desperate, traveling again and again to the military prosecutor's offices that operated in the basement of the Ministry of Defense in front of La Moneda Palace, she finally managed to get the First Military Prosecutor's Office to give her some information about her husband on November 28 of that year.

"On November 28, the spouse of Domingo Blanco Tarrés went to the First Military Prosecutor's Office; there they read her a list of the people who were in a trial together with her husband: Enrique Ropert, William Ramírez, Mario Jorquera Leyton, and others.

On December 5, 1973, the prosecutor informed her that a 10-year sentence had been applied, although he made a gesture indicating that he had been executed. She was told that the case was 1-73." (24)

Indeed, the case number was War Council 1-73 of the Army and the military prosecutor was Joaquín Eribaum (57).

Domingo Blanco's wife was told that only the military prosecutor Joaquín Eribaum could inform her. On December 5, 1973, she managed to speak with the prosecutor who told her that a ten-year sentence had been applied in that Council, although he made a gesture that he had died, a gesture also perceived by the person accompanying Domingo Blanco's wife.

At the suggestion of the clerk of the same trial, and in order to regularize her family situation, since they told her that her husband had died but did not give her the body, she sent a letter to the Chief of the Second Division of the Army and Chief of the Santiago Garrison, Brigadier General Sergio Arellano Stark, who on December 6, 1973, issued her a certificate stating that, "there is no record of the death of Domingo Blanco in any trial that has been instructed by the Military Tribunals in time of war of that Garrison." However, Domingo Blanco's wife left in writing that Arellano Stark himself, on an occasion when she managed to speak with him and in the presence of General Óscar Bonilla, acknowledged that he had been executed.

To these testimonies is added that of the GAP member, Julio Soto Céspedes, driver of one of the cars that arrived at La Moneda together with President Allende on the morning of September 11, and who later positioned himself, with seven other people, on the upper floors of the Ministry of Public Works, from where they supported the defense of the Presidential Palace (in the "Survivors" Chapter we refer to this fact).

Julio Soto was detained on the public thoroughfare on September 29, 1973, transferred to different facilities, among them the 24th Carabineros Precinct, the National Stadium, the Chile Stadium, the Investigations General Headquarters, the Air Force War Academy (AGA) where he was recognized and brutally tortured, and finally to the Public Jail, from where he was expelled to Sweden in September 1975, the country where he resides to this day.

In his testimony, given on October 18, 1999, before the Central Instruction Court No. 5 of the National Court of Spain, he relates the following: "(...) I was transferred for an interrogation to the Ministry of Defense on November 22, 1973. I was interrogated by the military prosecutor Joaquín Eribaum Tomas in relation to my membership in the GAP.

He had realized this at the moment of beginning the procedure and reading, in front of me, what seemed to be a file with background information about me. He flew into a rage and explained publicly to the two secretaries who were there at that moment that the same thing would happen to me "as to Domingo Bartolomé Blanco Tarrés" and that therefore they should not take any measure that would affect my status as a "prisoner of war" without his knowledge.

It is evident that the aforementioned military prosecutor not only knew this fact, but thought that I also knew it and used it as a certain threat of what my fate was going to be. At the same time, I became aware that my statement was going to be the beginning of a process through a War Council in the military jurisdiction under the sole accusation of violation of the Arms Control Law.

This, according to the prosecutor, was because on the day of the coup d'état, I had been responsible for...

...to transport the President to the La Moneda Palace." Julio Soto was sentenced by an Army War Council on January 3, 1974, to five years and one day for violating the Arms Control Law, for transporting the President to the Presidential Palace.

Three people saw or knew of Army War Council No. 1-73, titled "Enrique Ropert and others." Two of them, the lawyer Fernando Guarello and the wife of Domingo Blanco, saw or read that the group of defendants was composed of Enrique Ropert Contreras and members of the GAP, among them Domingo Blanco.

Both saw or knew that a sentence had been handed down. A sentence of ten years and one day. A sentence signed by General Hermán Brady. A sentence under the Arms Control Law. A sham sentence: the sentenced individuals had already been executed.

Was this group of young men subjected to a War Council and sentenced to no more than ten years in prison? And if they were sentenced under the Arms Control Law, any court in a democratic state would have acquitted those who fulfilled their duty to defend the institutional order.

If that was the case, why were they executed? The answers must be provided by the Chief of the General Staff at that time, Sergio Arellano Stark, and, without a doubt, by General Ernesto Baeza Michelsen.

Progressively, over the years, the final fate of these ten young men became known, except for two of them: Domingo Blanco Tarrés and Pedro Garcés Portigliati, who remain forcibly disappeared to this day.

What happened to them from the day of their detention and their transfer, two days later, from the Sixth Precinct, where there is evidence they were still alive? The truth is incomplete, and nothing can be confirmed regarding their fate. Only the death of the remaining eight, all executed at the Bulnes Bridge on the Mapocho River eight days after their detention, is duly proven.

ON THEIR DEATHS AND DISAPPEARANCES

The lifeless bodies of the eight executed men were found in the Mapocho River under the Bulnes Bridge: José Carreño, Carlos Cruz, Luis Gamboa, Gonzalo Jorquera, Óscar Marambio, Edmundo Montero, William Ramírez, and Enrique Ropert.

According to the autopsies performed at the time by the Legal Medical Institute, they were murdered between September 19 and 20, 1973, only hours apart. We assume they were executed together at the same time and place, but due to the lack of precision of the Legal Medical Institute at the time, and as the autopsies were being performed, the protocols recorded an approximate time and day of death.

Regarding the circumstances of these murders, the report of the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation states the following (25):

"The Mapocho River deserves special mention among these places; bodies were abandoned on its banks in sectors such as the Pedro de Valdivia, Pío Nono, or Presidente Bulnes bridges, as well as in the area corresponding to Cerro Navia, where the residents themselves buried some of the bodies abandoned there for humanitarian reasons.

The lifeless bodies of these individuals were collected at night by personnel from the Legal Medical Institute and the General Cemetery of Santiago to be taken to the aforementioned institution, where an autopsy was performed, and they subsequently remained there for a variable amount of time waiting for families to recognize their loved ones.

In some cases, the bodies were taken directly to the Legal Medical Institute by military or Carabineros patrols.

Unfortunately, the aforementioned Service could not identify all the bodies delivered to them through fingerprints, and consequently, many bodies were buried without any identification. The total number of people who died from gunshot wounds who arrived at the Santiago morgue is difficult to determine (26).

After remaining for a few days at the Legal Medical Institute, the unclaimed bodies were taken to the General Cemetery of Santiago, where they were buried as N.N. in Patio 29 of that cemetery. Through information gathered by this Commission, it was established that on at least two occasions in later years, massive removals of the bodies buried in the aforementioned Patio 29 were carried out—on one occasion to be moved to the cemetery's common grave, and on the other to the crematorium, even after the existence of a judicial order decreed in 1978 that prohibited it." (27)

Of those eight bodies, only two could be identified in time by their families and buried by them. These were Enrique Ropert and Gonzalo Jorquera, even though the former appeared in the General Cemetery registry as buried in Patio 29.

Enrique Ropert Contreras

Enrique Ropert, 20 years old, single, an Economics student at the University of Chile, and a member of the Socialist Party, was found in the morgue without identification. On October 1, 1973, twenty days after his detention, an anonymous call reported that he was at the Legal Medical Institute. In the testimony of his aunt, Mitzi Contreras Bell, it reads:

"I received a phone call in which they informed me that the name 'Enriquito' appeared on the lists posted on the door of the morgue. That same night, my house was raided by Army forces, and they detained my son and my son-in-law.

The next day, I went to the morgue. I entered the facility, a fairly large pavilion, where I saw hundreds of bodies placed in rows, I would say piled up on the floor. There was very little space to walk without stepping on them, which made recognition more difficult.

Therefore, I spent a long time going through the entire facility. Enriquito was naked. At his feet were a pair of garments, but he had no identification. I crossed to a funeral home to buy a casket, and there, while I was doing the paperwork, a man who entered the office asked me if the casket was for Payita's son.

I did not know if my sister was alive or not. I called a sister and a brother of my brother-in-law and told them that I would bury Enriquito the next day, but not to tell anyone. When we were at the grave, burying my nephew, several agents appeared and surrounded us."

Enrique Ropert was buried on October 3, 1973. His father could not attend his son's funeral either, as he had been detained on September 20 by Air Force personnel and taken to the National Stadium.

The Autopsy Certificate performed by Dr. Alfredo Vargas (Autopsy Report No. 2717-73) describes that the body was brought to that facility at 8:00 a.m. on September 20, after being found at the Bulnes Bridge, noting that it had numerous bullet holes in the thorax and skull.

Mario Gonzalo Jorquera Leyton

Mario Jorquera, 27 years old, married, father of three children, a member of the Socialist Party and the GAP, known by the name "Ramón." Like Enrique Ropert, his body was found on the bank of the Mapocho River at the Bulnes Bridge.

In the Autopsy Certificate performed by Dr. Carlos Marambio Allende, No. 2730, it is described that his body was brought to that facility at "eight in the morning on September 20," "with bullet wounds," that is, nine days after he was detained.

He was identified at the Legal Medical Institute by his brothers and buried in October 1973.

Subsequently, his wife, Haydée Castro Méndez, was detained on two occasions. The first time, she was taken to the National Stadium, and the second, to the headquarters of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), "Cuatro Alamos," where she remained imprisoned for months. She was expelled from the country, dying a few years later in exile due to the sequelae of torture.

Mario Jorquera's brother, Raúl Jorquera, was murdered in August 1975 at the Investigations Precinct located on Zañartu Street.

The other six bodies were buried in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery of Santiago under wooden crosses with the designation: NN 73. They remained as forcibly disappeared (except for Carlos Cruz, as we will see later) until 1993 when, by order of the Twenty-Second Criminal Court of Santiago, the exhumation of Patio 29 was ordered.

Four of them (Carlos Cruz, Luis Gamboa, Edmundo Montero, and José Carreño) had been previously identified at the Legal Medical Institute by their fingerprints. Their names were even recorded in the General Cemetery's entry log, indicating Patio 29 as the burial site. However, their families were not notified, and they were buried without further procedure.

Carlos Cruz Zavala

Carlos Cruz, 32 years old, single, a Socialist militant and member of the GAP, was found on the bank of the "Mapocho River on September 19, 1973, at 9:00 p.m.," according to Autopsy Protocol No. 2725/73, performed on September 22, 1973, by Dr. Alfredo Vargas Kother. The cause of death is described as "numerous thoracic and cranial bullet holes."

At that time, he was identified by his fingerprints by the Civil Registry Service, and his name was even noted in the General Cemetery's entry log. His family was not notified of these facts, considering him a forcibly disappeared person.

However, when the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation delivered its report, it listed him as "dead," despite the fact that his body was only identified twenty years later after being exhumed from Patio 29.

Luis Alfredo Gamboa Pizarro

Luis Gamboa was 19 years old, single, a Socialist militant, and a member of the GAP.

The conditions of his death are similar to those of all of them. His murder was committed, as stated in Autopsy Protocol No. 2722/73, "at 0:30 hours on September 19, 1973." The nature of the death is noted as "bullet wounds" and the location as "the Bulnes Bridge."

Luis Gamboa entered the Legal Medical Institute as "an NN," even though he was "identified by his fingerprints." And, without carrying out any procedure to inform the family, they sent his body to Patio 29 of the General Cemetery of Santiago.

The National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation did not include him in its report, not even as a "case without conviction." Only six years later, in 1996, did the National Corporation for Reparation and Reconciliation include his case, noting that "after September 11, his relatives, who lived outside of Santiago, stopped receiving news of him, and despite the efforts made, they could not obtain information about his fate or whereabouts." (28)

Only in 1993, and thanks to the investigation conducted by the Twenty-Second Criminal Court of Santiago regarding illegal burial in Patio 29, were Luis Gamboa's relatives able to learn of his death and hold his burial.

Edmundo Montero Salazar

Edmundo Montero was 21 years old, single, a Socialist militant, and a member of the GAP, known by the name "Carlos Castillo." His body had entered the Legal Medical Institute "on September 19, at 9:00 p.m., coming from the Bulnes Bridge," specifying that the nature of his death was "bullet wounds."

According to Autopsy Protocol No. 2724/73 and the Death Certificate: "unknown, male, identified as Edmundo E. Montero Salazar." That is, he was recognized by his fingerprints and sent to the General Cemetery, where he was buried in Patio 29 as an NN without his family's knowledge.

Like Luis Gamboa, his case did not appear in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report, not even as a "case without conviction."

He had to wait until 1996 to officially appear in the Report of the National Corporation for Reparation and Reconciliation, following the exhumation of Patio 29 in 1993. Only on that date could he be recognized and buried by his family.

The family had news of him for the first time when they were summoned by the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation, even though his name had appeared in Enrique Ropert's complaint.

José Belisario Carreño Calderón

José Carreño, like the previous one, was 19 years old, single, a Socialist militant, and a member of the GAP.

He was murdered in the same way and in the same place as the other young men. In this case, the Legal Medical Institute Report, Autopsy Protocol No. 2727/73, indicates the day of the execution as "September 19, 1973."

José Carreño was also recognized by the Legal Medical Institute, as stated in his Medical Death Certificate.

However, unlike the three previous ones, a few days after his detention, his relatives learned that the body was at the Legal Medical Institute. But, upon arriving at that facility, they were informed that he had already been buried, and they were denied the release of his body.

The National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation did not include his case in the Report either, not even as a "case without conviction."

On October 27, 1994, when, by instruction of the Twenty-Second Criminal Court of Santiago, the exhumation and identification of the bodies found in Patio 29 proceeded, his remains were identified. Only then was the release of the remains to his relatives ordered, and he was able to appear officially and in a brief history in the Report of the National Corporation for Reparation and Reconciliation.

Finally, only the bodies of two of them were not identified at the Legal Medical Institute prior to burial in Patio No. 29. These are William Ramírez Barría and Óscar Marambio Araya. Their cases appear in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report as detained at La Moneda and transferred to the Tacna Regiment.

However, based on information from the National Corporation for Reparation and Reconciliation, we know that they were part of the group that arrived at La Moneda that morning to defend President Allende and were detained outside the Presidential Palace.

Oscar Marambio Araya

Oscar Marambio was 20 years old, single, a Socialist militant, and a member of the GAP.

He appears as a forcibly disappeared person in the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Report, detained at the exit of La Moneda and taken to the Tacna Regiment.

In 1993, his body was exhumed from Patio 29 along with the others. He had been executed on September 19, 1973, at the Bulnes Bridge of the Mapocho River and entered the Legal Medical Institute as an NN.

He was not identified until twenty years later, when among the bodies exhumed from Patio 29 on March 26, 1993, Oscar Marambio was recognized and buried by his relatives.

William Osvaldo Ramírez Barría

William Ramírez was 23 years old, single, a Socialist militant, and a member of the GAP, where he was known as "Willy."

His body was exhumed from Patio 29 under the same circumstances as the others. He had been executed on September 19, 1973, at the Bulnes Bridge of the Mapocho River and entered the Legal Medical Institute as an NN.

In the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Report, he appears as a forcibly disappeared person from La Moneda and taken to the Tacna Regiment. However, in the book "Detenidos Desaparecidos" (Forcibly Disappeared) of the Archdiocese of Santiago (29), the following appears: "William Osvaldo Ramírez Barría, member of the Presidential Guard... was detained on September 11, 1973, in the vicinity of the La Moneda Palace, outside the Intendencia of Santiago.

He was detained by Carabineros, along with 13 other people, among whom were members of the GAP... The detainees were taken to the Sixth Precinct and subsequently, on September 13, to the Investigations Headquarters, from which he has been disappeared to date..."

On July 26, 1979, a complaint for the disappearance of the affected party was filed before the Third Criminal Court of Santiago, which was registered under number 130.930. On January 8, 1980, it was requested to officially notify the National Intelligence Center (CNI), successor to the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA); the Military Intelligence Service (SIM); the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the Identification Cabinet to obtain information about the affected party.

The responses to these and other requests were negative.

The Ministry of the Interior, on October 8, 1979, submitted information, and this was expanded on November 8, 1979. According to it, the Ministry of the Interior consulted the CNI regarding the existence of lists of detainees from 1973, and the final information was that the CNI does not have the books of the National Stadium detainees and ignores who might have them; the books of the Tres Alamos prison camp are held by the Carabineros; and the books of Cuatro Alamos were incinerated for security reasons when the DINA was dissolved; however, the CNI has a copy of the list of detainees prepared by the National Defense General Staff, but the sending of this list is the responsibility of the Ministry of National Defense."

On November 23, 1979, the Ministry of the Interior reported that it did not possess lists of detainees and that those the CNI had were prepared unofficially and did not have official character.

For its part, the Chilean Air Force reported that it had no records regarding William Ramírez Barría. On November 25, 1980, the Ministry of the Interior reiterated the information from the Investigations Police, citing the CNI as the source.

Requests were sent to provinces to search for the affected party without success anywhere, and it was verified that he had not left the country via asylum, according to information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On July 29, 1991, a criminal complaint was filed before the Fifth Criminal Court of Santiago for the crimes of kidnapping, probable homicide, and illegal burial of the affected party, Case No. 126465-6, which is currently in the summary stage of processing.

The bodies of the two disappeared persons from this group, Domingo Blanco and Pedro Garcés, still remain unfound.

Source

Páginas en blanco, El 11 de septiembre en La Moneda; 2001

Source: "On Tuesday, September 11, from the Prefecture of Special Services, we left in a bus toward the General Prefecture of Santiago, and upon arriving, around 7:30 a.m., Carabineros and police tanks were already surrounding the La Moneda Palace.

Suddenly, a pickup truck and other vehicles appeared on Moneda Street, inside which were members of the President's Personal Guard. It was the GAP arriving as reinforcements. We did not hesitate in what we had to do; we ran to detain them, we surrounded them, and they tried to resist; but the cold of the bayonets prevented them from any attempt to make use of their powerful weapons." Further on, it notes, "...At La Moneda, the GAP observed with surprise as fourteen of their companions were detained, among them their chief, Domingo Blanco Tarrés.

They did not dare to shoot, and before they could react, we quickly took them inside the Prefecture. These were the first prisoners of the operations of that day." Finally, it adds, "...Upon communicating these developments to our Prefecture, we were informed that a vehicle would go to pick up the prisoners in order to transport them to a safer unit.

A bus finally arrived. We were preparing to load them, but we did not manage to, as a column of tanks appeared on Moneda Street. The plaza was left empty; only the noise of the tanks taking combat positions in front of La Moneda could be heard.

We approached to speak with the Commander of the first armored vehicle, give him information, and request his support to transport our prisoners. He agreed. This allowed us to begin the march amidst the roar of bullets and head to the Headquarters to hand over the prisoners."