While the vast majority of those who acted in the most violent, brutal, and terrifying episodes of the dictatorship were men, there were also women who participated in the military regime as torturers or "aides" to torture.

A very significant number were in administrative roles that allowed the repressive apparatus to function, but there were also those in direct operational roles, involved in kidnappings, torture, executions, and the forced disappearance of prisoners.

One of them is Zinaida Vicencio González, prosecuted for the murder of two young MIR militants in 1983, who is currently detained at the Army’s Battalion Number 1, awaiting her transfer to a prison within the penal system.

As of today, Punta Peuco has 70 inmates, following the incarceration of 16 former CNI agents who murdered two young people in cold blood in 1983. However, there are still 34 military personnel waiting to enter the facility for murdering five young people in 1987.

Although, as a result of these new admissions, new questions arise regarding military prisoners and accomplices of the dictatorship and human rights violations: the women who have been prosecuted.

Alongside the seasoned torturers, among the cruelest agents in the torture chambers appear the women who placed themselves at the service of terror. A very significant number were in administrative roles that allowed the repressive apparatus to function, but in Chile, there were also those in direct operational roles, involved in kidnappings, torture, executions, and the forced disappearance of prisoners.

This is a sample.

Ingrid Felicitas Olderock Benhard. She was in charge of training the German Shepherd dog Volodia, which was used to rape several female prisoners at Venda Sexy.

Simultaneously with the opening of the Cuartel Ollagüe, the DINA also put into operation this torture center known among detainees as "Venda Sexy," alluding to the fact that a significant portion of the torture carried out there involved rape and sexual aberrations, among which was the training of a German Shepherd dog—which the agents named Volodia, in reference to a writer who was then a high-ranking leader of the Communist Party—to rape the female detainees, who were forced to assume a position that would facilitate penetration by the animal.

Venda Sexy, like the Cuartel Ollagüe, was previously a private residence in a middle-class neighborhood. This torture center operated continuously and systematically between the months of August and December 1974, although it continued to be used occasionally on later dates.

During the period in question, about thirty people were killed as a result of the torture applied to them, or were simply murdered.

Rosa Humilde Ramos. The important case of the kidnapping of Miguel Angel Sandoval is linked to the one known as "the 119," due to the number of those whom the regime attempted to pass off as having died in internal disputes in Argentina in the so-called "Operation Colombo."

Witnesses to Sandoval's kidnapping report having seen him at Villa Grimaldi until February 10, 1975, the day he was taken out along with María Isabel Joui Petersen, María Teresa Eltit Contreras, Renato Sepúlveda Guajardo, Jorge Herrera Jofré, and Claudio Silva Peralta, all of whom were forcibly disappeared.

The testimony of María Isabel Matamala provides another detail: she was detained by Osvaldo Romo and taken to Villa Grimaldi, tortured for 15 days by Romo and Basclay Zapata, and interrogated by Moren, Krassnoff, Laureani, Ricardo Lawrence, Ferrer, and a woman nicknamed "the commander," whose name was Rosa Humilde Ramos.

Survivor María Salinas Farfán points out that she saw many detainees who are now forcibly disappeared and that, among the agents, she can recognize Romo, Laureani, Krassnoff, Moren Brito, Luz Arce, Marcia Merino, and Alicia Gómez (María Alicia Uribe Gómez), (a) La Carola (left).

Osvaldo Romo acknowledges that among the torturers at Villa Grimaldi were César Manríquez, Wenderot, and Palmira Almuna. Basclay Zapata, alias "el Troglo," declares that "in 1975 he married Teresa Osorio Navarro, also an official of the organization" and that he would go out with Luz Arce to "patrol" in a vehicle through the streets of Santiago.

Teresa Osorio says she "entered as a civilian employee of the Navy in 1974, being assigned to work at the DINA, in the Villa Grimaldi barracks, as Krassnoff's secretary. She knew that the DINA agents were divided into groups, called ‘Halcón,’ ‘Purén,’ ‘Aguila,’ and others, with the collection of these being called ‘Caupolicán.’ She reiterates her statements in a confrontation with Eugenio Fieldhouse (also an agent), insisting that she did not go out to make arrests."

Fieldhouse, coming from the Investigations police, admits that among the agents at Villa Grimaldi were Teresa Osorio, Rosa Humilde Ramos, and Palmira Almuna. Meanwhile, survivor Raúl Flores Castillo relates that he was detained "by armed subjects, one of whom identified himself as Osvaldo Romo; they put him into a vehicle in which there were more people, a woman they called ‘la negra’ (Teresa Osorio), and a subject they called ‘el Troglo’."

While many of the women who belonged to the DINA performed administrative tasks, there is a team that has been categorized by survivors as "the most sadistic and cruel." Among them stood out Carabineros Sub-lieutenant Ingrid Felicitas Olderock Oelckers, who was an instructor of torturers as early as the initial school at Tejas Verdes.

As a member of the Purén Brigade, she was the trainer of the dogs used in the sexual abuse committed against men and women at the secret "Venda Sexy" barracks.

Palmira Isabel Almuna Guzmán, alias La Pepa, also a Carabineros Sub-lieutenant, was a member of the Purén Brigade and a torturer at José Domingo Cañas under the orders of Ciro Torré Sáez; she subsequently worked under the orders of Pedro Espinoza Bravo.

She was in charge of selecting and instructing future agents, who were infiltrated as frivolous and pretty women into various spheres of national political relevance. She moved to the CNI and in 1985 returned to the Carabineros, serving in a juvenile correctional center in Iquique with the rank of commander of the female personnel.

She was denounced at her home at Luis Beltrán 1000, in Pudahuel, on May 31, 2003, after which she has not been seen in the neighborhood again; she likely lives in Iquique.

Nélida Gutiérrez Rivera was the private secretary and mistress of Manuel Contreras. After her boss's arrest, she continued as his part-time secretary at the offices he had on Calle Ricardo Lyon; the rest of the time she dedicated to her boutique "Mané" (Manuel and Nélida) in the Lyon and Providencia shopping arcade.

Although the role played by Viviana Pincetti Barra is not known with certainty—she appears receiving salaries from the DINA and is the daughter of Osvaldo Pincetti Gac, alias "charla"—her father would take her on "visits" to Villa Grimaldi and other barracks of the repressive organization.

Various testimonies speak of the terrible role played by Marcia Alejandra Evelyn Merino Vega, alias "la flaca Alejandra," as an agent after having been a MIR militant. These days she lives in an insular area of Chile, from which she travels to Santiago to provide statements in the various trials against the DINA.

Luz Arce Sandoval, having become an agent, went from being a PS militant to the DINA. Survivors remember her present at torture sessions at Villa Grimaldi, Londres 38, and Cuatro Alamos. She continued her work at the CNI and in 1990 made herself available to the courts to testify in cases of the forcibly disappeared.

Today she lives outside of Chile and returns circumstantially to provide data for judicial proceedings.

María Alicia Uribe Gómez, alias "Carola," went from being a MIR militant to a DINA agent, then to the CNI, and after 1990 she was integrated into the DINE. Together with other collaborators, they carried out veritable "fashion shows" with the clothing of female prisoners murdered in the DINA barracks. She was seen at Villa Grimaldi, Cuatro Alamos, and José Domingo Cañas.

Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández was known as "the commander," a torturer at José Domingo Cañas and Villa Grimaldi and a member of the Aguila Group of the Caupolicán Brigade. Her memory is indelible among survivors due to her masculine appearance and the sadism she applied during torture. Also cruel is María Teresa Osorio, alias "Soledad" or "la negra," the wife of Basclay Zapata.

In the Purén Brigade, dedicated to the repression of the PS, the PC, and the DC, the detective Ximena San Juan, Elsa del Tránsito Lagos Salazar, Francisca del Carmen Cerda Galleguillos, and Nancy Edulia Vásquez Torrejón, alias "Pelusa," appear with operational functions.

In the Halcón II Group of the Caupolicán Brigade, a group that participated in the confrontation with Miguel Enríquez, was María Gabriela Ordenes, alias "Marisol," who was seen present at torture sessions.

Agents in administrative roles were

– Mirtha Espinoza Caamaño, DINA secretary, who worked under the command of Augusto Deitchler in the Sub-directorate of Internal Intelligence. – María Gabriela Coll Webar, secretary of the General Headquarters staff. – Marta Smock Teixido, secretary of the General Headquarters staff in the Sub-directorate of Economic Intelligence. – Sandra Montecinos Sepúlveda, secretary of the General Headquarters staff. – Eliana Quilodrán, alias "Ely," agent of the Directorate of Operations who acted under the command of Pedro Espinoza Bravo in the Education and Informatics section. – Teresa Aburto, secretary of Section C-2, who continued working at the CNI and later at the DINE. – Enriqueta Salazar Contreras, secretary of the Sub-directorate of Internal Intelligence with direct duties under Rolf Wenderoth, who would later be integrated into the Carabineros. – Maribel Maringue Moya, secretary to the Sub-director after Wenderoth's departure, who subsequently continued to perform duties in the CNI directorate.

Also appearing are

– Ana María Rubio de la Cruz, alias "Carmen Gutiérrez," Army non-commissioned officer and secretary of the Sub-directorate of External Intelligence, implicated in the assassination of General Carlos Prats and his wife. – María Eliana Moncada Prieto, secretary of the Sub-directorate of External Intelligence, who later joined the Counterintelligence Department. – Sara Aguila Márquez, social worker for the Personnel Sub-directorate. – Carmen Avila Ferrada, secretary to Arturo Ureta Siré in the Sub-directorate of External Intelligence, subsequently moving to the same position in the CNI, under the command of Colonel Suau. – Alejandra Damián Serrano, who used the alias "Roxana," was Michel Townley's secretary.

The nurse María Eliana Bolumburú Taboada (Bolumburó according to the list by "Elissalde and Poblete") was part of the DINA Health Brigade, working in clandestine clinics alongside several doctors who advised on torture. The last information on her whereabouts placed her working at a pharmaceutical company on Calle Ejército and living in a villa in Maipú.

The Girl from the Joint Command

It seems the only woman in the Joint Command is the famous Pochi, who was seen dressed in a school uniform asking about people who would later be kidnapped. She was also active in the torture inflicted on dozens of prisoners in the clandestine torture centers known as Nido 20 and Nido 18.

Viviana Lucinda Ugarte Sandoval was a soldier (r) of the FACH, assigned to the DIFA and the Joint Command. She is the spouse of General Patricio Campos Montecinos, director general of Civil Aeronautics until the report made by the newspaper La Nación.

Prosecuted during the dictatorship by Minister Cerda as the author of criminal illicit association and an accomplice in the disappearance of Reinalda Pereira and Edrás Pinto, she was granted amnesty by Judge Manuel Silva Ibáñez. These days she continues to be involved in the proceedings being carried out against the Joint Command.

Source: reddigital.cl, October 22, 2015

Judicial Declaration Case No. 1.643: Case of the qualified homicide of Tucapel Jiménez Alfaro

Mirtha Rudy Espinoza Caamaño, who declares on page 1495 and states that she worked as a secretary in the National Intelligence Directorate and later in the National Information Center, where it was her duty to be the secretary for the colonel indicated (Roberto Schmied), who was the commander of the Metropolitan Region Intelligence Division, an opportunity in which she had to carry different documentation to which names such as Operation Condor were assigned, seeing different people whom she points out.

Source: Judiciary, August 5, 2002

The "female personnel" of torture

Alongside the seasoned torturers, among the cruelest agents in the torture chambers appear the women who placed themselves at the service of terror. A very significant number were in administrative roles that allowed the repressive apparatus to function, but in Chile, there were also those in direct operational roles, involved in kidnappings, torture, executions, and the forced disappearance of prisoners.

This is a sample.

Ingrid Felicitas Olderock Benhard. She was in charge of training the German Shepherd dog Volodia, which was used to rape several female prisoners at Venda Sexy.

Simultaneously with the opening of the Cuartel Ollagüe, the DINA also put into operation this torture center known among detainees as "Venda Sexy," alluding to the fact that a significant portion of the torture carried out there involved rape and sexual aberrations, among which was the training of a German Shepherd dog—which the agents named Volodia, in reference to a writer who was then a high-ranking leader of the Communist Party—to rape the female detainees, who were forced to assume a position that would facilitate penetration by the animal.

Venda Sexy, like the Cuartel Ollagüe, was previously a private residence in a middle-class neighborhood. This torture center operated continuously and systematically between the months of August and December 1974, although it continued to be used occasionally on later dates.

During the period in question, about thirty people were killed as a result of the torture applied to them, or were simply murdered.

Rosa Humilde Ramos. The important case of the kidnapping of Miguel Angel Sandoval is linked to the one known as "the 119," due to the number of those whom the regime attempted to pass off as having died in internal disputes in Argentina in the so-called "Operation Colombo."

Witnesses to Sandoval's kidnapping report having seen him at Villa Grimaldi until February 10, 1975, the day he was taken out along with María Isabel Joui Petersen, María Teresa Eltit Contreras, Renato Sepúlveda Guajardo, Jorge Herrera Jofré, and Claudio Silva Peralta, all of whom were forcibly disappeared.

The testimony of María Isabel Matamala provides another detail: she was detained by Osvaldo Romo and taken to Villa Grimaldi, tortured for 15 days by Romo and Basclay Zapata, and interrogated by Moren, Krassnoff, Laureani, Ricardo Lawrence, Ferrer, and a woman nicknamed "the commander," whose name was Rosa Humilde Ramos.

The survivor María Salinas Farfán points out that she saw many detainees who are now forcibly disappeared and that, among the agents, she can recognize Romo, Laureani, Krassnoff, Moren Brito, Luz Arce, Marcia Merino, and Alicia Gómez (María Alicia Uribe Gómez), (a) La Carola (left).

Osvaldo Romo acknowledges that among the torturers at Villa Grimaldi were César Manríquez, Wenderot, and Palmira Almuna. Basclay Zapata, alias "el Troglo," declares that "in 1975 he married Teresa Osorio Navarro, also an official of the organization" and that he would go out with Luz Arce to "patrol" in a vehicle through the streets of Santiago.

Teresa Osorio says she "entered as a civilian employee of the Navy in 1974, being assigned to work at the DINA, in the Villa Grimaldi barracks, as Krassnoff's secretary. She knew that the DINA agents were divided into groups, called ‘Halcón,’ ‘Purén,’ ‘Aguila,’ and others, with the collection of these being called ‘Caupolicán.’ She reiterates her statements in a confrontation with Eugenio Fieldhouse (also an agent), insisting that she did not go out to make arrests."

Fieldhouse, coming from the Investigations police, admits that among the agents at Villa Grimaldi were Teresa Osorio, Rosa Humilde Ramos, and Palmira Almuna. Meanwhile, survivor Raúl Flores Castillo relates that he was detained "by armed subjects, one of whom identified himself as Osvaldo Romo; they put him into a vehicle in which there were more people, a woman they called ‘la negra’ (Teresa Osorio), and a subject they called ‘el Troglo’."

While many of the women who belonged to the DINA performed administrative tasks, there is a team that has been categorized by survivors as "the most sadistic and cruel." Among them stood out Carabineros Sub-lieutenant Ingrid Felicitas Olderock Oelckers, who was an instructor of torturers as early as the initial school at Tejas Verdes.

As a member of the Purén Brigade, she was the trainer of the dogs used in the sexual abuse committed against men and women at the secret "Venda Sexy" barracks.

Palmira Isabel Almuna Guzmán, alias La Pepa, also a Carabineros Sub-lieutenant, was a member of the Purén Brigade and a torturer at José Domingo Cañas under the orders of Ciro Torré Sáez; she subsequently worked under the orders of Pedro Espinoza Bravo.

She was in charge of selecting and instructing future agents, who were infiltrated as frivolous and pretty women into various spheres of national political relevance. She moved to the CNI and in 1985 returned to the Carabineros, serving in a juvenile correctional center in Iquique with the rank of commander of the female personnel.

She was denounced at her home at Luis Beltrán 1000, in Pudahuel, on May 31, 2003, after which she has not been seen in the neighborhood again; she likely lives in Iquique.

Nélida Gutiérrez Rivera was the private secretary and mistress of Manuel Contreras. After her boss's arrest, she continued as his part-time secretary at the offices he had on Calle Ricardo Lyon; the rest of the time she dedicated to her boutique "Mané" (Manuel and Nélida) in the Lyon and Providencia shopping arcade.

Although the role played by Viviana Pincetti Barra is not known with certainty—she appears receiving salaries from the DINA and is the daughter of Osvaldo Pincetti Gac, alias "charla"—her father would take her on "visits" to Villa Grimaldi and other barracks of the repressive organization.

Various testimonies speak of the terrible role played by Marcia Alejandra Evelyn Merino Vega, alias "la flaca Alejandra," as an agent after having been a MIR militant. These days she lives in an insular area of Chile, from which she travels to Santiago to provide statements in the various trials against the DINA.

Luz Arce Sandoval, having become an agent, went from being a PS militant to the DINA. Survivors remember her present at torture sessions at Villa Grimaldi, Londres 38, and Cuatro Alamos. She continued her work at the CNI and in 1990 made herself available to the courts to testify in cases of the forcibly disappeared.

Today she lives outside of Chile and returns circumstantially to provide data for judicial proceedings.

María Alicia Uribe Gómez, alias "Carola," went from being a MIR militant to a DINA agent, then to the CNI, and after 1990 she was integrated into the DINE. Together with other collaborators, they carried out veritable "fashion shows" with the clothing of female prisoners murdered in the DINA barracks. She was seen at Villa Grimaldi, Cuatro Alamos, and José Domingo Cañas.

Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández was known as "the commander," a torturer at José Domingo Cañas and Villa Grimaldi and a member of the Aguila Group of the Caupolicán Brigade. Her memory is indelible among survivors due to her masculine appearance and the sadism she applied during torture. Also cruel is María Teresa Osorio, alias "Soledad" or "la negra," the wife of Basclay Zapata.

In the Purén Brigade, dedicated to the repression of the PS, the PC, and the DC, the detective Ximena San Juan, Elsa del Tránsito Lagos Salazar, Francisca del Carmen Cerda Galleguillos, and Nancy Edulia Vásquez Torrejón, alias "Pelusa," appear with operational functions.

In the Halcón II Group of the Caupolicán Brigade, a group that participated in the confrontation with Miguel Enríquez, was María Gabriela Ordenes, alias "Marisol," who was seen present at torture sessions.

Agents in administrative roles were

– Mirtha Espinoza Caamaño, DINA secretary, who worked under the command of Augusto Deitchler in the Sub-directorate of Internal Intelligence. – María Gabriela Coll Webar, secretary of the General Headquarters staff. – Marta Smock Teixido, secretary of the General Headquarters staff in the Sub-directorate of Economic Intelligence. – Sandra Montecinos Sepúlveda, secretary of the General Headquarters staff. – Eliana Quilodrán, alias "Ely," agent of the Directorate of Operations who acted under the command of Pedro Espinoza Bravo in the Education and Informatics section. – Teresa Aburto, secretary of Section C-2, who continued working at the CNI and later at the DINE. – Enriqueta Salazar Contreras, secretary of the Sub-directorate of Internal Intelligence with direct duties under Rolf Wenderoth, who would later be integrated into the Carabineros. – Maribel Maringue Moya, secretary to the Sub-director after Wenderoth's departure, who subsequently continued to perform duties in the CNI directorate.

Also appearing are

– Ana María Rubio de la Cruz, alias "Carmen Gutiérrez," Army non-commissioned officer and secretary of the Sub-directorate of External Intelligence, implicated in the assassination of General Carlos Prats and his wife. – María Eliana Moncada Prieto, secretary of the Sub-directorate of External Intelligence, who later joined the Counterintelligence Department. – Sara Aguila Márquez, social worker for the Personnel Sub-directorate. – Carmen Avila Ferrada, secretary to Arturo Ureta Siré in the Sub-directorate of External Intelligence, subsequently moving to the same position in the CNI, under the command of Colonel Suau. – Alejandra Damián Serrano, who used the alias "Roxana," was Michel Townley's secretary.

The nurse María Eliana Bolumburú Taboada (Bolumburó according to the list by "Elissalde and Poblete") was part of the DINA Health Brigade, working in clandestine clinics alongside several doctors who advised on torture. The last information on her whereabouts placed her working at a pharmaceutical company on Calle Ejército and living in a villa in Maipú.

The Girl from the Joint Command

It seems the only woman in the Joint Command is the famous Pochi, who was seen dressed in a school uniform asking about people who would later be kidnapped. She was also active in the torture inflicted on dozens of prisoners in the clandestine torture centers known as Nido 20 and Nido 18.

Viviana Lucinda Ugarte Sandoval was a soldier (r) of the FACH, assigned to the DIFA and the Joint Command. She is the spouse of General Patricio Campos Montecinos, director general of Civil Aeronautics until the report made by the newspaper La Nación.

Prosecuted during the dictatorship by Minister Cerda as the author of criminal illicit association and an accomplice in the disappearance of Reinalda Pereira and Edrás Pinto, she was granted amnesty by Judge Manuel Silva Ibáñez. These days she continues to be involved in the proceedings being carried out against the Joint Command.

Source: elsiglo.cl, December 12, 2005