Case File 114.042: Qualified Homicide of José Alberto Fuentes Fuentes

Investigative Statements SIXTH

In providing an extrajudicial investigative statement on November 18, 2015 (pages 374-376), Mr. OSVALDO DOMINGO ESPINOZA SALAS states that he joined the Carabineros de Chile in 1964. His first assignment was the 3rd Commissariat of Talca, where he remained for approximately four years.

He was subsequently assigned to the Rosario Tenancy, under the 4th Commissariat of Rengo, where he served for two years. He then served for two years at the 3rd Commissariat of Sewell, under the Rancagua Prefecture, before being assigned to the Carabineros School to complete a one-year instructor course.

He was then transferred to the Instruction Group in the city of Temuco, where he remained for two years, followed by a two-year assignment to the Forestry Police Zone under the Temuco Prefecture. He was then assigned to the city of Santiago, specifically to the Forestry Police Department under the Directorate of Order and Security of the General Directorate, where he remained for about four years.

He was then assigned to the 2nd Commissariat of Curicó, where he served for three years, followed by a two-year assignment to the 13th Commissariat of La Granja under the Santiago South Prefecture. He was then assigned to the Carabineros School, serving in the Logistics Group for one year, followed by two years as a student at the Higher Institute of Carabineros.

He was then assigned to the 3rd Commissariat of Ovalle for approximately three years, followed by three years at the 20th Commissariat of Puente Alto. Subsequently, he was assigned to the General Directorate, specifically the Superior Advisory Council, where he spent two years, and was finally assigned to the Santiago South Prefecture, where he took voluntary retirement in 1995, holding the rank of Colonel with thirty years of service in the institution.

He states that in September 1973, he was serving in the Forestry Police Zone under the Cautín Prefecture, a unit based in the same facilities as the 2nd Commissariat of Temuco. This unit consisted of a driver (rank of Carabinero) and a brigade member (rank of Corporal), whose names he does not recall due to the time elapsed.

He mentions that on September 11, immediately after the coup d'état, the Prefect of Cautín, surnamed San Martín, assigned him as a coordinator with the Chilean Army. He immediately moved to the facilities of the Tucapel Regiment, specifically to the Adjutancy Room, sharing duties with an Army Lieutenant surnamed García.

In that location, he performed purely administrative telephone coordination duties between both institutions, a task that lasted throughout the month of September and the beginning of October. He clarifies that these logistical coordinations were purely administrative and that he did not carry out operational tasks during this time.

Once these coordination tasks with the Army were finished, he was attached to the 2nd Commissariat of Carabineros, where he performed security duties for the barracks, often remaining as the most senior officer, and therefore did not perform patrols or guard duties.

Regarding the events under investigation, related to the Qualified Kidnapping of José Alberto Fuentes Fuentes, he states that in October 1973, he does not recall the exact date, while he was in charge of barracks security at the 2nd Commissariat of Temuco and around 00:00 hours, a detainee arrived for causing damage at a hotel and continued to do so inside the unit's cells, which is why he approached to speak with this person, who was agitated.

Immediately thereafter, and after a brief dialogue, he managed to calm him down and told him that he would take him to the address he indicated, since it was curfew hours. For this reason, and in the company of three uniformed Carabineros, they put him into an institutional van and left in an unknown direction.

After 15 minutes had passed, they arrived at the banks of the Cautín River, where they parked the vehicle. Subsequently, the detainee got out and, by order of one of the Carabineros, walked into the water, managing to submerge half of his body.

Then, without any command being given, the entire crew—and he would say it was a reflex act—began to shoot at him. He estimates about twenty shots in total, which possibly caused this person's death; however, since the detainee submerged himself before the shots, they did not observe his body, which he presumes was carried away by the current.

In his case, he was carrying a Ruby Extra .32 caliber revolver, while the rest of the Carabineros carried one rifle and the others carbines. Once the execution was carried out, they got into the police vehicle and agreed that no one would comment on this event, subsequently heading to the unit and resuming their normal activities.

Approximately two weeks later, he recalls having a conversation with the crew that participated in the death of the aforementioned person, where they again swore not to comment on what had happened on the banks of the river.

Likewise, he must state that he does not remember the identities of the other Carabineros who participated with him in the aforementioned events; however, because these officers were in uniform, he presumes they were from the 2nd Commissariat, since at the moment of leaving the barracks with the detainee, he notified those who were in the guard room to accompany him.

Source: Judiciary, August 17, 2018

Press

Former Carabinero accused of gunning down detainee in Cautín River remains in preventive detention

The extraordinary visiting judge of the Temuco Court of Appeals for human rights cases, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, indicted and ordered the preventive detention of a former Carabinero, accusing him as the perpetrator of the qualified homicide of a man who was executed by gunfire in the Cautín River in October 1973.

The judicial decision was applied to the former Carabinero official, Osvaldo Domingo Espinoza Salas, as the perpetrator of the crime of qualified homicide of José Alberto Fuentes Fuentes, which occurred in Temuco on October 14, 1973.

Judge Mesa's investigation details that the victim was arrested on October 13, 1973, around 10:30 PM, by officers of the 2nd Commissariat of Carabineros of Temuco, while he was staying with his family at the Hotel Oriente in Temuco.

The police arrived at the location after being called by the property owner to arrest the victim, who was in a state of intoxication. Upon arrival, the police force approached his spouse, who was with the couple's 14-year-old daughter, and told her that they were taking her husband away to kill him and not to take him to a psychiatrist, as she was requesting.

Once in the cell, the man was agitated, so a lieutenant in charge of barracks security approached to speak with him. After a brief dialogue, he managed to calm him down, telling him that they would take him to the address he indicated, as they were in curfew hours.

Then, in the company of three Carabineros, they put him into an institutional van and left in an unknown direction. After 15 minutes, they arrived at the banks of the Cautín River, where they parked the vehicle.

The detainee got out and, by order of one of the Carabineros, walked into the river until the water covered half of his body, only to then be shot with a revolver, a rifle, and carbines, with the officers swearing never to tell what happened.

Source: biobio.cl, January 5, 2016

Judge Álvaro Mesa sentences retired Carabinero colonel for homicide of hotel guest in 1973.

The magistrate sentenced Osvaldo Domingo Espinoza Salas to 14 years in prison for his responsibility in the crime. The visiting judge for human rights cases of the Courts of Appeals of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, sentenced a retired Carabinero colonel for the qualified homicide of José Fuentes Fuentes, which occurred on October 14, 1973, in Temuco.

The magistrate sentenced Osvaldo Domingo Espinoza Salas to 14 years in prison for his responsibility in the aforementioned crime. The magistrate's investigation established: A.- That José Alberto Fuentes Fuentes, married, father of two, a small industrialist, was arrested on October 13, 1973, around 10:30 PM, by officers of the 2nd Commissariat of Carabineros of Temuco, under the command of a lieutenant surnamed Catalán, while he was staying with his family at the Hotel Oriente of Temuco, located at 1142 Rodríguez Street.

The police arrived at the location after being called by the property owner to arrest the victim, who was in a state of intoxication. Upon arrival, the police force approached the spouse, Aída Brígida Baeza Ascencio, who was with the couple's 14-year-old daughter, and told her that they were taking her husband away to kill him and not to take him to a psychiatrist, as she was requesting.

She insisted to the lieutenant in charge that her husband was ill and required medical attention. However, the officer reiterated that he would kill him. Faced with her anguish, the police officers accompanying the lieutenant told her not to believe him and that they would take him to the 2nd Commissariat of Carabineros of Temuco.

B.- The order given to Lieutenant Catalán, the officer in charge of the operation to go to the Hotel Oriente, was issued by Lieutenant Osvaldo Domingo Espinoza Salas, who was in charge of barracks security at the 2nd Commissariat of Carabineros de Chile in Temuco that night.

C.- The victim was apprehended and taken by Carabinero officials to the 2nd Commissariat of Carabineros de Chile in Temuco, where he was handed over to the duty sub-officer around 00:00 hours on October 14, 1973.

He was taken to the cell, where he was in an agitated state of mind. Lieutenant Osvaldo Domingo Espinoza Salas, in charge of barracks security, approached to speak with the victim. After a brief dialogue, he managed to calm him down and told him that he would take him to the address he indicated, as they were in curfew hours; then, in the company of three Carabineros, including Hobert Nolberto Urzúa Muñoz, they put him into an institutional van and left in an unknown direction.

After 15 minutes, they arrived at the banks of the Cautín River, where they parked the vehicle. The detainee got out and, by order of one of the Carabineros, walked into the river until the water covered half of his body, only to then—without any command being given—have several members of the crew, by a reflex act, fire approximately twenty shots, which presumably caused his death.

The victim's body was not observed, with the executors estimating that it had been carried away by the river's current; Lieutenant Osvaldo Domingo Espinoza Salas carried a Ruby Extra .32 caliber revolver, while the rest of the Carabineros carried one rifle and the others carbines.

Once the execution was carried out, they got into the police van and agreed not to comment on the event with anyone. The officer in command, about two weeks later, gathered the group that participated in the events again, at which time they swore again not to comment on what happened at the river.

D.- The day after the events, his spouse went, along with her daughter, to the 2nd Commissariat of Carabineros de Chile in Temuco, where they were told that no one had been arrested, much less at a hotel.

Three days later, she insisted again; on this occasion, they told her that he had indeed been detained there, but that he had been released the morning after the arrest. Despite having carried out countless inquiries at the Temuco prison, the Tucapel Regiment, the Military Prosecutor's Office, and other detention centers of the time, she has had no news regarding the fate of her husband.

In the civil aspect, he ordered the State to pay compensation of $80,000,000 to the victim's daughter.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl, August 26, 2018

Supreme Court confirms sentence for Carabinero colonel for murdering a person in a river in Temuco during the dictatorship: he was sentenced to 14 years in prison

The Supreme Court confirmed a sentence for a crime against humanity committed by a Carabinero colonel in October 1973 in Temuco, La Araucanía region. After rejecting a cassation appeal, the highest court confirmed the August 2018 sentence, which sentenced a retired Carabinero colonel to 14 years in prison for the qualified homicide, as a crime against humanity, of a man who was staying with his family in a hotel in Temuco in October 1973.

With this, the first-instance sentence is confirmed, which was applied by the visiting judge for human rights cases of the Courts of Appeals of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa, who sentenced the retired Carabinero colonel, Osvaldo Domingo Espinoza Salas, 77 years old, to 14 years in prison for his responsibility in the qualified homicide of José Alberto Fuentes Fuentes.

The investigation established that the victim was arrested at the Hotel Oriente in Temuco on October 13, 1973, around 10:30 PM, by officers of the 2nd Commissariat of Carabineros, who arrived at the location called by the property owner to arrest the victim, who was in a state of intoxication.

Once at the police unit, the then-Lieutenant Osvaldo Domingo Espinoza Salas approached to speak with the detainee, managing to calm him down by telling him that he would take him to the address he indicated, as they were in curfew hours.

Moments later, in an institutional van, Fuentes Fuentes was taken out of the police unit and transported to the banks of the Cautín River, where he was taken out of the vehicle and ordered to enter the water until it reached his waist, at which moment he was gunned down.

Source: fortinmapocho.cl, November 12, 2021