Visiting Minister Alejandro Madrid discovered that doctors who worked at the DINA’s London clinic also provided services at the Santa María clinic. In fact, one of them was part of the medical team that performed the final surgery on the former President, as revealed by the judicial file.

If in 1977 someone had said that a minister of the Court of Appeals would eventually establish how a DINA agent died at the hands of his own comrades-in-arms at the London Clinic, they would surely have been labeled delusional.

Likewise, if in 1982 someone had known that part of the medical team working at the Santa María Clinic, where former President Eduardo Frei Montalva was operated on, had been part of the DINA’s London Clinic, perhaps his death could have been avoided.

If in 1990, after the return to democracy, someone had even raised the suspicion that these two deaths were related, they might have been partially believed, but obtaining concrete results was unthinkable.

For this reason, Minister Alejandro Madrid Crohare has established that a series of deaths prior to Frei’s are a necessary link to establishing what could be the first assassination of a head of state in Chile’s history.

Magistrate Madrid, in a document to which LND had exclusive access, has identified all the personnel who worked in the DINA clinics, from Santa Lucía to London, including guards, nurses, doctors, assistants, drivers, and telephone operators.

This secret list, never before published (see box), is contained in the file that the judge is processing regarding the death of former Army corporal and former DINA agent Manuel Jesús Leyton Robles, murdered in March 1977—a case linked to the death of Frei.

This fact, when put into perspective, has provided clues that have helped strengthen the magistrate’s conviction that Frei’s death was not a mere coincidence. Added to this are two other events that have also been revealing for the magistrate.

First, in 1993, one of the main defendants in the crime against Spanish diplomat Carmelo Soria—which occurred on July 14, 1976—Brigadier (R) and former Army Secretary General Jaime Lepe, used agents from the Army Intelligence Battalion (BIE) to follow and detain retired non-commissioned officer José Remigio Ríos San Martín.

He met with him at a restaurant, where he ordered him to retract the statement that incriminated him in exchange for a pickup truck (see La Nación, 21.8.06). The volume of resources Lepe used for this operation, at the behest of Pinochet himself, reveals that it was not just about protecting his career or covering up one death among many, but rather about hiding information regarding the manufacture of poisons to eliminate opponents during the military dictatorship.

Second, another thread leads to the poisoning with botulinum toxin of MIR militants in the public prison in 1981 (see La Nación, 23.8.06), brought to Chile specifically by the Public Health Institute (ISP) for the Army’s Bacteriological Warfare Laboratory (LGBE), with the endorsement of the then-representative in Chile of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr.

Virgilio Scuttia. In that year, the LGBE operated under the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINE). Finally, the departure from Chile of DINA chemist Eugenio Berríos Sagredo—who fled the country with the help of the Army in October 1992—and his subsequent murder in 1993 in Uruguay, together constitute a puzzle for which only a few pieces remain to be found in the dark universe of the Pinochet dictatorship’s intelligence operations.

And Berríos, in this entire plot, appears as the necessary link.

“Because of this traitorous bastard” The death of Corporal Leyton Robles, which occurred in March 1977, is a palpable example of what the word “treason” meant to DINA director Manuel Contreras: an unpronounceable term.

Leyton Robles, along with other agents, was looking for spare parts for a Renault 4, as DINA funds were meager and there was no way to repair the vehicle. They solved the problem by stealing a similar car from a French citizen, Marcel Duhalde.

He reported the incident to the Carabineros, who located the vehicle and arrested those responsible, Leyton Robles himself and Heriberto Acevedo, both members of the DINA, who were taken to a police station.

And that is where it all began. The DINA ordered their release. The Carabineros refused. The service’s agents surrounded the police unit. A crisis ensued. Manuel Leyton Robles remained in custody. However, minutes earlier, he had revealed the DINA’s best-kept secret: the existence of the forcibly disappeared and their final destination, the sea.

Once released, the DINA, aware of his statements, confined him to one of their facilities. He died days later of a mysterious heart attack. He was only 24 years old. This is where what is currently public knowledge ends.

“Package coming” However, the who, how, when, and where of his murder remained a mystery and a secret kept by very few. But only until now, as Madrid and detective Nelson Jofré have fully clarified the case.

Leyton Robles was not taken to just any place, but to the London Clinic. In this regard, the testimony of retired Army non-commissioned officer and nurse Carlos Norambuena Retamales is eloquent in illustrating the facility located at Almirante Barroso 76. “In this clinic, I was able to observe events that marked my life forever.

I verified that there was a group of doctors involved in the deaths of the detainees who arrived at the clinic. I became aware of these episodes when I worked the night shift, which were habitual.” According to this former DINA nurse, those involved were Dr.

Osvaldo Leyton, Werner Zanguellini, and head nurse Eliana Borumburu Taboada. “There was a code in the clinic, which was a warning: ‘package coming.’ It meant that a detainee was arriving, and one understood that one should not get involved in anything; only those already mentioned.

A DINA vehicle would arrive, and people we didn’t know would take the detainee down on a stretcher, then they would take him into a room, administer something, and later the patient would come out dead.” Norambuena Retamales also recounts the formula used by the doctors: “They administered eight milligrams of Pentothal, which immediately caused the patient to have an arrhythmia, followed by cardiorespiratory arrest, dying in the clinic, and about an hour and a half later they would take him out at night, half-camouflaged.” This former DINA official had privileged access to several dark episodes of the dictatorship alongside nurse Borumburu. “I was able to accidentally see ‘the tower’ (Villa Grimaldi) on one occasion when Major Gerardo Ulrich was proceeding to burn the nipples of a completely naked woman with alcohol.”

The “Doctor Torment”

Nursing assistant at the London Clinic Jazna Larrecheda Valdés provided a second crucial detail for the judge and the first concrete clue regarding Leyton’s death. The woman told Madrid that in March 1977, “at about 2 A.M., about eight people arrived at the London Clinic in charge of an officer and two other agents whom I identified as Armando Cabrera and Corporal Manuel Leyton.

In an instant, the whole group entered the administrative chief’s office, and a few minutes later a subject known as Dr. Pinchetti arrived.” The latter, also known as “Doctor Torment,” was the DINA’s hypnotist.

After a few hours, she saw Leyton smoking and pacing from one place to another, “touching his head in a sign of nervousness and desperation, while at the same time caressing the service weapon he carried at his belt (...) A few minutes passed and Cabrera left the room.

Immediately, Leyton entered where Pinchetti remained,” the nursing assistant declared. A few minutes later, the hypnotist called on the phone and said: “The first (Cabrera) negative, the second (Leyton) positive,” says Larrecheda.

On the other hand, former civilian employee of the service Julio Huerta Gutiérrez recounted that Leyton was then left detained in the clinic with an external DINA guard, submachine gun in hand in case he wanted to escape.

Huerta was responsible, according to his testimony, for bringing him lunch. He also gave him cigarettes when Leyton asked for them, ignoring the orders of the head of security, then-Lieutenant Hernán Sovino Maturana: to have no contact with the prisoners.

The events continued their course when the London Clinic ambulance driver, active Army Sergeant Major S.A.C.V., saw an ambulance arrive and a patient being taken to the emergency room. “Upon entering, I see a young subject on the stretcher, unknown to me until that moment, and I see Dr.

Pedro Valdivia and another person I don’t remember (...) The patient was unconscious and in cardiorespiratory arrest (...) I was present and cooperated by transporting a defibrillator and a resuscitator.

I remember I was very shocked; it was the first time I had seen a person die. I felt very bad and went out into the hallway.” Another person who participated in this episode was former DINA nursing assistant Silvia Valdés Uribe, who confirms the facts and adds that they tried to resuscitate Leyton, but everything indicates that the torture applied by Pinchetti with the Pentothal, plus the interrogation sessions, ended his vital signs.

A few hours later, Jazna Larrecheda Valdés verified this same fact with her own eyes. “I asked an assistant what had happened to the patient and he told me he had died; then I entered the plaster room, where I verified that a naked body lay on a stretcher.

It was Corporal Leyton.” That same night, Commander Vianel Valdivieso, one of the men in the DINA’s inner circle, arrived at the clinic along with Major Juan Morales Salgado, who took the body away.

Judicial Hermeneutics

When Madrid and the police had this story completely clear, they focused on establishing these medical links to Frei’s death and encountered surprises. Professionals who worked at the DINA were part of the medical team that treated Frei, just as there were others from the intelligence agency who worked at the Santa María Clinic while the former President remained hospitalized there.

One of the investigators’ main clues came from the statement—on page 656 of the judicial file—of the last doctor who attended to the former President, Patricio Silva Garín. The latter, in 1982, worked at the Military Hospital, although he was a man very close to Frei Montalva.

Silva Garín told Minister Madrid that he formed his team with doctors Eduardo Weinstein (who also worked at the Military Hospital) and Dr. Rodrigo Vélez. The latter, according to the account of active Army Sergeant Major S.A.C.V., also provided services at the London Clinic.

The team was also composed of doctor Pedro Valdivia, who was present at the time of Corporal Leyton’s death at the DINA facilities. But there was more. The DINA’s head nurse, Eliana Borumburu, had a cousin in those years, Ana María Borumburu, who worked precisely at the Catholic University, where doctors Hermal Rosemberg and Sergio González Bombardiere worked, who were in charge of the unauthorized autopsy—according to the family’s version—of Frei.

Among the documents seized by the Investigations police, there was no record of the last surgical operations performed on the former President, except for the first one, performed in December 1981. LND

Related cases

The proceedings that Madrid links to the death of Eduardo Frei Montalva

1.- Carmelo Soria: Spanish Diplomat Homicide: July 14, 1976. Perpetrators: DINA.

Main defendants

Brigadier (R) Jaime Lepe Orellana. Major (R) Patricio Quilhot. Non-commissioned officer (R) José Remigio Ríos San Martín. Civilian chemist Eugenio Berríos.

2.- Army Corporal Manuel Jesús Leyton Robles DINA agent Homicide: March 1977. Perpetrators: DINA

Main defendants

Hypnotist, Osvaldo Pinchetti. Commander (R) Vianel Valdivieso Colonel (R) Juan Morales Salgado Dr. Sergio Valdés. Dr. Osvaldo Leyton. Nurse Eliana Borumburu Taboada Chemist Eugenio Berríos

3.- Ricardo and Elizardo Aguilera, Guillermo Rodríguez Morales “El Ronco,” and Adalberto Muñoz Jara. MIR militants Poisoning by botulism. Perpetrators: suspected to be the CNI. Main defendants: DINA chemist, Eugenio Berríos.

General (R) doctor Eduardo Arriagada Rehren and Health Colonel (R) Sergio Rosende Ollarzu, both officials of the Army’s Bacteriological Warfare Laboratory (LBGE), then dependent on the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINE). Chemist Eugenio Berríos Hartmut Hopp (Colonia Dignidad)

4.- Eduardo Frei Montalva. Former President of Chile Death by generalized septicemia: January 21, 1982. Perpetrators: suspected to be the LGBE, the DINE, and the CNI. Main suspects: General (R) doctor Eduardo Arriagada Rehren and Health Colonel (R) Sergio Rosende Ollarzu, both officials of the Army’s Bacteriological Warfare Laboratory (LBGE), dependent on the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINE).

5.- Eugenio Berríos Sagredo Former DINA chemist Homicide: between January and March 1993, in Uruguay Perpetrators: DINE agents.

Main defendants

General (R) Eugenio Covarrubias, former head of the DINE Major (R) Arturo Silva Valdés.

Doctors speak The statements of the doctors who participated in the operation before Minister Madrid are full of technical jargon, explaining how they operated on the former President. Here are some of the most important paragraphs from their judicial testimonies.

Augusto Larraín

“In this second operation where I participated as an observer, I saw a high mesenteric inflammation of the small intestine of an inflammatory type that I had never encountered before in the digestive surgeries I have performed.”

Alejandro Goic

“Regarding the question of a possible intervention by third parties in the infection, I must state that I cannot comment on that. Everything that happened in the post-operative period has a logical medical explanation without the need for external factors.”

Dr. Patricio Silva Garín

“Dr. Augusto Larraín was in favor of surgery; I was in favor of treating him medically, since the Barré ulcer, in my professional experience, improved with medication treatment.”

Dr. Eduardo Weinstein Baranovsky

“The degree of risk in those years with the condition the patient had of intestinal obstruction, the operative mortality could reach 60 percent. As a corollary to the sequence and complications that occurred, I must point out that I attribute the main issue to the delay, despite the diagnosis that Dr.

Patricio Silva had given, in performing the intestinal obstruction surgery. From then on, there is a whole sequence of a septic problem in an elderly man that ultimately triggered multisystem failure.”

Dr. Guillermo Steading Valenzuela

“My opinion is that when Frei was admitted to the clinic for the second time, he should have been operated on immediately and not waited for Dr. Larraín, who was outside of Santiago.”

Dr. Carlos Zavala Urzúa

“The evolution of Eduardo Frei Montalva was that of a very serious illness resulting from septic shock that occurs in a 72-year-old person and which has a high mortality rate.”

DINA clinic officials

Doctors

Jorge Fantini Osvaldo Leyton Bahamondes Horacio Taricco Lavín Vittorio Orvietto Juan Pablo Figueroa Pedro Samuel Valdivia Soto Sergio Virgilio Bocaz Sergio Muñoz Bonta Christian Emhart Araya Camilo Azar Saba Jorge Bassa Salazar Rodrigo Vélez

Nurses-Assistants

María Eugenia Pérez Irma Aguilera Mitchell Jasna Larrecheda Valdés Fernanda Segura Jara Melanie Soto Cubillos

Civilian employees

Silvia Valdés Uribe Ramón Álvarez Martínez Luis Araya Aguayo Luis Espinoza Tapia Luis Orellana Lara Igor Poblete González Jorge Aceituno Cruz Alberto Arriagada Martínez Luis Barrera Fuentes Enrique Carreño Morales José Guerrero Guerrero Julio Huerta Gutiérrez Roberto Núñez Zenteno Carlos Pulgar Albornoz Claudio Sanhueza Sanhueza Jaime Leiva Olguín Andrés Naranjo Riquelme Lorenzo Toro Olivares

Military

Hernán Sovino, head of security Sergeant Major (R), Ramón Muñoz Rojas Sergeant Major (R) Raúl Cerda Sagardía (nurse) Sergeant Major (R) Leonel Martínez Faúndez Sergeant Major (R) Santiago Matteo Galleguillos Non-commissioned officer (R) Luis Olguín Ortiz Non-commissioned officer (R) Alfredo Naranjo Riquelme Non-commissioned officer (R) Manuel Lucero (nurse) Non-commissioned officer (R) Carlos Norambuena (nurse) Non-commissioned officer (R) Oscar Aceituno Carvajal 1st Sergeant (R) Alfonso Bravo Cifuentes 1st Sergeant (R) Jorge Aravena 1st Sergeant (R) Delberto Esparza Lillo Carabineros 1st Sergeant, Bernardo González González 2nd Sergeant Vicente Alvarez Ramírez FACH Sergeant, Luis Pechuante Núñez

Source: La Nación, 27/08/2006.