On October 24, 1974, DINA agents detained Eugenia del Carmen MARTINEZ HERNANDEZ, apparently linked to the MIR, at her workplace, the Labán textile factory. The following day, plainclothes agents raided the detainee's home. Witnesses account for the presence of Eugenia del Carmen Martínez at the Venda Sexy facility and subsequently at Cuatro Alamos, where she was last seen.

The Commission is convinced that her disappearance was the work of State agents, who thereby violated her human rights.

Source: (Rettig Report)

One of the owners of the "Laban" hosiery factory, Patricio Laban, warned his employees in advance that Eugenia del Carmen Martínez Hernández would be arrested. Indeed, on October 24, 1974, around 11:30 in the morning, eight agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) arrived at the "Laban" textile factory, located at Irarrázaval 1515, in the commune of Ñuñoa, and proceeded to detain Eugenia Martínez (25 years old, a militant of the MIR) without showing an arrest warrant.

Patricio Labán and the company's personnel manager, Mario Torres, were present at the time of the apprehension.

Committed trade unionist

Along with her beginnings in the working world, Eugenia began to show interest in social issues and to develop a commitment to those who, like her, lived the harsh reality of exhausting and monotonous factory work, with no expectations for the future.

Eugenia felt the need to fulfill herself as a person in a more just and supportive society. This motivated her to join the MIR and the union to represent the concerns and aspirations of her colleagues.

The young textile worker was passionate about books; one of her favorite authors was Neruda. She also liked to write. Eugenia lived her entire childhood in a cité (tenement) located at San Isidro 306. She studied up to the 6th grade of primary school (basic education) at Public School No. 215.

Until her second year of humanities, she was a student at the Liceo Chile Brasil. Later, she took some courses, studying at night at the Padres Franceses, and finished her secondary education at Public Night School No. 3.

She made her first communion at the neighborhood parish, joined artistic activities, and also taught catechism to the children in the area. She finished her studies at age 15, immediately entering the workforce as a laborer in a box and cardboard factory. In that place, she began to become aware and to experience firsthand the exploitation by employers.

The day after her detention, her home at Jorge Cumming 627, in San Miguel, was raided. Eight DINA agents arrived at the house where the young woman lived with her parents, Enrique Martínez and Irma Hernández, and her brother Heriberto.

The subjects conducted a thorough search and left everything in disarray. They stated that they were looking for her and denied at all times having detained her. They also interrogated her mother about the activities of each member of the family.

In the “Discotheque”

Carlos Ruiz was detained by DINA agents on September 6, 1974, at the office of the Director General of Investigations. He remained in Tres Alamos until October 12; that night he was returned incommunicado to Cuatro Alamos, and at dawn, he was taken to the torture center “La Discotheque,” also known as “Venda Sexy,” at Irán and Los Plátanos, where he spent nearly twenty days.

There, Ruiz remained incommunicado and blindfolded in a cell where there were about eight detainees.

Ruiz later stated to the court: "in that cell, I was with Eugenia Martínez Hernández, with whom I could talk at intervals, when the guards allowed it and provided it was about matters unrelated to the detention.

In any case, she managed to give me her name; she also told me that she had worked at Textil Labán. She arrived at the “Discotheque” around October 19 or 20 and was taken from that place after four days, to an unknown destination..."

A similar statement was made by Sandra Machuca Contreras, detained on August 4, 1974. This witness was interrogated by Osvaldo Romo and was taken to the Londres Nº38 facility.

Fruitless search

On July 24 and 25, 1975, the national press reported the death of several Chileans in clashes in Salta, Argentina. Among them, Eugenia Martínez Hernández was mentioned. At the time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that there were no official or unofficial records that such events had occurred.

It was a maneuver by the DINA aimed at covering up the disappearances of members of the Resistance, with the collaboration of the secret services of Argentina and Brazil.

Searching for Eugenia, her parents initially arrived at the Comité Pro Paz, where they were offered legal advice, which continued later at the Vicaría de la Solidaridad. They filed reports for alleged disappearance, lawsuits for kidnapping, and habeas corpus petitions.

All their actions were fruitless. Her mother, Irma Hernández, participated constantly in the actions of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared and has expressed that she could never conceive that among her compatriots there were beings capable of committing such great atrocities. Her husband died in 1985, without ever being able to see his beloved daughter again.

Source: Source unknown

Eugenia del Carmen Martínez Hernández was born on September 30, 1949, the daughter of Luis Martínez Ulloa and Irma Hernández Vergara. Eugenia's childhood was spent in a cité at Calle San Isidro No. 306 and at the parish of the same name, where she made her first communion and joined artistic activities until she was 15.

At that parish, she helped teach catechism and at the same time pursued her studies at Public School 215, finishing the sixth year of primary school before continuing at the Liceo Chile Brasil. She continued there until the second year of humanities and then studied at night at the Padres Franceses, finishing at Public Night School No. 3.

At 15, she began working in a box and cardboard factory, where she began to feel in the flesh the exploitation of man by man. She wished to fulfill herself as a person and a woman in a free and just society. She liked reading very much; she preferred to read Neruda, and she also liked to write.

When she started working, her social commitment awakened in her; upon seeing and feeling the exploitation and injustice, she began to participate in her union, wanting to represent the concerns of her colleagues there. The idea of something as dramatic and abominable as what happened never crossed her mind. My daughter was a militant of the MIR.

At the time of her detention, she was working at the "Laban" hosiery factory, located at Irarrázaval 1515, Ñuñoa; this was on October 24, 1974, at 11:30 am. Eight DINA agents arrived at the factory and detained her without any warrant. Witnesses to her detention were Mr. Mario Torres, personnel manager, and one of the owners, Mr. Patricio Laban.

Since then, the search began, which has not yet yielded results. On October 28 of the same year, we arrived at the Comité para la Paz. There, we received legal advice, just like other relatives who were in the same situation as us.

When the committee was dissolved, the Vicaría de la Solidaridad was formed, where they continued to provide their attention. At the Vicaría, a habeas corpus petition was filed, as well as a report for alleged disappearance, lawsuits, in short, everything that could legally be done, without having received any kind of response to this moment, only lies.

The integrity and faith in recovering our daughter have allowed us to continue her search until now. We will continue forward until all the cases of the forcibly disappeared are clarified. Unfortunately, my husband died on June 6, 1985; he was 81 years old. Not being able to see his beloved daughter ever again was his great pain.

He could never conceive that among his compatriots there were beings capable of such great atrocities, to say the least.

At the Comité para la Paz, we began to get to know the relatives who were facing the same pain; little by little, the Association was consolidated. It has played a very important role and will continue to do so as long as it is not clarified once and for all what really happened to our loved ones.

We know that we are no longer alone; every day we receive more supportive backing from different sectors. We have achieved this support through 12 years of continuous denunciation and actions to draw attention to our tragic problem.

One understands now that a sailboat advances more in a storm than in calm, because misfortunes bring pain to grow and faith to advance.

When 30% of compatriots are without work, when on TV they talk to us about a local jet-set and in the streets we see legions of hungry children, when they tell us that we are doing well and tomorrow better and they take away a cost-of-living adjustment from the retirees who are the helpless of this country, when they ask me to give my opinion on this regime, all I have left to say, like Christ, is: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."

Source: Irma Hernández Vergara, Enrique Martínez Hernández

They must serve sentences of 15 years and one day in prison for the qualified kidnappings of María Eugenia Martínez, Eduardo Aliste González, and Gerardo Silva Saldívar, perpetrated between September and October 1974. The victims were detained and taken to the detention and torture center located on Calle Irán in the commune of Ñuñoa.

The Supreme Court sentenced five former agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) to 15 years and one day in prison for their responsibility in the crime of qualified kidnapping of Eduardo Gustavo Aliste González, Eugenia del Carmen Martínez Hernández, and Gerardo Ernesto Silva Saldívar, victims who were taken to the clandestine center known as "Venda Sexy" or La Discotheque, located at Calle Irán No. 3037 in the commune of Ñuñoa.

The crimes were perpetrated between September and December 1974.

In a unanimous ruling, the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Milton Juica, Carlos Künsemüller, Lamberto Cisternas, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, and the acting lawyer Jean Pierre Matus—confirmed the challenged sentence that convicted Juan Manuel Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda, Raúl Iturriaga Neumann, Manuel Carevic Cubillos, Risiere del Prado Altez España, and Hugo del Tránsito Hernández Valle as authors of the repeated crimes of qualified kidnapping.

In the civil aspect, it was ratified that the State of Chile must pay an indemnity of 350 million pesos to the victims' families.

During the investigation stage, the visiting judge Leopoldo Llanos managed to establish that "the facility called 'Venda Sexy' or 'La Discotheque,' located at Calle Irán No. 3037 at the corner of Los Plátanos, commune of Ñuñoa, was used by the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) as a secret detention and torture center, which operated from mid-1974 until 1975.

This facility was a two-story house with a basement where torture sessions were also carried out. Many detainees remained in this place, who were kept blindfolded, separated into different rooms for men and women."

"The operational agents carried out interrogations under torture, for which they used methods such as the 'parrilla' (grill), which consisted of applying electric current to different parts of the body while lying on a metal cot.

In addition, a common practice as a method of torture in this facility was sexual abuse. This facility was characterized by continuously playing strident music at a high volume, which became more intense at the moment of carrying out the torture sessions and abuse of the detainees," he added.

Eduardo Aliste González was detained by DINA agents on September 24, 1974; Gerardo Silva Saldívar, 23 years old, was apprehended on December 10, 1974. Both were taken to that place, after which there was no news of their whereabouts.

The same happened with the textile worker María Eugenia Martínez Hernández, linked to the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), who was detained on October 24, 1974, at her workplace, located at Irarrázaval 1515, in the presence of her colleagues, the industry's personnel manager, Mario Torres, and one of the owners, Patricio Labán.

The following day, her home was raided by a group of armed civilians, without showing any warrant and without providing information regarding her detention. Subsequently, she was seen by various witnesses with clear signs of torture in the clandestine detention centers of Venda Sexy and Cuatro Álamos.

The last news regarding her whereabouts is from mid-November 1974, the date on which she was taken from the house on Calle Irán.

Source: elmostrador.cl 13/12/2017 Date: 12-13-2017

Singer-songwriters and poets remember Eugenia Martínez Hernández, a forcibly disappeared person who passed through Venda Sexy

The activity will take place this Sunday the 26th at Irán and Los Plátanos starting at 5:30 PM. Participants will include Las Gemelas Torres (Acción Lírica), Nora Blanco (singer-songwriter), Mauricio Feller, Elvira Hernández, and Mario Lorca (poets).

The Association for Memory and Human Rights, Torture House and Disappearances Venda Sexy, invites you to remember Eugenia del Carmen Martínez Hernández, a textile worker, resistance member, and militant of the MIR, kidnapped on October 24, 1974, and disappeared to this date.

The activity is called “Memory, Singer-songwriters and Poets,” and those who wish to attend this act are asked to bring a candle and a carnation in tribute to Eugenia del Carmen Martínez Hernández and to all the forcibly disappeared persons who passed through that torture and extermination center and those throughout the country.

Irán and Los Plátanos starting at 5:30 PM, Sunday, October 26, 2014.

Source: villagrimaldi.cl 10/26/2014 Date: 10-26-2014