Laja and San Rosendo

In the towns of Laja and San Rosendo, 19 people were detained by carabineros from Laja between September 13 and September 17:

Juan Antonio ACUÑA CONCHA, 34 years old, State Railways train driver, member of the Partido Socialista, president of the Supply and Price Board (JAP) of San Rosendo, and union leader. He presented himself voluntarily to the carabineros of San Rosendo and was released. That same day, he was detained by Carabineros arriving from Laja.

Luis Alberto ARANEDA REYES, 43 years old, State Railways train driver and member of the Partido Socialista. He was detained on September 15 by members of the carabineros from the Laja station.

Manuel Mario BECERRA AVELLO, 18 years old, high school student. He was detained on September 13 by members of the carabineros of Laja as he was preparing to board the train to Curacautín.

Rubén Antonio CAMPOS LOPEZ, 39 years old, Director of the Consolidada School of Laja, councilman for the same district, and member of the Partido Socialista. He was detained at his home on September 16 by Carabineros officers.

Dagoberto Enrique GARFIAS GATICA, 23 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones. He was detained in San Rosendo on September 15 by members of the carabineros.

Fernando GRANDON GALVEZ, 34 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones, member of the Partido Comunista, and union delegate. He was detained at his workplace by Carabineros of Laja on September 14.

Jack Eduardo GUTIERREZ RODRIGUEZ, 45 years old, contractor and member of the Partido Socialista. He was detained at his workplace on September 13.

José Juan Carlos JARA HERRERA, 17 years old, high school student. He was detained by members of the Carabineros of Laja on September 17.

Mario JARA JARA, 21 years old, furniture maker's assistant. He was detained on September 15 at his home by Carabineros of Laja.

Jorge Andrés LAMANA ABARZUA, 27 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones (CMPC), member of the Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitaria (MAPU), Welfare delegate for the Cóndor company union, and director of the CMPC industrial union. He presented himself voluntarily to police authorities on September 15.

Alfonso Segundo MACAYA BARRALES, 32 years old, merchant and member of the Partido Comunista. He presented himself voluntarily to the Laja station on September 13 and was placed under house arrest. On September 15, he was detained again.

Heraldo del Carmen MUÑOZ MUÑOZ, 27 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones, member of the Partido Socialista, and director of the Supply and Price Board (JAP). He was detained as he left work by Carabineros of Laja on September 13.

Wuilzon Gamaniel MUÑOZ RODRIGUEZ, 26 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones. He was detained on September 14 by carabineros of Laja.

Federico RIQUELME CONCHA, 38 years old, employee of the Cóndor company. He was detained on September 13 on the street by members of the Carabineros.

Oscar Omar SANHUEZA ORTIZ, 23 years old, primary school teacher. He was detained at his home by a patrol of carabineros from Laja on September 15.

Luis Armando ULLOA VALENZUELA, 51 years old, laborer and member of the Partido Comunista. He was detained on September 14 at his workplace by carabineros of Laja.

Raúl URRA PARADA, 23 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones, member of the Partido Comunista, union delegate, and firefighter with the Third Company of Laja. He was detained on September 13, as he left work, by carabineros from that location.

Juan de Dios VILLARROEL ESPINOZA, 34 years old, laborer, member of the Partido Comunista, and union leader. He was detained by carabineros of Laja on September 14 at his workplace.

Jorge Lautaro ZORRILLA RUBIO, 25 years old, mine worker in Argentina who was on vacation in Chile. He presented himself voluntarily on September 15 at the San Rosendo police station upon learning that he was being sought by Carabineros.

All of them were transported in the early hours of September 18, supposedly toward the Los Angeles Regiment, a place they never reached.

On October 11, 1973, their bodies were discovered by locals buried in a sand pit at the San Juan estate, located on the road between Laja and Yumbel. This fact was reported to the Yumbel Court, which took cognizance of the matter, ordered the exhumation of the bodies, and subsequently their burial in the Yumbel Parish Cemetery, where they remained until 1979.

The Archbishopric of Concepción filed a complaint with the Laja Criminal Court on July 24, 1979, case file No. 2,770, against Carabineros from the same town, which led to the initiation of a judicial investigation and the appointment of a Visiting Judge by the Court of Appeals of Concepción.

This investigation allowed for the identification of the victims and the determination that they had been executed by members of the Carabineros of Laja on September 18, at the very place where their remains were found. Until that date, their families had searched for them unsuccessfully in various facilities.

On March 18, 1980, the Visiting Judge declared himself incompetent, and the case files were transferred to the Ad hoc Military Prosecutor's Office of Concepción, file No. 323 80. The case was definitively dismissed on June 9, 1980, by the Judge of the Third Military Court, and the dismissal was approved by the Supreme Court on December 3, 1981, file No. 564 80.

The amnesty provided by Decree Law 2.191 of 1978 was applied to the perpetrators of the deaths.

Fernando Grandón Gálvez, married, father of 8 children, a worker at the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones in Laja and a communist sympathizer, was detained at the facilities of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones in Laja on September 14, 1973, at 16:00 hours, once his workday had concluded.

He was detained along with other company workers, including Heraldo Muñoz M., Raúl Urra P., and Juan Villarroel E., all of whom suffered the same fate as the victim.

The detention was carried out by a patrol of Carabineros from the Laja station under the command of Sergeant Pedro Rodríguez Ceballos, who did not present any warrant and proceeded to transport all the detainees to the police unit's premises.

At that location, Fernando Grandón was visited daily until September 17 by his spouse and his sister, with whom he spoke. He informed them that he had been detained for being a communist, adding that he had been told he would be held for approximately ten days.

Desperate due to this situation, his spouse went to Sergeant Rodríguez's home and asked his wife to intercede for her husband's release. Rodríguez responded that if any officer from the Armed Forces vouched for Grandón's conduct, he could be released.

Hopeful about this possibility, his spouse began contacting family and friends to travel to Los Angeles after the Fiestas Patrias to obtain such a recommendation from an officer. However, on the 18th, just as she had done every day since her husband was detained, she went to visit him at the station, only to be met with the news that Fernando and the other detainees had been transferred to the Los Angeles Regiment, as informed by one of the Carabineros on guard.

They never arrived at that location, as all of the detainees—Juan Acuña Concha, Luis Araneda Reyes, Manuel Becerra Avello, Rubén Campos López, Dagoberto Garfias Gálvez, Jack Gutiérrez Rodríguez, José Jara Herrera, Mario Jara Jara, Jorge Lamana Abarzúa, Alfonso Macaya Barrales, Heraldo Muñoz Muñoz, Wuilzon Muñoz Rodríguez, Federico Riquelme Concha, Luis Sáez Espinoza, Oscar Sanhueza Contreras, Luis Ulloa Valenzuela, Raúl Urra Parada, Juan Villarroel Espinoza, and Jorge Zorrilla Rubio—were executed at the Fundo San Juan, located on the road between Laja and Yumbel, and clandestinely buried at the same site. Local residents discovered the burial site and notified the local court. No judicial investigation was initiated, and the Carabineros, acting outside of any legal procedure, exhumed 19 of the 20 bodies and transported them to the Yumbel Cemetery, where they were buried in a mass grave.

His family, like those of the other forcibly disappeared, searched for him for more than 6 years. Unofficial versions received at the time allowed a Visiting Judge to confirm the veracity of the facts in 1979, order their exhumation, and, following identification, authorize the delivery of the remains to their families for burial. (For further background, see the file for Jack Eduardo Gutiérrez Rodríguez).

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On April 10, 1979, a Writ of Amparo was filed on behalf of Fernando Grandón Gálvez, case file 4376, before the Concepción Court of Appeals, which was rejected on May 16 of the same year "because the detention of the affected party was not proven."

On October 14, 1977, case file 2.354 was initiated for the alleged disappearance of Fernando Grandón Gálvez before the Laja Court of Greater Quantities. On January 19, 1978, the case was provisionally dismissed without results that would allow for the discovery of the victim's whereabouts or situation.

Despite the above, on July 24, 1979, a criminal complaint was filed before the same Laja Court for the crimes of "kidnapping and homicide of Fernando Grandón and others" against Lieutenant Alberto Fernández Mitchel, Sergeant Pedro Rodríguez (who later served in the National Intelligence Center, CNI), and other officials of the Laja Carabineros station who were on duty in September 1973, which was assigned case file 2770.

As a result of this complaint, Mr. José Martínez Gaensly was appointed as Visiting Judge. Through his investigation, he was able to establish that Fernando Grandón Gálvez was executed along with 19 other detainees at the Fundo San Juan, located about 200 meters from the road connecting Laja with Los Angeles.

The victims were illegally buried by their own perpetrators (Carabineros from the Laja station). Subsequently, they were clandestinely transported to the Yumbel Cemetery by Carabineros officials from that city.

This occurred despite the fact that the discovery of the bodies had been reported in a timely manner by the Yumbel Carabineros to the judge of the Criminal Court of that same city, who ordered the court secretary to keep the report in the safe without initiating due process.

On October 2, 1979, the remains of the 19 people whose detention and subsequent disappearance had been reported were exhumed at the Yumbel Cemetery. After some procedures, the 20th body was found at the same site of the homicide, at the Fundo San Juan.

On November 27, 1979, the remains were delivered to their families, and the funerals were held that same day. On March 18, 1980, the Visiting Judge declared his incompetence and ordered the records to be sent to the Military Justice system, where they were assigned case number 323-80 in the Ad Hoc Military Prosecutor's Office of Concepción.

The case was definitively dismissed on June 9, 1980, by the Judge of the 3rd Military Court, and the ruling was approved by the Supreme Court on December 3, 1981. Those responsible for the crimes of kidnapping and homicide were granted amnesty based on Decree Law 2191 of 1978.

Source: (Rettig Report)