As stated by Deputy Hugo Gutiérrez, the brother of the current Minister was implicated in the case of the murder of three communist militants and one MIR militant during the years of the dictatorship, at the Maquehue air base in Temuco, IX Region.

The victims are Hernán Henríquez, Eduardo González Galeno, Alejandro Flores, and Nelson Curiñir. Eduardo González was the Director of the Cunco Hospital; he was detained on September 14, 1973, along with his wife, Natacha María Carrión Osorio, a physician who was in the third month of pregnancy with their second child.

To this day, he remains a forcibly disappeared person. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Nelson Curiñir was detained in Temuco, tortured, and murdered. According to Communist Party parliamentarian Hugo Gutiérrez: "We want to make it clear that Ángel Hernán Campos Quiroga, brother of the Minister of Justice, Jaime Campos Quiroga, was a member of Group 3 of the Maquehue air base in Temuco, with the rank of Lieutenant in the FACh (Chilean Air Force), who was involved in the murder of three Communist Party militants and one from the MIR." According to the Communist Party parliamentarian, more than 30 victims of torture identified the brother of the head of the Justice Ministry as their torturer. This information was investigated alongside lawyers Magdalena Garcés and Cristián Cruz, together with Herman Carrasco Paul, Vice President of the Center for Research and Promotion of Human Rights (CINPROD). The name of the Minister's brother appears in the following judicial investigation (http://www.araucaniacuenta.cl/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Auto-Acusatorio-113969.pdf), which states: “The episode involving Hernán Henríquez Aravena and 8 others on September 11 was enabled for the aforementioned purposes, and on some occasions, they were also moved to a hangar located inside the base. Many of these detainees remained held at the Maquehue base for a period of no less than a week, during which time they were interrogated and tortured by the officers and non-commissioned officers indicated above, who were part of the intelligence group specially formed for such purposes, including Second Commander Benjamín Fernández Hernández (R.I.P.), Lieutenants Ángel Campos Quiroga (R.I.P.), Jorge Freygang Campaña (R.I.P.), Captain Leonardo Reyes Herrera, Sergeant Orlando Garrido Riquelme (R.I.P.), non-commissioned officers Luis Arturo Soto Pinto, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, and Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo; and the civilian employee Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco.”

Source: laizquierdadiario.com, December 26, 2016

Judge Álvaro Mesa sentences military and civilian personnel for homicides and duress at the Maquehue air base in Temuco.

Judge Mesa Latorre sentenced Crisóstomo Ferrada Carrasco, Enrique Rebolledo Sotelo, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Jorge Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Soto Herrera, Luis Yáñez Silva, Luis Soto Pinto, and Leonardo Reyes Herrera to 20 years in prison as perpetrators of both crimes.

The judge in extraordinary visitation for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, sentenced 20 members of the Air Force, the Army, and civilians for their responsibility in the crimes of qualified homicide of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera, and the application of illegitimate duress against Jorge Silhi Zarzar, Víctor Painemal Alegría, and Sergio Riquelme Inostroza, crimes committed starting in September 1973 at the Maquehue Air Base, the No. 8 "Tucapel" Regiment, and the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco. Meanwhile, Luis Quezada Chandía must serve 17 years in prison as a perpetrator of the qualified homicides of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera; and Alfonso Podlech Michaud must serve 12 years in prison as a perpetrator of the qualified homicide of Henríquez Aravena. In the case of Pablo Alister Contreras, the visiting judge sentenced him to 4 years in prison as a cover-up for the homicides of Henríquez Aravena and Flores Rivera, and as an accomplice to the crime of illegitimate duress against Jorge Silhi Zarzar, Víctor Hugo Painemal Arriagada, and Sergio Riquelme Inostroza. Finally, Jaime Echenique Seco, Berthold Bohn Sauterel, Aníbal Tejos Echeverría, Enrique Isaacs Casacuberta, Antonio Montserrats Mena, Roberto Schmied Callejón, Víctor Manuel Volante Leonardi, Xavier Pérez Chávez, and Rogelio Olivares Torruella must serve 3 years and one day in prison as cover-ups for the homicides and illegitimate duress. In the investigation that Judge Mesa Latorre has been conducting since July 2010, he established the collaboration between the Maquehue Air Base, the No. 8 "Tucapel" Regiment, and the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco to commit various crimes against humanity; among them: qualified kidnapping, qualified homicide, simple homicide, and illegitimate duress against opponents of the military government of the time. The sentence establishes the following facts: A.- That immediately after the military takeover on September 11, 1973, the Commander of the No. 3 Helicopter Group of the Maquehue Air Base, Colonel Andrés Pacheco Cárdenas (deceased), delegated the operational command of the base to the second Commander, Benjamín Fernández Hernández (deceased), in order to assume functions in the CAJSI (Jurisdictional Action Command for Internal Situations), whose office was located in the No. 8 "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment in the city of Temuco. However, he never formally relinquished command of the aforementioned unit, attending that place daily to determine the actions to follow. B.- That starting that same day, the new local authority called several Air Force Reserve officers, who were civilian pilots, to active service, including Berthold Erwin Bohn Sauterel, Pablo Aquiles Alister Contreras, and Emilio Sandoval Poo; and other retired officers who joined the Maquehue Base contingent and who, according to their rank, began to fulfill the same operational functions as the rest of the line officers and non-commissioned officers, at least during the most critical period of September and October 1973. These functions included integrating patrols destined to enforce the curfew, guarding public service facilities and bridges, participating in operations of varying magnitude whose purpose was to raid homes and carry out arrests of people opposed to the new regime or supporters of the outgoing administration, crewing helicopters for the purpose of transporting detainees from one point of the region to another, crewing private light aircraft to monitor the coastal zone, and performing rounds or guard duty officer shifts inside the air base. These shifts could last between 12 and 24 hours. It should be noted that a large part of the Air Force reserve officers were also appointed as intervenors in different state companies, so they had to balance both activities during the aforementioned period, without ceasing to fulfill these tasks, since each branch of the armed forces and order present in the city designated an intervenor per company, so the activities in the intervened companies were always well covered. C.- That given the need to systematize and coordinate the activities destined for the detention of people and their transfer to the Maquehue air base for subsequent interrogation, the Second Commander Benjamín Fernández Hernández (deceased) organized a group specially selected to deal with intelligence and political prisoner issues, a group that was under his command and included Lieutenants Ángel Campos Quiroga (deceased), Jorge Freygang Campaña (deceased), Captain Leonardo Reyes Herrera, Sergeant Orlando Garrido Riquelme (deceased), several members of the permanent staff of different ranks, including Luis Arturo Soto Pinto, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, and Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo; and a civilian employee who had nursing training named Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco. This group, from that date on, gradually stopped fulfilling the functions proper to their specialty to focus on the tasks assigned to them by the high command of the Maquehue base. D.- That this special group received the alternating and sporadic collaboration of line and reserve officers who, of their own volition or by an express order received, joined on some occasions the patrols destined to raid homes and arrest people, or witnessed and collaborated in the interrogations of the detainees who remained inside the base, including Aníbal Arturo Tejos Echeverría, Enrique Alcides Isaacs Casacuberta, Antonio Sergio Monserrat Mena, Rodolfo Ernesto Schmied Callejón, Víctor Manuel Volante Leonardi, Xavier Fernando Pérez Chávez, Rogelio Aníbal Olivares Torruella, and Jaime Mauricio del Corazón de Jesús Echenique Seco. The people detained in the various operations were kept in the guard facilities, the infirmary, in two offices located in the Administrative or Command building, in an old wooden tower that was previously used to store unused material, and which after September 11 was enabled for the aforementioned purposes, and on some occasions, they were also moved to a hangar located inside the base. E.- That many of these detainees remained held at the Maquehue base for a period of no less than a week, during which time they were interrogated and tortured by the officers and non-commissioned officers indicated above who were part of the intelligence group specially formed for such purposes, including Second Commander Benjamín Fernández Hernández (deceased), Lieutenants Ángel Campos Quiroga (deceased), Jorge Freygang Campaña (deceased), Captain Leonardo Reyes Herrera, Sergeant Orlando Garrido Riquelme (deceased), non-commissioned officers Luis Arturo Soto Pinto, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, and Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo; and the civilian employee Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco. The latter, in certain cases, supplied drugs to the detainees, such as Pentothal, so that they would confess their alleged crimes. Also during that time, the detainees were taken out to the unit's courtyard during the day to rest a little or were taken to the bathrooms existing in the unit, an opportunity in which they were seen and attended to by conscript soldiers who could verify the deteriorated physical state in which these people were found. Some of these conscripts had to fulfill sentry duties to guard the place where the detainees were located. F.- That the aerial operations carried out in helicopters on some occasions consisted of transporting army troops to localities in the IX region whose mission was to arrest people opposed to the military regime. These people were transported to the Maquehue Air Base and also to the No. 8 "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment of this city, with the aircraft transporting them landing in both units, as the case may be. Similarly, transfers of detainees by land were carried out from the Maquehue air base to the Tucapel regiment, which were carried out by members of the special group described above and also on some occasions by reserve officers who received an order to that effect. G.- That on the same day, September 11, 1973, the lawyer Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, who was also an Army Reserve Lieutenant of Chile, was called to collaborate with the new regime. He presented himself at the "Tucapel" regiment to support the management of the Military Prosecutor's Office that operated inside the unit and was in charge of the Second Commander, Major Luis Jofré Soto (deceased). This officer, however, had to assume greater functions as Second Commander of the Tucapel regiment shortly thereafter. From that day on, civilians began to arrive at the regiment who were called to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office through edicts published in the written press and on the radio, or who were brought in as detainees from different parts of the region by police and military patrols. H.- That given the high number of detainees and people called to testify, the Military Prosecutor's Office was reinforced to carry out its work with officials of the Judiciary who were requested from the Illustrious Court of Appeals of Temuco by the aforementioned lawyer, who, acting as Ad-hoc Prosecutor, made a presentation to the Plenary of the Appellate Court, after which some clerks from different courts and a Court Rapporteur were assigned in commission of service. I.- That due to the lack of knowledge in criminal procedural matters, added to the weak character he had and the work as Second Commander of the regiment, Major Luis Jofré Soto (deceased) began delegating functions as Military Prosecutor to the legal advisor of the Prosecutor's Office, Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, who began to hold the position of Prosecutor de facto, to the point that he carried out prison visits and that lawyers, relatives, and even ecclesiastical dignitaries consulted him about the fate of the detainees. However, Major Jofré Soto (deceased) continued to sign the administrative paperwork most of the time and participated in some interrogations of detainees. J.- That the people called to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office and those who were brought in as detainees were kept in facilities located next to the guard and in the large gymnasium. Once interrogated by personnel of the Military Prosecutor's Office, by detectives of the Investigative Police attached to the regiment, or by the officers themselves who participated in these activities, some of them were released, others were sent to their homes under house arrest, and others were taken to the public jail where they remained while their procedural situation was resolved. K.- That also by September 1973, in the No. 8 "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment of Temuco, there was a Second Section of Information and Intelligence that was in charge of Captain Nelson Manuel Uldaricio Ubilla Toledo (deceased), under whose dependency some non-commissioned officers of that institution also performed functions, work that was reinforced after September 11, 1973, with the addition of officials from the Investigative Police and the Carabineros, who provided political information to the aforementioned officer regarding all those people subject to an investigation by the Military Prosecutor's Office. Likewise, some officers, enlisted men, and conscripts of the regiment joined the intelligence tasks. L.- That as the days went by, the Military Prosecutor's Office and the Second Intelligence Section began to work together to interrogate the detainees who remained held in the jail or in some facility of the Tucapel regiment. To articulate this work, two locations were enabled in the military unit, located one between the Headquarters and Mortar Companies and another in an old disused gymnasium that was located on the side of the conscript soldiers' "mess hall." In this way, the detainees were taken to and from the jail to the regiment by military personnel of the Second Section, being interrogated in the Military Prosecutor's Office and physically pressured in one of the aforementioned facilities to "soften them up" before or after these interrogations. M.- That in both interrogation and torture rooms, there were implements to tie up the detainees and apply electricity to different parts of the body, in addition to applying other types of torment such as kicks and punches. Conscript soldiers and a Carabinero participated in this task, collaborating with Captain Nelson Ubilla Toledo and the detectives of the Investigative Police who were there. Most of the officers of the "Tucapel" regiment and some enlisted soldiers from the Headquarters and Services, Mortar, Hunter Companies, and the Second Section also participated in the interrogation and/or torture sessions of detainees in those places, all of whom entered these facilities at different times." In the civil aspect, the treasury was ordered to pay a total compensation of $910,000,000 to the relatives of the deceased victims and to the survivors. This is the 40th sentence issued by Judge Mesa Latorre since he was appointed to investigate human rights violation cases; of these, 24 are final, with 130 people convicted.

Source: poderjudicial.cl, January 6, 2020

Former FACH officer and civilian prosecuted for the crime of a political prisoner in Temuco in 1973

The judge in extraordinary visitation for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, submitted to prosecution the former Air Force officer Leonardo Reyes Herrera and Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco, a former civilian employee of the same institution, for their responsibility in the crime of qualified kidnapping of Jorge Eduardo Calderón Otaíza, perpetrated starting on September 30, 1973, at the Maquehue Air Base in the commune of Temuco.

By Darío Núñez The victim, Jorge Eduardo Calderón Otaíza, 28 years old, was an official of the National Fund for Public Employees, a Commercial Engineering student at the University of Temuco, and a militant of the Socialist Youth.

He was detained by Carabineros from the Padre Las Casas police station on September 30, 1973, at his home in the Padre Las Casas sector, where he lived with his family on Sarmiento Street. After his detention, he was taken to the Maquehue Air Base of the Chilean Air Force, a facility used as a detention and torture center, where he was seen by witnesses in deteriorated physical condition.

As the judicial investigation reveals, immediately after the military coup, the commander of the No. 3 Helicopter Group of the Maquehue Air Base, Colonel Andrés Pacheco Cárdenas (now deceased), assumed command of the so-called CAJSI (Jurisdictional Action Command for Internal Situations), whose office was located in the No. 8 'Tucapel' Infantry Regiment in the city of Temuco.

For this reason, he formally delegated the operational command of the Air Base to the second commander Benjamín Fernández Hernández (now deceased); however, he never formally relinquished command of the unit, attending that place daily to determine the actions to follow.

To lead and control the repressive activities, as well as the interrogations and management of the political prisoners who were locked up at the Air Base, Fernández Hernández organized a special group to deal with intelligence and political prisoner issues.

This group, under the command of this officer, included the then-captain Leonardo Reyes Herrera, Lieutenants Ángel Hernán Campos Quiroga and Jorge Humberto Freygang Campaña (both deceased), Sergeant Orlando Garrido Riquelme (deceased), and several members of the permanent staff, including Luis Alberto Soto Pinto, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, and Enrique Rebolledo Sotelo, among others, in addition to the civilian employee Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco, who had nursing training.

This group, from that date on, stopped fulfilling the functions proper to their specialty to focus on the tasks assigned to them by the high command of the Maquehue base, acquiring a special status, since they did not wear uniforms, and in the daily attendance, they appeared in institutional commission of service.

The special group received the alternating and sporadic collaboration of line and reserve officers who, out of their own interest or by superior order, joined on some occasions the patrols destined to raid homes and arrest people, or witnessed and collaborated in the interrogations of the detainees who remained inside the base.

The people detained in the various operations were kept in the guard facilities, the infirmary, in two offices located in the Administrative or Command building, in an old wooden tower that previously served to store unused material, and which after September 11 was enabled as a detention center, and on some occasions, they were also moved to a hangar located inside the base.

The detainees remained held at the Maquehue base for a period of no less than a week, during which time they were interrogated and tortured by the officers and non-commissioned officers indicated above, in addition to having been supplied with drugs, in certain cases, so that they would confess their alleged crimes.

Said drug was administered by the base nurse. Also during that time, the detainees were taken out to the unit's courtyard during the day to rest a little or were taken to the bathrooms, an opportunity in which they were seen and attended to by conscript soldiers who could verify the deteriorated physical state in which these people were found.

Some of these conscripts knew the prisoners from before and had to fulfill sentry duties to guard the place where those detainees were located. Some of these officials and conscripts knew Jorge Calderón Otaíza well, as they were neighborhood neighbors, or schoolmates, or belonged to the same soccer club, or due to various family relationships, so—some of them—tried to intercede for him and asked Reyes Herrera about the possibility of his friend being released, obtaining a threat from the officer as a response.

Another conscript saw that a couple of members of the so-called intelligence group were taking his friend in a calamitous state to the infirmary, where Ferrada Carrasco received them. From that moment on, nothing more was known about Jorge Eduardo Calderón Otaíza.

In the resolution (case file 114.033), the judge in extraordinary visitation resolved that, because the prosecuted individuals are serving sentences in a different case, for now, preventive detention will not be decreed against them.

In this regard, it states: "(...) given the merit from which it is clear that the freedom of the prosecuted individuals constitutes a danger to the security of society; taking into account, also, the probable legal sanction of the crime in which they are attributed participation, and having seen the provisions of article 363 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the benefit of provisional release will not be granted to them.

Given the fact that the prosecuted individuals Leonardo Reyes Herrera and Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco are serving sentences at the Colina I Penitentiary Compliance Center of the Chilean Gendarmerie, the application of the precautionary measure of preventive detention is suspended for now," the resolution states.

Source: resumen.cl, December 22, 2022

Supreme Court confirms sentences of 18 former uniformed personnel and 2 civilians for crimes and torture committed at the Air Base in Temuco in 1973

The Supreme Court rejected the appeals of cassation in form and substance filed against the sentence that convicted former military and civilian personnel who served at the time of the events at the Maquehue Air Base in Temuco, for their responsibility in the crimes of qualified homicide of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera, both Communist Party militants; and the crimes of illegitimate duress applied to Jorge Silhi Zarzar, Víctor Hugo Painemal Arriagada, and Sergio Riquelme Inostroza, committed between September and October 1973, at the FACH facility.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 14.483-2021), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of judges Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jean Pierre Matus, Judge María Cristina Gajardo, and lawyers (i) Eduardo Morales and Ricardo Abuauad—confirmed the sentence that convicted former Air Force officers Leonardo Reyes Herrera and Luis Alberto Soto Pinto, and former non-commissioned officers of the same institution Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco, Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, and Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, all to the penalty of 20 years in prison for their responsibility as perpetrators of the crimes. Meanwhile, the civilian individual Luis Raimundo Quezada Chandía must serve a penalty of 17 years in prison for his responsibility as a perpetrator of both qualified homicides. Similarly, the civilian lawyer and former Military Prosecutor Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his responsibility as a perpetrator of the homicide of Hernán Henríquez Aravena. Meanwhile, former Air Force officer Pablo Aquiles Alister Contreras will serve a penalty of 4 years in prison as an accomplice to simple homicide and a cover-up for the illegitimate duress. In addition, former FACH officers Jaime Mauricio del Corazón de Jesús Echenique Seco, Aníbal Arturo Tejos Echeverría, Enrique Alcides Isaacs Casacuberta, Antonio Sergio Montserrats Mena, and Xavier Fernando Pérez Chávez were sentenced to 3 years and one day in prison, with the benefit of supervised release, for their responsibility as cover-ups for the crimes. Finally, the highest court, acting ex officio, substituted the penalties of 3 years and one day in prison imposed on Berthold Bohn Sauterel, Rodolfo Ernesto Schmied Callejón, Víctor Manuel Volante Leonardi, and Rogelio Olivares Torruella with intensive supervised release for the same period, as cover-ups for the crimes. The decision to substitute these custodial sentences with intensive supervised release ex officio was agreed upon with the dissenting vote of Judge Matus. Maquehue Base Helicopters During the investigation stage of the case, Judge Álvaro Mesa Latorre managed to prove that immediately after the military coup at the Maquehue Air Base, an operational group of Air Force members was established, to which reserve officers of the institution were also invited. This group carried out arrests of opponents of the military regime to then take them to the facility where they remained prisoners and were subjected to illegitimate duress. In parallel, in the facilities of the Military Prosecutor's Office, various judicial proceedings were carried out on the detainees, who were subjected to illegitimate duress and other inhuman, cruel, and degrading treatment. The victim, Hernán Henríquez Aravena, 35 years old, a surgeon and Zonal Health Director of Temuco as of September 1973, was required by the military authority of the time to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office, located inside the No. 8 "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment. On September 12, Henríquez appeared before the prosecutor's office, being then sent to his home. However, that same night, Carabineros from the 2nd Police Station of Temuco raided Hernán Henríquez's home, arrested him, and took him to the police unit. The next day he was placed at the disposal of the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco, where his transfer to the jail of this city was ordered, and subsequently, his total house arrest was ordered, with the express order to appear first thing on September 25 before the military court. However, on the night of September 24, Henríquez Aravena's house was raided again, this time by personnel of the Investigative Police who were attached to the Tucapel regiment and who worked interchangeably for the Military Prosecutor's Office and the Second Intelligence Section. After a while, the patrol left the place. Later, another patrol appeared, this time from the 2nd Police Station of Carabineros, who took Hernán Henríquez from his home, taking him away without giving any explanation. Alejandro Flores Rivera, 33 years old, a nursing assistant in the Psychiatry Department of the Regional Hospital of Temuco and President of the National Federation of Health Workers (Fenats), was required through Edict No. 11 of September 12 to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office. That day, Flores appeared before the prosecutor's office and was sent to his home. On October 5, 1973, the local military authority issued Edict No. 9, signed by the Commander of the Temuco Military Garrison, with which it intended to justify and cover up the murder of both detainees. The aforementioned edict stated: «Given the escape attempt planned by Alejandro Flores Rivera and in complicity with Hernán Henríquez Aravena while they were detained at the barracks of the No. 3 Helicopter Group and in collusion with individuals who tried to help them from the outside, they were eliminated by the Guard." By Darío Núñez

Source: resumen.cl, March 7, 2024