The minister for extraordinary causes regarding human rights violations at the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, ordered the prosecution and pretrial detention of former Army Brigadier Jaime Guillermo García Covarrubias as an accomplice to the crime of aggravated homicide of Rubén Morales Jara, perpetrated in the commune of Temuco during the month of September 1973.

At the time, the accused was serving at the Tucapel Regiment in the city of Temuco.

The then-Army captain continued his repressive career under the wing of Mamo Contreras as head of Counterintelligence for the DINA. In 1988, he was appointed by Pinochet as Undersecretary General of Government, and between 1995 and 1997, he served as director of the War Academy; naturally, prior to all of this, he had been a student at the School of the Americas in 1970.

In November 2013, he had already been prosecuted for the aggravated homicide of 7 other victims caused in Temuco by the dictatorial repression.

Given the merit of the evidence (in case File No. 114.047), the investigating judge granted the former senior Army officer release on bail, currently complying with precautionary measures of a national travel ban and monthly check-ins at the corresponding court.

In the month of October just past, Minister Mesa had already ordered the prosecution and pretrial detention of 4 former uniformed officers for this crime. Luis Hernán Peña Andaur, Román Aquiles Barros Mardones, and José Albino Krause Álvarez were prosecuted as perpetrators, and Juan Carlos Figueroa Claus as an accomplice to the crime of aggravated homicide of Morales Jara.

During the investigation phase, Minister Mesa established the following facts:

A) That in August 1973, the Minister of the Interior at the time, Jaime Tohá, contacted the lawyer for the Carabineros of the Temuco Prefecture, Hernán Morales Gómez, to take charge as Ad-hoc Military Prosecutor of a summary proceeding to be substantiated in the investigation regarding the existence of an alleged guerrilla school in the town of Nehuentúe, a coastal sector of Carahue.

Once legally notified of his appointment, he presented himself to the Commander of the Tucapel Regiment, Col. Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (R.I.P.), who assigned him an office inside the military unit's Command and ordered that the Regiment's Adjutant Lieutenant serve as secretary and clerk.

In said location, he proceeded to interrogate the detainees who had been brought by military patrols of the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco from Nehuentúe, after the guerrilla school operating in that place had been dismantled.

B) That Rubén Eduardo Morales Jara, a mathematics teacher and member of the MIR, was detained by a military patrol of the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco on September 4 or 5, 1973, in compliance with an order issued by the Military Prosecutor's Office, headed by lawyer Hernán Morales Gómez, in case file 1198-73 for violation of the Arms Control Law.

Said detention was carried out at Morales's home located at 120 Pedro Luis Valdivia Street, Población Dreves, Temuco. The detainee was taken to the aforementioned regiment and placed at the disposal of the Prosecutor's Office the following day.

In that place, he was interrogated and cross-examinations were conducted on different dates between September 6 and 8, 1973, remaining as a detainee held incommunicado in the city's public jail during that period, to finally be declared a defendant for the aforementioned crime, as recorded on pages 329 to 339.

During that period, he was visited by his wife and friends at the Temuco Jail, until September 11, 1973, when said visits were denied.

C) That immediately following the military coup of September 11, 1973, the armed forces and order enforcement agencies took control of the city of Temuco. This change in the country's institutional framework caused a significant disruption in the work that lawyer Hernán Morales Gómez was carrying out in the investigation under his jurisdiction, since, due to his closeness to the outgoing regime, the new authorities began to distrust him.

For this reason, he gradually lost influence over the decisions made regarding the detainees and defendants in his case, limiting himself to signing resolutions that were drafted in the Military Prosecutor's Office under the charge of Army Major Luis Jofré Soto (R.I.P.), which also operated inside the Tucapel Regiment.

D) That by September 1973, in the 8th Infantry Regiment "Tucapel" of Temuco, there existed the Second Section of Information and Intelligence, which was in charge of Captain Nelson Manuel Uldaricio Ubilla Toledo (R.I.P.), under whose command some non-commissioned officers of that institution also performed duties, a task that was reinforced after September 11, 1973, with the addition of officials from the Investigations police and Carabineros, who provided political information to the aforementioned officer regarding all those persons subject to an investigation by the Military Prosecutor's Office. Likewise, some officers, enlisted personnel, and conscripts of the regiment joined the intelligence tasks.

E) That Rubén Morales Jara was seen in poor physical condition inside the Tucapel Regiment after September 11, 1973, in areas where the interrogation rooms maintained by the intelligence section functioned and where detainees were subjected to torture.

He was also seen in the guardroom at the entrance to the regiment. On one of those occasions, during the night hours, the Regiment's Adjutant Lieutenant was in the military unit's guardroom, who was also the Secretary to the Ad-hoc Military Prosecutor in charge of the case in which Rubén Morales Jara was being prosecuted.

At a certain moment, Second Lieutenant Manuel Espinoza Ponce (R.I.P.), an officer of the Second Hunters Company, appeared in that place, having allegedly received the order to execute the detainee Morales Jara.

For this, he formed a patrol composed of at least five enlisted soldiers holding the rank of Corporal and Sergeant, among whom were Corporal Ernesto René Oberg Parra (R.I.P.) and the defendants in the case Luis Hernán Peña Andaur, Juan Carlos Figueroa Claus, Román Aquiles Barros Mardones, and José Albino Krause Álvarez.

The Regiment's Adjutant Lieutenant, once informed of the mission entrusted to Espinoza Ponce, ordered the detainee Morales Jara to be loaded into a 3/4 military vehicle, in which the patrol traveled toward a bridge located over the Quepe River.

At that location, they descended with Morales Jara, whom they placed in front of the bridge railing. There, Second Lieutenant Espinoza fired two shots at the detainee with his service weapon. Immediately, two enlisted soldiers threw Morales Jara's body into the waters of the Quepe, but upon realizing he was still alive, they fired bursts of gunfire at him with their weapons.

After this, the patrol returned to the Tucapel Regiment, where Second Lieutenant Espinoza reported the fulfillment of the order to the officer who had given him such instructions.

F) That during the celebration of the 1973 national holidays, information was broadcast over the radio reporting the escape of the prisoner Rubén Morales Jara while he was being transported by a military patrol from the Tucapel Regiment to the Temuco jail.

Said news was heard by the Ad-hoc Prosecutor Hernán Morales Gómez while he was spending the holidays in Pucón. Given the magnitude of the event, as it involved a prisoner in his case and he had not given any order to transfer him to the court, he immediately appeared at the Tucapel Regiment and, on September 19, issued a resolution in the case acknowledging the aforementioned event, as recorded on page 340 of the case file, calling to testify the military officer in command of the patrol that was supposedly in charge of Morales Jara's transfer.

However, the Commander of the Tucapel Regiment, Col. Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse, prevented him from continuing the investigation, ordering him to stop inquiring into the matter. The Ad-hoc Prosecutor Morales Gómez submitted his resignation, which was rejected by Iturriaga, forcing him to continue his duties; furthermore, he indicated to him that "they were in times of war and that he would decide when he should leave the position," the resolution points out.

Source: resumen.cl, January 20, 2016

Rubén Morales was detained by a military patrol of the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco on September 4 or 5 and was last seen by his relatives on the 11th of the same month. Subsequently, he was seen in poor physical condition. During the national holidays, the military personnel transported him to the Quepe River bridge, where he was executed.

The minister for extraordinary causes regarding human rights violations for the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, sentenced retired Army members Román Aquiles Barros Mardones, José Albino Krause Álvarez, and Luis Hernán Peña Andaur to 12 years in prison as perpetrators of the crime of aggravated homicide of Rubén Eduardo Morales Jara.

The crime was perpetrated in September 1973 in the commune of Temuco.

In the ruling, the visiting minister also sentenced retired officer Jaime Guillermo García Covarrubias to 5 years in prison and retired Army non-commissioned officer Juan Carlos Figueroa Claus to 4 years in prison as accomplices to the crime of aggravated homicide of the university professor.

The extraordinary visiting minister also applied to these officials the legal accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification from public offices and political rights, and absolute disqualification for professional practice for the duration of the sentence, plus the payment of court costs.

During the investigation phase, Minister Mesa Latorre established that in August 1973, the Minister of the Interior at the time, Jaime Tohá, contacted the lawyer for the Carabineros of the Temuco Prefecture, Hernán Morales Gómez, to take charge as Ad-hoc Military Prosecutor of a summary proceeding to be substantiated in the investigation regarding the existence of an alleged guerrilla school in the town of Nehuentúe, a coastal sector of Carahue.

"Once legally notified of his appointment, he presented himself to the commander of the Tucapel Regiment, Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse, who assigned him an office inside the military unit's Command and ordered that Lieutenant Jaime Guillermo García Covarrubias, the Regiment's Adjutant, serve as secretary and clerk.

In said location, he proceeded to interrogate the detainees who had been brought by military patrols of the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco from Nehuentúe, after the guerrilla school operating in that place had been dismantled," the resolution states.

Following this appointment, Rubén Morales Jara was detained by a military patrol of the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco on September 4 or 5. Said detention was carried out at the victim's home located on Pedro Luis Valdivia Street, where he was taken to the aforementioned regiment and placed at the disposal of the Prosecutor's Office the following day.

In that place, he was interrogated and cross-examinations were conducted, remaining as a detainee held incommunicado in the city's public jail during that period, to finally be declared a defendant for the crime of violation of the Arms Control Law. Although he received visits from friends and family, starting on September 11 of the same year, these were denied.

"Rubén Morales Jara was seen in poor physical condition inside the Tucapel Regiment after September 11, 1973, in areas where the interrogation rooms maintained by the Intelligence Section functioned and where detainees were subjected to torture. He was also seen in the guardroom at the entrance to the Regiment," the resolution says.

"On one of those occasions, during the night hours, Lieutenant Jaime Guillermo García Covarrubias was in the military unit's guardroom, who was also the Secretary to the Ad-hoc Military Prosecutor in charge of the case in which Rubén Morales Jara was being prosecuted.

At a certain moment, Second Lieutenant Manuel Espinoza Ponce, an officer of the Second Hunters Company, appeared in that place, having allegedly received the order to execute the detainee Morales Jara," the ruling explains.

(...)

Lieutenant Jaime García, once informed of the mission entrusted to Espinoza Ponce, ordered the detainee Morales Jara to be loaded into a 3/4 military vehicle, in which the patrol traveled toward a bridge located over the Quepe River.

At that location, they descended with Morales Jara, whom they placed in front of the bridge railing. There, Second Lieutenant Espinoza fired two shots at the detainee with his service weapon. Immediately, two enlisted soldiers threw Morales Jara's body into the waters of the Quepe, but upon realizing he was still alive, they fired bursts of gunfire at him with their weapons.

After this, the patrol returned to the Tucapel Regiment, where Second Lieutenant Espinoza reported the fulfillment of the order to the officer who had given him such instructions.

For the 1973 national holidays, information was reportedly broadcast over the radio reporting the escape of the prisoner Rubén Morales. Said news was heard by the Ad-hoc Prosecutor Hernán Morales Gómez, who appeared at the Tucapel Regiment and called to testify the military officer in command of the patrol that was supposedly in charge of the prisoner's transfer.

However, the commander of the Tucapel Regiment, Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse, prevented him from continuing the investigation, ordering him to stop inquiring into the matter.

The Ad-hoc Prosecutor Morales Gómez submitted his resignation, which was rejected by Iturriaga, forcing him to continue his duties; furthermore, he indicated to him that "they were in times of war and that he would decide when he should leave the position," the resolution concludes.

Source: araucaniadiario.cl, August 11, 2020