On October 24, 1973, Florencio VARGAS DIAZ, 65 years old, former mayor of the same locality and a socialist militant, died at the Diego de Almagro Police Station. He had been arrested the day before by personnel from that unit.

On the day of his arrest, he was visited by his relatives, who noted that he showed no signs of a disturbed emotional state, nor of having been subjected to duress or mistreatment. On October 24, his lifeless body was left at the morgue, and the family was informed that the detainee had hanged himself from the bars of the cell using his shirt.

The death certificate lists the cause of death as: "asphyxia by hanging, suicidal type."

This Commission finds the version of suicide implausible and is instead convinced that Florencio Vargas's death constituted a violation of his basic rights, for which State agents are responsible. This conviction is supported by the following elements:

– The characteristics of the cell where the detainee was held, which his relatives had seen at the time of their visit, made a suicidal hanging practically impossible, given that the only place from which he could have hanged himself were some window bars located less than one meter and fifty centimeters high, and their position against the wall made this action improbable;

– The Commission has also received credible accounts indicating that Florencio Vargas was found dead with his jacket on. If he had hanged himself with his shirt, this fact would be unexplainable;

– If the victim's suicide is ruled out as implausible, and given that he was deprived of his liberty and under the custody of the Police Station personnel, his death could only have been caused by a member of said police personnel.