Date of Birth : 15-12-48, 24 years old at the time of detention. Address : "El Carmen Maitenes" Estate, Mulchén. Marital Status : Single. Occupation : Agricultural worker for the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF). Political Status : No political affiliation or social representative role. Date of Detention : October 6, 1973

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Florencio Rubilar Gutiérrez, single, a worker for the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) with no political affiliation, was detained on Saturday, October 6, 1973, along with his brother José Liborio, while both were heading to the fields to check on some animals after lunch.

Later, around 15:00 hours, combined forces of Carabineros, the Army, and civilians—numbering approximately 30, heavily armed and on horseback—passed in front of the Rubilar Gutiérrez family home, taking brothers Florencio, José Liborio, and José Lorenzo Rubilar Gutiérrez into custody.

They were subsequently joined by other workers from the estate who had also been apprehended. These were Alejandro Albornoz González, Luis Alberto Godoy Sandoval, Miguel del Carmen Albornoz Acuña, Daniel Alfonso Albornoz González, and Guillermo and Germán Albornoz Acuña.

The previous day, October 5, 1973, around 19:00 hours, Florencio and José Liborio were intercepted by two armed civilians—Romualdo ("Mayo") Guzmán Saavedra, a farmer, and Francisco Urrizola Elías, an industrialist and owner of a lumber yard, both residing in Mulchén—as they were arriving home.

They held a conversation lasting about 15 minutes. Although this unsettled the family, the Rubilar brothers did not comment on what was discussed. That same day, after the incident, Francisco Urrizola Elías asked Ladislao Rubilar González, the father of the Rubilar Gutiérrez brothers, to store several bundles containing a large quantity of beef, to which he agreed.

On that occasion, the civilians were traveling in a red Willys jeep. The following day, they asked Mr. Ladislao to keep some horses for them.

Among the captors was the then-Carabinero Lieutenant Jorge Maturana Concha; Carabineros Osvaldo Díaz Díaz (alias "El Alicate") and Héctor Armando Guzmán Saldaña—both former officials of the El Morro police station—and an Army Sergeant surnamed Díaz.

Among the civilians, in addition to the two already identified, it was possible to identify Ramón Elías Abella, a lumber industrialist; Aquiles Guzmán Fritz, a farmer—both residing in Mulchén—and Carlos Lehman, who lived on the estate. The latter was the son-in-law of Romualdo ("Mayo") Guzmán.

The detainees, as previously noted, were agricultural workers residing at the El Carmen Maitenes Estate located in the commune of Mulchén, Bío-Bío Province. All were employed by the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF).

This estate had been in the process of expropriation by the Agrarian Reform Corporation (CORA), which had ceded it to CONAF for reforestation due to its virtual abandonment by its owners.

One of the civilians carried a document signed by Carabinero Captain Sergio Neira Tapia—who later held the position of Governor of Mulchén—authorizing them to act in the sector and to demand all types of facilities and cooperation.

Romualdo Guzmán stood out from the rest due to his arrogance, which is why the peasants, relatives of the victims, referred to a "Captain Guzmán" as the leader of the group. The military personnel belonged to the 17th Mountain Infantry Regiment "Los Angeles," while the police were attached to the Second Carabinero Station of Mulchén.

The group carried a list of names of local residents, which they had apparently obtained during a raid on a peasant union headquarters in Mulchén.

This version is corroborated by the Investigating Judge in his investigation, who stated in his final resolution: "According to the statements of witnesses in the case, the armed group carried a pre-prepared list of the people who were to be detained and killed, without there having been any confrontation, and without there being any reliable evidence of extremist left-wing political militancy." (There are even reports demonstrating that no such criminal or political implications existed).

The detainees were held in the estate's administration building, which was made available for that purpose by Carlos Lehman. In that place, the detainees were forced to lie face down with their hands on the back of their necks, while their captors walked over their backs, stomping on them and striking them with spurs and the butts of their weapons.

They were forced to beat each other—brothers against brothers and fathers against sons—under threat of death if they resisted; all of this was accompanied by insults and sarcasm. Subsequently, they were taken out of the administration building and forced to stand with their faces against the wall, where mock executions were carried out.

While this was happening in the administration building, another group was busy raiding some of the victims' homes. Neighbors closest to the estate's administration buildings heard screams and wailing.

Around 19:00 hours that day, the captors released brothers José Nieves and Germán Albornoz Acuña, who told their relatives what was happening. At approximately 23:00 hours, the inhabitants of the "El Carmen Maitenes" estate heard two long bursts of gunfire coming from the administration building, followed by absolute silence.

The next day, Sunday, October 7, two CONAF officials, Mr. Adolfo Martín Sánchez and forest ranger Juan Leal, went to the home of the Rubilar Gutiérrez brothers and told their parents that their sons and the other detainees had been taken to a distant place and would be returned within two years.

That same morning, uniformed men appeared at the home of the Rubilar Gutiérrez brothers' parents to ask for shovels. They then went to a place located about 500 meters to the east of the estate's main houses, where they dug a pit in a meadow at the foot of a hill, between a stream and a wire fence.

In that pit, they proceeded to bury seven bodies of the eight victims from the "El Carmen Maitenes" estate. The perpetrators prohibited the relatives, under threat of death, from approaching the site.

Regarding this, the Investigating Judge, in his declaration of incompetence, states:

"Regarding whose bodies there are well-founded presumptions of having been killed by gunfire in a field near the estate houses, for which a pit of approximately 6 by 4 meters was excavated, in which the remains of the seven (7) named persons were interred, covering them with pieces of turf placed irregularly, a place to which relatives and third parties would go to place floral offerings.

There is a consensus that the named persons were never seen alive again; according to the ad-hoc Military Prosecutor, Mr. Raúl López Tournier, none of these persons appeared registered on the lists of detainees."

The eighth victim, José Guillermo Albornoz González, was executed on the morning of October 7 on a suspension bridge over the Renaico River, where he was tied up and shot with several bursts of gunfire that caused his death. His body has not been found to date.

In March 1979, coinciding with the date the Supreme Court ordered the investigation of the aforementioned events, unknown individuals identifying themselves as Carabineros proceeded to clandestinely exhume and conceal the remains. Nevertheless, detectives from Angol recovered some human skeletal remains dating approximately to the time the events occurred.

The Judge states in his resolution

"That both the characteristics of the burial sites of the bodies, apart from the vestiges found, make the version emanating from a significant number of witnesses who were aware of the facts and the conclusions that the Court has been establishing more plausible.

Indeed, in the case of the mass grave at Carmen Maitenes, the excavation, clearly identifiable by the pieces of turf cut and replaced in an irregular manner, did not exist prior to the incursion of the armed group, was removed before the court's inspection, and yet human remains were found there. The place, moreover, was venerated by the local people."

"There is evidence that when the Supreme Court ordered the investigation of the facts subject to this complaint and an Extraordinary Investigating Judge was appointed, motorized vehicles and people were seen wandering stealthily around the aforementioned grave, and a clandestine exhumation and concealment of the remains was likely carried out, for which they had the advantage provided by the proximity of the river; the certain fact is that, when the Court was constituted in those places, it only found evidence that the site had been excavated by third parties, although detectives from Angol recovered some human skeletal remains dating approximately to the date of the commission of the facts."

"That according to the report of the Technical Police Laboratory, the remains found are of iron, and as according to Colonel Rehren the ammunition used by the military in their SIG rifles was steel filled with lead, the connection appears evident."

The situation of this victim is placed within a repressive context that occurred in the area on October 5, 6, and 7, 1973, in which five detainees were first arrested at the El Morro Estate by military and Carabinero personnel accompanied by civilians, and then killed.

Their bodies were recognized while they remained at the "La Playita" site, observing that they had their hands tied behind their backs and their bodies showed gunshot wounds. The detainees were Juan Laubra Brevis, José Yáñez Durán, Celsio Vivanco Carrasco, Edmundo Vidal Aedo, and Domingo Sepúlveda.

At the Carmen Maitenes site, under similar circumstances, the following people were first taken prisoner, kept locked up, and forced to fight among themselves at the Carmen and Maitenes estate houses, later killed, and their bodies buried in a small field near the administration houses: José Liborio Rubilar Gutiérrez, Florencio Rubilar Gutiérrez, José Lorenzo Rubilar Gutiérrez, Alejandro Albornoz González, Luis Alberto Godoy Sandoval, Miguel del Carmen Albornoz Acuña, Daniel Alfonso Albornoz González, and Guillermo Albornoz González.

Finally, at the Pemehue estate, the following people were detained: Alberto Albornoz González, Felidor Exequiel Albornoz, Gerónimo Humberto Sandoval Medina, Juan de Dios Roa Riquelme, and Fernando Gutiérrez Ascencio. Members of the aforementioned forces detained these people in their homes on October 7, 1973, and they were subsequently killed. (See file for Juan de Dios Laubra Brevis).

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

Due to information provided by the Supreme Court through the Temuco Court of Appeals, summary proceeding No. 33.316 was initiated for the alleged disappearance of Florencio Rubilar Gutiérrez, José Liborio Rubilar Gutiérrez, and José Lorenzo Rubilar Gutiérrez at the Angol Court of Letters.

On July 10, 1979, the judge declared herself incompetent because the reported crime took place outside her jurisdiction, which is why the records were sent to the Mulchén Court of Letters, which began hearing the case on July 18, 1979, under case number 20.595.

While this process was underway, a criminal complaint was filed in the same Court of Letters on November 21, 1979, for the crimes of "illegal housebreaking, kidnapping, illegitimate coercion, injuries, and qualified homicide committed against the persons of José Liborio, José Lorenzo, and Florencio Rubilar Gutiérrez; Alejandro, Daniel, José Guillermo, Alberto, and Felidor Albornoz González; Miguel Albornoz Acuña; Gerónimo Sandoval Medina, and Luis Alberto Godoy Sandoval." This complaint was consolidated with case 20.595 of the same court.

On November 22, 1979, the appointment of an Investigating Judge was requested to hear these facts. On May 6, 1980, the Concepción Court of Appeals appointed Judge Carlos Cerda Medina for this purpose.

The judicial investigation managed to establish the responsibility of military and Carabinero personnel accompanied by civilians in the detention, imprisonment, execution, and illegal burial of eight peasants from the El Carmen Maitenes estate.

In the resolution dated December 29, 1980, the Investigating Judge declared himself incompetent to continue hearing the case and referred the records to the Military Prosecutor's Office of Concepción on duty.

This resolution was based on numerous facts collected by the Investigating Judge, concluding:

"That the facts described above constitute various crimes of homicide against the persons named, which in chronological order took place on October 5, 6, and 7, 1973, first at the El Morro Hacienda, then Carmen Maitenes, and finally at Pemehue.

These places are on the mandatory route along the road that leaves Mulchén, reaches El Morro, and continues toward Carmen Maitenes and Pemehue in the vicinity of the Andes mountain range.

That with the meager data that has been extracted from the high commands of the Armed Forces, it has not been possible to establish who materially commanded the armed group. When questioned, Officers Reheren Pulido and Morell Donoso, Chiefs of the Plaza of Los Angeles and Angol, respectively, denied having ordered operations in the area, the latter because it was not within his jurisdiction.

On the other hand, the incineration of the books or files that could have shed light on the matter has allowed for nothing other than to incriminate, as the person who commanded the group, a Sergeant of the Los Angeles Mountain Regiment, surnamed Díaz, a character who appears named by no fewer than three witnesses, whose identification has not been possible to obtain from the Command of that Military Institute.

Nevertheless, important data from the interrogation of Colonel Martínez Moena of Santiago, who served as Commander in charge of the troops of the Los Angeles Mountain Regiment, yielded meager and brief results that in no way contributed to clarifying the situation.

That regarding the participation of members of the Mulchén Carabinero forces, there are well-founded presumptions that Lieutenant Jorge Maturana Concha, Osvaldo Díaz Díaz (alias 'el Alicate'), and Carabinero Héctor Armando Guzmán Saldaña—former officials of the El Morro station—participated in the illegal detention, mistreatment, and presumably in the death of Brevis, Yáñez, Vidal, Sepúlveda, and Vivanco.

In this regard, there are statements from witnesses, such as a teacher from the local school, the wife of the former health post doctor, administrative officials of the El Morro Hacienda, and statements from relatives and neighbors at the aforementioned Hacienda, who directly accuse these officials, in addition to some civilians such as Romualdo Guzmán, Francisco Urrizola, Rolf Düring, Raúl Tirapeguy, Samuel Arriagada, etc.

That although all of them have denied their participation, their defenses are almost incredible since, as if copied (nearly 56 officials), they all claimed to perform internal order duties, never left the city radius, and barely knew the names of the El Morro, Carmen Maitenes, and Pemehue Haciendas, despite the fact that many of them had to carry out judicial orders in those places.

On the other hand, they claim not to have seen military personnel in the area; however, other officials who have since left the service have recognized the constant presence of military forces and the carrying out of operations with Carabineros and the military, who even went to ask for horses and saddles at the Mulchén station, which supports the conclusion that a military group reinforced by Carabineros under the command of Lieutenant Maturana effectively moved toward the El Morro Hacienda, arriving in the early hours of the morning at the San Francisco estate, where they obtained mounts to continue their patrol and operation with the known results.

The intervention of Carabineros Héctor A. Guzmán Saldaña and Osvaldo Díaz is further corroborating evidence, as these individuals, having belonged to the El Morro staff, knew not only the people but the places where they lived.

That regarding Carabinero Osvaldo Díaz, better known as 'el Alicate,' there is also incriminating testimony from Juan Angel Segura Merino, who was 'expropriated' of a steer to feed the troops, an act in which the aforementioned Osvaldo Díaz participated. All of this occurred in Pemehue. Osvaldo Díaz suffered from true anxiety crises after the events.

That civilians Romualdo Guzmán and Francisco Urrizola also appear implicated in these events; they acknowledge having met with an armed military group at the Forest Reserves with whom they spent three days, and even though they maintain they did not move from the guest houses of the Malleco Forest Reserve, it is no less true that at least Romualdo Guzmán was seen in the group that went to the San Francisco estate and also at El Morro, at Carmen Maitenes, and at Pemehue, where he intervened in the detention of Juan Roa Riquelme.

That, on the other hand, the version of these two individuals is not plausible, as they took great care to insist that they did not see the detention of any person, did not hear gunshots, and stayed in the houses when, as has been seen, there are charges to the contrary, and the former administrator of the Forest Reserves, Mr.

Adolfo Martin, maintains that both the military and civilians went out to tour the surroundings.

Also incriminating for the aforementioned Francisco Urrizola and Romualdo Guzmán, Rolf Düring, Samuel Arriagada, and Raúl Tirapequy is the circumstance that they all acknowledge being very well known to the Chiefs of the Carabinero forces at that time, attending the barracks, standing guard, and, according to some of the Carabinero officials, having a notable intimacy, constantly being seen at the barracks chatting with the chiefs, circumstances that would even authorize the conclusion that, in the preparation of the lists to which allusion has been made, they also had active participation and, therefore, constitute precedents prior to and even simultaneous with the perpetration of the crimes.

The participation of Carabinero officials Maturana, Díaz, and Guzmán is nothing other than that of alleged perpetrators of the crimes of arbitrary detention, mistreatment followed by the death of persons, and illegal housebreaking; that of the civilians, in the best of cases, would be nothing other than that of accomplices, as they acknowledge that they served the forces as guides or observers of the area and, without a doubt, also of the people who were to be apprehended.

That in accordance with what is provided by Article 5 of the Code of Military Justice, 'the Military Jurisdiction corresponds to the knowledge...' of cases for common crimes committed by military personnel during a state of war, while on campaign, in an act of military service, or on the occasion of it.

In accordance, furthermore, with what is provided in Article 426 of the same Code, it is declared that this Court is not competent to continue hearing this case, which must be referred to the Military Prosecutor's Office of Concepción, on duty."

The case was referred to the 3rd Military Court of Concepción and assigned number 446-81.

On January 7, 1983, by virtue of Amnesty Decree Law 2191, the military courts dismissed the case totally and definitively. However, on November 8 of that same year, the Martial Court rendered the application of the amnesty ineffective and changed the nature of the dismissal from definitive to temporary, because "although the existence of facts that possessed the characteristics of crimes is proven in the process, it has not been possible to establish the participation of specific persons in them, the latter circumstance preventing the application of the provisions on amnesty."

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity

The National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) is an entity dependent on the Ministry of Agriculture, born from the former Reforestation Corporation through a decree signed by the government of Salvador Allende on April 19, 1973, and published in the Official Gazette on May 10 of the same year.

The origin of the institution has historical roots in the early 20th century, and its first important milestone was the creation of the Malleco Forest Reserve in 1907, located in the commune of Collipulli.

CONAF had only been created for a few months by the time of the coup d'état on September 11, 1973; however, it was one of the institutions most affected after the overthrow of the popular government. 19 of its workers were murdered by the coup plotters in the weeks following the bombing of La Moneda.

The dictator himself appointed his own son-in-law, Julio Ponce Lerou, as executive director of this Corporation. Until then, Ponce was a former employee of the Matte family at the Biobio Paper Mill in Concepción. The Matte family would also place one of their former employees, Fernando Léniz Cerda, as Minister of Economy for the Military Junta.

CONAF workers murdered in Mulchén

It was very close to the Malleco Forest Reserve where the greatest crime against CONAF workers was committed after the coup d'état. Between October 5 and 7, 1973, in the mountain estates of the Mulchén commune—called El Morro, Carmen, Maitenes, and Pemehue—18 people from the sector were killed: 13 of them were workers of the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF).

A patrol of approximately thirty people, composed of Carabineros from Mulchén, soldiers from the 17th Mountain Infantry Regiment of Los Ángeles, and a group of civilians among whom the courts managed to identify the farmer Romualdo "Mayo" Guzmán Saavedra, the industrialist and owner of a lumber yard Francisco Urrizola Elías, the lumber industrialist Ramón Elías Abella, the farmer Aquiles Guzmán Fritz, and the estate administrator Carlos Lehman.

This "patrol" toured the estates and properties of the mountain area of Mulchén, carrying a pre-prepared list of the people who were to be detained and who were subsequently murdered.

The "patrol" began its tour at the El Morro estate on the afternoon of October 5. They proceeded to detain five peasants in their homes, who were taken to the banks of the Renaico River: Juan de Dios Laubra Brevis (26 years old), Domingo Sepúlveda Castillo (29 years old), Edmundo José Vidal Aedo (20 years old), Celsio Nicasio Vivanco Carrasco (26 years old), and José Florencio Yáñez Durán (34 years old).

Neighbors in the area along the river heard gunshots; a few months later, during the search for their own, neighbors and relatives of the victims found the bodies of the murdered workers in the "La Playita" sector with bullet wounds and their hands tied behind their backs with wire.

The following day, October 6, the "patrol" arrived at the Carmen and Maitenes estates, detaining 8 CONAF workers: Miguel del Carmen Albornoz Acuña (20 years old), Daniel Alfonso Albornoz González (28 years old), Alejandro Albornoz González (48 years old), Luis Alberto Godoy Sandoval (23 years old), Florencio Rubilar Gutiérrez (25 years old), José Liborio Rubilar Gutiérrez (28 years old), and José Lorenzo Rubilar Gutiérrez (33 years old), who were taken to the main house.

Around 23:00 hours, peasant witnesses heard bursts of machine-gun fire. The next day, the members of the "patrol" buried seven bodies in a pit dug in a field near the area of the houses, covering them with turf.

That same day, October 7, the "patrol" moved toward the Pemehue estate, to the very CONAF office in the Malleco Forest Reserve, taking Guillermo José Albornoz González (32 years old) into custody. He was brutally beaten and, in very poor physical condition, taken to the Renaico River, where his body appeared floating.

At the Pemehue estate, the criminal "patrol" proceeded to detain and execute 5 other CONAF workers: Alberto Albornoz González (41 years old), Felidor Exequiel Albornoz González (33 years old), José Fernando Gutiérrez Ascencio (25 years old), Gerónimo Humberto Sandoval Medina (22 years old), and Juan de Dios Roa Riquelme (35 years old).

During the night, repeated bursts of rifle fire were heard. All of them were buried in the same places where they were murdered. Relatives later found their bodies with their hands tied, their faces destroyed, and numerous bullet wounds.

For these criminal acts, a judicial case was initiated in the courts of justice, specifically before the Concepción Court of Appeals. In October 2017, Judge Carlos Aldana issued a first-instance sentence in which he only convicted the former Carabineros: Jacob del Carmen Ortiz Palma, Juan de Dios Higueras Álvarez, Osvaldo Enrique Díaz Díaz, and Héctor Armando Guzmán Saldaña to sentences of 10 years and one day in prison, as co-perpetrators of the crimes of qualified homicide of the victims Florencio Rubilar Gutiérrez, José Liborio Rubilar Gutiérrez, José Lorenzo Rubilar Gutiérrez, Alejandro Albornoz González, Luis Godoy Sandoval, Miguel Albornoz Acuña, Daniel Albornoz González, Alberto Albornoz González, Felidor Albornoz González, Jerónimo Sandoval Medina, Juan de Dios Roa Riquelme, and José Gutiérrez Ascencio.

The same four former Carabineros must serve 5 years and one day in prison for their responsibility in the qualified kidnapping of 6 other victims: Juan de Dios Laubra Brevis, José Yáñez Durán, Celsio Vivanco Carrasco, Edmundo Vidal Aedo, Domingo Sepúlveda Castillo, and Guillermo Albornoz González.

The judicial case continues with pending appeal procedures before the Court of Concepción, so none of these criminals is serving prison time for these crimes.

At the end of 1978, the Pinochet tyranny organized and executed the so-called "Operation TV Removal," one of the most bestial actions of the military dictatorship, which sought to erase the traces of the murders committed up to that point by the uniformed and civilian hordes.

The operation consisted of exhuming the bodies of those murdered and illegally buried throughout the country and making those remains disappear so as not to leave any indication of the crimes. It was, in short, to make the remains of the forcibly disappeared persons disappear.

The nefarious action was organized with promptness by the CNI and executed with criminal diligence by the military troops and civilian agents who reveled in the terror they provoked among their victims, the relatives of the victims, and the population in general.

In the case of the Mulchén victims, probably in March 1979, personnel from the "Húsares" Regiment of Angol, in compliance with a cryptogram from the Army Commander-in-Chief of the time, illegally exhumed the clandestine graves, removed the remains of those who were executed in October 1973, and took them to an unknown destination, consummating the purposes of the operation.

CONAF worker shot in La Serena

In the same days that the crimes of Mulchén were being committed in the south, in the north, the forestry technician and CONAF worker Oscar Gastón Aedo Herrera (23 years old) was detained by Carabineros in Salamanca, Choapa Province, Coquimbo Region.

He was held incommunicado at the local police station and then taken on October 12 to the Illapel Prison, to then be transferred to the "Arica" Regiment of La Serena, where he was executed in the early hours of October 16, 1973, along with 14 other political prisoners murdered by the passage of the "Caravan of Death" through that region.

Judicially, in October 2022, the Sixth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced eight former officers and two former non-commissioned officers of the Army for their responsibility in the crimes of qualified homicide of the 15 victims of the "Caravan of Death" in the city of La Serena.

The group of criminals is composed of a former General and Commander-in-Chief of that institution, two former brigadiers, five former lieutenant colonels, and two non-commissioned officers.

CONAF workers murdered in Truful Truful Melipeuco

On October 14, 1973, CONAF workers José Alejandro Ramos Jaramillo (46 years old), Gerardo Alejandro Ramos Huina (21 years old), and José Moisés Ramos Huina (22 years old)—father and sons, respectively—were detained in the Truful Truful sector, Melipeuco commune.

The following day, Mario Rubén Morales Bañares (23 years old), a tractor driver and CONAF worker, was detained at his home in Melipeuco. Witnesses report having seen their bodies, bound, next to the Allipen River.

However, they were not the first CONAF workers murdered in the Melipeuco commune, as on the very day of the military coup, tractor driver Luis Alberto Soto Chandía (25 years old) was detained, becoming the first CONAF worker murdered just hours after the overthrow of Salvador Allende.

Judicially, only in the case of the victim Luis Alberto Soto Chandía is there a known procedural case, with only one former Carabinero prosecuted for this act.

CONAF worker forcibly disappeared

On January 29, 1975, forestry technician Juan René Molina Mogollones (29 years old), a former CONAF official in the Curicó province and former union leader of the corporation's workers, was detained in Santiago by DINA agents.

Immediately after the military coup occurred, he began to be persecuted and sought by uniformed troops, so he continued living in hiding and moved to Santiago. Some time later, he was detained and taken kidnapped to the clandestine detention and torture center Villa Grimaldi, and from that facility, he was made to disappear.

Source: resumen.cl April 28, 2023 Date: 28-04-2023

Prison sentences increased for those convicted of the murder of 18 peasants in Mulchén during the dictatorship

The Concepción Court of Appeals increased and decreed effective prison sentences for the murder of 18 peasants from Mulchén in 1973, whose remains the Army made disappear six years later.

The ruling decrees the deprivation of liberty for 10 former Carabineros and former military personnel, who were held responsible as authors, co-authors, and accomplices of the qualified homicides.

When the judge for human rights violation cases, Carlos Aldana, issued the first-instance ruling two years ago, the victims' relatives criticized the low sentences handed down, which ranged from 541 days to 10 years in prison, even acquitting some accused.

As part of the sanction, it was allowed to serve the sentence in freedom, which was precisely the main change made by the Concepción Court of Appeals, which, by increasing the lowest sentences to 5 years and 1 day, up to the highest of 15 years and 1 day, makes serving time behind bars an obligation.

The plaintiff lawyer, Patricia Parra, welcomed the sentence of the appellate court, since in addition to sanctioning those who perpetrated the executions of the 18 peasants of Mulchén, the Court confirmed the existence of "Operation TV Removal," which between 1978 and 1979 carried out the disappearance of the remains of victims murdered by the dictatorship.

However, more than 46 years after the crimes and the setback that Judge Aldana's 2017 resolution meant, the leader of the Association of Forcibly Disappeared Persons, Norma Panes, expressed that the Court's ruling reaffirms the hope they have that, despite the time passed, justice will be served.

The Mulchén case began by investigating the executions of the 18 peasants in 1973 in the mountain area at the hands of Carabinero and Army personnel from Los Ángeles, and later Judge Aldana opened the branch of "Operation TV Removal," which, although it delayed the summary, allowed for the accreditation—the plaintiff lawyer stressed—of how and who made the bodies disappear.

Now the sentence will go to the Supreme Court for the final pronouncement, where the compensation of 1.6 billion pesos that the State should pay to the wives, children, and siblings of the victims of the so-called Mulchén Massacre will also be reviewed.

Source: biobiochile.cl 3/01/2020 Date: 03-01-2020

Massacre of peasants in Mulchén: Former uniformed personnel convicted

Former officials of the Carabineros and the Chilean Army have been accused of the kidnapping, homicide, and illegal burial and exhumation of 18 people. The sentences range from 3 to 10 years in prison, which family members of the victims have described as insufficient.

The investigation by the visiting judge, Carlos Aldana, established that on October 4, 1973, a corporal from the Army’s N° 13 Regiment of Los Ángeles, along with 3 conscripts, was delegated to report to the city’s Carabineros station.

That commission, accompanied by a Carabineros lieutenant and 4 of his officers, departed for the mountainous sector of Mulchén to search for a list of people who were opponents of the military dictatorship at the time.

On October 5, the group arrived at the ‘El Morro’ estate and detained 5 people without an administrative or judicial order. They were taken to the ‘La Playita’ sector of the Renaico River to be executed, after which their bodies were made to disappear.

Likewise, the group arrived at the ‘Carmen’ and ‘Maitenes’ estates, where 7 people were detained and forced to dig their own 6-by-4-meter grave before being executed by firing squad and illegally buried.

On October 7, 5 people were detained at the ‘Pemehue’ estate; they were executed on-site and their bodies were left in clandestine graves, where they were later found by their own family members.

Subsequently, between late 1978 and early 1979, a section of the “Húsares” Regiment of Angol, after receiving a cryptogram from the Army General Command, went to the sites of the illegal burials and exhumed the remains to make them disappear, amidst an ongoing investigation into the events.

CONVICTED INDIVIDUALS AND THEIR VICTIMS

In the ruling, Judge Aldana sentenced Jacob Ortiz, Juan Higueras, Osvaldo Díaz, and Héctor Guzmán to 10 years in prison as co-perpetrators of the qualified homicide of Florencio Rubilar, José Liborio, José Lorenzo, Alejandro Albornoz, Luis Godoy, Miguel Albornoz, Daniel Albornoz, Alberto Albornoz, Felidor Albornoz, Jerónimo Sandoval, Juan Roa, and José Gutiérrez.

Additionally, these same convicted individuals must serve 5 years in prison for the qualified kidnapping of Juan Labruna, José Yáñez, Celsio Vivanco, Edmundo Vidal, Domingo Sepúlveda, and Guillermo Albornoz.

Meanwhile, José Iturriaga, Jaime Muller, Julio Fuentes, Luis Torres, Juan Balboa, and Jaime García were sentenced to 3 years as accessories to the homicide of 11 victims, plus 541 days for illegal exhumation. José Puga was acquitted.

DISSATISFIED FAMILY MEMBERS

Judge Aldana explained to Radio Cooperativa that "they (the Carabineros) were sentenced for the crimes of qualified homicide, qualified kidnapping, and illegal burial; however, the military personnel participated in an event in 1979, the so-called 'Retiro de televisores' (Television Removal), in which they went to the scene of the events and unearthed the skeletal remains of these executed people.

Therefore, their sentence is as accessories, because they did not participate as authors or accomplices, but they did act as accessories," he indicated.

This upset the victims' families, and the spokesperson for the relatives of the 18 murdered peasants, Marina Rubilar, stated that "we are not very satisfied, because I consider that the years they have been given are still few in relation to the number of murdered victims."

Meanwhile, Patricia Barra, a lawyer for the victims and their families, announced that they will file an appeal in the coming days to reconsider the sentences.

The renowned provincial lawyer, René Núñez Ávila, explained to La Tribuna that “the relatives of human rights victims in Chile, in general, consider that these types of crimes against humanity deserve the highest penalties, because they were carried out by the state apparatus, with treachery and a series of aggravating factors; therefore, the recently assigned sentences are insufficient for them according to their expectations.”

Likewise, the candidate for Parliament also commented that “this is a first-instance sentence, so this ruling is appealable by both parties.”

Source: latribuna.cl 01/11/2017

Date: 01-11-2017

19 CONAF workers who were victims of the dictatorship are remembered

The recognition given by the National Forest Corporation (CONAF) and the Museum of Memory and Human Rights to the 19 CONAF workers who were executed by firing squad after the 1973 Military Coup was as emotional as it was a matter of justice.

The initiative is part of the institutional project “Tree of Memory: recognition of CONAF officials who were victims of the dictatorship,” which seeks to rescue the history of the Corporation in this regard.

To this end, the executive director of CONAF, Aarón Cavieres, and the executive director of the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, Francisco Estévez, signed a cooperation agreement aimed at compiling the records of those murdered workers, information that will subsequently be captured in a book.

Present at the ceremony were relatives of the victims (Claudia Gutiérrez, granddaughter of Malleco Forest Reserve worker José Gutiérrez Ascencio; Marina Rubilar, daughter of Malleco Forest Reserve worker José Rubilar Gutiérrez; and Óscar Aedo, first cousin of Óscar Aedo Herrera), as well as the lawyer for the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior, Rodrigo Cortés; the Doctor of History and member of the NGO Eco-Comunicaciones, Mario Garcés; and human rights lawyer María Raquel Mejías, among other representatives of agricultural services.

During his speech, a deeply moved Aarón Cavieres indicated that “42 years ago, just with the birth of CONAF, these 19 officials lost their lives when they were dedicated to the conservation of nature. Today the institution, whose main objective is the well-being and development of people, opens this new path destined for the conservation of people… I also want to thank Homero Altamirano, former executive director of CONAF until 1973, who lived through those hard times, for his presence at this event.”

The project, unprecedented among state services, is aimed at disseminating the value of Human Rights and, with it, keeping alive the memory of those who were part of the institution and who lost their lives due to military action. In this context, meetings will be held throughout the country, starting in the Coquimbo, Biobío, La Araucanía, and Los Ríos regions.

Francisco Estévez, executive director of the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, stated upon taking the floor that “for us, it is of vital importance to collaborate with the ‘Tree of Memory’ project of the National Forest Corporation, which comes to rescue the memory of the workers of this institution who were victims of the dictatorship.

It is their lives and work histories that we have dignified in part today by initiating a joint collaboration between CONAF and the museum, as a contribution to the investigation of cases such as the murder of the workers of the Malleco National Reserve.”

In accordance with the spirit of the project, the idea is to emphasize respect for Human Rights, thus promoting social coexistence without discrimination and with respect for the dignity of people. In this sense, education acquires a relevant dimension as a tool for dissemination at different levels of society.

The 19 CONAF officials who were victims of the dictatorship are:

1) Oscar Gastón Aedo Herrera

2) Miguel del Carmen Albornoz Acuña

3) Daniel Alfonso Albornoz González

4) Alejandro Albornoz González

5) Guillermo José Albornoz González

6) Alberto Albornoz González

7) Felidor Exequiel Albornoz González

8) Luis Alberto Godoy Sandoval

9) Manuel Florencio Rubilar Gutiérrez

10) José Liborio Rubilar Gutiérrez

11) José Lorenzo Rubilar Gutiérrez

12) José Fernando Gutiérrez Ascencio

13) Gerónimo Humberto Sandoval Medina

14) Juan de Dios Roa Riquelme

15) Mario Rubén Morales Bañares

16) José Alejandro Ramos Jaramillo

17) Gerardo Alejandro Ramos Huina

18) José Moisés Ramos Huina

19) Luis Alberto Soto Chandía

Source: conaf.cl 9/08/2016

Date: 09-08-2016

Court of Appeals modified the indictments of 5 former Carabineros for the Mulchén massacre

The massacre of 18 peasants on three estates in the Mulchén commune, Bío Bío region, in October 1973, is one of the cruelest acts committed during the dictatorship. The visiting judge, Carlos Aldana, indicted five former Carabineros officials as responsible for qualified kidnapping and homicide, charges that were modified by the Concepción Court of Appeals.

The Fifth Chamber of the Concepción Court of Appeals introduced modifications to the indictments issued by visiting judge Carlos Aldana against five former Carabineros for the massacre of 18 peasants in Mulchén in October 1973, after resolving the appeal filed by the defense of the accused.

In June of last year, the special judge for human rights cases, Carlos Aldana, had indicted Jorge Maturana Concha, Jacob del Carmen Ortiz Concha, Juan de Dios Higueras Alvarez, Osvaldo Enrique Díaz Díaz, and Héctor Armando Guzmán Saldaña as authors of the crimes of qualified kidnapping and homicide, to the detriment of Juan Laubra Brevis, José Yañez Durán, Celsio Vivanco Carrasco, Edmundo Vidal Aedo, Domingo Sepúlveda, José Liborio Rubilar Gutiérrez, Florencio Rubilar Gutiérrez, José Lorenzo Rubilar Gutiérrez, Alejandro Albornoz Acuña, Luis Alberto Godoy Sandoval, Miguel del Carmen Albornoz Acuña, Daniel Alfonso Albornoz González, Alberto Albornoz González, Felidor Exequiel Albornoz, Jerónimo Humberto Sandoval Medina, Juan de Dios Roa Riquelme, Fernando Gutiérrez Ascencio, and José Guillermo Albornoz González.

All of them were detained by a patrol composed of military personnel, civilians, and Carabineros at the Pemehue, Carmen Maitenes, and El Morro estates, located in the Mulchén commune, on October 5, 6, and 7, 1973.

This long-standing case had been investigated in depth by visiting judge Carlos Cerda in 1981, but the case was dismissed in 1996 by the Military Court after the Amnesty Law was applied.

But years later, the investigation was resumed, and that is how it reached the hands of Judge Aldana in March of last year, who, after several proceedings, determined to indict five former Carabineros officials.

On January 30, the Fifth Chamber of the Concepción Court issued its ruling, drafted by Judge Irma Bavestrello, which substantially modifies the charges for which Aldana had indicted the former uniformed officers.

The resolution states that although “regarding the crimes of kidnapping, these judges believe that the detentions without judicial or administrative order of Juan Laubra Brevis, Edmundo Vidal Aedo, Domingo Sepúlveda, José Liborio Rubilar Gutiérrez, Florencio Rubilar Gutiérrez, José Lorenzo Rubilar Gutiérrez, Alejandro Albornoz Acuña, Luis Alberto Godoy Sandoval, Miguel del Carmen Albornoz Acuña, Daniel Alfonso Albornoz González, Alberto Albornoz González, Jerónimo Humberto Sandoval Medina, and José Guillermo Albornoz González have been proven,” their whereabouts or the death of these individuals have not been legally proven to date.

On the other hand, they indicate that it has been proven in the proceedings that José Yáñez Durán and Celsio Vivanco Carrasco were victims of kidnapping and were later executed in the ‘La Playita’ sector of the El Morro estate in Mulchén, on the banks of the Renaico River, on October 5, 1973.

Likewise, it is proven that those illegally detained on October 7, 1973, Felidor Exequiel Albornoz González and José Fernando Gutiérrez Ascencio, were killed at the Pemehue estate in Mulchén, deaths which are testified to by the certificates incorporated into the file.

Taking these foundations into consideration, the Court determined that “Jorge Maturana Concha, Jacob del Carmen Ortiz Concha, Juan de Dios Higueras Alvarez, Osvaldo Enrique Díaz Díaz, and Héctor Armando Guzmán Saldaña are indicted as co-perpetrators of the crimes of kidnapping of Juan Laubra Brevis, Edmundo Vidal Aedo, Domingo Sepúlveda, José Liborio Rubilar Gutiérrez, Florencio Rubilar Gutiérrez, José Lorenzo Rubilar Gutiérrez, Alejandro Albornoz Acuña, Luis Alberto Godoy Sandoval, Miguel del Carmen Albornoz Acuña, Daniel Alfonso Albornoz González, Alberto Albornoz González, Jerónimo Humberto Sandoval Medina, and José Guillermo Albornoz González, crimes perpetrated between October 5 and 7, 1973.”

Likewise, Maturana Concha, Ortiz Concha, Higueras Alvarez, Díaz Díaz, and Guzmán Saldaña are indicted as co-perpetrators of the crimes of kidnapping resulting in death of Celsio Nicasio Vivanco Carrasco, José Florencio Yáñez Durán, Felidor Exequiel Albornoz González, and José Fernando Gutiérrez Ascencio, crimes committed between October 5 and 7, 1973.

In the same way, the appellate court rejected considering the arguments of res judicata and the statute of limitations for the crimes, arguments put forward by the defense of some of the accused.

With the appeal resolved, it will now be up to Judge Aldana to issue a sentence in this case, in which this modification made by the appellate court will undoubtedly influence the sentence determined for those responsible for one of the most brutal human rights violations committed in the area during the military dictatorship.

Source: tribunadelbiobio.cl 10/02/2009

Date: 10-02-2009

Supreme Court rejects cassation appeals and confirms sentences for qualified kidnapping and homicide in Mulchén

The Second Chamber of the highest court confirmed the sentence that condemned Jacob Ortiz Palma, Juan de Dios Higueras Álvarez, Osvaldo Díaz Díaz, and Héctor Guzmán Saldaña to sentences of 15 years and one day and 10 years and one day in prison, as authors of qualified homicides and qualified kidnappings, respectively.

The Supreme Court rejected the cassation appeals filed against the sentence that condemned retired Carabineros and military personnel for their responsibility in the qualified homicides of Florencio Rubilar Gutiérrez, José Liborio Rubilar Gutiérrez, José Lorenzo Rubilar Gutiérrez, Alejandro Albornoz González, Luis Godoy Sandoval, Miguel Albornoz Acuña, Daniel Albornoz González, Alberto Albornoz González, Felidor Albornoz González, Jerónimo Sandoval Medina, Juan de Dios Roa Riquelme, and José Gutiérrez Ascencio, and the qualified kidnappings of Juan de Dios Laubra Brevis, José Yáñez Durán, Celsio Vivanco Carrasco, Edmundo Vidal Aedo, Domingo Sepúlveda Castillo, and Guillermo Albornoz González. These crimes were committed at the Carmen, Maitenes, and Pemehue estates in the case of the homicides, and El Morro in the case of the kidnappings, in the Mulchén commune, in October 1973.

In a majority ruling (case file 20.893-2020), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of judges Haroldo Brito, Jorge Dahm, María Cristina Gajardo, Eliana Quezada, and the acting lawyer Diego Munita—ruled out any error of law in the challenged sentence, issued by the Concepción Court of Appeals, which condemned the accused for their participation in the crimes of qualified homicide and kidnapping, but revoked it in the part that condemned them for the crimes of illegal burial and exhumation.

Thus, the accused Jacob Ortiz Palma, Juan de Dios Higueras Álvarez, Osvaldo Díaz Díaz, and Héctor Guzmán Saldaña must serve sentences of 15 years and one day and 10 years and one day in prison, as authors of the qualified homicides and qualified kidnappings, respectively.

Meanwhile, José Iturriaga Valenzuela, Jaime Müller Avilés, Julio Fuentes Chavarriga, Luis Palacios Torres, Juan Carlos Balboa Ortega, and Julio Reyes Garrido must serve sentences of 5 years and one day in prison as accessories to the qualified homicides.

The ruling of the highest court established an error in not applying the exception of res judicata given the existence of a case decided by the military justice system for the same events, and it ruled out any error in the evaluation of the evidence carried out by the lower court judges.

“That, to carry out an adequate analysis of res judicata in criminal matters, it should be remembered that the norms of articles 76, 108, 110, and 274 of the Code of Criminal Procedure revolve around two unique, central, and fundamental ideas in criminal trial, namely: the accreditation of the facts that constitute the criminal offense and the determination of the person or persons responsible for it.

The law forces the investigative and evidentiary attention of the court upon them, and only when these two objectives are met does it permit the indictment,” the ruling states.

The resolution adds that: “These principles are reflected in numeral 7 of article 408 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which authorizes definitive dismissal when the punishable act in question has been the subject of a process in which a final judgment has been reached that affects the current defendant, it being clear that in criminal matters res judicata can be applied when there has been a double identity of the punishable act and the current defendant, with the first sentence producing the exception of res judicata in the new trial.”

“That, however, international obligations of the State of Chile are superimposed on these legal requirements, which, in accordance with the Fourth Geneva Convention, committed to taking all legislative measures to determine the appropriate criminal sanctions to be applied to persons who have committed, or ordered to be committed, any of the grave breaches against that convention, also assuming the obligation to search for persons accused of having committed, or ordered to be committed, any of the grave breaches indicated by the aforementioned Convention, whom it must bring before its own courts, regardless of their nationality,” it adds.

For the highest court: “In the manner indicated and as has already been resolved by international courts, it constitutes a violation of an obligation of that nature to allow the effect of res judicata derived from a sham investigation, or one that has been deficient, or even carried out by a special court that does not offer guarantees regarding the impartiality of the judgment.

This was precisely the foundation that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights had, in the so-called Almonacid Arellano case, to declare the impediment to favoring the authors of a crime against humanity with amnesty, pointing out that the protection of human rights prohibits the application of legal measures that prevent the investigation, prosecution, and eventual sanction for human rights violations: the Court orders that, by attempting to grant amnesty to those responsible for crimes against humanity, Decree Law N° 2.191 is incompatible with the American Convention and, therefore, lacks legal effects; consequently, the State must: i) ensure that it does not continue to represent an obstacle to the investigation of the extrajudicial execution of Mr. Almonacid Arellano and to the identification and, where appropriate, sanction of those responsible, and ii) ensure that Decree Law N° 2.191 does not continue to represent an obstacle to the investigation, trial, and, where appropriate, sanction of those responsible for other similar violations that occurred in Chile.”

“Self-amnesty laws—it continues—insofar as they hinder investigation and access to justice and prevent victims and their families from knowing the truth and receiving the corresponding reparation, are incongruent with the judicial guarantees enshrined in articles 8 and 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights, a premise that has been reiterated by the Inter-American Court in the Barrios Altos case and more recently, in the El Mozote Massacres case, followed against El Salvador.”

“Just as the appealed ruling points out, self-amnesty—since that is the true nature of D.L. 2191 of 1978—can only be interpreted as a way of evading the consequences of responsibility and, therefore, as a formula that leads to the defenselessness of the victims and the perpetuation of the impunity of the transgressing agents,” it highlights.

Meanwhile, regarding the evaluation of the evidence, the ruling records: “That, analyzing the substantial nullity appeals deduced by the defenses of Guzmán Saldaña, Higueras Álvarez, and Ortiz Palma, it is more convenient to address, in the first place, the infringement of the laws that are called in the pleadings as regulators of the evidence, based on the breach of article 488 numerals 1 to 5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and 1698 of the Civil Code.

In this regard, it should be highlighted as an insurmountable defect of the appeals that, although they invoke the violation of the laws regulating the evidence, they omit a precise reference to the substantive criminal provisions that would have been infringed, as a causal effect of the breach of the rules on judicial presumptions.

The appellants support the acquittal of the convicted, because their culpable participation as co-perpetrators in the crimes of qualified homicide of twelve people, typified and sanctioned in article 391 N° 1, first circumstance of the Penal Code, and co-perpetrators in the crimes of qualified kidnapping of six people, punished in article 141 third paragraph of the Punitive Code, had not been proven.

Consequently, by having established such co-perpetrations, articles 14, 15, 141, and 391 N°, first circumstance, of the punitive statute would have necessarily been infringed, precepts that are omitted from being invoked as erroneously applied, except for the generic reference to article 15 and following of the Penal Code, without specifying which substantive norms are considered breached and which are directly linked to the procedural-type contraventions that are denounced.”

“This Court—it delves—has resolved that to reject the cassation appeal in substance, it is enough to keep in mind that only procedural precepts are alleged to be infringed and not any substantive provision, with which, and in the hypothetical case of accepting such an appeal, the Court would be prevented from issuing the corresponding replacement sentence.”

“The noted deficiency, the relevance of which has been highlighted, leads to the rejection of the appeals,” the resolution states.

“That the remaining sections of the appeals, which rest on numeral 1 of article 546 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, allow for invalidation when the sentence, although it qualifies the crime in accordance with the law, imposes on the perpetrator a penalty more or less severe than that designated, with an error of law, whether in determining the participation that the criminal has had, or in qualifying the facts that constitute aggravating, mitigating, or exempting circumstances of their responsibility, or finally, in determining the nature and degree of the punishment; which the appellants maintain because the necessary elements to sanction them do not concur and urges, ultimately, for their acquittal,” the Criminal Chamber explains.

“Under such conditions, the ground for nullity argued does not result in being appropriate, since in its invocation it is forgotten that the alluded cause is given to question only those cases where, although a culpable participation in the illicit is accepted, the qualification made in the challenged resolution is believed to be wrong, for example, if someone who should only be conceptualized as an accomplice or accessory has been considered an author.

The lack of criminal responsibility due to lack of criminal participation of the accused, the lack of proof of the punishable act, or the extinction of criminal responsibility do not find a place in this cause which, therefore, does not enable one to request acquittal, as the development of its sections pursues, a conclusion that the very tenor of the precept ratifies when it expresses that the denounced error of law must have led to imposing on the justiciable a penalty more or less severe than that assigned in the law—which implies an established culpability—, so that its scope cannot be extended to the proposed hypothesis, which is why these sections of the appeals deduced by the referred defenses will be dismissed,” the ruling concludes.

Decision agreed upon with the dissenting votes of Judge Gajardo and lawyer Munita, only insofar as the cassation appeals in substance that denounce the infringement of article 64 of the Penal Code are rejected, regarding the communicability of the qualifying circumstance of treachery regarding those convicted as accessories to the crime of qualified homicide of 11 people, considering that those in that part should be accepted.

Executions In the first-instance ruling, the visiting judge of the Concepción Court of Appeals, Carlos Aldana Fuentes, considered the following facts established:

“ I. That on October 4, 1973, 1st Corporal Luis Díaz Quintana of the N° 13 Regiment of the Chilean Army of Los Ángeles was commissioned by officers of said unit to report to the Mulchén Carabineros Station, in the company of three conscripts, in order to place himself at the disposal of the Carabineros commissioner of that police unit, from whom he would receive instructions.

In the indicated facility, a meeting was held led by a Carabineros lieutenant and four other officials, indicating that they had to leave immediately for the mountainous sector of the region, in search of a group of people whose names they had on a list, for which they had to take half equipment, traveling in the first leg by vehicle to continue on horseback, provided by private individuals and locals of the sector.

II.- That on Friday, October 5, 1973, the group commanded by the Mulchén Carabineros lieutenant Jorge Maturana Concha (currently deceased) arrived at the ‘El Morro’ estate, in the foothills sector of Mulchén, and after coordination with the administrator of the place, proceeded to detain, without any legitimate administrative or judicial order, the locals Juan de Dios Laubra Brevis, José Florencio Yáñez Durán, Celsio Nicasio Vivanco Carrasco, Edmundo José Vidal Aedo, and Domingo Sepúlveda Castillo (5), who, after having been interrogated in a ‘provisional guard post’ of the Carabineros de Chile set up in that place, were taken to the sector called ‘La Playita’ on the banks of the Renaico River, where they were placed on one of the banks, with their hands tied, their eyes blindfolded, and they were shot by the captors with SIG rifles, the bodies falling into the river and being dragged by the current, a date from which their whereabouts or destination is unknown. Days later, some relatives of the victims and locals found the bodies floating in the river or on its banks, which were buried in the vicinity, leaving some signs or indications that identified said place. Subsequently, between the years 1979 and 1980, the extraordinary visiting judge of the time who carried out a criminal investigation for these events ordered excavations, managing to recover some human remains, which were taken to the Mulchén Court of Letters, without obtaining scientific identification of them, and which were later buried in the Mulchén Cemetery by the Military Prosecutor's Office in charge, on that occasion, of the investigation. Finally, the remains were exhumed by judicial order to obtain DNA samples, failing to identify them, which is why they appear as forcibly disappeared.

III.- That, the day after the events that occurred in El Morro, the same patrol continued its march, arriving on Saturday, October 6, 1973, at the ‘Carmen y Maitenes’ estate, detaining in their homes, without competent administrative or judicial order, the brothers Florencio, José Liborio, and José Lorenzo, all surnamed Rubilar Gutiérrez, in addition to Alejandro Albornoz Gonzalez, Luis Alberto Godoy Sandoval, Miguel del Carmen Albornoz Acuña, and Daniel Alfonso Albornoz González (7), who were taken prisoner, kept locked up, and forced to fight among themselves in the houses of the indicated estate. Subsequently, they were taken to a plain near the administration houses, where their captors forced them to dig a grave of approximately 6 by 4 meters and place themselves in a prone position, shooting them with SIG rifles over their bodies, causing their deaths. Immediately thereafter, the same perpetrators buried the remains, which were covered with the earth extracted from said grave, covering it with pieces of grass placed irregularly, and left the place. Subsequently, in the year 1979, two detectives from the Mulchén Investigative Police, by order to investigate issued by the commune's Court of Letters, went to the place of the burial, observing that it had been recently removed, finding only some human remains, which were taken to the court, where, after expertise and without being able to establish to whom they belonged, they were kept in the evidence room and subsequently, by order of the Military Court that knew the case, were buried in the Mulchén Cemetery, without being able to reliably establish to which people they corresponded.

IV.- That, on the same day, October 6, 1973, in the administration offices of the estate, Guillermo José Albornoz González (1) was detained, without any competent legal or administrative order, while he was carrying out procedures related to Social Security; he was taken prisoner and kept tied all night and, the next day, transported in a trailer pulled by a tractor driven by Luis Alfero to the Pemehue estate, where he was untied and forced to cross a bridge over a very swollen river, a place where the Carabineros lieutenant in charge of the patrol ordered the second-ranking Carabineros officer present, Jacob Ortiz Palma, to shoot him, falling into the river, without any news of his fate or destination to date.

V.- That, on October 7, 1973, the referred patrol arrived at the Pemehue estate, settling in the main house, proceeding to detain, without the corresponding judicial or administrative order, the workers of the place Alberto Albornoz González, Felidor Exequiel Albornoz González, Jerónimo Humberto Sandoval Medina, and José Fernando Gutiérrez Ascencio (4) who, once interrogated, were taken to a sector near the main house, on the banks of the northern shore of the Renaico River, in a rocky sector, where a shallow grave was dug, placing them in a row, blindfolding them, and shooting them with SIG rifles, causing their deaths, burying the victims' bodies in the indicated grave which they covered with earth and rocks. In the following days, some relatives of the victims, after removing the earth in which they had been buried, found their bodies and gave them burial. On a date close to Easter of the year 1979, the relatives realized that the bodies had been removed from the place by unknown personnel. Finally, on October 7, 1973, the same patrol detained, in the same way, Juan de Dios Roa Riquelme (1), who lived on the Pemehue estate, whom they took up the hill and on the side of a path, killed him with gunshots, burying his body in the place where the events occurred, at a shallow depth, also covering it with stones, leaving the place. Days later, his wife and children (of Roa Riquelme) found his body in the place where it had been buried, making a kind of very precarious tomb for him, remains that remained in the place. In the year 1979, the visiting judge in charge of the investigation at that time ordered the registration of his death, which was not finalized by the Civil Registry, for administrative reasons, as it did not have the corresponding autopsy, his remains remaining in the Mulchén Court of Letters, in custody together with other bones and subsequently buried in the local cemetery by order of the Military Court, without the exact place of their location being able to be established to date.

VI.- That between late 1978 and early 1979, a cryptogram was received in Section 2 of the ‘Húsares’ Regiment of Angol, by the Intelligence officer 1st Sergeant Juan Carlos Balboa Ortega, coming from the Army General Command in which all commanders of military units in the country were ordered to carry out the pertinent procedures to prevent third parties from finding the burials derived from illegal executions, carried out in each military jurisdiction.

This document was delivered to the commander of the referred regiment, Colonel Patricio Escudero Troncoso, who asked him if there was any case in the jurisdiction, to which Balboa replied no, filing the records.

VII.- Subsequently, in the summer of 1979, the referred 1st Sergeant Balboa Ortega, while he was on vacation in the foothills sector, between Mulchén and Angol, became aware, in a casual conversation with a son of the victims, that his father had been killed by Mulchén Carabineros in 1973 and that his body, together with those of other people, had been buried in the sector.

He reported this fact to the commander of his regiment, who ordered the unarchiving of the cryptogram and to bring it to the attention, through the same Balboa Ortega, of the commander of the 17th Reinforced Mountain Infantry Regiment ‘Los Ángeles’, Colonel Jaime García Zamorano, who had jurisdiction over the place where the victims' remains would be found.

He ordered an operation to be carried out with military personnel from that regiment in charge of the head of Section II, Lieutenant Julio Reyes Garrido, composed of non-commissioned officers José Puga Pascua, José Iturriaga Valenzuela, Jaime Muller Avilés, Julio Fuentes Chavarriga, Luis Palacios Torres, and Juan Cares Molina (currently deceased) and from Department II of the 3rd Army Division of Concepción, in charge of Sergeant Major Eduardo Paredes Bustamante (currently deceased) who in 1973 had served in section II of the Los Ángeles Regiment, who went to the place of the burials starting from the southern bank of the Renaico River via Collipulli and from there they entered the road to Curaco, arriving at the ‘El Amargo’ sector, crossing to the northern bank of the referred river, where after inquiries with locals, they arrived at the Carmen and Maitenes sector, specifically to a site where there was a cross and they excavated with shovels and pickaxes, taking out human remains, in addition to clothing and identity cards, which they put into potato sacks, differentiating the human remains of seven people: Florencio, José Liborio, and José Lorenzo, all surnamed Rubilar Gutiérrez, in addition to Alejandro Albornoz Gonzalez, Luis Alberto Godoy Sandoval, Miguel del Carmen Albornoz Acuña, and Daniel Alfonso Albornoz González, plus the other items taken out. Once the excavation was concluded, in which Puga Pascua, Iturriaga Valenzuela, Muller Avilés, Fuentes Chavarriga, Palacios Torres, Cares Molina, and Paredes Bustamante intervened, they crossed the river and put the potato sacks in the back of the pickup truck in which they were traveling, where Balboa Ortega was waiting for them, who according to his testimony at fs. 3.515 and seeing that the sack that Müller was transporting fell into the river, helped him, entering the water and taking out the referred sack, knowing what it contained, which he loaded into the truck. To finish the operation, they covered the grave from which they extracted the bones or other items, simulating that nothing had happened in the sector. Subsequently, they moved to the place of the Pemehue Hot Springs, inside the mountain range, also under the jurisdiction of the Los Ángeles Regiment, where they again excavated and unearthed four other bodies, which were buried on the northern bank of the Renaico River, under some stones, covering the tombs to hide the exhumation and then loading the remains into the truck in which they were traveling. The members of the patrol that exhumed the referred bodies had information that they corresponded to locals who in October 1973 had been executed by firing squad by Mulchén Carabineros personnel.

VIII. The exhumed skeletal remains, clothing, and identity documents were taken to the 17th Reinforced Mountain Infantry Regiment of Los Ángeles, where Lieutenant Reyes, in charge of the operation, reported to Commander García, who ordered them to be disposed of, for which their incineration was arranged in a brick oven that was located adjacent to Section 25 inside the regiment.

IX. That, it should be kept in mind that the facts described above constitute the last link in the episode that began on October 6, 1973, already referred to in the first consideration, regarding the victims of Carmen and Maitenes and Pemehue, destined to achieve the elimination of the victims' remains in order to hide or render useless the body of the crimes to prevent their discovery ”.

Source: pjud.cl 14/11/2023