They are accused of the forced disappearance and aggravated homicide of 19 opponents of the military regime, including the husband of lawyer Carmen Hertz. SANTIAGO.— Visiting judge Patricia González indicted two retired military officers for the forced disappearance and aggravated homicide of 19 opponents of the military regime in the case filed as "Caravan of Death, Calama episode." Among the victims of the commando unit led by General Sergio Arellano in the mining city is Carlos Berger, husband of lawyer Carmen Hertz, whose story is the basis for the Chilevisión series "Ecos del Desierto." Judge González ordered the pretrial detention of the second-in-command of the Calama regiment in 1973, then-Lieutenant Colonel Óscar Figueroa Márquez, and the former administrator of CEMA Chile, Álvaro Romero Reyes. According to the case records, "on October 19, 1973, an Army General, acting as a delegate officer of the Commander-in-Chief of the Government Junta, arrived at Infantry Regiment No. 15 in the city of Calama, accompanied by other Army officers, with the purpose of 'reviewing and accelerating the proceedings,' and once that task was completed, together with other officers from the same Calama Regiment, they removed the detainees (...) from the city's Public Jail, transported them in a truck to the area of the hills known as Topater, keeping them illegally deprived of their liberty, and shot them there using firearms, subsequently moving the remains to different locations with the purpose of preventing them from being found."

Source: Emol.com, September 11, 2013

Justice system convicts former members of the Armed Forces in human rights cases

The visiting judge for human rights cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Patricia González, issued indictments against two retired Army members for their responsibility in the crimes of kidnapping and aggravated homicide in the case filed as "Caravan of Death, Calama episode." Magistrate González brought charges against Óscar Figueroa Márquez and Álvaro Romero Reyes as responsible for 19 aggravated homicides and seven aggravated kidnappings of detainees who were taken from the Calama jail on October 19, 1973, and executed by firing squad in the area known as Topater.

According to the records, it has been established that "on October 19, 1973, an Army General, acting as a delegate officer of the Commander-in-Chief of the Government Junta, arrived at Infantry Regiment No. 15 in the city of Calama, accompanied by other Army officers, with the purpose of 'reviewing and accelerating the proceedings.' Once that task was completed, together with other officers from the same Calama Regiment, they removed the detainees Carlos Berger Guralnik, Haroldo Cabrera Abarzúa, Daniel Garrido Muñoz, Luis Alfonso Moreno Villarroel, David Ernesto Miranda Luna, Rafael Enrique Pineda Ibacache, Sergio Moisés Ramírez Espinoza, Domingo Mamani López, Bernardino Cayo Cayo, Manuel Segundo Hidalgo Rivas, Rosario Aguid Muñoz Castillo, Víctor Alfredo Ortega Cuevas, Jorge Rubén Yueng Rojas, Mario Argüelles Toro, Carlos Alfredo Escobedo Cariz, Luis Alberto Hernández Neira, Hernán Elizardo Moreno Villarroel, Carlos Alfonso Piñero Lucero, Fernando Roberto Ramírez Sánchez, Alejandro Rodríguez Rodríguez, José Gregorio Saavedra González, Jorge Jerónimo Carpanchay Choque, Luis Alberto Gaona Ochoa, José Rolando Hoyos Salazar, Milton Alfredo Muñoz Muñoz, and Roberto Segundo Rojas Alcayaga from the city's Public Jail, where they were being held by military authority, transported them in a truck to the area of the hills known as Topater, keeping them illegally deprived of their liberty, and shot them there using firearms, subsequently moving the remains to different locations with the purpose of preventing them from being found." Additionally, three former officials of the Chilean Navy were convicted in the first instance by the extraordinary visiting judge for human rights cases of the Concepción Court of Appeals, Carlos Aldana Fuentes, as perpetrators of the aggravated homicide of Tránsito Cabrera Ortiz, Miguel Ángel Catalán Febrero, and Héctor Lepe Moraga, crimes perpetrated on October 9, 1973, in the "Quebrada Honda" sector, on the road connecting Tomé with Concepción. Judge Aldana sentenced Patricio Enrique Salamanca Marín (60), a retired Navy private, to five years of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree, and retired non-commissioned officers Bernardo del Rosario Daza Navarro (66) and Juan Heraldo Maldonado Sanhueza (63) to effective sentences of 10 years and one day of major imprisonment in its medium degree. The investigation by Judge Aldana established that "(...) around 6:00 PM on October 9, 1973, a Naval patrol commanded by an Officer and composed of 4 to 6 Marine Corps Corporals from the DIM Aldea in Talcahuano arrived in a Navy truck at the Tomé Jail and, without a competent legal order, proceeded to remove Tránsito del Carmen Cabrera Ortiz, Miguel Ángel Catalán Febrero, and Héctor Manuel Lepe Moraga from said detention center, who had been sentenced days earlier to prison terms of 45 years, 23 years, and 10 years, respectively, by a War Council in case A 1 of the Talcahuano Naval Court, and who had been sent to said jail that day to serve their sentences." The members of the naval patrol transported the detainees "(...) along the road from Tomé to Concepción with the goal of eliminating them, for which they stopped on the right side of the road, in the sector known as 'Quebrada Honda,' proceeding to take the prisoners out, with the Patrol Chief ordering them to run toward the hill, immediately ordering the guards to shoot them in the back with their HK submachine guns, causing wounds that resulted in their death," the resolution maintains. It further adds that "the same patrol chief took a shotgun he was carrying in the truck's cabin and fired at the truck's canvas cover to make it appear that they had been attacked by extremists, reporting this to the press at the time. The perpetrators acted with treachery and from a position of safety in the execution of their victims, who were unarmed and completely at the mercy of their guards, during curfew hours and in an unpopulated area." The events described, according to Judge Aldana's ruling, "constitute the crimes of aggravated homicide, provided for and sanctioned in Article 391 No. 1, first circumstance of the Penal Code, against Tránsito Cabrera Ortiz, Miguel Ángel Catalán Febrero, and Héctor Lepe Moraga, in that armed and militarily trained individuals, with knowledge of their weapons, killed the aforementioned persons, who were unarmed and under their charge, shooting them in the back when they were forced to run, with no possibility of saving their lives, that is, acting with treachery."

Source: Radio.uchile.cl, September 11, 2013

Indictments issued for Calama episode in "Caravan of Death" case

Among the 26 people executed by firing squad was Carlos Berger Guralnik, husband of Carmen Hertz.

The visiting judge for human rights cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Patricia González, issued indictments against two retired Army members for their responsibility in the crimes of kidnapping and aggravated homicide in the case filed as "Caravan of Death, Calama episode." Magistrate González brought charges against Óscar Figueroa Márquez and Álvaro Romero Reyes as responsible for 19 aggravated homicides and seven aggravated kidnappings of detainees who were taken from the Calama jail on October 19, 1973, and executed by firing squad in the area known as Topater.

According to the records, it has been established that: "On October 19, 1973, an Army General, acting as a delegate officer of the Commander-in-Chief of the Government Junta, arrived at Infantry Regiment No. 15 in the city of Calama, accompanied by other Army officers, with the purpose of 'reviewing and accelerating the proceedings,' and once that task was completed, together with other officers from the same Calama Regiment, they removed the detainees: Carlos Berger Guralnik, Haroldo Cabrera Abarzúa, Daniel Garrido Muñoz, Luis Alfonso Moreno Villarroel, David Ernesto Miranda Luna, Rafael Enrique Pineda Ibacache, Sergio Moisés Ramírez Espinoza, Domingo Mamani López, Bernardino Cayo Cayo, Manuel Segundo Hidalgo Rivas, Rosario Aguid Muñoz Castillo, Víctor Alfredo Ortega Cuevas, Jorge Rubén Yueng Rojas, Mario Argüelles Toro, Carlos Alfredo Escobedo Cariz, Luis Alberto Hernández Neira, Hernán Elizardo Moreno Villarroel, Carlos Alfonso Piñero Lucero, Fernando Roberto Ramírez Sánchez, Alejandro Rodríguez Rodríguez, José Gregorio Saavedra González, Jorge Jerónimo Carpanchay Choque, Luis Alberto Gaona Ochoa, José Rolando Hoyos Salazar, Milton Alfredo Muñoz Muñoz, and Roberto Segundo Rojas Alcayaga from the city's Public Jail, where they were being held by military authority, transported them in a truck to the area of the hills known as Topater, keeping them illegally deprived of their liberty, and shot them there using firearms, subsequently moving the remains to different locations with the purpose of preventing them from being found." Likewise, through forensic procedures performed on skeletal remains found in the Topater sector and surrounding areas, it was possible to establish that said remains corresponded to "Mario Argüelles Toro, Carlos Alfredo Escobedo Cariz, Luis Alberto Hernández Neira, Hernán Elizardo Moreno Villarroel, Carlos Alfonso Piñero Lucero, Fernando Roberto Ramírez Sánchez, Alejandro Rodríguez Rodríguez, José Gregorio Saavedra González, Jorge Jerónimo Carpanchay Choque, Luis Alberto Gaona Ochoa, José Rolando Hoyos Salazar, Milton Alfredo Muñoz Muñoz, Roberto Segundo Rojas Alcayaga, Bernardino Cayo Cayo, Daniel Jacinto Garrido Muñoz, Domingo Mamani López, Jorge Rubén Yueng Rojas, Manuel Segundo Hidalgo Rivas, and Rosario Aguid Muñoz Castillo; while Carlos Berger Guralnik, Haroldo Cabrera, Luis Moreno, David Miranda, Rafael Pineda, Sergio Ramírez, and Víctor Ortega were transported to an unknown location, their whereabouts remaining unknown, a situation that persists to this date." According to the resolution, the events described constitute 19 crimes of aggravated homicide, provided for and sanctioned in Article 391 No. 1 of the Penal Code, in the text in force at the time the crimes were perpetrated, and seven aggravated kidnappings, provided for and sanctioned in Article 141, paragraphs 1 and 4 of the Penal Code, perpetrated in the Topater sector, Calama, on October 19, 1973.

Source: El Mostrador, September 11, 2013