Minister Álvaro Mesa indicts seven former uniformed officers for illegal coercion.

The Minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights cases of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, indicted seven retired officials of the Army and Carabineros as co-authors of the crime of illegal coercion, perpetrated in the commune of Galvarino, Cautín province, in 1973.

In his resolution, the Magistrate indicted and ordered the pretrial detention of the former uniformed officers: Gonzalo Baldemar Soto Sandoval, Luis Alberto Araneda Gutiérrez, Felidor del Carmen Morales Flores, Carlos del Tránsito Parra Rodríguez, Luis Gerardo Ibacache Salamanca, Manuel Gustavo Sandoval Cifuentes, and Erasmo Alberto Fuentes Sepúlveda, for their responsibility in the torture applied against 11 inhabitants of the sector, crimes perpetrated between September and October 1973.

According to the evidence gathered in the investigation, Minister Mesa was able to prove that “subsequent to September 11, 1973, the Galvarino Carabineros Station, which at the time had a staff of at least sixteen officers, was reinforced by a military contingent from the 'La Concepción' Regiment of Lautaro, carrying out joint patrols through the city and the rural area under the aforementioned police unit (…).

According to the accounts collected in this process from people who were deprived of liberty in Galvarino and from some conscript soldiers of the 'La Concepción' Regiment of Lautaro, who reinforced the staff of that city's station, the Galvarino Carabineros proceeded to systematically torture the detainees who were inside that police unit, with Lieutenant Enrique Arturo Zepeda Ramírez, in charge of the unit, some corporals, and other Carabineros standing out in such activities.

The torture consisted of the application of electric shocks, beatings, whippings, and mock executions, while they were asked about weapons and the names of members of any combatant group. The resolution added that, during the months of September and October 1973, the Galvarino Carabineros went at night to different rural homes in the aforementioned commune, which they proceeded to raid and physically coerce those found inside, whether they were men, women, or minors.

While proceeding in this manner, they shouted that 'now they were in charge.'” The eleven victims of said crimes correspond to Jorge Carol Contreras Villagra, José Armando Llanos Jorquera, Segundo Daniel Llanos Jorquera, José Ernesto Millalén Otárola, Carlino Segundo Ñiripil Paillao, Rubén Calvillán Ortiz, Rosa Amelia Lizama Huaiquimil, Victorino Collío Millanao, Bruno Nahuel Melín, Francisco Paillal Llevul, and Héctor Rosauro Ñiripil Paillao.

Source: Judiciary, October 29, 2014

7 retired uniformed officers convicted for illegal coercion during the dictatorship

Seven retired Army and Carabineros personnel were convicted for illegal coercion against ten people, events that occurred in Galvarino, Araucanía region, between September and October 1973, with the State also being ordered to pay a multi-million peso indemnity.

The minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights violation cases of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, sentenced: Felidor del Carmen Flores Morales, to a single penalty of 3 years and one day in prison for his responsibility as the author of 7 crimes of illegal coercion and to 3 sentences of 20 days in prison as an accomplice in 3 cases.

Manuel Gustavo Sandoval Cifuentes, Luis Alberto Araneda Gutiérrez, and Carlos del Tránsito Parra Rodríguez, to a single penalty of 3 years in prison for their responsibility as the author of 5 crimes of illegal coercion and 5 sentences of 20 days in prison for their responsibility as accomplices in 5 cases.

Luis Gerardo Ibacache Salamanca and Gonzalo Baldemar Soto Sandoval, to 5 sentences of 20 days in prison for their responsibility as accomplices in 5 cases of coercion and 5 sentences of 20 days for their responsibility as accessories to another 5 cases.

Erasmo Alberto Fuentes Sepúlveda, to 6 sentences of 60 days in prison for his responsibility as the author of illegal coercion against an equal number of prisoners and to 4 fines of 10 Monthly Tax Units for his responsibility as an accomplice to coercion against other prisoners.

The magistrate granted Erasmo Alberto Fuentes Sepúlveda, Gonzalo Baldemar Soto Sandoval, and Luis Ibacache Salamanca the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence for a period of one year, and to Luis Araneda Gutiérrez, Carlos Parra Rodríguez, Manuel Gustavo Sandoval Cifuentes, and Felidor Morales Flores, the benefit of intensive supervised release for a period of four years.

In the civil aspect, the minister ordered the State to pay the sum of 135 million pesos as compensation for damages, for moral injury resulting from the crime of illegal coercion, in amounts distributed in the sentence.

Source: biobiochile.cl, August 29, 2016

Temuco Court reduces sentence for retired Carabineros members for homicides in the commune of Galvarino.

The appellate court reduced the sentence for Manuel Gustavo Sandoval Cifuentes, Felidor del Carmen Morales Flores, and Carlos del Tránsito Parra Rodríguez to 15 years and one day in prison. In a unanimous ruling, the Temuco Court of Appeals reduced the sentence for 7 retired Carabineros members for their responsibility in the homicides of Segundo Lepín Antilef, Juan Nahuel Huaquimil, Julio Ñirripil Paillao, Juan Levío Llaupe, Víctor Yanquín Tropa, and Heriberto Collío Naín, crimes committed in October 1973, in the commune of Galvarino.

The appellate court reduced the sentence for Manuel Gustavo Sandoval Cifuentes, Felidor del Carmen Morales Flores, and Carlos del Tránsito Parra Rodríguez to 15 years and one day in prison. Likewise, the sentence for Erasmo Alberto Fuentes Sepúlveda was reduced to 10 years and one day in prison.

Along with this, it maintained the 5-year prison sentence, with the benefit of supervised release, for Gonzalo Baldemar Soto Sandoval, Luis Gerardo Ibacache Salamanca, and Luis Alberto Araneda Gutiérrez.

During the investigation stage, the Minister on assignment for human rights cases of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, considered the following facts proven: That at the beginning of October 1973, at night, a Carabineros patrol from the Galvarino Station under the orders of Sergeant Arturo Lizama Pulgar and also composed of at least one Carabineros Corporal from the staff of the indicated unit, went to the Levío Indigenous Community located in the Panco sector, Galvarino – Lautaro Road, where the members of this patrol proceeded to violently raid a home and where Andrés Lorenzo Levío Malo and Segundo Levío Llaupe were detained, apparently without carrying a judicial order authorizing them for such an act. The group of captors led the detainees along the local road toward Galvarino to the Huallepenco ravine sector of the Miripi Community, where they proceeded to execute the detainee Segundo Levío Llaupe using their firearms, leaving his body in that place. Also during the month of October 1973, a Carabineros patrol from the Galvarino Station under the orders of Sergeant Arturo Lizama Pulgar and composed of at least one Corporal and five Carabineros from the staff of the indicated unit, in addition to an Army Corporal belonging to the "La Concepción" Regiment of Lautaro, traveled for two days through the indigenous communities of the Llufquentúe sector of the commune of Galvarino with the purpose of locating, detaining, and eliminating people, apparently without carrying a judicial order authorizing them for such an act. This patrol was supplied with provisions during that period at the home of Alfredo Acuña, who was a wealthy farmer in the area and provided collaboration to both the Carabineros and the Army. That on the night of October 7 or 8, 1973, the aforementioned patrol arrived at the Huilcaleo Community sector, proceeding to violently raid the home of the 63-year-old farmer Heriberto Collío Naín, who lived with his son Victorino Collío Millanao, whom they took out to the patio of the house to subsequently beat Collío Naín severely until causing him significant damage. Immediately thereafter, the Carabinero Lizama used his carbine against Collío Naín, causing his death as a result of the bullet impacts he received, leaving his body dumped at the scene. Subsequently, Victorino Collío Millanao was beaten and ordered to bury his father's corpse immediately. Finally, they forced him to flee and immediately opened fire on him while he was running, without succeeding in killing him. The next morning, Collío Naín's corpse was found by his son Victorino Collío Millanao, who returned to the place accompanied by neighbors from the sector. His father's body showed a fracture in the skull, multiple contusions all over the body, and three bullet impacts. Subsequently, the corpse was recovered by the neighbors and relatives themselves, being illegally buried in the indigenous cemetery of Mina Huimpil, Galvarino commune. Furthermore, it is considered that on the night of October 7, 1973, Segundo Lepín Antilaf, 30 years old, a small farmer from the Mañiuco sector, was taken from the home he shared with his wife Mercedes Millalén Antilao and his young children by a patrol of Carabineros and soldiers who hit him on the back of the neck and tied his hands behind his back. To carry out this action, the members of the patrol proceeded to kick down the front door of the house and climb onto the roof of the dwelling. In addition, they asked the victim's wife for all the documents she possessed, after which they burned them in the patio of the house. Mercedes Millalén Antilao was able to recognize Carabineros Lizama and Pérez among the members of the patrol. Subsequently, the uniformed officers took Segundo Lepín Antilao to the home of Lucila del Carmen Millalén Antilao with the object of searching for her husband, Pedro Lepín Ñirripil, the victim's cousin, who was not at the house. In that place, Carabineros Lizama and Pérez, members of the patrol, executed Segundo Lepín Antilaf in the presence of the rest of the uniformed officers who accompanied them, shooting him once in the chest and once in the stomach, leaving his body lying in a low-lying area. Lepín Antilaf's wife and father went to the Galvarino Station to request burial permits, being rebuked by Lieutenant Enrique Arturo Zepeda Ramírez and the other Carabineros who were in the police unit, being threatened by the commanding officer with burning the body if they did not bury it immediately, which they did in the indigenous cemetery of Mañuco, Galvarino commune. That on the night of October 7, 1973, Juan Segundo Nahuel Huaiquimil, 23 years old, a small farmer, was taken from his father's home at night by a patrol of Carabineros and soldiers, among whom Sergeant Lizama, Carabinero Pérez, and a Corporal could be identified, all from the staff of the Galvarino Station, who after raiding the house and beating its occupants, proceeded to execute the victim by firing their service weapons at him. Later, relatives of Segundo Nahuel Huaiquimil buried him in the Juan Cariqueo cemetery, in the Llufquentúe sector of Galvarino. Julio Augusto Ñirripil Paillao, 16 years old, a small farmer from the Huilcaleo Community, was taken from his parents' home in the early hours of October 7, 1973, by a patrol of Carabineros and soldiers among whom Corporal Lizama, Carabinero Pérez, and another Carabineros Corporal were recognized, all from the staff of the Galvarino Station. The uniformed officers entered the home and proceeded to beat the victim while asking him about the location of weapons. Subsequently, the parents, siblings, and the victim were taken to the exterior of the dwelling where they were all beaten by the members of the uniformed patrol, after which they took Ñirripil Paillao to a remote place where he was executed through the action of the firearms carried by the Carabineros, this being observed by the Army Corporal who was a short distance away. After the patrol withdrew from the place and once it dawned, the victim's family, helped by neighbors, proceeded to examine the corpse, which showed two bullet impacts in the chest and in the lower part of the abdomen, to subsequently bury him in the Andrés Cariqueo indigenous cemetery of the Llufquentúe sector of Galvarino. Víctor Yanquín Tropa, a small farmer from the Huilcaleo Community, around 03:00 a.m. on October 7 or 8, 1973, was taken from his home by a patrol of Carabineros and soldiers who raided the house and proceeded to beat the victim, taking him to a remote sector, where he was executed through the action of firearms. Hours later, Yanquín Tropa's relatives found his body, being able to notice that he had multiple bullet impacts and a deep wound on his head and neck. After being waked at his home, Yanquín Tropa's corpse was buried in the San Luis cemetery of the Llufquentúe sector of Galvarino.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl, June 18, 2018