Juan Angel Gallegos Gallegos, a tailor, community leader, and communist militant, was detained on October 16, 1973, along with numerous residents, by Carabineros and military personnel who raided the Población Sarmiento in the Renca district.

The uniformed officers participating in the operation ordered all men to gather around the soccer field located on Calle Puyehue. At that location, they asked for Juan Gallegos, who, upon identifying himself, was placed into a red pickup truck, apparently an official vehicle, and taken to the Renca Carabineros Station.

On the night of that same day, Hernán Castillo, a community leader from the sector, was detained by Carabineros; he was released days later and informed the family of the victim's presence at the aforementioned station.

This was not the case for Juan Gallegos, whose relatives began an intense search to find his whereabouts. They went to the Estadio Nacional, Estadio Chile, and other detention centers without success; they even searched the banks of the Canal de Renca, as several bodies had been found along its shore.

A Carabinero who lived in the Población Sarmiento told his family that Juan Gallegos had been executed on the same day of his detention, a claim that has never been verified. His family still does not know the fate that Juan Gallegos met at the hands of his captors.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On February 22, 1977, a complaint for alleged disappearance was filed before the 10th Criminal Court of Santiago, case file 4521, in which the circumstances of Juan Gallegos Gallegos's detention and his subsequent transfer to the Renca Station were set forth, where they had stated he was sent to the Estadio Nacional, which had been transformed into a prisoner camp at the time.

Various documents proving the identity of the affected party were attached to the filing. During the processing of the complaint, a negative response was received from the Ministry of the Interior, and in the order to investigate issued to the Investigative Service, the complainant was interviewed and ratified her statements, adding that Juan Gallegos was a long-time member of the Communist Party.

Emilio Bórquez Bozo was also interviewed; on that date, March 17, 1977, he was the appointed president of the Población Sarmiento Neighborhood Council. He stated that when the operation took place, he was in San Carlos, and upon his return, he learned that the reasons for the military operation were that weapons had been found stored in a safe, which had been thrown into the waters of the Canal La Punta, which passes along the southern side of the neighborhood.

Regarding Juan Gallegos, he said that he was a very rebellious subject and that, according to neighbors, he had tried to snatch the weapon from the officer in charge of the operation while the men were being checked on the soccer field.

Subsequently, Emilio Bórquez Bozo appeared before the Court, confirming his statements and adding that Gallegos was a communist militant. After receiving a negative report from the Carabineros, on April 1, 1977, Judge Carla Figueroa Hevia temporarily dismissed the case on the grounds that "the investigations carried out do not sufficiently prove the existence of the crime" that led to the formation of the summary proceedings.

On May 12, the Court of Appeals confirmed the dismissal order through consultation, despite the fact that there is no record in the proceedings that steps were taken to identify the detachment of Carabineros who were serving at the Renca Station on the date of the events in order to interrogate them about the presence of Juan Gallegos Gallegos in said police facility.

The anthropomorphic records of Juan Angel Gallegos Gallegos were attached to case 4449-AF of the 22nd Criminal Court of Santiago, for the crime of illegal burial in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery of unidentified persons who died between September and December 1973.

The investigating judge of the case ordered the excavation of 108 graves in September 1991. From there, 125 bodies were exhumed and sent to the Legal Medical Institute. Currently (late 1992), the forensic identification reports are pending.

Source: Rettig Report

The project will have a municipal investment of more than $100 million and already has authorization from the National Monuments Council. The mayor of the Renca district, Claudio Castro, announced, together with members of the Human Rights Coordinator, the construction of a memorial for victims of the civil-military dictatorship, which will be named the “Path of Memory.” The project, which was developed in conjunction with the district's human rights organization, will be located in the Plaza Mayor and was announced by the mayor in the context of the commemoration of the 49th anniversary of the coup d'état, on September 11. Castro valued the fulfillment of this commitment, which had been made a year ago, and detailed that “we already have funding, a design, and an execution plan for the Path of Memory. Next year, when we commemorate half a century since the military coup, we will have this long-awaited communal space of memory in the Plaza Mayor of our district, because the respect and promotion of human rights is at the heart of our municipal management, and it must also be at the heart of Renca.” The future work consists of a wall that incorporates plaques with the names of those executed, along with another that incorporates the names of the forcibly disappeared. The names will be illuminated from the floor, with a separate connection to the plaza's electrical system. Likewise, the project will have a municipal investment of more than $100 million and already has authorization from the National Monuments Council. “We are deeply proud of this announcement because monuments are symbols of collective recognition that allow us to do some justice to those who have not received it, to begin healing past wounds, to reconnect, and, above all, they stand as permanent guides for future action,” added the mayor. Alberto Rodríguez, representative of the organization “Renca en Pie,” valued the management of the project's future installation. “With this, a tribute is paid to the life and struggle to improve the living conditions of men and women who opposed the Dictatorship, and who, for this reason, suffered political execution or forced disappearance. Without a doubt, it is a contribution to the symbolic reparation of the relatives of the victims of State Terrorism exercised by the Dictatorship, and a great tool to contribute to the Pedagogy of Memory and with it contribute as a Guarantee of Non-Repetition,” he declared.

Source: eldesconcierto.cl 9/15/2022

Date: 09-15-2022

Patio 29 used to be used for the burial of the indigent, psychiatric patients, and people who died without being identified (NN). However, between September 1973 and January 1974, its graves were used to hide victims of repression as NN.

Javiera Bustamante and Stephan Ruderer reconstruct the painful history of the place, using testimonies from the relatives of the forcibly disappeared, letters, documents, and other sources. The book also accounts for the arduous process of identification and delivery of the bodies, as well as the irregularities that characterized these proceedings.

The powerful photographs that illustrate the volume were taken by visual artist Mara Daruich.

Source: ocholibros.cl no date