A constant in the training of Chilean military personnel has been anti-communism. This has often led them to align themselves with anti-popular positions. On rare occasions have the military supported progressive governments.

From the anti-communist—and generally anti-leftist—preaching, they moved on to action, as demonstrated by the massacres in which they have participated throughout history and, above all, the somewhat more recent actions during the Pinochet dictatorship.

We provide two examples, one referring to words and the other to deeds. A connecting element between both is the affiliation of the uniformed men—the one who speaks and those who act—to the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, as the two episodes are separated by fifty years.

In the September 1923 edition of La Bandera, a monthly army magazine aimed at non-commissioned officers and troops, an article was published by Olivero Segundo Muñoz, a non-commissioned officer of the Tucapel Regiment.

Its title: “The Army and Communism.” It stated: “The communists, those men who know neither homeland nor borders, do not miss an opportunity to smear with their filthy slime the reputation of the men in uniform who, in many respects, are far above them, false apostles, true pariahs of humanity.” It added: “The army is indispensable to watch over the integrity of the territory, maintain internal order, and ensure respect for the laws of the government, whatever its constitution may be.” And further on, it maintained: “The army constitutes the only impartial institution capable of maintaining order and respect for authority, in accordance with its honorable traditions.” Most certainly, when non-commissioned officer Muñoz spoke of “its honorable traditions,” he was not referring to the 17 massacres perpetrated by army personnel against Chilean workers between 1903 and 1923. Nor could he have known that exactly 50 years after the publication of his article, the army—together with the other branches of national defense—would carry out a peculiar way of maintaining “order and respect for authority” by overthrowing the government of Salvador Allende. Let us now turn to the actions. In non-commissioned officer Muñoz’s regiment, the Tucapel in Temuco, one of the many false confrontations staged by personnel of that “impartial institution,” the army, took place. It occurred on the night of November 10, 1973. In that operation, seven communists were murdered: Florentino Alberto Molina Ruiz, 44 years old, a laborer, member of the central committee and regional secretary of the PC (Communist Party) of Cautín, and Carlos Aillañir Huenchal, a 57-year-old agricultural laborer. The other five were young communists: Juan Antonio Chávez Rivas, 29 years old, of the central committee of the JJ.CC. (Communist Youth) and regional secretary of that entity; Juan Carlos Ruiz Mancilla, 21 years old; Amador Montero Mosquera; and Pedro Juan Mardones Jofré. The four were students at the Universidad Técnica del Estado, Temuco campus. The fifth young man, Víctor Hugo Valenzuela Velázquez, 22 years old, worked as a public employee. Along with these seven, two other militants were detained: the teacher Raúl Buholzer Matamala and the university student Herman Carrasco Paul. The nine were tortured by Captain Nelson Ubilla Toledo; Lieutenants Manuel Vásquez Chaguán and Jaime García Covarrubias; Raimundo García Covarrubias; an officer with the surname Espinoza; a sergeant with the surname Moreno; and the conscript Juan Carrillo. These torture sessions were witnessed by the commander of the Tucapel Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse. On the evening of November 10, 1973, Herman Carrasco and Raúl Buholzer were transferred to the Temuco jail. That saved their lives. Herman Carrasco became an active and tireless fighter, making known the truth of what happened in that regiment so that justice might be served. Both the Diario Austral of Temuco and El Mercurio, as well as the rest of the media, disseminated the army’s version: “Seven terrorists who attempted to blow up the powder magazine of the Tucapel Regiment in Temuco were killed at the scene during a skirmish with soldiers of said unit. A group estimated at twenty extremists approached the Prat bus stop in Temuco, firing at the guard protecting the powder magazine. Also, according to witness reports, they attempted at that moment to throw incendiary bombs and Molotov cocktails inside the regiment, while another group protected their actions with automatic weapons. The event shocked Temuco because it happened during curfew hours.” Questions arise: Is it possible that during curfew hours twenty people could move through the streets carrying automatic weapons and bombs? Is it possible that at that time there could be witnesses in the streets and, above all, in the surroundings of a regiment? The National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation rejected the official version. The Rettig Report maintains: “This Commission cannot consider the official version plausible.” It gives reasons for this: there could not have been a confrontation without any casualties or injuries among the military personnel; there is clear evidence that the victims were tortured, as three death certificates indicate the cause of death as “cranial-encephalic attrition,” that is, crushing of the skull. The Rettig Report emphasizes: “The most conclusive evidence for this Commission is that multiple witnesses and background information gathered prove that the victims had been in the Tucapel Regiment for several days. This makes it impossible for them to have attempted to penetrate the rear of the regiment armed with explosives, as indicated in the official version. Based on all the evidence presented, the Commission reaches the conviction that the seven individuals identified were executed by State agents, in violation of their human rights.” November 10 marked 30 years since that crime perpetrated by members of the army. Among those responsible, we can mention, in addition to Pinochet, General Hernán Ramírez Ramírez, intendant of the province of Cautín; Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse, commander of the Tucapel Regiment; Major Luis Cofré, military prosecutor; Alfonso Podlech Michaud, legal advisor to the Military Prosecutor’s Office; Captain Nelson Ubilla Toledo, head of the Military Intelligence Service; Lieutenant Jaime García Covarrubias; and Sergeant Orlando Moreno.

Source: Punto Final - Edition 557, December 4, 2003

Chilean military officer working at the Pentagon is accused of torturing prisoners

This was stated this Monday by sources from the trial involving former Brigadier Jaime García Covarrubias, who works as a professor of National Security Affairs at the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies in the United States.

A retired Army brigadier, who was part of the secret police of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship and who has worked in Washington since 2001, attached to the Pentagon, was accused of having been a torturer who forced his victims to commit sexual aberrations.

This was stated this Monday by sources from the trial involving former Brigadier Jaime García Covarrubias, who works as a professor of National Security Affairs at the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies in the United States.

In the proceedings, former prisoners and also former military personnel who were his subordinates accuse García Covarrubias of having acted with “cruelty and inhuman treatment” against detainees and the soldiers of the “Tucapel” regiment in Temuco themselves.

García Covarrubias, who at the end of 1974 became an instructor of agents in interrogation and repression techniques and who in the final years of the military regime was part of Pinochet’s inner circle, holding positions in two ministries, is listed as an “accused” in the case being investigated in Temuco for crimes against humanity.

Among them is the murder of six communist militants that occurred on November 10, 1973, covered up as a false attack on the barracks, as the victims were being held in the same regiment. At that time, García served in the Tucapel with the rank of lieutenant.

The charges and background information incriminating him are formulated in at least 25 statements signed by former detainees and military personnel, documents to which Efe had access, in the case being investigated by the judge of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Fernando Carreño.

Members of the Human Rights Commission of the Chamber of Deputies will ask this week, through the United States Embassy in Santiago, that the U.S. Department of Defense remove García Covarrubias from his duties.

According to the trial records, the crimes of which García is accused were committed after the 1973 military coup, when he was part of the regiment’s Headquarters Company, also integrating, with another group of soldiers, the Section II Intelligence unit of the barracks.

According to the proceedings and the witnesses, both entities were in charge of the prisoners held in the regiment. At that time, Jaime García also served on the War Councils against political prisoners, which have been discredited by both Chilean and international courts.

Last September, García had to travel to Chile by order of the Justice system to be interrogated and subjected to confrontations with former prisoners and military personnel. During the proceeding, former detainee Herman Carrasco accused him of having tortured him along with other prisoners. “Officer Jaime García Covarrubias began to beat us and, naked, forced us to perform sodomitic acts, without success,” declared Carrasco.

García denied the accusation. Another former detainee, Víctor Maturana, testified that “of my torturers, I was able to identify Captain Nelson Ubilla and Lieutenants Manuel Vásquez Chahuán and Jaime García Covarrubias.” Former soldier Héctor Barra Reyes declared judicially that “I know for a fact that Captain Nelson Ubilla and the García Covarrubias brothers interrogated the detainees in the place where they tortured them,” and adds that this was committed “mainly by the one named Jaime.” Captain Ubilla was the boss of brothers Jaime and Raimundo García, both in the Headquarters Company and in the Section II Intelligence unit. According to former soldier Oscar Inostroza, “Lieutenant Jaime García stood out for his cruelty and inhuman treatment toward the detainees and the conscripts themselves.” The same charge was formulated by former soldier Enrique Moreno: “Of Lieutenant Jaime García, I remember his cruelty toward the prisoners.” Regarding the crime of the six communists, Inostroza declares that “what happened that night was an execution of detainees, it being the generalized comment among the conscripts that officers Jaime and Raimundo García Covarrubias and Norberto Uribe Moroni had participated.” However, the current professor at the Pentagon’s Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies maintains in his procedural statements that “there were no people detained in the regiment” and that the death of the six communists occurred in a “confrontation.” In his judicial statements, García acknowledges that he belonged to the DINA, the dictatorship’s secret police, serving as an instructor of agents in interrogation and counterintelligence techniques, for which he received several commendations in his service record.

Source: El Mostrador, December 13, 2010

Pre-trial detention for 25 people for qualified homicide and illegal coercion during the dictatorship

Retired Army members, retired police officers, and civilians were prosecuted for crimes of qualified homicide and illegal coercion that occurred in November 1973 in the city of Temuco. The visiting minister of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, issued an indictment against 25 people for various crimes of qualified homicide and illegal coercion that occurred in November 1973 in the city of Temuco.

The magistrate prosecuted retired Army members, retired police officers, and civilians for their responsibility in the crimes of qualified homicide and illegal coercion applied to Florentino Molina Ruiz, Juan Chávez Rivas, Víctor Valenzuela Velásquez, Juan Carlos Ruiz Mancilla, Amador Montero Mosquera, Pedro Mardones Jofré, and Carlos Ailañir Huenchual, events that took place on the premises of the No. 8 “Tucapel” Regiment of Temuco.

The prosecution affects

1.- Jaime García Covarrubias. As perpetrator of qualified homicide and illegal coercion of the 7 people. 2.- Raimundo García Covarrubias. As perpetrator of qualified homicide and illegal coercion of the 7 people. 3.- Pablo Gran López.

As perpetrator of qualified homicide and illegal coercion of the 7 people. 4.- Mario Arias Díaz. As perpetrator of qualified homicide and illegal coercion of the 7 people. 5.- Carlos Oviedo Arriagada. As perpetrator of the crimes of qualified homicide of the 7 victims and accomplice to illegal coercion. 6.- Norberto Uribe Moroni.

As perpetrator of the crimes of qualified homicide of the 7 victims and accomplice to illegal coercion. 7.- Pedro Tichauer Salcedo. As perpetrator of the crimes of qualified homicide of the 7 victims and accomplice to illegal coercion. 8.- Romilio Lavín Muñoz.

As perpetrator of the crimes of qualified homicide of the 7 victims and accomplice to illegal coercion. 9.- Juan Labraña Luvecce. As perpetrator of the crimes of qualified homicide of the 7 victims and accomplice to illegal coercion. 10.- Orlando Moreno Vásquez.

As accomplice to the qualified homicides of the 7 people and perpetrator of the crimes of illegal coercion. 11.- Aquiles Poblete Müller. As accomplice to the qualified homicides of the 7 people and perpetrator of the crimes of illegal coercion. 12.- Raúl Schonherr Frías.

As accomplice to the qualified homicides of the 7 people and perpetrator of the crimes of illegal coercion. 13.- Daniel San Juan Clavería. As accomplice to the qualified homicides of the 7 people and perpetrator of the crimes of illegal coercion. 14.- Omar Burgos Dejean.

As accomplice to the qualified homicides of the 7 people and perpetrator of the crimes of illegal coercion. 15.- Alfonso Podlech Michaud. As accomplice to the qualified homicides of the 7 people and perpetrator of the crimes of illegal coercion. 16.- Hernán Quiroz Barra.

As accomplice to the qualified homicides of the 7 people and perpetrator of the crimes of illegal coercion. 17.- Manuel Campos Ceballos. As perpetrator of the qualified homicides of 7 people. 18.- Juan Carlos Concha Belmar.

As perpetrator of the qualified homicides of 7 people. 19.- Sergio Vallejos Garcés. As perpetrator of the qualified homicides of 7 people. 20.- Gabriel Dittus Marín. As perpetrator of the qualified homicides of 7 people. 21.- Héctor Villablanca Huenulao.

As perpetrator of the qualified homicides of 7 people. 22.- Juan Carrillo Rebolledo. As perpetrator of the illegal coercion of the 7 people. 23.- Libardo Schwartenski Rubio. As perpetrator of the illegal coercion of the 7 people. 24.- José Insunza Reyes.

As perpetrator of the illegal coercion of the 7 people. 25.- Hernán Ramírez Ramírez. As accomplice to the illegal coercion of the 7 people. In the case of the convicted Jaime and Raimundo García Covarrubias, Gran López, Arias Díaz, Oviedo Arriagada, Uribe Moroni, Tichauer Salcedo, Lavín Muñoz, Labraña Luvecce, Moreno Vásquez, Schonherr Frías, Podlech Michaud, Schwartenski Rubio, and Ramírez Ramírez, it was ordered that they enter pre-trial detention at the No. 8 “Tucapel” Regiment of Temuco.

The accused Burgos Dejean must serve pre-trial detention at the 2nd Police Station of Temuco. Likewise, the accused Poblete Müller, San Juan Clavería, Quiroz Barra, Campos Ceballos, Concha Belmar, Vallejos Garcés, Dittus Marín, Insunza Reyes, Villablanca Huenulao, and Carrillo Rebolledo must serve pre-trial detention at the Public Jail of Temuco.

Source: radio.uchile.cl, November 13, 2013

Early on the morning of Friday, March 7, the former minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Alejandro Solís, learned that he would no longer be able to continue collaborating with the seven ministers designated in Santiago to work full-time on the hundreds of pending cases regarding crimes and torture committed during the dictatorship.

He lasted in his position for only one month. A period that illustrates the strength that the military still maintains to ensure their interests prevail. Because, in strict terms, what happened with Solís is only a fringe of the pressure that began from within the Army itself when, last November, a retired general was prosecuted and charged—the brother of General Humberto Oviedo Arriagada, who has just assumed the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

The ruling issued by the minister of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa, fell like a bomb within the Army. There were 25 military personnel and civilians whom Mesa prosecuted and charged for the murder of five university students, a worker, and a farmer—all communists—on the night of November 10, 1973.

And among them was retired General Carlos Eduardo Oviedo Arriagada, accused of being the material author of the seven qualified homicides and an accomplice to the torture to which the "prisoners" were subjected.

By then, it was already a fact that his brother, Humberto Oviedo, would be appointed by President Piñera as the new head of the Army, which was made official just ten days later: on November 19.

A first glimpse of military pressure fell upon Supreme Court Minister Hugo Dolmestch, national coordinator of human rights cases since June 2012. Consulted by CIPER, Dolmestch denied having been pressured, but acknowledged that he called Minister Álvaro Mesa, as the latter "refused to receive the military side to coordinate, as has always been done, through the CAE (Army Administrative Command) and the military police, the transfer of the prosecuted uniformed personnel to the respective court."

From Temuco, Minister Álvaro Mesa acknowledged having received that call, but pointed out: "It is not true that I refused to receive the military side. In fact, they never requested an audience with me.

I had asked the three police officers who work here on these cases to coordinate that transfer. When Minister Dolmestch called me, I agreed to what he requested because the essential part had already been done: the prosecutions and the charges."

Minister Mesa says he did not find out until days after issuing his ruling that one of the main defendants was the brother of the new Commander-in-Chief. And Minister Dolmestch did not want to reveal how he found out that the brother of the new Army chief had been prosecuted and refused to identify to whom he expressed the complaint.

He also did not explain why he called Minister Mesa, since it is not among his powers to intervene in the measures adopted by each of the 32 judges throughout the country who are dedicated to this function with full authority over their actions.

What is a fact is that in the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, where Minister Hugo Dolmestch has his seat, the Army auditor, Waldo Martínez, also has his place, joining it only when cases arriving from the Court Martial are heard in that chamber. A proximity that facilitates communication.

A DELAY WITHOUT EXPLANATION

Following the intervention of Minister Dolmestch, the military personnel prosecuted by Minister Álvaro Mesa in Temuco were transferred with all the care required by the Army to the Temuco Court. Once notified that the minister's ruling denied them provisional release—considering them "a danger to society"—the defendants were taken to the Tucapel Regiment, awaiting the result of the appeal.

As was foreseeable, all were released a few days later by resolution of the Temuco Court.

But no one explains why murders that were disguised as extremist attacks, where there was premeditation, torture, and summary executions, devoid of all legality even in a period of war, took 40 years to obtain a ruling that would deliver justice.

Moreover, if that ruling had been issued three years earlier, one of the defendants, former military prosecutor Alfonso Podlech, would have had to face more severe situations in the Italian justice system.

One of the reasons that could explain that delay is that several of the accused military personnel went on to occupy general and high-command positions in the Army. And also, that opening that floodgate implies immersing oneself in the complicity that Judicial Branch officials in that area, who built their careers there, had with impunity.

Another fact illustrates the anomaly of this situation in the Temuco jurisdiction: Minister Álvaro Mesa, dedicated exclusively to human rights violation cases in the Temuco Court of Appeals, holds the record for cases filed in 2013 in the entire country: 50. The person who follows him is Minister Mario Carroza, of the Santiago Court of Appeals, with 49.

The murder of the seven people was carried out shortly before midnight on November 10. The following day, their families would learn through a military communiqué published in the press that the seven men were part of an extremist group and died while attempting to raid the ammunition depot located in the "Isla Cautín" sector.

The version was false from beginning to end, but ratified to the press and the families of the seven victims by the regiment commander, Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse. And expanded in the following days with details of how, in a heroic action, the Tucapel Regiment contingent managed to repel the attack to subsequently go out in search of the "extremists" who managed to flee.

The message was clear: extremists were roaming the city. And there would later be other deaths, also coldly executed during the night, which were again passed off as deaths in an "attempted escape" or "extremist attack."

There was nothing heroic in the action deployed by the Tucapel Regiment contingent in 1973. Killing men who were tied up, mutilated, and at the limit of their strength due to the application of electricity and beatings is not worthy of appearing in any logbook of courage and bravery. But that was the version that was profusely disseminated by the press and that traveled the streets of Temuco.

The testimonies of those who were also prisoners in the Tucapel Regiment, who managed to get out alive and claimed to have seen the "ammunition depot extremists" in very poor physical condition prior to the alleged assault, were of no use.

No one listened to them. Neither did the courts, where judicial personnel on special assignment in the military prosecutor's office, in charge of the interrogations, exerted their influence to deny justice.

What no one can explain is how the murderers and their accomplices maintained the threads of power and managed to make 40 years pass so that, finally, a judge in Temuco would deliver justice and clarify step by step how that false attack on the "Isla Cautín" ammunition depot occurred.

TORTURE AT THE TUCAPEL REGIMENT

The military took control of Temuco on September 11, 1973, with the commander of the Tucapel Infantry Regiment, Colonel Pablo Iturriaga, being appointed governor of the city. That same day, the regional Military Prosecutor's Office was put into operation, headed by Major Luis Jofré Soto, reinforced by clerks and a rapporteur from the Court of Appeals of that city, who had been appointed to that function on "special assignment."

The primary role in the trials and proceedings that began was held by the lawyer Alfonso Podlech Michaud, who was later the military prosecutor of Temuco. Podlech was arrested in 2008 by the Italian justice system, accused of serious human rights violations.

After remaining detained and held in that country, he was released in 2011 and was able to return to Chile. Until the last minute, he denied having participated in the torture and murder of opponents of the military regime. The ruling by Minister Álvaro Mesa indicates that he failed to tell the truth.

Returning to November 1973, Podlech was one of the protagonists of the new military power in Temuco, in which the Intelligence Section of the Tucapel Regiment, headed by Captain Nelson Ubilla Toledo, played a key role, to which personnel from the Carabineros and Investigations were added.

Its members conducted the interrogations of the large number of prisoners who very soon overflowed the local jail and the facilities of the regiment itself.

For those interrogations, two special places were set up inside the Tucapel Regiment: a site located between the Headquarters and Mortar companies; and a gymnasium located to the side of the area designated for the conscripts' mess hall.

The investigation carried out by Minister Álvaro Mesa was able to determine that torture took place in both facilities. The testimonies coincide: the prisoners were tied up and electricity was applied to different parts of their bodies, "in addition to applying other types of torment with kicks and punches." Most of the regiment's officers and some regular soldiers participated in the interrogations.

Some soldiers and conscripts of the Second Hunters Company of the Tucapel Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Manuel Vásquez Chahuán, played an important role in the custody and torture applied to the prisoners.

The group was named the "Chacal Patrol" and was placed under the command of Second Lieutenant Manuel Espinoza Ponce. Vásquez Chahuán continued to rise in the Army, carrying with him the fame he acquired as one of the important members of the DINA, an organization in which he was part of two of its most brutal brigades: the Mulchén and the Purén.

In those months of late 1973 and early 1974, an undetermined number of people were murdered inside the Tucapel Regiment, among whom is the group that motivated the prosecution and charging of the brother of the current Army Commander-in-Chief and 24 other military personnel and civilians.

The seven men murdered on November 10, 1973, are: Florentino Molina Ruiz, who was missing an arm due to a work accident and who was taken from his home and brought to the Tucapel Regiment on November 6, 1973; Juan Antonio Chávez Rivas, a student at the then State Technical University (UTE, today Usach), who was also taken to the regiment on the same date; Víctor Hugo Valenzuela Velásquez, arrested at his workplace at the Real Estate Registrar of Temuco and taken as a prisoner to the regiment on November 7; Juan Carlos Ruiz Mancilla, a Civil Construction student at the UTE, who was arrested at his family home in Punta Arenas and flown to Temuco, entering the regiment on November 7; Amador Montero Mosquera, an Electrical Engineering student at the UTE, arrested at his home and taken to the regiment on November 7; Pedro Mardones Jofré, a UTE student, arrested at his home and also transferred to the regiment; and Carlos Aillañir Huenchual, a farmer, arrested by a military patrol at his brother's house in the town of Quepe.

Minister Mesa's investigation, in which even Bishop Bernardino Piñera testified, established the sequence of what actually happened that night. The unusual movement began around 11:00 PM on November 10, 1973.

The seven "prisoners" mentioned above were huddled in a small gymnasium inside the Tucapel Regiment. They were guarded by members of the "Chacal Patrol." Everyone was in terrible physical condition. To the point that the student Pedro Mardones, one of whose hands was very damaged, was unable to hold the glass of water that a conscript from the Hunters Company offered him (testimony of the conscript himself).

Suddenly, the company commander, Vásquez Chahuán, and his second-in-command of the Hunters, burst into the facility, surrounded by other uniformed personnel from the regiment. The engine of a truck drowned out the voices of command as it parked at the entrance to the small gymnasium.

Vásquez Chahuán's order was peremptory. One by one, the "prisoners" were loaded onto the truck. Their guards also boarded. Their bosses would do so in a jeep. Everyone would leave in a caravan heading for the entrance of the Tucapel Regiment.

SHOTS DIRECTLY TO THE HEAD

Shortly after, the procession arrived at the sector called "Isla Cautín." And at the shooting range, they would be executed by the members of the patrol. Without wasting time, they collected the bodies, which were taken to the morgue, where an autopsy was performed on them.

That of Florentino Molina, the worker who had lost an arm in a work accident, concluded that he died from a "cranial-encephalic explosion" caused by multiple projectiles. The others are similar.

Forty years later, with only two days left until the anniversary of that massacre, Minister Álvaro Mesa charged 25 military personnel and civilians as authors and accomplices in the murder of the seven alleged attackers of the ammunition depot and the torture to which they were subjected.

Among the authors of the seven qualified homicides is retired General Carlos Eduardo Oviedo Arriagada, brother of the general who assumed the position of new Commander-in-Chief of the Army on Sunday, March 9.

As authors of the crimes and also of the torture, the following military personnel were charged: Jaime García Covarrubias (he was head of DINA Counterintelligence; in 1988 he was appointed by Pinochet as Undersecretary General of Government and between 1995 and 1997 he was director of the War Academy; he was also a student at the School of the Americas in 1970); Raimundo García Covarrubias; Pablo Gran López (he rose to the rank of general and became the second-in-command of the Army and director of the Military Geographical Institute in 2003; he registered for a course at the School of the Americas in 1971; together with Lieutenant Manuel Espinoza Ponce, he directed the operation that culminated in the throwing of 18 corpses into the Allipén River; he was part of the DINA staff and was in charge of the headquarters' custody); and Mario Hernán Arias Díaz (Army non-commissioned officer, he was a member of the DINA).

Charged as authors of the seven homicides and accomplices to the torture to which the deceased were subjected, Minister Mesa charged: Carlos Eduardo Oviedo; Norberto Uribe Moroni; Pedro Tichahuer Salcedo (he worked in the DINA finance area; he even had the power to sign checks along with Manuel Contreras on the account that the organization opened at the Banco de Crédito e Inversiones; he appears receiving extra payments with DINA checks; he was a member of the company called "Pedro Diet Lobos," a front for that secret organization; he has commercial and gastronomy companies); Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz (Army second lieutenant; in 1973 he registered for a course at the School of the Americas and was a member of the CNI); and Juan Bautista Labraña Luvecce.

As accomplices to the seven qualified homicides and authors of torture, the following were prosecuted: Orlando Moreno Vásquez (already convicted a year earlier as an author of torture in the same court), Aquiles Alfonso Poblete Muller, Raúl Binaldo Schonherr Frías, Daniel San Juan Clavería, Omar Burgos Dejean (Carabineros non-commissioned officer, already prosecuted and convicted for his participation in various crimes, from the application of torture to disappearances, such as that of the Ecuadorian student José Félix García Franco, for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, being granted the benefit of supervised release; a year ago, in another process for the application of torture, he was sentenced to two 80-day prison terms); Alfonso Podlech Michaud (lawyer and former military prosecutor of Temuco); and Hernán Quiroz Barra.

As authors of the homicides, but not of the torture, the following were prosecuted: Manuel Campos Ceballos (conscript), Juan Carlos Concha Belmar (conscript), Sergio Vallejos Garcés, Gabriel Alfonso Dittus Marín (he belonged to the DINA and the CNI, like his sister María), and Héctor Villablanca Huenulao.

And as authors of the torture: Juan Carrillo Rebolledo; Libardo Hernán Schwartenski Rubio (member of the DINA); and José Raúl Insunza Rubio.

Finally, retired Colonel Hernán Ramírez Ramírez, who was commander of the La Concepción Regiment and administrative and military chief of the Cautín province, was charged as an accomplice to the seven summary executions, as well as the respective torture.

Given the severity of the crimes, Minister Mesa Latorre did not grant them provisional release. But thanks to the immediate ruling of the Temuco Court, today they all enjoy their freedom.

HUMAN RIGHTS CASES: SLOW DEATH

When former minister Alejandro Solís began his collaboration work on human rights trials last February, none of the seven ministers of the Santiago Court of Appeals who have that responsibility expressed their objection: Mario Carroza, Leopoldo Llanos, Alejandro Madrid, Jorge Zepeda, Miguel Vásquez, Patricia González, and Hernán Crisosto.

And it is understandable; in the plenary stage alone, there are 80 cases registered, not counting the hundreds that are waiting in the summary stage, totaling 1,022 cases in progress, according to the report delivered by the president of the Supreme Court, Sergio Muñoz, on March 1.

The seven appointed ministers know that ending that list of horror is an impossible task. Given Alejandro Solís's experience in the area, and his capacity for work and seriousness, his help would be important.

It was Minister Sergio Muñoz himself who alerted the Supreme Court plenary in 2012, when he was the national coordinator of the Human Rights area, about the enormous workload that the pending task represented.

And also about the urgent need to adopt measures to expedite the processes. Hence the consent with which the incorporation of Solís was received, who was a minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals until December 2012 and who took the trial for the murder of General Carlos Prats and his wife (1974), among others, to the end.

The first task that the new president of the Supreme Court entrusted to Alejandro Solís was the creation of a database that would allow the 32 ministers with exclusive dedication in the country on the matter to have the key information to be able to advance in their investigations.

This was published by the newspaper El Mercurio on March 7. In the same note, the lawyer for the prosecuted military personnel, Jorge Balmaceda, expressed his rejection of Solís's appointment: "It is improper, unless it is for administrative tasks, but performing the work of a judge, he cannot do it.

I believe that the ministers have the capacity, or if not, I ask myself: could the high magistrates have been mistaken in appointing them?"

"Improper." That was exactly the argument used in court by some Supreme Court ministers who have always advocated for amnesty and the statute of limitations. What was surprising is that it was also the reason that Minister Hugo Dolmestch, national coordinator of the area, would argue to challenge the hiring of Alejandro Solís.

And this is because who better than Dolmestch, who handled the Operation Albania case, to know about the seriousness of Solís's work.

CIPER asked Hugo Dolmestch about the real reasons that led him to say that this hiring was improper. And he replied that it was because it is not appropriate for a former minister of the Court of Appeals to return to do that work.

-But Minister Dolmestch, isn't that what court rapporteurs and clerks do every day in all the courts of the country, drafting rulings that they give to the respective judges so that they can deepen, modify, or redo them in the full exercise of their functions?

-Yes, but I repeat, it is improper, because it is not appropriate for a former minister of the court to do that work. It is not appropriate.

-So, what you are questioning is a problem of form and not of substance.

-Call it what you want, but it is improper. What should have been done is to hire him under my supervision to organize the database and other support. And that is what I was going to propose at the plenary session on Friday (March 7). But he already resigned. It is not my responsibility.

Beyond the fact that the military achieved their goal and as of March 11 Alejandro Solís no longer collaborates in human rights trials, this story will have new chapters in the courts. The pressure exerted after Minister Álvaro Mesa's ruling and the abrupt departure of Alejandro Solís have caused annoyance and discomfort in several ministers of the Courts of Appeals and also of the Supreme Court.

Both episodes are added to others that reveal the strategy used by the Army and the Navy to obstruct justice: delaying the processes so that important witnesses are no longer here to recount the events or the convicted are exempted from going to jail due to age. Hence the urgency for the Supreme Court to adopt substantive measures that allow for the true acceleration of Human Rights processes.

Source: ciperchile.cl, March 12, 2014

Four former officers and one civilian prosecuted for crimes against humanity during the dictatorship

The visiting minister issued a prosecution against the then Army lieutenant Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Herman, as the author of the consummated crime of qualified homicide of the Agrarian Reform Corporation worker Samuel Alfonso Catalán Lincoleo.

The visiting minister for human rights violation cases in Temuco, Álvaro Mesa LaTorre, issued a prosecution against four former Army officers and one civilian who held the position of military prosecutor, for crimes against humanity committed during the military dictatorship.

Specifically, the prosecuted committed human rights violations against eight workers, who were victims of repressive episodes in Cautín, between September 1973 and August 1974.

The victims are: Hugo Arner González Ortega, Elías Dagoberto González Ortega, Carlos Schmidt Arriagada, Ricardo Augusto Schmidt Arriagada, Juan de Dios Cabrera Figueroa, Héctor Domingo Aguayo Olavarría, Alejandro Escobar Vásquez, and Raúl Marcial Figueroa Burckhardt.

The visiting minister charged the civilian, then ad hoc military prosecutor Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, and former Army officers Pedro Guillermo Manuel Tichauer Salcedo, Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias, and Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz, as accomplices to the crime of kidnapping with serious injury, committed starting September 13, 1973, at the "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment No. 8 of Temuco, as a crime against humanity, reports Resumen.

The victims, composed of four workers and four students, were militants of the Socialist Party and followers of Salvador Allende.

After the coup d'état perpetrated by Augusto Pinochet, these eight people were arrested while trying to leave the country to escape the persecution that was undertaken against Allende's followers and left-wing movements.

What do the investigations say?

According to the investigations, the homes of some of the victims had already been raided by Carabineros from Villarrica, who were searching for them intensely.

However, while they were trying to flee to Argentina through a border crossing, one of the young men changed his mind, so they all got off the bus. Then they began the march toward Caburgua, taking care not to encounter military or Carabinero patrols so as not to be detected.

During their return, they were arrested by Carabineros; however, the officers were in a civilian truck, so they did not suspect anything.

The eight detainees were taken to that police facility and from there transferred to the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, where they were held as political prisoners, reports Resumen.

In that military facility, they were placed at the disposal of the then Military Prosecutor, the lawyer Alfonso Podlech Michaud, and subjected to torture by officers and uniformed personnel belonging to the contingent of that Regiment.

The eight young men were allegedly executed during the military dictatorship by personnel of the Tucapel Regiment and their bodies were then made to disappear.

Agrarian Reform Corporation worker murdered

On the other hand, the visiting minister issued a prosecution against the then Army lieutenant Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Herman, as the author of the consummated crime of qualified homicide of the Agrarian Reform Corporation worker Samuel Alfonso Catalán Lincoleo.

The event occurred on August 27, 1974, in the commune of Lautaro. The now former Army general was prosecuted for a crime against humanity.

Lincoleo was a militant of the Communist Party and was arrested in the early morning and sent to the La Concepción regiment.

The arresting group was made up of Second Lieutenant Sergio Fernando Alcayaga Barraza, plus Sergeant Héctor Salazar, some non-commissioned officers, conscript soldiers, and the detective Jorge Eusebio Barriga Soto of the Lautaro Investigative Police.

It is known that Samuel was sent to a forest that was in that place, they made him kneel, they covered his face with a black garment that he himself was wearing, and then, the former officer Aldunate Herman rested his SIG rifle on a bush to aim at the detainee's head, shooting him and causing his death immediately.

Source: elciudadano.cl, July 12, 2022

Former Army officials prosecuted for crimes against humanity in Traiguén and Pucón during the dictatorship

The visiting minister for human rights violation cases, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, prosecuted a former "Black Beret" for illegal coercion against six victims in Traiguén and a former military prosecutor along with six former Army officers for the disappearance of eight victims in Pucón.

Minister Mesa Latorre filed charges against the former Army non-commissioned officer and former "Black Beret" Gabriel Humberto Díaz Morales, for his responsibility in the crime of illegal coercion against six plaintiff victims. The crimes were perpetrated after the military coup in the commune of Traiguén.

In the resolution (case file 24.428), he identified the former paratrooper of the Black Beret Command as the author of the crime against humanity perpetrated against the victims Antonio Inostroza Segura, Omar Enrique Cuevas Gajardo, Luis Alberto Collao Montalva, Rinaldo Torres Zapata, Carlos Silva Riffo, and Jaime Pablo Sperberg Cristia.

Meanwhile, in the case being processed for the disappearance of eight victims in the commune of Pucón, Minister Mesa Latorre filed charges against the civilian repressive agent and former military prosecutor at the time of the events, Oscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, and the former Army officers Pedro Guillermo Manuel Tichauer Salcedo, Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias, and Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz, for their responsibility as accomplices to the crime against humanity of kidnapping with serious injury of Hugo Arner González Ortega, Elías Dagoberto González Ortega, Carlos Schmidt Arriagada, Ricardo Schmidt Arriagada, Juan de Dios Cabrera Figueroa, Alejandro Escobar Vásquez, Héctor Domingo Aguayo Olavarría, and Raúl Marcial Figueroa Burckhardt.

In the resolution (case file 4.473), Minister Mesa Latorre also identified the former Carabineros officer, Luis Robinson Bustos Letelier, as the author of the crime of illegal detention of the González Ortega brothers, Schmidt Arriagada, Cabrera Figueroa, Escobar Vásquez, Aguayo Olavarría, and Figueroa Burckhardt.

The kidnappings and detentions were perpetrated between late September and early October 1973, in the commune of Pucón, and since that time the 8 young men have been missing.

By Darío Núñez

Source: resumen.cl, November 11, 2022

El Polvorín Case: Minister Álvaro Mesa sentences retired military personnel and Army collaborators for homicides and illegal coercion of seven victims

In the civil aspect, the visiting judge accepted the filed lawsuit and ordered the State to pay a total indemnity of $2,780,000,000 (two billion seven hundred eighty million pesos) as moral damages to the victims' families.

The minister in extraordinary visit for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of the Courts of Appeals of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, issued sentence number 78 on the matter, and sentenced 23 retired military personnel and Army collaborators for their responsibility in the qualified homicides and illegal coercion against Florentino Alberto Molina Ruiz, Juan Antonio Chávez Rivas, Víctor Hugo Valenzuela Velásquez, Juan Carlos Ruiz Mancilla, Amador Francisco Montero Mosquera, Pedro Juan Mardones Jofré, and Carlos Aillañir Huenchual, perpetrated in the commune of Temuco in November 1973.

In the sentence (case file 113.089), Minister Mesa Latorre sentenced:

Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud

to life imprisonment for his responsibility as the perpetrator of the 7 qualified homicides and 10 years of imprisonment for his responsibility as the perpetrator of 7 crimes of illegal coercion against the seven victims.

Meanwhile, Daniel San Juan Clavería, Omar Burgos Dejean, Hernán Raúl Quiroz Barra, Raúl Binaldo Schonherr Frías, Orlando Moreno Vásquez must serve a sentence of life imprisonment as accomplices to the 7 qualified homicides and a sentence of 10 years of imprisonment as perpetrators of illegal coercion.

The accused Juan Guillermo García Covarrubias, Pablo Domingo Gran López, Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz, Carlos Eduardo Oviedo Arriagada, Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias, Norberto Francisco Uribe Moroni, Pedro Guillermo Manuel Tichahuer Salcedo, Juan Bautistas Labraña Luvecce, will serve sentences of life imprisonment as accomplices to the 7 qualified homicides and 427 days of imprisonment as accomplices to the 7 counts of illegal coercion.

Manuel Abraham Vásquez Chahuán

will serve a sentence of life imprisonment as the perpetrator of the 7 qualified homicides.

Additionally, Gabriel Alfonso Dittus Marín, Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao, Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés, Juan Carlos Concha Belmar, Manuel Rafael Campos Ceballos will serve a sentence of life imprisonment as accomplices to the 7 qualified homicides.

Arnoldo Aedo Matus

will serve a sentence of 20 years of imprisonment as an accomplice to the 7 homicides.

Libardo Hernán Schwartenski Rubio

will serve a sentence of 10 years of imprisonment as the perpetrator of 7 crimes of illegal coercion.

Finally, José Raúl Inzunza Reyes was sentenced to 427 days of imprisonment as the perpetrator of 7 crimes of illegal coercion.

In the sentence, Minister Mesa Latorre established the following facts:

A.- That, immediately following the military coup of September 11, 1973, the armed forces and order forces took control of the city of Temuco, with the Colonel Commander of the "La Concepción" Regiment of Lautaro, Hernán Jerónimo Ramírez Ramírez (deceased, as recorded on page 6,060 of volume XVII), establishing himself as Intendant; and Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased, as recorded on page 1,298, volume IV), Commander of the N° 8 "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment of this city, as Governor of Temuco, who also remained as Chief of the Temuco Garrison.

B.- That on the same day, September 11, 1973, the Temuco lawyer Oscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, who was also a Reserve Lieutenant of the Chilean Army, was called to collaborate with the new regime to support the work of the Military Prosecutor's Office that operated within the unit and was in charge of the Second Commander, Major Luis Jofré Soto (deceased, as recorded on page 1,295, volume IV).

This officer, however, had to assume greater functions as Second Commander of the Tucapel regiment shortly thereafter. From that day forward, civilians began to arrive at the regiment, having been called to present themselves before the Military Prosecutor's Office through edicts published in the written press and on the radio, or brought in as detainees from different points in the region by police and military patrols.

Given the high number of detainees and people called to provide statements, the Military Prosecutor's Office was reinforced to carry out its work with Judiciary officials who were requested from the Temuco Court of Appeals by the aforementioned lawyer Podlech Michaud, who, acting as Ad-Hoc Prosecutor, made a presentation to the Plenary of the Appellate Court (Minutes from page 3010 to 3011, volume IX), after which some clerks from different courts and a Court Rapporteur were assigned on service commission.

Due to a lack of knowledge in criminal procedural matters, added to his weak character and his work as Second Commander of the regiment, Major Luis Jofré Soto delegated functions as Military Prosecutor to the lawyer Oscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, advisor to the Prosecutor's Office, who began to hold the position of de facto Prosecutor, to the point that he conducted jail visits and that lawyers, family members, and even ecclesiastical dignitaries consulted him regarding the fate of the detainees.

However, Major Jofré Soto continued to sign most of the administrative documents and participated in some interrogations of detainees.

C.- That the people called to present themselves to the Military Prosecutor's Office and those brought in as detainees were kept in facilities located next to the guardhouse and in the large gymnasium.

Once interrogated by personnel of the Military Prosecutor's Office, by detectives Aquiles Alfonso Poblete Müller (deceased, as recorded on page 3,800, volume XI), Daniel San Juan Clavería, and Hernán Raúl Quiroz Barra of the Investigative Police attached to the regiment, or by the officers themselves who participated in these activities—among whom were Jaime Guillermo García Covarrubias, Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias, Pablo Domingo Gran López, Mario Hernán Arias Díaz (deceased, as recorded on page 7,531, volume XXI), Carlos Eduardo Oviedo Arriagada, Norberto Francisco Uribe Moroni, Pedro Guillermo Manuel Tichahuer Salcedo, Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz—and non-commissioned officers, among whom were Juan Bautista Labraña Luvecce, Orlando Moreno Vásquez, Raúl Binaldo Schonherr Frías, some were released, others were sent to their homes under house arrest, and others were taken to the public jail where they remained while their procedural situation was resolved.

D.- That also, by September 1973, in the N° 8 "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment of Temuco, there existed the Second Section of Information and Intelligence, which was in charge of Captain Nelson Manuel Uldaricio Ubilla Toledo (deceased, as recorded on page 1,296, volume IV), under whose dependency some non-commissioned officers of that institution also performed functions, including Juan Bautista Labraña Luvecce, Orlando Moreno Vásquez, and Raúl Binaldo Schonherr Frías.

This work was reinforced after September 11, 1973, with the addition of Investigative Police officials Aquiles Alfonso Poblete Müller (deceased, as recorded on page 3,800, volume XI), Daniel San Juan Clavería, and Hernán Raúl Quiroz Barra, mentioned above, and Carabineros, including Omar Burgos Dejean, who provided political information to the aforementioned officer regarding all those persons subject to an investigation by the Military Prosecutor's Office.

Likewise, some officers, including Manuel Abraham Vásquez Chahuán, as well as enlisted men and conscripts of the regiment, joined the intelligence tasks. As the days went by, the Military Prosecutor's Office and the Second Intelligence Section began to work together to interrogate the detainees, as in this case, who remained incarcerated in the jail or in some facility of the Tucapel regiment.

To articulate this work, two locations were enabled in the military unit, one located between the Headquarters Company and the Mortar Company, and another in an old, disused gymnasium located next to the conscript soldiers' "mess hall." In this way, the detainees were taken to and from the jail to the regiment by military personnel of the Second Section, being interrogated at the Military Prosecutor's Office and physically coerced in one of the aforementioned facilities to "soften them up" before or after these interrogations, as in this case.

In both interrogation and torture rooms, there were implements to tie up the detainees and apply electricity to different parts of the body, in addition to applying other types of torment such as kicks and punches, as in this case.

Conscript soldiers participated in this task, including Manuel Rafael Campos Ceballos, Juan Carlos Concha Belmar, Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés, Gabriel Alfonso Dittus Marín, Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao, Juan Humberto Carrillo Rebolledo, Libardo Schwartenski Rubio, and José Raúl Inzunza Reyes, and a Carabinero, Omar Burgos Dejean, who collaborated with Captain Nelson Ubilla Toledo and the Investigative Police detectives who were there, Aquiles Alfonso Poblete Müller (deceased, as recorded on page 3,800, volume XI), Daniel San Juan Clavería, and Hernán Raúl Quiroz Barra.

Most of the officers of the "Tucapel" regiment and some non-commissioned soldiers from the Headquarters and Services Companies—including José Raúl Inzunza Reyes, as well as those from Mortars, Hunters, and the Second Section—also participated in the interrogation and/or torture sessions of detainees in those places, all of whom entered these facilities at different times.

E.- That within the aforementioned military unit, a special group called the "Patrulla Brava" (Brave Patrol) or "Patrulla Chacal" (Jackal Patrol) was formed, composed of non-commissioned soldiers and conscripts of the 2nd Hunters Company, including Manuel Rafael Campos Ceballos, Juan Carlos Concha Belmar, Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés, Gabriel Alfonso Dittus Marín, Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao, Juan Humberto Carrillo Rebolledo, and Libardo Schwartenski Rubio, under the orders of Second Lieutenant Manuel Espinoza Ponce (deceased, as recorded on page 1,299, volume IV), who in turn received orders from Lieutenant Manuel Abraham Vásquez Chahuán, who was in command of the Company. This group was in charge, among other functions, of guarding the detainees who were kept in the facilities of the "Tucapel" regiment in Temuco.

F.- That during the days following September 11, 1973, a significant number of people were killed or disappeared in the IX region, with several of these deaths explained by regional military authorities through the publication of edicts issued either from the Intendancy or the Temuco Military Garrison.

The edict that explained the events subject to this investigation, in light of the evidence gathered in this process, provides an implausible version of how the events of the night of November 10, 1973, unfolded, taking into consideration the statement of Manuel Ángel Fernández Carranza (page 222), who, after the events of November 10, 1973, and upon returning from a mission he was entrusted with toward the Pucón sector in search of guerrillas, was summoned by the then-commander of the N° 8 Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased, as recorded on page 1,298, volume IV), to inform him that the assault on the ammunition dump had not been such, but rather an execution carried out at the shooting range, information he gave him personally so that he would not find out through rumors.

G.- That Florentino Alberto Molina Ruiz, member of the Central Committee and Regional Secretary of the Communist Party, was detained and taken from his home on Monday, November 5, 1973, by two Carabineros members of the Civil Commission, who transported him in a red pickup truck to the Second Police Station of Temuco, where he spent the night in a cell.

The following morning, he was transferred to the "Tucapel" Regiment of Temuco by order of the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco, remaining incarcerated there until the night of November 10, 1973. During that period, his wife went daily to leave him clothes and food, which were channeled through the guards at the entrance of the military compound.

In turn, Molina Ruiz would send her his used clothes as a sign that he was still being held there. Molina Ruiz, who was missing an arm due to a work accident, was seen as a detainee inside the aforementioned military compound by Hermán Carrasco Paúl, who was also in the same condition, who stated that both were victims of illegal coercion.

He was also recognized due to his disability by some conscripts who guarded them.

H.- That Juan Antonio Chávez Rivas, a student at the State Technical University, Regional Secretary, and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth, was detained on November 6, 1973, by two Carabineros members of the Civil Commission, who transported him in a red pickup truck to the Second Police Station of Temuco, where he spent the night.

The following day, he was transferred to the "Tucapel" Regiment of Temuco. The detainee's family members approached the military unit to ask about him, where they were told he was not there, despite the fact that he was seen in the courtyard of the military compound, heavily guarded and in very poor physical condition.

I.- That Víctor Hugo Valenzuela Velásquez, a public employee and propaganda secretary of the Communist Youth of Cautín, was detained on November 7, 1973, around 10:00 a.m., at the Real Estate Registrar of Temuco, where he worked.

The arresting personnel, who were in civilian clothes, belonged to the Army Intelligence Service, one of them being a Sergeant of the "Tucapel" Regiment of Temuco. The detainee's family members went to the "Tucapel" Regiment, where they confirmed the detention and for three days delivered clothes and blankets for him at the guardhouse.

J.- That Juan Carlos Ruiz Mancilla, a Civil Construction student at the State Technical University and member of the Communist Youth, traveled to the city of Punta Arenas, where his parents lived, after September 11, 1973. He was detained there on November 7 of that same year and transported by plane to Temuco, where he was taken to the "Tucapel" Regiment.

K.- That Amador Francisco Montero Mosquera, an Electrical Engineering student at the State Technical University and member of the Communist Youth, was detained at his home on November 7, 1973, by personnel of the Carabineros Civil Commission and transported to the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco. Family members went to that place to inquire about his situation and to deliver food and clothing.

L.- That Pedro Juan Mardones Jofré, a student at the State Technical University, was detained at his home and transported to the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco. The conscript soldier of the 2nd Section of the 2nd Hunters Company, Luis Humberto Llamunao Huaiquinao (pages 1234 to 1235 and 1323 to 1324), stated that it was his duty to bring water to Mardones Jofré, who was being held in a storage room located inside a mechanical workshop.

At that moment, he noticed that the detainee had a very injured hand, making it impossible for him to hold the glass offered to him.

M.- That Carlos Aillañir Huenchual, a farmer and supporter of the Unidad Popular government, was detained on November 6, 1973, by a military patrol moving in an institutional 3/4-ton truck. The detention took place in the rural sector of Pelales, in the town of Quepe, where the house of a brother of the detainee was located.

The soldier in charge of the patrol indicated that the detainee was going to be taken to the Tucapel regiment in Temuco.

N.- That at the end of the day on November 10, 1973, while the aforementioned detainees were being held in the "small" gymnasium of the Tucapel regiment in Temuco, guarded by conscript soldiers of the 2nd Hunters Company belonging to the "Jackal Patrol," Lieutenant Manuel Abraham Vásquez Chahuán, Commander of the aforementioned company, and Second Lieutenant Espinoza (deceased, as recorded on page 1,299, volume IV) appeared, accompanied by other military personnel from the regiment.

In addition, an institutional truck parked at the location, backing up in front of the entrance to the facility where the victims were being held. Due to its characteristics, said vehicle was recognized as the one usually used to transport meat and bread, and on some occasions, to transport conscripts for guard duty relief.

Immediately thereafter, Lieutenant Manuel Abraham Vásquez Chahuán instructed the subordinate personnel to make the detainees board the truck along with them. The truck with the detainees, plus the officers and their companions, then left the place.

Regarding this same truck, the following day, its cleaning was ordered, among others, to conscript soldier Héctor Florentino Navarrete Leiva, who stated that it was full of human flesh and brain remains (page 2150).

Ñ.- That minutes later, sentries at the guard post located at the entrance sector to the military compound known as "Isla Cautín" saw a caravan of institutional vehicles enter the place, composed of at least one Toyota jeep and the truck indicated in the previous paragraph.

O.- That in the final hours of November 10, 1973, the previously identified detainees were taken out of the Tucapel regiment of Temuco, loaded into the aforementioned military vehicle, and transported to the shooting range sector of the "Isla Cautín" military compound by the officers and their companions.

In that place, the victims were tied to stakes that had been arranged there in a row. A short time later, Captain Rodolfo Vargas Campos (deceased, as recorded on page 1,297, volume IV), Sergeant Hernán Rodrigo Santiesteban Domínguez (deceased, as recorded on page 4,953, volume XV), and Sergeant Anacleto Aguirre Rivera (deceased, as recorded on page 10,240, volume XXIX), all from the 1st Hunters Company, plus Sergeant José Gajardo Gajardo (deceased, as recorded on page 4,954, volume XV) of the 2nd Hunters Company, joined the group of military personnel present in that sector.

Second Sergeant Arnoldo Aedo Matus of the First Hunters Company was also part of this entourage.

P.- That once the patrol commanded by Captain Vargas arrived at the place, he ordered its members to position themselves behind the detainees who were tied to the stakes, with the exception of Second Sergeant Arnoldo Aedo Matus of the 1st Hunters Company, whom he told to move to another, distant location and proceed to fire shots toward the trees located in a specific sector of Isla Cautín.

This Sergeant Aedo Matus was able to see that the Commander of the regiment, Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased, as recorded on page 1,298, volume IV), was present at the place, accompanied by an officer of medium-tall stature, and that two civilians were also witnessing the maneuvers in the same sector, recognizing one of them as the legal advisor to the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco, Oscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud.

Q.- That subsequently, the detainees in those conditions were executed on the spot one by one and finished off with bursts of gunfire, after which their bodies were sent to the morgue of the regional hospital of Temuco, where the required autopsy was performed, determining the causes of their deaths as follows: Molina Ruiz, cranial-encephalic explosion, multiple contusive gunshot wounds; Chávez Rivas, cranial-encephalic explosion, multiple contusive wounds from firearms; Valenzuela Velásquez, cranial-encephalic attrition, multiple contusive wounds from firearms; Ruiz Mancilla, shock, comminuted fracture of the pelvis and right femur, multiple gunshot wounds; Montero Mosquera, cranial-encephalic attrition, multiple contusive wounds from firearms; Mardones Jofré, cranial-encephalic attrition, multiple contusive wounds from firearms; Aillañir Huenchual, primary shock, multiple contusive transfixing gunshot wounds to the thorax-abdomen and limbs. Finally, a military edict was drafted to be published in the press the following day, reporting an attempted assault on the Isla Cautín ammunition dump by a group of extremists.

R.- That the day after these events occurred, news appeared in the local written press indicating that an assault had occurred on the Isla Cautín ammunition dump of the Tucapel Regiment, in which an indeterminate number of extremists had participated, news that was ratified by Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased, as recorded on page 1,298, volume IV), which must be contrasted with the statement of Manuel Fernández Carranza, who, after the events of November 10, 1973, and upon arriving from a mission he was entrusted with toward the Pucón sector in search of guerrillas, was summoned by the then-commander of the N° 8 Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased, as recorded on page 1,298, volume IV), to inform him that the assault on the ammunition dump had not been such, but rather an execution carried out at the shooting range, information he gave him personally so that he would not find out through rumors. During the following days, details continued to appear in the press about how these events had occurred and the way in which military personnel had repelled said attack and subsequently gone out in search of the supposed extremists who were not killed in the confrontation and who managed to flee the scene.

In the civil aspect, the visiting judge accepted the filed lawsuit and ordered the State to pay a total indemnity of $2,780,000,000 (two billion seven hundred eighty million pesos) as moral damages to the victims' families.

Source: pjud.cl, September 21, 2023

Case File N° 113.089: Case of illegal coercion and qualified homicides of Florentino Alberto Molina Ruiz and others

A.9. JORGE LUIS GODOY VALDEBENITO. In a judicial statement dated September 25, 2009, recorded on pages 769 to 770 (Volume III), he fully ratifies the extrajudicial statement recorded on pages 743 to 74.

He recounts that as a result of the assault on the ammunition dump, there were many comments among the conscripts regarding what really happened on the night of November 10, 1973. He cannot fail to mention that conscript José Chávez Etchepare presumed that he had participated in the platoon that executed the detainees on Isla Cautín.

He asserted that these people had their hands tied and were made to run so they could escape. Immediately thereafter, they were riddled with bullets in the back. This soldier was very evil and almost always hung out with Sergeant Arias Díaz, who was another very abusive military man.

He proclaims the existence of a special patrol formed by conscripts who volunteered, among whom he remembers José Chávez Etchepare, Libardo Schwarstenski, Juan Mario Fuente Henríquez, Juan Carrillo, and apparently Leopoldo Villagrán Alvarado, among others.

At the end of November 1973, Luis Valeria Candia stopped doing guard duty with the deponent at the commander's house and joined this patrol. This group was led by Sergeant Mario Arias Díaz, who acted under the direct orders of Lieutenant Jaime García Covarrubias.

This group stood out for its cruelty toward the detainees and for participating in raids and detentions. He remembers that they always arrived with items stolen from the houses they raided. On one occasion, they stole some alarm clocks from the university and were discovered by the duty non-commissioned officer because the alarm of one of them went off.

Regarding the detainees in the Tucapel Regiment, he can add that Lieutenant García Covarrubias interrogated them in the room where the regimental band operated. Afterward, they were transported by military personnel, including those mentioned above, to the torture room located between the headquarters building and the mortar building, where on one occasion he was tortured by Sergeant Arias.

When asked, the deponent responds that Lieutenant García was in charge more than Captain Ubilla regarding the treatment of detainees, standing out for his cruelty toward them. His brother, Second Lieutenant Raimundo García, was initially a very kind person and did not want to get involved with the detainees, but later he was influenced by his brother and changed his behavior.

Subsequently, both participated in the interrogations of the detainees in the regimental band's facility. To finish, there was a conscript they called "the troublemaker," whose two brothers were detained, and they were beaten by José Chávez inside the regiment.

This caused a dispute between them. It seems to him that both brothers were murdered some time later, which caused the "troublemaker" to cry. Unfortunately, he does not remember his name. He does not remember when the officers moved to live in the buildings located on Calle Prat.

Source: Judiciary, September 15, 2023

Minister Álvaro Mesa sentences retired Army personnel to 15 years in prison for the kidnapping of workers and students in Villarrica

Minister Álvaro Claudio Mesa Latorre sentenced the then-ad hoc military prosecutor Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud and retired Army officers Pedro Guillermo Manuel Tichauer Salcedo, Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias, and Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz to single sentences of 15 years of effective imprisonment, in their capacity as accomplices to crimes against humanity committed against four workers and four students at that time.

The minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Claudio Mesa Latorre, issued sentence number 95 on the matter and convicted three retired members of the Army and the military prosecutor for their responsibility in the consummated crime of kidnapping with grave injury of Hugo Arner González Ortega, Elías Dagoberto González Ortega, Carlos Schmidt Arriagada, Ricardo Augusto Schmidt Arriagada, Juan de Dios Cabrera Figueroa, Héctor Domingo Aguayo Olavarría, Alejandro Escobar Vásquez, and Raúl Marcial Figueroa Burckhardt. These illicit acts were perpetrated in Villarrica between September and October 1973.

In the ruling (case file 4.473), Minister Mesa Latorre sentenced the then-ad hoc military prosecutor Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud and retired Army officers Pedro Guillermo Manuel Tichauer Salcedo, Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias, and Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz to single sentences of 15 years of effective imprisonment, along with the accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification from public offices and political rights, and absolute disqualification from professional practice for the duration of the sentences, in their capacity as accomplices to crimes against humanity committed against four workers and four students at that time.

Executed and thrown into the river

In the sentence, Minister Mesa Latorre established the following facts:

“

A.-

That immediately following the military pronouncement of September 11, 1973, the new authorities of the country ordered the systematic persecution and detention of militants and sympathizers of the Unidad Popular parties, especially those who held positions in the deposed public administration, as evidenced, among other proofs, by the statements of Luis Robinson Bustos Letelier, from fs. 413 to fs. 414 vta. (Volume II); of Ricardo Virginio Aguayo Olavarría, from fs. 2,055 to fs. 2,057 (Volume VI) and from fs. 2,061 to fs. 2,062 (Volume VI); and military decrees published in the press of the time, from fs. 2,979 to fs. 2,998 (Volume IX).

B.-

That in Temuco, the armed forces and security forces took control of the city, with Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased, as recorded at fs. 3,898, Volume XI), commander of the No. 8 Tucapel Infantry Regiment of this city, establishing himself as governor of Temuco, who also remained as head of the Temuco Garrison, as recorded, for example, in the statement of Óscar Alfonso Podlech Michaud, from fs. 3,788 to fs. 3,796 (Volume XI).

C.-

That, in this sense, on September 11, 1973, the lawyer Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, who was also a Reserve Lieutenant of the Chilean Army, was called to collaborate with the new regime. He presented himself at the Tucapel Regiment to support the management of the Military Prosecutor's Office that operated inside the unit, which was in charge of the second commander, Major Luis Jofré Soto (deceased, as recorded at fs. 3,899, Volume XI).

This officer, however, had to assume greater duties as second commander of the Tucapel Regiment shortly thereafter. From that day forward, civilians began to arrive at the regiment who had been called to present themselves before the Military Prosecutor's Office through decrees published in the written press and on the radio, or who were brought in as detainees by police and/or military patrols from different points in the region, mainly from police stations and outposts, as evidenced, among other proofs, by the military decrees published in the press of the time, which appear from fs. 2,979 to fs. 2,998 (Volume IX); the statements of José Heriberto Mansilla Gatica, from fs. 3,806 bis to fs. 3,808 (Volume XI), fs. 3,809 to fs. 3,810 (Volume XI), and fs. 3,811 (Volume XI); and of Orlando Moreno Vásquez, at fs. 3,842 (Volume XI).

D.-

That given the high number of detainees and persons called to provide statements, the Military Prosecutor's Office was reinforced to carry out its work with officials from the Judiciary who were requested from the Illustrious Court of Appeals of Temuco by the aforementioned lawyer, who, acting as ad-hoc prosecutor, made a presentation to the plenary of the appellate court, after which some clerks from different courts and a rapporteur of the Court were assigned on commission of service, as recorded in the statement of Adrián Segundo González Maldonado, from fs. 70 vta. to fs. 71 (Volume I); and a copy of the plenary minutes of the Illustrious Court of Appeals of Temuco, from fs. 3,786 to fs. 3,787 (Volume XI), among other proofs.

E.-

That due to a lack of knowledge in criminal procedural matters, added to his weak character and his work as second commander of the Regiment, Major Luis Jofré Soto delegated functions as military prosecutor to the legal advisor of the Prosecutor's Office, Mr.

Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, who began to hold the position of de facto prosecutor, to the point that he conducted prison visits and lawyers, family members, and even ecclesiastical dignitaries consulted him regarding the fate of the detainees.

However, Major Jofré Soto continued to sign the administrative dispatches most of the time and participated in some interrogations of detainees, as recorded in the statements of Rodolfo Fonseca Fernández, from fs. 2,052 to fs. 2,054 (Volume VI) and from fs. 2,506 to 2,507 (Volume VII); of Eliana Pichón Seguel, from fs. 4,211 to fs. 4,214 (Volume XII), and from fs. 4,237 to fs. 4,240 (Volume XII); of Bernardita del Carmen Weisser Soto, from fs. 4,215 to fs. 4,218 (Volume XII); of Monsignor Bernardino Piñera Carvallo, from fs. 4,219 to fs. 4,220 (Volume XII); of Erasmo Ricardo Villanueva Simón, from fs. 4,221 to fs. 4,224 (Volume XII); of Mario Carril Huenumán, from fs. 4,225 to fs. 4,226 (Volume XII); of Octavio Zúñiga Corvalán, from fs. 4,241 to fs. 4,242 (Volume XII); and of Audito Gavilán Tapia, from fs. 4,243 to fs. 4,245 (Volume XII), among other proofs.

F.-

That the persons called to present themselves to the Military Prosecutor's Office and those brought in as detainees from different points in the region were kept in facilities located next to the guardhouse and in the large gymnasium.

Once interrogated by personnel of the Military Prosecutor's Office, by detectives attached to the regiment, or by the officers themselves who participated in these activities—among whom were Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias, Pedro Guillermo Manuel Tichauer Salcedo, and Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz, among other members of the Army—some were released, only to be apprehended again later as will be detailed in point 44, others were sent to their homes under house arrest, and others were taken to the public jail where they remained while their procedural situation was resolved, as evidenced, among other proofs, by the statements of Héctor Omar Barra Reyes, from fs. 1,394 to fs. 1,395 (Volume IV); of José Sebastián Venegas Umanzor, from fs. 1,448 to fs. 1,449 (Volume V); of Daniel San Juan Clavería, from fs. 3,617 to fs. 3,618 (Volume X), and from fs. 3,619 to fs. 3,620 (Volume X); of Raúl Cerda Aquilef, from fs. 3,804 to fs. 3,805 (Volume XI); and of José Heriberto Mansilla Gatica, at fs. 3,819 (Volume XI).

G.-

That also by September 1973, in the No. 8 ‘Tucapel’ Infantry Regiment of Temuco, there existed the Second Section of Information and Intelligence, which was in charge of Captain Nelson Manuel Uldaricio Ubilla Toledo (deceased, as recorded at fs. 3,500, Volume X), who also exercised a duality of functions by being the commander of the Headquarters and Services Company of said regiment.

In this Second Section, and under its dependency, some non-commissioned officers of that institution also performed duties, work that was reinforced after September 11, 1973, with the addition of officials from the Investigations police and the Carabineros, who provided political information to the aforementioned officer regarding all those persons subject to an investigation by the Military Prosecutor's Office.

Likewise, some officers, enlisted personnel, and conscripts of the regiment joined the intelligence tasks, facts that are evidenced, among other proofs, by the statements of Manuel Fernández Carranza, from fs. 2,764 to fs. 2,765 (Volume VIII); of Mario Hernán Arias Díaz, from fs. 236 to fs. 242 (Secret file); of Hernán Quiroz Barra, from fs. 3,621 to fs. 3,622 (Volume X); and of Edison Armando Coronado Ormeño, from fs. 4,231 to fs. 4,232 (Volume XII).

H.-

That as the days passed, the Military Prosecutor's Office and the Second Intelligence Section began to work jointly to interrogate the detainees, who remained imprisoned in the jail or in some facility of the Tucapel Regiment.

To articulate this work, two locations were enabled in the military unit, one located between the Headquarters Company and the Mortar Company, and another in an old, disused gymnasium located to the side of the conscript soldiers' ‘mess hall.’ In this way, the detainees were interrogated at the Military Prosecutor's Office and physically pressured in one of the aforementioned facilities to ‘soften them up’ before or after these interrogations, as evidenced, among other proofs, by the statements of Ernesto García Isla, from fs. 1,381 to fs. 1,382 (Volume IV); of Víctor Manuel Terán Vásquez, at fs. 3,820 (Volume XI); of Pedro Misael Elgueta Muñoz, from fs. 3,825 to fs. 3,826 (Volume XI); and of Orlando Moreno Vásquez, from fs. 3,840 to fs. 3,841 (Volume XI).

I.-

That in both interrogation and torture rooms there were implements to tie up the detainees and apply electricity to different parts of their bodies, in addition to applying other types of torment such as kicks and punches.

Conscript soldiers who collaborated with Captain Nelson Ubilla Toledo participated in this task. Some officers of the ‘Tucapel’ Regiment and some enlisted soldiers from the Headquarters and Services Companies also participated in the interrogation and/or torture sessions of detainees in those places; all of whom entered these facilities at different times, as recorded in the statements of Rigoberto Antonio Gutiérrez Ancamilla, at fs. 2,168 (Volume VII); of Miguel Arcángel Calderón Sepúlveda, from fs. 2,169 to fs. 2,170 (Volume VII); of José Raúl Inzunza Reyes, from fs. 2,741 to fs. 2,743 (Volume VIII); of Libardo Hernán Schwartenski Rubio, from fs. 3,830 to fs. 3,831 (Volume XI); and of Juan Humberto Carrillo Rebolledo, from fs. 4,208 to fs. 4,210 (Volume XII).

J.-

That, added to all of the above, within the aforementioned military unit, a special group called the ‘Patrulla Brava’ (Brave Patrol) or ‘Patrulla Chacal’ (Jackal Patrol) was formed, integrated by enlisted soldiers and conscripts of the Second Hunters Company, who in turn received orders from an officer.

This group was in charge, among other functions, of guarding the detainees who were kept in the facilities of the ‘Tucapel’ Regiment of Temuco, as recorded in the statements of Plácido Exequiel Regolo Zúñiga, from fs. 756 to fs. 757 (Volume III) and from fs. 913 to fs. 914 (Volume III); Manuel Rafael Campos Ceballos, from fs. 3,541 to fs. 3,542 (Volume X); of Héctor Villablanca Huenulao, from fs. 3,556 to fs. 3,557 (Volume X); of Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés, from fs. 3,571 to fs. 3,573 (Volume X) and from fs. 3,574 to fs. 3,576 (Volume X); and of Juan Carlos Concha Belmar, from fs. 3,591 to fs. 3,593 (Volume X).

K.-

That at the regional level, in the commune of Villarrica, the Order and Security Forces led by the Carabineros proceeded to raid the homes of people who were known supporters of the recently overthrown government, with the aim of proceeding to their detention, and in many cases, their subsequent transfer by land or air to the facilities of the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, in order to be placed at the disposal of the Military Prosecutor's Office, as recorded in the statements of Diógenes Segundo Bravo Bernales, from fs. 60 to fs. 61 (Volume I) and from fs. 72 vuelta to fs. 73 (Volume I); of Eduardo Vergara González, from fs. 397 to fs. 397 vuelta (Volume II); of José Eve Mancilla Yáñez, from fs. 399 to fs. 400 (Volume II); and of Guillermo Segundo Rosales Pérez, at fs. 719 (Volume II).

L.-

That, following the dynamic of detentions and subsequent transfer, in many cases, to the facilities of the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco during the days following September 11, 1973, a significant number of people in the IX Region were killed or disappeared, with several of these deaths being explained by the regional military authorities through the publication of decrees issued either from the Intendancy or from the Military Garrison of Temuco.

In other cases, the victims were released only to be immediately apprehended and re-entered as detainees into the facilities of the same Regiment or another institution, with the aim of being physically pressured to such an extent that many of them died as a result of the torture received.

Finally, in other cases, such as the one at hand, there has been a total and permanent concealment regarding the whereabouts of the victims after they remained imprisoned inside the same Regiment.

LL.-

That Hugo Arner González Ortega, 23 years old, head of Roads and Works of the Municipality of Villarrica and a militant of the Socialist Party; Elías Dagoberto González Ortega, 24 years old, head of warehouses for the Banco del Estado seaside resort in Villarrica, a militant of the Socialist Party and in charge of propaganda in Villarrica; Juan de Dios Cabrera Figueroa, 20 years old, student and militant of the Socialist Youth; Carlos Schmidt Arriagada, 21 years old, employee of the Housing Corporation (CORVI) and militant of the Socialist Party; Ricardo Augusto Schmidt Arriagada, 18 years old, student and militant of the Socialist Party; Alejandro Escobar Vásquez, 18 years old, student and militant of the Socialist Party; Héctor Domingo Aguayo Olavarría, 17 years old, student and militant of the Socialist Youth; and Raúl Marcial Figueroa Burkhardt, 22 years old, militant of the Socialist Youth, decided to leave the country because they believed their lives, or at least their physical integrity, were in serious danger, because the homes of some of them had already been raided by the Carabineros of Villarrica, who were searching for them intensely, as recorded in the indictment order at fs. 2,071 and following of this case; as well as in the statements of Rita Aurora Ortega Muñoz, at fs. 48 (Volume I) and at fs. 1,051 (Volume III); of Silvia Luz Schmidt Arriagada, from fs. 50 to fs. 51 (Volume I), from fs. 137 to fs. 138 (Volume I), fs. 143 (Volume I), from fs. 635 (Volume II), from fs. 1,041 to fs. 1,042 (Volume III), from fs. 1,043 to fs. 1,044 (Volume III), and from fs. 1,053 to fs. 1,054 (Volume III); of Ruth Alicia González Ortega, at fs. 679 (Volume II); Ricardo Virginio Aguayo Olavarría, from fs. 2,055 to fs. 2,057 (Volume VI), from fs. 2,061 to fs. 2,062 (Volume VI); and of Luis Alberto Romero Molina, from fs. 2,222 to fs. 2,223 (Volume VII) and from fs. 3,312 to fs. 3,313 (Volume X), among other proofs.

M.-

That on September 13, 1973, the eight young men identified above took a minibus that would take them toward Curarrehue, where they would attempt to cross into Argentina through a border pass. However, one of the young men regretted it and cried, which is why they all decided to get off the public transport vehicle in the Río Turbio bridge sector, near the fork in the road that leads to the town of Caburgua and the commune of Curarrehue, respectively.

Immediately afterward, they began their march toward Caburgua, taking care not to encounter military or Carabinero patrols so as not to be detected, as recorded in the indictment order at fs. 2,071 and following of this case; as well as in the statement of Juan Luis Díaz Cortés, from fs. 4,141 to fs. 4,144 (Volume XII).

N.-

That after having walked about eight kilometers, they spotted a vehicle approaching from Pucón. Héctor Domingo Aguayo Olavarría recognized the vehicle as the pickup truck that had belonged to his father and which had been sold some time ago to a well-known merchant from Pucón, so they did not suspect it could be a patrol.

However, traveling in said vehicle were Luis Robinson Bustos Letelier (deceased, as recorded at fs. 6,349, Volume XVIII), a captain of the Carabineros and head of the Pucón Sub-station (indicted at fs. 2,071 and following of this case), and other uniformed officers from the same unit, who, upon seeing the group of young men on the road, stopped their march next to them, as recorded in the indictment order at fs. 2,071 and following of this case; as well as in the statements of Luis Robinson Bustos Letelier, at fs. 58 (Volume I) and from fs. 84 to fs. 84 vta. (Volume I); of Diógenes Segundo Bravo Bernales, at fs. 60 (Volume I) and at fs. 73 (Volume I), fs. 397 (Volume II).

Ñ.- That Luis Robinson Bustos Letelier (deceased, as recorded at fs. 6,349, Volume XVIII), head of the patrol, after a brief interrogation, ordered the detention of the eight young men without apparently carrying an order or legal authority for such an act, ordering their transfer to the facilities of the Pucón Sub-station.

For these purposes, the Carabinero captain, the aforementioned officer, and some of his companions remained at the scene, while Corporal Monsalve, the driver of the vehicle, and another officer took the detainees to the Sub-station, as recorded in the statement of Diógenes Segundo Bravo Bernales, from fs. 60 to fs. 61 (Volume I) and from fs. 72 vta. to fs. 73 (Volume I).

In that place, there were also other people in the same situation, all detained for political reasons, among them Juan Luis Díaz Cortés, a sympathizer of the Salvador Allende government, detained for the first time on September 14, 1973, in the commune of Curarrehue and transferred to that police facility, where he observed Héctor Aguayo Olavarría, whom he had known since he was a child, and was able to notice that he was very physically mistreated, had a swollen testicle, and had his hair shaved on the top of his head. ‘Chachi’ told him where they had been detained and the reasons why they decided to return to Villarrica, moments when they were intercepted by a patrol that detained them. He added that they were interrogated regarding the possession of weapons and the place where they hid them, at the same time that they were subjected to endless beatings. Subsequently, Juan Luis Díaz Cortés, along with other detainees, were removed from that police facility. Facts that are evidenced, among other proofs, by the statement of Luis Robinson Bustos Letelier at fs. 58 (Volume I); and of Juan Luis Díaz Cortés, from fs. 4,141 to fs. 4,144 (Volume XII).

O.-

That when Bustos Letelier returned to the unit, he was informed by the guard non-commissioned officer Diógenes Bravo Bernales that the detainees had been transferred to the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, as recorded in the statement of Luis Robinson Bustos Letelier, at fs. 58 (Volume I).

P.-

That the victims were effectively entered into the facilities of the No. 8 Tucapel Infantry Regiment of Temuco, a place where, as stated, from September 11, 1973, a large number of people from different parts of the region were kept as detainees solely for their political affiliation.

After that, they were momentarily released, as recorded in the statement of Rolando Chávez Godoy, from fs. 3,314 to fs. 3,315 (Volume X) and at fs. 3,316 (Volume X); only to be detained again and, on this occasion, pressured and tortured inside the same regiment.

And for reasons not clarified in the case files, they were transferred to the public jail of the city of Temuco, as recorded in the statement of Julio César Guevara Guevara from fs. 213 bis to fs. 215 (Volume I), to finally return as detainees again to the facilities of the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco.

Q.-

That in in the aforementioned regiment, the victims were seen by other individuals who were held in the same capacity. Such is the case of the Spanish citizen Francisco Jerónimo Matta Aro, detained between Pucón and Curarrehue on approximately September 13, 1973, who confessed to his son that he knew Héctor Aguayo Olavarría because the latter's father was a member of the Socialist Party and a friend of his family.

Both were transferred as detainees to the facilities of the Tucapel Regiment in Temuco and were placed at the disposal of the military prosecutor Alfonso Podlech Michaud, who ordered his father’s expulsion from the national territory for allegedly financing the guerrilla activities of the MIR and the Socialist Party, and ordered Héctor Aguayo, along with another person, to remain at the Prosecutor's Office as they were to be interrogated, as recorded on pages 626 to 627 (Volume II) and pages 786 to 787 (Volume III).

For his part, Manuel Antonio Humaña Jiménez, director at that time of School No. 17 in Curarrehue and secretary of the Christian Assembly of that commune, detained there on September 17, 1973, and transferred to the facilities of the Tucapel Regiment in Temuco, not only saw Héctor Aguayo Olavarría—his student at that school—in said facility, but the latter approached him, hugged him, and cried in his arms, stating that he had been detained the previous day along with a group of friends in the El Turbio sector of Pucón, only to be finally transferred to that place; facts which are recorded on pages 478 to 479 (Volume II), pages 501 to 506 (Volume II), page 559 (Volume II), and pages 3,854 to 3,857 (Volume XI). Likewise, in the regiment's gymnasium, but specifically in the bathrooms of this facility, Renato Arturo Santana Dubreuil, a militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), was able to exchange words with Héctor Aguayo Olavarría, whom he knew by the nickname "Chachi" and knew to be only 16 years old, as recorded on pages 581 to 583 (Volume II) and page 799 (Volume III). The same occurred with René Esteban Díaz Cortés, a supporter of the Salvador Allende government at that time, detained on September 17, 1973, in the commune of Curarrehue and transferred to the gymnasium of the aforementioned regiment, where he observed an undetermined number of detainees and, in particular, a group of 8 young men, among whom was Héctor Aguayo Olavarría, whom he had also known for years in Curarrehue by the nickname "el Chachi." He noted that all the young men were sitting on the floor with their legs crossed, gagged, and with their hands tied behind their backs, as recorded on pages 474 to 475 (Volume II) and page 800 (Volume III). In this same vein, Juan Luis Díaz Cortés, a supporter of the same government, who, as stated, had seen Héctor Aguayo during his first detention at the Pucón Carabineros Sub-station, was detained a second time in the commune of Curarrehue along with his brother René Díaz on September 17, 1973, and subsequently transferred to the Tucapel Regiment in Temuco. There, Héctor Aguayo Olavarría told him directly that he knew the soldiers at that place would kill him, as they had already told him so. Following that episode, in the afternoon, they were ordered to line up in the regiment's courtyard, where an officer, whose identity Mr. Díaz does not know, read a document naming some of the detainees, among whom were his brother, René Díaz Cortés, Héctor Aguayo Olavarría, and the Schmidt brothers. These prisoners were transferred to the regiment's guardhouse, and he noted that only his brother returned, and he never saw the other detainees again, as recorded on pages 476 to 477 (Volume II) and page 666 (Volume II). As can be observed, the dynamic regarding the 8 young men who were detained and kidnapped corresponded to a habitual method used by the armed forces and security services of that era against opponents of the military regime, which consisted of releasing them after a few days or weeks (a false release) only to detain them again upon leaving the facility and taking them back to that location. The facts described thus far account for this situation, without prejudice to what will be set forth below.

R.-

During those days, inside the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, a conscript with the initials M.J.C.S. was serving in the Headquarters and Services Company. After observing the photographs of Héctor Aguayo Olavarría, Elías González Ortega, and Hugo González Ortega, which are found on pages 5 to 7 of the secret case file, he was able to perfectly recognize them as they were being tortured in a room located in the Headquarters and Services Company of the Tucapel Regiment, a place where two officers and a group of detectives were present.

He stated that the detainees were transferred to this facility in plain view of everyone in the Company, as everyone was aware of its existence. This conscript was positioned 10 meters from that room and was an eyewitness to the detainees having nylon bags placed over their heads and being subjected to electric shocks on different parts of their bodies, and he could also hear their screams of pain resulting from the same.

Although he states that at that time it was difficult to memorize the faces of the detainees because they were shaved, he memorized the faces of the aforementioned victims because they were blindfolded when entering the torture room, but they were not blindfolded when they left, which is why he was able to recognize them perfectly, as recorded in his statements on pages 3 to 4, pages 35 to 38, and pages 93 to 95, all from the secret case file.

S.-

Days after the events described in the preceding paragraph, the conscript with the initials M.J.C.S. was tasked on two occasions with loading a military truck with the bodies of deceased persons from the Isla Cautín shooting range.

On the first occasion, he loaded 10 bodies, all male, whose ages fluctuated between 25 and 30 years; while on the second occasion, he loaded 8 bodies, also male, but on this occasion, they were younger than in the previous case.

Present at the scene, among others, were some conscripts from his company, among whom he remembers José Chávez Etchepare and Luis Valeria Candia (deceased, as recorded on page 3,505, Volume X, and page 3,502, Volume X).

Although it was night, by the light of the vehicles, he could observe that they were indeed young people who presented multiple gunshot wounds; one of them even had a gunshot wound to the head. He added that almost all of them had their hands tied and their faces uncovered, and he was able to recognize, based on the photographs on pages 5 to 7 of the secret file, that 3 of these 8 bodies were Héctor Aguayo Olavarría and the brothers Hugo and Elías González Ortega, as recorded in his statements on pages 3 to 4, pages 35 to 38, and pages 93 to 95, all from the secret case file.

It is noted that this protected witness with the initials M.J.C.S. underwent a psychiatric evaluation of his mental faculties, which indicated that he is a lucid person, oriented in time and space; with normal psychomotricity; without productive symptomatology; and without alterations in the course or content of thought or language.

His language is communicative and of good quality; he is euthymic, with adequate affective resonance. No anxious or depressive symptomatology was found; performance tests showed preserved memory. He possesses a good capacity for abstraction.

In short, the expert report concluded that he is a man without impairment of his sense of reality, with an intellectual level that is clinically in the normal range, and he has all his higher cortical functions preserved. This psychiatric report is found on pages 180 to 183 of the secret case file.

T.-

Following this, and on both occasions, the truck departed in the direction of the Allipén bridge, while he and the conscripts of his company remained at the Regiment, and personnel from the Second Hunters Regiment took charge of transporting the corpses to the aforementioned river.

This conscript was later able to confirm that the Allipén bridge was the final destination for these bodies, where they were thrown into the waters, as the conscript Luis Valeria Candia (deceased, page 3,502, Volume X), boasting about these events, told him about the situation, as recorded on pages 3 to 4 and pages 35 to 37 of the secret file.

U.-

In this sense, days after September 11, 1973, while Rubén Ernesto Sandoval Muñoz, a civilian who engaged in recreational fishing in the Toltén River between the Pitrufquén and Faja Maisan stretch, was performing this activity along with José Tomás Palazuelos, he found around 12 bodies in different sectors, all male.

He recalled that 4 of these corpses were older individuals and the rest were very young people. Among the bodies he saw in the river, one young man drew his special attention; he was stranded in a river bend between the Bajada de Piedra and Chesta sector and had a perforation on the right side of his skull, which gave him the impression that it was the result of a gunshot.

He remembers that on top of his body, in the sand, were his identity documents, which indicated the word "Villarrica," though he could not distinguish his name. The young man's clothing consisted of a jacket, jeans, and sneakers.

He did not notice if he had other wounds, as he preferred to leave the area out of fear; however, he reported the discovery of the bodies to the Carabineros officer Lukowiak (a sergeant major who at that time belonged to the 5th Carabineros Station of Pitrufquén), but the officer threatened him, which is why he did not report the incident at the time.

Upon being shown photographs by this court, Rubén Sandoval Muñoz stated that the young man he saw in the river was indeed Héctor Aguayo Olavarría, as his image remained very vivid in his mind, mainly due to the shape of his nose, which was very wide, making him look like a boxer. These facts are recorded on page 2,156 (Volume VI), page 2,645 (Volume VIII), and page 2,305 (Volume VII).

V.-

Likewise, Juan Esteban Ortiz Parra, a boatman at that time, states that days after September 11, 1973, he found a large number of bodies floating in the waters of the Toltén River, and others stranded on the riverbank near the Galpones sector of the commune of Pitrufquén.

He focused particularly on one of them because it was a very young person, and he thought it might be someone he knew, which is why he proceeded to check it, immediately realizing that was not the case.

Among the clothing, he found a paper from a school in Villarrica and managed to distinguish that his surname was Aguayo. He noted that the young man's body had a perforation in the back of his skull, his hands were tied with barbed wire, and he was wearing blue jeans and a sweater.

Regarding his physical characteristics, he apparently did not exceed 15 or 16 years of age; he was of short stature, and he could not specify further characteristics because the body was heavily battered by the action of the rocks. Other boatmen also saw the bodies, mentioning among them precisely Rubén Sandoval, as recorded on page 2,154 (Volume VI).

W.-

Finally, after the detention on September 13, 1973, the victims' families never again received news about Hugo Arner González Ortega, Elías Dagoberto González Ortega, Carlos Schmidt Arriagada, Ricardo Augusto Schmidt Arriagada, Juan de Dios Cabrera Figueroa, Alejandro Escobar Vásquez, Héctor Domingo Aguayo Olavarría, and Raúl Marcial Figueroa Burkhardt.

For this reason, they began a fruitless search in the various detention centers that held political prisoners at that time. For example, the family of Héctor Aguayo Olavarría, after learning from Luis Díaz and Esteban Díaz that Héctor was detained inside the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, went immediately to that place, where his detention was denied.

The same occurred when they inquired about him at the Villarrica Police Station. Later, due to the political persecution the family suffered, Héctor Aguayo Olavarría's mother, along with his brothers and sisters, decided to emigrate to Argentina; however, Héctor's father remained in Curarrehue in search of his son, where he passed away without finding him.

X.-

At present, only the account existing in the Museum of Memory and Human Rights remains, which details the disappearance of these young men after their detention on September 13, 1973. It has been possible to verify until now, as has been stated, that according to the accounts, the victims were detained, outside of any judicial process, in the area of the Río Turbio bridge, near the fork in the road leading to the town of Caburgua and the commune of Curarrehue, by Luis Robinson Bustos Letelier, a Carabineros captain and chief of the Pucón Sub-station.

They were immediately taken to that police unit, then driven as detainees to the facilities of the Tucapel Regiment in Temuco, momentarily released, and then apprehended again. On this occasion, they were pressured and tortured inside the same regiment.

And as stated, for reasons not clarified in the case file, they were transferred to the public jail of the city of Temuco, only to return in the same capacity to the facilities of the Tucapel Regiment in Temuco, since, as the witness with the initials M.J.C.S. describes, when he was tasked with loading 8 bodies of deceased persons from the Isla Cautín shooting range, he recognized Héctor Aguayo Olavarría, Hugo Arner González Ortega, and Elías Dagoberto González Ortega, at least 3 of the 8 victims in this case.

The dynamic of detaining, granting freedom, and then re-apprehending the same people to re-enter them as political detainees was a habitual practice used by State agents.

Y.-

The aforementioned facts must have been known to the officers in command of the Headquarters and Services Company of the Tucapel Regiment in Temuco, among them Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias, Pedro Guillermo Manuel Tichauer Salcedo, and Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz, to which this conscript with the initials M.J.C.S. belonged.

And as detailed in item 37 of this resolution, Mr. Alfonso Podlech Michaud acted from September 11, 1973, as an advisory lawyer and ad-hoc military prosecutor for the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, interrogating detainees and deciding the fate of those deprived of liberty, holding decision-making and command powers within the facilities of the aforementioned Regiment at that date.

Likewise, and as detailed in item 51, in relation to the statement by the Spanish citizen Francisco Jerónimo Matta Aro, the facts were known to the lawyer Alfonso Podlech Michaud, since, according to what Mr.

Matta told his son, it was Mr. Podlech who ordered Héctor Aguayo, along with another person, to remain at the Prosecutor's Office as they were to be interrogated. In this sense, in his capacity as ad-hoc prosecutor and advisory lawyer to the Military Prosecutor's Office, he did not report or inform the military superiors or any other authority of the investigated illicit acts, nor is there any record that an investigation was carried out, nor the existence of any registry as a consequence of the commission of these acts.

The powers held by this lawyer were such that the head of the Guard of the Temuco public jail himself, in his statement from October 1973 on pages 4,195 to 4,196 (Volume XII), stated that, given the overcrowding after September 11, 1973, he went to speak with the person in charge of the Military Prosecutor's Office, alluding to the aforementioned lawyer, who "normalized the situation." A consequence of the above are the multiple assertions made by members who served within the regiment at the time of the investigated events, namely: the statements of Aquiles Poblete Müller (deceased, as recorded on page 4,147, Volume XII), a retired commissioner of the Chilean Investigative Police, who in his statement on page 3,665 (Volume X) expressed that "the person largely responsible for all of this and who decided the fate of the detainees is the lawyer Alfonso Podlech, who was in charge of the Military Prosecutor's Office." In this same vein, it is relevant to keep in mind what was stated by the first sergeant of the Tucapel Regiment, José Heriberto Mansilla Gatica, who in his judicial statement on page 3,809 (Volume XI) noted: "...as of September 1973, the second commander of the Regiment, surnamed Jofré, did not take statements. Iturriaga Marchesse only dealt with general matters. The daily work of the prosecutor's office, such as interrogating and making decisions regarding the detainees, was Alfonso Podlech's." Likewise, and to reinforce what was stated above, it is of utmost importance to mention the document on page 4,156 (Volume XII) which accounts for a release order for two people, dated September 28, 1973, issued by the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco and signed by the lawyer and ad-hoc military prosecutor in question. This is in relation to the conclusion of the documentary expert report on pages 4,157 to 4,185 (Volume XII), issued by the Central Criminalistics Laboratory of the Chilean Investigative Police, which, among other things, expresses the following: "the evidence examined on this occasion allows us to establish that the contested signature traced over the text indicating FISCAL, on the 'LIBERTAT' [RELEASE] order No. S/N, from the Cautín-Temuco Military Prosecutor's Office, dated September 28, 1973, addressed to the Carabineros of Chile, Villarrica Sub-station, which orders the release of Mario Fernando Cortés Bornard and Ubildo Antonio Jiménez Vargas, is genuine of Óscar Alfonso Podlech Michaud." This is likewise directly linked to the documentary expert report prepared by the Central Criminalistics Laboratory of the Chilean Investigative Police, on pages 4,186 to 4,192 (Volume XII), which concludes the following: "the evaluation of the evidence examined on this occasion allows us to establish that the contested signature, subscribed over the text Luis A. Jofre Soto mayor fiscal, on the copy of the authorization dated in Temuco on 18.DEC.973, addressed to Doctor Wolfgang REUTER, Regional Hospital, issued by the Cautín-Temuco Military Prosecutor's Office of the Chilean Army, is genuine of Óscar Alfonso Podlech Michaud." The above corroborates the responsibility for these events of the aforementioned advisory lawyer and ad-hoc military prosecutor.

Z.-

To date, no public official of the Chilean Army or any other branch of the Armed Forces and/or Order and Security who served at the time of the events has provided any information to the respective authority regarding what happened to Hugo Arner González Ortega, Elías Dagoberto González Ortega, Juan Carlos Schmidt Arriagada, Ricardo Schmidt Arriagada, Juan de Dios Cabrera Figueroa, Alejandro Escobar Vásquez, Héctor Domingo Aguayo Olavarría, and Raúl Marcial Figueroa Burkhardt, maintaining to this day the concealment of all types of information regarding their whereabouts.

In the civil aspect, the visiting minister accepted the filed lawsuits and ordered the state treasury to pay a total compensation of $2,700,000,000 for moral damages to the victims' families.

Source: pdju.cl, August 28, 2024