The town of Paine holds the sad record of having the highest number of political executions and forcibly disappeared persons in proportion to its inhabitants. After the military coup, bands of civilians, police, and military personnel operated there, leaving a trail of blood and pain, murdering peasants from "settlements" created by the Agrarian Reform.

In Paine, victims and perpetrators still live side-by-side under a shroud of impunity and oblivion. In 1979, the Military Justice system dismissed the cases opened regarding the events in Paine by virtue of the 1978 Amnesty Law, approved by General Pinochet himself to cover up his crimes.

After 29 years, Judge María Estela Elgarrista is nearing the truth. The Agrarian Reform, initiated in the 1960s and intensified under the government of Salvador Allende and the Unidad Popular, allowed many peasant families to benefit from the allocation of lands that, until then, belonged to a handful of large landowners.

Thus, the peasants gave life to the "settlements," but in Paine, as in the rest of the Chilean countryside, everything was set back on September 11, 1973. Bands of far-right civilians, police, and military personnel exacted "revenge," murdering union leaders and "settled" peasants.

The crimes, impunity, and fear spread through the small towns of Paine, Hospital, Huelquén, Culitrín, Chada, Rangue, El Vínculo, Pintué, and Laguna de Aculeo. Many peasants and their families witnessed how local civilians guided the uniformed men through the "settlements," providing names and, most of the time, participating directly in the repression and crimes.

Two weeks ago, and after 29 years, the judge of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, María Estela Elgarrista, summoned family members and perpetrators to various face-to-face confrontations. Holanda Vidal, wife of the forcibly disappeared Cristian Cartagena Pérez, states: "I was summoned regarding the lawsuit for the kidnapping and murder of my husband, who disappeared on September 18, 1973.

Our goal is for the guilty to be prosecuted: Carabineros from the Paine sub-precinct and civilians who acted together. I identified several of them: Sergeant Retamal, Corporal Ortiz, Albornoz, and Víctor Sagredo; and civilians: Darío González Carrasco, now a merchant, a member of Patria y Libertad, who admitted that he detained my husband at the Chada School House where we lived, taking him to the sub-precinct at six in the morning." The former Carabineros have denied their participation in the crimes during the confrontations, arguing that they "were on guard duty." "That caused me a shock with paralysis of my arms, a crisis of crying and anguish. It is terrible to relive everything that happened, to see them so close, their cynicism, their audacity to deny the truth. To see them so arrogant, without accepting that what they did was atrocious. These are the first confrontations after 29 years of complaints, searches, and knocking on doors. This step was possible because of all our effort and work as an Association. We have not compromised on the trial and punishment of the guilty, and that they pay for their crimes with prison." After the confrontations, prosecutions should follow. The judge has a long list of civilians, Carabineros, and military personnel from the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment. "One of the murderers is Lieutenant Magaña Baum, and among the Carabineros, Sergeant Verdugo, a torturer who now presents himself as an old man who has done nothing," adds Holanda Vidal. "Everyone saw them" Juan Maureira is the son of René Maureira Gajardo, who was forcibly disappeared on October 16, 1973, along with 22 other peasants from the Campo Lindo, 24 de Abril, and Nuevo Sendero settlements. As president of the AFDD of Paine, he recalls that military personnel from the San Bernardo Infantry School also participated in the repression and murders: "The judge is investigating nearly 40 complaints filed with Judge Guzmán. In Paine, there are more than 70 victims, of whom about 40 are still missing. These are the cases compiled in the Rettig Report, but others were never reported. We presume that there are around 100 murdered in Paine, most of them peasants from the settlements. The minister will eventually have to prosecute the Carabineros, civilians, and military personnel involved. It is what we expect and what we have asked for, that true justice be done and that we can find our relatives... We know that Lieutenant Magaña has information about what happened to my father and 22 other peasants, among other cases. He killed our relatives... The Carabineros have denied their participation, but they are the same ones who still live in the town. How can they deny it if everyone saw them? The same thing happens with the civilians who acted. Paine is a small town." According to the relatives, the judge has acted with rigor, caution, and intelligence. They trust the testimonies and statements she has managed to collect. For them, everything points to the fact that some of those involved will be prosecuted. "Many were even seen entering the houses. There is a countless amount of evidence collected since that time." So far, they are satisfied with the investigation and the proceedings carried out by the judge. For them, it is the first investigation after 29 years without achieving justice. Up to this minute, civilians and Carabineros have been summoned, and some confrontations have taken place: "Which gives us a little satisfaction because it had never been achieved before. For the moment there are no prosecuted individuals, but the minister continues working. And we have been able to verify that," says Juan Maureira. Meanwhile, most of the civilians and Carabineros who murdered the peasants of Paine continue living in the small rural town, in complete impunity. "As far as we have been able to see, for the first time there is an investigation as it should be. The criminals will have to provide information about what happened. They are the same Carabineros, civilians, and military personnel who are mentioned in most of the cases," he concludes. Murderers of Paine Carabineros Nelson Bravo Espinoza, Captain; Raúl Ortiz Maluenda, 2nd Sergeant; Carlos Aburto Jaramillo, 1st Corporal; José Retamal Burgos, 1st Corporal; Víctor Sagredo Aravena, 1st Corporal; Reyes, Sergeant; Luis Jara, Lieutenant of Pintué; and Carabineros Samuel Ahumada Cabello; Raúl Donoso Figueroa; Alamiro Garrido Ubal; Jorge González Quezada; Víctor Labarca Díaz; Eduardo Molina Armijo; José Piñaleo Pérez and Jorge Verdugo, among others. Civilians Hugo Aguilera, Fernando Aguilera, Francisco Luzoro, Jorge Sepúlveda, Tito Carrasco, Claudio Oregón, Darío González Carrasco, Luis Guerrero, Mario Tagle, Ricardo Tagle, Yule Tagle, Jorge Aguirre. Military - San Bernardo Infantry School Leonel Köening Alternatt, Director; Samuel Rojas Pérez, Lieutenant Colonel; Mario Morales Durán, Conscript; Andrés Magaña Baum, Lieutenant; Pedro Montalvo Calvo, Colonel; Iván de la Fuente Sáez, Major; Hernán Pizarro Collarte, Major; Ciro Ahumada Miranda, Major; Juan Carlos Nielsen Stambuck, Captain; Sergio Rodríguez Rautcher, Captain; Luis Cortés Villa, Captain; Víctor Pinto Pérez, Captain; Marcial Cobos Farías, Captain; Jorge Romero Campos, Captain; Luis Villarroel Contreras, Captain; Héctor Maturana Zúñiga, Captain; Luis Garfias Cabrera, Captain; Eduardo Silva Bravo, Captain; Sergio Valdivia M., Captain; and Julio Cerda Carrasco, Captain, among others.

Source: February 25, 2003 El Siglo

Huber: mysterious suicide of Brigadier (R) investigated

Visiting Minister Claudio Pavez, who is investigating the case of the homicide of Colonel Gerardo Huber, is looking into the suicide of Brigadier (R) Luis Garfias Cabrera—which occurred yesterday at 8:00 a.m.—who shot himself in the mouth at his residence on Tomás Moro in the Las Condes commune.

The magistrate's decision comes because Garfias Cabrera was a classmate of the prosecuted former Director of Army Logistics and Huber's boss, General (R) Carlos Krumm, who is currently being prosecuted for illicit association.

Furthermore, according to the confidential report issued by the head of the Homicide Brigade (BH) of the Investigations police, Raúl Molina, Garfias's decision occurred after he visited Krumm at his place of detention last week.

Sources linked to the case confirmed that the magistrate reportedly has information that Garfias Cabrera had been warned by Krumm "to take care of himself, that he could be next," referring to the possibility that he would be interrogated and indicted by Pavez.

Added to this is the testimony of the deceased former officer's wife, who assured that a week ago, after speaking with Krumm, her husband fell into a depressive state. Until now, it is unknown what role Garfias Cabrera might have had in the death of Gerardo Huber or in the illegal arms trafficking to Croatia.

In an effort to clarify that question, the magistrate is evaluating summoning Garfias's next of kin to testify. The brigadier who took his own life was stationed in 1973 at the San Bernardo Infantry School and was attributed responsibility in the disappearance of some people, but he was never prosecuted in any judicial case.

With the death of Garfias Cabrera, which becomes a new line of investigation for Minister Pavez, this is the fifth mysterious death of a person linked in one way or another to the case. Goleada Meanwhile, yesterday the Fourth Chamber of the San Miguel Court of Appeals confirmed by three votes to zero the prosecution for illicit association issued by Pavez against the former head of the Army Intelligence Battalion (BIE), Brigadier (R) Manuel Provis Carrasco.

The unanimous ruling was delivered by ministers Leyla Medina, María Teresa Díaz, and Héctor Solís, who considered that the presumptions viewed by Pavez were sufficient suspicion to prosecute Provis, since the writ of amparo is not the appropriate way to revoke a resolution of this type.

In this way, it is possible to project the legal criteria of the magistrates if the other four prosecuted individuals—Generals (R) Krumm; the former head of the DINE, General (R) Eugenio Covarrubias; the deputy director, Víctor Lizárraga; and Huber's friend, Colonel (R) Julio Muñoz—could follow the same judicial path.

The first to begin the arguments was lawyer Cristián Letelier, representing Provis, who pointed out that the indictment of his client was more of a "conspiracy" than an illicit association, without going into further details, as he lacks knowledge of the summary.

Subsequently, it was the turn of Joanna Heskie, lawyer for the Huber family, who insisted on the numerous contradictions that exist in the process between Provis and the former deputy director of Army intelligence, General (R) Víctor Lizárraga, another of the indicted.

The final intervention was by the lawyer for the State Defense Council (CDE), María Inés Horvitz, who also recalled Provis's role in the kidnapping of the DINA chemist, Eugenio Berríos, when he kept him at the BIE facilities in 1991, as well as the multiple differences in his testimonies before Minister Pavez.

Despite this adverse result, Provis's lawyer could appeal to the Supreme Court, whose second chamber should decide whether to maintain or revoke Pavez's decision.

Source: March 21, 2006 La Nación