Gastón Eduardo Cifuentes Norambuena, married, father of two, a merchant and member of the Socialist Party, was detained by plainclothes officers on December 3, 1974, at approximately 15:00 hours, at his workplace—a family-owned automotive accessories business located at Calle Brasil 52-A in Santiago—which was raided by the agents.

Present at the premises were the victim, his brothers Heriberto and José Efraín, the secretary Jenny Patricia Ugalde Sáez, a supplier named Pedro Enrique Durán Cerón, and a client named Carlos Poblete, about whom no further information is known.

At the indicated time, a young woman entered the premises who, according to Durán’s description, appeared to be drugged or intoxicated and asked for Gastón Cifuentes. The secretary replied that he was not there.

The woman left, and immediately thereafter, approximately nine armed civilians burst into the shop and headed directly to the office where the brothers and the secretary were having lunch, while asking for Gastón. Believing it was a robbery, Gastón pointed out where the money was; however, the agents ignored him and stated that it was a raid.

Gastón was handcuffed and immediately taken out of the business, placed into a white private vehicle, and driven away to an unknown destination.

Subsequently, the secretary was also taken out and placed, along with three of the civilians, into a calypso-colored Fiat 600. They began driving around, finally parking near Parque O'Higgins. While still in the vehicle, she was interrogated about her boss, Gastón Eduardo.

Since she did not know about his activities outside of work, they handcuffed and blindfolded her. She was then transported lying on the back seat, covered with a green cloth, to a facility she later learned was the 8th Carabineros Precinct.

Meanwhile, the rest of the individuals were taken in a police van, which the captors had requested by telephone, to the 8th Carabineros Precinct, located on Calle Toesca. At this facility, they were initially separated, and during the night, their feet were tied, they were blindfolded, handcuffed, and all the men were left in the same cell. Jenny Ugalde was placed near them.

Two days later, on December 5, the secretary and Heriberto Cifuentes were interrogated separately regarding Gastón’s activities. However, after this interrogation session, they were informed that there were no charges against them and that they would be released, except for his brother, who would remain in detention.

They told Jenny something similar, and she was released that same night. However, upon leaving the police precinct, after walking a few steps, she was detained again by civilians who blindfolded her and, amidst insults, forced her into a Fiat 600, the color of which she could not distinguish because it was dark.

She was then taken to a facility whose location she did not know, where they entered a room with a high volume of people. In this place, she remained seated and tied to a chair, being interrogated about how much money was in the business, where the cash box was located, how much they would pay for her ransom, etc.

Two days later, on December 7, in the afternoon, a civilian told her that she would be released, that there was nothing against her or the brothers Heriberto and José Cifuentes, but that there were charges against Gastón, adding that he had "escaped" from them. That same day, she was taken out blindfolded and left at Plaza Bulnes.

Meanwhile, the previous day, December 6, José Cifuentes was taken around 11:00 hours in a van, apparently belonging to the FACH, to his home in the Barrancas commune, which was raided, after which they told him to stay there and remain calm. They later did the same with his brother Heriberto.

However, before that, they went to Gastón’s home, which was also raided.

At the residence, they found his spouse, whom they told that her husband had escaped from them and that they had orders to kill him wherever they found him.

That same day, Miguel Durán was also released from the same precinct, after being told that he had been placed on file.

It should be added that none of the detainees saw Gastón Cifuentes inside the 8th Precinct; he has been forcibly disappeared since he was taken from his business at Calle Brasil 52-A in Santiago.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On December 11, 1974, a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) was filed on his behalf before the Santiago Court of Appeals, case file 1563-74. Both the Minister of the Interior and the Military and Aviation judges reported negatively regarding the victim's detention, after which, on January 27, 1975, the Court decided to reject the appeal and refer the records to the corresponding Criminal Court to investigate the reported facts.

Thus, on February 2, 1975, the 2nd Criminal Court of Santiago opened case file 83.018 for the alleged disappearance of Gastón Cifuentes Norambuena.

The witnesses who were detained along with the victim testified before the Court, except for Carlos Poblete, who was not located by the Investigations police. They all gave extensive accounts of what happened on December 3 and their time at the police facility.

Despite everything, after taking the witnesses' statements, the Judge decided to close the summary proceedings without ordering the location of Carlos Poblete or issuing an official request to the Carabineros to report on the detention of Gastón Cifuentes and the others affected.

On the same date, the Judge decreed the temporary dismissal of the case on the grounds that the crime had not been proven.

However, the Court of Appeals, resolving the consultation regarding this resolution, ordered the ruling to be set aside, considering that Cifuentes' detention was attributed to personnel from the 8th Carabineros Precinct, for which reason incompetence should be declared and the records sent to the Military Justice system.

Complying with the order of the higher court, the judge of the 2nd Criminal Court declared herself incompetent and referred the case files to the 2nd Military Court of Santiago, whose head, Brigadier General Enrique Morel Donoso, appointed Major Tulio Hernán Díaz Trincado to instruct case file 133-76.

Prosecutor Trincado, without ordering any investigative steps, ruled on April 1, 1976, requesting the temporary dismissal of the case, given that the evidence provided did not justify the commission of the reported crime.

On April 9, 1976, Judge Morel accepted this request and decreed the dismissal of the proceedings until new and better evidence could be presented.

There is no record of this resolution having been appealed, but it is known that the case was archived in the military court. The brothers also reported these events to the Ministers of the Interior and Defense.

Source: Vicaría de la Solidaridad

Minister Mario Carroza sentences retired Carabineros for the qualified kidnapping of a young merchant in 1974.

The visiting minister sentenced Manuel Muñoz Gamboa to 5 years and one day in prison as the perpetrator of the crime, and José Contreras Valenzuela to 3 years and one day in prison, with the benefit of supervised release, as an accomplice.

The extraordinary visiting minister for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, sentenced two retired members of the Carabineros for their responsibility in the crime of qualified kidnapping of GASTON EDUARDO CIFUENTES NORAMBUENA, who was detained on December 3, 1974, and held in the underground levels of the Plaza de la Constitución, in front of the La Moneda Palace, from where his trail was lost.

Thus, the visiting minister sentenced Manuel Agustín Muñoz Gamboa to a penalty of 5 years and one day in prison, along with the accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for public offices and political rights, and absolute disqualification for professional titles for the duration of the sentence, as the perpetrator of the crime; and José Luis Contreras Valenzuela to 3 years and one day in prison, with the benefit of supervised release, as an accomplice.

During the investigation phase of the case, Minister Mario Carroza was able to establish the following facts:

1.- That the Carabineros Intelligence Service Section (SICAR), after September 11, 1973, functioned as an intelligence and repression service with an organized, hierarchical structure, its own resources, and clandestine detention centers to carry out tasks restricting the rights of those who were not supporters of the Military Government.

This organization maintained a structure that allowed it to keep permanent contact and information channels with its superiors, to whom it had to report its work. The tasks carried out by SICAR were developed by four groups or work teams, two of which were operational: 'Operations' and 'Counterintelligence', and two administrative: 'Analysis' and 'Archive and Kardex';

2.- That, starting from that date, the aforementioned service began to carry out procedures outside of its institutional duties; in effect, among these was the aforementioned role of persecuting militants of the opposition to the Military Government, for which the operational groups were in charge of carrying out surveillance, raids, detentions, interrogations, and in some cases, executions;

3.- That among the places used for its illicit activities in 1974 was the well-known 'Barracks No. 1', which received the name 'El Hoyo' (The Hole), located in the underground of the Plaza de la Constitución;

4.- That, as things stood, on December 3, 1974, around noon, the citizen Gastón Eduardo Cifuentes Norambuena was inside the commercial premises located at Avda. Brasil 52-A in the Santiago Commune, in the company of his brothers Heriberto Antonio and José Efraín, both Cifuentes Norambuena, as well as the secretary Yenny Patricia Ugalde Sáez and the client Pedro Enrique Durán Cerón, along with an unidentified third party, when four men dressed in civilian clothes burst into the place and asked for him.

When Gastón Eduardo responded affirmatively, they immediately proceeded to detain him and threw him into a vehicle, then left for an unknown destination. They also detained the other people who were on the premises, who were interrogated and subsequently released;

5.- That the efforts of his relatives to locate Gastón Eduardo Cifuentes Norambuena were unproductive; his trail was lost, and he has not been seen alive since December 3, 1974, when he was illicitly deprived of his personal liberty by State agents of the Carabineros Intelligence Service;

6.- That the group acting in said operation was the one called 'Counterintelligence', which at that time was directed by Captain Germán Alfredo Esquivel Caballero, currently deceased, and composed exclusively of police officers.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl 7/01/2019

Date: 07-01-2019