Case No. 51.925-1: Illegal burial of Grober Hugo Venegas Islas a 2.- Statements by Rubén Ángel Almonte Escudero on pages 407, 805, 995, who states that on one occasion when he was the Duty Officer at the Arica Investigations Police Station, the Unit Chief, Commissioner Víctor López González, informed him that Army intelligence personnel, CIRE, would be coming by at night to pick up a drug detainee who was being held at the station.

Indeed, at night—he does not specify the time—the CIRE officials arrived. The person who retrieved the detainee was a Lieutenant, whom he identifies along with approximately four other Army officials. All of them were in civilian clothes and were accompanied by detective Héctor González Mackay, who at that time was attached to CIRE.

A colleague who told him the following day that the aforementioned Lieutenant had taken the detainee to the area on the South side of Arica where, after digging a hole, they allegedly shot him, burying him at the site.

EIGHTH: That, on pages 823, 828, 840, 844, 967, 968, 970, and 1.034, the defendant José Luis Catalán Reyes gave a statement... Finally, in his appearance on page 1.034, after ratifying the statements he provided in this case, he points out that, given that he has been brought to the city for the purpose of assisting in the search for the person named Grober Venegas Islas, who was killed in an area upon arriving at Alto Ramírez, in the Azapa Valley, coming from the entrance via the south as he previously stated, they turned right into a hollow in the hills, the car stopped, they took the subject out who had been in the trunk, they walked about 50 meters, and there Captain Padilla, advised by detective González Mackay, ordered the subject to dig a grave. Then Padilla called him over, as he was standing a little way off, and said to him, “he is ready, shoot him.” He handed him a pistol and he shot him in the back of the neck, as they had him kneeling, looking down into the grave. He adds that he is clear that, without a doubt, those who participated in this act were: he himself, as the direct executor of the death of the person named Grober Venegas; Mr. Patricio Padilla Villén, who led the group and ordered him to kill the detainee by handing him the weapon; Second Corporal José Vignolo Quezada, who was the one who transmitted Captain Padilla’s order at CIRE for him to get into the car and accompany him to the field; and the Investigations police officer whom he later learned was named González Mackay. He asserts that he has no doubt that these three people, who are the ones he remembers, were present at the event, had full knowledge of what was going to be done, and that Captain Padilla conveyed it to him at the moment he called him over at the scene and said, “he is ready,” handed him the pistol, and ordered him to shoot the man who was in the grave. He adds that, according to what has been said, he does not remember any other person or persons in this episode. He knew Sergeant Mercado Valenzuela from before, but he cannot confirm that he was present at this event; he could not confirm the name of this person or any other as participating in the aforementioned episode. He is only clear that those he mentioned were there: that is, Captain Padilla, who surely was driving, as the car in which they were traveling—a single vehicle—was only driven by Padilla Villén, who even took it to his house and used it all the time; Corporal José Vignolo Quezada; the police officer with the surname González Mackay; and himself.

Source: Judiciary, November 8, 2011