On September 4 and 5, 1984, eight people died in the context of the demonstrations held for the Tenth National Day of Protest:

Guillermo Cirilo VARGAS GALLARDO, 21 years old, a student of Execution Engineering at the Universidad de Atacama, died during incidents between students and security forces that occurred at his university.

On September 5 at noon, clashes occurred between students and security forces at the Universidad de Atacama (Copiapó). The university authorities deemed it necessary to restore order and authorized the entry of public security forces.

Personnel from the Ejército, Carabineros, and Central Nacional de Informaciones entered the premises. Under these circumstances, three students fled from the State agents, attempting to climb a hill located at the rear of the university campus.

The agents pursued the students and fired at them with firearms in order to detain them. Two of them were wounded; the third, Guillermo Cirilo Vargas Gallardo, was struck by a bullet in the head and died.

The doctor who performed the autopsy and treated the wounded stated that the victim was killed by a rifle or machine gun-type weapon; another of the students was wounded by the same type of weapon; several police officers presented wounds "produced by blunt objects, probably stones."

One of the wounded students recounts that he met up with Vargas Gallardo as several students were fleeing from the carabineros. Vargas Gallardo suggested they climb the hill to escape. The State agents fired at them to stop them.

The witness states: "I do not know who the person was that shot at me, since when I looked down there were about eight soldiers and three carabineros, all with their service weapons."

Official versions claim that there were armed individuals firing from inside the university. During the raid, one firearm was found; however, none of the detained students were armed, and the official version that the armed individuals fled across the countryside could not be verified.

Based on the testimonies and evidence presented, there is a conviction that Guillermo Cirilo Vargas was killed by the actions of State agents in a context of political violence. Furthermore, given the circumstances in which the victim died, the Commission presumes that the State agents made excessive use of their firearms, which was unnecessary in relation to the objective of detaining the students, thereby violating the victim's right to life.