The Puma helicopter arrived in Copiapó on the same day, October 16, 1973, around 8:00 PM. It remained there until the morning of October 18. The tragic result of its stay in the city was sixteen victims.

For many years, General Sergio Arellano maintained that his mission in Copiapó consisted of verifying the execution by firing squad of three prisoners who had been sentenced to death by a war council (García, Tapia, and Castillo).

He had not yet arrived in the city, he told Judge Guzmán, "when the thirteen prisoners of Copiapó were executed; I was not in the city." "Whatever the date, I am convinced that in this case there was no participation by the members of my military group," General Arellano reiterated.

When did he find out what happened? The general said he had learned of it through a report from the regiment commander, Colonel Óscar Haag, "as an event that occurred prior to my arrival." Brigadier Pedro Espinoza said he knew nothing of what happened in Copiapó.

Colonel Sergio Arredondo declared that he also did not find out anything at the time and that, later, "I became aware that there had been executions, possibly during or after our time in Copiapó." Colonel Marcelo Moren Brito said that, at the moment of departing from Copiapó toward Antofagasta, "before leaving, Colonel Arredondo informed us about some executions that had been carried out in the city." And later, he rectified his statement: "In Copiapó and La Serena, I witnessed part" of the executions.

Officer Juan Chiminelli, the general's aide, was once again the one who demonstrated the best memory and even contradicted his boss: "I remember there was a very heavy shootout, since the people who were executed were not left in very good condition." But since there were two mass executions in Copiapó on October 17, 1973, it could be argued that there is confusion in the memories.

So, the judge decided to clarify the episode thoroughly. Let us start with the statement of the then-Lieutenant Enrique Vidal Aller, who was the aide to the regiment commander (page 1372). And let us go to the beginning of this episode.

Lieutenant (Ret.) Vidal Aller said that, from La Serena, he was warned that the helicopter with General Arellano on board was coming to Copiapó. He immediately communicated this to Commander Haag, "who did not give it much importance; he commented to me that said helicopter would pass directly to Antofagasta, since in his view Copiapó was not that important." Shortly after, a duty sergeant warned him that the Puma was approaching: "I ordered the sergeant to surround the helicopter when it landed with about fifteen men I had available at that moment.

Once the helicopter landed, I remember that the first to get off was Lieutenant Armando Fernández Larios, who was wearing combat gear, with knives, grenades, etc., and from his movements, it gave the impression that he was disoriented.

I approached and asked him what was happening, and he informed me that General Arellano and a delegation were coming, formed by Fernández Larios, Major Arredondo, Captain Moren Brito, and a second lieutenant, Hugo Julio." Vidal Aller's statement continues: "Once General Arellano had disembarked, I informed him that there was no news.

Then he asked me for the unit commander, Mr. Haag, and I informed him that he was at the command post." General Arellano then ordered him to go get him immediately. And when Arellano had Commander Haag in front of him, "he reprimanded him for the way he was dressed, adding that the country was at war, which is why he ordered him to change his clothes." Colonel Haag changed his clothes for combat gear.

Then, at the command post, General Arellano met with Commander Haag, the officers of the delegation Arredondo and Moren, as well as Captain Brito of the Copiapó regiment. Then, Vidal Aller assured the judge, "General Arellano asked for all the files of the people who were detained both in the unit and in the Copiapó jail.

After being in a meeting for two to three hours, Captain Brito came down with the files that General Arellano had studied and from which thirteen were separated, related to the people who were finally massacred." While the meeting was taking place, something happened that former Lieutenant Vidal Aller could never forget: "Lieutenant Armando Fernández Larios came out, asked me where the detainees were, went to that place, and armed with a weapon—which consists of a handle with a chain and a spiked ball—he hit people on the head.

From this action, a person named Leonello Vincenti resulted dead. This was known to Major Arredondo and Captain Carlos Brito, who reprimanded Lieutenant Fernández Larios for his actions, to which he replied that he reported to General Arellano and not to him." And if the then-Lieutenant Vidal Aller was a witness to what happened from his aide's office, the version of what happened inside the command office could only be given by Colonel Óscar Haag Blaschke.

In his first statement (page 2059 and following) he was rather cautious. He said that when General Arellano showed him the document signed by General Pinochet, naming him his Delegate Officer, he understood "that at that moment I remained subordinate to the command because, according to the regulations, the Delegate Officer has full and broad powers to act in all aspects of command." Haag assured the judge that General Arellano, together with the then-Major Pedro Espinoza, "began to review the identification cards of each of the detainees, plus the cases that were in process (...) On several occasions, he asked for more data on some detainees, such as—for example—the way they had been detained, attitude, place of their detention, and charges formulated against them (...) I must state that, during the review, both General Arellano and Major Espinoza took notes or made annotations on the list of detainees." But it was in a second interrogation, carried out on January 29, 2000, when Colonel Óscar Haag Blaschke gave a detailed account of what happened there and which culminated in the death of sixteen political prisoners. Let us see what he told Minister Juan Guzmán: "We met at the command post with General Arellano and, in addition, the Prefect of Carabineros, Commander René Peri, and the Prefect of Investigations, whose name I do not remember, participated in that meeting. Also present were another Investigations official and a Carabineros officer, whose names and ranks I do not remember. Also present was the lawyer Rojas Hidalgo, who was my advisor. From the delegation, in addition to Arellano, was the then-Major Pedro Espinoza. All of them reviewed the backgrounds of the detainees. Also with them was Captain Carlos Brito, who had the files of the detained persons." "General Arellano, Major Espinoza, Captain Carlos Brito, together with the Investigations and Carabineros officials in charge of Intelligence, whose names I do not remember, worked at a table with the files and backgrounds of the detainees. We were sitting in front of the table, witnessing from afar what they were doing. There was a file with all the data of the detained persons, which contained their political affiliation and the charges that existed against them. This documentation was kept in a card index. In charge of the card index was Captain Carlos Brito. The latter would show the cards corresponding to each detainee and General Arellano, at times, would make marginal notes. No, I do not remember the color of the pencil he used. I only saw it from afar, so I could not specify what he was noting. In some cases, he made notes and in others, he did not. This meeting began around 8:00 PM on October 16, 1973, and ended shortly before midnight that day." "I remember that Lieutenant Colonel Arredondo or another officer would enter the meeting sporadically. I knew Arredondo because he practiced horse riding. In addition, General Arellano sent letters outside through any of the members of his delegation, as they were his trusted men. He sent written messages, presumably to members of his commission. I do not know their content." "At the end of the meeting, General Arellano handed over the list he had received from the Prosecutor's Office with the names of all the detainees who were in the regiment and in the local jail—about seventy—in which he had marked the name of thirteen people, ordering that they should be executed by firing squad as soon as possible. These people were executed while having pending summaries because the general's order could not fail to be fulfilled, given the high rank he held." Thirteen prisoners, and the other three? Colonel Haag told the judge that, in that same meeting, General Arellano examined the files of the three officials from the El Salvador mine. Because García, Tapia, and Castillo had been tried by a war council, which proposed the death penalty for the three. The case was being reviewed by Haag, but the general ordered the legal advisor, lawyer Daniel Rojas Hidalgo, to close the case and prepare the document to sign the execution of the sentence the following day. We are, in the story, near midnight on October 16, 1973. The meeting where the death of a total of sixteen prisoners has been decided has just ended. What happened next? Lieutenant (Ret.) Vidal Aller recounted it to the judge like this: "Once the meeting of General Arellano and his delegation was over, an order was given to transfer thirteen people to La Serena, an order arranged by General Arellano himself to Commander Haag. This mission was to be carried out by Captain Patricio Díaz Araneda, who asked me to accompany him, to which I replied that I was the commander's aide and could not receive orders from him. Subsequently, Captain Díaz Araneda designated three second lieutenants, recently graduated from the Military School, to accompany him to carry out the mission of transferring the detainees." Officer Patricio Díaz Araneda then became key to continuing to find out what happened. In his first statement, he did not open his mouth. He was already retired from the Army, but worked for the institution as a chemical engineer for FAMAE. He did not remember anything about what happened in Copiapó. In the years '73 and '74, he explained to the judge, he went through "one of the most difficult periods of my life." He said he was recently married and that, although his wife lived three blocks from the regiment, he could see her only every three months. That is why, he said, he had "memory gaps." —Have you received psychiatric help? —Minister Guzmán asked him. —No, because only now do I realize, since in 25 years no one has asked me about this subject —replied Officer Díaz Araneda. But in June 1999, Minister Guzmán went to the Copiapó jail and, in the 1973 guard logbook, found the proof. It was recorded there that at 12:30 AM on October 17, Sub-officer Orlando Lukes Smith—acting warden—had handed over nine prisoners to Captain Patricio Díaz Araneda. Around that same date, June of '99, Minister Guzmán's request to know the list of officers and sub-officers who were in the Copiapó and La Serena regiments in 1973 was denied. The Army Chief of Staff, Major General Patricio Chacón Guerrero, replied that "it is a matter classified as secret." That was how Minister Guzmán decided to arrest Officer Patricio Díaz Araneda and prosecute him. The arrest was crucial to clarify the episode. After six months of imprisonment, Patricio Díaz Araneda regained his memory and confessed: "Not before 11:00 PM was I summoned to the command post, being received in the aide's sector, because at that moment General Arellano and the members of his delegation and other people who participated in the meeting were in the command post, that is, Captain Brito and Commander Peri, among others. In the aide's office was Commander Haag and Major Enriotti. At that moment I received the order verbally, with all of us standing. This order consisted of executing by firing squad, outside the barracks premises and only with the participation of officers, some detainees, who would be indicated on a list. Indeed, I received a list with names. This list, I get the impression, was handwritten." The then-Captain Patricio Díaz Araneda "represented" the order to his superiors. That is, he asked if he could avoid its fulfillment. But the order was reiterated to him, at which point he knew he had no other path but to fulfill it, since his superiors took responsibility for what was ordered. The account of the then-Captain Díaz Araneda continues: "For the fulfillment of the mission, a military truck was placed at my disposal, which I personally drove and in which we transported the detainees. While I was preparing the weaponry, four of the detainees who were inside the barracks were removed, whom we loaded onto the truck to then proceed to the Copiapó jail to remove the remaining nine. The names of the detainees from the jail were given to me on a list. I remember that I entered the jail around 12:30 AM on October 17, communicating to the personnel in charge that, by order of the Military Prosecutor's Office, they had to hand over to me the detainees who appeared on the list. That is recorded in the prison's Guard Logbook." "Once the detainees were removed from the jail, which together with those taken from the military premises totaled thirteen people, I headed with the truck toward the south of Copiapó along the Cinco Norte highway. We traveled a little more than twenty kilometers and, as soon as the terrain allowed me, I left the highway with the truck and went into the pampa to the west, approximately 200 meters, proceeding to stop the truck. At that moment, as the officers got out, I communicated to the second lieutenants what the mission was that we had to fulfill. The second lieutenants asked me if there was no way not to fulfill that order, to which I reiterated that no and that the order had to be fulfilled because it had been ratified to me. Immediately after, we proceeded to take the detainees down in groups of three, who were executed by three of the officers, while one ensured the permanence of the rest in the truck. The execution was rotating regarding the participants; naturally, in the last group, there were four executed. I wish to place on record that, due to nervousness, I did not notice that my rifle was on burst and I executed two of them in those conditions." —Were the prisoners tied up or hooded? —the judge asked Patricio Díaz Araneda. —Their hands were tied behind their backs at the moment of loading them onto the truck. And the bags with which their faces were hooded, at the moment of being executed, were sleeping bag sacks. —In what order did you execute them? —the judge asked. —I participated in the executions of the four groups, for which we used SIG 7.62 mm rifles of military issue. We were three shooters for each group, but for the last one, we were four. I do not remember the order of the shooters in each case. The executions were carried out with the detainees standing, facing the group of shooters, at a distance of approximately eight meters. They died instantly with the first shots; it was not necessary to execute mercy shots. —What happened next? —Finished the execution, we proceeded to load the thirteen corpses into the truck, covering them with a tarp. And I headed with the truck toward the regiment's premises, where they remained until around 8:00 or 9:00 PM on October 17, 1973, at which time we transported the remains to the Copiapó cemetery. The custody of the truck was initially in charge of two officers, who were subsequently relieved by regiment personnel. —Did you direct the transport of the corpses to the cemetery and their burial? —Yes, we entered the cemetery through the back door, inside which there was already military personnel, in addition to the cemetery administrator. We proceeded to take the bodies down from the truck, to then carry out their burial. But the administrator pointed out to us that it was not possible to carry out the burial without a document from the Civil Registry. For this reason, military personnel went to look for the Civil Registry officer, who once at the place proceeded to take the fingerprints of each of the victims, which he registered on a form. Meanwhile, this operation was illuminated by the lights of the vehicles. —Who gave you the order to execute the prisoners? —The order was given to me by the regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Óscar Haag, when we were both standing in the command aide's office, since I was called by him. In the meantime, General Sergio Arellano Stark and some members of his delegation were in the commander's office. Everyone was in field gear. I know for a fact that General Arellano and part of his delegation were at the command post, since I saw them enter. I represented the order to Commander Haag and he indicated to me that said order had to be fulfilled. On January 29, 2000, at 11:45 AM, at the Telecommunications Command, the confrontation took place between General Sergio Arellano Stark and the then-Captain Patricio Díaz Araneda. —Specify, General Arellano, where you slept the night of October 16 to 17 and the night of October 17 to 18, 1973 —the judge inquired. —My commission arrived in Copiapó on October 16, 1973, around 8:00 PM, where I stayed overnight. We were all day in that city, where we stayed overnight to leave on October 18, 1973, first thing in the morning, for Antofagasta —replied General Arellano. Then, General Arellano said that—after his arrival—he met with Commander Haag to plan the activities for the next day and went to sleep at his hotel. And on the morning of October 17, he had had a meeting with the officers and sub-officers of the regiment, in which he recommended "respect for the civilian population and the need to avoid any form of abuse of power." And he ended this part of his statement by reaffirming that his delegation was not in Copiapó when the thirteen prisoners were murdered. —Did you order the transfer of those thirteen people and/or their execution? —Minister Guzmán asked General Arellano. —Definitely, I did not order either the transfer or the execution —replied General Arellano. —Did you participate in the transfer and in the execution of the thirteen prisoners? —the judge asked Patricio Díaz Araneda. —Indeed, I directed and participated in the execution of thirteen people in Copiapó, on October 17, 1973. I estimate that these executions were carried out between one-thirty or two in the morning. Emphatically, I can say that the events occurred in the early morning of October 17, a date that coincides with the stay of General Arellano with his delegation. It is a matter of associating. General Arellano's delegation arrived in Copiapó on October 16, around 8:00 PM —replied Officer Díaz Araneda. —At what moment and who entrusted you with the mission? —On October 16, 1973, after 11:00 PM, I was called to the Atacama Regiment command post. In the aide's office was Commander Haag and Major Enriotti. There I received, from Colonel Haag, the mission to execute the detainees who were indicated on a list, an activity that had to be carried out only by officers and outside the barracks. It was Commander Haag. The commander was very agitated, as he is a very nervous person. He was very moved. He told me that I had to comply with the order to execute the thirteen people mentioned on the list. He was very scared. I even represented the order to him. Never had Commander Haag made such a drastic decision and I am convinced that he was following superior orders (...) The reason that most drives me to say that Commander Haag was following superior orders is that the sixteen executions that took place in Copiapó occurred exactly during the period of my General Arellano's stay and his delegation in the garrison. Neither before nor after the presence of my General Arellano in Copiapó were there detainees who were executed —replied Officer Díaz Araneda. —Where was General Arellano when the execution order was given to you? —He was at the Atacama Regiment command post, around 11:00 PM on October 16. It was then that General Arellano decided to intervene and it was recorded in the process: "It is not the first time that the passage of my delegation through some garrison where there were pusillanimous commanders who even did not comply with the provisions of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army has been taken advantage of, as happened in the Calama garrison." —Was General Arellano at the regiment command post on the night of October 16? —Minister Guzmán asked. General Arellano Stark: "Concretely, I was not. I was at the hotel." Officer Díaz Araneda: "I can assure you that he was at the command post. I saw him enter on October 16 around 8:20 PM, which is the time it takes to arrive from the helicopter to the command post. No more than 15 to 20 minutes." —Was General Arellano at the command post when the order to execute the thirteen detainees was given? —the judge repeated, addressing Díaz Araneda. —I believe he was at the command post because I did not see him leave. —Where were you, General Arellano, when the order to execute was given? General Arellano Stark: "No, at that time I was at the hotel." Officer Díaz Araneda: "My General Arellano was at the command post." General Arellano Stark: "I insist, I was at the hotel." General Arellano argued, then, that the proof of his innocence and, therefore, the proof of Commander Haag's guilt in the Copiapó crimes, was precisely in the fact that Haag had not called his jurisdictional superior—General Lagos—before giving the execution order. Officer Díaz Araneda replied to him like this: "I only assured, and I have no doubt, that Commander Haag followed superior orders. There was nothing either before or after General Arellano's arrival in Copiapó that could precipitate the referred events." —Why did Commander Haag not request authorization from General Lagos to do something as serious as the execution of thirteen people? —the judge asked. —I do not know if that night Commander Haag communicated the order to General Lagos Osorio; I only know that my General Arellano assumed the role of Delegate Officer of the Commander-in-Chief from the moment of his arrival in Copiapó —replied Díaz Araneda. General Arellano, then, reiterated that the document he received from the hands of General Pinochet did not indicate "that I would assume command of the unit nor that I would fulfill functions as a military judge." He said that the document that named him Delegate Officer only referred to the behavior of the military with the civilian population, in order to maintain the good image of the Army; to the review of military processes; to ensure that the war councils provided for the due defense of those prosecuted. The confrontation between Colonel Óscar Haag Blaschke and Officer Patricio Díaz Araneda provided new evidence to Minister Guzmán. It was carried out on January 29, 2000, at four in the afternoon, at the Army Telecommunications Command. Who gave the order to take out the thirteen detainees and execute them? That was the judge's question that triggered the following clarification by Colonel Haag: "At the moment when the document in which General Pinochet named General Arellano Delegate Officer was shown to me, I was relieved of command and, therefore, exceeded in my powers. On October 16, 1973, in the meeting we held with General Arellano at the command post, he ordered the execution of thirteen people who were on a list. The list was prepared in triplicate. One was held by Captain Carlos Brito, another by the Military Prosecutor's Office, and the third was handed to General Arellano. I did not see the list up close, but subsequently, I realized that the list had some marks that General Arellano had made. The criterion that General Arellano took into account to select the thirteen people who were to be executed attended to the gravity of the crime, the circumstances that surrounded their detention, and the political party to which the thirteen people belonged." And Colonel Haag added: "Concretely, I knew that those thirteen people were going to be executed because the order had been given by General Arellano, while in the command office. I did not give the order to execute those thirteen people, neither verbally nor in writing. I think the order was given by Enriotti, who was the second in command of the regiment and to whom—while inside the command post—I communicated General Arellano's order." Colonel Haag continued: "The transfer and subsequent escape of the thirteen detainees was a fiction to give an explanation that would not impact the regiment's personnel, but the truth is that the people were ordered to be executed by General Arellano. General Arellano, once he showed the list with the thirteen detained people who would be executed, sent it out of the command post through an emissary of his commission who could well have been Arredondo, who was his second in command. General Arellano said that these thirteen people should be executed immediately and the other three should be executed as soon as possible, ordering that the summary be terminated." And it was then that Colonel Haag added new data: "After they took the thirteen people, supposedly heading to La Serena, in my official vehicle—together with Arredondo and the lawyer Rojas Hidalgo—we headed along the highway that goes to La Serena in search of the military truck that belonged to the regiment and that was carrying the thirteen people." "As Arredondo was annoyed because we did not find the truck, after reaching the top of the Cardone slope, he ordered us to return to Copiapó. On the way back, a few kilometers from Copiapó, with the executed people in its cargo bed, covered with a tarp and dripping blood. We stopped and Arredondo, to verify, got out of the vehicle, climbed onto the truck, lifted the tarp that covered the bodies, and counted the bodies to verify the death of the thirteen people. Subsequently, by order of Arredondo, we headed to the hotel where General Arellano was staying, who received us in a bathrobe. Then Arredondo said textually: 'Order fulfilled, my General, the thirteen people were executed and I have confirmed it personally.'" It is not difficult to imagine the astonishment that Minister Guzmán must have experienced upon hearing the words of Colonel Óscar Haag, as well as the clerk when typing the statement on his typewriter. Colonel Haag added that he returned to the regiment, that early morning in October, and ordered that the official statement be drafted, giving an account of the transfer of the thirteen prisoners to La Serena, their attempt to escape at the moment the truck suffered an electrical failure, and the death of all of them by "escape law." —Who gave the order to execute the thirteen prisoners? —Minister Guzmán repeated. —Officer Díaz Araneda: "I received the order from Commander Haag, while in the aide's office together with Major Enriotti. It is probable that when I arrived at the command post, Commander Haag and Major Enriotti were at that moment commenting on the order to execute the thirteen people. Then, at that moment, I was ordered to comply with the order to execute the thirteen people." Colonel Haag Blaschke: "It is possible that that is how it happened. What occurred was that, while inside the command post, I handed the list to Enriotti, telling him that General Arellano had ordered the execution of thirteen detainees." —Do you maintain your version that the order to execute was given by Colonel Haag? —the judge asked Díaz Araneda. Officer Díaz Araneda: "I received the order while Colonel Haag was together with Major Enriotti in the aide's office. Colonel Haag knew that the order was to execute." Colonel Haag Blaschke: "Being together with Major Enriotti, who was my second in command, it is possible that I tacitly transmitted the order to the then-Captain Patricio Díaz, in the sense that in my presence Major Enriotti informed Captain Díaz that the order was to execute the thirteen people whom, moments before, General Arellano had ticked off in the command office. I handed the paper to Enriotti so that he would take care of the details and take the necessary measures in order to comply with the order given by General Arellano, an order that had to be complied with in any case. The thirteen people had to be executed." Officer Díaz Araneda: "Yes, at the moment of receiving the order, the three of us were there. At that moment, I represented the order to my Commander Haag." Colonel Haag Blaschke: "I had to give the order to Major Enriotti so that he would fulfill it. It could not be otherwise. The order had to be fulfilled. So, when Captain Patricio Díaz Araneda represented it to me, I told him that it was a superior order and that, given the high rank of General Arellano, it was impossible not to comply with the order." Officer Díaz Araneda: "Indeed, that is how it is." —Let's see, who gave the order? —the judge asked again, trying to understand the logic and military language in the fulfillment of orders. Officer Díaz Araneda: "The order was transmitted to me by Commander Haag, who communicated to me that the order was from General Arellano and that it had to be fulfilled. This happened in the presence of Major Enriotti, who gave me the instructions for its fulfillment, with the three of us in the command aide's office." Colonel Haag Blaschke: "Indeed, that is how it is. I transmitted the order to Captain Díaz in the presence of Major Enriotti, reiterating to him that that order had to be fulfilled because of the rank of Delegate Officer that General Arellano held." When the judge wanted to know about the moment when both officers met on the highway, when the truck was already coming back with the corpses and Colonel Arredondo climbed up to count the bodies, they said the following: Officer Díaz Araneda: "I do not remember having seen Arredondo on the Cardone slope." Colonel Haag Blaschke: "Indeed, Arredondo and I were on the Cardone Slope, together with the lawyer Rojas Hidalgo. It is possible that the then-Captain Patricio Díaz did not notice my presence, together with Arredondo, due to the state of shock in which he was after the death of the thirteen people." —And who ordered the execution of the three prisoners coming from El Salvador? —the judge asked, referring to García, Tapia, and Castillo. Colonel Haag Blaschke: "In the same meeting on the night of October 16, General Arellano—upon seeing the files of the three officials from El Salvador, whose death sentence had been proposed by a war council—communicated to the legal advisor, lawyer Daniel Rojas Hidalgo, to close the case and that, in the meeting at ten in the morning of the following day, he present the document to him to sign the execution of the sentence. At the end of the meeting on October 17, lawyer Rojas presented the files of the three people sentenced to death, with General Arellano signing the execution, in the presence of all the people who were at the meeting." He added: "I immediately arranged for the sentence to be carried out to the second in command, Major Enriotti, making it clear to him that all the legal requirements of the case be met. At the end of October 17, Major Enriotti communicated to me that everything was ready for the fulfillment of the sentence, that it was going to be carried out on the regiment's premises, and that he had designated Lieutenant Ramón Zúñiga Ormeño as head of the platoon. He did not communicate to me the names of the rest of the officers who formed the firing squad. The following morning, Major Enriotti communicated to me that the order had been fulfilled according to the schedule and that the people had been placed in coffins and buried in the Copiapó cemetery, in separate graves, and that they had been registered in the cemetery books in patio 16, graves 13, 14, and 15." —Did Captain Díaz Araneda participate in those three executions? —the judge asked. —Officer Díaz Araneda: "I had no participation either directly or indirectly in the executions of those three people. And I must add that officers Yáñez, Marambio, and Ojeda also had no participation in the execution and subsequent burial of those three people." Colonel Haag Blaschke: "I confirm what was said by Díaz Araneda." —What would have happened to them if they did not comply with General Arellano's order to execute the thirteen people and then the death sentence for the other three people? —the judge asked. Colonel Haag Blaschke: "In time of war, not complying with orders from a superior of General Arellano's rank, I think I would have exposed myself to serious sanctions, even death." Officer Díaz Araneda: "In time of war, not complying with an order, in particular the one given to execute, could have exposed me to being sentenced to execution by firing squad." At dawn on October 17, 1973, at the Copiapó regiment, there was a truck with its tragic cargo in the cargo bed: thirteen murdered prisoners. A military guard was guarding it, so that no one could approach. Captain Díaz Araneda—according to his confession—had taken care, during the course of the day, to prepare the clandestine burial. That was what he was ordered to do. He waited for nightfall and around nine at night—already with a curfew—he gave the order for the truck to leave the regiment.

Source: Book: Pruebas a la vista: La Caravana de la Muerte (Patricia Verdugo) 2000