On September 16, 1974, Héctor Cayetano ZUÑIGA TAPIA, a militant of the MIR, was arrested on a public street in Santiago by agents of the DINA, who then took him to his home in Villa John Kennedy.

That same day, Vicente Segundo PALOMINO BENITEZ, a militant of the MIR, was arrested in downtown Santiago by unidentified plainclothes agents. On two occasions, the detainee was taken by his captors to the photography studio he owned.

Although there is no information regarding the facilities to which they were taken, the Commission considers the testimonies regarding their arrests sufficient to reach the conviction that both detainees were forcibly disappeared by the action of State agents, in violation of their human rights.

In the case of Héctor Zúñiga, it is estimated that it is possible to identify said agents as members of the DINA.

Occupation: Former Chemistry and Pharmacy student at the Universidad de Concepción. Private textile artisan Political Affiliation: Militant of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) Date of Detention: September 16, 1974

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Héctor Cayetano Zúñiga Tapia, married, one daughter, former Chemistry and Pharmacy student at the Universidad de Chile, and a militant of the MIR, was detained by a group of armed individuals dressed in civilian clothes on a public street on September 16, 1974, at approximately 18:00 hours. He was later taken to his usual residence in Villa John Kennedy by his captors.

In fact, on that same day, September 16, 1974, at approximately 23:45 hours, a group of 5 individuals dressed in civilian clothes arrived at the home of the victim's older brother, Gabriel Luis Zúñiga Tapia (with whom he lived). The group carried short and long machine guns and traveled in a Chevrolet C-10 pickup truck, red with an olive-green canopy, without license plates.

The aforementioned agents identified themselves only verbally as members of the Armed Forces, informing Gabriel Zúñiga that they had detained his brother, Héctor. Following this, and amidst threats and beatings, they proceeded to raid the home and interrogate all family members present at that time.

While the search was being conducted, and faced with the brother's insistence—as he did not believe the version of events regarding Héctor Zúñiga's detention—the individuals took him out to the patio of the house and then led him to the street, to the place where the aforementioned vehicle was parked.

Inside, Gabriel Zúñiga was able to see his brother, tied by his hands and feet, lying face down on the floor in the back of the Chevrolet C-10 pickup, showing clear signs of having been beaten, as he was even bleeding.

The same subjects who were holding the victim in such conditions stated that they had detained him that same day on the street, around 18:00 hours, while he was selling wool sweaters that he, in fact, manufactured and sold.

After the agents remained in the house at Cole Porter N°116 for about 40 minutes, they left the scene, threatening the residents with reprisals if they made any type of complaint or report, and informing Gabriel Luis Zúñiga that he remained under house arrest.

Approximately 15 to 30 days after the victim's detention, a person dressed in civilian clothes arrived at the Villa Kennedy address and identified himself, verbally, as an Air Force Commander. The subject inquired about the activities Héctor Zúñiga Tapia had been involved in and asked about his whereabouts.

This same person went to the city of Curicó and interrogated family members of the victim who live there.

Gabriel Luis Zúñiga Tapia provided an account of all the facts described above, appearing, upon summons, before the 9th Criminal Court of Santiago, which processed a case for the victim's alleged disappearance in 1975.

Only recently has it been possible to establish, through a sworn statement provided by Cristián Van Jurick Altamirano—who was detained by civilian agents belonging to the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA) on July 12, 1974—that the victim remained held in Room N°13 of the "Cuatro Álamos" prison camp, under the authority of the aforementioned agency, in the company of, among others, the detainee Vicente Palominos Benítez.

Both remain forcibly disappeared to this day.

The witness stated in his declaration that Héctor Zúñiga had remained held for a time in the secret DINA detention and torture center located in the Ñuñoa commune, on José Domingo Cañas street; and that he had contact with him until approximately October 20, 1974, the date on which Van Jurick left "Cuatro Álamos" to be transferred to the "Tres Álamos" facility.

Finally, it should be noted that the victim's name appears on a list of 59 people supposedly dead, wounded, or escaped during guerrilla actions in the Argentine Republic, published in the newspaper O'Dia in the city of Curitiba, Brazil.

This, combined with a list of another 60 people reported dead in clashes in various foreign countries and published in the weekly LEA of Buenos Aires, totals 119. All the people mentioned in the noted publications are currently forcibly disappeared, having been arrested by DINA agents within national territory.

Likewise, three Chilean newspapers reproduced this information: El Mercurio, La Segunda, and Las Últimas Noticias, on July 23, 24, and 25, 1975.

When consulted, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Magistrate of the 9th Criminal Court of Santiago that there was no official record to establish that the alluded persons had actually died abroad or had left the country.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

The victim's wife, María Raquel González Cáceres, filed a writ of amparo on behalf of the victim on September 26, 1974, before the Santiago Court of Appeals, which was registered under N°1143.

Upon being officially requested, the Commander-in-Chief of the II Jurisdictional Area D.E., General Sergio Arellano Stark, informed the Court on October 14, 1974, that there were no records regarding the victim's detention in the Prosecutor's Offices or agencies dependent on that Command.

Likewise, the Minister of the Interior at the time, General Raúl Benavides Escobar, informed the court on October 22 of the same year that "Héctor Zúñiga Tapia is not being held by order of any administrative authority, and his current whereabouts are unknown."

Based on the merits of the transcribed reports, and without sending an official request to the Ministry of Defense as was expressly requested in the document filing the amparo, the Court rejected the appeal on October 26, 1974, ordering the referral of the records to the corresponding Criminal Court so that it could investigate the possible commission of a crime in the victim's disappearance.

Thus, on November 20, 1974, a case for the victim's alleged disappearance was initiated by Official Letter from the Court of Appeals before the 9th Criminal Court of Santiago, registered under N°13.085-5.

The Court immediately ordered the appearance of the amparo petitioner and the referral of an official letter to the General Directorate of Investigations. The latter agency reported that "after making the pertinent inquiries at the General Headquarters and dependent units, it was established that the aforementioned Zúñiga Tapia has not been detained by personnel of this Service."

On February 27, 1975, the Court ordered the corresponding investigation, expressly recommending diligence in carrying out this task. In compliance with this order, the investigating detective interviewed Gabriel Zúñiga Tapia, the victim's older brother, at whose home he was living at the time of his detention.

He stated that "on September 16, 1974, Héctor Zúñiga was detained by personnel of the Armed Forces, as they arrived at his house with him in that capacity, proceeding to raid the home and leaving the scene in a pickup truck." He also made inquiries at various detention centers in the capital, including the Secretaría Ejecutiva Nacional de Detenidos (SENDET), at first aid stations, hospitals, the Legal Medical Institute, and the Central Identification Cabinet, all without positive results.

Finally, and after the victim's affiliation extract was added to the case file, the Magistrate declared the summary closed and temporarily dismissed the case on June 30, 1975.

Upon appeal of the previous resolution, the Prosecutor of the Santiago Court of Appeals was of the opinion to revoke it and return the case to the summary stage. The reasons for this opinion were expressed as follows: "Another disappeared person.

María Raquel González insists that her husband was detained. It has been seen before and is repeated now: the true impotence of the Courts to reach the bottom of the truth. One investigative step remains in the file.

It is possible that its result will not be positive—that is, that the witness to be called does not know the facts, in which case the step will be useless. It is possible that he knows the facts and maintains that the disappeared person was detained, and in that case, the step, given the merits of the file, will also be useless.

But it must be decreed and carried out." The step mentioned is the summoning to the judicial presence of the victim's older brother, Gabriel Luis Zúñiga Tapia.

Thus, on August 12, 1975, the Santiago Court of Appeals resolved to revoke the dismissal resolution, returning the case to the summary stage for the purpose of summoning the aforementioned witness, which was decreed by the 9th Criminal Court on August 22 of the same year.

During the time elapsed between the previous resolution and the actual appearance of the witness before the Court, the victim's sister, Eliana Zúñiga Tapia, filed a new writ of amparo before the Santiago Court of Appeals on July 15, 1975, registered under N°837.

This filing included a new piece of information. The petitioner stated that they had been informed at the Secretaría Ejecutiva Nacional de Detenidos that the victim "was not dead, but was at the disposal of the 2nd Military Court, in a Ministry of Defense case, file N°13.005, folio 62-B of July 24, 1965, 5 U, ODU." Having gone to the Military Court, they were informed there that it was impossible for the indicated file number to correspond to cases currently in progress.

For this reason, the amparo requested that an official letter be sent to the Ministry of Defense and the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional to report on the matter.

On July 16, 1975, the Court of Appeals did not rule on the filed appeal, considering that such a presentation was a reiteration of the amparo file N°1143, filed on behalf of the victim on September 26, 1974, and already rejected by this same Court.

In the same resolution, it ordered the referral of the records to the 9th Criminal Court of Santiago to be added to the summary being processed there, which was verified on August 23, 1975.

Subsequently, having become publicly aware of the information published in the newspaper O'Dia of Brazil, in which the victim's name appears, a photocopy of one of the Chilean press publications that reproduced the news was added to the process.

Upon being officially requested, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported, through Army Major Enrique Cid Coubles of the Human Rights Secretariat, on September 9, 1975, the following: 1) Regarding O'Dia, we have been informed that such a publication does not exist in Curitiba (Brazil), but that there is a tabloid in that city called Novo Día, of limited circulation, which published the news on July 23 about Chilean extremists dead, wounded, or escaped in clashes with security forces in various parts of Argentina. 2) There is no official record that the people named in O'Dia have died abroad. 3) There is also no record that these people have left the country (had they done so, it would have had to be clandestinely); and 4) the authorities of the countries where, according to the publications, the events would have occurred, have reported nothing on the matter.

On October 2, 1975, Gabriel Luis Zúñiga Tapia appeared and testified before the Court. He was able to see his brother Héctor detained, tied by his hands and feet, and showing clear signs of having been mistreated, in the back of a Chevrolet pickup truck in which subjects dressed in civilian clothes were traveling; they were armed and identified themselves, verbally, as members of the Armed Forces.

Without decreeing new investigative steps, on October 7, 1975, the Court temporarily dismissed the case, noting that the perpetration of the crime that would have given rise to the formation of the summary was not justified.

Upon appeal of this resolution, the Prosecutor of the Santiago Court of Appeals, in his report of October 16, 1975, was in favor of approving the dismissal, but noted in the same: "from the study of this case, it results or may result: for some, that Héctor Zúñiga Tapia has never been detained by anyone in Chile and that he is dependent on either the Ministry of the Interior or the Ministry of Defense.

For others, that he was detained by members of extremist groups who did so for reasons only that group knows. For others, that in an attitude in harmony with a certain group, he had himself detained, moved clandestinely to Argentina, and was killed there.

In short, everyone will believe their own version. The tragic, the concrete thing is that the Courts have not been able and cannot provide an answer. Héctor Zúñiga Tapia has disappeared. His relatives will conclude, and with good reason, that an irreparable and grave misfortune has occurred to him."

Accepting the preceding report, the Court approved the temporary dismissal resolution on November 28, 1975.

The victim's name was included in a massive filing dated May 28, 1975, made before the Santiago Court of Appeals regarding the disappearance of 163 people who were arrested, requesting the appointment of a Visiting Minister (Ministro en Visita) to direct the investigations.

The request was accompanied by extensive documentation that included a statement provided before a Public Notary by a relative and an eyewitness to the event.

The Santiago Court of Appeals, by resolution of the Plenary Court dated June 23, 1975, rejected the request. Only five of its magistrates were in favor of accepting it and investigating the reported complaints.

On July 4, 1975, the Committee for Cooperation for Peace in Chile, adopting the request of the relatives of those 163 people who disappeared during their arrest, elevated a new request to the Supreme Court for the appointment of a Visiting Minister, which was rejected on July 11, 1975, arguing that the "respective judges have carried out adequate investigations in the majority of the corresponding summaries." On this occasion, three magistrates of the Highest Court—its President, Mr.

José María Eyzaguirre, and Ministers Ortiz and Erbetta—were in favor of accepting the request, given "the gravity presented by the case, given the number of disappeared persons and the time elapsed since they have been."

By virtue of the occurrence of new events, which implied adding important information to the cases included in the list of 163 people who disappeared after their arrest, a new filing was made requesting the appointment of a Visiting Minister by the Committee for Cooperation for Peace in Chile on August 1, 1975, which was also rejected.

Among these facts is that on July 23, 1975, the national press reproduced a news item that appeared in the weekly LEA of Buenos Aires, according to which 60 people (Chileans) were reported dead in various foreign countries (Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Mexico, and France).

Likewise, on July 24 of the same year, the newspaper La Segunda, citing the Brazilian newspaper O'Dia as a source, provided a new list that this time included 59 Chileans supposedly dead, wounded, or escaped as a result of an armed clash with Argentine police forces that occurred in the town of Salta.

To all that has already been exposed, one must add the efforts that Héctor Zúñiga Tapia's relatives carried out fruitlessly, such as their personal visits to the Secretaría Ejecutiva Nacional de Detenidos, the Ministry of Defense, the "Tres Álamos" prison camp, and the presentation of the case to the International Red Cross.

To this day, the fate and final whereabouts of Héctor Cayetano Zúñiga Tapia remain unknown.

Source: Vicaría de la Solidaridad