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Héctor Enrique Hernández Garces

Estudiante Enseñanza Media — 17 years old.

Background

StatusValech-Rettig Commission Violation of Human Rights
DateOctober 6, 1973
Locationsan Bernardo, Santiago, RM Metropolitana
Age17 years old
OccupationEstudiante Enseñanza Media
AffiliationSimpatizante PS

Case summary

Héctor Enrique Hernández Garcés was a 17-year-old student and a sympathizer of the Juventudes Socialistas. He was arrested at his home by military personnel on September 27, 1973, and murdered by members of the Army on October 6 of that same year.

Automatically generated summary. Please consult the original sources below for verified information.

Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos[1]

On October 6, 1973, the following individuals were killed by members of the Ejército:

Héctor Enrique HERNANDEZ GARCES, 17 years old, a high school student at a school in Puente Alto and a sympathizer of the Juventudes Socialistas. He was arrested on September 27, 1973, at his home by military personnel who were tracking one of his friends, Francisco Viera.

Arturo KOYK FREDES, 48 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista. He was arrested in the early hours of September 28 at his home by the same military patrol that captured Mauricio Cea and Roberto Avila.

Alfredo ACEVEDO PEREIRA, 27 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

Raúl CASTRO CALDERA, 23 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

Hernán CHAMORRO MONARDES, 29 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

Manuel GONZALEZ VARGAS, 46 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

Adiel MONSALVES MARTINEZ, 41 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways, a union leader, and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

José MORALES ALVAREZ, 31 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways, Vice President of the Railway Workers' Council, and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

Pedro OYARZUN ZAMORANO, 36 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways, a union leader, and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

Joel Guillermo SILVA OLIVA, 37 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

Ramón VIVANCO DIAZ, 44 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

Juan Guillermo Cuadra Espinoza, Gustavo Martínez Vera, and Carlos Ortiz Ortiz met the same fate; they had been arrested in Paine and taken to the Cerro Chena detention center, though their situation is recounted in the section corresponding to the town of Paine.

The eleven people mentioned above were arrested on September 28, 1973, by military personnel during an operation carried out at the Maestranza de Ferrocarriles de San Bernardo.

Javier Antonio PACHECO MONSALVE, 31 years old, a furniture maker and a member of President Allende's GAP for a time; his wife, María Isabel Beltran Sánchez, is a forcibly disappeared person, and he was a militant of the MIR. He was arrested on October 5 by military personnel.

All of the aforementioned were executed on October 6, 1973, by Ejército troops at the Cerro Chena detention center, suffering multiple gunshot wounds. Their deaths are recorded in death certificates, many of which list the Escuela de Infantería de San Bernardo as the place of death.

Regarding the case of Arturo Koyk, although his death certificate indicates the date as September 28, 1973, the Commission possesses evidence that allows it to confirm he was killed alongside the railway personnel on October 6.

The families only learned of the deaths upon discovering their bodies at the Instituto Médico Legal; some of the bodies were not recovered by their next of kin and were buried in Patio 29 of the Cementerio General.

Faced with the concern of relatives and coworkers, military authorities in the area called a union assembly where they reported that those affected had been participating in paramilitary activities and had attempted to escape from Cerro Chena, which had allegedly prompted the military to kill them.

On the other hand, witnesses who spoke with the workers while they were detained noted that the workers had told them they were being accused of intending to blow up the gasometer or gas pipeline of the Maestranza, which would have caused half of San Bernardo to explode.

The Commission formed the conviction that the deaths of those affected constituted a case of human rights violations and could not accept the version provided to the families, based on the following considerations:

– There is no official document supporting the version of an escape given by the military overseer, nor is there any press information or judicial investigation to that effect. – The testimonies received by this Commission regarding the conditions in which detainees were held at Cerro Chena also disprove a possible escape.

Before arriving at the site, detainees were blindfolded and remained in that condition throughout their detention. Furthermore, the entire detention camp was surrounded by barbed-wire fences. The paths were lined with small ditches into which detainees often fell precisely because they could not see. – An escape attempt would have implied prior coordination among the victims, which was impracticable because the detained railway workers were not grouped together but distributed in different sectors of the facility. – Autopsy protocols certify that all victims died from gunfire, with most shots fired from a long distance and in an upward trajectory. This corroborates testimonies received by the Commission, which indicate that the victims were taken from their cells and brought to the hill, where they were forced to climb while soldiers fired at them from behind. – All bodies were sent to the Instituto Médico Legal with the notation that they had been "found" at the Escuela de Infantería de San Bernardo. This Commission verified that there was no judicial proceeding regarding the discovery of bodies at that facility.

This Commission reached the conviction that all the victims were executed outside of any legal process by agents of the State.

View original source

Judicial Case Files[2]

Caso Héctor Hernández Garcés y Francisco Viera Ovalle

Judge/Minister
  • Juez Ministra Marianela Cifuentes
Case roles
  • 20012-2022
  • 3723-2020
  • 62-2011

References

  1. 1
  2. 2

How to cite this record

DondeEstan.cl (2026). Héctor Enrique Hernández Garces. Retrieved on June 4, 2026, from https://dondeestan.cl/record/hector-enrique-hernandez-garces. Original sources: Museum of Memory (https://interactivos.museodelamemoria.cl/victims/?p=597), Judicial Case Files (https://expedientesdelarepresion.cl/causa/caso-hector-hernandez-garces-y-francisco-viera-ovalle/).