On December 23, 1974, plainclothes agents raided the home of teacher Héctor MATURANA ESPINOZA, located in La Villa Portales in Santiago. Upon arriving at the scene, Héctor Maturana was detained, and there has been no news of him since.

The Commission estimates that it is possible to reach the conviction that Héctor Maturana was forcibly disappeared by the actions of State agents, in violation of his human rights, given that there is evidence of his detention and taking into account the contextual elements of the case.

Héctor Pedro Maturana Espinoza, married, a primary school teacher, was detained on 23 December 1974, at approximately 7:30 p.m. by 3 individuals who claimed to belong to the Carabineros Intelligence Service (SICAR).

The victim was working as an assistant to photographer Manuel Bobadilla—who had also been detained earlier that same day, 23 December 1974—who, along with Osvaldo Jara, was in the process of starting a photography studio, an initiative for which they were completing all the legal procedures required for its establishment.

The detention of Héctor Maturana occurred at the moment he arrived at apartment No. 509, Block 2 in the Villa Portales in the city of Santiago, where the photographer Osvaldo Jara lived with his family.

The victim had gone there to pick up some photographs that Manuel Bobadilla had commissioned him to retrieve. At that moment, the apartment of Osvaldo Jara, who was not present, was being raided. The operation was carried out—as Inés Gómez, Jara's spouse, stated to the Judge—by three armed individuals "who told me they were Carabineros, but they were in civilian clothes and they raided the apartment...

Since these men did not find anything, I showed them the receipt indicating that the photography studio's license was being processed. At that moment, a young man entered the apartment whom I knew by the name of Orlando, and who worked as an assistant to my husband's partner, named Manuel Bobadilla, which is why the police asked him to identify himself, and that was when I realized his real name was Héctor Maturana.

The police left the apartment with him, and from that date on, I never saw him again." Osvaldo Jara added in his statement that the agents told his wife during the raid that microfilming was being done there.

The captors did not at any time display credentials identifying themselves, nor did they present valid search or arrest warrants. Likewise, the individuals in civilian clothes who acted in the detention of Manuel Bobadilla at Vicuña Mackenna and 10 de Julio that same afternoon also identified themselves as members of the Carabineros Intelligence Service, according to statements from witnesses to the event, and they were traveling in a pickup truck.

Subsequently, on 26 December 1974, three armed individuals in civilian clothes arrived at the victim's home and quickly displayed a paper they claimed was a search warrant. The individuals, who were traveling in a new white pickup truck, claimed to be officials from the Investigations police (Investigaciones) and, after entering, thoroughly searched all areas of the house and the victim's papers, according to Ana María Barrios, his spouse, who added that "they asked about weapons; finally, after finishing the thorough search, they took a drill, an electric soldering iron, a wrench, study books, and a photo of his sister." The agents left without providing any information regarding the situation of the victim, who remains to this day a forcibly disappeared person.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On 6 January 1975, Ana María Barrios filed a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) with the Santiago Court of Appeals on behalf of her spouse, Héctor Maturana. The document was registered under case number 22-75 and was rejected on 17 March 1975 based on the information provided by the Minister of the Interior, who stated that "Héctor Maturana Espinoza is not detained, nor is there an arrest warrant against him."

On 4 April 1975, case file 76.843-2 was initiated ex officio before the Seventh Criminal Court of Santiago regarding the victim's alleged disappearance. In said case, Osvaldo Jara and Inés Gómez testified, and the Investigations police sent an official letter to the Court stating that, in addition to interviewing witnesses, they had carried out inquiries at the Ministry of Defense and the Public Prison without obtaining information about the victim.

On 30 June 1975, International Police reported that the victim had no record of leaving the country or seeking asylum.

On 26 July 1976, Carabineros General Rubén Romero Gormaz, Director of the Carabineros Intelligence Directorate, informed the Judge that Héctor Maturana had not been detained by personnel under his command, nor were there any records of his whereabouts.

On 2 September 1976, the Judge of the Seventh Criminal Court of Santiago decided to close the summary proceedings and temporarily dismiss the case on the grounds that the evidence gathered "does not constitute sufficient indications to prove the existence of a crime in the disappearance of Héctor Maturana Espinoza." Upon review of the resolution, the Court of Appeals confirmed the ruling on 15 November 1976.

On 23 May 1979, a writ of amparo was filed with the Santiago Court of Appeals on behalf of Héctor Maturana, which was not accepted for processing by the Court, citing formal issues in its submission.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity