Between September 24 and October 3, 1973, at the Fundo El Escorial in Paine, various arrests were carried out, followed by the execution of those affected.

On September 24, 1973, at approximately 16:00 hours, personnel belonging to the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment arrived at the Viña El Escorial in Paine, mobilized in a truck and a jeep. They proceeded to arrest five agricultural workers, who were taken to a soccer field, where they were forced to lie on the ground.

From there, they were transported to the Infantry Regiment, where they remained until nearly 22:00 hours, at which point they were blindfolded and loaded onto a truck bound for the Cerro Chena Detention Center. The arrested individuals were:

Héctor CASTRO SAEZ, 18 years old, single, no political affiliation;

Juan Guillermo CUADRA ESPINOZA, 26 years old, married, Socialist Party militant;

Gustavo Hernán MARTINEZ VERA, married, no political affiliation;

Juan Bautista NUÑEZ VARGAS, 33 years old, married, Socialist Party militant; and

Ignacio del Tránsito SANTANDER ALBORNOZ, 17 years old, single.

On the morning of October 3, an operation was carried out in which thirteen other agricultural workers from the town of Paine were arrested. On this occasion, the personnel belonging to the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment traveled in a red truck, with their faces painted black.

They entered the homes from which they removed the detainees, in order to transport them to San Bernardo and from there to the Cerro Chena Detention Center. These thirteen people were arrested that night, along with others who were subsequently released:

José Angel CABEZAS BUENO, 21 years old, single;

Francisco Javier CALDERON NILO, 19 years old, single;

Domingo Antonio GALAZ SALAS, 23 years old, single;

José Emilio GONZALEZ ESPINOZA, 32 years old, married;

Juan Rosendo GONZALEZ PEREZ, 23 years old;

Aurelio Enrique HIDALGO MELLA, 22 years old, single;

Bernabé del Carmen LOPEZ LOPEZ, 23 years old, single;

Carlos Manuel ORTIZ ORTIZ, 18 years old, single;

Héctor Santiago PINTO CAROCA, 34 years old, married;

Hernán PINTO CAROCA, 42 years old, married;

Aliro del Carmen VALDIVIA VALDIVIA, 39 years old, married;

Hugo Alfredo VIDAL ARENAS, 27 years old, married; and

Víctor Manuel ZAMORANO GONZALEZ, single.

Several people who were detained at the Cerro Chena Detention Center report having been transported there along with the aforementioned detainees. In that place, they were generally kept blindfolded and were subjected to torture and interrogation. Subsequently, some of them were released.

The relatives of the forcibly disappeared went on several occasions to that Detention Center, where the detention was not officially acknowledged. However, in the Writ of Amparo 283 79 filed on behalf of Ignacio Santander Albornoz and Juan Cuadra Espinoza, it was reported on April 16, 1974, by the Chief of the Interior Zone of the Departments of San Bernardo and Maipo that "the detainees Ignacio Santander Albornoz and Juan Cuadra Espinoza were discharged by the sentries of the Chena Prisoner Camp on October 4, 1973."

In the month of December, relatives were informed at the Legal Medical Service that there was a record of the entry of the remains of all these detainees and that they had been buried in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery.

Around the same date, locals discovered human remains in the Cuesta de Chada area. The relatives went there and were able to recognize, in most cases, remnants of the clothing that the detainees were wearing when they were taken from their homes.

The remains, which were scattered at the site, were collected by Carabineros personnel and sent to the Legal Medical Service, where the corresponding forensic examinations were performed, but the identities of the individuals were not determined.

In the month of September 1990, the Minister of the Court of Appeals, Germán Hermosilla, appeared at that Medical Service with the objective of identifying the remains that had remained unidentified since 1974.

The bodies finally recognized correspond to the following people: José Cabezas Bueno; Francisco Calderón Nilo; Domingo Galaz Salas; Emilio González Espinoza; Juan González Pérez; Aurelio Hidalgo; Bernabé López; Héctor and Pedro Pinto Caroca; Aliro Valdivia Valdivia; Hugo Vidal Arenas, Manuel Zamorano González, Héctor Castro Saez, and Juan Nuñez Vargas.

In accordance with the evidence indicated and gathered, the direct responsibility of State agents and civilians from Paine in the detention and death of the detainees on September 24 and October 3, 1973, is proven.

Therefore, this Commission has formed the conviction that all of them are victims of a violation of their right to life, with the remains of sixteen of them having been identified: fourteen whose bones were recognized in 1990 and two whose execution was acknowledged by the authorities of the time.

Héctor Guillermo Castro Sáez, 17 years old at the time of the events, single, agricultural worker, with no political affiliation, was detained on September 24, 1973, by military personnel from the San Bernardo Infantry School at the El Escorial Settlement vineyards.

He was taken along with 6 other peasants to the San Bernardo Infantry School, and later to the Cerro Chena detention camp. He was removed from there on October 3 and taken to the El Escorial sector, at which time 11 other peasants were detained.

The operation on September 24 was carried out outside of any legality; the names of those detained were on a list carried by the captors. Conscript Mario Morales Durán was recognized among the captors.

Human remains corresponding to Héctor Guillermo Castro Sáez and 13 other peasants detained at the El Escorial and Liguay agricultural estates during military operations carried out on September 24 and October 2-3, 1973, were found in March 1974 in a ravine at Cerro Redondo located on the Cuesta de Chada, 4 kilometers from the site of the arrests.

At the time, the Legal Medical Institute, in case file 23643 of the Maipo-Buin Court of Letters, informed the Tribunal of the impossibility of identifying the victims and establishing the cause of death.

However, in January 1991, the same Institute informed the Visiting Judge, Mr. Germán Hermosilla, in case 2-90-E, of the identity of each of the sets of remains after having performed a new forensic examination.

It was also established that their deaths were caused by multiple gunshot wounds. Thus, out of a total of 20 detainees in this series of operations, three peasants regained their freedom after being held at the Chena Camp, three others were executed (two at Cerro de Chena and one at the San Bernardo Infantry School), and 14 were exterminated with their bodies concealed.

The military presence at the El Escorial Settlement began on September 19, 1973. On that occasion, there was an operation with a large military deployment; several trucks, tanks, jeeps, and a helicopter accompanied the operation.

The male peasants were taken from their workplaces and homes and brought to a field. They were beaten severely while being interrogated about weapons and asked for the names of other comrades. Once the operation, which lasted several hours, was finished, the military withdrew without having made any arrests; a unit remained to guard the access to the property for several days.

Their return occurred on September 24. The military made inquiries to the locals to identify those they would detain. On that occasion, Héctor Guillermo Castro Sáez and the leaders Juan Guillermo Cuadra Espinoza, Juan Bautista Núñez Vargas, Francisco Garrido, José Luis Marchant, and the workers Carlos Farías and Ignacio del Tránsito Santander Albornoz were detained.

After being kept for several hours lying on the ground in the Settlement's field, the detainees were loaded onto a truck and taken to the Infantry School. Around 8:00 PM, the detainees were blindfolded and taken back to the truck.

All were taken to the Chena military facility, initially to a school at Cerro Chena that served as a detention center at the time, and then to a red-roofed house where they were tortured.

They spent approximately 8 days together in the same cell. Francisco Garrido, Carlos Farías, and José Luis Marchant regained their freedom. When testifying in September 1990 before Visiting Judge Germán Hermosilla (case 2-90-E, Maipo-Buin Court of Letters), José Luis Marchant R. asserted that they had remained together at all times until the night of October 2, 1973, when they were separated into those who would be released later, those who would be executed at the military facility, and those who would be taken to the Cuesta de Chada for execution along with other settlers detained on October 2 and 3.

In January 1991, the remains corresponding to Héctor Guillermo Castro Sáez were handed over to his relatives and buried in the Huelquén Cemetery. In death certificate No. 108, dated February 5, 1991, the date of death is recorded as October 3, 1973, at Cuesta de Chada, caused by cranial trauma and pelvic trauma of the lumbar spine due to a gunshot.

His case is part of the repression that took place in Paine in 1973. (Further background in José Domingo Adasme Núñez).

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

The first efforts made on behalf of Héctor Guillermo Castro Sáez were carried out by his relatives, who went to the Carabineros, Investigations, and military detention centers in both San Bernardo and Santiago. On every occasion, his detention was denied. The search was suspended in March 1974, upon finding evidence of his homicide at the Cuesta de Chada.

His family was not summoned to testify in the case file 23643 that was initiated following this discovery (further background on case file 23643 in the file of Víctor Manuel Zamorano González).

They did not appear voluntarily before the Tribunal because one of the family members had been detained after the executions and threatened to keep silent about what had happened.

On September 21, 1990, the legal investigation of the case began when a complaint for alleged disappearance was filed in the Maipo-Buin Court of Letters. The case was consolidated under the supervision of Judge Germán Hermosilla, who, in case file 2-90-E, was investigating a complaint regarding irregular burials that occurred in Paine with victims from 1973.

The filing provided information on the 17 victims in that sector of Paine, the names of witnesses, and identified the branch of the Armed Forces responsible. It also reported the discovery and the failure of the competent Tribunal to release their bodies for burial.

On September 22, 1990, the Tribunal visited the Legal Medical Service, confirming the existence of 3 burlap sacks containing remains referred to in protocols No. 519 to 530 of the year 1974; these had a label reading "Chada remains year 74." At that time, it was reported that, lacking the burial order that should have come from the II Military Prosecutor's Office (case file 23643 for Discovery of Remains), it had not been possible to proceed with the burial.

The Visiting Judge ordered that said remains be placed at his disposal and ordered that they be re-examined.

On October 15, 1990, the Tribunal visited Cerro Redondo at the Cuesta de Chada. Evidence was collected: bone fragments, pieces of clothing, 2 spent shell casings, 25 deformed projectiles, and 18 in good condition.

In December 1990, the Criminalistics Laboratory of the Investigative Police, through its Forensic Ballistics section, reported regarding 2 shell casings and 17 of the projectiles found on the slope, reaching the following conclusions: they are mostly projectiles designed to be fired by automatic machine gun-type firearms; their caliber corresponds to 7.62 mm NATO, these being war munitions.

Another projectile corresponds to the .32 long caliber, designed to be fired by revolver-type firearms, and the other, which is 7.9 caliber, is designed to be fired by rifles or carbines of that caliber.

Regarding the persons or services that used that type of weapon during the last 4 months of 1973, they stated verbatim: "Armed Forces, Order and Security (police) forces, as well as any person who has access to this type of weaponry, such as paramilitary groups."

On December 28, 1991, the Legal Medical Institute informed the Tribunal that it had identified each of the fourteen sets of remains and that they were at the Tribunal's disposal to be shown to their relatives.

In February 1991, the Tribunal handed over the remains to the families of the 14 victims, who proceeded with their burial and registration at the Independencia Civil Registry.

At the time of this writing (late 1992), case 2-90-E was in the summary stage, with no proceedings having been ordered regarding the accused.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity