On May 16, 1977, the Chilean-Swiss student Alexei Vladimir JACCARD SIEGLER was arrested in Buenos Aires. He had arrived in that country the previous day during a layover on a trip that was to continue to Chile the following day.

According to information provided to the Commission, Alexei Jaccard was carrying money that was to be brought into Chile. In the same operation, Ricardo Ignacio RAMIREZ HERRERA, who was in charge of organization and finance for the Communist Party of Chile in Buenos Aires, and Héctor Heraldo VELASQUEZ MARDONES, also a Chilean communist militant, were arrested.

Chilean and Argentine agents captured the three Chilean citizens and five Argentine members of the Committee of Solidarity with Chile in Argentina—who were sheltering the detainees—on the same day. All eight remain forcibly disappeared to this day.

The Commission was able to reach the conviction that Alexei Jaccard had been arrested on a public street and taken to an Argentine Federal Police facility, where he was interrogated and later transferred to the Navy Mechanics School (ESMA) in Buenos Aires.

The essentially active role played by the DINA and the Government of Chile in this case began with the triple illegal arrest on foreign territory with the complicity of Argentine security services, and ended with the delivery of false information to Swiss diplomats dedicated to searching for a Swiss national.

Regarding Ricardo Ramírez, the International Police of Chile falsely informed the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the victim's alleged travels between 1977 and 1983. Such information had been requested from that department by the Courts of the Argentine Republic.

Another report sent by the Police to this Commission, which is consistent with the actual facts, shows that the victim only traveled from Santiago to Germany in March 1976, the date on which he managed to leave as a political exile to settle in Hungary.

In light of these and other facts, it was established that after the triple arrest of the Chilean communist militants in Buenos Aires, Chilean and Argentine security agencies deployed an arsenal of false documents and information to cover for one another in the face of pressure from the Swiss Government, which insisted on knowing what had happened to a national in transit.

Therefore, the Commission considered that Ricardo Ramírez and Héctor Velásquez, like Alexei Jaccard, are victims of human rights violations in which agents of the State of Chile participated in a foreign country.

Source: (Rettig Report)

In a unanimous ruling, the Sixth Chamber of the appellate court confirmed the sentence ordering the Treasury to pay $80,000,000 in compensation to the daughter of Héctor Velásquez Mardones, who was arrested on May 16, 1977, in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, within the framework of the so-called Operation Condor.

The Santiago Court of Appeals confirmed the sentence ordering the Treasury to pay $80,000,000 (eighty million pesos) in compensation to the daughter of Héctor Velásquez Mardones, who was arrested on May 16, 1977, in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, within the framework of the so-called Operation Condor.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 2.782-2022), the Sixth Chamber of the appellate court—composed of ministers Jenny Book, Lidia Poza, and lawyer (i) Cristián Lepín—confirmed the first-instance ruling in all its parts. “Given the merit of the background information, the appealed sentence dated January 21, 2022, issued by the Sixth Civil Court of Santiago in case File No. 6945-2021, is confirmed,” the ruling states.

The ratified first-instance ruling rejected the statute of limitations defense and established the moral damage caused to the plaintiff. “That, in addition to what has been stated, it is contrary to logic and far from a principle of reasonableness to establish that, if the imprescriptibility of crimes against humanity has been estimated by International Law, as was previously asserted, it can be concluded that the civil action arising from the same should be treated differently, since the previously transcribed norms have established the opposite,” the ruling posits.

The resolution adds: “That, furthermore, it is necessary to add that subordinating the statute of limitations of the action in question to the norms provided in this regard by the national common law would entail establishing an arbitrary and incoherent distinction with the international regulation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as it is not reasonable to grant the action in this case a treatment dissimilar to the criminal action derived from behaviors described in the law as crimes against humanity, the fact being that international regulations have not done so, but on the contrary, have advocated the opposite, as has been said; to make a distinction such as the one described where the international regulation itself has not done so, applying, to that effect, private law norms not relevant to a case like the one at hand, would mean sliding into the terrain of the arbitrary or making a decision, at the very least, capricious regarding the case, which cannot be endorsed by the undersigned.” “That—it continues—in correlation with what was reflected previously and the considerations pertaining to the application of International Law and its guiding principles in accordance with the situation of the case, and considering that the application of the statute of limitations contemplated by private law would imply the violation of those [principles] and leave the State's responsibility without application as provided by article 38, second paragraph, of the Fundamental Charter and article 4 of the Organic Law of General Bases of State Administration, it only remains to reject the statute of limitations exception raised by the Treasury in all its parts.” “That, consequently, with the commission of the crime against humanity committed by State agents against Héctor Velásquez Mardones having been proven, the circumstance of the moral detriments that the plaintiff, his daughter, has suffered due to the commission of said illicit act, and taking into consideration the provisions of articles 38, second paragraph, of the Political Constitution of the Republic and 4 of the Organic Law of General Bases of State Administration, the State's obligation to compensate for said impairments has been born,” it concludes.

Source: pjud.cl 13/5/2022

Date: 05-13-2022

Operation Condor: DINA agents prosecuted

The Minister visiting the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, prosecuted five DINA agents for the kidnapping of seven people within the framework of Operation Condor. Minister Carroza prosecuted former DINA agents Hernán Sovino, Jorge Escobar, Federico Chaigneau, Gladys Calderón, and Miguel Riveros for the case of the aggravated kidnapping of Héctor Velásquez, Alexei Vladimir Jaccard, Ricardo Ignacio Ramírez, Ruiter Enrique Correa, Matilde Pessa, Jacobo Stoulman, and Hernán Soto, within the framework of Operation Condor.

Alexei Wladimir Jaccard Siegler was arrested on May 17, 1977, in Buenos Aires. Alexei was a militant of the Communist Party and had traveled abroad to seek funds to help the fight against the dictatorship and to maintain the party in clandestinity.

His arrest was carried out by the Argentine Federal Police at the hotel where he was staying, and he was transferred to the Navy Mechanics School (ESMA), one of the dictatorship's main extermination centers in Argentina.

In addition to Alexei, Ricardo Ignacio Ramírez Herrera and Héctor Heraldo Velásquez Mardones, also party militants, were arrested, as well as five other people who belonged to the Committee of Solidarity with Chile in Argentina and who were collaborating with the communist militants.

All eight were added to the lists of the forcibly disappeared. Almost at the end of May of that same year, Matilde Pessa Mois and Jacobo Stoulman Boertnik were arrested in Argentina. In Chile, Hernán Soto Gálvez was arrested on June 7, 1977; he had been secretary of the Chamber of Deputies and was a Communist Party militant.

According to witnesses, he was arrested by three people in Santiago and then taken to an unknown destination. His name is linked to the disappearance of the communist militants in Argentina, a product of the collaboration between the security agencies of both countries to dismantle the PC.

Something similar happened with Ruiter Enrique Correa Arce, who was arrested at the end of May 1977 in Santiago, where he had a kiosk—a place used as a liaison and exchange point for the PC—and appeared murdered several days later in the Mapocho River at the Manuel Rodríguez Bridge.

To carry out these arrests, the agents and military of Argentina contacted their counterparts in Chile, within the framework of agreements between the military dictatorships of several Latin American countries to coordinate internal repression.

Among other things, this meant that the Chilean dictatorship provided false information about Jaccard's travels until 1983 to attempt to hide his disappearance in Chile and Argentina. The remains of Ricardo Ramírez, Jacobo Stoulman Bortnik, and Matilde Pessa Mois were found in Chile, at Cuesta Barriga.

Documentary “Archivos del Horror” (Archives of Horror) presented at the National Film Archive The documentary by Pedro Chaskel investigates the Archives of Horror found in Paraguay in 1992, related to Operation Condor.

The documentary also works with testimonies given by victims and survivors of the dictatorship. The documentary is presented at the National Film Archive from August 6 to 31 at 7:00 PM.

Source: laizquierdadiario.cl 8/9/2015

Date: 08-09-2015

Operation Condor. Minister Carroza issues indictments for kidnappings and aggravated homicides.

The Minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, issued an indictment in the investigation into the crimes of aggravated kidnapping of Héctor Velásquez Mardones and Ricardo Ramírez Herrera; and for the aggravated homicides of Riuter Correa Arce and Hernán Soto Gálvez, which occurred between May and June 1977.

The Minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, issued an indictment in the investigation into the crimes of aggravated kidnapping of Héctor Velásquez Mardones and Ricardo Ramírez Herrera; and for the aggravated homicides of Riuter Correa Arce and Hernán Soto Gálvez, which occurred between May and June 1977.

In the case, former members of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, and Cristoph Willike Floel were prosecuted as responsible for the four crimes.

In his resolution, the Magistrate argued that due to the need to channel external financial aid for the Communist Party, a member named Alexis Vladimir Jaccard Siegler had traveled from Europe to Buenos Aires, who was to contact militants Ricardo Ignacio Ramírez Herrera and Héctor Heraldo Velásquez Mardones, an approach that could never be completed, as the three were arrested and disappeared on May 16, 1977, by virtue of a coordinated action by the intelligence services of Argentina and Chile.

In the same sense and probably with the same purpose, he continues, the married couple Jacobo Stoulman Brtnik and Matilde Pessa Mois set out on a trip to Buenos Aires from Santiago on May 29, 1977, but before materializing their entry into the neighboring country, they were arrested at Ezeiza Airport and disappeared.

Finally, also in Santiago de Chile, on June 7, 1977, the kidnapping of the entity's militant Hernán Soto Gálvez, a member of the Party's National Finance Commission and an alleged liaison in this external financing, was consummated, with part of his remains being found years later at Cuesta Barriga, concludes Minister Carroza.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl 3/25/2014

Date: 03-25-2014

Minister Carroza issues indictment for kidnappings and aggravated homicides in “Operation Condor”

The minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, issued an indictment in the investigation into the crimes of aggravated kidnapping of Héctor Velásquez Mardones and Ricardo Ramírez Herrera; and for the aggravated homicides of Ruiter Correa Arce and Hernán Soto Gálvez, which occurred between May and June 1977.

In the case, the magistrate prosecuted former members of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, and Cristoph Willike Floel as responsible for the four crimes.

According to the background information collected, the following facts are considered proven: “That due to the need to channel external financial aid for the Communist Party, a member named Alexis Vladimir Jaccard Siegler had traveled from Europe to Buenos Aires, who was to contact militants Ricardo Ignacio Ramírez Herrera and Héctor Heraldo Velásquez Mardones, an approach that could never be completed, as the three were arrested and disappeared on May 16, 1977, by virtue of a coordinated action by the intelligence services of Argentina and Chile,” the ruling states.

To this, it adds that in the same sense and probably with the same purpose, the married couple Jacobo Stoulman Brtnik and Matilde Pessa Mois set out on a trip to Buenos Aires from Santiago on May 29, 1977, “but before materializing their entry into the neighboring country, they were arrested at Ezeiza Airport and disappeared.” “On the other hand, in our country, the day before the Stoulman couple's trip, May 28, 1977, the communist militant Ruiter Enrique Correa Arce, owner of a kiosk located at the intersection of Amunátegui and Alameda streets, and a contact point for the party, was executed in the city of Santiago. His remains were found the following day at the Legal Medical Service. Finally, also in Santiago de Chile, on June 7, 1977, “the kidnapping of the entity's militant Hernán Soto Gálvez, a member of the Party's National Finance Commission and an alleged liaison in this external financing, was consummated, with part of his remains being found years later at Cuesta Barriga.” This case is part of the series of investigations known as “Operation Condor.”

Source: biobio.cl 3/24/2014

Date: 03-24-2014

Where are the “Héctors” (Elizabeth Velásquez Mardones).... excerpt

Villarrica, three in the morning on November 4, 1973. Loud banging on the door woke the Velásquez Mardones family. The mother, María Audelina, ran to see what was happening. It was the town pharmacist, along with his son, an Army reservist, and other neighbors. “We are looking for your kid, the ‘minino’,” they said.

That was the nickname of Héctor Ernaldo Velásquez Mardones (29), the second of the homeowners' six children. “As soon as they let him put on his pants, they grabbed him, and immediately began to beat him; they made him walk a little, and they beat him again,” recalls his sister, Elizabeth.

They took him away in a white pickup truck. They never found him again. They allegedly threw him from the Rodrigo de Bastidas bridge into the Toltén River. In 2005, the former reserve officer of the Tucapel Regiment, Nelson Thielemann, and the civilian Juan Insunza Pobrete were convicted as author and co-author of the aggravated kidnapping of Héctor Ernaldo.

In 2006, the Second Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court unanimously confirmed that sentence. “My brother was in the Communist Youth, like me. He had taken charge of the family furniture store when my father became bedridden.

That militancy was his death sentence,” says Elizabeth. But their hardships did not end with that tragedy; they learned of the second one four years later, when the eldest brother, Héctor Heraldo (34), married with four children, was arrested in Buenos Aires on May 16, 1977, along with Alexei Jaccard and Ricardo Ramírez.

They were all communists and were participating in an operation to bring funds for the PC in Chile. His apprehension occurred within the framework of Operation Condor. “It wasn't until 2015 that we confirmed that he had been handed over to DINA agents and that they brought him to Chile, to the Simón Bolívar barracks.” There he was interrogated under torture, and on an undetermined date, he disappeared.

Source: revistanos.cl no date, excerpt