Address: El Estribo 8689, Población Estrella, Pudahuel, Santiago. Marital Status: Married, 2 daughters Occupation: Photographer Political Affiliation: Militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) Date of Detention: October 19, 1977

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Hernán Santos Pérez Alvarez, married, father of two, a militant of the MIR and former leader of the Santiago Pino Camp, had been previously detained on May 6, 1974, by the Carabineros of the Barrancas commune.

He was prosecuted by the 1st Military Prosecutor's Office in case file 236-74 and was ultimately dismissed, regaining his freedom that same year. On that occasion, the detention was related to his activities as a leader of the Santiago Pino Camp before September 1973.

Subsequently, he was detained again on October 19, 1977. On that occasion, the victim left his home carrying a camera and a radio, heading to perform professional work as a photographer at the G-27 Kindergarten, located at 1216 Los Montes Street, in the Teniente Merino neighborhood. He was scheduled to return home at 14:00 hours.

He left that location at approximately 13:30 hours to head home, but he never arrived.

This prompted his spouse, Norma Ortega Villena, to inquire in the area where he would have normally traveled. She was able to confirm that the victim had been detained on October 19, around 13:45 hours, on San Francisco Street between Victoria and Avda.

Estrella, in the Pudahuel commune. According to witnesses, the detention was carried out violently by individuals in civilian clothes who were traveling in private vehicles. Among the vehicles was a gray Peugeot, license plate CH-800 from Renca.

She was also informed that he had been shot in the leg before being forced into the vehicle, and that he was beaten and shoved by force into one of them before they drove away from the scene.

Throughout that morning, the staff at the Kindergarten noticed the long presence of two vehicles parked in front of the premises. One was a Peugeot 404 with 3 civilians inside, and the other was light blue with 3 men and a woman.

This alerted the neighbors, causing one of them, a former Carabinero officer, to approach the vehicle and inquire about the identification of the civilians and the reasons for their presence, as well as the presence of a young woman who was crying inside. The civilians told him not to worry, as they were conducting a raid on drug addicts, implying they belonged to a police service.

His spouse states that, after his detention, he was seen at the Santiago Pino Camp, flanked by two individuals. He appeared to be in poor physical condition and showed clear signs of having been injected with drugs.

The version regarding his detention is confirmed by numerous witnesses who testified during the course of the judicial and extrajudicial investigation.

Honorio Henríquez A. stated: "on October 19, 1977, at approximately 13:30 hours, I was at San Francisco and Avda. La Estrella waiting for transportation... A man of about 30 years old was walking from the vicinity of the kindergarten, carrying a tape recorder and a camera hanging from his shoulder.

This person was walking along San Francisco Street, and from a gray Peugeot or Fiat 125 car, one individual got out first and approached the person who was walking. Almost immediately, I could see them exchanging blows.

Two more people got out of the vehicle, carrying weapons, apparently submachine guns, and joined the first one who had gotten out, and together they beat the person carrying the camera. This person fell to the ground, and there they kicked him and struck him with the weapons...

Many people gathered to watch as they forced the person who had fallen into the car... At that moment, I could clearly see the license plate of the vehicle, CH-800 from Renca, gray in color, and I proceeded to write it down, thinking it might be important to have that information."

Mireya Bustamante C. testified to the same effect: "on October 19, around 13:30 hours, I was walking along San Francisco Street when I saw a young man of about 25 years old. He was carrying a camera and a radio.

He was being followed by a gray Peugeot car, from which 2 people got out." After describing them, she adds: "...upon reaching him, he tried to defend himself. Then another person got out of the car carrying a submachine gun, with which he hit him on the head; taking advantage of this, they put him inside the car and took him away."

For his part, student Juan Lorenzo Cabrera reaffirmed what the previous witnesses said, declaring in similar terms and adding "that a young gentleman was coming down the street carrying a camera and a tape recorder.

This man was being followed by a long-haired man who approached him and assaulted him as if to stop him. This gentleman defended himself, and at that moment a Peugeot car arrived...". Later, his statement to the Investigations police was altered precisely where he describes the vehicle, forcing him to testify again before the Tribunal to clarify this point.

There were other people who knew him and witnessed the detention, but who, out of fear, were not willing to testify at that time.

Regarding the prior presence of the vehicles in the area, numerous people testified. Among them is the food assistant at the Los Leoncitos Kindergarten, located at 1216 Los Montes Street, Corina Seguel.

She states: "it was about 10:00 in the morning when I saw two men about 4 meters from the kindergarten fence, so I looked at them because they caught my attention as they remained there for a long time looking toward the kindergarten." She adds: "that day I saw Mr.

Hernán Santos Pérez around 13:00 hours; he was taking photos as he frequently did, and I think he must have left around 12:20 hours. Apparently, when he left, these people were no longer in the place where I had seen them at first."

A nursery school assistant, Margarita Jiménez M., states: "upon arriving at the kindergarten, I saw two men standing in the street, who caught my attention because they were standing outside all morning looking toward the kindergarten, leaving around 11:30 to 12:00 hours."

Two days before Hernán Pérez's detention, on October 17, Jenny Barra Rosales visited his home; she disappeared on the 17th on the way from a friend's house to her home in San Bernardo. Both were politically linked to the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR).

In inquiries made by Pérez Alvarez's spouse to locate him, she learned that Jenny was in the gray Peugeot 404, license plate CH-800 from Renca, at the time her husband was detained. The presence of a woman in the vehicle was ratified by the testimony of both Vicente Campillay and Margarita Jiménez during the judicial investigations.

During those same days, José Miguel Tobar Quezada was also detained; he was interrogated about Jenny Barra and shown photographs of her. José Tobar was taken to an unknown facility where he remained for 3 weeks; there, he was tortured and interrogated about his political activities.

In that place, they injected him with some substance that caused drowsiness. He heard the interrogation of a woman, identifying her voice as belonging to Jenny Barra. In an adjoining room, he heard 3 or 4 men who were in the same detention situation.

José Miguel Tobar was detained by civilians traveling in a gray Peugeot 404 vehicle, with the same license plate CH-800 from Renca that participated in the detention of José Santos Pérez.

Both in the kidnapping case followed in favor of Tobar Quezada before the 11th Criminal Court, and in the kidnapping case of the victim before the 9th Criminal Court, it was proven that said license plate was requested by the former DINA from the Municipality of Renca, giving the Diego Portales Building as the address and the Ministry of Defense as the owner.

It should be noted that the DINA had been dissolved in August 1977, and another security agency, the National Intelligence Center (CNI), was created.

The CNI, when asked about said vehicle, replied to the Tribunal that "it has been impossible to determine if the cited vehicle belongs to the CNI, as a registry of license plates and vehicles has only been kept since 1978."

Thus, despite the multiple efforts made by his family to locate his whereabouts, the fate of Hernán Santos Pérez Alvarez remains unknown to this day.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On October 27, 1977, 8 days after being detained, his spouse filed a Writ of Amparo (Habeas Corpus) before the Santiago Court of Appeals, which was registered under No. 578-77.

The Court ordered that the Ministry of the Interior and the Investigations Prefecture be notified.

Both Investigations and the Ministry of the Interior, in an official letter signed by General Raúl Benavides Escobar, replied that they had no information on the person in question.

A new document from the plaintiff was filed with that Court on November 10, 1977. In it, important information was provided regarding the detention and the vehicle used by the captors, with the aim of identifying the perpetrators of the arrest.

The Court of Appeals did not agree to carry out the requested investigations. Based solely on the information provided by the Ministry of the Interior, the Writ of Amparo was dismissed on November 15. Notwithstanding the ruling, it ordered "that the records be sent to the corresponding Criminal Court so that it may investigate the possible commission of a crime, carrying out, among others, the investigations requested by the plaintiff."

This resolution was appealed the same day. Two days later, the Supreme Court confirmed the resolution.

On November 19, 1977, a complaint for kidnapping or illegal arrest was filed before the 9th Criminal Court of Santiago, which began to be processed under file No. 19784-10-C.

In this process, the ownership of one of the vehicles that participated in his detention was investigated, and several eyewitnesses testified, providing important information that confirmed the version provided by the plaintiff from the very beginning.

During the course of the judicial investigation, there were numerous responses to official letters received from hospitals, International Police, the Ministry of the Interior, the Carabineros Intelligence Directorate, the Army and Air Force, Military and Aviation Prosecutors, the Legal Medical Institute, cemeteries, and the Municipality of Renca.

None of these yielded results regarding the whereabouts of the victim.

In order to complement his investigation, the judge requested to review case 236-74 of the 1st Military Prosecutor's Office and case 12486 of the 11th Criminal Court regarding the kidnapping of José Miguel Tobar Quezada.

Regarding case 236-74, the Military Tribunal reported on August 9, 1979, that the case had been archived in the 2nd Military Court, so the official letter was sent there.

On the other hand, in the kidnapping complaint of Tobar Quezada, which was reviewed in this process, it was proven that he was detained on October 15, 1977, by several individuals traveling in a gray Peugeot 404 vehicle, license plate CH-800 from Renca, and that after 20 days of detention, he appeared drugged in the Quilicura area.

The Investigations Service reported that said vehicle belongs to the Minister of Defense. For its part, the Municipality of Renca replied that the courtesy license plate was granted by Decree 407 on March 25, 1977, to DINAR, with an address registered at the Diego Portales Building. The Decree does not mention any person.

In turn, the Director of the Traffic Department of the Municipality of Renca stated "that the courtesy license plate was granted at the request of the Mayor, Lieutenant Colonel Patricio Muñoz. He used the acronym DINAR corresponding to the requesting agency, since this license plate was processed confidentially." Subsequently, the Mayor of Renca reported that said Decree does not correspond to a Courtesy License Plate but rather designates an official of the Municipality.

In June 1979, the investigation continued in the hands of the Extraordinary Visiting Minister Servando Jordán. This visit began following a presentation by a group of Chilean Bishops to the Supreme Court and the Minister of the Interior, reporting on cases of forcibly disappeared persons.

The Plenary of the Supreme Court accepted the presentation, appointing Visiting Minister Servando Jordán to carry out the investigation of forcibly disappeared persons corresponding to the Santiago Department. The visit began in April 1979.

The Minister ordered new official letters to the Municipality of Renca in order for it to specify whether the agency to which it granted the license plate was DINA or DINAR, and to report who the administrative head was who processed said license plate.

The General Secretariat of Government, on March 29, 1979, reported "that there is no office in the Diego Portales Building that uses that acronym."

It is worth mentioning that according to the investigation by the Minister, the identity card number noted on the sheet where the license plate was granted corresponded to a woman born in Coquimbo in 1914, who stated she had no connection to the events.

Finally, in a response dated September 6, 1979, the Mayor of the Municipality of Renca reported that said license plate "was granted to the DINA Institution, which is the patrimonial acronym for DINAR.

That because it is a Security Institution and the information is confidential and secret, these were not archived in the Traffic Department or in the office of records of this department, which is what is usually done with documentation." He adds "that there is a lack of information to expand on the required data." On December 6, 1979, the Minister appeared at the Command of the 2nd Army Division and took cognizance of case 236-74 of the 1st Military Prosecutor's Office.

In said case, the Carabineros report regarding the detention of the victim on March 5, 1974, "for extremist activities" is recorded. It is also recorded that José Santos was released on June 14, 1974, and other information related to his first detention.

On December 11, 1979, the Minister declared the summary closed and the case was temporarily dismissed "because the perpetration of a crime was not completely justified."

On February 26, 1978, a new Writ of Amparo was filed before the Santiago Court of Appeals, which was not accepted for processing due to a pending case.

Parallel to the processing of the Kidnapping Complaint, on March 30, 1978, a new Writ of Amparo was filed in his favor before the Santiago Court of Appeals, which was registered under No. 143-78. In said appeal, it was requested to review case file 19784 of the 9th Criminal Court and reports were requested from the National Intelligence Center (CNI) to provide the names of its agents who used the Peugeot 404 vehicle, license plate CH-800 from the Municipality of Renca, on October 19, 1977.

Case 19784 of the 9th Criminal Court was reviewed during the processing of this case, and the Ministry of the Interior was notified. Due to this, the plaintiff again requested that the National Intelligence Center be notified regarding the detention of the victim.

Just as with the previous Writ of Amparo, the Court of Appeals ruled based solely on the information provided by the Ministry of the Interior, which denied the detention of the person in question. On April 28, 1978, the Court of Appeals rejected the Writ of Amparo.

In one of its considerations, the resolution states: "That the Writ of Amparo seeks to put an end to an arbitrary deprivation of liberty or an arrest order of a similar nature. The first situation, which is the case at hand, requires the determination of the precise place where the person is held, and it is not possible to accept an appeal when this premise is not met...".

On May 8 of the same year, this ruling was confirmed by the Supreme Court, and the kidnapping case of the victim that was reviewed in the present appeal was returned.

In addition to the pertinent judicial and other administrative actions, his spouse reported the case to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, as one more way to obtain information on the whereabouts of Hernán Santos Pérez Alvarez.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity

Yesterday marked another year since the disappearance of our comrade Hernán Santos Pérez Alvarez, "Ambrosio" or "Agustín," to those who knew him before and after the Coup. Remembering him necessarily leads us to evoke him from the moment that, together with a group of neighbors in the La Estrella neighborhood, he promoted a land occupation on a site on Avenida San Pablo, where there was not even water, and which in 1971 was named the "Hasta la Victoria Siempre" camp.

Hernán arrived at that place with his partner Norma and their small son, only a few months old. He did not yet have political affiliation, although at some point in his life he was a sympathizer of the Communist Youth (JJ.CC.). Our party began one of the most positive experiences there with residents, assigning a group of comrades to work permanently in the camp.

That was how we managed to contact Hernán, who at that time, despite being very young—18 years old—had innate leadership qualities; in fact, he was the vice president of the camp, and his house was the first to be opened to discuss "El Rebelde," in a place where people lived in very precarious conditions.

Not even the harsh winter of that year—where it even snowed—could "bring him down." Typical expressions of his were "let's just keep fighting..."

Hernán grew and matured politically in the occupation. He raised a first unit of sympathizers, while he was already part of another of aspirants. Political education helped him to understand and define the way in which the occupation should evolve.

By the time of the Coup, he was a prominent leader at the neighborhood level in the Quinta Normal-Barrancas industrial belt. After the Coup, Hernán remained in the area, which led to his first detention and separation.

After some time following his release, he insisted on continuing to work in the camp and in the sectors of Neptuno and the Lo Franco neighborhood in Cerro Navia to rebuild the party. Daring, brave, and supportive, despite recommendations that he "cool off" and leave the area, his inevitable response was "I won't leave my comrades behind..."

And so he continued to take risks, convinced that "the party is going to survive here, and we must be here." This was one of the last conversations I had with him, and when he agreed to move out of the camp, put on a jacket and tie to blend in a little, and work as a photographer in the commune.

A trade in which he was self-taught and which he discovered almost by chance in a workshop we set up for a time for micro-photographic reproductions for the mass fronts (those that remained) around '75.

The first time in the darkroom, he put his hand in the acids and developers, which was a disaster... Little by little, and as was his custom, he learned the secrets of basic photography and said, "Done, with this I can earn a living..."

The fall of "Ambrosio" or "Agustín" in '77 was a hard blow, and Hernán, despite the torture and the fact that he was taken to the camp to denounce comrades and sympathizers, did not identify anyone, which drove his murderers and torturers mad.

Those of us who had the luck to know him, to work with him, to be in his home with Norma and his children, feel an immense pain today in our memory, but also the immense pride of having known him.

Source: Queltec

During the civil-military dictatorship, at least a hundred people linked to culture, the arts, and heritage were executed and disappeared.

September 11 marked the beginning of the most painful stage we have ever lived, caused by State agents and complicit civilians. Today we commemorate 48 years of that tragedy that still mourns all of Chile.

More than three thousand people—men, women, children, and young people such as primary, secondary, and university students; pregnant women, the elderly, the visually impaired, and the disabled—were directly affected, and hundreds of thousands joined the ranks of family members and victims of the dictatorship.

Those who survive fight tirelessly for justice, reparation, and the non-repetition of genocidal acts by the State.

Men and women whose contribution to society came from their social struggle, as militants, and also from their trades and occupations as shoemakers, laborers, textile workers, doctors, linotypists, dressmakers, secretaries, union and neighborhood leaders, municipal officials, public employees, railway workers, newspaper vendors, carpenters; peasant workers, miners, forestry workers, construction workers; engineers.

Also those who were just passing through, on a mission, studying, or had formed a family in Chile, coming from Vietnam, France, Spain, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, England, Ecuador, among other countries.

Some of their murderers and accomplices, who are serving light sentences in luxury prisons, have deprived us of them, but they have also deprived us of nearly a hundred artists and creators whom we have identified, with the desire to offer a tribute to those who, from the fields of culture, the arts, and heritage, were victims of state terrorism.

We have recognized 82 people whose creativity was expressed in audiovisuals, crafts, theater, architecture, photography, Visual Arts, literature, and music.

In this note, you will find the names of the people whose information allows them to be associated with an artistic language, according to the available information; however, it is highly possible that many more remain to be identified.

You will also find a link to the information that, among all the people who make the site www.memoriaviva.com possible, is made available to us so that we can contribute to not forgetting until there is justice. For them… No forgiveness, no forgetting!!.. among all the victims is HERNAN SANTOS PEREZ ALVAREZ.

Source: prensaopal.cl, September 8, 2021

Date: 08-09-2021

Hernán Santos Pérez said goodbye to Barrancas

After many years, he was identified by the SML (Legal Medical Service).

Hernán Santos Pérez Álvarez, a militant of the MIR and a community leader. A member of the resistance against the civic-military coup, he was active from the very 11th of September at what was the “Hasta la Victoria Siempre” camp in Carrascal.

Elizabeth Andrea is Hernán’s eldest daughter and states… “I feel a lot of rage, because we are being forced to close a cycle… it makes me angry to imagine what they did to him, the concealment…”. She was five years old when he was forcibly disappeared; she still remembers when her father would lift her onto his shoulders and the world would become small from that height of filial affection.

Norma, his mother, was relentless in the search for Hernán and also in the construction of the memory that his daughters keep of him. Elizabeth’s two daughters remember their grandfather Hernán as a fighter and a man who was perseverant in life, because at only 10 years old he came from the south and supported his mother and younger sister; without finishing school, he was self-taught, intelligent, and strong-willed.

Elizabeth continues: “…I believe his struggle was very important; he did not accept going into exile, even though he knew they were following him”. It is Friday the 21st, and there at the Barrancas House of Culture, located in the municipality of Pudahuel, family members and militants of the MIR and the PS from what was once Barrancas begin to gather.

The priest Jorge Murillo, who also lived through the persecution and who says he most certainly knew Hernán from the Young Catholic Workers of Barrancas, performs the funeral service around the palm trees located in the center of the municipal courtyard.

There, a roll call is made of the executed leaders of the “Santiago Pino” camp, of Barrancas, and of Lo Prado. Father Murillo says “…that Hernán gave his life for a commitment, that he offered it up, that one must not even attribute the merit to his murderers for taking it from him…”.

In the cultural hall is the small coffin, surrounded by MIR and socialist flags, and Mayor Jhonny Carrasco, who knew Hernán, is present there. With minutes to go until 11:00 in the morning, the funeral procession for Hernán Pérez Álvarez began its route from outside the Pudahuel Municipality.

The social leader and militant of the resistance of the old Barrancas sector, now occupied by the communes of Pudahuel, Lo Prado, and Cerro Navia, will once again travel with his comrades through the avenues, streets, and plazas where he was formed as a social fighter and leader.

The first stop of the procession was in a narrow alleyway where Hernán frequently traveled for his organizational work. Subsequently, the procession made its second stop at the place where Hernán confronted the henchmen of the DINA before being detained.

Aloud, Jorge Barrientos, a member of the committee, made known the details of the event. Further on, the committee stopped in front of the kindergarten his daughter attended, at Copiapó and El Monte, to honor his human commitment of love for his own.

After finishing the tour of the historical places where Hernán developed his struggle, the procession headed along Avenida San Pablo toward the General Cemetery. Once at the Memorial, the farewell ceremony was initiated by singer-songwriter Francisco Villa, while Marcos Muñoz, a community organizer from Pudahuel, served as the master of ceremonies, first introducing Patricio Acuña, an old comrade of Hernán’s, who evoked the significance of his trajectory in the social struggle, giving thanks for the teachings he left behind.

Subsequently, Dante Notari took the floor, highlighting the values of solidarity and political consistency of Hernán Pérez. Next, Elizabeth Pérez, Hernán’s daughter, addressed those present, thanking them for having reconstructed his image alongside those who knew him and highlighting her pride in being the daughter of an exemplary fighter, who will always be an example of life for his daughters and his entire family.

Meanwhile, Marcos Muñoz noted that a commitment has been made to build a Memorial to the fighters in Pudahuel. Mireya García, president of the AFDD (Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared), referred to the commitment of the youth of that era to fight for a better world, young people who also dared to confront the power of the dictatorship.

Meanwhile, Margarita Romero, president of the Villa Grimaldi Peace Park Corporation, mentioned the tasks of the Sites of Memory in rescuing the example and the life of the fallen fighters, adding that Hernán Pérez’s name will be incorporated into the Wall of Names at Villa Grimaldi.

At the final moment of the tribute, Guillermo Rodríguez Morales, a former political prisoner, highlighted Hernán’s commitment and consistency in continuing to fight after an initial detention, assuming the leadership of the MIR in his locality.

To conclude, Reinaldo Troncoso, on behalf of the historical militancy of the MIR, presented the organization’s flag to Hernán’s family, before proceeding to place the urn in the Memorial for the Forcibly Disappeared.

Now, another stage begins, marked by the search for truth, justice, and reparation. The task of creating Memory will be present in future initiatives in the territory that was once Barrancas and in sites of memory such as Villa Grimaldi for Hernán Santos Pérez Álvarez and all those who fell during the 17 years of dictatorship.

Source: villagrimaldi.cl, December 26, 2012

Date: 12-26-2012

Highlight: Disappeared person who returns to Barrancas on December 21 and 22

On Friday the 21st of 2012, at about 10 A.M., after retrieving the remains from the Legal Medical Institute, the remains of Hernán Pérez will arrive at the same space of the historic Barrancas House of Culture, at the same space where the Santiago Pino Camp was located, of which he was a leader, at the same space where the dictatorship after the Coup installed a center for political imprisonment and torture, at the same space where the dictatorship executed by firing squad the most courageous neighbors of Barrancas.

Hernán Pérez returns to his beloved Barrancas, returns to this beloved Pudahuel, resisting death, resisting oblivion, resisting the silence of forced disappearance; after 35 years, in which the coup plotters systematically denied his detention; Hernán Pérez returns on December 21 to demolish an era of silence, to put an end to a world of lies and barbarism, to restart a new era of truth and justice, to shout to the country and the world about the most deranged and aberrant struggle waged by the guardians of economic interests against an entire people and the horrendous spite with which they wanted to break those who resisted the massacre. Hernán Santos Pérez Álvarez returns to Pudahuel to denounce the very mockery inflicted upon him, from his detention by force of machine-gun fire in his legs, his death under torture, the concealment of the crime by throwing his body into a mine shaft in Cuesta Barriga, the attempt to erase every trace of the murder by setting up the operation they called “television removal,” which consisted of “cleaning” the mine shafts by removing the corpses to throw them into the sea. Hernán, the “Negro,” returns to the Historic House of Culture to shout that the entire town of Barrancas used to gather in that space to build dignity and a popular project, and it was snatched from us for the detention, torture, and extermination of our best neighbors. Hernán returns on December 21 to Barrancas, from the Chapel Hall where he will receive the honors of his people, to inaugurate a new era of project construction… there in the Pudahuel Municipality… And on the 22nd, around noon, we will accompany him to the Memorial for the Forcibly Disappeared for the most solemn meeting with all the fallen and disappeared, which will call upon the entire country, the continent, and all the poor of the world to inaugurate the dawn of the new society.

Source: UNIDAD, December 9, 2012

Date: 12-09-2012

The SML identifies Hernán Pérez Alvarez in Cuesta Barriga

As “Ambrosio” or “Agustín,” “Queltec,” another clandestine member of the Resistance, remembers Hernán Pérez. He recalls him from the moment when “a group of people from the La Estrella neighborhood of Barrancas… promoted a land seizure on a site on Avenida San Pablo, where there was not even water, and which in 1971 was named the ‘Hasta la Victoria Siempre’ camp… Hernán arrived at that place with his partner Norma and their small son of a few months… our party began one of the most positive experiences there regarding settlers, assigning a group of comrades to work permanently in the camp…”.

The account of “Queltec” continues, telling us about the formative experiences and the social and political militancy of Hernán. “Although he was very young at 18, he had innate leadership qualities… he was the vice president of the camp and his house was the first to be opened to discuss ‘El Rebelde’… by the time of the coup, he was a prominent leader at the neighborhood level in the Quinta Normal-Barrancas industrial belt.” Lucrecia Brito, a survivor of Villa Grimaldi, also has significant memories of the “Negro,” as she remembers Hernán Santos Pérez. “I met you at the beginning of '75; we had to be militants together to rebuild the movement in the Estación Central, Quinta Normal, and Pudahuel sector; that was our mission… we always saw you as a family with your two children and their friends who sometimes fluttered about, other times slept, while we planned propaganda actions. The ‘Negro’ made a lovely couple with his warm partner; they lent their house, not only for meetings, the printer that was moved from my house operated there because it wasn’t safe… we spoke with passion and frankness about the successes and daily difficulties with Yenny del Carmen (Barra), we formed a good team… later I found out that Yenny and you were former political prisoners just like me… that’s how more than two years of weekly meetings, tasks, and actions passed until you were detained on October 19” (of 1977).

HIS REMAINS IDENTIFIED

Yesterday, the minister of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, María Soledad Espina, acting for Judge Héctor Solís Montiel in human rights cases, together with the national director of the SML, Dr. Patricio Bustos, met with the family of Hernán Santos Pérez Álvarez, officially informing them that the identification work carried out by the Legal Medical Service had concluded positively, after human bone fragments were found in the Cuesta Barriga sector in the year 2001.

Before this new identification, the SML had managed to identify the remains of the forcibly disappeared Fernando Ortiz, Horacio Cepeda, Lincoyán Berríos, Ángel Guerrero, Hernán Soto, Jorge Troncoso, and Yenny Barra.

Hernán Santos Pérez Álvarez, a photographer by profession, was detained by CNI agents on a public street in the Pudahuel commune on October 19, 1977. At the time of his kidnapping, he was 24 years old, was married to Norma Ortega Villena, was the father of two children, was a member of the MIR, and acted as an active resister, as ratified by the testimonies of his comrades “Queltec” and Lucrecia Brito.

Now, it only remains to wait for his family to communicate the details of his wake and funeral. From now on, the Villa Grimaldi Peace Park Corporation rescues his memory and congratulates itself on this new advance in truth, while persisting in the demand for justice for Hernán and his loved ones.

Source: rebelion.org, November 29, 2012

Date: 11-29-2012

Judge Espina announces identity of a forcibly disappeared person from 1977

The minister of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, María Soledad Espina Otero, legal substitute for Judge Héctor Solís Montiel, announced this Monday the identity of a forcibly disappeared person whose remains were found in the Cuesta Barriga sector in 2001 and who was positively identified through a DNA test.

Judge Espina met with the relatives of the victim, who had been illegally buried, and whose remains were sent by the Legal Medical Service to the Gerichtsärzte am Institut für Gerichtliche Medizin der Medizinischen Universität Innsbruck (GMI) laboratory in Austria.

According to the results of the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA analyses carried out at the laboratory, it was concluded with 99.9% certainty that the remains correspond to Hernán Santos Pérez Álvarez. The identification work was carried out by the Legal Medical Service and the international panel of experts composed of forensic physician Francisco Etxeberria Gabilondo; forensic geneticist Lourdes Prieto Solla; physical anthropologist Macarena Hevia Álvarez; and anthropologist Ángela Melillán Sanzana.

Hernán Santos Pérez Álvarez, a photographer by profession, was detained by civilians and forced into a car on October 19, 1977, in the Pudahuel commune, with his whereabouts unknown until now.

Source: emol.cl, November 27, 2012

Date: 11-27-2012

Five former CNI officers convicted for the kidnapping and disappearance of photographer Hernán Santos Pérez

The visiting minister Marianela Cifuentes for human rights violation cases of the San Miguel Court of Appeals convicted five former Army officers for their responsibility in the consummated crime of qualified kidnapping of photographer Hernán Santos Pérez Álvarez, perpetrated starting on October 19, 1977, in the Pudahuel commune.

The extraordinary visiting minister for human rights cases of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, Marianela Cifuentes Alarcón, has convicted five retired Army officers for the qualified kidnapping of photographer Hernán Santos Pérez Álvarez, which occurred on October 19, 1977, in Pudahuel.

The convicted individuals, recognized as criminals against humanity, are Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, Rolf Gonzalo Wenderoth Pozo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, and Juan Hernán Morales Salgado, who must serve 10 years of effective imprisonment.

Enrique Erasmo Sandoval Arancibia was sentenced to 540 days as an accessory. The kidnapping of Hernán Santos Pérez Álvarez was part of a series of illegal detentions and torture perpetrated by security agents at the clandestine detention center “Villa Grimaldi.” According to the resolution, “on Saturday, October 15, 1977, José Miguel Tobar Quezada, a militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), was detained and subjected to illegal coercion.” The torture inflicted led to the identification and subsequent detention of Jenny del Carmen Barra Rosales, also a MIR militant, who was kidnapped on October 17, 1977. Jenny Barra suffered the same torture as Tobar Quezada at “Villa Grimaldi.” Subsequently, Hernán Santos Pérez Álvarez was detained. The three victims, all collaborators of the newspaper “El Rebelde,” were later transferred to the “Simón Bolívar” detention center. “Ultimately, Jenny del Carmen Barra Rosales and Hernán Santos Pérez Álvarez died, on an undetermined date, in a violent manner, as a consequence of traumatic events caused by third parties, after which their bodies were thrown into a mine shaft of the ‘Los Bronces’ mine in Cuesta Barriga, a place where in 2001 only some small skeletonized fragments were found, since in the month of January 1979, by decision of the authority of the time, agents of the National Information Center (CNI) carried out an operation at that site with the purpose of extracting the remains of the executed prisoners, which were removed and transferred to an undetermined location,” the ruling indicates. The bodies of Barra Rosales and Pérez Álvarez were thrown into a mine shaft at the ‘Los Bronces’ mine, and in 2001 only small skeletonized fragments were found. In January 1979, agents of the National Information Center carried out an operation to extract and move the remains to an unknown location.

Source: elciudadano.cl, June 4, 2024

Former DINA-CNI agents convicted for the qualified kidnapping of a young MIR militant woman in 1977

The extraordinary visiting minister for human rights violation cases of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, Marianela Cifuentes Alarcón, convicted four former agents of the dissolved DINA-CNI for their responsibility in the consummated crime of qualified kidnapping of Jenny del Carmen Barra Rosales, perpetrated starting on October 17, 1977, in Santiago.

The young woman, 23 years old, a nursing student at the Catholic University and a militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), was kidnapped, tortured, murdered, and forcibly disappeared. The repressive agents threw her body into a mine shaft of the ‘Los Bronces’ mine, in Cuesta Barriga, the place where part of her remains were found in 2001.

In the month of January 1979, by decision of the tyrant Pinochet, CNI agents carried out an operation in Cuesta Barriga with the purpose of extracting the remains of the prisoners executed and thrown at that site, with the goal of eliminating all evidence of their crimes; the remains were removed and transferred to an undetermined location, but some remains were left scattered, which allowed for the subsequent identification of victims once the site was uncovered.

In the ruling (case file 6-2002), the visiting minister convicted former Army officers and repressive hierarchs Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, Rolf Gonzalo Wenderoth Pozo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, and Juan Hernán Morales Salgado to a sentence of 10 years in prison, as authors of the crime.

Meanwhile, Enrique Erasmo Sandoval Arancibia was sentenced to 541 days in prison as an accessory. In the resolution, Minister Cifuentes established that on Monday, October 17, 1977, in the afternoon, Jenny del Carmen Barra Rosales was at a friend’s house on José Joaquín Pérez Street in the San Bernardo commune and, upon leaving in the direction of her home in the same commune, she was detained by security agents, who transferred her to the clandestine detention center ‘Villa Grimaldi,’ the same facility where José Tobar Quezada remained detained.

Previously, on Saturday, October 15, 1977, in the morning, José Miguel Tobar Quezada, also a militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), was detained on a public street by security agents who transferred him to ‘Villa Grimaldi’ and subjected him to interrogations and torture in order to obtain information about other MIR militants, managing to obtain the identification of Jenny del Carmen Barra Rosales, whose political name was ‘Hilda.’ Immediately, the agents went to the vicinity of Jenny Barra’s home, located on Industrias Street in the San Bernardo commune, interviewing a neighbor, whom they consulted regarding the young woman’s activities, subsequently consummating her detention. At ‘Villa Grimaldi,’ Jenny Barra Rosales suffered the same torments as the rest of the detainees; in fact, Tobar Quezada heard her voice and her crying at the moments she was being interrogated and, broken by torture, she allegedly provided the information that allowed for the detention of Hernán Santos Pérez Álvarez, a photographer and MIR militant, which took place on October 19 of that year in the Pudahuel commune and who was also forcibly disappeared. The three detained militants, José Miguel Tobar Quezada, Jenny del Carmen Barra Rosales, and Hernán Santos Pérez Álvarez, collaborated closely with the production of the publication called ‘El Rebelde.’ Subsequently, José Miguel Tobar Quezada and Jenny del Carmen Barra Rosales were transferred to the clandestine detention center called ‘Simón Bolívar,’ where they remained locked up for an undetermined time. The events described began in October 1977, a time when the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) had been declared dissolved and continued to operate as the National Information Center (CNI), an intelligence agency that continued to carry out repressive actions against militants of political parties opposed to the military regime, especially the Communist Party and the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), and which, for such purposes, received the personnel and assets of the dissolved DINA, in particular the clandestine detention centers called ‘Villa Grimaldi’ and ‘Simón Bolívar,’ the agents in charge of their operation, and their hierarchical superiors. By reason of the above, during the period of the events, the clandestine detention center ‘Villa Grimaldi’ was in charge of the then-Army Captain Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, who also exercised command of the operational teams in charge of pursuing and exterminating militants of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), and on the other hand, the clandestine detention center ‘Simón Bolívar’ was under the command of the then-Army Major Juan Hernán Morales Salgado, who additionally held the leadership of the Lautaro Brigade. Likewise, Army General Juan Manuel Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda—currently deceased—Army Colonel Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, and Army Lieutenant Colonel Rolf Gonzalo Wenderoth Pozo served as director, director of Operations, and deputy director of Internal Intelligence of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), respectively, and, after the dissolution of that agency, continued to carry out their functions in the National Information Center (CNI) during the period in which these criminal acts began to unfold. by Daría Núñez

Source: resumen.cl, April 27, 2024

Testimonies of Lucrecia Brito Vásquez

I met you at the beginning of '75; we had to be militants together to rebuild the movement in the Estación Central, Quinta Normal, and Pudahuel sector. That was our mission, and you were two years younger than me; you had just turned 21, but despite your few years, you inspired respect, tranquility, and protection.

Furthermore, we always saw you as a family with your two small children and their friends who sometimes fluttered about, other times slept, while we planned propaganda actions, savoring winter sopaipillas along with a good hot tea with whatever was available.

The “Negro” made a lovely couple with his warm partner; they lent their house, not only for meetings, the printer that was moved from my house operated there because it wasn’t safe. I never saw you hesitate before tasks, although we did agree in discussions regarding the need to prioritize the reconstruction of the labor movement and not let ourselves be carried away by situational actions that put what had been rebuilt in danger.

We spoke with passion and frankness about the successes and daily difficulties; with Jenny del Carmen de la Barra we formed a good team that joined other comrades from the sector; it was people who day after day were joining the resistance.

We couldn’t know many details about our identities; we used political names that I don’t remember. Later I found out that Jenny and you were former political prisoners, just like me. Through the Rettig Report, I learned that you were a photographer by profession, an activity that I am passionate about and that we could have developed together.

That’s how more than two years of weekly meetings, tasks, and actions passed until you were detained on October 19. It was a mistake; Jenny had fallen and you had the usual three days to escape, but unfortunately, you didn’t.

Dear “Negro,” you were a brave man; I was able to recover the mimeograph and all the materials without problems. I also learned that they paraded you through the neighborhood with the radio you loved to carry on your back, but you didn’t denounce anyone.

Nothing more was ever heard of you; how much your family must have suffered, if you were barely 24 years old. Comrade, it is so hard to testify, it is opening the wound on an inescapable drama, which is why I have delayed doing so.

Your face, illuminated by a smile, invades my memory. If you know anything more about the comrade whose story you read, share it with us by sending us an e-mail so that we can all get to know him. If you know anything about any other comrade disappeared or murdered by the dictatorship, share it with us as well; that will help us never to forget them.

Source: Lucrecia Brito Vásquez