On February 14, 1975, three other MIR militants linked to those previously mentioned were detained. René Roberto ACUÑA REYES was detained at his home in downtown Santiago; during the arrest, he allegedly attempted to flee, as a result of which he was wounded by gunfire. Manuel Edgardo Del Carmen CORTEZ JOO and Hugo Daniel RIOS VIDELA were detained on a public street.

The Commission is convinced that the disappearance of all of them was the work of State agents, who thereby violated their human rights.

Hugo Daniel Ríos Videla, married, one child, 21 years of age, university student, and MIR militant, was detained by agents of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA) on February 14, 1975, at the intersection of Gran Avenida and Circunvalación Manuel Rodríguez. He was accompanied by Manuel Cortés Joo; during the arrest, he was wounded by a gunshot to the head.

As a prior record, it was known through a publication in the newspaper "La Segunda" dated December 14, 1974, that he was being sought by security forces. He was accused of being a member of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR); his photograph was published in said evening paper, which added that he was a fugitive.

Numerous witnesses provide accounts of how the detention was carried out and the facilities where he was seen severely wounded and with bandages on his head. Among them:

María Isabel Matamala Vivaldi, in a sworn statement before a Notary Public, indicated that during her detention at Villa Grimaldi, around February 14 or 15, she overheard conversations among the agents who were bringing in "peque José Luis" and "Chino Jo." They described details of the operation to capture him and said that he had received a gunshot to the nape of the neck and was in bad condition, which is why they were calling the facility's doctor.

When they named "peque José Luis," she paid attention because she knew him. The following day, she saw him when she was being taken to the bathroom; he was on a stretcher and his head was bandaged, though his face was visible.

He was surrounded by agents who were trying to interrogate him, threatening that he would not have a doctor until he gave a statement. Later, on the same date, another prisoner, Carmen Díaz Darricarrere—now forcibly disappeared—informed her that "peque José Luis" was named Hugo Daniel Ríos Videla. Subsequently, she was transferred to Cuatro Alamos and never saw him again.

Hugo Ernesto Salinas Farfán provided his statement on November 19, 1976, in which he recounted that he was taken to Villa Grimaldi in the second half of February 1975. There, he saw several people he knew arrive on the 14th, among them the victim and Manuel Cortés Joo.

Between February 26 and 28, 1975, while working in the facility's garden, he saw Ríos Videla, Cortés Joo, and others being taken toward the bathroom; they were coming from the "La Torre" sector, as the area of Villa Grimaldi where prisoners were most intensely tortured was called. That was the last time he saw them.

María Alicia Salinas Farfán, a former detainee, stated that when she was detained by DINA personnel on January 3, 1975, she was interrogated about MIR militants, including Hugo Daniel Ríos Videla.

María Odette Negrón Larre, in a sworn statement, indicated that during her confinement at the Villa Grimaldi facility in February 1975, she was in contact with the victim.

Nubia Betsie de Lourdes Becker Eguiluz recounted that, while detained at the Villa Grimaldi facility, she heard a great deal of movement by agents one day. The Army Officer, Marcelo Moren Brito, alias "El Ronco" and "El Coronta," who acted as chief, was shouting loudly.

Through the frosted glass, they could see something; outside, a person was lying on the ground, leaning against the wall, moaning in pain, and in a semi-comatose state. The detainees, her cellmates, commented that it was "el peque," who had been detained and was wounded.

Regarding Ríos Videla's wounds, she remembers Moren Brito shouting at the agents, telling them that they had to extract information from him first. Some time later, Gladys Díaz Armijo, who was also detained at Villa Grimaldi, told her that "el peque" was still alive when she arrived at the Villa; she was with him in the "la torre" sector, and he was in very poor physical condition, barely able to speak.

A female DINA agent would constantly hit and harass him, and Ríos Videla would beg her to leave him alone.

Héctor Hernán González Osorio gave a statement on September 20, 1990, in which he recounted his detention at the Villa Grimaldi facility, where he spent six months. He stated: "At first, I was in a large room with a metal door; later, they built wooden cells that were called 'Casas Chile.' When I arrived there, there was nothing yet.

We detainees were on the floor day and night, and the only activity throughout the day was waiting to be taken to be tortured or to witness the torture of another. The women were separated in another room.

We remained blindfolded the entire time; at night, they would tie our hands and feet together behind our backs and make us lie on the tiled floor. In the morning and before sleeping, they would take us to the bathroom, which was the only one, and it was next to the 'parrilla' (grill), which allowed us to hear the screams of those being tortured." "Sometimes they would untie our hands to eat, and other times only for some, who then had to feed the person next to them.

Other times they made us eat on the floor, with our hands tied behind our backs, like dogs, licking the plates as best we could. This was very humiliating and desperate." "There were other cells called 'casas corvi,' which were small wooden cells built in another room, about 80 by 80 centimeters, designed to isolate prisoners individually.

They were completely closed, with barely a hole the diameter of a finger in the door for air to enter. It was desperate to be inside there, without light, with very little air and intense heat, standing or sitting on the floor with our legs bent because it was not possible to stretch them.

On occasions, there were four of us; we took turns sitting and standing. I don't know how many days and nights we spent there, as it was the place where one lost track of time most quickly."

Regarding "La Torre," he recounted: "That was a sinister place, feared by all, which was located in the most isolated part of Villa Grimaldi, and where they took the prisoners they did not want others to see and who would likely be tortured to death." This was the image we all had: "going to the Torre meant being destined to die in Grimaldi." "Thus, in that den of suffering and permanent madness, there was a kind of territorial distribution of death. 'Casas Chile' was an area of probable death, 'Casas Corvi' increased that probability, and 'La Torre' made it certain."

Regarding Hugo Ríos Videla, "el peque," he acknowledged having seen him at Villa Grimaldi.

Hugo Ríos Videla was one of the people who appeared on a list of 119 people killed abroad, published by the magazine LEA in Argentina and the newspaper O'DIA in Brazil in July 1975, which the national press reproduced with sensationalist headlines.

These 119 people had been detained between June 1974 and February 1975, and most of them had been seen by witnesses in secret DINA facilities. All remain forcibly disappeared to this day.

The last news regarding the victim comes from witnesses who saw him in the last fortnight of February, between the 26th and 28th of that month in 1975, when he was coming from the "la Torre" sector and was taken out along with other detainees to an unknown destination.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS

On March 5, 1975, Sonia Ríos Videla, the victim's sister, filed a Writ of Amparo (Habeas Corpus), roll 330-75, before the Santiago Court of Appeals. She based her petition on the information from the newspaper "La Segunda" dated December 14, 1974, which mentioned that his detention was being ordered and included his photograph.

The Ministry of the Interior, the Commander of the Aviation Command, and the Commander of the State of Siege Zone were requested to report urgently.

The victim's mother-in-law, María Teresa Huneeus Cox, also presented evidence on April 19, 1975, within the Writ of Amparo, requesting actions to determine the whereabouts of her son-in-law.

The responses from the Ministry of the Interior, the Aviation Command, and the Commander of the State of Siege Zone were negative, stating they had no records of the victim and that he was not detained.

On April 2, 1975, the Court of Appeals, having reviewed the reports and in accordance with Article 306 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, rejected the Writ of Amparo and sent the records to the corresponding Criminal Court.

The resolution was appealed on April 3 of the same year; however, the Supreme Court of Justice confirmed the resolution on April 8, 1975.

Judicial proceedings were restarted on August 19, 1975; this time, the victim's father-in-law, Luis Izquierdo, filed a complaint for Presumed Misfortune before the First Criminal Court. The case was registered under No. 107284.

The Court was informed of the news that appeared in the newspaper "La Segunda" on July 24, 1975, which reproduced the publication from the newspaper O'DIA of Curitiba, Brazil. It reported that the Argentine Armed Forces had had a confrontation with groups of Chilean guerrillas, and the victim's name appeared as one of the deceased.

On August 20, 1975, despite not having ruled on the court's jurisdiction, the first investigative steps were ordered; some were accepted, and a broad order to investigate was issued. In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was requested to report on the events that occurred in the town of Salta.

The Court of Appeals was asked to report on the Writ of Amparo and the court to which it had been referred. It was requested that the DINA be notified to report whether the victim was detained by that agency and taken to Villa Grimaldi.

The Ministry of the Interior responded to the Court on September 1, 1975, stating that the DINA had reported that this person had not been detained and that there was no record of him in that Directorate.

Regarding the O'DIA publication, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on September 9, 1975, that such a publication did not exist in Curitiba, Brazil, but that there was a tabloid called Novo Dia, with limited circulation, which had published the news on July 23 regarding the confrontation between Chilean extremists and security forces.

It clarified that there was no official record that the mentioned persons had died abroad, nor was there any record that these persons had left the country. Furthermore, the authorities of the country where the events allegedly occurred had reported nothing on the matter.

On September 30 of the same year, the Judge requested to reiterate the requests for witness summons and the order to investigate.

In its response, the Investigations Service, in Report No. 2474 dated September 29, 1975, reported that it had not obtained further information to determine the victim's current whereabouts.

On October 16, 1975, Hugo Ríos's parents-in-law ratified their complaint.

Complying with the Court's order, witness María Isabel Matamala Vivaldi appeared to testify on October 24, 1975; she had been detained at the Pirque Women's Detention Camp and had been confined at Villa Grimaldi along with the victim.

Following this statement, on that same day, the Judge requested the DINA to report whether the individual nicknamed "El peque José Luis" was detained by that agency and taken to Villa Grimaldi.

The Minister of the Interior responded to this request on November 6, 1975, stating that "this person is not registered in their Kardex and has not been detained by personnel of that Agency."

On December 19, 1975, the Judge declared the summary closed and, considering that the existence of a crime was not fully proven, temporarily dismissed the case. The decision was sent to the Court of Appeals for review, which approved the resolution on January 15, 1976; it was ratified on March 24, 1976, and the case was archived.

However, the family members did not cease their efforts to know the truth. On April 11, 1991, his spouse, Teresa Izquierdo Huneeus, requested to reopen the summary regarding the disappearance of her husband, as there was new evidence to pursue the investigation.

The case was entered into the 1st Criminal Court of Santiago under roll No. 107.284; after a short process and without establishing the fate of the victim, the case was dismissed. The ruling was appealed, and the Martial Court confirmed the resolution in May 1992.

Parallel to the judicial actions, his family members searched for his whereabouts for years, visiting prisons, hospitals, and the Red Cross, and writing letters to national and international organizations. Official and unofficial efforts were made with government officials; however, to this day, the whereabouts of Hugo Daniel Ríos Videla remain unknown.

Source: Vicaría de la Solidaridad