On December 4, 1975, university student and Communist militant Ignacio Orlando GONZALEZ ESPINOZA was detained at his mother-in-law's home in the presence of numerous witnesses by agents of the Comando Conjunto.

The following day, he was taken by his captors to his mother's house, from where he retrieved some belongings before leaving. Ignacio González, known as the caricaturist or illustrator, remained detained at the Colina Air Base, from where he was reportedly taken along with Miguel Rodríguez and Ricardo Weibel to be murdered on the military grounds of Peldehue, according to the aforementioned testimony.

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

Occupation: Graduate of the Faculty of Arts of the Universidad Católica. Artisan Political Affiliation: Member of the Communist Party Date of Detention: December 4, 1975

Ignacio Orlando González Espinoza, married, a graduate of the Faculty of Arts of the Universidad Católica, and a member of the Communist Party, was detained on December 4, 1975, by agents of the Comando Conjunto under the circumstances set forth below: on December 4, 1975, at 01:30 in the morning, approximately six individuals dressed in civilian clothes arrived at the home of the victim's brother-in-law, Matías Bascuñán Cáceres, located at Calle Soberanía N°1216 in the capital, asking for Luis González.

As Bascuñán refused to open the door to his home, the individuals proceeded to break it down. Once inside, they began to interrogate the witness, providing a physical description of the person they were looking for, which matched that of Ignacio González Espinoza.

The agents, in addition to raiding the property without presenting a warrant, asked various questions about the victim: whether he was fond of painting, whether he usually wore sports clothes, whether he had a mustache, whether he went by the nickname "Nacho," and what his address was.

To the last question, Bascuñán Cáceres indicated that the victim was at the home of his mother-in-law, María Cáceres Varas. Upon learning this information, the individuals made the witness get dressed and left in his company toward the indicated address, which was located at Calle Soberanía N°1220.

Upon arriving at the location, they entered the home, along with Bascuñán, and three of the agents identified themselves as officials of the Investigaciones (Investigations Police).

The captors went directly to the bedroom where the victim was staying with his wife, made him get dressed, and took him away to an unknown destination.

Approximately one block away were the cars the agents were using, one black and one light-colored.

Eyewitnesses to the detention of Ignacio Orlando González Espinoza included his spouse Marta Bascuñán Cáceres, her brothers Matías and Bernardita, and their mother, María Cáceres Varas.

All these individuals provided judicial testimony regarding the facts described in case file N°15.651-10, which was substantiated before the 9th Criminal Court of Santiago regarding the victim's alleged disappearance.

At 14:00 on December 5, 1975, Ignacio González appeared at his mother's home, located at Los Alerces N°2630, Ñuñoa. His sister-in-law, Zoila Araya Rojas, was there and was happy to see him, thinking he had been released. However, the victim, appearing very nervous, told her not to approach him, asking her to open the front gate so he could enter the house.

Ignacio González entered the home accompanied by an unknown individual whom he identified as his friend. Both searched a room located at the back of the property and then left.

Upon leaving, Zoila Araya heard the stranger tell González: "walk, now." Only then did the witness realize he was not a friend. She also observed a blue Fiat 600 parked outside with two other individuals inside.

Shortly before Christmas, Ignacio González was taken by his captors to his art workshop, located at Mosqueto N°496, a space he rented from Mrs. Eliana Fernández, who lived at the same address.

The place was raided by the agents, as was the home of the landlady, who was an eyewitness to these events.

In the report prepared by the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (created by the President of the Republic, Mr. Patricio Aylwin Azócar, for the purpose of investigating and making known to the country the most serious human rights violations committed between September 11, 1973, and March 10, 1990), it was stated that "on December 4, 1975, university student and Communist militant Ignacio Orlando González Espinoza was detained at his mother-in-law's home in the presence of numerous witnesses by agents of the Comando Conjunto.

The following day, he was taken by his captors to his mother's house, from where he took some things and left. Ignacio González, known as a caricaturist or draftsman, remained detained at the Colina Air Base...".

The testimonies provided by the former member of the Chilean Air Force, Andrés Antonio Valenzuela Morales, have allowed us to reconstruct, in part, the gestation and actions of an illicit organization, endowed with material means and the guarantees of anonymity and impunity, to act in a criminal manner and in open violation of fundamental human rights, which has come to be called the "Comando Conjunto," and of which the witness was a member.

Andrés Valenzuela recounted in his statements: "I entered military service in April 1974, at the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment of Colina, remaining there for three months, to be later assigned to the Air War Academy (AGA), located in the Las Condes commune of Santiago.

I arrived at this unit along with a group of approximately 60 conscripts, of whom 30 came under the authority of the Aviation Prosecutor's Office, and the rest remained as AGA personnel, performing surveillance and routine duties."

"The person who directed our group was the then-Commander of the Institution, Edgar Ceballos J. (nicknamed 'Inspector Cabezas'), who unified intelligence work against subversion, which in that period was directed fundamentally against the MIR.

My specific duties consisted of being a guard for the political prisoners who remained in the hallway of a basement and in inhabited rooms that were also in this unit."

"I must add that at the AGA I met several agents who came from the El Bosque Air Base, among whom were Guillermo Bratti (nicknamed 'lito' or 'pelao lito'), 'lalo', 'Patricio', 'chirola', and others. Also belonging to the group were Otto Trujillo, Commander Campos, and three or four detectives who only worked at the Academy.

I know that one of them works in the Assault Brigade, apparently he is an inspector, and his last name is Barraza (nicknamed 'el sambra'), another is named Cortés (nicknamed 'Yoyo-pulos')."

"After the AGA was vacated, our group, composed of about 10 enlisted men plus some 5 or 6 officers (Ceballos, Roberto Fuentes Morrison (nicknamed 'Wally'), Campos, and others), moved with about fifteen MIR prisoners to a two-story house located on Avda.

Apoquindo, between Tobalaba and Carmencita streets. We were in this facility for approximately three months. We carried out raids and detentions. I participated in the 'Reaction' Force, guarding those who carried out the operations from a possible attack in the surroundings.

Also in this place, the group was directed by Ceballos, with Roberto Fuentes Morrison being one of his closest subordinates."

"Very shortly after, we began to run out of detainees, since the repression of the MIR came to be in charge of the DINA, so we moved to the building located at Santa Rosa and Alameda, on the southwest corner, called the JAR-6 building, where the Intelligence Community is located, that is, all the institutional services, except the DINA.

In this place, our team dissolved, with each one remaining in different offices."

"At the beginning of 1975, the group gathered again when Commander Edgar Ceballos formed the 'Anti-Subversive Group,' with almost all the people who came from Apoquindo, plus Guillermo Bratti, Fuentes Morrison, and Otto Trujillo, brought by the former, and we went to work in a hangar located at Cerrillos Airport, near a control tower and in front of the Airport Security Firefighters.

César Luis Palma Ramírez (nicknamed 'el fifo') was added to our group, and he brought a group of young people nicknamed 'Luti', 'Yerko', 'Patán', and others, who formed a tracking and capture team under Palma's command. The head of operations in this facility was Fuentes Morrison."

"Our task was to work on the repression of the Southern Regional of the Communist Party. Appearing on the scene at this time—the beginning of the third quarter of 1975—was Carol Fedor Flores Castillo, who had been a militant of the Communist Party and whom I had seen detained at the AGA in 1974.

His nickname, 'El Juanca', derived from his war name, Juan Carlos. In any case, at this time, he participated in the interrogations, providing the greatest amount of data, since he knew an immense number of militants. I remember that the appearance of 'Juanca' as an informant coincided with the detention of a large number of Communist militants, more or less in September 1975."

"Due to the lack of comfort in the hangar, we moved to a house located at Santa Teresa N°037, at the height of the 20th stop of Gran Avenida, a facility that was known as 'Nido 20'. This was a house where the neighborhood could clearly notice what was happening inside, since people were entering and leaving, and there were two external guards in uniform.

We arrived at this place with about 20 detainees more or less, who were overcrowded, to the point that they used the closets as punishment cells. From here, they began to take detainees to interrogate them in another place, which is located at the 18th stop of Vicuña Mackenna, at Calle Perú N°9053, a facility that was known as 'Nido 18' and where torture and interrogation took place."

"When the 'Nido 18' and 'Nido 20' facilities began to be used, we acted in a Joint Command with members of the institutional services of the Carabineros and the Navy. For the Carabineros, a Lieutenant nicknamed 'el Lolo', with the last name Muñoz, was in command, and for its part, the Navy participated under the command of a Lieutenant with the last name Guimper."

"Approximately in the month of November 1975, we moved, with about twenty detainees, to the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment of the FACH, in Colina. While here, Army personnel joined our group, under the command of an officer who rotated frequently.

This personnel interrogated one of the detainees on one occasion, who, due to the electricity applied of 200 direct volts, died of cardiac arrest. After this incident, the Army separated from the Joint Command."

"To the 'Nido 18' and 'Nido 20' facilities, as well as the Colina Air Base, a doctor named Alejandro Forero (son) went with some regularity, whenever he was required, who at that time was an intern and is currently a cardiologist. This doctor also gave injections to the detainees when they were drugged."

Regarding Ignacio Orlando González Espinoza, Andrés Valenzuela stated in his sworn statement dated August 28, 1984, the following: approximately at the end of November 1975, a young man who was a very good caricaturist was detained by agents of the "Comando Conjunto" in the northern sector of Santiago and taken to the Colina Air Base facility.

Around these same dates—the witness added—a helicopter arrived at the base, and I do not remember exactly if it was from the FACH or the Army, and I also do not remember well if it was a UH-1H or PUMA type.

They took about 10 or 15 detainees in the aircraft to throw them into the sea. Agent César Luis Palma Ramírez ("Fifo") and personnel from the other institutions participated in this operation. As I recall, the following detainees left: a bald man with a fractured and casted arm, whom they called "el viejo Fuentes"; a former councilman of Renca from the Communist Party, who was lame and wore orthopedic shoes, about 50 years old; and the caricaturist I have already referred to.

Andrés Valenzuela continued in his statement, noting that after the described operation, agent Palma Ramírez indicated that the detainees had been thrown into the sea, off San Antonio, because he explained that the prisoner they called "viejo Fuentes" woke up when they were about to throw him into the sea (the witness noted in this part that the detainees were drugged).

Palma—he continued—commented that one of the Army agents had cold-bloodedly hit the detainee on the head with an iron bar and thrown him down.

Likewise, Andrés Valenzuela pointed out in a sworn statement dated October 10, 1984, complementary to the previous one, that "seeing the photographs of disappeared persons, I am absolutely convinced that the caricaturist was Ignacio Orlando González Espinoza."

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On December 13, 1975, a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) was filed on behalf of the victim before the Court of Appeals of Santiago, which was registered under N°1669-75.

By virtue of the negative reports from government authorities regarding the detention of Ignacio González Espinoza, the appeal was rejected on January 20, 1976.

Once the records were sent to the 9th Criminal Court of Santiago, the Judge ordered a criminal summary investigation into the victim's alleged disappearance.

The investigation did not reach beyond certain limits. Once the facts and the corpus delicti were established through the judicial statements of the eyewitnesses, the situation of the detainee and the pertinent responsibilities remained unclarified.

The case substantiated before the aforementioned Court, which was registered under N°15.651-10, was temporarily dismissed.

With the respective resolution under consultation, the Prosecutor of the Court of Appeals of Santiago issued the following opinion, which states verbatim in its conclusions: "As can be seen once again, the Courts are not in a position to provide an adequate response to the relatives of a person who, according to such relatives, was detained and forcibly taken from his home.

That said, no one will be able to convince Marta Bascuñán Cáceres—wife of Ignacio Orlando González Espinoza—Zoila Antonia Araya Rojas and Matías Modesto Bascuñán Cáceres—who was the one who led the captors to the house of Ignacio González Espinoza—María de la Luz Cáceres Varas—mother-in-law of the disappeared—and Bernardita Susana Bascuñán—sister-in-law of Ignacio Orlando—that Ignacio Orlando González Espinoza was not detained.

No possible and feasible diligence that can be ordered is envisioned."

Ultimately, the Court of Appeals approved the temporary dismissal decreed by the court of first instance.

On the occasion of the detention and disappearance of 13 high-ranking leaders of leftist political parties, 11 of them from the Communist Party and 2 from the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR) in November and December 1976, and after the respective writs of amparo filed were rejected, relatives of the victims requested the Supreme Court to appoint a Visiting Minister (Ministro en Visita) in order to investigate such an irregular situation.

The Supreme Court of the Republic ordered the Court of Appeals of Santiago to make such an appointment, which fell to Minister Mr. Guastavino, who, after requesting a report from the Ministry of the Interior—which reported that the victims had left the country through a mountain pass toward the Argentine Republic—dismissed the case.

Said resolution was revoked by the Court of Appeals of Santiago, as well as on the second occasion when a new closure of the summary was decreed.

Subsequently, taking charge of the process—known as the "process of the thirteen"—was Minister Carlos Letelier Bobadilla, who came to substitute for the previous Minister, closing the summary in August 1978, "being unable to advance in the investigation."

Said resolution was challenged by the lawyers who pointed out to the Minister that he could indeed advance in the investigation, due to the existence of pending diligences requested and because other ones would arise from the state of the process to be ordered. It was in this way that Minister Letelier left his own resolution without effect, decreeing diligences.

Later, upon resuming his duties, Minister Guastavino decreed a definitive dismissal by application of D.L. 2.191 in December 1980. The Court of Appeals, this time, revoked the resolution to close the summary, and the Visiting Minister himself left the decreed dismissal without effect, due to the omission of a legal formality. In this way, the processing continued.

Already in the year 1983, Minister Carlos Cerda Fernández took charge of assuming the investigation for the "process of the thirteen." The Minister ordered hundreds of diligences, consisting of summons of persons, recognition of places and persons, expert reports, review of criminal files, and the dispatch of official letters requesting reports from State services, branches of the Armed Forces, private institutions, and others of vital importance.

In sum, he received nearly 200 testimonies from eyewitnesses to the detentions of the victims and their confinement in clandestine facilities. Among these testimonies were also those of members of the Armed Forces who participated in Intelligence Services, as well as officials of the Carabineros and Investigations.

Likewise, the testimonies of civilians who collaborated with the Security Services are included, as is the case of Otto Trujillo and Miguel Estay Reyno ("El Fanta").

Also included was the statement of a first soldier of the Chilean Air Force, Andrés Valenzuela Morales, who in 1984 deserted from this institution, who through his statement, gave an account and data that, in the mid-70s, a so-called Comando Conjunto or Anti-Subversive Joint Command began to operate, integrated by members of the different branches of the Armed Forces and Order, plus some civilians who belonged to leftist parties and who, after being detained by the Intelligence Services, subjected to pressure and/or extortion, became collaborators.

Said Command had material means, such as vehicles, weaponry, transmission devices, and clandestine detention centers.

At this stage of the investigation, Minister Carlos Cerda managed to establish valuable and clarifying data regarding other cases of human rights violations, some of them involving the disappearance of persons, even ordering the referral of some pieces of the "process of the thirteen" to other Courts that were hearing criminal cases regarding them.

Among the latter is the case of Ignacio Orlando González Espinoza, regarding whom Minister Cerda ordered the referral of various pieces of the process to the Ninth Criminal Court of Santiago, as they affected its file N°15.651-10.

Said pieces are summarized in the following: that of fs. 2494, statement of Miguel Arturo Estay Reyno (detained by the Comando Conjunto and later transformed into a collaborator of the same), who expresses having contributed to developing an organizational chart of the Communist Party, pointing out the responsibilities that corresponded to each member.

Asked by the witness about the victim, he expresses that he is a young man with the last name González, who belonged to the Communist Youth and who had been detained shortly before him, without having awareness of having been with the victim in his place of confinement, the Colina Air Base.

That of fs. 2979, which corresponds to the statement of the FACH civilian employee and member of the Comando Conjunto, Otto Trujillo.

That of fs. 4099, which gives an account of the statement provided before Minister Cerda by the victim's spouse, Marta Bascuñán Cáceres, an eyewitness to his detention, confirming it, along with the other background information on the repressive situation already described.

The declarant, for her part, positively recognizes Otto Trujillo as one of the subjects who arrested the victim.

That of fs. 4175, statement of Matías Bascuñán Cáceres, brother-in-law of the victim, who provides the background information, already exposed in section II of this file, relative to the detention of Ignacio González Espinoza, in his capacity as an eyewitness to it.

That of fs. 4320, which gives an account of the statement provided by another eyewitness to the victim's detention, his sister-in-law Zoila Araya Rojas, to whose home Ignacio González went the day after his arrest—December 5, 1975—in the company of an unknown person whom he indicated as his "friend," with both proceeding to check one of the interior rooms of the property.

The witness indicated that the alleged friend of her brother-in-law was a tall, dark-skinned subject with Mapuche features, black hair, and a mustache. However, when shown photographs of agents, she did not recognize the aforementioned individual among them.

And, finally, that of fs. 7747, which contains the statement provided on April 17, 1986, by the then-Lieutenant Colonel of Carabineros, Germán Alfredo Esquivel Caballero, who states: "I entered the Institution in the 1955-1986 class, arriving in 1970 at the General Staff of the Prefecture of Santiago where I remained until August 1973.

At the end of that year, I was transferred to the General Directorate until October or November 1975. After other assignments, in 1980 or 1981 I returned to the General Directorate, beginning to serve in the National Intelligence Center (C.N.I.). I left the Institution in March or April 1982."

"In my time at the General Directorate—the first one—I served in the Information Section and then in the Intelligence Directorate of the Carabineros. The Chief of DICAR at the end of 1973 was Commander Graciano Bernales, who was succeeded by Commander Germán Campos.

Subsequently, General Melgarejo and then General Raúl Romero Gormaz succeeded each other in the leadership. When General Melgarejo arrived, the Intelligence services began to be restructured, whose structure in 1975 knew 5 departments: Intelligence, Analysis, Counterintelligence, Administrative, and Kardex.

The Intelligence Department had as chiefs, in 1975, Colonels Bezzemberger and then Smith, and had its headquarters in the building on Calle Juan Antonio Ríos N°6. At the end of 1974 or the beginning of the following year, Colonel González assumed as chief of the Counterintelligence Department, whom I later succeeded.

This Department was divided into 2 sections: D.H.P.—which was in charge of Lieutenant Manuel Muñoz Gamboa and three or four contract officials—and that of Protection of Important Persons (V.I.P.), whose chief was the officer with the last name Werner."

"The Analysis Department—he continued—was headed by Commander Pablo Negrete, with headquarters on Calle Juan Antonio Ríos N°6. The Administrative Department had as chief Commander Gonzalo Jiménez, seconded by two or three contract officials.

The Kardex Department was commanded by Commander Bernales and there worked Lieutenant Georgina Rivera—or Riveros—Lechard, apart from the contract personnel. When I left DICAR, I handed over the Counterintelligence Department to Captain Avila Quiroz."

"The witness also expressed: 'Intelligence work was carried out in two locations: Juan Antonio Ríos N°6 and a barracks on Calle Dieciocho. In the first of these places were installed the Intelligence Directorates of the Air Force (DIFA), of the Carabineros (DICAR), the Military Intelligence Service (of the Army), and the Naval Intelligence Service (SIN); for this reason, the building became known as the 'Intelligence Community.' For its part, the facility on Calle Dieciocho was located to the North of an old house that, in turn, bordered the machine building of the former Diario Clarín."

"I used 2 vehicles for my duties: a Torino, a patrol car painted completely black, its license plate was RP-0001, and my driver Humberto Villegas drove it when I verified escort duties. The other car was a Fiat 600, red, 1973 model, which I received from the factory; it used a courtesy license plate and was a private vehicle, which Humberto Villegas also drove, there being no other driver authorized to drive the Institution's vehicles."

In relation to this statement, it was ordered to send to the original Court those pieces that contain photographs of the aforementioned Humberto Villegas.

There is no record that the expressed background information has entered the Ninth Criminal Court of Santiago.

Finally, it is noted that to know the details of the processing of the so-called "process of the thirteen," in a comprehensive view, one must see the file that gives an account of the circumstances that led to the detention and subsequent disappearance of the Communist Party militant, Reinalda del Carmen Pereira Plaza.

Source: Vicaría de la Solidaridad