Interpol Spain officials arrested Chilean lawyer Alfonso Podlech Michaud, who is accused of participating in human rights violations that occurred in Temuco following the 1973 military coup. This event is comparable only to the 1998 arrest of dictator Augusto Pinochet in London and the 2004 arrest of General (Ret.) Joaquín Ramírez in Buenos Aires.

The capture took place on Sunday by virtue of a search and notification warrant that was active in Interpol systems, issued by the Italian justice system. In that country, a trial has been open since 1998 against those responsible for the disappearance of Omar Venturelli Leonelli, 31, a former priest who resided in the capital of the Ninth Region.

The former military prosecutor who organized the war councils in Temuco was arrested at Barajas Airport in Madrid while waiting for a connecting flight to the Czech Republic. The event was confirmed to La Nación by Spanish police sources, who indicated that upon checking Podlech's identity, they notified Interpol Italy.

Within minutes, an immediate arrest warrant for extradition purposes was issued from that country, despite the fact that the convention that created the European Union provides for immediate deportation without formalities.

Since 1998, the case has been in the hands of prosecutor Giancarlo Capalbo, who is also investigating the disappearances of Juan Bosco Maino Canales, Juan Montiglio Murúa, and Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño in the same case.

Alfonso Podlech traveled to Europe on July 26 and was with his wife at the time of the capture. He is a well-known professional in the Ninth Region who was even appointed as a member lawyer of the Temuco Court of Appeals and a member of the Regional Electoral Tribunal.

According to his own statements, after the military coup, he was called to the Tucapel Regiment by the unit's commander, Pablo Iturriaga Marchessi, to organize the war councils. In that capacity, he directly advised the military prosecutor of the time, Luis Cofré Soto.

This illegal tribunal is attributed with ordering the death of four prisoners to whom the "law of flight" (ley de fuga) was applied. Subsequently, in 1974, he assumed the position of titular prosecutor, a role he held until 1978.

Witnesses who testified in Chile assert that Podlech wore a uniform inside the military unit, determined who would face war councils, and decided on the release or detention of individuals. The plaintiff lawyer in Chile, Hugo Gutiérrez, said that "one can only express gratitude to the Italian justice system for what it is doing regarding this criminal.

It demonstrates that universal jurisdiction has brought about the pursuit of justice and a rupture of impunity." The outlook could be even bleaker for Podlech, as he is also mentioned as responsible for the disappearance of a French citizen, Etienne Pesle, which occurred in Temuco in October 1973.

The case is in the oral trial stage in Paris, and the courts of that country could request his appearance before that body. Pesle is one of four Franco-Chilean citizens for whom human rights violations are also being investigated, both in Chile and in France.

Source: lanacion.cl, July 30, 2008

Based on the writings of the plaintiffs, Italian prosecutor Giancarlo Capalbo is handling the names of the individuals who—according to witnesses—were involved in the detention, kidnapping, torture, and homicide of the priest Omar Venturelli.

Among them are Augusto Pinochet and Sergio Arellano Stark, with the Caravan of Death during its passage through Temuco. While in Chile the proceedings involving former dictator Augusto Pinochet are in a state of lethargy that is expected to last for a long time, in Italy the justice system is on the verge of beginning the procedural phase and ending the investigation stage regarding the disappearance of the priest of that nationality, Omar Venturelli, who disappeared in Temuco in October 1973.

The case has concrete evidence regarding the detention of the Italian prelate, his time at the city's regiment, the visit of Bishop Bernardino Piñera, and his death on the same day that the fateful Caravan of Death arrived in the capital of the Ninth Region, commanded by the official delegate of the head of the Government Junta, General (Ret.) Sergio Arellano Stark.

Since 1998, prosecutor Giancarlo Capalbo has been investigating the Venturelli case, along with the disappearances of Juan Bosco Maino Canales, Juan Montiglio Murúa, and Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño.

The latter two appear in the Armed Forces report as having been thrown into the sea off the coast of San Antonio. The Italian justice system—unlike the Chilean one—sets a first stage of investigation known as a 'criminal complaint' in charge of a prosecutor—in this case, Capalbo—who, once all the information has been gathered, files a formal accusation that is heard by the Court of Assizes, a tribunal composed of two magistrates and six other people.

If these steps are completed, the process reaches the trial stage where the first indictments are issued, and later, the convictions of those involved. In the Venturelli case, it is estimated that the start of the formal accusation is imminent, which guarantees that in the coming years those responsible for the case could be convicted, as Italian justice allows for sentencing in the absence of those guilty of crimes against humanity.

Known information indicates that the prelate and professor at the Catholic University was last seen on October 4, 1973, the same day the Caravan of Death passed through Temuco and left a sad toll of 18 fatal victims.

Primera Línea accessed the document that the plaintiffs presented to prosecutor Giancarlo Capalbo, who is instructing the first phase of the investigation. The presentation annexed to case 10205/98-R recreates the facts proven so far regarding the detention of Venturelli and sheds light on the people allegedly involved in the crime.

It is indicated that the former clergyman participated in the group Christians for Socialism and, immediately after the coup d'état, was summoned to report to the Tucapel Regiment in Temuco via military order number 16.

In the process of detention, kidnapping, torture, and homicide, the following are mentioned: the former military prosecutor of Temuco-Cautín, Oscar Alfonso Podlech Michaud; Colonel (Ret.) Pablo Heriberto Iturriaga Marchese; the former commander of the local air base, Andrés Pacheco Cardenas; Army Major (Ret.) Luis Armando Jofre Soto; Captain (Ret.) and head of intelligence services Nelson Manuel Ubilla Toledo; the former director of the Temuco prison, Máximo Vivanco; Sub-officer (Ret.) Leonel Quilodrán Burgos; the gendarme Jorge Arias; Lieutenant (Ret.) and former member of the intelligence services Manuel Vasquez Chahuan; Colonel (Ret.) Hernán Jerónimo Ramírez Ramírez; Officer (Ret.) Armando Nelson Ariel Maldonado Barría; Officer (Ret.) Jaime Guillermo García Covarrubias; and Officer (Ret.) Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias. All of them, according to the plaintiffs' document, were identified by survivors of the era and witnesses linked to the case; however—the document notes—the main person responsible for the crime is Augusto Pinochet, in his capacity as head of government and commander-in-chief of the Army. Additionally, more details are being investigated regarding Arellano Stark's participation in the case, as until now there are only coincidences in the date he arrived in the area and the date Venturelli died. The participation of Bishop Piñera and the detention of Venturelli The priest presented himself voluntarily at the Pastene Carabineros station, from where he was transferred to the regiment. It is in this place that interrogation sessions combined with torture took place, which ultimately cost him his life at the hands of the Caravan of Death. In the military facility, Venturelli was seen by Pablo Adolfo Berchenko Navarrete, a teacher in the area. The latter, according to data collected during the investigation in Italy, was tortured and interrogated by a soldier with the surname Soto and officer Luis Jofre. Witness statements say that the priest was detained at the regiment between September 16 and 20, 1973, a period during which he was visited by the then-Bishop of Temuco, Monsignor Bernardino Piñera, current Archbishop Emeritus of La Serena, who confirmed the victim's precarious state of health. From that moment on, the only information the Venturelli family had was that on October 4, 1973, by order of the Cautín Army Prosecutor's Office, his release was decreed. However, that same day, several deaths occurred at the hands of Arellano's entourage, which was returning to Santiago to begin its dark journey through the north of the country days later.

Source: Primera Línea, Wednesday, March 20, 2002

Another who dies in complete impunity...

In the obituary published in the newspaper El Mercurio today, Wednesday, December 27, 2006, the news of the death of Andrés Rigoberto Pacheco Cárdenas appears. Andrés Pacheco Cárdenas (brother of the infamously famous Carabineros Colonel Conrado Pacheco Cárdenas , commander of the Tres Alamos Political Detention Camp , who was accustomed to beating prisoners before sending them "to the dog"), was an Aviation Colonel and Commander of the Maquehua Air Base in Temuco at the time of the 1973 coup d'état.

As such, he was responsible for the disappeared, executed, and tortured in that military facility in the days following the coup. Furthermore, he was a co-responsible party for the political repression in the Temuco area and throughout the entire Cautín Province (including the Mapuche communities of the area), as a representative of the Military Government Junta in the Cautín Province, in the company of the appointed Intendant, Army Colonel Hernán Ramírez Ramírez (already deceased); Army Colonel and Commander of the Tucapel Regiment Pablo Iturriaga Marchese (already deceased); and Carabineros Colonel José San Martín (already deceased). Andrés Pacheco Cárdenas has died in freedom and unpunished (just like the previous ones), as is the norm and custom for the vast majority of human rights violators in Chile. His only judicial trouble was having been the subject of an international arrest warrant, issued by the Courts of Justice of France, to answer for his responsibility in the disappearance of the French Catholic priest Etienne Pesle de Menil, detained by members of the Chilean Air Force on September 19, 1973, and taken as a prisoner to the Maquehua Air Base in Temuco, from where he disappeared. That international arrest warrant, issued by the Justice of France, meant that Andrés Pacheco could not leave Chile and travel abroad in the last five years of his life..., and it was the only punishment he received for his actions in Temuco and Cautín after the coup d'état. Sent by Pedro Alejandro Matta

Podlech and his treatment of detainees and tortured after the Coup

He arrived at the former Temuco Penitentiary on September 11, 1973, dressed in military uniform to free the militants of Patria y Libertad, according to the testimony of the prison chief. A detainee who was tortured at the Tucapel regiment in the same city recalls that when he did not like the statements, he would send them to the intelligence agents "so they could work on them a little more." Alfonso Podlech was a student at the Military School of Sergio Arellano Stark, who led the Caravan of Death and who also passed through the capital of the Araucanía, precisely when the former was advising military justice. Although the special judge Alejandro Solís has not managed to prove Alfonso Podlech's participation in some of the human rights violation cases he is processing, and therefore has not indicted him, there are a series of statements in different files that reveal the character and personality of this lawyer who worked as a military prosecutor in Temuco starting in 1974. Currently, this lawyer, a former member of the Ninth Region Court of Appeals, known in the legal professional circles as a meticulous subject and a born criminal lawyer, is detained at the Soto del Real prison, located on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain, for his alleged link to the disappearance of the former Chilean-Italian priest, a member of the Christians for Socialism group, Omar Venturelli Leonelli. The deprivation of liberty was decreed by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, the same one who managed to keep Pinochet detained in England for almost 2 years. In Italy, meanwhile, the case is being handled by prosecutor Giancarlo Capaldo, who extended the arrest warrant against him. Testimonies in cases of disappearances and torture in Temuco provide a detailed profile of the personality and actions of the former military prosecutor in the months following the military coup. Podlech, in one of his first statements in a human rights case, regarding the death of Jaime Eltit that occurred in Temuco, points out that being a reserve officer and practicing his profession as a lawyer, he was called by the Commander of the Tucapel regiment at the time, Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse, to help military prosecutor Luis Jofré, "especially in the organization of the War Councils." He asserted then that he only assumed the role of military prosecutor in full starting on March 2, 1974. It is this point that has not allowed Judge Solís to prosecute him or relate him as a superior authority to the deaths that occurred in the months following the '73 coup. "In this way, these events do not concern me, and I have no knowledge of them," Podlech declared. A student of Sergio Arellano Stark when he was at the Military School, who after the Coup would lead the infamously famous Caravan of Death, a military entourage in charge of accelerating the War Councils, Podlech testified again in 2004 to his innocence. But one of the gendarmes of that time, Alfredo García, who would become the regional director of the Araucanía in 1998, recalls that on September 11, Podlech arrived at the Temuco Penitentiary, dressed in military uniform to "take out" the detainees who belonged to the Nationalist Front Patria y Libertad. Podlech, in any case, denies it categorically. "In 1973 I was performing duties at the former Temuco penitentiary, with the rank of lieutenant, as internal chief of that establishment. On September 10, I remember there were about 250 inmates, among whom were people who belonged to the MIR and others to Patria y Libertad. On the 11th, when we found out about the Coup, Alfonso Podlech arrived dressed in military uniform, who ordered us to set the latter free, ignoring the reasons," García declared in 2001. In 2002, Podlech faced a confrontation with one of the detainees who was tortured at the Tucapel regiment, Víctor Maturana. Podlech denied having knowledge of all the events, but Maturana returned to the charge, linking him to the deaths and disappearances. "It is difficult for me to believe that Mr. Podlech, who was the legal advisor to the Military Prosecutor's Office at that time, does not know about the presence and fate of Jaime Eltit and other forcibly disappeared persons, because, in fact, he was the prosecutor, given the characteristics of Jofré Soto, since he was not a lawyer and, furthermore, due to his personality, he could be easily overwhelmed, in addition to the undeniable fact that the prosecutor's office functioned in close relationship and collaboration with the intelligence service of the Tucapel regiment," he insisted. In 1973, the Joint Jurisdictional Command for Internal Situation (CCAJSI) operated in Temuco, where repression was coordinated from the governor's office, in charge of Iturriaga Marchessi and the then-intendant Hernán Ramírez Rurange. The latter would later be Pinochet's aide-de-camp, and would later become the head of the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINE), and is currently being prosecuted for the kidnapping of the DINA chemist Eugenio Berríos, which occurred in 1991. In another testimony, the same Maturana asserts that "Podlech knew that we were being tortured." "Many times, when he was not satisfied with our statements, he would send us with the personnel of the Military Intelligence Service (SIM) because they had to work on us a little more." Kattie Jerson Villalobos also testifies about Podlech, arguing that he directed the first war council in 1974 against the MIR, where heavy sentences were handed down. Another detainee who was tortured at that time, Natacha Carrión, a resident of Belgium, recalls that while she was deprived of liberty, Podlech brought a Red Cross delegation to determine the state of health of the detainees. It was 1975. Carrión took the opportunity to ask him for information about her husband—today disappeared—with Podlech promising the delegation to conduct an internal investigation and obtain data on his whereabouts. For this, he asked her to write a letter. "I remember that a few days later, prosecutor Podlech summoned me to tell me that my husband had never been detained, that he had likely taken the opportunity to leave the country with another woman," she related. This response was widely used by the repressive services of the time. Podlech had a brother, who passed away in May of this year, who in 1982, from the presidency of the National Assembly of Guilds and being a declared nationalist, confronted the military regime over the bad economic policy. "We have lost all faith in this government, we cannot believe it anymore. Every economic situation must go through a political opening," he declared in an interview with the now-defunct magazine Hoy in December of '82. Pinochet's anger was not long in coming. Carlos Podlech was arrested and sent into exile.

Source: elmostrador.cl, July 31, 2008

Lawyer for retired Brigadier General Manuel Vásquez invokes his total innocence

Carlos Portales, defense lawyer for retired Brigadier General Manuel Vásquez Chahuán, invokes the total innocence of his client in the events investigated by the special minister for human rights violation cases, Fernando Carreño, labeled as the author of the assault on the Tucapel regiment's ammunition dump in Temuco that occurred in November 1973.

The Chilean Army general, Manuel Vásquez Chauán, has been deprived of liberty for nearly a month; on November 10, 1973, immediately after the coup d'état, he was allegedly part of the uniformed contingent involved in the death of seven communist militants inside Isla Cautín, property of the Tucapel regiment in Temuco.

Carlos Portales, the lawyer who argued for the military officer at the hearing where the retired general was denied freedom, firmly believes in the military officer's statements regarding his innocence in the events that occurred at the Tucapel firing range.

Portales recalled that he does not have knowledge of the summary because the process is carried out under the old procedural system, but that he believes with certainty what his client told him, which is that he did not participate in the death of the seven communists.

Also being investigated for the ammunition dump case are former army officers Jaime García Covarrubias, as well as the commander of the Tucapel regiment in 1973, Pablo Iturriaga Marchese.

Source: biobiochile.cl, August 15, 2010

Chile: Memories of the 'war', antecedent to the repressive intervention in the complex area (Excerpt)

The military operation carried out in the area began on September 12. However, it was only from September 16 that the local press reported on them. As we know, in the Valdivia Province, after the Coup d'état, the highest administrative and military authority was Brigadier General Héctor Bravo Muñoz.

He was the Commander of the Fourth Army Division and his jurisdiction extended from the Malleco Province to Llanquihue. His base was in the city of Valdivia. The Chief of Staff of the Fourth Division was Colonel Carlos Paulsen Baeza.

Units from Valdivia participated actively in the military operations in the southern zone, with support from units from Temuco, Osorno, and Puerto Montt. Special Commandos from Santiago also participated.

The largest military deployment in the province was carried out in the mountain and pre-mountain range area and was directed mainly at the inhabitants of the estates that made up the Complex. The units that were under the IV Army Division were: "the 8th Motorized Infantry Regiment Tucapel, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Márchese, based in Temuco; the 12th Plain Infantry Regiment Sangra, in charge of Colonel Rubén Rojas Román , based in Puerto Montt; the 10th Mountain Infantry Regiment La Concepción, commanded by Colonel Hernán Ramírez Ramírez , based in Lautaro; the 3rd Cavalry Regiment Húsares, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Alejandro Morel Donoso , based in Angol; the 4th Artillery Regiment Miradores, commanded by Colonel Elio Bacigalupo Soracco , based in Traiguén; the Motorized Artillery Regiment Maturana, commanded by Colonel Héctor González , garrisoned in Valdivia; the 4th Telecommunications Regiment Membrillar, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Patricio Bravo Pantoja , based in Valdivia; the 4th Motorized Engineering Regiment Arauco, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Lizardo Abarca Maggi , based in Osorno; and the 4th Logistics Battalion, directed by Lieutenant Colonel Luis Vega Fonseca , based in Victoria." "The person in charge of the intelligence work destined to collect information on the lumber workers and peasants of the Complex (…), was the head of the division's intelligence department, Colonel Haroldo Buslos Maureira" ( La Época 30.06.90)

The same newspaper reports that

"To the southern sector of the Complex (referring to the areas of Futrono, Llifén, Arquilhue, Curriñe, and Chabranco), the 'Cazadores' 2nd Cavalry contingent headed. The Commander was Lieutenant Colonel Santiago Sinclair Oyaneder and the Second Commander was Major José Feliú Mandinagoitia." "To the northern sector of the Complex, a contingent of the 'Maturana' Motorized Artillery Regiment headed.

Its Commander at the time was Colonel Héctor González. In this sector was the town of Neltume and Liquiñe." The 4th Telecommunications Regiment 'Membrillar' also operated mainly in that sector. Its Commander was Lieutenant Colonel Patricio Bravo Pantoja." In the newspaper El Mercurio of June 27, 1990, the current appointed senator Santiago Sinclair

points out that

"the majority of the units that made up the IV Army Division had intense activity in the area covered by the jurisdiction, patrols, controls, etc. Many units intervened there, because that is an extremely wide, extensive sector, very difficult, densely covered with all types of vegetation." For his part, the head of the Carabineros forces in the area was General Eduardo Gordon , a first cousin of the military officer who was later Director of the National Intelligence Center (CNI).

Under his command were the police stations, precincts, outposts, and other police units, including those located in the pre-mountain area of Futrono. Simultaneously with reporting the development of the operations, the local and national press justified the repression. Thus, El Correo de Valdivia

of September 16, 1973, reports

"One of the most delicate operations is being carried out by members of the Chilean Air Force and Carabineros in the pre-mountain and mountain range, both in the vicinity and in the Panguipulli Lumber Complex itself, which, as is public knowledge, became a focus of guerrilla training and an arsenal of extremist elements (…).

To the action of the military troops is added that of heavily armed helicopters (…). It is necessary to keep in mind that the guerrillas not only have powerful weaponry but also motorized vehicles of various types such as jeeps, tractors, trucks, vans, etc. (…)." El Mercurio , in its September 29 edition, specifies: "Specialized Army units that arrived from the Capital are acting in the Panguipulli Complex with a view to ending the resistance that more than 200 extremists have opposed out of the 3,600 people who are in said place (…) The military units have carried out new arrests and are carrying out searches through the place and following the members of the focus that has resisted and that has fled taking advantage of the topography of the mountain place." At the end of the article, El Mercurio

adds

"Commander 'Pepe' and his henchmen surrendered almost without offering resistance, which has been considered a frank defeat for those who led the Panguipulli Lumber Complex. It is possible that those who flee have hidden or are carrying a good part of the arsenal of weapons." The weekly Ercilla from September 26 to October 2, 1973, dedicates an extensive article to the dismantling of guerrilla focuses in the southern zone (current ninth and tenth regions).

They highlight the opinions expressed by the Commander of the Valdivia Cavalry Division, General Héctor Bravo Muñoz, and the head of the Llanquihue and Chiloé zone, FACH Colonel Sergio Leigh Guzmán , brother of Gustavo Leigh, Commander-in-Chief of the FACH and member of the Military Junta.

By interviewing former militants of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) and reviewing their official documents from that time, especially those referring to their peasant policy and more specifically to their policy for the forestry sector, it can be deduced that in that period this party did not have among its main objectives that of constituting a guerrilla focus.

Its work was dedicated to making progress in social organization; building a worker-peasant alliance that would allow them to solve the social problem and achieve majority participation in the administration of power. That perhaps explains why General Héctor Bravo Muñoz declared to the magazine Ercilla

No. 1,991 of 1973 that

"Among the sporadic cases of resistance that we have found is that of the Lumber Complex. The most important action was recorded on the 14th, when a group of eighty armed guerrillas attacked the Neltume Outpost, an attack that was repelled without recording casualties by the twelve Carabineros who defended the place.

Military support arrived immediately, managing to capture some prisoners, who confirmed to us the presence of foreigners in the group of extremists (…) In the Complex there were around 3,000 men, all under strong extremist influence.

We have arranged cleaning actions in the area, with land operations with the support of helicopters and planes (…)." Colonel Sergio Leigh, for his part, expressed to the same weekly Ercilla his surprise at the lack of extremist resistance in the southern zone of the country. "It may be out of fear -he says-, but we also know that many residents lived terrorized by the Marxists: they were U.P. (Popular Unity) only out of fear (…) such beauty cannot be true, so much calm worries us.

But there may be an explanation: the main battle took place in Santiago and whoever won there was going to control the country, even in these things centralism influences: they may have understood that there is no justification whatsoever to fight us." A similar version was given by Federico Willoughby -press secretary of the Government Junta- to foreign and national journalists.

El Mercurio of September 21 reproduced his statements as follows: "Commander Pepe was arrested along with 16 other extremists and his wife Yolanda Avila Vásquez , without offering major resistance (…)." In 1990 and in relation to the process surrounding the clandestine graves of Chihuío, Héctor Bravo Muñoz, an Army General currently in retirement, declared: "during my performance as Commander-in-Chief of the IV Army Division, in the period between December 1972 and January 1974, it was my turn to act in the military pronouncement of September 11, 1973, a circumstance in which I held the positions of Zone Chief in State of Siege of the Valdivia Province, Intendant, and Governor of the Department. In attention to my quality as Commander-in-Chief of the Division, it was also my turn to act as Military Judge." He immediately makes a report of the actions carried out by the Revolutionary Left Movement, especially its attack on the Neltume Carabineros barracks, located within the Panguipulli Lumber Complex, and the arsenals found in Nehueltué. He states verbatim: "the guerrilla schools; and the personality of the leader José Liendo , known by the alias of 'Commander Pepe', created a picture that forced meetings with Carabineros chiefs, which determined the need to begin the search for people and weapons involved in this event within the Panguipulli complex. That operation was planned to be done from Valdivia, with personnel and means from the military Garrison itself and with the collaboration of the Maquehua base of the Air Force located in Temuco, which would facilitate helicopters. Likewise, troops from the Temuco Military Garrison collaborated in these operations towards the complex, which were under the command of the now-deceased Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (…) The first operation with a result was the one that, on September 19, managed to apprehend in some place in the Complex and after seven days of searching, José Liendo or 'Commander Pepe' and several of his followers. The detainees were transferred to Valdivia, subjected to a process, and then to a War Council, in accordance with the rules in force at that time."

Source: unidadmpt.wordpress.com, April 5, 2017