Jaime del Carmen Espinoza Durán, 22 years old, an agricultural worker with no known political affiliation, was detained under the following circumstances: On October 10, 1973, the victim, in the company of other individuals, had an argument with the spouse of Army Corporal Jaime Acuña, who belonged to the No. 9 "Chillán" Regiment.

The dispute took place in a clandestine bar. The following day, October 11, 1973, a military patrol under the command of Corporal Acuña carried out an operation in the Luis Cruz Martínez neighborhood and detained the people who had accompanied Espinoza Durán to the bar the previous day.

The military searched insistently for him at the location, and upon failing to find him, they took the other detainees to the Regiment, where they were subjected to torture.

Jaime Espinoza, alerted to what had happened, went to his mother Juana Durán's workplace at the "El Chinchorrero" Retired Sailors' Circle, where she worked as a cook. Mother and son were having a snack when a military patrol arrived looking for the victim; the uniformed men did not notice he was there as they did not enter the kitchen.

The victim and his mother left immediately for their home. On the way, the mother stopped at the "Zañartu" police station to ask if there was any arrest warrant for Jaime Espinoza Durán, to which the police responded that they had no warrant against him.

This information reassured both of them, as the entire procedure seemed very strange to them, given that the victim had no political involvement—a matter that was a cause for fear regarding personal safety in those days.

After inquiring at the police station, they went to their home, where at approximately 11:00 PM, while Jaime Espinoza was already in bed, a military patrol arrived under the command of Corporal Jaime Acuña, composed of, among others, Army Corporal Carlos Ramírez and conscript Samuel San Martín.

The uniformed men asked for the victim; he answered them from his room. They entered and attempted to drag him out while he was naked. At that moment, his mother entered, placing herself between him and a soldier who was pointing his weapon at him. While he was getting dressed, Corporal Acuña beat him brutally on the back with his submachine gun.

When they took him out of the house, his mother asked what they were going to do with him, to which one of the soldiers replied, "Tomorrow at the Regiment you will find out what will happen to him." They then proceeded to put him into a yellow pickup truck parked a block from the house, in which they left in the direction of the cemetery.

According to the mother, the truck did not belong to the Army.

That night, the mother could do nothing as it was during curfew hours. The following day, she went to the Regiment and interviewed Captain Piedra, who searched for the victim on the list of detainees without finding him. She visited various detention centers as well as the Military Prosecutor's Office and the Carabineros police station without obtaining any information about Jaime Espinoza Durán.

According to information provided by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the military likely executed the victim on the same night of his detention at the El Ala Bridge on the Ñuble River.

At the end of December 1973, 9 bodies tied with wire were found on the banks of the aforementioned river. Only two or three of them were identified, and they turned out to be people who had been detained by Carabineros and/or the military in the months of September and October 1973.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On April 17, 1975, a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) under case file No. 94.928 was filed on behalf of Jaime Espinoza D. before the Court of Appeals of Chillán.

In response to the Court on April 18, 1975, the Colonel Commander of the "Chillán" Regiment, Christián Guedelhoffer García, sent an official letter stating that the victim "has not been detained by personnel of this unit." Other agencies, such as the Chillán Prison and the Military Prosecutor's Office, reported having no records regarding the victim.

On April 21, 1975, the Court rejected the writ of amparo, based mainly on the response from the Chillán Regiment. It also ordered the opening of a summary investigation for alleged disappearance.

On April 24, 1975, case file No. 41.670 was initiated regarding the alleged disappearance of the victim, which was apparently archived on October 23, 1975.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity

Jaime Espinoza, born in 1952, resided in the Luis Cruz Martínez neighborhood, at 1830 Simón Bolívar Street in Chillán. Jaime was a quiet, obedient, and very humble son. Once he was a man, he was able to work, dedicating himself to agriculture.

Having a difficult father and suffering mistreatment along with his siblings and me, he never bowed his head; he continued working and sacrificing himself to help us.

By 1974, at 22 years of age, he became involved in an incident that would cost him his "disappearance."

According to the statement of his sister Juana Espinoza Durán, who witnessed the events, she states that Jaime had an argument with the spouse of Corporal Jaime Acuña, of the No. 9 Regiment of Chillán, in the presence of other people.

The next day, February 15, in the early hours of the morning, a military patrol under the command of Corporal Acuña detained the people who had accompanied Jaime during the argument, who were taken to the regiment's barracks and flogged.

At 11:30 AM that same day, the military patrol appeared at the home of Jaime Espinoza Durán and detained him. Upon being detained by Corporal Acuña, the latter took out his submachine gun and beat him brutally on the back.

On February 16 of that year, I went to the city's regiment to find out about my son's condition. I spoke with several officers who informed me that my son had not arrived at the regiment. One of the officers spoke with Corporal Acuña to grant me an interview, but he refused to give it to me.

Jaime's friends who were detained were released. Later, approaching our family members, they stated that due to the punishment received at the barracks, they were forced to blame Jaime entirely for the incident with Corporal Acuña's spouse. Because of this circumstance, my son was detained and disappeared in 1974.

Juana Durán Saavedra

Source: Extracted from the book Historical Memory of the Forcibly Disappeared of Ñuble

In Ñuble, nearly 23,000 people are accredited in the program. Of these, 350 are users in different care processes. During this and next week, various activities will be carried out that seek to reflect on human rights.

With a tour of the El Ala Bridge, users of the Comprehensive Health and Human Rights Care Program (PRAIS) of the Health Service began the week called "Human Rights and Reparation," within the framework of a new commemoration of September 11.

During the meeting, the users, together with relatives of people who were forcibly disappeared during the Dictatorship, reflected on their experiences during those years. The journey continued with a visit to the Municipal Cemetery and the Meditation Park located on Avenida Brasil in Chillán.

"PRAIS is a state reparation program for people who were harmed by political violence, whether through execution, disappearance, torture, exoneration, and other causes. The initiative is part of a public policy of reparation; it does not constitute health insurance.

Medical services are provided to all beneficiaries, regardless of whether they are affiliated with FONASA, ISAPRE, or another social security system," explained the Director of the Ñuble Health Service, Iván Paul Espinoza.

The physician added that "in the province, there are around 23,000 people accredited who suffered some type of state violence, and of them, 350 are users who actively participate in the program, where they carry out activities aimed at promoting human rights and restoring the mental and physical health of the people who suffered this very significant disruption in their lives."

For her part, Carmen Gloria Bascur, PRAIS Coordinator, pointed out that "the objective of these activities is to reflect with the users who are in reparatory care regarding what they lived through during the Dictatorship; especially during these days, which are very difficult as they remember and relive very complex moments of their lives."

Program characteristics

PRAIS is a Ministry of Health program that responds to the commitment assumed by the State to the victims of human rights violations that occurred between September 1973 and March 1990.

The initiative was implemented in 1991, and fourteen years later, in 2005, it began in Ñuble. Dependent on the health service, PRAIS is composed of a multidisciplinary team including a social worker, psychologist, doctors, and a psychiatrist, among others, responsible for assessing the magnitude of the damage and designing a comprehensive health intervention plan.

Its users have the right to free medical services provided in all health establishments in the care network, whether they are clinics or public hospitals. Beneficiaries include all people and their family groups affected by any form of political repression exercised by the State: detention with disappearance, political execution, torture, political imprisonment, exile, internal banishment (relegación), clandestinity, and exoneration for political reasons.

Program of activities

Among the activities that will be carried out between this and next week is the inauguration of a memorial at the Provincial Government, which will take place this Friday, followed by a film screening, in which the documentary "City of Photographers" will be shown.

The commemoration continues on Monday with the eighth day of reflection called "Starting Over," in which users and professionals of the program participate.

Source: serviciodesaludnuble.cl 8/9/2016 Date: 08-09-2016

Request to declare El Ala Bridge Memorial a National Historic Monument

At least 17 people were allegedly executed at the El Ala Bridge located over the Ñuble River during the military dictatorship. This human rights violation is commemorated every August 30 on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances and, in Chile, on the Day of the Forcibly Disappeared.

The right to truth, justice, and reparation seeks to be symbolically recognized with the declaration of the Memorial located next to the bridge as a National Historic Monument.

"This is a very important milestone for us. Today we delivered the file for the Memorial to be declared a National Historic Monument; we want it to be recognized as a site of historical memory. We are also happy because the State is fulfilling its role of social and moral reparation to the victims and their families," expressed the representative of the Culture, Memory and Human Rights Board, Teresa Retamal Silva, at the ceremony held next to the sculpture that remembers the disappeared, alongside the Regional Ministerial Secretariat (Seremi) of Cultures, Arts and Heritage of Ñuble.

For the Seremi of Cultures, Scarlet Hidalgo Jara, "it is an honor to receive this request, and we will make the arrangements with the National Monuments Council for its review as soon as possible. As the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, we are happy to be able to accompany all the human rights organizations present in the region as a State institution."

"The government of President Gabriel Boric has committed to continuing to advance in matters of justice, truth, and reparation. We want this space to be a place of remembrance, but also of meeting, commemoration, and memory. A country without history is a country without identity and without a future," added the regional presidential delegate, Claudio Ferrada Alarcón.

The ceremony of commemoration and delivery of the application file for the declaration of the El Ala Bridge Memorial as a National Historic Monument was full of symbolism: art was present with the participation of singer-songwriter Osvaldo Alveal and the dramatized reading of the play "The Water Clock" by the actresses and actors of Sidarte Ñuble.

This piece of dramaturgical research was premiered in 2012 with funding from the Culture Funds and recounts the incessant search by the parents of Patricio Weitzel for their son, who was kidnapped and found along with 14 murdered bodies in the bed of the Ñuble River in 1974.

Artists Blanca Fuentes, Romina Romero, Catalina Castro, Dafne Dubott, Pablo Dubott, Gabriel Ramos, Ricardo Rodríguez, Juan Ferrada, and Pedro Villagra participated.

In addition, the National Forestry Corporation (Conaf) delivered native trees to the relatives of those executed and forcibly disappeared at the El Ala Bridge. Under the "Tree of Memory" initiative, it symbolized the delivery of life to communities that have suffered the pain of death. In this case, due to abuses, political repression, and/or crimes against humanity.

The ceremony culminated with the offering of 100 carnations thrown into the Ñuble River in memory of the victims of human rights violations during the dictatorship by the attendees, among whom were relatives of the forcibly disappeared and regional authorities: Seremi of Justice, Elizabeth Riquelme; Seremi of Health, Ximena Salinas; Seremi of Housing and Urbanism, Antonio Marchant; Seremi of Labor, Natalia Lépez; Seremi of Economy, Erick Solo del Záldivar; Seremi of Transport, Javier Isla; and Seremi of Environment, Mario Rivas.

The provincial presidential delegate of Punilla, Rocío Hizmeri, and the protocol mayor of Chillán, Brígida Hormazábal, also participated.

Memorial El Ala Bridge is a site of memory, reflection, and contemplation, located on the road to Portezuelo in the commune of San Nicolás, which, on the northwest side, has a memorial 10 meters high, 4 meters wide, and 3 meters deep in tribute to the forcibly disappeared and executed of the El Ala Bridge.

The memorial was inaugurated on December 1, 1996. It is the work of Chilean sculptor Sandra Santander, who used steel and rail material for its construction, a concrete and steel base, and a granite stone plaque inscribed with: "To our children, husbands, parents, and brothers who lived with dignity and simplicity and who nevertheless contained the firmament.

Remember, you who pass by, that here no one, nothing, and no one is forgotten (Raúl Zurita). In memory of the forcibly disappeared and executed of the El Ala Bridge. December 1996."

SEREMI of Cultures, Arts and Heritage of Ñuble

Source: chillanonline.cl (no date)