The minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza Espinoza, issued a sentence against 20 former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for their responsibility in the qualified homicides of former militants and leaders of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) Lucía Orfilia Vergara Valenzuela, Arturo Vilavella Araujo, and Sergio Peña Díaz, crimes perpetrated on September 7, 1983, on Calle Fuenteovejuna in the commune of Las Condes.

The event was an episode of a staged confrontation with which the CNI and the dictatorship attempted to hide crimes and murders, with the active complicity of the corporate press. In the ruling (case file 539-2011), Judge Carroza sentenced former Army Brigadier Roberto Urbano Schmied Zanzi, former head of the CNI’s Metropolitan Division, to 15 years and one day in prison as the perpetrator of the qualified homicides.

Meanwhile, former Army officers Aquiles Mauricio González Cortés, alias "Caracha," former head of the Brigada Azul at the time of the crimes; Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla, former head of the CNI’s anti-subversive division; Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, alias "Gorilón," former member of the Special Brigade; and former Army civilian employee Manuel Mariano Ventura Laureada Núñez, alias "Piolín," also an agent of the Special Brigade, were sentenced to 10 years and one day as perpetrators of the crimes.

In the same case, former Army officer and second-in-command to Schmied Zanzi in the Metropolitan Division, Sergio María Canals Baldwin, and former agents Juan José Pastene Osses, Patricio Leonidas González Cortez, Luis René Torres Méndez, Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, Luis Hernán Gálvez Navarro, Sergio Daniel Valenzuela Morales, Juan Modesto Olivares Carrizo, Raúl Hernán Escobar Díaz, Eduardo Martín Chávez Baeza, Luis Eduardo Burgos Cofré, Raúl Horacio González Fernández, Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, and Juan Alejandro Jorquera Abarzúa were sentenced to 3 years and one day in prison, with the benefit of intensive supervised release, as accomplices.

Meanwhile, former Special Brigade agent Egon Antonio Barra Barra, alias "Siete Fachas," was acquitted of participation in this episode (the group he was part of was simultaneously committing other crimes on Calle Janequeo).

Brigada Azul

During the investigation phase of the case, Judge Mario Carroza established that, following the assassination of the Intendant of the Metropolitan Region Carol Urzúa Ibañez, committed on August 30, 1983, the director of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI), Humberto Gordon Rubio (deceased), ordered the Metropolitan Anti-Subversive Division, under the command of Roberto Schmied Zanzi, to form a new group: the Brigada Azul, to investigate the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR).

In this context, on the morning of September 7, 1983, the arrest was ordered of MIR members who were in the property at Fuenteovejuna 1330, which had been previously located. In the afternoon, a considerable number of agents were sent to this location under the command of Álvaro Corbalán Castilla (commander of the Metropolitan Anti-Subversive Brigade) and Aquiles González Cortés (head of the Brigada Azul).

"In the initial actions, the agents installed a firing base in front of the property, consisting of a 7.62 mm Rheinmetal machine gun mounted on the roof of a jeep, which on that occasion was driven by Manuel Ventura Laureada Núñez, and the weapon operated by at least two people: one who fired, Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, and the other in charge of feeding the ammunition belt, with a firing capacity of 10 rounds per short burst and a full firing rate of 500 per minute, with tracer bullets," the ruling states.

The resolution adds that

"once the firing base was in position, the officer in command ordered it to be aimed and fired at the property for nearly a minute, that is, about 500 rounds; they then stopped their action and, using loudspeakers, ordered the occupants of the property to surrender."

"One of them," it continues, "Sergio Peña Díaz, decided to surrender and walked out with his hands behind his neck, but as he walked toward the agents, they shot him, and his wounds caused his death. This incited the reaction of the only woman in the group, who confronted them with a weapon; faced with this reaction, Álvaro Corbalán again gave the order to fire the firing base in the direction of the property, which caused not only the death of Lucía Orfilia Vergara Valenzuela from gunshot wounds, but also the burning of the house and the incineration of the third member of the movement, Arturo Vilavella Araujo."

On the same day, September 7, 1983, the CNI carried out a simultaneous operation on Calle Janequeo, in Quinta Normal, where two other MIR militants were executed.

This episode, however, is being processed in a separate case and by a different visiting judge.

Source: resumen.cl, January 18, 2018

Former CNI agents sentenced for staged confrontation

The events took place in the commune of Quinta Normal on September 7, 1983. The visiting judge sentenced Roberto Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles González Cortés to 20 years in prison.

For their responsibility in the murders of Alejandro Salgado Troquián and Hugo Ratier Noguera, the minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Miguel Vázquez Plaza, sentenced 23 former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI).

The events took place in the commune of Quinta Normal on September 7, 1983, and were presented at the time as a confrontation, which turned out to be staged.

Judge Vázquez sentenced Roberto Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles González Cortés to 20 years in prison. Meanwhile, former agents José Aravena Ruiz, José Salas Fuentes, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross, Egon Barra Barra, Jorge Vargas Bories, Norman Jeldes Aguilar, Fernando Rojas Tapia, Manuel Morales Acevedo, Sergio Canals Baldwin, and José Vidal Veloso must serve 15 years and one day in prison as perpetrators of the crimes.

Raúl Méndez Santos, Rodolfo Olguín González, Ema Ceballos Núñez, Miguel Gajardo Quijada, Rosa Ramos Hernández, Francisco Orellana Seguel, Juan Carlos Vergara Gutiérrez, Raúl Escobar Díaz, Rafael Ortega Gutiérrez, and Luis Gálvez Navarro were sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison as accomplices.

During the investigation of the case, Judge Vázquez established that Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquián died from gunshot wounds received in the back, after agents of the CNI, the Chilean Investigative Police (PDI), and other repressive bodies began firing without any provocation and with great firepower against the property located at Calle Janequeo 5707.

Source: eldinamo.cl, July 22, 2019

Santiago Court sentences 23 former CNI agents for murders in 1983 staged confrontation

The Santiago Court of Appeals confirmed the first-instance sentence issued by Judge Miguel Vásquez Plaza on July 19, 2019, which sentenced 23 former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for their responsibility in the qualified homicide of Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) militants Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquián.

The crimes were perpetrated on September 7, 1983, in a staged confrontation on Calle Janequeo in the commune of Quinta Normal.

In the ruling (case file 4741-2019), the Third Chamber of the appellate court—composed of judges Verónica Sabaj Escudero, Alejandro Aguilar Brevis, and Rodrigo Carvajal Schnettler—resolved to reject the appeals and cassation motions filed by some of the convicted individuals and to confirm the first-instance sentence, with the declaration of reducing from 20 to 17 years in prison the sentences applied to former Army officers and former CNI leaders Roberto Urbano Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles Mauricio González Cortés, as co-perpetrators of the crime.

The first of the convicted, Schmied Zanzi, served as head of the CNI’s Metropolitan Division; Corbalán Castilla was head of the Anti-Subversive Division, and Aquiles González acted as head of the Brigada Azul, specialized in the repression of the MIR.

Meanwhile, former Army officers Sergio María Canals Baldwin, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ros, Fernando Rafael Mauricio Rojas Tapia, Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, and former agents José Abel Aravena Ruiz, José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, Egon Antonio Barra Barra, Jorge Octavio Vargas Bories, Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, and José Isaías Vidal Veloso must serve 15 years and one day in prison as perpetrators of the crimes.

You can also see

Convictions confirmed for five former CNI agents for the murder of two MIR members in a 1980 staged confrontation

For their part, former agents Rodolfo Enrique Olguín González, Ema Verónica Ceballos Núñez, Luis Hernán Gálvez Navarro, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Francisco Javier Orellana Seguel, Miguel Fernando Gajardo Quijada, Juan Carlos Vergara Gutiérrez, Raúl Boris Méndez Santos, Raúl Hernán Escobar Díaz, and Rafael Ricardo Ortega Gutiérrez were sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison as accomplices to the crimes.

In the case, the acquittal of agents Zinaida Lena Vicencio González, Jorge Raimundo Ahumada Molina, and Eduardo Martín Chávez Baeza was decreed, as their participation in this event was not proven. Another individual prosecuted in this case, former PDI officer Jorge Arnaldo Barraza Riveros, passed away during the proceedings; meanwhile, the prosecuted former Carabineros officer Miguel Ángel Patricio Soto Duarte remains a fugitive.

This staged confrontation was carried out by the CNI on the same day and immediately following the executions of three other MIR militants on Calle Fuenteovejuna, in a criminal act also orchestrated as a staged confrontation. Judicially, both events are processed as separate episodes, even though it was a single repressive operation.

The investigation into the repressive act demonstrated that the dictatorship’s repressive apparatus developed a tracking and surveillance operation during the months prior against a group of MIR members who were acting in the underground in the resistance struggle against the tyrannical regime.

With the data obtained from this prior observation, the CNI orchestrated the extermination operation that resulted in the detention of a dozen people, the attack and murder of the three residents of the house on Calle Fuente Ovejuna, and then the attack and murder of two other militants at the house on Calle Janequeo in the commune of Quinta Normal.

On September 7, 1983, dozens of agents from the CNI, the SIFA, the Investigative Police, and other repressive bodies went to the residence located at Calle Janequeo No. 5707, in the commune of Quinta Normal, which had been under surveillance for several weeks, proceeding to surround and cordon off the area, and then, through the use of a firing base and other weaponry, fired without any provocation and with great firepower against the property.

As a result, Hugo Ratier Noguera, 39 years old, was killed by various gunshot wounds in the backyard of the home. Additionally, as he was arriving at the same residence where he lived, Alejandro Salgado Troquián, 30 years old, was gunned down by multiple gunshot wounds and executed on the public road, that is, on Calle Janequeo in front of number 5946.

A minor, the adopted son of Salgado and a resident of the home along with Salgado and Ratier, was a victim and witness to the events but, in the middle of the shooting, managed to flee to neighboring houses, thus saving his life and later denouncing the criminal attack.

Source: resumen.cl, November 18, 2021

Supreme Court confirms convictions of 22 CNI agents for crimes in Quinta Normal staged confrontation in September 1983

The Supreme Court confirmed the convictions against 22 agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for their responsibility in the qualified homicide of Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) militants Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquián.

The crimes were perpetrated on September 7, 1983, in a staged confrontation on Calle Janequeo in the commune of Quinta Normal, in Santiago.

In a unanimous ruling, the Second Chamber of the high court (case file 10.047-2022)—composed of judges Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Leopoldo Llanos Sagristá, Jean Pierre Matus, and acting lawyers Gonzalo Ruz L. and Leonor Etcheberry C.—ruled out any legal error in the sentence and rejected the cassation appeals filed by almost all of the convicted individuals against the ruling of the Santiago Court of Appeals, issued in November 2021, which in turn confirmed, with some changes, the first-instance sentence issued in July 2019 by Judge Miguel Vásquez Plaza.

In the resolution, the Second Chamber confirms the sentences applied to former Army officers and former CNI leaders Roberto Urbano Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles Mauricio González Cortés, who are sentenced to 17 years in prison as co-perpetrators of the crime.

The first of the convicted, Schmied Zanzi, served as head of the CNI’s Metropolitan Division; Corbalán Castilla was head of the Anti-Subversive Division, and Aquiles González acted as head of the Brigada Azul, specialized in the repression of the MIR.

Meanwhile, former Army officers and CNI operatives Sergio María Canals Baldwin, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ros, Fernando Rafael Mauricio Rojas Tapia, Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, and former agents José Abel Aravena Ruiz, José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, Egon Antonio Barra Barra, Jorge Octavio Vargas Bories, and José Isaías Vidal Veloso must serve 15 years and one day in prison as perpetrators of the crimes.

For their part, former agents Rodolfo Enrique Olguín González, Ema Verónica Ceballos Núñez, Luis Hernán Gálvez Navarro, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Francisco Javier Orellana Seguel, Miguel Fernando Gajardo Quijada, Juan Carlos Vergara Gutiérrez, Raúl Boris Méndez Santos, Raúl Hernán Escobar Díaz, and Rafael Ricardo Ortega Gutiérrez were sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison as accomplices to the crimes.

Agent Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, also convicted in previous instances, passed away during the proceedings.

Staged confrontation

On September 7, 1983, dozens of agents from the CNI, the SIFA, the Investigative Police, and other repressive bodies went to the residence located at Calle Janequeo No. 5707, in the commune of Quinta Normal, which had been under surveillance for several weeks, proceeding to surround and cordon off the area, and then, through the use of a firing base and other weaponry, fired without any provocation and with great firepower against the property.

As a result, Hugo Ratier Noguera was killed by various gunshot wounds in the backyard of the home.

Simultaneously, as he was arriving at the neighborhood and the same residence where he lived, militant Alejandro Salgado Troquián was gunned down by multiple gunshot wounds and executed on the public road, that is, on Calle Janequeo in front of number 5946, two blocks from the attacked home.

Hugo Norberto Ratier Noguera, 39 years old, was of Argentine nationality, originally from Misiones, and had resided in Chile since 1970. He was a leader of the MIR and remained active in the underground.

He was married and a father of three children; shortly before these events, his wife and children had left the country for security reasons. Alejandro Salgado Troquián, 30 years old, a veterinarian by profession, was also a MIR militant, married, and a surrogate father to his partner's children.

A minor, the adopted son of Salgado and a resident of the home along with Salgado and Ratier, was a victim and witness to the events but, in the middle of the shooting, managed to flee to neighboring houses, thus saving his life and later denouncing the criminal attack.

This staged confrontation was carried out by the CNI on the same day and immediately following the executions of three other MIR militants on Calle Fuenteovejuna, in the commune of Las Condes, in a criminal act also orchestrated as a staged confrontation, where Arturo Vilavella Araujo, Lucía Orfilia Vergara Valenzuela, and Sergio Peña Díaz were murdered.

The three had returned clandestinely to Chile to join the struggle against the dictatorship. Judicially, both events are processed as separate episodes, even though it was a single repressive operation.

The investigation into the repressive act demonstrated that the dictatorship’s repressive apparatus developed a tracking and surveillance operation during the months prior against a group of MIR members who were acting in the underground in the resistance struggle against the tyrannical regime.

With the data obtained from this prior observation, the CNI orchestrated the extermination operation that resulted in the detention of a dozen people, the attack and murder of the three residents of the house on Calle Fuente Ovejuna, and then the attack and murder of two other militants at the house on Calle Janequeo in the commune of Quinta Normal.

by Darío Núñez

Source: resumen.cl, January 27, 2024