30 years old, married, employee, forcibly disappeared on December 30, 1973, in Santiago. Joaquín Walker Arangua was detained that day in the early morning at his home by Navy personnel dressed in civilian clothes who did not identify themselves.

He has been missing since that date. Joaquín Walker was a sympathizer of the Partido Socialista and a member of the Personal Guard of President Salvador Allende (GAP). According to statements from his relatives and the report from the Policía de Investigaciones de Chile, he was detained for the first time in October 1973 by Navy personnel, who took him to the institution's facilities located in Quinta Normal.

After three days, he was released. On December 30, 1973, he was detained for a second time at the home of a relative where he was living, located in the current commune of Vitacura. His family made multiple efforts to locate the detainee, all of which were unsuccessful.

He has been missing since that date. Considering the gathered background information and the investigations conducted, the Superior Council of this Corporation reached the conviction that Joaquín Walker Arangua was made to disappear while he was detained by State agents. For this reason, he was declared a victim of human rights violations.

Source: (Corporacion)

Exclusive Interview with El Diario Panguipulli.cl Following the identification of his forcibly disappeared brother

BUSINESSMAN RICARDO WALKER ARANGUA: “KNOWING THAT ‘HERE IS MY BROTHER!’ IS A SORROW FOR ONE, BUT IT ALSO ALLOWS US TO CLOSE A CHAPTER AS A FAMILY” A chapter has been closed! Ricardo Walker Arangua told us from Santiago.

A chapter that lasted 40 years and kept his family mired in pain and hopelessness, as a result of his brother Joaquín having been a victim of repression during the Military Government. “Joaquín Walker Arangua, married, 30 years old, employee, disappeared on December 30, 1973, in Santiago; he was detained during the early morning at his home, apparently by Navy personnel dressed in civilian clothes, who did not identify themselves on that occasion.” That began a long pilgrimage: the Walker Arangua family and their friends searched everywhere, but never found anything.

Yesterday, the Minister of the Court of Appeals, Leopoldo Llanos Sagistrá, together with the National Director of the Servicio Médico Legal, Doctor Patricio Bustos Streeter, confirmed to the Walker Arangua family that the remains found at the Fundo Las Tórtolas correspond to Joaquín Walker Arangua, a forcibly disappeared person.

El Diario Panguipulli.cl interviewed businessman Ricardo Walker Arangua exclusively, who, after a deep and long sigh, with a voice choked with emotion, told us: “Look, on one hand, it was very strong news; it has been a tremendous sorrow that we have dragged for years due to a situation as painful as having your brother killed!

Joaquín and I were a year apart, and he was very close to me. We were great friends; he was an idealist who stood on the side of Salvador Allende’s government; he felt he had to be there and he risked it all, but no one thought such an ungrateful thing could happen.

It is known that there were deaths in September 1973, but that people were killed after so many months was incomprehensible,” he stated. The suffering of his parents, who passed away without knowing anything about their son Joaquín, has been something that has painfully marked the family: “My mother didn’t last many more years, and she died of sorrow upon learning of my brother’s death.

So, after so many years of trying to find out where he was to be able to give him a dignified burial as he deserves, over time we had already given up hope. But thank God, and thanks to all the efforts that have been made for years through the Government via the Ministry of the Interior, the PDI, and the Servicio Médico Legal, they have yielded positive results.

There has been a lot of work and concern from the authorities to manage to clarify and help the families,” he maintained. Ricardo Walker Arangua today feels the peace of being able to give his brother a Christian burial: “Knowing that ‘here is my brother!’ is a sorrow for one, but it also allows us to close a chapter as a family.

We know it is my brother; that helps a lot and gives us much peace. We hope in the coming days to hold a mass with our relatives, with friends, with those closest to him, and give him a Christian burial.” There have been many phone calls that Ricardo Walker Arangua has answered one by one, and he acknowledged feeling comforted by the affection of the people in the face of his family’s pain: “I must thank from the bottom of my heart many people who have accompanied us in this painful episode.

You cannot imagine the immense number of people who have called me to give us support, a hug; I spoke with Alejandro Kohler who also called me, and many friends like that. On one hand, everyone is relieved but also sad because of what happened to Joaquín.” Joaquín Walker Arangua was passionate about raising Chilean horses, and in the Rengo area, he established the Criadero Las Charreteras in the 1960s; to those closest to him, he was a tremendous huaso and a great friend.

Source: eldiariopanguipulli.cl 2/7/2014

Date: 02-07-2014

Report states that remains of victim buried in Las Tórtolas correspond to a forcibly disappeared person

The visiting minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Leopoldo Llanos, met with relatives to announce the positive identification of victims illegally buried in the sector known as Las Tórtolas, currently belonging to the Compañía Minera La Disputada de Las Condes, whose remains were found in March 1990.

Once the identification process was concluded, the DNA tests carried out by the Servicio Médico Legal determined that the remains found on the property—which in the 1980s belonged to the Chilean Army—correspond to Joaquín Walker Arangua , who has been a forcibly disappeared person since December 30, 1973.

In the 1990s, the remains of three skeletons found on the Las Tórtolas property were identified through photographic superimposition techniques and dental examinations, as in the cases of Vicente Atencio Cortez , Eduardo Contreras Prado , and Alejandro Ávalos Davidson .

In 2013, the relatives were notified of the results of the DNA tests, confirming the identity of Vicente Atencio Cortez and Eduardo Canteros Prado, and the identification of Alejandro Ávalos Davidson was ruled out through the DNA report.

According to these results, a series of procedures were ordered with the aim of determining the identification of the remains that were erroneously assigned to the victim Ávalos Davidson. Once the previous process was finished, it was determined that the remains belonged to Joaquín Walker Arangua, who, according to the report of the Corporación Nacional de Reparación y Reconciliación, was detained at his home on the early morning of December 30, 1973, by people in civilian clothes who did not identify themselves.

Walker was a sympathizer of the Partido Socialista and a member of the Personal Guard of President Salvador Allende. Having received the Integrated Identification expert report, Minister Llanos formed sufficient conviction to estimate that the skeletal remains associated with protocol 871-90 of the Servicio Médico Legal are compatible with Joaquín Walker Arangua.

Source: biobio.cl 1/7/2014

Date: 01-07-2014

Remains of PS militant and former GAP member disappeared since late 1973 identified

This concerns Joaquín Walker Arangua, whose skeletal remains were found in 1990 inside the "Las Tórtolas" estate in the capital, land that belonged to the Army and currently belongs to a private mine. Judge Leopoldo Llanos reported this Tuesday the identification of skeletal remains found in March 1990 on a property belonging to the Army, which belong to an opponent of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, a forcibly disappeared person since the end of 1973, judicial sources reported.

The remains, as reported by special judge Leopoldo Llanos to the victim’s relatives, correspond to Joaquín Walker Arangua, a young socialist who served as a volunteer in the security corps of President Salvador Allende.

Walker Arangua, 30 years old, was detained by Navy personnel who broke into his home on December 30, 1973, and since then his whereabouts were lost, which is why his name was added by human rights defense organizations to the list of forcibly disappeared persons.

In March 1990, the remains of three people were found in a grave discovered by chance at the "Las Tórtolas" estate, near Santiago, which belonged to the Army at that time and currently to a private mining company.

After the forensic examinations of the case, the skeletons were initially identified as belonging to the Communist Party leaders Vicente Atencio Cortez, Eduardo Contreras Prado, and Alejandro Ávalos Davidson, who were detained and made to disappear in the mid-1970s.

In 2013, the relatives were notified of the results of the DNA tests, confirming the identity of Vicente Atencio Cortez and Eduardo Canteros Prado, but it was ruled out that the remaining body corresponded to Alejandro Ávalos Davidson.

The justice system then ordered new expert reports to establish the identity of the remains, which finally turned out to be those of Joaquín Walker Arangua. Two months before the kidnapping that led to his disappearance, Joaquín Walker had been detained in Santiago also by Navy personnel, who, however, released him three days later without charges.

Source: elmostrador.cl 1/7/2014

Date: 01-07-2014

Relatives of the forcibly disappeared GAP members hold tribute at La Moneda Source: Emol.com - https://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/2012/09/11

A group of 40 relatives and friends of the people who died at the government palace on September 11, 1973, arrived at the Morandé 80 door to remember them. SANTIAGO.—In what was the first commemoration ceremony for the 39th anniversary of the 1973 military coup, a group of 40 relatives and friends of the Grupo de Amigos del Presidente Salvador Allende (GAP) arrived around 9:30 a.m. at the Morandé 80 door of the Palacio de La Moneda to remember those who lost their lives that day.

The delegation delivered a heartfelt speech in front of the entrance through which the former President used to enter the seat of government, in which they reaffirmed their commitment to continue the search for the remains of their relatives and complained about the slowness of the judicial processes still underway to determine the culprits of the disappearance of the victims who fell on that day.

Furthermore, they expressed their repudiation of the tributes held for the military personnel involved in human rights cases and criticized the Partido Socialista for the "forgetfulness and abandonment" of the comrades who are still searching for their parents, brothers, and children.

Afterward, the group moved to the front of the Intendencia Metropolitana, where there is a commemorative plaque for the people who died in that building on the day of the coup, and they sang the national anthem with emotion.

The tribute culminated with the laying of a floral offering at the monument to former President Allende in the Plaza de la Constitución, which remains fenced off and under permanent guard by the Carabineros to prevent possible disturbances.

Source: emol.com 11/9/2012

Date: 11-09-2012

Joaquín Walker Arangua ¡Present! Read more: https://gap6.webnode.es/resto-del-pais/joaquin-walker-arangua/

Joaquín Walker Arangua: 30 years old, married, employee, forcibly disappeared on December 30, 1973, in Santiago. Joaquín Walker Arangua was detained that day in the early morning at his home by Navy personnel dressed in civilian clothes who did not identify themselves.

He has been missing since that date. Joaquín Walker was a sympathizer of the Partido Socialista and a member of the Personal Guard of President Salvador Allende (GAP). According to statements from his relatives and the report from the Policía de Investigaciones de Chile, he was detained for the first time in October 1973 by Navy personnel, who took him to the institution's facilities located in Quinta Normal.

After three days, they released him. On December 30, 1973, he was detained for a second time at the home of a relative where he was living, located in the current commune of Vitacura. His family made multiple efforts to locate the detainee, all of which were unsuccessful; he has been missing since that date.

Considering the gathered background information and the investigations conducted, the Superior Council of this Corporation reached the conviction that Joaquín Walker Arangua was made to disappear while he was detained by State agents. For this reason, it declared him a victim of human rights violations.

Source: gap6.webnode.es undated