Visiting judge Hugo Dolmetsch granted legal certainty yesterday to what had been known since 1986: that the crimes against José Carrasco, Felipe Rivera, Gastón Vidaurrázaga, and Abraham Muskablit at the hands of the CNI were an act of vengeance by the dictatorship for the attack on Augusto Pinochet on Sunday, September 7, 1986.

In a largely "procedural" resolution in which he indicted seven new former agents, maintained the charges against seven others who had already been indicted by judge Dobra Lusic since 2000, and exonerated three of those previously indicted by the magistrate, judge Dolmetsch provided details of the operation that had not been public until now.

The three former agents dismissed by the magistrate are Hernán Vásquez Villegas, Egon Barra Barra, and Arturo Sanhueza Ros. The judge maintained in his ruling that moments after the attack on Pinochet occurred in Cajón del Maipo—an act carried out by the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez (FPMR) in which five bodyguards died—the member of the Military Junta, Admiral José Toribio Merino, summoned the head of the CNI, General Humberto Gordon, to an emergency meeting at La Moneda.

After the meeting, Gordon summoned the commander of the Anti-Subversive Division of that agency, Major Álvaro Corbalán, and the commander of the Metropolitan Political Division "in charge of the control of political parties at the time," Major Manuel Provis Carrasco, to the CNI headquarters on Calle República. "These two divisions represented, at that moment of emergency, the basic organs of the CNI in their operational aspect," the judge states.

In that meeting, "the general, deeply agitated, ordered them that agents from their respective departments should go out and avenge the five bodyguards who died in the attack, a vengeance that was to be in a proportion of two to one in relation to the victims (bodyguards)," the ruling affirms.

In this way, Dolmetsch was able to determine that the groups of agents who operated in the detentions and executions were different, except in the cases of Carrasco and Muskablit, where some individuals were repeated.

The judge's document does not clarify, in any case, why the CNI only murdered four opponents and not ten, as was the order issued by Gordon and which likely emanated from La Moneda. At least a fifth victim was supposed to be the lawyer for the Vicaría de la Solidaridad, Luis Toro, who saved himself by reinforcing the doors and windows of his house to hinder the agents' entry and by alerting his neighbors.

The point is relevant when incorporating into the puzzle the intervention, almost in parallel, of the Investigaciones police on the same dawn that the CNI kidnappings began. This police force detained some opposition leaders, such as the current President Ricardo Lagos, former minister Germán Correa, current deputy (PPD) Patricio Hales, and former undersecretary of Labor Eduardo Loyola.

According to the former spokesperson for the military regime, Francisco Javier Cuadra, Investigaciones acted by order of its director, General (R) Fernando Paredes, to avoid more deaths at the hands of the CNI.

However, it is not clear why the CNI, with the power it held over Investigaciones, did not continue with the executions to "meet the quota" ordered by General Gordon. It is also not known with certainty if the action of Investigaciones was indeed for the purpose that Cuadra maintains.

Although, at least, one fact is certain: that those detained by that police force survived. What is not credible is Cuadra's assertion that, when Operation Albania occurred a year later—in which the CNI murdered 12 militants of the FPMR whom it linked to the attack—the regime "did not support that operation nor did it provide it with communicational support." Upon consulting the press of the time and Cuadra's own statements, the opposite is confirmed.

Felipe Rivera Gajardo Communist militant Treasury of the Republic official Detained at 02:00 on Monday, September 8, 1986, at his home at Diagonal Las Torres No. 6678, Población Sara Gajardo, Cerro Navia.

Indicted as authors of the crime of kidnapping and homicide: Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, Pedro Guzmán Olivares, Gonzalo Maass del Valle, Víctor Lara Cataldo, and René Valdovinos Morales. (Lara and Valdovinos are newly indicted; the others were already indicted by judge Dobra Lusic's resolution in 2000). Executed on Américo Vespucio, in front of the Toyota plant, with six gunshot wounds.

Gastón Vidaurrázaga Manríquez MIR militant Teacher Detained at 04:00 on Monday, September 8, 1986, at his home on Calle Maestranza, across from No. 627. Indicted as authors of the crime of kidnapping and homicide: Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, Krantz Bauer Donoso, Víctor Muñoz Orellana, Jorge Jofré Rojas, Eduardo Chávez Baeza, and Juan Jorquera Abarzúa. (Jofré, Chávez, and Jorquera are newly indicted; the others were already indicted since 2000).

Executed on Ruta 5 Sur at kilometer 16, with twelve gunshot wounds.

José Carrasco Tapia MIR militant Journalist Detained at 05:00 on Monday, September 8, 1986, at his home at Calle Santa Filomena No. 111, apartment 209, Santiago commune. Indicted as authors of kidnapping and homicide: Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, Iván Quiroz Ruiz, Jorge Vargas Bories, and Guillermo Fachinetti López. (Fachinetti is newly indicted, while Quiroz and Vargas were already indicted since 2000).

Executed on Américo Vespucio, on the south side of the Cementerio Parque del Recuerdo, with fourteen gunshot wounds.

Abraham Muskablit Eidelstein Communist militant Sales Manager of Editorial Cono Sur Detained at 02:15 on Tuesday, September 9, 1986, at Calle 27 de Septiembre No. 0423, Población Casas Viejas, Puente Alto commune.

Indicted as authors of kidnapping and homicide: Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, Iván Quiroz Ruiz, Jorge Vargas Bories, and José Meneses Arcauz. (Arcauz is newly indicted; the others were already indicted since 2000). Executed on Camino a Lonquén at No. 2360, with nine gunshot wounds.

Source: La Nación, October 27, 2005

Convictions confirmed against CNI agents for the murder of José Carrasco

The longest sentence is for the former operational chief of the repressive agency, Major (r) Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Another of those convicted, to 13 years, is the fugitive official (r) of the Carabineros, Iván Quiroz.

The ruling, however, rejected compensating the families of the journalist and three other professionals murdered in 1986. The Ninth Chamber of the Court of Appeals confirmed this Friday, unanimously, the convictions against 14 former agents of the dissolved Central Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI) for the murder of journalist José Carrasco Tapia and three other professionals, which took place a few hours after the failed attack against General (r) Augusto Pinochet, which occurred on September 7, 1986.

The court, composed of ministers Jorge Dahm, Víctor Montiglio, and the member lawyer Jorge Lagos, thus confirmed the ruling issued on December 29, 2006, by visiting judge Haroldo Brito, also for the murders of MIR militant and visual artist Gastón Vidaurrázaga, and Communist Party (PC) militants Felipe Rivera Fajardo and publicist Abraham Muskablit Eidelstein.

The longest sentence, of 18 years and one day in prison, is against the Army Major (r) and former operational chief of the CNI, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, while Army Captain (r) Jorge Vargas Bories and Carabineros Major (r) Iván Quiroz, who has been a fugitive for three months after failing to appear to serve another sentence for his responsibility in the case known as Operation Albania, are sentenced to thirteen years and one day.

In their capacity as co-authors, Pedro Javier Guzmán Olivares, Gonzalo Fernando Mass del Valle, Kranz Bauer, Jorge Enrique Jofré Rojas, and Juan Alejandro Jorquera were sentenced to eight years and one day.

Meanwhile, former agents Víctor Hugo Lara Cataldo, René Armando Valdovinos Morales, Víctor Manuel Muñoz Orellana, Eduardo Martín Chávez Baeza, Guillermo Fachinetti López, and José Ramón Meneses Arcauz must serve five years and one day.

Meanwhile, the appellate court, also unanimously, refused to grant compensation of $250 million to each of the mothers, widows, and children of the professionals, as well as $75 million to each of the siblings.

Source: El Mostrador, December 28, 2007

11 former agents freed for the crime of Pepe Carrasco

The punishment for the former operational chief of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI), Álvaro Corbalán, and members of the 11 de Septiembre command, Jorge Vargas and Iván Quiroz, was also reduced.

Eleven former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) will not go to prison. Yesterday, the Supreme Court resolved that they may serve the sentences imposed on them for their participation in the cruel murders of journalist and editor of Análisis magazine José Carrasco Tapia, electronics technician Felipe Rivera Gajardo, teacher Gastón Vidaurrázaga Manríquez, and manager of the Cono Sur publishing house, Abraham Muskablit Eidelstein, under supervised release.

All were killed between September 8 and 9, 1986, as revenge for the frustrated attack against dictator Augusto Pinochet. The highest court accepted the mitigating factor of "half-prescription," which grants benefits to those who have been detained after half the time expected for a criminal action to expire has passed.

In this way, the ministers gradually reduced the sentences dictated by the appellate court. Thus, the former operational chief of the CNI, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, obtaining a reduction of six years.

The same fate befell the members of the 11 de Septiembre brigade: Jorge Vargas Bories and Iván Quiroz Ruiz, whose sentences were reduced from 13 to seven years. But, without a doubt, those who received the greatest prerogative were the operational agents of the repressive agency who executed the four professionals.

They are Pedro Guzmán Olivares, Gonzalo Maas del Valle, Kranz Bauer Donoso, Jorge Jofré Rojas, Juan Jorquera Abarzúa, Víctor Lara Cataldo, René Valdovinos Morales, Víctor Muñoz Orellana, Eduardo Chávez Baeza, Carlos Alberto Fachinetti López, and José Ramón Meneses Arcauz.

The 11 agents were sentenced to 5 years; however, they will not spend a single day behind bars, as they were placed under the supervision of the Gendarmería. Regarding economic reparations to the families, the state had already agreed to pay $210 million to the relatives of José Carrasco and the same sum to the relatives of Gastón Vidaurrázaga, $270 million to those of Abraham Muskablit, and another $90 million to those of Felipe Rivera Gajardo.

The plaintiff lawyer, Nelson Caucoto, called for viewing the resolution from a positive perspective, as it is a trial in which the truth was reached and there was reparation. "We still have the issue of criminal sanction pending; we believe that for horrific crimes there should be more substantive and much higher penalties," he said.

He added that "we are getting used to very little" in the face of the scenario that the victims experienced "on a night when the CNI and the police went crazy in this country." Finally, he said that this case will be enshrined in history with a conviction, with a respectable sentence for the leaders. "It must be highlighted that the leaders are being sentenced more than the subordinates, which seems to me a correct criterion," noted Caucoto, who defined this crime as "one of those unforgivable ones."

Source: La Nación, August 14, 2009

14 former CNI agents convicted for the crime of José Carrasco Tapia

In addition to the murder of the journalist, the Ninth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals issued convictions for the deaths of Gastón Vidaurrázaga, Felipe Rivera, and Abraham Muskablit. The Ninth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals, by unanimous decision, convicted 14 former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for the murders of Gastón Vidaurrázaga, Felipe Rivera, Abraham Muskablit, and José Carrasco Tapia, which occurred between September 7 and 8, 1986.

Magistrates Jorge Dahm Oyarzún, Víctor Montiglio Rezzio, and member lawyer Jorge Lagos Gatica ratified the conviction issued on September 29, 2006, by visiting judge Haroldo Brito Cruz, which sentenced Álvaro Corbalán Castilla to 18 years in prison; Jorge Vargas Bories and Iván Quiroz Ruiz to 13 years in prison; Pedro Guzmán Olivares, Gonzalo Maas del Valle, Krantz Bauer Donoso, Jorge Jofré Rojas, and Juan Jorquera Abarzúa to 8 years in prison; and Víctor Lara Cataldo, René Valdovinos Morales, Víctor Muñoz Orellana, Eduardo Chávez Baeza, Carlos Fachinetti López, and José Meneses Arcauz to 5 years and one day. The ruling—in a split decision with the dissenting vote of minister Dahm—rejected the civil lawsuits filed by the victims' relatives, which had ordered the State to pay compensation of $250,000,000 (two hundred and fifty million pesos) to Alicia Lira Matus, Yolanda Manríquez Sepúlveda, Olivia Mora Campos, Iván Carrasco Mora, María Alvarado Urbina, Igol and Pavel Muskablit Alvarado, and $65,000,000 (sixty-five million pesos) to Ignacio, Yolanda, Patricio, and Alberto Vidaurrázaga Manríquez and Raúl Carrasco Tapia. Julio Flores Pérez Case In a second case, and also by unanimous decision, ministers Jorge Dahm Oyarzún, Jorge Zepeda Arancibia, and member lawyer Ángel Cruchaga Gandarillas ratified the first-instance ruling that convicted 7 agents of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA) for the aggravated kidnapping of Julio Fidel Flores Pérez, which occurred on January 10, 1975, in the La Cisterna commune, in the Metropolitan Region. The sentences dictated by judge Alejandro Solís Muñoz on January 18, which were confirmed, are: Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, 15 years and one day in prison, and 10 years and one day in prison for Marcelo Moren Brito, Rolf Wenderoth Pozo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Francisco Ferrer Lima, and Basclay Zapata Reyes. It should be noted that in the first instance, judge Solís had also sentenced Osvaldo Romo Mena to 10 years and one day in prison; he passed away in the middle of this year. The ruling also rejected the civil lawsuit filed by the victim's relatives against the State of Chile—also with the dissenting vote of minister Dahm—who was in favor of granting a payment for moral damages. With these two sentences, the Santiago Court of Appeals completes 21 rulings so far in 2007 in human rights violation cases and 41 rulings since the first conviction in this type of investigation, issued in 2004.

Source: Emol.com, December 28, 2007

Investigation into illicit association against former CNI closed without indictments

The visiting judge in charge of investigating the crimes committed by the former Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI), Hugo Dolmetsch, decreed the closure of the summary investigation into a possible illicit association that allegedly operated under the protection of that agency, which was processed in a separate file from the "Operation Albania" mega-trial.

The complaint to investigate the illicit act was sponsored by the State Defense Council (CDE), which had previously requested a socio-political expert report to determine the context in which, in addition to the Albania crimes (1987), four professionals were murdered in 1986, five disappearances were recorded in 1987, and the former MIR spokesperson Jecar Neghme was killed in 1989.

Although there is a considerable number of former agents indicted in the aforementioned judicial processes, some of whom were repeated in more than one case, no indictment was issued in this investigation.

This is an undeniable sign that Dolmetsch has considered that in the crimes against humanity committed by the former CNI against opponents of the military regime, the agents did not act disconnected from the institutional structure of that agency.

In any case, the CDE still has time to appeal that resolution by requesting new investigative steps. Denied According to the document presented by the Fiscal Procurator's Office of Santiago of the CDE, the fiscal agency attempted to reopen the case through the realization of a report that would account for the socio-political context in which the aforementioned crimes against humanity occurred.

It also requested that the magistrate ask for background information on the hierarchical and organizational structure of the former CNI and, especially, determine if this repressive agency had the authority to detain without a judicial order and in barracks or places under its dependency.

The CDE also asked to clarify that, in the event that this last attribution was legitimate, the hypotheses under which the former CNI could carry out such apprehensions should be specified. It was also requested that Dolmetsch determine the degree of real control that ministries or other public institutions had over the agency, whether of an administrative or jurisdictional nature, especially over the so-called Borgoño barracks.

Finally, it was requested to determine the socio-political ends and objectives that were pursued by the former CNI with the realization of these acts. However, the magistrate responded with a "denied," leaving the closure of the process firm, a decision that can still be reversed in case the CDE reinstates the investigative steps or appeals them to higher instances.

The cases In the so-called Operation Albania, Dolmetsch convicted a total of fifteen former military personnel, among them Army General (R) Hugo Salas Wenzel, former CNI director, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for these acts, retired Army Major Álvaro Corbalán, who was the operational chief of the CNI, and retired Carabineros Colonel Iván Quiroz.

This case relates to the homicide of twelve members of the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez (FPMR) in 1987, in four operations in different parts of Santiago executed by the repressive agency and which the military dictatorship presented as confrontations and labeled the victims as terrorists.

The judicial investigation determined that the opponents, among whom were several women, were detained and subsequently murdered in cold blood by the agents. Regarding the murder of the former MIR spokesperson, Jecar Neghme, a leader who was killed by agents of the repressive agency on the same day that Patricio Aylwin was proclaimed as the opposition's presidential candidate against Augusto Pinochet, Dolmetsch issued charges for aggravated homicide against six former CNI agents.

The accused are Brigadier (r) Enrique Leddy Araneda; retired colonels Eduardo Norambuena Aguilar and Pedro Guzmán Olivares; captains Silvio Corsini Encárate and Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross; and Major (r) Manuel Navarrete Tello, all for the crime of aggravated homicide.

Regarding the murder of four professionals in 1986, Hugo Dolmetsch indicted Corbalán Castilla as the author of the kidnappings with homicide of José Carrasco, Felipe Rivera Gajardo, Gastón Vidaurrázaga Manríquez, and Abraham Muskablit Eidelstein.

In the capacity of co-authors of the kidnapping and homicide of Rivera, Pedro Javier Guzmán Olivares, Gonzalo Fernando Maass del Valle, Víctor Hugo Lara Cataldo, and René Armando Valdovinos Morales were indicted.

As co-authors of the crime of kidnapping followed by homicide of Vidaurrázaga, Krantz Johans Bauer Donoso, Víctor Manuel Muñoz Orellana, Jorge Enrique Jofré Rojas, Eduardo Martín Chávez Baeza, and Juan Alejandro Jorquera Abarzúa were subjected to prosecution.

On the other hand, Iván Quiroz Ruiz, Jorge Octavio Vargas Bories, and Carlos Guillermo Fachinetti López were indicted as co-authors of the same illicit act against Carrasco Tapia. Meanwhile, in the capacity of co-authors of the crime of kidnapping followed by homicide of Muskablit Eidelstein, Iván Quiroz Ruiz, Jorge Octavio Vargas Bories, and José Ramón Meneses Arcauz were processed.

On the other hand, in the case of the five FPMR members disappeared in September 1987, the former head of the 3rd Criminal Court of Santiago, Mario Carroza, subjected ten former agents of the same agency to prosecution for the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Alejandro Pinochet Arenas, José Julián Peña Maltés, Julio Orlando Muñoz Otárola, Manuel Jesús Sepúlveda Sánchez, and Gonzalo Iván Fuenzalida Navarrete.

Since their detention, the five former members of the FPMR have been disappeared and, according to some testimonies, their bodies were thrown into the sea. Among those indicted are Salas Wenzel and Army officers Krantz Bauer Donoso, Álvaro Corbalán, and Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross, along with former non-commissioned officers Luis Santibáñez Aguilar, Víctor Luis Godoy, René Valdovinos Morales, and César Acuña Luengo.

Source: elmostrador.cl, May 1, 2006

Former CNI agents convicted for aggravated homicide in Recoleta

The Santiago Court of Appeals convicted seven former members of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for their responsibility in the crime of aggravated homicide of Juan Antonio Díaz Cliff, a MIR militant.

The crime was committed on a public street in the Recoleta commune, in the Metropolitan Region, on April 18, 1986. The Third Chamber of the appellate court sentenced Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla to 10 years and one day in prison, in his capacity as the author of the crime.

In addition, Jorge Enrique Jofré Rojas, Víctor Eulogio Ruiz Godoy, José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, and Carlos Enrique Palma López must serve 5 years and one day in prison as co-authors. On the other hand, agents Eduardo Avelino Fuenzalida Pérez and Ema Ceballos Núñez were sentenced to 3 years and one day in prison, with the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence, as accomplices to the illicit act.

In the investigation stage, judge Mario Carroza established that on April 18, 1986, two teams of the CNI's Blue Brigade, then under the command of agent Krantz Bauer, one of them directed by Jofré Rojas and the other by Salas Fuentes, after tracking and surveillance in the Recoleta sector, decided to intercept a passerby (Díaz Cliff) who was walking along Gabriel Palma street in that commune, toward his home.

Subsequently, two of the agents from one of these teams got out of the vehicles that were transporting them and, upon seeing the victim, drew firearms and shot at his body. One of the five bullet impacts perforated Díaz Cliff's right lung, causing severe anemia that ultimately caused his death.

Source: puranoticia.cl, April 1, 2019

6 CNI henchmen processed and detained for the crime of Juan Díaz Cliff

The comrade, a militant of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR), died riddled with bullets in a fake confrontation, as in truth he had no opportunity to defend himself. On the same day he was murdered, 4/18/86, another MIR comrade, José Murga Medina, was also murdered.

Both were part of the Popular Resistance that fought the civil-military dictatorship. We were very focused on the deployment of the National Popular Protest day of this 11/M, so we had not had time to comment on an important advance in the field of Human Rights.

Last Wednesday the 2nd, the minister in extraordinary visit for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, subjected six former agents of the fateful Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) to prosecution for their responsibility in the crime of aggravated homicide of comrade JUAN ANTONIO DÍAZ CLIFF, an illicit act perpetrated on April 18, 1986, in the Recoleta commune, and which at the time was presented as a "confrontation." In the resolution, the visiting judge indicted the agents: Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, former Army lieutenant colonel, who at the time of the events served as head of the Anti-Subversive Division of the CNI; Jorge Enrique Jofré Rojas, alias "Lalo Vilches"; Carlos Enrique Palma López, alias "Bala Loca"; José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, alias "Loco Mauri"; and Víctor Eulogio Ruiz Godoy, alias "Telele," in the capacity of authors of the crime. Meanwhile, agent Eduardo Avelino Fuenzalida Pérez, alias "Rossini Chico," was indicted as an accessory to the illicit act. For the latter five criminals, all former Army non-commissioned officers, an arrest warrant was issued. Meanwhile, the butcher Corbalán will be notified of his new indictment at his 'residence' in Punta Peuco. The indicted vermin served as henchmen of the 'Blue Brigade,' which was part of the repressive division directed by Corbalán Castilla. In the investigation stage of the case, judge Carroza managed to determine that: "The Blue Brigade of the Central Nacional de Informaciones was the group in charge of the repression of the militants of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria, and it depended on the head of the Borgoño barracks at the time, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla." Said brigade, on April 18, 1986, divided into two teams, one directed by Jorge Jofré Rojas and the second by José Salas Fuentes, after surveillance in the Recoleta commune sector, proceeded to "(...) intercept on Gabriel Palma street in said commune Juan Antonio Díaz Cliff, a member of the MIR, who at that moment was walking toward his home. The State agents got out of the vehicles, only the drivers remained in them, without intervening, but providing coverage, and drew their service weapons, which they fired at Díaz Cliff, hitting him with 5 bullets, one of which perforated his right lung, causing him severe anemia, which ultimately caused his death." According to the Rettig Report, that day "April 18, 1986, died in Santiago José Daniel MURGA MEDINA, 28 years old, a MIR leader, private employee, and Juan Antonio DÍAZ CLIFF, 41 years old, also a MIR leader, who lived clandestinely in the country. According to official information, they were two subversive criminals who died after clashing with security forces. According to information provided by witnesses, the events occurred differently, in circumstances where Juan Antonio Díaz was walking along Gabriel Palma street and was attacked at point-blank range by CNI personnel. Others indicate that José Murga got off the bus at San Alfonso with Tucapel, in the direction of his house. Upon crossing General Jarpa street, they saw him stop before armed subjects in civilian clothes, raising his arms and being shot down. The autopsy reports indicate that Juan Antonio Díaz died from a right pulmonary gunshot wound that caused acute anemia, and José Daniel Murga as a result of skeletal-visceral polytrauma from bullets. Considering the background gathered, the Commission has reached the conviction that Juan Antonio Díaz and José Daniel Murga were followed and executed by CNI personnel, considering their death a human rights violation for which state agents are responsible."

Source: acciondirectachile.blogspot.com, March 12, 2016

Judge Carroza convicts 7 former CNI agents for homicide

The minister in extraordinary visit for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza Espinosa, convicted seven former members of the former Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for their responsibility in the crime of aggravated homicide of Juan Antonio Díaz Cliff, an illicit act perpetrated on April 18, 1986, in the Recoleta commune.

In the ruling, the visiting judge sentenced Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla to 10 years and one day in prison as the author of the aggravated homicide of Díaz Cliff; meanwhile, Jorge Enrique Jofré Rojas, Víctor Eulogio Ruiz Godoy, José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, and Carlos Enrique Palma López must serve 5 years and one day in prison in the capacity of authors of the crime; and agents Eduardo Avelino Fuenzalida Pérez and Ema Ceballos Núñez were sentenced to 541 days in prison, with the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence, as accessories to the illicit act.

In the investigation stage, judge Carroza established that "on April 18, 1986, two teams of the Blue Brigade of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI), then under the command of agent Krantz Bauer, one of them directed by Jorge Jofré Rojas and the other by José Salas Fuentes, after tracking and surveillance in the Recoleta sector, decided to intercept a passerby who was walking along Gabriel Palma street in that commune—Juan Antonio Díaz Cliff—a MIR militant, who at that instant was walking toward his home." Furthermore, the ruling maintains that "in the operation, two of the agents from one of these teams, with the coverage of two agents from the other team, got out of the vehicles that were transporting them and, upon seeing Díaz Cliff, drew firearms and shot at his body, hitting him on five occasions; one of the projectiles perforated his right lung, causing severe anemia that ultimately caused his death."

Source: fortinmapocho.cl, March 23, 2018

Six former CNI agents processed for the murder of a MIR militant in 1986

The minister in extraordinary visit for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, subjected six former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) to prosecution for their responsibility in the crime of aggravated homicide of Juan Antonio Díaz Cliff, a 41-year-old MIR militant.

The crime was perpetrated on April 18, 1986, in the Recoleta commune, in Santiago, and was officially presented as a confrontation. In the resolution (case roll 1334.2011), the visiting judge indicted the agents: Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla, a former Army lieutenant colonel who at the time of the events served as head of the Anti-Subversive Division of the CNI; Jorge Enrique Jofré Rojas, alias "Lalo Vilches"; Carlos Enrique Palma López, alias "Bala Loca"; José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, alias "Loco Mauri"; and Víctor Eulogio Ruiz Godoy, alias "Telele," in the capacity of authors of the crime. Meanwhile, agent Eduardo Avelino Fuenzalida Pérez, alias "Rossini Chico," was indicted as an accessory to the illicit act; all these processed individuals are retired Army non-commissioned officers, and at the time of the events they functioned as agents of the Blue Brigade, which was part of the division directed by Corbalán Castilla. In the investigation stage of the case, judge Carroza managed to determine that: "The Blue Brigade of the Central Nacional de Informaciones was the group in charge of the repression of the militants of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria, and it depended on the head of the Borgoño barracks at the time, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla." Said brigade, on April 18, 1986, divided into two teams, one directed by Jorge Jofré Rojas and the second by José Salas Fuentes, after surveillance in the Recoleta commune sector, proceeded to "(...) intercept on Gabriel Palma street in said commune Juan Antonio Díaz Cliff, a member of the MIR, who at that moment was walking toward his home. The State agents got out of the vehicles, only the drivers remained in them, without intervening, but providing coverage, and drew their service weapons, which they fired at Díaz Cliff, hitting him with 5 bullets, one of which perforated his right lung, causing him severe anemia, which ultimately caused his death." The episode was presented by official agencies and the servile press of the time as a confrontation between security forces and extremists, giving shape to one more instance of a fake confrontation, as was common by the dictatorship and its repressive forces. Corbalán Castilla is serving a sentence for countless other crimes committed against opponents and resisters to the dictatorial regime. Until recently, he was interned in the Punta Peuco Prison, exclusive for this type of uniformed criminal, where Corbalán had set up his own empire of privileges, but last November he was transferred to a common high-security prison facility.

Source: resumen.cl, March 7, 2016

On September 7, 1986, at the Las Achupallas slope, the dictator Augusto Pinochet was ambushed while returning from his home in El Melocotón. This attack was carried out by members of the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez (FPMR).

The individuals involved aimed to assassinate the dictator; however, for various reasons that occurred during the few minutes the confrontation lasted, they were unable to do so, and the attack triggered a series of reprisals by the police.

In the following days, specifically in the early hours of the 8th and 9th of that month, a revenge plan was carried out in which at least 14 agents of the CNI acted. Within a few hours, the self-styled “Comando 11 de septiembre” kidnapped and killed four people: Gastón Vidaurrázaga, Felipe Rivera, Abraham Muskatblit, and José Carrasco Tapia.

In the early hours of September 8, 1986, a group of men wearing ski masks surrounded the house of Felipe RIVERA GAJARDO, an electrician and member of the PC, in Pudahuel, took him out, and put him into a taxi that departed for an unknown destination.

Around 04:00 hours, half a dozen heavily armed men broke into the house of Gastón VIDAURRAZAGA MANRIQUEZ, a teacher and member of the MIR, in San Bernardo, where they crossed paths with Carabineros and dragged him out by force toward an unknown destination.

At 05:00 in the morning, three armed civilians arrived at the home of journalist José Humberto CARRASCO TAPIA, a journalist, union leader, and member of the MIR, in the Barrio Bellavista, and took him away by force.

Hours later, the bodies of the three kidnapped men were found, riddled with bullets.

José Carrasco Tapia was killed by 14 bullet impacts: 12 in the skull, one in the face, and one in his left foot. In all cases, there was an exit wound. He was executed by firing squad.

The following day, September 9, at 03:00 in the morning, 12 armed individuals arrived at the plot of land belonging to Abraham MUSKATBLIT EIDELSTEIN, an advertiser and member of the Communist Party, in the Casas Viejas sector, and kidnapped him. His body appeared riddled with bullets hours later in an irrigation canal adjacent to the road leading to Lonquén.

The press at the time informed the public that the possibility that these crimes were the result of a purge among communists could not be ruled out.

In May 2006, after 20 years, Judge Hugo Dolmestch issued an indictment against Army agent Alvaro Corbalán as the author of the four kidnappings and homicides. For the death of Rivera, he issued charges against retired Army officer Pedro Guzmán Olivares, retired detective Gonzalo Maas, as well as Víctor Lara Cataldo and René Valdovinos Morales.

In the Vidaurrázaga case, he charged retired Army commander Krantz Bauer, Víctor Muñoz Orellana, Jorge Jofré Rojas, Eduardo Chávez Baeza, and Juan Jorquera Abarzúa. In the Carrasco case, he accused retired Colonel Iván Belarmino Quiroz, retired Major Jorge Vargas Bories, and Carlos Fachinetti. In the Muskatblit case, he accused Iván Quiroz Ruiz, Jorge Vargas Bories, and José Meneses Arcauz.

In December 2006, Minister Haroldo Brito, who replaced Dolmestch (promoted to the Supreme Court), sentenced Alvaro Corbalán to 18 years in prison, and Jorge Vargas Bories and former Major Iván Quiroz to 13 years for the homicides of Carrasco and Muskatblit.

For the homicide of Vidaurrázaga, he sentenced agents Krantz Bauer, Jorge Jofré, and Juan Jorquera to eight years. Brito also ordered the State to pay compensation.

In August 2009, the Supreme Court reduced the sentences and ruled that they could be served under supervised release. Alvaro Corbalán’s sentence was reduced to 12 years in prison. For Vargas Bories and Iván Quiroz Ruiz, it was reduced from 13 to seven years.

Those who received the greatest prerogative were agents Pedro Guzmán, Gonzalo Maas, Kranz Bauer, Jorge Jofré, Juan Jorquera, Víctor Lara, René Valdovinos, Víctor Muñoz, Eduardo Chávez, Carlos Alberto Fachinetti, and José Ramón Meneses Arcauz, whose sentences were reduced from five years to supervised release.

Thus, the Supreme Court once again compromised the international responsibility of the State of Chile, which fails to comply with its international obligations, especially regarding the American Convention on Human Rights and crimes against humanity.

Source: prensaopal.cl, September 7, 2018

Former CNI agents sentenced for homicide in public thoroughfare

The Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced former members of the CNI: Álvaro Corbalán Castilla to 10 years and one day in prison as the author of the qualified homicide of Juan Díaz Cliff, a member of the MIR; Jorge Jofré Rojas, Víctor Ruiz Godoy, José Salas Fuentes, and Carlos Palma López were sentenced to 5 years and one day in prison as co-authors of this murder.

Agents Eduardo Fuenzalida Pérez and Ema Ceballos Núñez were sentenced to 3 years and one day in prison, with the benefit of a conditional remission of the sentence, as accomplices to the crime. The crime was perpetrated on April 18, 1986, in the commune of Recoleta.

Source: fasic.org, March 29, 2019

30 years after his death, the University of Chile remembers journalist José Carrasco Tapia

At the Institute of Communication and Image (ICEI), an act in his honor will be held on Thursday, September 8, at 18:00 hours, in which María Olivia Mönckeberg, National Journalism Award winner and director of the ICEI, will participate; as well as the fellow National Award winner, founder and former director of the magazine “Análisis,” and now director of Radio Universidad de Chile, Juan Pablo Cárdenas; Patricia Collyer, one of the authors of the book “José Carrasco Tapia: asesinato de un periodista”; and Patricio Martínez, vice president of the Journalists' Association.

José Carrasco Tapia was one of 31 journalists and journalism students who were victims of murders and disappearances perpetrated during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

“I am a journalist, I am a journalist, I am a journalist” were the last words heard as men from the CNI took him away.

In the early hours of September 8, 1986, one day after a commando unit of the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez (FPMR) attempted to take the life of the dictator Augusto Pinochet, agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) murdered journalist José Carrasco Tapia, a union leader and member of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR), as part of the reprisal for the five deceased bodyguards.

“Pepone,” as his friends called him, along with Felipe Rivera Gajardo, an electrician, member of the PC, and official of the General Treasury of the Republic, and Gastón Vidaurrazaga Manríquez, a teacher, visual artist, and member of the MIR, were found riddled with bullets.

30 years after his death, the Institute of Communication and Image of the University of Chile (ICEI) will hold a commemorative ceremony to remember him on Thursday, September 8, at 18:00 hours, at the Jorge Müller Auditorium (Ignacio Carrera Pinto 1045, Ñuñoa).

Participants will include the director of the ICEI and National Journalism Award winner, María Olivia Mönckeberg; fellow National Award winner, founder and former director of the magazine “Análisis” and now director of Radio Universidad de Chile, Juan Pablo Cárdenas; Patricia Collyer, one of the authors of the book “José Carrasco Tapia: asesinato de un periodista”; and Patricio Martínez, vice president of the Journalists' Association.

A life against censorship and for democracy

José Carrasco Tapia fought the civil-military dictatorship through the press. He was the international editor of the magazine “Análisis,” created by Juan Pablo Cárdenas in 1977, which became one of the main opposition magazines.

He was also a councilor of the Journalists' Association, a member of the Central Committee of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR), and part of the Movimiento Democrático Popular (MDP).

On December 6, 1974, he was detained and moved through various concentration camps such as Cuatro Álamos and Puchuncaví until 1976. He went into exile in Mexico and Venezuela with his wife, journalist Olivia Mora, with whom he had two children, Iván and Luciano, returning to the country in 1984. Later, he became partners with Silvia Vera, with whom he was sleeping on the night of his death.

At a time when all journalists worked in fear, Carrasco remained standing, even when he thought that every time he started his car, it might explode. He was a member of the editorial board of «Punto Final» until the military coup, a correspondent for the newspaper “Uno Más Uno” of Mexico and “Diario” of Caracas, in addition to being a collaborator for the weekly “El Periodista” of Buenos Aires.

One day before his murder, at 43 years old, he gave an interview to the outlet “Prensa Latina” where he stated: “we love peace and we love life, but more than anything we love justice and we love freedom. And for justice and freedom, we are willing to give our lives if necessary.”

Journalist Susana Kuncar recalls that on the night of his death, Juan Pablo Cárdenas insisted by phone that they spend the night together at María Olivia Mönckeberg’s house; he did not do so and went to his own home. “I am a journalist, I am a journalist, I am a journalist,” with these, his last words heard while men from the CNI took him away, he joined the list of the 31 journalists and journalism students murdered and disappeared during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Sentences

It was not until 2006 that visiting judge Haroldo Brito issued a sentence against 14 former agents of the dissolved CNI for the murder of José Carrasco and the other three professionals executed that night. In December 2007, the 9th Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals confirmed the ruling of the visiting judge.

However, two years later, the Supreme Court decided to reduce the sentences for those found guilty of these crimes. Thus, the former operations chief of the CNI, Álvaro Corbalán, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, achieving a reduction of six years.

For their part, members of the 11 de septiembre brigade, Jorge Vargas and Iván Quiróz, saw their sentences reduced from 13 to 7 years. And the 11 operational agents of the organization—those who carried out the executions—were released under the surveillance of the Gendarmería.

They are: Pedro Guzmán Olivares, Gonzalo Maas del Valle, Kranz Bauer Donoso, Jorge Jofré Rojas, Juan Jorquera Abarzúa, Víctor Lara Cataldo, René Valdovinos Morales, Víctor Muñoz Orellana, Eduardo Chávez Baeza, Carlos Alberto Fachinetti López, and José Ramón Meneses Arcauz.

Source: cronicaldigital.cl, September 7, 2016

What to do with crooked judges

In recent months and weeks, different chambers of the Supreme Court have signed several contradictory resolutions. The first one that comes to mind was drafted by the Second Chamber, in which it convicts members of the so-called Joint Command for the qualified homicide of the communist militant Carlos Humberto Contreras Maluje on November 2, 1976.

The sentence was ridiculously light—three years and one day for a crime classified by the court itself as qualified homicide—and grants the convicted individuals the benefit of supervised release. These dangerous criminals now walk freely through the streets, indistinguishable from the rest of the citizens.

This type of ridiculous sentencing in relation to the crime, to which the judges have unfortunately accustomed us throughout their long history of collaboration with the military dictatorship and their record of denial of justice, constitutes a constant assault on the conscience of the Chilean people.

The judges commit an incalculable moral crime, because they reaffirm the popular belief that these criminals continue to enjoy the undeserved and aberrant protection of our courts of justice. And they seem to tell us: If you want justice, our courts are not the place to look for it.

Justice will have to be found elsewhere. This resolution by the judges of the Second Chamber—composed of Alberto Chaigneau, Rubén Ballesteros, Jaime Rodriguez, and Hugo Dolmestch—nevertheless includes a fundamental recognition in Chilean jurisprudence.

It seems to me that it was never stated so clearly before that our laws, in the state of Western civilizations today, must be subordinate, at least in the chapter on human rights, to international law.

The accused had requested the application of the amnesty decree issued by the "Putrefactor" in 1978, also alleging the statute of limitations for their crime. The resolution states—and I will quote it again in extenso: "That, because the crime was committed in the context of serious, massive, and systematic human rights violations, verified by State agents who intended to exclude, harass, persecute, or exterminate those who were opposed to the regime established on September 11, 1973, specifically dealing in the case at hand with the elimination of a person who was a militant of the Communist Party, that is to say, ideologically belonging to the recently deposed political regime, it must be concluded that we are in the presence of what the legal conscience calls a 'crime against humanity,' a classification that entails the impossibility of granting amnesty for the aforementioned illicit act, as well as declaring its statute of limitations, in accordance with the imperative rules of international law or jus cogens, which—as has been declared in previous rulings—has prevalence over national legislation. The rules of jus cogens are true legal norms in a substantial sense, providing guidelines or models of conduct, from which erga omnes obligations arise, which exist independently of their formulation, in terms that when they are expressed in a legal formula they do not change their legal nature. "This Court reiterates once again that the principles of international law and the norms of customary law form part of the Chilean legal system with primacy over internal laws, even when they are not translated into treaties or conventions binding on Chile." Opposing this interpretation, as he habitually does, was one of the crooked judges of Chile—Nibaldo Segura—who not only rejects the notion that Chilean laws must be subordinate to international law—as is recognized by practically all Western democracies, with the exception of the United States—but has also been characterized by his defense of the most perverse criminals in our history. In his argumentation, however, without it being understood how he reached that conclusion, he confirms what we know and what almost all Chileans of good faith have always known: that "it has not been proven that on September 12, 1973, [there existed] in Chile a militarized rebellion capable of causing a state of internal war." His logic is quite twisted, because it would seem that due to this or due to the absence of a conflict between parties that could be defined as war (it reads in his argument: "It has not been proven that at the time in reference [there existed] in Chile an opposition between two armed forces or between the armed forces of Chile and one or more armed groups that did not recognize the authority of the former and that were under the command of a responsible authority, which exercised dominion or control over a part of Chilean territory"), there is no room to contemplate the application of humanitarian law. A brilliant absurdity that the other judges rightly reject by arguing that the rules of jus cogens set norms of conduct "that exist independently of their formulation, in terms that when they are expressed in a legal formula they do not change their legal nature." The convicted rats are Freddy Ruiz Bunguer, Juan Francisco Saavedra Loyola, Daniel Giumpert Corvalán, César Palma Ramírez, Manuel Muñoz Gamboa, Alejandro Saéz Mardones, and Rodrigo Cobos Manríquez (source for this section: emol). A second resolution is the ruling just a few days later by the Penal Chamber of the same Supreme Court, also in a human rights case: the ruling that applied the statute of limitations to the crime in the case of the multiple murders committed by the military officer Claudio Lecaros Carrasco on September 15, 1973—when he murdered three Chilean citizens: Cesario Soto, Vidal Riquelme, and Rubén Acevedo. In this case, judges Rubén Ballesteros and, of course, Nibaldo Segura—two crooked judges who have been characterized by their defense of the most savage criminals in our history—voted in favor of the statute of limitations for a crime that is clearly a crime against humanity. And a Pinochetist lawyer, José Fernández. Judges Hugo Dolmestch and Jaime Rodríguez voted against this aberrant resolution. The Pinochetist majority was circumstantial, as the pariah lawyer replaced Minister Alfredo Chaigneau in the Chamber, who recognizes the primacy of international law. This aberrant ruling has caused lawyer Nelson Caucoto to sue the Chilean state, once again, for a serious denial of justice, before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (see La Nación*). There is no doubt that, as in previous cases, Chile will again be punished and subject to scorn on the international stage. Similarly, at the end of December, the Supreme Court applied the figure of "half-prescription" (unacceptable in international law when dealing with crimes against humanity) to two of the criminals of the peasants of Parral: Army Colonel Hugo Cardemil Valenzuela and Carabineros Colonel (R) Pablo Caulier Grant in their capacity as authors of the crime of qualified kidnapping (see La Nación). This is again a ruling of the Second Chamber, which in the same resolution acquitted six other rats, namely: Hans Eduart Schernberger Valdivia, José Hernán Godoy Barrientos, Robert Santiago Teylor Escobar, Quintiliano Rogel Alvarado, Pedro Segundo Soto Godoy, and José Rómulo Catalán Oyarzún, for the murder of the socialist brothers Guido and Héctor Barría Basay. On December 31, 2007, the Supreme Court issued one of the most aberrant rulings of the year. The Penal Chamber of the court revoked the prison sentences of the rats: Army Colonel (R) Hugo Cardemil Valenzuela (17 years), Carabineros Colonel (R) Pablo Caulier Grant (10 years), and Carabineros Sub-officer (R) Luis Alberto Hidalgo (7 years). The five ministers of the Penal Chamber reduced the sentences and incredibly left them at liberty (see La Nación). The Carabineros are guilty of the murder of 22 forcibly disappeared peasants from Parral. A few days earlier, on December 28, 2007, the Ninth Chamber of the Supreme Court had ratified the sentences of fourteen CNI agents for the murder of journalist José Carrasco. The sentences vary between eighteen and five years in prison (see El Mercurio). The convicted are Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, Jorge Vargas Bories, Iván Quiroz Ruiz, Pedro Guzmán Olivares, Gonzalo Maas del Valle, Krantz Bauer Donoso, Jorge Jofré Rojas, Juan Jonquera Abarzúa, Víctor Lara Cataldo, René Valdovinos Morales, Víctor Muñoz Orellana, Eduardo Chávez Baeza, Carlos Fachinetti López, and José Meneses Arcauz. The same chamber also confirmed the sentences of seven DINA agents for the qualified kidnapping of Julio Fidel Flores Pérez to sentences between ten and fifteen years in prison. The convicted rats are: Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, Marcelo Moren Brito, Rolf Wenderoth Pozo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Francisco Ferrer Lima, and Basclay Zapata Reyes. It is astonishing that the same Supreme Court cannot agree on such fundamental principles that are defining of the Chilean legal system. It is simply not possible for the same Justice system to apply contradictory criteria, which also seem to be equally admissible. For the same crimes, one group of judges acquits a criminal, and another, a few meters away, convicts him. Our Justice system thus resembles the "Palace of Laughter," where you know how you enter but you don't know how you will come out, and sometimes you come out disheveled, and sometimes you land on your feet. It is frankly ridiculous. This is nothing like what a true Justice system should be, which should imply the adoption of uniform criteria before which citizens would know what to expect. Today, a military officer can commit a crime in the conviction that he will remain unpunished, and another in the belief that he will be punished. And both are right. Is it not possible to do anything against these ignoble and immoral judges who persist in mocking the victims of those inhuman crimes, who resort to every trick and ruse they find to protect those cowardly military officers and allow them to escape the action of justice? Can we not remove from the judiciary the Pinochetist judges, who distort the spirit of the laws to defend those monsters? The government turns a blind eye and justifies itself by saying that it cannot intervene in matters that fall under the judiciary. In other words, it justifies the current state of affairs—the "Palace of Laughter" version of the judiciary. Only when judges act in conscience and convict those criminals, a president—like Lagos—can appear who, even pretending to be an enemy of the dictatorship, grants pardons—against the provisions of international law—to bloodthirsty criminals, such as the one who slit the throat of Tucapel Jiménez and who, thanks to the "Mandarin," is at liberty. The Chilean political authorities, and among them in the very first place, the government, simply mock the citizens, pretending that we must accept both that judges apply international law—which is what we have been demanding for decades—and that they do not apply it, because we should accept their interpretation of justice as a "tombola" court. What does the government intend? Its attitude of apparent respect for the independence of the judiciary is another name given to complicity, to turning a blind eye, to pretending, like the right-wing parties during the regime of the "Beast," that they are not at home. The government's attitude is directly equivalent to the crime of denial of justice. And, obviously, it must be denounced in international bodies. Or will it pretend that citizens should take justice into their own hands? However, the idea that the government's hands are tied and that it can do nothing to amend the course of justice is equally a falsehood. The government has two ways to intervene in the judiciary to ensure that our justice system adapts to the new norms of international law and moves a little closer to the Western civilizations of the planet. Today, Chile, like its judiciary, continues to be a pariah in the international community. The first instrument is in the hands of the President of the Republic, for it is he or she who appoints the judges or ministers who are members of the Supreme Court (section 12, Article 32, Chapter IV, Government), based on a list of five people proposed by the Supreme Court with the approval of the Senate (as determined by Chapter VI, Judiciary, of our Political Constitution). The president must simply reject any appointment, or any candidate who, according to his information, is a sympathizer of criminal ideologies—among them, Pinochetism. If today we have judges with criminal inclinations in our courts, it is because they have been appointed, some of them, by presidents of the Concertación. Obviously, the sanest thing would be to expel from the judiciary every judge or minister of the Supreme Court who was appointed during the dictatorial regime, due to the illegitimate origin of their appointment. But I imagine this will be too much to ask of the politicians of that accommodating conglomerate. But the government has another instrument it could use against these pariah judges. Article 79 of the same Chapter VI, cited above, establishes that "judges are personally responsible for the crimes of bribery, lack of observance in substantial matters of the laws that regulate the procedure, denial and twisted administration of justice and, in general, of all prevarication in which they incur in the performance of their functions." In the case of, for example, denial of justice or its twisted administration, which is our case, we can follow one of two alternatives: sue the judge, who will be expelled from the judiciary "for a legally sentenced cause," which is certainly the most arduous and uncertain path; or, as established by Article 80, by request of the President of the Republic, "at the request of an interested party, or ex officio," the Supreme Court may declare "that the judges have not had good behavior and, after a report from the accused and the respective Court of Appeals, as the case may be, agree to their removal by the total majority of its members." Section 13, Article 32, Chapter IV, Government, also establishes that it is the task of the government "to watch over the ministerial conduct of the judges and other employees of the Judiciary and to require, for this purpose, the Supreme Court so that, if appropriate, it declares their bad behavior, or the Public Ministry, so that it claims disciplinary measures from the competent court, or so that, if there is sufficient merit, it files the corresponding accusation." If this mechanism to remove from their functions corrupt judges or those who have stood out in the defense of the barbaric Pinochetist criminals in violation of the norms of international law, is established by our own Political Constitution, how can we explain the official assertions that they can do nothing? Certainly, in these cases, it would be a fundamental task of the government to ensure that citizens—all citizens—can be governed by a single interpretation of the law and that they have equal access to justice. The government does not guarantee this when it pretends that we must accept in the same way both that a group of judges convicts those who killed those citizens so vilely, and that it acquits them. This, frankly, is stupidity. It is called directly denial of justice. And of this denial of justice—which will have to be remembered before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights—not only the "autonomous" judiciary is guilty, but also the highest political authorities of the country. In the Court, both the judges and the government itself that allows those courts to persist in denying justice to the citizens whose defense is precisely one of the functions of the government must be accused. The government, then, when it pretends that it cannot do anything, is simply failing to tell the truth.

• It is one of the duties of the president and the government to ensure respect for the Constitution in the national territory. Among those duties is the protection of the citizen, who, among other things, cannot "be deprived of his personal liberty nor restricted except in the cases and in the form determined by the Constitution and the laws" (Article VII, Chapter III, On constitutional rights and duties). Nor can any citizen "be arrested or detained except by order of a public official expressly empowered by law and after said order is intimated to him in a legal form" (ibid.). Nor can he "be arrested or detained, subject to preventive detention or imprisoned, except in his home or in public places intended for this purpose" (ibid.). Nor can any citizen be subjected to "illegitimate pressures" (Article 19, Chapter III, On constitutional rights and duties).

Thus, given that the crimes committed by the military imply the violation of the Constitution, it is reasonable to demand that the government ensure compliance with and respect for that Constitution, without hiding behind the alleged autonomy of the powers.

Washing one's hands, as the government does today, is simply an act of denial of justice and abandonment of its constitutional duties. I want to insist that international law is not an external body of norms, but that Chile must accept it because it is already being judged for its compliance with it, no matter how much its government and political class oppose it at these moments, for the simple and lucid reason stated in the ruling of the Second Chamber in the Joint Command case, that the norms of international law "exist independently of their formulation, in terms that when they are expressed in a legal formula they do not change their legal nature." In other words, there is little sense in burying one's head in the sand. What the judges do today, and what the government accepts by becoming complicit, is a serious denial of justice just as it is contemplated in international law, and they may always be judged according to its norms, whether or not they recognize its primacy (jus cogens). This interpretation has just been corroborated in the ruling of January 11, 2008, in the case of the execution of neighborhood leaders of Cerro Navia, in Santiago, issued by the Fourth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals. For this crime, the magistrates sentenced Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, Marcelo Moren Brito, and José Friz Esparza to ten years in prison, which they classified as a war crime and therefore applied the norms of international law. In the resolution, as it was published in La Nación, it reads that "it must be kept in mind that although the cited Convention [it is not clear in the newspaper text which convention it refers to, whether the Geneva Convention or the convention on the forced disappearance of persons] has not been ratified by the State of Chile, it currently arises with the category of a jus cogens norm, or general principles of international criminal law, whose mandatory nature in internal law is mandated by the Political Constitution of the Republic (article 5, second paragraph)" (see La Nación). Which is what we have been saying for some time. In these rulings, there is an indication of how to proceed to eradicate crooked judges from the judiciary. The resolution adds that "the recognition of the non-applicability of the statute of limitations to crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as the objective and express assurance of human rights, is indisputable and imperative for national courts." Therefore, the argument of the politicians of Renovación Nacional and the Unión Demócrata Independiente that international law violates the sovereignty of Chile is aberrant (see the plea in favor of impunity for the Pinochetist rats in La Nación). International law is always in force, whether the government or the political class recognizes it or not. I do not understand why the right argues in such an absurd way, knowing from experience that international law enjoys primacy outside our borders, which allowed at the time the arrest of the "Beast" in London. For the same reason, any Chilean official or politician who has been found guilty of crimes contemplated in international law may be apprehended outside our borders. President Bachelet herself could be apprehended if she persists in evading her responsibilities as a ruler. But, obviously, the latter is more like political science fiction—although theoretically, I insist, it cannot be ruled out. Carlos Larraín, leader of RN, and who does not have people in his family murdered by Chilean military, pretends to accept, for example, the Convention against Forced Disappearance of Persons on the condition that the Chilean military guilty of this crime be excluded—an idea frankly idiotic for many reasons: first, technically, it would have to be determined if the mentioned military are really guilty of that crime, which obviously implies that they must be brought to trial; second, if as a result of that trial the commission of the crime were proven, international law simply could not make an exception for them, as it would open the door to all kinds of unpresentable compromises with criminals of all stripes, from the Cambodian communists to the hordes of Idi Amin Dada and the Latin American dictatorships, among them the Chilean one; third, because the Convention will apply to Chileans anyway, whether the Senate approves its ratification or not; fourth, obviously, because these are crimes against humanity or crimes against humanity and are therefore non-amnestiable, so, obviously, neither the Chilean military nor any other subject in the world guilty of that crime can be excluded. However, it helps to know that Renovación Nacional, despite its protests to the contrary, continues to support the Pinochetist dictatorship and justify the crimes committed by those poisonous rats. Of liberals, certainly, these parties have nothing, except perhaps the praise of greed, which is part of the creed of a certain stinking liberalism, capable of sacrificing freedom and human rights—the two pillars of democracy—in its eagerness to protect property—always a theft—and the privileges of the rich classes. Meanwhile, in relation to the Convention against Forced Disappearance of Persons, in Uruguay (see Página 12) and Argentina (see Página 12), trials have already been reopened and/or internal legislation has been adapted to be able to prosecute military personnel guilty of that crime. And Chile continues to make a fool of itself.

Source: opinion.cl, January 14, 2008

Supreme Court convicts seven CNI agents for qualified homicide in Recoleta

In a unanimous ruling, the Second Chamber sentenced Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, Jorge Jofré Rojas, Víctor Ruiz Godoy, José Salas Fuentes, and Carlos Palma López to 10 years and one day in prison, in their capacity as authors of the crime.

The Supreme Court accepted a cassation appeal on the merits and, in a replacement sentence, convicted seven agents of the defunct National Intelligence Center (CNI) for their responsibility in the crime of qualified homicide of Juan Antonio Díaz Cliff.

The illicit act was perpetrated on April 18, 1986, in the commune of Recoleta. In a unanimous ruling (case file 13.364-2019), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Leopoldo Llanos, Roberto Contreras, and lawyers (i) María Cristina Gajardo and Carolina Coppo—established an error of law in the appealed sentence, issued by the Santiago Court of Appeals, by accepting the mitigating circumstance of the irreproachable prior conduct of the sentenced individuals.

The highest court confirmed the appealed sentence, with the declaration that the agents Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla, Jorge Enrique Jofré Rojas, Víctor Eulogio Ruiz Godoy, José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, and Carlos Palma López are sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison, in their capacity as authors of the crime.

Meanwhile, Eduardo Avelino Fuenzalida Pérez and Ema Ceballos Núñez must serve 5 years and one day in prison, for their responsibility as accomplices. "That it has been understood that the ground for nullity under examination concurs when the vice consists of the lack of considerations of fact or law, a situation that occurs, in the same way, when those considerations are contradictory to each other or destroy each other, a situation that is noted from the study of the background," the ruling maintains.

The resolution adds that: "In effect, the first-instance sentence, in its 31st motive, after recognizing the mitigating circumstance of irreproachable prior conduct to all the accused, states 'without qualification for lack of merit for it,' while the appellate ruling, which reproduces that of the a quo without eliminating or modifying said affirmation, in its 13th basis expresses the following: 'That having said the above, it is not possible to ignore that the accused Jofré Rojas, Ruiz Godoy, Salas Fuentes, and Palma López were Army sub-officers, while Ema Ceballos Núñez, an administrative employee of the Navy with the rank of 2nd sailor, were assigned to perform functions—when none of them exceeded 30 years of age—at the National Intelligence Center, an organization in which their hierarchy was that of subordinates whose capacity for resistance or disobedience was reduced. Dealing with a repressive organ that systematically incurred in the perpetration of crimes, where the previously identified sentenced individuals had few possibilities to reject their commission or to abstain from acting wrongly, there are reasons to suppose that the execution of this illicit act was favored by extraordinary circumstances that altered the capacity to self-determine and, therefore, it is feasible to weigh the mitigating circumstance of irreproachable conduct that favors them as highly qualified'." For the Supreme Court: "(...) by reproducing in the analysis the 31st motive of the first-instance ruling, it becomes part of it, which means that the same resolution affirms on one hand that there is no merit to accept the qualification of the minorant of irreproachable prior conduct and, on the other, that there is, providing reasons to support it, an antinomy that ultimately deprives this part of the ruling of foundation, preventing any citizen, and especially the relatives of the victim in the case, from understanding the reason why the sentencers accept the intended qualification and apply the consequent punitive reduction." "That it is manifest, then, that the questioned sentence contains antagonistic motivations that cannot coexist, which leads to the annulment of those reasonings, leaving the ruling, in reference to the qualification of the minorant of article 11 N° 6 of the Penal Code and the reduction of one degree of the sentence to the accused, devoid of the foundation required in article 500 N° 4 and 5 of the Code of Penal Procedure, with which the formal cassation vice provided for in N° 9 of article 541 of the aforementioned legal body is configured, a vice that, furthermore, has had a substantial influence on the dispositive part of the ruling, because if it had not been committed, the sentence could not have been reduced by one degree as only one mitigating circumstance concurred in favor of all the accused, which is why the appeal will be accepted," it concludes. Therefore, it is resolved in the replacement sentence that: "the appealed sentence of March 21, 2018, is confirmed, with the following declarations: I.- That Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, Jorge Jofré Rojas, Víctor Ruiz Godoy, José Salas Fuentes, and Carlos Palma López are sentenced to the penalty of ten years and one day of major imprisonment in its medium degree and to the accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for public offices and positions and political rights and that of absolute disqualification for titular professions while the sentence lasts and to the payment of the costs of the case, as authors of the crime of qualified homicide of Juan Antonio Díaz Cliff, committed on April 18, 1986, provided for and sanctioned in article 391 N° 1, first and fifth circumstances of the Penal Code. II.- That Eduardo Fuenzalida Pérez and Ema Ceballos Núñez are sentenced to the penalty of five years and one day of major imprisonment in its minimum degree and to the accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for public offices and positions and political rights and that of absolute disqualification for titular professions while the sentence lasts and to the payment of the costs of the case, as accomplices of the aforementioned crime. III.- That given the quantum of the corporal penalties imposed, all the sentenced individuals must serve them effectively, with the times they remained deprived of liberty and that have been recognized in the first-instance ruling serving as credit." In the first-instance resolution, the visiting minister Mario Carroza established that: "On April 18, 1986, two teams of the Blue Brigade of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), at that time under the command of agent Krantz Bauer, one of them led by Jorge Jofré Rojas and the other by José Salas Fuentes, after tracking and surveillance in the Recoleta sector, decided to intercept a passerby who was walking along Gabriel Palma street in that commune—Juan Antonio Díaz Cliff, a militant of the MIR—who at that moment was walking toward his home. In the operation, two of the agents from one of these teams, with the coverage of two agents from the other team, got out of the vehicles that were transporting them and upon seeing Díaz Cliff, drew firearms and fired at his body, hitting him five times; one of the projectiles perforated his right lung, causing severe anemia that finally caused his death."

Source: pjud.cl, October 25, 2021