Laja and San Rosendo

In the towns of Laja and San Rosendo, 19 people were detained by carabineros from Laja between September 13 and September 17:

Juan Antonio ACUÑA CONCHA, 34 years old, railroad engineer for Ferrocarriles del Estado, member of the Partido Socialista, president of the Supply and Price Board (JAP) of San Rosendo, and union leader. He presented himself voluntarily to the carabineros of San Rosendo and was released. That same day, he was detained by Carabineros arriving from Laja.

Luis Alberto ARANEDA REYES, 43 years old, railroad engineer for Ferrocarriles del Estado and member of the Partido Socialista. He was detained on September 15 by officers of the carabineros from the Laja station.

Manuel Mario BECERRA AVELLO, 18 years old, high school student. He was detained on September 13 by carabineros officers from Laja as he was preparing to board the train to Curacautín.

Rubén Antonio CAMPOS LOPEZ, 39 years old, Director of the Escuela Consolidada de Laja, councilman for the same district, and member of the Partido Socialista. He was detained at his home on September 16 by Carabineros officials.

Dagoberto Enrique GARFIAS GATICA, 23 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones. He was detained in San Rosendo on September 15 by carabineros officers.

Fernando GRANDON GALVEZ, 34 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones, member of the Partido Comunista, and union delegate. He was detained at his workplace by Carabineros from Laja on September 14.

Jack Eduardo GUTIERREZ RODRIGUEZ, 45 years old, contractor and member of the Partido Socialista. He was detained at his workplace on September 13.

José Juan Carlos JARA HERRERA, 17 years old, high school student. He was detained by Carabineros officers from Laja on September 17.

Mario JARA JARA, 21 years old, furniture maker's assistant. He was detained on September 15 at his home by Carabineros from Laja.

Jorge Andrés LAMANA ABARZUA, 27 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones (CMPC), member of the Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitaria (MAPU), Welfare delegate for the Cóndor company union, and director of the CMPC industrial union. He presented himself voluntarily to police authorities on September 15.

Alfonso Segundo MACAYA BARRALES, 32 years old, merchant and member of the Partido Comunista. He presented himself voluntarily to the Laja station on September 13 and was placed under house arrest. On September 15, he was detained again.

Heraldo del Carmen MUÑOZ MUÑOZ, 27 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones, member of the Partido Socialista, and director of the Supply and Price Board (JAP). He was detained as he left work by Carabineros from Laja on September 13.

Wuilzon Gamaniel MUÑOZ RODRIGUEZ, 26 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones. He was detained on September 14 by carabineros from Laja.

Federico RIQUELME CONCHA, 38 years old, employee of the Cóndor company. He was detained on September 13 on the street by Carabineros officers.

Oscar Omar SANHUEZA ORTIZ, 23 years old, elementary school teacher. He was detained at his home by a patrol of carabineros from Laja on September 15.

Luis Armando ULLOA VALENZUELA, 51 years old, laborer and member of the Partido Comunista. He was detained on September 14 at his workplace by carabineros from Laja.

Raúl URRA PARADA, 23 years old, employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones, member of the Partido Comunista, union delegate, and firefighter with the Third Company of Laja. He was detained on September 13, as he left work, by carabineros from that location.

Juan de Dios VILLARROEL ESPINOZA, 34 years old, laborer, member of the Partido Comunista, and union leader. He was detained by carabineros from Laja on September 14 at his workplace.

Jorge Lautaro ZORRILLA RUBIO, 25 years old, mine worker in Argentina who was on vacation in Chile. He presented himself voluntarily on September 15 at the San Rosendo police station upon learning that he was being sought by Carabineros.

All of them were transported in the early hours of September 18, supposedly toward the Los Angeles Regiment, a place they never reached.

On October 11, 1973, their bodies were discovered by locals buried in a sand pit at the San Juan estate, located on the road between Laja and Yumbel. This fact was reported to the Yumbel Court, which took cognizance of the matter, ordered the exhumation of the bodies, and subsequently their burial in the Yumbel Parish Cemetery, where they remained until 1979.

The Archbishopric of Concepción filed a complaint with the Laja Criminal Court on July 24, 1979, case file No. 2,770, against the Carabineros of that same town, which led to the initiation of a judicial investigation, and the Illustrious Court of Appeals of Concepción appointed a Visiting Judge.

This investigation made it possible to identify the victims and determine that they had been executed by Carabineros officers from Laja on that same day, September 18, at the location where their remains were found. Until that date, their families had searched for them unsuccessfully in various facilities.

On March 18, 1980, the Visiting Judge declared himself incompetent, and the case files were transferred to the Ad hoc Military Prosecutor's Office of Concepción, file No. 323 80. The case was definitively dismissed on June 9, 1980, by the Judge of the Third Military Court, and the dismissal was approved by the Supreme Court on December 3, 1981, file No. 564 80.

The amnesty provided by Decree Law 2,191 of 1978 was applied to the perpetrators of the deaths.

Representative Position: Director of the Welfare Service of the Workers and Employees Union of the CMPC in Laja, member of the Unidad Popular command of Laja. Member of the MAPU party. Date of Detention: September 15, 1973

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Jorge Andrés Lamana Abarzúa, single, an employee of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones, union leader, and member of the MAPU, was detained on September 15, 1973, by Carabineros from the Laja police station (Tenencia), after voluntarily presenting himself at that police unit accompanied by the parish priest of Laja, R.P.

Félix Eicher B., who accompanied him at the request of the Lamana family.

On September 16 and 17, Jorge Andrés was visited by Nélida Sandoval, Mirta Torres, and his sister Ximena, who provided him with food and clothing. The latter, like the rest of Jorge's family, had been informed by telephone of his detention and traveled at that moment from the city of Los Angeles to the town of Laja.

Ximena Lamana was authorized by Lieutenant Alberto Fernández Mitchel to see him; he allowed them to speak, in addition to allowing her to deliver clothes and food. On that occasion, she was able to verify that there was a large number of detainees at the police station, among whom she could distinguish Heraldo Muñoz, Luis Ulloa Valenzuela, Alfonso Macaya, Juan Villarroel, Federico Riquelme, Jorge Zorrilla, and Nelson Muñoz, all of whom she knew because Ximena had worked at the paper mill for five months as a student intern.

On each occasion, visits to Lamana were authorized by Sergeant Pedro Rodríguez, Corporal Manuel Cerda, and the aforementioned Lieutenant Fernández.

On the morning of September 18, when the relatives of the detainees at the police station began to arrive, they noticed that all the rooms in the police barracks were empty and had just been thoroughly cleaned, with the walls and floors washed.

They were informed by the guard staff that the entire group of detainees had been transferred to the Los Angeles Regiment. Ximena Lamana, along with other relatives of the other detainees, headed that same day on the 8:00 A.M. bus to the city of Los Angeles, where, after various efforts and procedures, she was able to verify that the group of detainees never arrived in the city of Los Angeles, thus beginning a long itinerary of searching without answers.

It was later established that all of the detainees—Juan Acuña Concha, Luis Araneda Reyes, Manuel Becerra Avello, Rubén Campos López, Dagoberto Garfias Gatica, Fernando Grandón Gálvez, Jack Gutiérrez Rodríguez, José Jara Herrera, Mario Jara Jara, Alfonso Macaya Barrales, Heraldo Muñoz Muñoz, Wuilzon Muñoz Rodríguez, Federico Riquelme Concha, Luis Sáez Espinoza, Oscar Sanhueza Contreras, Luis Ulloa Valenzuela, Raúl Urra Parada, Juan Villarroel Espinoza, and Jorge Zorrilla Rubio—were executed on that same day, September 18, 1973, by their captors at the Fundo San Juan, located on the road between Laja and Yumbel. Because locals found out about the burial, Carabineros from Yumbel moved them, outside of any legal procedure, to the local cemetery. Only in 1979 was his body returned to his family, who gave him a proper burial.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

Immediately after confirming the fact that, contrary to what was reported by Lieutenant Alberto Fernández Mitchel (transferred in December 1973 to the 4th Carabineros Police Station of Antofagasta), the detainees never arrived at the Regiment or any other detention center in the city of Los Angeles, Ximena—Jorge's sister—informed the then-Intendant of Bío Bío, Lieutenant Colonel Alfredo Rehren Pulido, of the facts by letter dated November 5, 1973, requesting that, in his capacity as the highest regional authority, he provide an answer regarding the fate of her brother and the other detainees at the Laja Carabineros station. On that same occasion, she requested an audience to personally explain the facts.

Having received no response to the previous request, she also addressed a letter directly to General Augusto Pinochet in his capacity as President of the Government Junta and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Carabineros, explaining the facts and also requesting an audience for the same purpose. She received no response to these repeated communications either.

She proceeded in the same way regarding the General Director of Carabineros, César Mendoza Durán. However, on this occasion, she obtained a response through the Chief of Staff, Carabineros General Héctor Barba Valdés, who replied directly, stating that "In the Los Angeles Police Station, there are no records of detentions in the days following September 11, 1973, it being presumed that the persons to whom you refer, among whom your brother is included, were part of the mass emigration of dissident elements to various countries, especially the neighboring Republic of Argentina, once the military pronouncement took place."

Having exhausted these instances to find Jorge's whereabouts, on October 25, 1977, Case No. 2.361 for the alleged disappearance of Jorge Andrés Lamana Abarzúa was opened in the Laja Court of Greater Quantities, which was dismissed on April 11, 1978, because "the perpetration of the crime that gave rise to the formation of the summary proceedings is not sufficiently proven."

In view of the above, on March 15, 1979, an amparo (habeas corpus) appeal was filed before the Court of Appeals of Concepción in favor of Jorge Andrés Lamana Abarzúa, registered under No. 4.329, which was rejected.

However, on July 24, 1979, a criminal complaint was filed before the Laja Court for the crimes of "kidnapping and homicide of Fernando Grandón and others"—among whom figures Jorge Andrés Lamana Abarzúa—against Lieutenant Juan Alberto Fernández Mitchel and Sergeant Pedro Rodríguez Ceballos—who later became part of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) in Los Angeles—and other officials who served at the Laja Carabineros station in September 1973.

This complaint was registered under No. 2770.

As a result of this complaint, Mr. José Martínez Gaensly was appointed as a Visiting Minister, who, through the investigation, was able to establish that Jorge Andrés Lamana Abarzúa was executed along with 19 other detainees at the Fundo San Juan, located about 200 meters from the road that connects the town of Laja with the city of Los Angeles.

The bodies were illegally buried by the perpetrators themselves (Carabineros of the Laja station). Later, they were clandestinely moved to the Yumbel Cemetery by Carabineros officials from the latter city.

This occurred despite the fact that the discovery of the bodies had been duly reported by the Yumbel Carabineros to the judge of the Court of Greater Quantities of that same city, who ordered the court secretary to keep the police report in the safe without initiating due process.

On October 2, 1979, the remains of the 19 people for whom their detention and subsequent disappearance had been reported were exhumed at the Yumbel Cemetery. After some procedures, body No. 20 was found in the same place of the homicide, at the Fundo San Juan.

On November 27, 1979, the remains were handed over to their families, and the funerals were held that same day. On March 18, 1980, the Visiting Minister declared his incompetence and ordered the records to be sent to the Military Justice system, where they were registered under No. 323-80 in the Ad Hoc Military Prosecutor's Office of Concepción.

The case was definitively dismissed on June 9, 1980, by the Judge of the 3rd Military Court, and the ruling was approved by the Supreme Court on December 3, 1981. Those responsible for the crimes of kidnapping and homicide were granted amnesty based on Decree Law 2191 of 1978.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity