Jorge Ernesto Carrión Castro, married, father of two, a laborer, community leader, and member of the MIR, was detained at his home in Casas Viejas, Puente Alto, by military personnel from the local Engineer Regiment.

According to various testimonies, a vast military operation was carried out on October 5, 1973, in the Vista Hermosa and 12 de Mayo settlements in the Casas Viejas sector of Puente Alto, during which approximately 60 people were detained.

The victim was detained at approximately 08:00 hours and remained in the settlement along with other detainees until 11:00 hours. They were then loaded onto military trucks and transported to the facilities of the Engineer Regiment.

On the afternoon of that same day, the victim was taken back to the settlement by his captors and forced to enter a canal with ropes, apparently in search of something. He was then returned to the Puente Alto Regiment.

At this military unit, the family was informed that the detainee had been transferred to the Estadio Nacional, a site used as a detention center following the military coup, but his detention was not acknowledged there, and he did not appear on official lists of detainees.

The family was informed by reliable witnesses, including two young men who remained detained alongside the victim, that he was executed on the very night of his detention. However, there is no official record of his death, and his body has not been found.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

María Berta Muñoz Valdés, the victim's mother-in-law, filed a complaint for alleged disappearance before the Puente Alto Criminal Court on February 21, 1977, registered under case number 18804.

The Court ordered that the Minister of the Interior, International Police, Central Identification Cabinet, and the Legal Medical Institute be notified. It denied the complainant's request to notify the Puente Alto Railway Regiment and the Ministry of National Defense so that they might provide information regarding the victim's detention.

On March 2, 1977, the then-Minister of the Interior, Raúl Benavides Escobar, reported that there were no records regarding Jorge Carrión Castro. Identical negative responses were provided by the notified administrative authorities.

On May 13, 1977, the acting judge declared the summary closed, provisionally dismissing the case on the grounds that, even though the commission of the reported crime was legally established, there was insufficient evidence to charge any specific person as responsible. The Santiago Court of Appeals approved this resolution on July 29, 1977.

The anthropomorphic records of Jorge Carrión Castro were attached to case 4449 AF of the 22nd Criminal Court of Santiago, regarding the crime of illegal burial in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery of unidentified persons who died between September and December 1973.

The investigating judge of the case ordered the excavation of 108 graves in September 1991. 125 bodies were exhumed and sent to the Legal Medical Institute. At present (late 1992), the expert identification reports are pending.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity

The minister for extraordinary causes regarding human rights violations of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, Marianela Cifuentes Alarcón, convicted two former Army officers as perpetrators of the consummated crime of aggravated kidnapping of community leader Jorge Ernesto Carrión Castro, 22 years old, perpetrated starting on October 5, 1973, in the commune of Puente Alto, Santiago.

In the ruling (case file 17-2013), Minister Cifuentes Alarcón sentenced Francisco Ricardo Alfonso Varela Gantes, an Army second lieutenant at the time of the events, and Moisés Retamal Bustos, then a member of the Intelligence Section of the Puente Alto Railway Engineer Regiment, to 10 years in prison, along with the legal accessories of absolute perpetual disqualification from public office and political rights, and absolute disqualification from professional titles for the duration of the sentences.

In the judicial investigation and sentence, Minister Cifuentes Alarcón established that on October 5, 1973, around 07:30 hours, in the context of a massive raid in search of weapons and explosives carried out at the "Luis Emilio Recabarren" camp (currently the Vista Hermosa settlement) in the Casas Viejas sector of the Puente Alto commune, uniformed soldiers from the 7th Mountain Railway Engineer Regiment of Puente Alto, led by Army Second Lieutenant Francisco Ricardo Alfonso Varela Gantes, among others, detained Jorge Ernesto Carrión Castro.

Jorge Carrión Castro was a member of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), a community leader, and a worker at the Metropolitan Sanitary Works Company (EMOS).

Once detained by the military, they took him to the aforementioned military unit, commanded by Army Lieutenant Colonel Mateo Durruty Blanco (now deceased), where he was interrogated and subjected to torture and torment.

Subsequently, Jorge Ernesto Carrión Castro was taken back by his captors to the camp where he lived and forced to enter a canal in search of alleged firearms.

Later, upon returning to the military unit, Jorge Ernesto Carrión Castro attempted to escape, was captured, punished, and later locked in a railway car. The following day, at dawn, he was removed from the railway car where he was being held, and his whereabouts remain unknown to this day.

At the time of the events, the interrogation of detainees at the Puente Alto Railway Engineer Regiment was in charge of personnel from Section II of Intelligence of the aforementioned military unit, namely officers Lander Mickel Uriarte Burotto, José Miguel Latorre Pinochet (deceased), and Moisés Retamal Bustos, and sergeants René Eloy Cruces Tapia and Luis Orlando Canales Pino (both deceased), among others.

Uriarte Burotto continued his repressive activities in the DINA-CNI, where he served as chief of operations between 1982 and 1986. This individual, who retired with the pompous rank of brigadier, was prosecuted for these criminal acts but was dismissed due to dementia.

by: Darío Nuñez

Source: resumen.cl, August 22, 2025

Date: 08-22-2025

Minister Marianela Cifuentes issues indictment against retired military personnel for the aggravated kidnapping of a community leader

The minister for extraordinary causes regarding human rights violations of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, Marianela Cifuentes Alarcón, issued an indictment against retired Army personnel for their responsibility in the consummated crime of aggravated kidnapping of Jorge Enrique Carrión Castro. The crime was perpetrated starting on October 5, 1973, in the commune of Puente Alto.

In the resolution (case file 17-2013), Minister Cifuentes Alarcón charged Francisco Ricardo Alfonso Varela Gantes, an Army second lieutenant at the time of the events, and Moisés Retamal Bustos, a former member of the Intelligence Section of the Puente Alto Railway Engineer Regiment, as perpetrators of the crime.

During the investigation stage of the case, the visiting minister managed to gather sufficient evidence to establish the following facts:

" 1st That on October 5, 1973, at 7:30 hours, in the context of a massive raid in search of weapons and explosives at the 'Luis Emilio Recabarren' camp in the Casas Viejas sector, Puente Alto commune, soldiers from the Puente Alto Railway Engineer Regiment, led by Captain Guillermo Vargas Avendaño –currently deceased– and Second Lieutenant Francisco Varela Gantes, among others, unlawfully detained Jorge Ernesto Carrión Castro, a member of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) and community leader, at site 50, current Los Pinos street in the Vista Hermosa settlement, and subsequently took him to the Puente Alto Railway Engineer Regiment, a military unit commanded by Colonel Mateo Durruty Blanco, currently deceased, where he was interrogated and subjected to illegitimate coercion. 2nd That on that day, in the afternoon, Jorge Ernesto Carrión Castro was taken by his captors to the aforementioned camp and forced to enter a canal in search of firearms. 3rd That, back at the military unit, Carrión Castro attempted to escape, was captured, brutally punished, and later locked in a railway car inside the military unit. 4th That the following day, at dawn, Jorge Carrión Castro was removed from the railway car where he was being held, and his whereabouts have been unknown since then. 5th That, at the time of the events, the interrogation of detainees at the Puente Alto Railway Engineer Regiment was in charge of personnel from Section II of Intelligence of the aforementioned military unit, namely René Eloy Cruces Tapia, Luis Orlando Canales Pino –deceased–, José Miguel Latorre Pinochet –deceased–, Moisés Retamal Bustos, and Lander Mickel Uriarte Burotto, among others."

Source: pdju.cl, April 1, 2024

Date: 04-01-2024

Courts investigate torture and genocidal crimes in Cordillera Province

The San Miguel Court of Appeals appointed Minister Marianela Cifuentes Alarcón to investigate, among others, the following crimes related to the Cordillera province:

Regarding the young students, FRANCISCO EUGENIO VIERA OVALLE, 19 years old, from the Puente Alto Industrial High School, a member of the Socialist Youth, was detained on September 19, 1973; and HECTOR ENRIQUE HERNANDEZ GARCES, 17 years old, a student at the Puente Alto Industrial High School and member of the Socialist Youth, was detained on September 27, 1973.

Both were murdered by members of the Army, officers of the San Bernardo Infantry School, at the "Cerro Chena" concentration, torture, and execution camp. Their remains rest in the Bajos de Mena cemetery.

Their torturers were Army officers: Andrés Magaña, Alfonso Faúndez, Víctor Pino, Sergio Rodríguez, and Carabineros Lieutenant Sergio Ávila Quiroga. Francisco Viera and Héctor Hernández were murdered on October 6, 1973; they received multiple gunshot wounds in the back without any military trial. That same day, another 18 detainees were massacred at Cerro Chena.

Regarding the responsibilities of Colonel Mateo Durruty Blanco, Lieutenant Colonel Rolf Wenderott Pozo, officers Pedro Teyssedre Cartagena, Francisco Martínez Benavides, Lander Uriarte Burotto, and non-commissioned officers Luis Canales Pino and René Cruces Tapia, all members of the Military Intelligence Service (SIM) of the Puente Alto Railway Regiment.

JAIME JIMENEZ JIMENEZ, 29 years old, leader of the Central Workers' Union of Chile (CUT), detained in the Nuevo Amanecer settlement of Puente Alto by personnel from the local regiment. His body appeared dead on Avenida Camilo Henríquez, east of Puente Alto, on October 17, 1973.

His remains were taken to the General Cemetery of Santiago, "Patio 29"; subsequently exhumed and handed over to his family by the Legal Medical Institute.

JORGE ERNESTO CARRION CASTRO, 22 years old, worked at the Metropolitan Sanitary Works Company (EMOS), married, 2 children, member of the MIR, president of the "Luis Emilio Recabarren" camp, lived on Los Pinos street, current Vista Hermosa settlement of Puente Alto.

In a violent raid on the camp, 60 residents were detained; some had fled to the "El Coipo" hill. Young Jorge Carrión was taken to the Puente Alto regiment; upon attempting to escape, he was murdered on October 5, 1973. His family reported the murder to the Puente Alto Criminal Court.

The three Uruguayan Tupamaros citizens were detained at the end of September 1973 by police officers from the San José de Maipo Carabineros Sub-station. They were accused of trying to leave the country through a mountain pass.

In those months, the persecution of South American citizens was carried out with extreme violence throughout the country. The San José de Maipo Carabineros handed them over to the Colonel and Commander of the Puente Alto Regiment, Mateo Durruty Blanco; for which reason he is being prosecuted for the detention and disappearance of the three young men: ENRIQUE JULIO PAGARDOY SAQUIERES, 20 years old, from Montevideo, who worked in Canelones while in Chile; ARIEL ARCOS LATORRE, 20 years old, who arrived in Chile three months before the coup d'état, from [missing text], who of course refuted the fact and denied everything: "I never knew anything, there were never any detainees in my regiment," insisted and lied the commander and Plaza Chief of Puente Alto.

In different raids, thirteen peasants from different settlements in Paine were detained by soldiers from the San Bernardo Infantry School. They were subsequently tortured at Cerro Chena, taken out in trucks, and sent to the San Vicente de Pirque sector to be executed, under the responsibility of officers Andrés Magaña Bau, Guillermo Castro Muñoz, and non-commissioned officer José Vásquez.

The peasants were shot in the back and buried in mass graves. Later, the bodies were unearthed by military personnel from Puente Alto and Carabineros, who threw them onto the southern slope of the Maipo River.

They were then sent to the Legal Medical Institute, and subsequently transferred to the General Cemetery of Santiago, "Patio 29." LUIS OSVALDO GONZALEZ MONDACA, 32 years old, married, 5 children, president of the "Huiticalán" settlement, was detained in the commune of Paine.

Captured by Army personnel from the San Bernardo Infantry School on October 23, 1973, at 10:00 hours. Executed at Cerro Grande de Pirque. LUIS SILVA CARREÑO, 43 years old, married, 7 children, peasant detained in the "Arco Iris" settlement of Paine on October 16, 1973, executed at Cerro Grande de Pirque.

MANUEL SILVA CARREÑO, 44 years old, married, peasant from the "Arco Iris" settlement of Paine. Detained on October 29, 1973. Executed at Cerro Grande de Pirque. PEDRO JUAN MENESES BRITO, 30 years old, single, Socialist militant, president of the "El Vínculo" settlement of Paine, detained on October 21, 1973, and murdered on October 23, 1973, at Cerro Grande de Pirque.

ROLANDO ANASTACIO DONAIRE RODRIGUEZ, 49 years old, married, 6 children, detained on October 23, 1973, in the "Huiticalán" settlement of Paine. Executed at Cerro Grande de Pirque. BENJAMIN ADOLFO CAMUS SILVA, 31 years old, married, 2 children, detained on October 20, 1973, in the "Huiticalán" settlement of Paine.

Executed at Cerro Grande de Pirque. SANTOS PASCUAL CALDERON SALDAÑO, 28 years old, married, Socialist militant, detained on October 20, 1973, in the "Huiticalán" settlement of Paine. Executed at Cerro Grande de Pirque.

BAUTISTA SEGUNDO OYARZO TORRES, detained in the "Huiticalán" settlement on October 23, 1973, in Paine. Executed at Cerro Grande de Pirque. JUAN MANUEL ORTIZ ACEVEDO, 38 years old, married, 4 children, president of the "El Rangue" settlement, was detained on October 13, 1973, in Paine and executed at Cerro Grande de Pirque.

LUIS CELESTINO ORTIZ ACEVEDO, 36 years old, married, 7 children, president of the JAP. Detained in the "El Rangue" settlement of Paine on October 13, 1973, executed at Cerro Grande de Pirque. FRANCISCO JAVIER LIZAMA IRARRAZABAL, 34 years old, married, Socialist militant, president of the "El Rangue" settlement of Paine.

Detained on October 13, 1973, executed at Cerro Grande de Pirque. JOSE MANUEL DIAZ INOSTROSA, 29 years old, president of the "Marcel Alto" settlement of Paine. JOSE MANUEL PAVEZ HENRIQUEZ, 25 years old, vice president of the "El Patagual" settlement of Paine, detained on October 13, 1973. Executed at Cerro Grande de Pirque.

JULIO SEGUNDO VALENCIA CASTILLO, 32 years old, married, 2 children, taxi driver, president of the Coordinator of Squatters of Puente Alto. On September 27, 1984, residents of the Puente Alto commune carried out a "land seizure" and were violently evicted by Carabineros.

At night, Carabineros began looking for Julio Valencia; when they found him, they hit him with a stone and kicked him on the ground. Not satisfied with that, a Carabinero cut his throat with a yataghan.

His lifeless body was thrown onto Oscar Bonilla street in Puente Alto. His remains rest in the Bajos de Mena cemetery. Currently, the Puente Alto branch of the Communist Party bears his name in his honor.

PATRICIO LEONEL GONZALEZ GONZALEZ, 23 years old, worker, studied primary school at School No. 2 on Eyzaguirre street, and secondary school at the Las Nieves Industrial High School. He resided in the old Pedro Aguirre Cerda settlement.

A member of the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (FPMR), the Puente Alto branch of the Communist Youth (JJ-CC) bears his name in honor of his trajectory. He was murdered on December 10, 1985, at 1:30 hours on Avenida Concha y Toro, in front of No. 0160 in Puente Alto.

He was shot by Carabineros from the commune and Army personnel from the Puente Alto regiment, in broad daylight, in an unequal confrontation. The uniformed men numbered more than 20 and had war weaponry, while "Pato" only had a low-caliber pistol.

The book "A Story of Love and Courage in Puente Alto" was published, with poems in honor of this committed social fighter. His remains rest in the Bajos de Mena cemetery. Those responsible for the crime are Juan Orlando Muñoz Orellana, Nelson Mario Pérez, and Ramón Antonio Venegas Arenas, all Carabineros officers at the time of the events, who were prosecuted as perpetrators by Minister Cifuentes, who also ordered their preventive detention.

Former political prisoners from Puente Alto in the Supreme Court

Regarding torture and torment, the Investigative Police (PDI) Human Rights Brigade, under instructions from the visiting minister Mario Carroza Espinoza of the Santiago Court of Appeals, is investigating the complaints filed and accepted by former political prisoners residing in Puente Alto: Luis Lobos and Raúl Vargas, both former union leaders, and Sergio Solís and Ricardo Klapp, former political leaders of our provincial capital.

In addition, the PDI Human Rights Brigade is investigating in Pirque the 13 peasants from Paine murdered in San Vicente in October 1973 at the former Salvador Allende Agrarian Reform Center.

Human Rights organizations must promote the necessary prominence of the people with social, citizen, and popular participation; to transition from an exclamatory democracy to a participatory democracy that respects Human Rights.

Source: elclarin.cl 11/26/2015

Date: 11-26-2015

ANEF inaugurates memorial for victims of the dictatorship with the presence of President Bachelet

In a solemn ceremony outside the ANEF headquarters, this Monday, September 8, a memorial was inaugurated in honor of public employees who were victims of the civic-military dictatorship. The event was attended by the President of the Republic, Michelle Bachelet; the representatives of the Association of Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared Detainees (AFDD), Lorena Pizarro, and of Political Executions (AFEP), Alicia Lira; along with the Minister of Labor, Javiera Blanco; the Minister of Mining, Aurora Williams; the president of the CUT, Bárbara Figueroa; the Undersecretary of Labor, Francisco Díaz; Joan Jara, widow of Víctor Jara; parliamentarians Tucapel Jiménez, Maya Fernández, Lautaro Carmona, Hugo Gutiérrez, and Claudio Arriagada; as well as social and union leaders.

At the ceremony, the choir of former political prisoners dedicated some songs to the fallen of the ANEF. Then, Lorena Pizarro and Alicia Lira spoke, celebrating this act of memory and calling on the authorities to seek truth and justice in the cases that are still pending regarding the forcibly disappeared and political executions.

"With this memorial, we close a debt of the ANEF to the state workers executed and disappeared during the dictatorship, without forgetting that ours was one of the sectors most affected during this dark period," stated the president of the ANEF, Raúl de la Puente, in his speech.

De la Puente also recalled the resistance and struggle of some of those honored, such as Jorge Peña Hen, Reinalda Pereira, Carlos Prats, and the President's father, Alberto Bachelet. The memorial bears the names of 380 forcibly disappeared and political executions inscribed on elegant bronze plaques, public employees from various sectors who, according to information from the Ministry of the Interior, were victims of the tyranny.

"You cannot build a solid community without taking responsibility for the violence that fractured our society and ended the lives of wonderful people, like those we honor today," President Bachelet noted in her speech.

"We need that justice to be soon, and we need, for that to be possible, for those who have relevant information, whether civilians or military, to provide it," stated the President, who urged the Justice system to work to find the truth.

After the ceremony, the plaques that make up the memorial at the entrance of the ANEF were shown to the attendees, where the priest Mariano Puga, a recognized collaborator of the workers, blessed the memorial.

Finally, we highlight the excellent organization of the event by the Secretariat of Culture, Recreation, and Sports, Nayadé Zúñiga.

Source: anef.cl 09/09/2014

Date: 09-09-2014

Patio 29: Behind the Iron Cross (BOOK)

Patio 29 used to be used for the burial of the indigent, psychiatric patients, and people who died without being identified (NN). However, between September 1973 and January 1974, its graves were used to hide victims of the repression as NN.

Javiera Bustamante and Stephan Ruderer reconstruct the painful history of the place, using testimonies from the relatives of the forcibly disappeared, letters, documents, and other sources. The book also accounts for the arduous process of identification and handover of the bodies, as well as the irregularities that characterized these proceedings.

The powerful photographs that illustrate the volume were taken by visual artist Mara Daruich.

Source: ocholibros.cl, no date