Representative Position : Member of the CUT Department of Culture. President of the National Department of Culture of Inter-federations. Member of the National Federation of Steel and Metal Industrial Unions (FENSIMET). Militant of the Communist Party. Date of Detention : July 30, 1976

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Jorge Solovera Gallardo, married, father of two, musician, and Communist militant, was detained on July 30, 1976, along with Darío Francisco Miranda Godoy, on a public street at the intersection of Lastra and Maruri streets in the capital.

They were leaving the offices of the National Federation of Steel and Metal Industrial Unions (FENSIMET), located at Maruri 347, an institution in which both participated as union leaders. The detention occurred at approximately 5:30 p.m. and was carried out by DINA agents, who forced them into a white Peugeot automobile. Since then, both detainees have been forcibly disappeared.

At the time of the detention, Miranda and Solovera were heading to the Puelche Cultural Services, located on Milán Street, on Gran Avenida, Santiago, to organize a folkloric event. They never arrived at that location.

The detention was witnessed by an employee of the National Health Service Clinic located near the scene, who refused to identify himself out of fear. This witness informed FENSIMET of the events shortly thereafter.

According to testimonies from other detainees, Solovera and Miranda were held at the "Villa Grimaldi" torture center, located at Av. José Arrieta 8200, Peñalolén, in the commune of La Reina, Santiago.

It should be noted that Jorge Solovera suffered from bronchial asthma and had only one kidney.

Isaac Godoy Castillo, a person who was detained due to his ties to the Communist Party, described in a sworn statement made on November 22, 1990, that he was at the Villa Grimaldi torture center from August 20 to August 26, 1976.

There, he recognized Solovera and Miranda among the detainees: "A while later, that same day, they returned the detainees who were cleaning. Among them were... Darío Miranda Godoy, Jorge Solovera Gallardo." He adds: "The witness was shown photographs of all the forcibly disappeared persons from 1976, from which he recognized with certainty those corresponding to the following people: ...Jorge Solovera Gallardo, ...Darío Miranda Godoy."

Reiterating this information, he states: "I remember 13 names of those of us who were there... In the cell... On the other side: the young man who worked with the Treasurer of the Artists' Union, Darío Miranda Godoy.

On the other side, one with the surname Solovera; I knew him as 'Solovera' there and didn't know if it was a pseudonym or his real name; now I know it is his surname." Later, he adds: "I remembered many of these people in my memory and now I recognize them by photos: Darío Miranda, Solovera, whose name I learned."

Subsequently, Solovera's family has been the subject of various human rights violations and permanent harassment. His spouse, Patricia Salas, filed a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) with the Santiago Court of Appeals on January 12, 1978, reporting that she was detained that same day by agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), taken to a torture center where she was subjected to duress and interrogated about FENSIMET, and told she must cooperate if she wanted to see her spouse again.

She was released the following day. To date, Jorge Solovera Gallardo remains forcibly disappeared. He was last seen in the second half of August at the secret DINA detention facility of Villa Grimaldi.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On August 2, 1976, a writ of amparo was filed on behalf of Jorge Solovera before the Santiago Court of Appeals, under Case File No. 686-76. It was requested that the Ministry of the Interior and the DINA be officially notified regarding this detention, but the judge rejected the second request "for the time being."

The Minister of the Interior responded to the inquiry on August 9, 1976, indicating that Jorge Solovera Gallardo "...is not detained by order of this Ministry."

The responses to other measures ordered by the Court were similar: The Investigations Service responded on August 24, 1976: "...after inquiries were made... Jorge Solovera Gallardo is not registered as a detainee."

The Second Military Court of Santiago reported on September 3, 1976, that "no judicial proceedings appear to have been filed against Jorge Solovera Gallardo in the years 1973-1974-1975."

On September 27, 1976, another official communication from the Minister of the Interior reiterated that the affected party was not detained, adding that the Carabineros had not arrested him.

On October 1, 1976, the Fourth Chamber of the Court of Appeals, upon reviewing this writ of amparo, resolved to notify the DINA.

On October 15, the Minister of the Interior reiterated that the person under protection was not detained.

On October 19, 1976, the writ of amparo was rejected, and it was decided to send the case to the Criminal Court "so that the possible commission of a crime regarding the disappearance of the aforementioned Solovera may be investigated."

On October 20, an appeal was filed against the rejection of the writ of amparo.

On October 25, 1976, the Supreme Court confirmed the appealed resolution.

On August 10, 1976, the Third Criminal Court of Greater Santiago opened case file 122.102 for alleged misfortune, requested by Patricia Salas and Aída Toro, with the "complaint of illegal arrest and undue incommunicado detention of our spouses Jorge Solovera Gallardo and Darío Francisco Miranda Godoy, already identified, against those who may be responsible..."

When executive authorities were asked about the fate of the affected parties, the Minister of the Interior, General Raúl Benavides Escobar, communicated on August 19, in Official Letter 3942, that they were not detained by order of that Ministry. The Second Military Court and the Third Military Prosecutor's Office of Santiago reported similarly.

Several cemeteries consulted regarding possible burials of the affected parties responded negatively to the inquiries. The Public Assistance, hospitals, and the Legal Medical Institute reported that they had no information on the affected parties.

On October 19, 1977, in Official Letter No. 3550/674, SENDET reported that the affected parties "...are not registered, nor are there any records of them, in this National Executive Secretariat for Detainees."

The Minister of the Interior communicated in Official Letter 3598 that the affected parties had not left the national territory as refugees or asylees between September 11, 1973, and July 1, 1975.

Considering that the Government of Chile had conducted an investigation into the forcibly disappeared and that its partial results had been brought to the attention of the International Red Cross, according to information from the newspaper La Segunda on October 25, 1977, it was requested that the Red Cross and the Secretary General of Government be officially notified to obtain information on the affected parties.

On December 12, 1977, the Minister of the Interior, General Benavides, according to Official Letter 3880, stated to the head of the Third Criminal Court: "...had the person under protection been arrested by any of the Security Services, such fact would have been brought to the attention of the undersigned..."

For his part, René Vidal Basauri, Minister Secretary General of Government, responded with Official Letter No. 02308 on February 20, 1978, returning the Court's official letter and declaring: "...the requested information is not within the competence of this General Secretariat of Government..."

Commissioner Nelson Valdés Cornejo, of the Investigations Service, reported to the Court in January 1978 that he had interrogated people in the sector where the detention occurred and that there was no new information.

The summary was closed on July 10, 1978, and on that same date, a temporary dismissal was resolved because "the perpetration of the crime is not fully proven..."

The Court of Appeals rejected the dismissal on July 24, considering the investigation incomplete and noting that some measures were still pending.

On September 29, 1978, Patricia Salas, spouse of Jorge Solovera, pointed out to the Court that between July 26 and 30, 1976, six people had disappeared, including her spouse and Darío Miranda, all militants of the Communist Party, and that this fact needed to be taken into account for the investigations.

Colonel Jerónimo Pantoja Henríquez, Chief of the General Staff of the CNI (National Information Center, which succeeded the DINA), communicated in Official Letter No. 204.860 on September 26, 1978, that "Any information required from this agency must be requested through the Ministry of the Interior, consequently prohibiting the C.N.I. from providing any information directly to the Courts of Justice..."

On February 22, 1979, the International Red Cross, through the ICRC Delegation in Chile, communicated to the Court that "the International Committee of the Red Cross delivered to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on May 16, 1978, a list of people whose whereabouts are unknown.

To date, our Institution has not received a response regarding any of the cases presented on that occasion." This note was the response to inquiries made by the Court regarding the disappearance of Solovera and Miranda.

On July 10, the summary was closed and a temporary dismissal was ordered, with consultation to the Court of Appeals.

On July 16, 1979, the Santiago Court of Appeals appointed magistrate Servando Jordán López as a Visiting Minister to oversee this case and others similar to it.

The Visiting Minister summoned the FENSIMET leaders to testify and requested that the Investigations Service carry out further measures. All these efforts were fruitless.

The closure of the case summary was resolved, and its temporary dismissal was consulted with the Court on November 29, 1979. On December 13, 1979, the Court of Appeals approved the temporary dismissal of the case.

On January 16, 1980, in the second instance, the case was temporarily dismissed.

On August 12, 1976, FENSIMET filed a complaint with the International Labour Organization (ILO) regarding the detention and disappearance of union leaders Solovera and Miranda.

In November 1976, the case was presented to the International Commission of Jurists.

On November 2, 1976, the complaint was presented to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, and it was followed up in February 1978.

On November 2, 1977, a complaint regarding the disappearance of Solovera and Miranda was presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the OAS, which was ratified in May 1978.

The President of the National Federation of Steel and Metal Industrial Unions (FENSIMET) sent a letter to the Minister of the Interior, pointing out the situation of permanent harassment suffered by the organization he presides over by DINA personnel, which had resulted in the detention and subsequent disappearance of two of its members.

To date, all efforts made have been useless, and Jorge Solovera remains forcibly disappeared.

Due to the filing of a criminal complaint in April 1991 for the kidnapping and disappearance of Darío Francisco Miranda Godoy, in which it was requested that it be joined to case 122102, which was processed in the 3rd Criminal Court for Darío Miranda and Jorge Solovera, the judicial investigation for the affected party was restarted in the aforementioned Court.

As of December 1992, the case is in the summary stage and is being processed under file number 122438.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity

lost, and we would have drunk the joy of having you. Nothing surpasses it, it is true, .. your guitar keeps waiting, life claims you, it was not your time, They took you without warning, they silenced you;.. so that the world would not know, the truth that you announced and as your hands danced across the strings To leave dreams, love, and melodies wandering through the air.

Your cousin who does not forget you

Source: Adriana, June 2000. Received by Memoriaviva in May 2008

Artists forcibly disappeared and executed by the civil-military dictatorship

During the civil-military dictatorship, at least a hundred people linked to culture, the arts, and heritage were executed or forcibly disappeared. September 11 marked the beginning of the most painful stage we have ever lived, caused by State agents and complicit civilians.

Today we commemorate 48 years of that tragedy that still mourns all of Chile. More than three thousand people—men, women, children, and youth, such as primary, secondary, and university students; pregnant women, the elderly, the blind, and the disabled—were directly affected, and hundreds of thousands became family members and victims of the dictatorship.

Those who survive fight tirelessly for justice, reparation, and non-repetition of genocidal acts by the State. Men and women whose contribution to society came from their social struggle, as militants, and also from their trades and occupations as shoemakers, laborers, textile employees, doctors, linotypists, dressmakers, secretaries, union leaders, neighborhood leaders, municipal officials, public employees, railway employees, newspaper sellers, carpenters; peasant laborers, miners, forestry workers, construction workers; and engineers.

Also those who were just passing through, on a mission, studying, or had formed a family in Chile, coming from Vietnam, France, Spain, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, England, Ecuador, and other countries.

Some of their murderers and accomplices, who pay lukewarm sentences in luxury prisons, have deprived us of them, but they have also deprived us of nearly a hundred artists and creators whom we have identified, with the desire to offer a tribute to those who, from the realms of culture, arts, and heritage, were victims of state terrorism.

We have recognized 82 people whose creativity was expressed in audiovisuals, crafts, theater, architecture, photography, Visual Arts, literature, and music. In this note, you will find the names of people whose information allows us to associate them with an artistic language, according to the available information; however, it is highly possible that many more remain to be identified.

You will also find a link to the information that, among all the people who make the site www.memoriaviva.com possible, is made available to us so that we can contribute to not forgetting until there is justice. For them… No forgiveness, no forgetting!!

[List of 82 names omitted for brevity, including:] 8. Jorge Gerardo Solovera Gallardo. Musician. Forcibly Disappeared. 73. Darío Francisco Miranda Godoy. Theater actor. Forcibly Disappeared.

Source: prensaopal.cl 8/09/2021 Date: 08-09-2021

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 civil-military dictatorship. The event was attended by the President of the Republic, Michelle Bachelet; representatives of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared (AFDD), Lorena Pizarro, and of the Association of Political Executed (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. During the ceremony, the choir of former political prisoners dedicated several songs to the fallen of the ANEF. Afterward, Lorena Pizarro and Alicia Lira spoke, celebrating this act of memory and calling on the authorities to seek truth and justice in the cases of the forcibly disappeared and political executed that are still pending. "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 hit during this dark period," stated ANEF president 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 executed persons etched on elegant bronze plaques—public employees from various sectors who, according to information from the Ministry of the Interior, were victims of the tyranny. "One cannot build a solid community without taking responsibility for the violence that fractured our society and ended the lives of wonderful people, like those who receive our tribute today," President Bachelet noted in her speech. "We need that justice to come 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 toward finding the truth. After the ceremony, attendees were shown the plaques that make up the memorial at the entrance of the ANEF, where Father 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 9/9/2014 Date: 09-09-2014

New 10-year sentence against Manuel Contreras for kidnapping

This concerns the case of qualified kidnapping of Darío Miranda Godoy, registered in 1976, which the Ninth Chamber of the Court of Appeals ruled on this Wednesday. The appellate court also issued sentences in the case of the 1973 homicide in Coquimbo of the married couple composed of the Argentine Bernardo Lejderman and the Mexican María del Rosario Ávalos.

The Ninth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals, in two different resolutions and with a diverse composition of magistrates, issued two sentences in investigations into human rights violations that were investigated by visiting ministers of the capital's appellate court.

According to the Judiciary's Communications Department, in the first case, and in a split decision, the chamber composed of ministers Juan Escobar Zepeda, Juan Manuel Muñoz Pardo, and lawyer member Rodrigo Asenjo Zegers sentenced former Army officers Fernando Guillermo Santiago Polanco Gallardo, Luis Humberto Fernández Monje, and Héctor Omar Vallejos Birtiola to 10 years and one day in prison for the homicides of the couple Bernardo Mario Lejderman Konujowska (Argentine) and María del Rosario Ávalos Castañeda (Mexican), which occurred on December 8, 1973, in the Quebrada de Gualliguaica in the Coquimbo Region. The ruling also acquitted former Army officer Ariosto Alberto Francisco Lapostol Orrego due to a lack of participation in the events and ordered the State Treasury to pay the sum of 300 million pesos for the moral damages caused to the couple's son, Ernesto Yoliztly Lejderman Ávalos, who was left an orphan at two and a half years of age following the homicide of his parents. Magistrate Escobar and lawyer member Asenjo (author of the ruling) were in favor of overturning the first-instance sentence of special judge Joaquín Billard Acuña, who on July 14, 2006, acquitted the four officers by applying the statute of limitations to the criminal action. The majority judges determined that the homicides of the Lejderman-Ávalos couple are crimes against humanity and therefore imprescriptible, both from a criminal and civil law perspective. Meanwhile, Minister Muñoz Pardo (minority vote) was in favor of confirming Judge Billard's resolution and applying the statute of limitations, estimating that the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity and the so-called Geneva Conventions do not apply in Chile, as both international instruments have not been approved by Chile. Darío Miranda and others case In the second case, also in a split decision, ministers Jorge Dahm Oyarzún, Víctor Montiglio Rezzio, and lawyer member Paola Herrera Fuenzalida ratified the first-instance ruling that sentenced the former director of the dissolved National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), General (r) Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, and Carlos López Tapia to 10 years and one day in prison and five years in prison, respectively, for the qualified kidnappings of Darío Francisco Miranda Godoy, José Gerardo Solovera Gallardo, and Enrique Jeria Silva, which occurred on August 18, 1976, in three different points of the Metropolitan Region. In the first-instance ruling on January 31, special judge Juan Eduardo Fuentes Belmar had issued the sentence against Contreras Sepúlveda and López Tapia, dismissing the arguments of the defense for both convicted men to apply the statute of limitations and the 1978 Amnesty Decree Law. Judge Dahm and lawyer Herrera supported the ratification of the sentence, considering the events to be crimes against humanity and therefore imprescriptible and ineligible for amnesty. For his part, Minister Montiglio considered it necessary to overturn the first-instance ruling, accepting the application of the 1978 Amnesty Law, estimating that this legal body is fully in force in Chile and that international instruments sanctioning human rights violations are not applicable, as these instruments have not been ratified by the country. With these two sentences, the Santiago Court of Appeals completes 18 sentences in human rights violation cases during 2007 and 38 rulings since the first conviction in this type of investigation, issued in 2004.

Source: December 19, 2007, El Mostrador Date: 19-12-2007

Manuel Contreras sentenced in case of disappearance of communists

This concerns the case of the 1976 disappearance of three communist militants, for which Colonel (r) Carlos López Tapia was also sentenced. With this ruling, which establishes a 10-year prison sentence, the former director of the DINA adds a total of 129 years in prison for various human rights violation cases.

Visiting Minister Juan Eduardo Fuentes issued a new sentence this Wednesday against the former director of the dissolved National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), General (r) Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, and Colonel (r) Carlos López Tapia, for the kidnapping and subsequent disappearance of three communist militants during the military regime.

The magistrate sentenced Contreras to 10 years of imprisonment and López Tapia—a cousin of Judge Juan Guzmán Tapia—to five years in prison for the kidnapping of Darío Miranda Godoy, Jorge Solovera, and Enrique Jeria, which occurred between July and August 1976.

The ruling establishes that during that year, members of the DINA detained the victims, who were taken to the clandestine detention center of Villa Grimaldi, where they were subjected to torture and forcibly disappeared.

With this ruling, Manuel Contreras adds a total of 129 years in prison for various human rights violation cases. Meanwhile, this is the second conviction affecting Carlos López Tapia, who in the coming days must enter a military prison to serve five years in prison for the case of the forcibly disappeared Julia Retamal Riquelme.

Source: January 31, 2007, El Mostrador Date: 31-01-2007

Cousin of former judge Guzmán prosecuted for Villa Grimaldi case

Special judge Juan Eduardo Fuentes initiated proceedings against the Army Colonel (r) and former mayor of Hijuelas, José Carlos López Tapia, a cousin of retired judge Juan Guzmán Tapia, within the framework of the investigation into the kidnappings of opponents of the military regime that took place in July 1976.

Judicial sources indicated to the UPI Agency that the magistrate charged the retired officer for the disappearances of Darío Francisco Miranda Godoy, who at the time of his arrest by members of the defunct National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) was in charge of the culture area of the National Federation of Steel and Metal Industrial Unions (Fensimet); Jorge Solovera Gallardo, a Fensimet union leader; and Enrique Jeria Silva, a construction worker.

All were PC (Communist Party) militants. According to the testimonies of other political prisoners, the victims were held at the Villa Grimaldi torture center, located on Avenida José Arrieta, Peñalolén.

Background information from the time shows that the former DINA carried out a vast operation against the Communist Party, proceeding to detain numerous members of that group, most of whom remain disappeared.

This operation was even disclosed through a public statement issued by the Government's Social Communication Directorate (Dinacos). In said note, it is acknowledged, without mentioning names, that intelligence services acted against 32 "mailbox houses" (safe houses) that the PC used in Santiago to maintain communication between the Political Commission, regional branches, and the exterior.

The Chilean justice system has also determined the responsibility of López Tapia for the crimes against the clandestine leadership of the Communist Party (Calle Conferencia). Archives of human rights defense organizations record that Guzmán Tapia's cousin was the head of the Villa Grimaldi detention center.

He was also part of the so-called Caravan of Death during its first tour of the south and, according to his own statements in the process, attended the extrajudicial execution of the MIR leader in the foothills of the current Tenth Region, José Liendo Vera, better known as "Commander Pepe," on the night of October 3, 1973, in Valdivia.

Source: September 26, 2005, TVN.cl Date: 26-09-2005

Letter from his sister Ximena Ibarra

To my dear brother Jorge Solovera Disappeared on July 30, 1976 Dear Jorge, I have lost my memory and I don't know at what moment the bomb exploded that disintegrated our illusions; it seems to me it was at birth, or no, it was later, and I look for you and I look for our others, I have found fragments of your children in a place that does not correspond, they jumped far, so far that I cannot see them, there are mothers, fathers, children, friends scattered and I have walked deserts, valleys, and mountains with my thoughts and I am gathering little pieces of broken porcelain and tell me Jorge where is there something of our father's love, where is the affection, where are the hands that caressed us when we were children, I think the explosion turned them into sand that is now caressed by the waters of the sea. I close my eyes and I concentrate and I feel the intoxication of abandonment, a spiral that I also don't know where it goes. Where will the love I feel go, and I have no one to give it to, my hands know how to caress and to whom? If my own are not here! I have kisses, hugs, and deep love that go day by day to the sea. I love you Pepa, your sister who will never forget you. ============================================================= When I gave my brother the "goodnight" kiss, I never thought it would be the last... Our family life took a 180-degree turn from that terrible night. Currently, my parents are in Chile, my brother and I in Argentina. History will be in charge of telling the end.

Source: Ximena Ibarra