The visiting judge for human rights violation cases of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Jaime Arancibia, indicted and ordered the pretrial detention of 13 former uniformed officers—two from the Carabineros and eleven retired members of the Navy—for the crime of kidnapping Viviana Victoria Fernández.

In the resolution (case file 144.137-2013), he indicted Gilda Mercedes Ulloa Valle, Alejo Esparza Martínez, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Enrique Orlando Corrales Díaz, Ricardo Alejandro Riesco Cornejo, Valentín Evaristo Riquelme Villalobos, Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto, Eduardo Mauricio Núñez Contreras, Jaime Erik Riesle Wetherby, Héctor Nelson Tapia Olivares, Juan Orlando Jorquera Terrazas, Ángel Segundo Lorca Fuenzalida, and Marcelo Alejandro Onofre Vargas Goas, as perpetrators of the crime of kidnapping Viviana Victoria Fernández Montenegro.

According to the records, the events took place in the second half of February 1974: "Due to the political ideas she professed, as well as those of her family, Viviana Victoria Fernández Montenegro, who was 14 years old at the time, was detained at her home in Cerro Florida, Valparaíso.

She was taken to the Silva Palma Barracks, adjacent to the Naval War Academy, the same place to which her sister, Morelia del Rosario Fernández Montenegro, and her mother, Emma Mercedes Montenegro Mena, were taken; these detentions were carried out by members of the Navy and Carabineros of this city without an order from a competent court." The resolution continues: "The victim, as well as her aforementioned relatives, were interrogated regarding the political activities they carried out and the existence of alleged weapons or caches of them that were supposedly hidden.

During these interrogations, they were sexually abused, and also received beatings, insults, death threats, and the application of electric shocks to their private parts, ankles, and fingers. The victim was subsequently released after approximately one week, but was required to sign in weekly at a Carabineros station in Cerro Alegre for one year, without any judicial process, either military or civilian, being initiated against her." Once notified of the indictment, the accused must be taken to the facilities designated by the Carabineros to serve their pretrial detention.

Source: rvl.uv.cl, July 19, 2016

Case File No. 21-2016: Case of kidnapping with serious injury and illegal detention of Marco Antonio Contardo Guerra

Twenty-third: That in providing his investigative statement, the accused Juan Orlando Jorquera Terrazas, on page 99, states that he joined the Navy in 1962 and retired in 1992. By September 1973, he was teaching at the Naval War Academy, as he was an instructor.

He taught classes to train private security guards. He also came to train Navy commandos, passing on all the knowledge he acquired in the United States. In September 1973, a few days after the coup, he assumed his duties as an interrogator.

He occupied the second floor of the Naval War Academy, although he also had to go to the Silva Palma barracks. He carried out his duties alongside other colleagues who arrived from the United States. They went for a year to San Diego, California, for courses with the Marine Corps.

There, they were taught interrogation techniques. They were a group of 40 Marines. His colleagues were Bertolino Castillo, Juan Reyes Basaur, Manuel Leiva, Francisco Prado, among others. He does not remember their nicknames.

Before the course in the U.S. ended, the instructors physically mistreated them and applied torture to them as a method of learning. Then they were given time to rest before returning to Chile. When they gave instructions to the Marines, they also did the same to them, as a learning method.

He had to verify accusations that civilian detainees made against the Navy personnel who detained and interrogated them, since they pointed out that they were victims of torture. He had to verify this with the accused and interrogate them to elucidate if this was true.

Most of the time, they were false accusations. Apart from making the corresponding inquiries, he had to instruct the personnel who were accused to interrogate correctly without applying torture or overstepping.

He also had to instruct Navy personnel to interrogate correctly, since the number of detainees was so high that the qualified personnel could not keep up. He also had to interrogate detained civilians who were against the military government, but he clarifies that he never tortured them.

They did not interrogate everyone. First, a screening was done, and only those who had effective participation in acts contrary to the government were interrogated. Regarding what he is asked, he says that there were people from the Navy who overstepped with the detainees during interrogations.

Those people were removed from their duties. The interrogations at the Silva Palma barracks lasted until 1974. In the last time he was there, women appeared who interrogated, who were present when women had to be interrogated.

Regarding the victim in the case, Marco Antonio Contardo, he does not know him. He does not remember anyone being nicknamed "the professor." There was indeed personnel from the Carabineros or the Investigations police, but they did not converse.

Thirty-sixth: That in relation to the responsibility of Juan Orlando Jorquera Terrazas, according to his investigative statement on page 99, he acknowledges that he stayed in the U.S. for a course in which he participated along with other Marines and where they were taught interrogation techniques.

He adds that at the end of the course, the same instructors applied torture to the students as a method of learning. Furthermore, he points out that those techniques and the final torture sessions were also taught to other Marines or people from other branches who took intelligence courses when they returned to the country.

It is for this reason that what he indicates later in his statement, to the effect that detainees were not tortured after September 11, 1973, is not credible. Notwithstanding this, he also acknowledges that in the interrogations practiced by other Navy personnel, they overstepped with the detainees.

Regarding his service record, it must be kept in mind that the records are attached starting from the year 1972, but in relation to his assignments the following year, there is a note signed by the accused Riesco in December of that year that places him at the Naval War Academy.

By virtue of all these antecedents, it is concluded that the accused Jorquera Terrazas bears responsibility for the crime for which he was indicted and accused.

IV.- That JUAN ORLANDO JORQUERA TERRAZAS and JUAN DE DIOS REYES BASAUR, already identified in the case files, are sentenced as perpetrators of the crime of kidnapping with serious injury to the person of Marco Antonio Contardo Guerra, an event that occurred between the months of October and December 1973, in Valparaíso, to the penalty of FOUR YEARS of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree, with the accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for political rights and absolute disqualification for public offices and positions during the time of the sentence.

Source: Poder Judicial, April 30, 2019

They beat him and applied electric shocks: Navy members sentenced to six years of effective prison for kidnapping with serious injury of a minor

He was 14 years old and was in Santiago visiting his relatives. "A friend arrived to warn him that two members of the Communist Youth cell to which he belonged had been detained, and told him that his parents' house had been raided, and at the same time, they had left a summons in which they threatened not to release other young people who were his friends, so upon hearing this, he decided to return to Valparaíso." That was the beginning of the case investigated by the visiting judge of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Jaime Arancibia, in which he sentenced eight retired members of the Navy as perpetrators of the crime of kidnapping with serious injury of Óscar Ibaceta Jorquera, an adolescent of 14 years at the time of the events. The crime was perpetrated at the Silva Palma barracks in February 1974. In the civil aspect, the visiting judge accepted the lawsuit filed, ordering the state to pay compensation for damages of $85 million for moral damages to the victim. "He presented himself at the Navy's Naval War Academy and was immediately detained. After several hours, they transferred him to the Silva Palma Barracks, and before entering, they covered his face with the jacket he was wearing. Then came endless days of interrogations, kicks and punches, electric shocks to the testicles and different parts of the body. After 20 days, Ibaceta Jorquera was released, having to attend the Cerro Alegre police station every Sunday to sign in for eleven months. All of the above caused him serious psychological consequences, which are multiple and profound; it was difficult for him to return to his studies, since at that time he was in his first year of high school." In the ruling, Judge Arancibia Pinto sentenced Ricardo Alejandro Riesco Cornejo, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Juan Orlando Jorquera Terrazas, Alejo Esparza Martínez, Héctor Vicente Santibáñez Obreque, Jaime Segundo Lazo Pérez, Eduardo Mauricio Núñez Contreras, and Valentín Evaristo Riquelme Villalobos to six years of effective prison, plus legal accessories, as perpetrators of the crime. In the case, the visiting judge decreed the acquittal of Guillermo Tomás Morera Hierro, as his participation as a perpetrator in the crimes of kidnapping with serious injury and the application of torture to Ibaceta Jorquera was not proven.

Source: enestrado.com, September 4, 2020