José Andrés Meliquén Aguilera, a 44-year-old agricultural worker and father of 7, was detained on October 4, 1973, at approximately 07:30 in the morning at his home in Hijuela Santa Corina, Lautaro, by Carabineros and civilians traveling in a yellow pickup truck.

Witnesses to the detention included his wife, Mrs. Hilda Teresa Morales Jaque, their son Domingo Benedicto Meliquén Morales, who was only 12 years old at the time, and other relatives present in the home. The minor was intercepted by the hooded uniformed officers as he was leaving for school and was forced to return to the house.

On that same day, October 4, 1973, before proceeding to the detention of José Andrés Meliquén Aguilera, this same group of Carabineros and civilians had gone to Hijuela El Nogal, Calle del Medio, where they detained Sergio del Carmen Navarro Schifferli in the presence of his mother, Mrs.

Elisa Schifferli Lussinger (deceased), and his brother, Carlos Navarro Schifferli. Two of the individuals were recognized by the mother of the Navarro Schifferli brothers: Carabineros Domingo Campos Collao and Enrique Ferrier Valeze, from the Dollinco station in Lautaro.

Once Sergio Navarro Schifferli was detained, they proceeded to tie him up, forcing him to lie on the floor of the pickup truck, which was owned and driven by Elías Segundo Cuevas Aldea, a local farmer, before immediately departing for the home of José Andrés Meliquén Aguilera.

On that day, October 4, 1973, José A. Meliquén Aguilera was at home with his wife and children. Unexpectedly, there was a knock at the door; when asked who it was, they replied that they were the police and needed to speak with the victim.

Upon opening the door, Mrs. Hilda Morales Jaque encountered an armed individual wearing a Carabinero uniform and a balaclava, whom she could not identify. He forced the victim out of the house with his hands behind his head and made him walk toward the road.

Approximately twelve other heavily armed individuals then appeared, also wearing Carabinero uniforms and hoods. Mrs. Hilda Morales followed the group from a distance so as not to be seen and was able to observe them loading her husband into a yellow-canopied pickup truck, whose owner and driver she identified at that time as Elías Segundo Cuevas Aldea.

However, the victim's father, Mr. José Santos Meliquén Levinao (deceased), was able to identify the captors. A week after his son’s detention, he told one of the disappeared man's sisters, Ms. Ida del Carmen Meliquén Quilodrán, that he had seen the Carabineros with their "faces bare," without balaclavas or hoods, and that he was able to recognize them because they had visited the family's home on several previous occasions.

After detaining José A. Meliquén Aguilera, the group of Carabineros and civilians resumed their journey, returning toward Calle del Medio. They stopped at the house of a neighbor, Mrs. Sinforosa Avendaño, who lived alone with her grandchildren.

They stepped out for a moment, during which time the children were able to see five or six people detained and tied up in the back of the truck's cabin. Among them, they identified José Meliquén Aguilera, Sergio Navarro Schifferli, and another person known only by the nickname "Llanquito." One of the children recounted to Ms.

Ida Meliquén Quilodrán, sister of José Meliquén Aguilera, that the latter had begged him to untie him, saying they were going to kill him, and asked the child to bring him a knife to cut his bonds, which the child did not dare to do.

The day after the detention of José Andrés Meliquén Aguilera, his wife went to the Lautaro Carabinero Station and the Intendencia, where she was denied that her spouse had been detained. Days later, she returned to the Lautaro police unit, where she was informed that her husband had been detained but had since been released.

Mrs. Hilda Morales Jaque relates that they even showed her a book where a fingerprint appeared, which was supposedly her husband's—even though both he and she were illiterate—and the uniformed officers added that if he had not arrived home, it was "because he surely had gone off with another woman."

From that moment on, the trail of the detainees was lost. Through efforts made by their relatives, they were able to establish that they never arrived at either the Dollinco station or the Lautaro station.

It is necessary to highlight that on October 15, 1973, José Ignacio Beltrán Meliqueo, a cousin of José Andrés Meliquén Aguilera, was detained. His apprehension was carried out by the same Carabineros, Domingo Campos Collao and Enrique Ferrier Valeze, from the Dollinco or Las Tres Esquinas station in Lautaro, and like the previous victims, his whereabouts from that day forward remain unknown.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On August 13, 1990, Ms. Ida del Carmen Meliquén Quilodrán filed a complaint for presumed misfortune regarding her brother José Andrés Meliquén Aguilera, her cousin José Ignacio Beltrán Meliqueo, and Sergio Navarro Schifferli with the Criminal Court of the city of Lautaro, registered under No. 37.507.

The Court dispatched a broad order to investigate to the Investigations Prefecture of the Lautaro station. This request was answered by that agency on September 17, 1990, including the extrajudicial statements provided by the victims' relatives and the captors.

Thus, Mrs. Ida Meliquén Aguilera, in addition to ratifying what was stated in the complaint for presumed misfortune, added that, according to her father, Mr. José Santos Meliquén Levinao (deceased), he had recognized the pickup truck belonging to Elías Segundo Cuevas Aldea and that it was driven by the owner himself.

He also saw Carabineros Domingo Campos and Enrique Ferrier, as he was able to see them with their "faces bare," without balaclavas or hoods, and could recognize them because they had visited the Meliquén family home on several occasions.

Mrs. Hilda Teresa Morales Jaque, spouse of José Andrés Meliquén Aguilera, reiterated the circumstances of her husband's detention. She further added on that occasion that, based on comments from neighbors, she had learned that her husband had been killed and was in a grave located on the property of Mr. Pedro Roussel.

Years later, Mrs. Hilda Morales continued, she learned that Carabineros Domingo Campos and Enrique Ferrier of the Dollinco or Tres Esquinas station in Lautaro would brag about having participated in the detention and subsequent disappearance of her spouse, "since whenever they got drunk, they would tell it as an anecdote, laughing at what happened."

Carlos Antonio Navarro Schifferli also reiterated what was stated in the complaint for presumed misfortune, noting in his statement that, based on rumors, he suspected that the body of his brother, as well as those of the other people detained with him, had been buried on the farm owned by Mr.

Pedro Roussel, located 19 kilometers from the city of Lautaro. He noted that on one occasion, at night, he entered the farm and found a water well, but lacking the proper tools, he could do nothing. Carlos Navarro Schifferli continued, saying he also learned that José Andrés Meliquén Levinao’s father had gone to the same place and found bodies, but not that of his son, and returned them to the well.

Domingo Antonio Campos Collao, for his part, only ratified the fact that he was a Carabinero at the Lautaro station, but denied having had any participation in the detention and disappearance of these three victims.

It was not possible to locate Carabinero Enrique Ferrier Valeze, as according to his daughter, he was in the Argentine Republic and she did not know his date of return. When consulted, the National Headquarters of Immigration and International Police reported that he had no record of leaving the country.

The Investigations Prefecture of the Lautaro station further stated that they interviewed Mrs. Trinidad Gutiérrez Lastarria, spouse of Elías Eugenio Cuevas Aldea, who passed away in March 1987. She confirmed that in 1973, he did own a light yellow Chevrolet C-10 pickup truck, but she had no knowledge regarding her husband's possible participation in the disappearance of the victims.

The Investigating Officer in charge of the proceedings stated in the report that he had gone with Carlos Navarro Schifferli to the site where the latter presumed there were bodies, establishing that the place exists but without being able to materially verify the presence of bodies.

The declarants were summoned to the Court, where they ratified what they had stated to the Investigations unit on different occasions.

On November 20, 1990, Enrique Ferrier Valeze also appeared before the Court, acknowledging only that he was a Carabinero official and that in 1973 he served at the Lautaro station as a driver, claiming he did not know any of the three victims and had no participation in the investigated events.

On November 7, 1990, the Regional Head of the Legal Medical Service of the Ninth Region informed the Court that José Andrés Meliquén Aguilera, José Ignacio Beltrán Meliqueo, and Sergio Navarro Schifferli did not appear in their records.

The report noted that a large number of unidentified bodies had been admitted to that Service, upon which the corresponding autopsies were performed, and suggested providing physical details of each victim to assist in their identification.

On November 13, 1990, the Temuco Investigations Prefecture, Immigration and International Police Section, responded, reporting that none of these three victims had any travel records.

On October 31, 1990, the Judge ordered the Court to constitute itself at the Pedro Roussel property in order to inspect the grave and proceed with the excavation, appointing an expert anthropologist to analyze the materials extracted and report their nature to the Court.

On December 6, 1990, the Court constituted itself at the Santa Herminda farm to proceed with excavations. The work concluded on that date without positive results; that is, the bodies of José A. Meliquén Aguilera, José I. Beltrán Meliqueo, and Sergio Navarro Schifferli were not found, nor were there any human remains there.

On February 14, 1990, the summary was declared closed and a temporary dismissal was decreed, a resolution that was rejected on March 20 of the same year by the Temuco Court of Appeals, which considered the investigation incomplete and ordered the reopening of the summary.

The Court ordered, among other measures, that "an authorized photocopy of the relevant sections referring to José A. Meliquén Aguilera, José I. Beltrán Meliqueo, and Sergio Navarro Schifferli from the Report of the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation be added to the case file," and that the Commission be requested to send any information they might have collected regarding the named individuals.

It also ordered that the Vicaría de la Solidaridad be requested to do the same; that the General Directorate of Carabineros provide the names of those who composed the staff of the Quillén, Dollinco, or Tres Esquinas stations and the Lautaro station, as well as the service records of officials Domingo Campos Collao and Enrique Ferrier Valeze; and that confrontations be held between Mrs.

Hilda Morales Jaque, wife of José Andrés Meliquén Aguilera, and the aforementioned former Carabinero officials.

This confrontation took place on June 7, 1991. The complainant ratified what she had previously stated to the Court, to the effect that her husband's captors wore Carabinero uniforms and covered their faces with hats, so she could not see their faces, and that through comments from various people, she learned that Carabineros Campos and Ferrier were in the group.

For their part, both Domingo Campos Collao and Enrique Ferrier Valeze again denied having had any participation in the detention of the three victims.

On June 21, 1991, the complainant Ida Meliquén Beltrán submitted a written request for further proceedings to the Court, providing information. In it, she stated she had been informed that a farmer residing in Lautaro had allegedly found her brother, José Meliquén Aguilera, dead and floating in the river in 1973, and that out of charity, he had buried him somewhere in the vicinity of the same city, finding the body of another person whom he did not know, whom he also proceeded to bury.

She noted in the same document that the Investigations Police Inspector had been informed by a man named Emilio Campos that in 1973 he had found three bodies of people unknown to him, whom he had also buried.

Although the complete file of this case is not available and it remains in process, the fact remains that José Andrés Meliquén Aguilera continues to this day in the status of forcibly disappeared.

Three retired Carabineros officials must serve eighteen years in prison after being convicted of the crime of qualified kidnapping of two people, which occurred in Lautaro in October 1973, in the La Araucanía region.

In the civil sphere, the State must compensate the families of both victims for a total of 1.2 billion pesos, distributed according to a breakdown included in the sentence.

The minister on special assignment for human rights violation cases, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, with jurisdiction between Temuco and Puerto Montt, sentenced three retired Carabineros for their responsibility as authors of the qualified kidnapping of Sergio del Carmen Navarro Schifferli and José Andrés Meliquén Aguilera.

The 336-page sentence was issued against retired Carabinero commander Jorge Enrique Schweizer Gómez, currently 96 years old, and sergeants Domingo Antonio Campos Collao, 84, and Víctor Matus Vásquez, 86, as authors of the detailed crime, perpetrated on October 4, 1973, in the commune of Lautaro.

During the investigation phase, Minister Mesa was able to establish that the now-convicted men, after the military coup of September 1973, while serving at the 1st Lautaro Carabinero Station, arrived at the homes of both victims, located in the rural area of the commune, where they proceeded to detain them in the presence of their families, and their whereabouts remain unknown to this day.

In the civil sphere, Minister Mesa ordered the State to pay a total of 900 million pesos to the wife and children of José Andrés Meliquén Aguilera and 200 million pesos to the brother and nephew of Sergio Del Carmen Navarro Schifferli, totaling 1.1 billion pesos for moral damages resulting from the illicit act of qualified kidnapping, in its character as a crime against humanity.

Source: biobio.cl 7/28/2021 Date: 07-28-2021

Court issues indictment against four retired Carabineros for the crime of kidnapping two people in Lautaro

The events occurred in October 1973, and to this day, the victims remain in the status of forcibly disappeared.

The minister on special assignment for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of the Temuco, Valdivia, and Puerto Montt Courts of Appeal, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, issued an indictment against four retired Carabineros for their responsibility as authors of the qualified kidnapping of Sergio del Carmen Navarro Schifferli and José Andrés Meliquén Aguilera.

Minister Mesa indicted Jorge Enrique Schweizer Gómez, Marcial Edmundo Vera Ríos, Domingo Antonio Campos Collao, and Víctor Matus Vásquez as authors of the illicit act, perpetrated in October 1973, in Lautaro.

According to information provided by the investigation, a patrol of Carabineros from the 1st Lautaro Station went to the homes of Sergio del Carmen Navarro and José Andrés Meliquén, apparently without a judicial warrant, proceeding to detain each one in his respective home. To this day, there is no information regarding their destinations, and both remain in the status of forcibly disappeared.

Source: soychile.cl 2/20/2018 Date: 02-20-2018

Tribute held for victims of the dictatorship at the Lautaro memorial

At the memorial located on the same land where the La Concepción regiment was located until a few years ago, an artistic-cultural act was held this September 11 to remember the victims of the military regime in the commune of Lautaro and surrounding communes.

The act was led by Mayor Miguel Jaramillo, along with relatives of the forcibly disappeared and victims of political executions during the dictatorship.

This memorial remembers 46 victims of human rights violations, executed and forcibly disappeared, from Vilcún, Galvarino, Perquenco, Curacautín, Lonquimay, and Lautaro. A significant number of victims came from the Mapuche people.

For Mayor Miguel Jaramillo, commemorating the 41 years since the coup d'état in Chile has a special meaning in remembering the last words of former President Salvador Allende. "It makes sense to us today, as political authorities elected by the people, to work for social justice, for the dignity of workers, of the women and men of the countryside, for a better horizon for our youth and students," the mayor expressed.

For his part, Mario Campos, representative of the relatives of the Lautaro victims, assured that it is absolutely necessary to remember what happened in our country in 1973. "We do it with the desire to seek truth and justice, but also to say that this must never happen again in Chile," he indicated.

Those attending this act concluded the activity by placing a red carnation on the memorial that remembers the victims of the dictatorship in the commune of Lautaro.

Source: araucania.cl 9/12/2014 Date: 09-12-2014

Supreme Court sentences former Carabinero non-commissioned officer for the crime of two farmers in Lautaro in 1973

The Supreme Court rejected the appeal filed against the sentence that convicted former Carabinero non-commissioned officer Domingo Campos Collao for his responsibility in the crimes of qualified kidnapping of farmers Sergio del Carmen Navarro Schifferli and José Andrés Meliquén Aguilera. These crimes were committed in October 1973, in the commune of Lautaro.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 22.712-2022), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Manuel Antonio Valderrama, María Teresa Letelier, Jean Pierre Matus, María Cristina Gajardo, and lawyer Pía Tavolari—confirmed the sentence issued by the Temuco Court of Appeals, which sentenced Domingo Antonio Campos Collao to 12 years of effective prison time as an author of crimes against humanity.

In the first-instance ruling, former Carabinero officer Jorge Enrique Schweizer Gómez and former non-commissioned officer Víctor Matus Vásquez were also convicted of these crimes, but these criminals died during the course of the process.

In the first-instance sentence, the minister on special assignment for human rights violation cases of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, established that starting on September 11, 1973, at the 1st Lautaro Carabinero Station, the commanders in charge of the unit, including Major Jorge Enrique Schweizer Gómez and Captain Marcial Edmundo Vera Ríos (deceased), organized and coordinated a special group of Carabineros that included Juvenal Santiago Sanhueza Sanhueza (deceased), Enrique Ferrier Valeze (deceased), Mario Ponce Orellana (deceased), Domingo Campos Collao, and Víctor Matus Vásquez, among others. Under the orders of Lieutenant José Orlando Huerta Ávila (deceased), they collaborated with Army personnel from the La Concepción Regiment of Lautaro, carrying out joint patrols in the rural area under that police unit's jurisdiction, while also identifying the names and addresses of people who were subsequently detained and taken to the Station to be interrogated in different areas of that unit, or who were removed by this special group of Carabineros and military personnel to be taken to places unknown to this date.

Civilian participant in the hunt for people to detain

In that context, on the morning of October 4, 1973, a patrol of Carabineros from the 1st Lautaro Station, traveling in a private pickup truck owned by the civilian Elías Cuevas Aldea (deceased), a local landowner, proceeded to raid the home of Sergio del Carmen Navarro Schifferli, located in Hijuela El Nogal, Calle del Medio, 15 kilometers from the city of Lautaro.

Once Navarro Schifferli, a 37-year-old married farmer, was identified, they proceeded to remove him from inside his home, taking him away, supposedly to the aforementioned police unit.

Witnesses to the detention identified the owner and driver of the pickup truck as well as the members of the uniformed patrol: Second Sergeant Ferrier Valeze (deceased), personnel from the Dollinco station, and corporals Domingo Campos Collao and Víctor Matus Vásquez.

Another witness was able to see the moment the detainee was struck with the butts of the rifles carried by the patrol members, who loaded him into the back of the pickup truck after tying his hands, setting off in an unknown direction. Nothing has been heard since regarding the whereabouts of Sergio del Carmen Navarro Schifferli.

On the same day, October 4, 1973, the same patrol of Carabineros from the 1st Lautaro Station went to the home of José Andrés Meliquén Aguilera, a 44-year-old married agricultural worker residing in Hijuela Santa Corina, Lautaro, and proceeded to detain him.

Witnesses to the detention recognized the civilian owner and driver of the pickup truck, the aforementioned Elías Cuevas Aldea, but could not recognize the Carabineros who were members of the patrol because they had their faces covered by balaclavas.

The wife of Meliquén Aguilera went twice to the Lautaro Carabinero Station to ask about her husband, being denied the detention the first time; but on the second occasion, she was told that although her husband had been detained there, he was subsequently released.

As proof of this, they showed her a book where his name appeared with a fingerprint next to it. However, he has remained disappeared since that date.

by Darío Nuñez

Source: resumen.cl, November 5, 2024