On July 10, 1974, Communist militant Enrique Segundo TORO ROMERO was detained by DINA agents at his home in Villa Francia, in Maipú. On July 15, José Caupolicán VILLAGRA ASTUDILLO and Eduardo Enrique LARA PETROVIC were also detained; they were also residents of Villa Francia and both were politically linked to Enrique TORO and the PC.

José Villagra was detained at his home and was taken to the IRT company, where Eduardo Lara was subsequently detained.

There are several witnesses who attest to the presence of the three detainees at the DINA facilities at Londres 38 and later at Cuatro Álamos, the place from which they were forcibly disappeared.

The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of State agents, who thereby violated their human rights.

José Caupolicán Villagra Astudillo, married, father of 3, a municipal worker, was detained on July 15, 1974, around 8:30 PM, by DINA agents who appeared at his home and were traveling in a light blue and cream-colored Chevrolet C-10 pickup truck without license plates.

Among the agents was Osvaldo Romo Mena. Witnesses to the events included his spouse, his children, and several neighbors. That same day, Eduardo Lara Petrovich was detained at his workplace, the I.R.T. company, and taken by his captors to his home located in the Villa Francia neighborhood. Subsequently, after the arrest of Villagra Astudillo, both were taken to Londres 38.

One week earlier, Enrique Toro Romero had been detained in that same neighborhood; he also remains in the status of forcibly disappeared. All three belonged to the neighborhood's Christian Community.

The amparo (habeas corpus) appeal filed on behalf of the victim contains statements from the priest Mariano Puga, from Ms. Juana de las Mercedes Cabezas Pacheco, and from Mr. Patricio Lara Ugas—son of Eduardo Lara—all residing in the Villa Francia neighborhood, who were witnesses to the DINA operation in that area, which culminated in the arrest of José Villagra and Lara Petrovich.

The victim's spouse, Ms. Rosa Irene Peñailillo Núñez, stated in the amparo appeal that on the day of the events, around 5:30 PM, 5 plainclothes subjects arrived at her home and asked for her husband; as he was not present, they waited for him to arrive, which occurred around 8:30 PM.

The civilians told her they were taking him into custody so he could "talk to Eduardo Lara Petrovich," a neighbor from the same area who was also being held. Ms. Gladys Susana de Los Angeles, who lived in Villa Francia, also provided a sworn statement regarding the same events.

On July 23, the priest Mariano Puga Concha was detained by the DINA. The parish priest of the Cristo Liberador Parish in Villa Francia appeared on June 7, 1979, before the 8th Criminal Court, case file No. 11.273, initiated due to the detention and subsequent disappearance of Jaime Buzio Lorca.

In his judicial testimony, he stated that after being detained, he was taken, tied up and blindfolded, to a place he assumes was Villa Grimaldi, where he remained for one day, and was then taken to 4 Alamos, where he remained held incommunicado.

He was kept there for about 3 days before being taken to Londres 38, from where he was removed to be released at the home of Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez. At Villa Grimaldi, he was intensely interrogated regarding 3 detainees from his community: Enrique Toro Romero, Eduardo Lara, and José Villagra Astudillo.

His interrogators wanted him to tell them the political affiliation of these individuals. At 4 Alamos, one of the detainees held there told him that in one of the cells, the names of 4 detained people were written on the window frame: the 3 already identified, and the fourth corresponding to Ramón Rojas, also from Villa Francia, who, after being detained for about 4 months, went into exile.

Ms. Rosa Peñailillo made numerous efforts to locate her spouse. In one instance, in a letter sent to the Headquarters of the State of Siege Zone of the Province of Santiago, she received a response from Colonel Hernán Ramírez Ramírez, indicating that he had made arrangements with the National Secretariat for Detainees (SENDET) regarding "the request to lift the incommunicado status of her husband," and that said Headquarters had no jurisdiction over SENDET.

With this information, she went to that agency, where both Commander Correa and Lieutenant Cienfuegos informed her, after checking a file in front of her, that José Caupolicán Villagra Astudillo was being held by the DINA and that they could do nothing because the DINA was a completely separate and autonomous agency, that they reported when they wanted to, and that they could not force them to report, even at gunpoint.

Despite this information, there was never an official acknowledgment of the detention, and his family still does not know what fate he met at the hands of the DINA.

It should be noted that the testimony of former detainee Oscar Armando Alfaro Córdova indicates that he noticed the presence of Lara Petrovich and Toro Romero at Londres 38.

In July 1975, his name appeared on a list of 119 people who had allegedly died in Argentina in clashes between ultra-leftist groups or in combat with the Argentine Armed Forces. The magazines that published this list, "LEA" from Argentina and "O'DIA" from Brazil, published a single issue without a responsible editor, and their addresses listed as the printer's imprint turned out to be false.

This information was denied by Argentine and Brazilian authorities, who stated they had no knowledge of the reported events. Faced with this evidence, the Chilean military government had to acknowledge that there was no record of the deaths nor that these people had left the country.

The individuals on this list share the commonality of having been detained by Chilean security services, especially the DINA, and remaining in the status of disappeared since their detention.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On July 16, 1974, Ms. Rosa Peñailillo Núñez, together with the spouses of the other detainees, filed an amparo appeal (case file No. 755-74) before the Santiago Court of Appeals on behalf of Villagra Astudillo, Lara Petrovich, and Toro Romero, in which they set forth the sequence and circumstances of the detentions.

On July 17, the Court requested the corresponding report from the Ministry of Defense, and after the Tribunal reiterated the respective official letters 3 times, that Secretariat reported on November 21, attaching official letters from SENDET, that the individuals in question had not been placed at the disposal of the Military Justice system and that there were no records regarding the named persons.

On January 15, 1975, the Aviation Court responded in similar terms. At the end of January 1975, the Ministry of the Interior and the Headquarters of the State of Siege Zone reported having no records of the individuals.

On February 14, 1975, the petitioner Rosa Irene Peñailillo delivered to the Court the original response she had received from Col. Hernán Ramírez Ramírez, Chief of Staff of the Headquarters of the State of Siege Zone, in which he instructed her to go to SENDET to arrange for the lifting of her spouse's incommunicado status, and she brought to the Court's attention the information she had received at SENDET to the effect that the victim was in the power of the DINA.

Likewise, the statements of Mariano Puga Concha, Juana Cabezas Pacheco, Patricio Lara Ugas, Rosa Irene Peñailillo, and Gladys de los Angeles—all witnesses to the arrest of Villagra Astudillo and Lara Petrovich—were added to the amparo.

In light of the new information, the Court requested reports from the DINA, an agency that on March 10, 1975, told the Tribunal that the respective reports should be requested from the Ministry of the Interior or SENDET. On April 2, the Ministry of the Interior reported that it had no records of the individuals.

On April 4, 1975, based solely on the reports from the administrative authority, the Court of Appeals rejected the appeal, and despite the fact that the affected parties had been disappeared for more than 8 months, the Court did not forward the records to the competent Criminal Court to initiate a summary investigation into the matter.

On March 30, 1979, the Supreme Court forwarded the records of forcibly disappeared persons corresponding to that jurisdiction to the Third Criminal Court of Santiago, in order to open a summary investigation and investigate the possible crimes committed in the disappearance of the victims.

This resolution followed a presentation by the Bishops to the Supreme Court and the Executive Branch, which led to the appointment of several Visiting Ministers in different courts of the country and the initiation of summary investigations in various courts.

In the specific case of José Villagra Astudillo, the highest Tribunal forwarded the amparo appeal 755-74, which includes Toro Romero and Lara Petrovich. On July 26, 1979, the Third Criminal Court initiated case file No. 130.923.

In the investigation order carried out by the Investigative Police, Ms. Rosa Peñailillo was interviewed; she described one of the captors and identified him as Osvaldo Romo Mena, whom she located in one of the photographs shown to her by a Minister investigating the events when she appeared to testify before him in April 1979.

She also added that a former detainee named Juan Machuca saw her son at Londres 38. The Investigative Service added in its report that other inquiries carried out yielded no results. For its part, the Tribunal requested information from the various health care centers in the capital and ordered the various Investigative Prefectures of the country to ascertain the whereabouts of the victim.

All these efforts were fruitless.

On September 23, 1982, Judge Carmen Canales Lavín temporarily dismissed the case on the grounds that the evidence gathered in the files did not prove the crime being investigated. To this date, José Caupolicán Villagra Astudillo remains in the status of forcibly disappeared.

On November 20, 1992, his spouse filed a criminal complaint for the kidnapping of José Caupolicán Villagra against DINA agents, specifically against Osvaldo Romo Mena. Said case was entered into the 3rd Criminal Court of Santiago and was processed under file No. 130.923; as of December 1992, it was in the summary stage.

The filing of this new complaint is related to the detention that same month of the former DINA agent Osvaldo Romo Mena, who had been located in Brazil, where he had been living since 1975 under a false identity.

His location, through efforts carried out by the Chilean Investigative Service in the case of the disappearance of Alfonso Chanfreau Oyarce, processed by Judge Gloria Olivares of the 3rd Criminal Court of Santiago, led first to his arrest and then to his expulsion from Brazilian territory.

Upon his arrival in Chile, he was detained by the justice system; he was wanted in several cases involving forcibly disappeared persons. As of December 1992, agent Romo had 7 indictments against him, one of which was issued on November 26 in the case of the forcibly disappeared José Caupolicán Villagra Astudillo.

"Villa Francia Three: Testimonies on its Forcibly Disappeared" (BOOK)

"Villa Francia Three: Testimonies on its Forcibly Disappeared" by Luis Morales, which includes the cases of Eduardo Lara, Enrique Toro, and José Villagra, all residents of Villa Francia and victims of Londres 38.

LUIS MORALES HERRERA

Source: archivodigital.londres38.cl 10/4/2019 Date: 10-04-2019

Archival History

José Caupolicán Villagra Astudillo was born on November 6, 1933, in San Felipe. Married, three children, he completed his studies at the Public School for Men No. 1 in the same city. In 1966, he participated in the formation of the first union at the Jadue textile industry, where he worked as a laborer, and in 1970 he began working for the Municipality of Santiago.

A militant of the MIR and a member of the Christian community of Villa Francia, he was part of the Political-Military Group (GPM) 4, a territorial structure corresponding to the communes of Maipú, Cerrillos, Villa Francia, and the José María Caro neighborhood.

During the time of the Popular Unity, he participated in various actions in Villa Francia, such as the organization of the Popular Supply Center and the seizure of collective buses, and after the coup d'état, he was part of the resistance along with dozens of other residents.

On July 15, 1974, at the age of 40, he was detained at his home by DINA agents and forcibly taken along with Eduardo Enrique Lara Petrovich to Londres 38. Days before this occurred, on July 10, Enrique Segundo Toro Romero had already been arrested. These three individuals, all members of the Christian Community of Villa Francia, remain disappeared.

In July 1975, all three names were incorporated into the disinformation campaign known as the list of the 119.

On August 9, 2008, a memorial was inaugurated in Villa Francia in honor of 15 residents who were forcibly disappeared and victims of political executions by the military dictatorship, including Villagra, Lara, and Toro.

He remains disappeared.

Pablo Villagra Peñailillo, Social Communicator, a 15-year-old son. He was 6 years old in July 1974, the date of the detention and disappearance of his father: José Villagra Astudillo, a militant of the MIR.

Pablo focuses his account on the changes caused within the paternal family, where silence was chosen in the face of fear of social stigma. His mother dedicated herself entirely to the search for his father, which deepened the loss. His memories of his father are diffuse. He recognizes in the priest Mariano Puga a paternal figure due to the advice he received during his adolescence.

Source: archivodigital.londres38.cl 2007

Press

Supreme Court sentences 30 former DINA agents for three other victims of Operation Colombo

The Supreme Court sentenced 30 agents of the defunct National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for their responsibility in the crimes of aggravated kidnapping of three members of the Christian community of Villa Francia, committed in July 1974 in the communes of Estación Central and San Joaquín, in Santiago.

The three victims of the criminal action were the State Railways worker Enrique Segundo Toro Romero, 28 years old; the mechanical worker Eduardo Enrique Lara Petrovich, 35 years old; and the municipal worker José Caupolicán Villagra Astudillo, 40 years old, who were included in the so-called "Operation Colombo."

In a unanimous ruling (case file 3.739-2019), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Haroldo Brito, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, Leopoldo Llanos, and minister María Teresa Letelier—rejected the cassation appeals filed by the convicted individuals and confirmed the sentence handed down in December 2018 by the Seventh Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals, which sentenced the former Army officers and former DINA leaders César Raúl Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, and Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann to 15 years and one day in prison as authors of the crimes.

Meanwhile, former Carabineros officer Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, former Army officer Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, and agents Hermon Helec Alfaro Mundaca, José Enrique Fuentes Torres, Julio José Hoyos Zegarra, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, Hiro Álvarez Vega, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica, Enrique Tránsito Gutiérrez Rubilar, Hugo del Tránsito Hernández Valle, Manuel Rivas Díaz, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos, Víctor Manuel Molina Astete, Fernando Enrique Guerra Guajardo, Olegario Enrique González Moreno, Lautaro Eugenio Díaz Espinoza, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Carlos Alfonso Sáez Sanhueza, Juan Alfredo Villanueva Alvear, Alfredo Orlando Moya Tejeda, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, Leonidas Emiliano Méndez Moreno, and Hernán Patricio Valenzuela Salas must serve 10 years and one day in prison.

In the judicial investigation and the first-instance sentence, handed down by the visiting minister Hernán Crisosto Greisse, it was established that on the night of July 10, 1974, Enrique Segundo Toro Romero, affiliated with the Communist Party, was detained at his home on Guillermo Saavedra Street 5440, in Villa Francia, in the commune of Estación Central, by DINA agents who placed him in the back of a pickup truck and took him to the clandestine detention center known as 'Yucatán' or 'Londres 38.' Subsequently, he was taken to the clandestine detention center known as 'Cuatro Álamos,' located at 3000 Canadá Street, in Santiago, facilities guarded by armed guards and to which only DINA agents had access.

Likewise, the kidnapping of Eduardo Lara Petrovich, also affiliated with the Communist Party, occurred on the afternoon of July 15, 1974, at his workplace at 'Industria IRT,' located at Av. Vicuña Mackenna No. 3333, commune of San Joaquín.

He was detained by DINA agents who placed him in the back of a Chevrolet C-10 pickup truck and took him to the aforementioned clandestine detention center 'Yucatán' or 'Londres 38.' At a later date, they took him to the clandestine center 'Cuatro Álamos.'

Finally, in the case of José Caupolicán Villagra Astudillo, a militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), on the afternoon of July 15, 1974, he was detained at his home on Luis Infante Cerda Street No. 5447, in Villa Francia, in the commune of Estación Central, by DINA agents.

He was likewise taken to the clandestine detention and torture center known as 'Yucatán' or 'Londres 38,' and at a later date, they also took him to the clandestine center 'Cuatro Álamos.'

In both clandestine detention centers, the three detainees remained in a state of kidnapping, without contact with the outside world, blindfolded, tied up, and continuously subjected to interrogations under torture with the purpose of obtaining information regarding members of their political groups and the Christian community.

The last time Enrique Toro Romero, Eduardo Lara Petrovich, and José Villagra Astudillo were seen alive by other surviving prisoners was on an undetermined day in the month of July or August 1974; they remain forcibly disappeared to this day.

Disinformation maneuvers

At the time, the DINA mounted the so-called "Operation Colombo" intended to cover up the detention and final destination of the kidnapped victims, making them appear as dead abroad as a result of internal disputes among members of the leftist organizations fighting against the dictatorship. "Operation Colombo" included the names of 119 kidnapped detainees in publications created expressly for that purpose abroad and reproduced with criminal enthusiasm by the Chilean press of the time.

The names of Enrique Segundo Toro Romero and José Caupolicán Villagra Astudillo, along with 58 other people, appeared on a list published in the magazine Novo O’Día of Curitiba, Brazil, dated June 25, 1975, which mentioned that they had died in Argentina.

The name of Eduardo Enrique Lara Petrovich appeared on the list of 119 people, published in the Chilean press, after appearing, along with 59 other people, on a list published in the magazine 'LEA' of Argentina, dated June 25, 1975, which reported that he had died in that country.

Another murder: Cedomil Lausic

In another human rights criminal case, the Supreme Court confirmed the sentence that condemned former DINA leaders and former Army officers Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko and Rolf Gonzalo Wenderoth Pozo, and agent Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, to 10 years and one day in prison for their responsibility as authors of the crime of political execution of the agricultural technician Cedomil Lucas Lausic Glasinovic, perpetrated in April 1975, at the clandestine detention center Villa Grimaldi, in Santiago.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 44.105-2020), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Haroldo Brito, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, Leopoldo Llanos, and the acting lawyer Ricardo Abuauad—ruled out any error of law in the sentence and rejected the cassation appeal filed by the defense of DINA agent and former Carabineros officer Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández against the sentence handed down by the Sixth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals in January 2020.

In the judicial investigation, it was established that the agricultural technician Cedomil Lucas Lausic Glasinovic, a militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), 28 years old, was detained at his home on Carlos Cariola Street No. 6375, commune of Cerrillos, on April 3, 1975, by DINA agents, and then taken to the Villa Grimaldi barracks.

In that facility, he was locked up and interrogated under torture to, according to survivor testimonies, "soften him up" and force him to reveal to his captors the contact for a high-ranking MIR leader.

Lausic argued the need to go out to the street to carry out that meeting, a matter that did not materialize; on the contrary, he took the opportunity to attempt to escape. The escape attempts did not succeed, and he was recaptured. Taken back to the clandestine torture center, he was subjected to a brutal and inhuman beating with chains in the courtyard of the facility.

The criminal retaliation was led by the leader Marcelo Morén Brito (now deceased) and executed with cruelty by those now convicted. At the end of these tortures, Cedomil Lausic was taken in an agonizing state to a cell, where he remained for days until he finally passed away.

Subsequently, as a result of the incessant search by his relatives after his detention, his remains were found at the Legal Medical Service of Santiago.

Source: resumen.cl 22/10/2022 Date: 22-10-2022

36 former agents of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile sentenced

More than 32 former agents were sentenced to 10 years for their involvement in the disappearance of hundreds of members of the Communist Party of Chile.

The Santiago Court of Appeals in Chile sentenced 36 former agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) this Monday for their participation in the forced disappearance and crimes against humanity of hundreds of opposition leaders of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990).

At least 32 former agents were sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison for their involvement in the disappearance of hundreds of members of the Communist Party, the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), and activists of the Christian community of Villa Francia in Santiago, the capital.

The former DINA police officers Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, César Manríquez Bravo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, and Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo were identified as the material authors of the torture and murder of the three activists, for which their sentence is longer.

They were sentenced to 15 years and one day in prison for the kidnapping and murder of three opposition leaders to the Pinochet dictatorship: Enrique Segundo Toro Romero, Eduardo Enrique Lara Petrovich, and José Caupolicán Villagra Astudillo in 1974.

Likewise, the Court of Chile ordered the payment of some 800,000 dollars (540,000,000 Chilean pesos) in compensation to the families of the victims of the case.

Romero, Petrovich, and Astudillo were held by DINA forces, subsequently remained in various torture and extermination centers set up in the country, and finally disappeared in July 1974, according to the testimony of surviving prisoners of the dictatorship.

Meanwhile, 68 former DINA agents have been sentenced in this last week for their involvement in crimes against humanity during the Pinochet military regime, in which an estimated 3,200 people died.

Source: telesurtv.net 10/12/2018 Date: 10-12-2018