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José Lenin Morales Álvarez

Obrero — 31 years old.

Background

StatusValech-Rettig Commission Violation of Human Rights
DateOctober 6, 1973
Locationsan Bernardo, Santiago, RM Metropolitana
Age31 years old
OccupationObrero
AffiliationPC

Case summary

José Morales Álvarez, 31 years old, was a worker at the Maestranza de San Bernardo, a union leader, and a militant of the Partido Comunista. He was murdered on October 6, 1973, by members of the Army in San Bernardo. His death occurred alongside those of ten other workers and leaders from the same workshop, the majority of whom were also communist militants.

Automatically generated summary. Please consult the original sources below for verified information.

Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos[1]

On October 6, 1973, the following individuals were killed by members of the Ejército:

Héctor Enrique HERNANDEZ GARCES, 17 years old, a high school student at a school in Puente Alto and a sympathizer of the Juventudes Socialistas. He was arrested on September 27, 1973, at his home by military personnel who were tracking one of his friends, Francisco Viera.

Arturo KOYK FREDES, 48 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista. He was arrested in the early hours of September 28 at his home by the same military patrol that captured Mauricio Cea and Roberto Avila.

Alfredo ACEVEDO PEREIRA, 27 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

Raúl CASTRO CALDERA, 23 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

Hernán CHAMORRO MONARDES, 29 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

Manuel GONZALEZ VARGAS, 46 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

Adiel MONSALVES MARTINEZ, 41 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways, a union leader, and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

José MORALES ALVAREZ, 31 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways, Vice President of the Railway Workers' Council, and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

Pedro OYARZUN ZAMORANO, 36 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways, a union leader, and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

Joel Guillermo SILVA OLIVA, 37 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

Ramón VIVANCO DIAZ, 44 years old, a worker at the Maestranza San Bernardo of the railways and a militant of the Partido Comunista.

(Juan Guillermo Cuadra Espinoza, Gustavo Martínez Vera, and Carlos Ortiz Ortiz met the same fate; they had been arrested in Paine and taken to the Cerro Chena detention center. However, the situation affecting them is recounted in the section corresponding to the town of Paine.)

The eleven individuals mentioned above were arrested on September 28, 1973, by military personnel during an operation carried out at the Maestranza de Ferrocarriles in San Bernardo.

Javier Antonio PACHECO MONSALVE, 31 years old, a furniture maker and a member of the GAP for President Allende for a time; his wife, María Isabel Beltran Sánchez, is a forcibly disappeared person; he was a militant of the MIR. He was arrested on October 5 by military personnel.

All of the aforementioned individuals were executed on October 6, 1973, by members of the Ejército at the Cerro Chena detention center, by means of multiple gunshot wounds. Their deaths are recorded in death certificates, many of which list the Escuela de Infantería de San Bernardo as the place of death.

Regarding the case of Arturo Koyk, although his death certificate indicates the date of death as September 28, 1973, the Commission possesses evidence that allows it to confirm his death occurred alongside the railway personnel on October 6.

The families only learned of the deaths upon discovering their bodies at the Instituto Médico Legal. Some of the bodies were not recovered by their next of kin and were buried in Patio 29 of the Cementerio General.

Faced with the concerns of relatives and coworkers, military authorities in the area summoned a union assembly where they reported that those affected were participating in paramilitary activities and had attempted to escape from Cerro Chena, which had allegedly motivated the military to kill them.

On the other hand, witnesses who spoke with the workers while they were detained indicated that the workers had stated they were being accused of intending to blow up the gasometer or gas pipeline of the Maestranza, which would have implied the destruction of half of San Bernardo.

The Commission reached the conviction that the deaths of those affected constituted a case of human rights violations and could not accept the version provided to the families, based on the following considerations:

– There is no official document that supports the version of the escape given by the military overseer, nor is there any press information or judicial investigation to that effect. – The testimonies received by this Commission regarding the conditions in which the detainees were held at Cerro Chena also refute a possible escape.

Before arriving at the site, the detainees were blindfolded, remaining in that condition throughout their detention. Furthermore, the entire detention camp was surrounded by fences with barbed wire. The paths were bordered by small ditches into which the detainees often fell precisely because they could not see. – An escape attempt would have implied prior coordination among the victims, which was impracticable because the detained railway workers were not grouped together but distributed in different sectors of the facility. – The autopsy protocols confirm that all the victims died from the action of bullets, most of which were fired from a long distance and in an upward direction. This corroborates testimonies received by the Commission, which indicate that the victims were taken out of their cells and brought to the hill, where they were forced to climb while soldiers fired at them from behind. – All bodies were sent to the Instituto Médico Legal with the notation that they had been "found" at the Escuela de Infantería de San Bernardo. This Commission verified that there was no judicial process regarding the discovery of bodies at that facility.

This Commission reached the conviction that all the victims were executed outside of any legal process by agents of the State.

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References

  1. 1

How to cite this record

DondeEstan.cl (2026). José Lenin Morales Álvarez. Retrieved on June 4, 2026, from https://dondeestan.cl/record/jose-lenin-morales-alvarez. Original sources: Museum of Memory (https://interactivos.museodelamemoria.cl/victims/?p=1763).