José Manuel Ramírez Rosales, married, one child, 22 years of age, a militant of the MIR, was detained at one o'clock in the morning on July 27, 1974, at his home in the commune of La Granja by three individuals in civilian clothes who, posing as officials from the Investigations police, told the victim that they were taking him to the La Cisterna Investigations Station to provide some statements.

The agents, among whom Osvaldo Romo Mena was identified, were from the DINA, and at no time did they present a valid warrant or properly identify themselves. They took the victim away, telling his spouse, Nelly Berenguer, to go and ask for him at the aforementioned barracks.

His family immediately went to the facility, where they denied any knowledge of the events described. Despite the efforts and inquiries made, José Ramírez never returned home.

Days before the detention of José Ramírez, specifically on the 20th of the same month, cyclists Luis Guajardo Zamorano and Sergio Tormen Méndez had been detained by DINA agents; both were colleagues of the victim in the MIR.

Subsequent testimonies even indicated that Juan Ramírez had managed to replace Luis Guajardo in his responsibilities within the MIR. Furthermore, as reported by survivors of the DINA, the victim and the two aforementioned colleagues were seen by them at the facility on Calle Londres Nº38 and later at Villa Grimaldi, with their whereabouts becoming unknown in September 1974.

The three detainees remain in the status of forcibly disappeared to this day.

Following the detention, his family carried out various efforts to learn the situation and whereabouts of José Manuel Ramírez. Just two weeks after the events, in the first days of August 1974, José Berenguer, the victim's father-in-law, was on the street when a woman approached him who, after asking if he had a disappeared son-in-law and a seven-month-old grandson, informed him that José Ramírez was at Londres 38 and was being tortured; immediately after, the woman suddenly left the scene.

Subsequently, Nelly Berenguer presented a letter to the Head of the Military Junta of Chile, General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, in which she explained the situation experienced by her husband, herself, and their small 7-month-old son since the early morning of July 27, 1974.

In the letter, she indicated the irregularity of the detention and the procedures used by the DINA agents, and also requested that, in light of efforts by the government of Venezuela, he order the release of Juan Ramírez.

Although the letter reached its recipient, the victim was not released by the DINA, nor did the authorities ever explain to his family the reasons the aforementioned security agency had for kidnapping him and causing him to disappear.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On July 21, 1974, Nelly Berenguer filed a writ of Amparo (habeas corpus) which was entered into the Santiago Court of Appeals under case number 812-74. After consulting various administrative authorities, it was not until December 12 of that year that General Raúl Benavides, Minister of the Interior, reported that the victim was not being held by order of that department.

Eight months after the filing of the appeal, in March 1975, the Court rejected the appeal because, according to the authorities consulted (DINA, SENDET, Ministry of Defense, etc.), it could not be determined that the victim was being detained. The records were sent to the Criminal Court on duty.

In the 2nd Criminal Court of the Presidente Aguirre Cerda Court, the case for the alleged disappearance of the victim was initiated on March 18, 1975, filed under number 17.974, ordering an investigation and the appearance of Nelly Berenguer, who confirmed the facts of the filing before the investigating judge.

The judge declared himself incompetent and sent the case records to the 4th Court of La Granja, as the investigated events fell under its jurisdiction.

That court accepted jurisdiction and began the investigation of the case, which was filed under number 9.527, on April 30, 1975.

Following an order to investigate, the Investigations police informed the judge that inquiries made at emergency services, hospitals, detention centers, and administrative authorities provided no information regarding the victim's whereabouts.

On April 30, 1976, the Judge declared the summary proceedings closed and, given that "notwithstanding the investigation being exhausted" (SIC), in the Judge's opinion, the commission of the reported crime was not justified, he therefore temporarily dismissed the case. In June of the same year, the Court of Appeals confirmed the ruling.

In 1992, following the arrest of former DINA agent Osvaldo Romo Mena in Brazil, the spouse of José Manuel Ramírez, Nelly Berenguer, traveled to that country and, after several efforts, managed—with the authorization of the Brazilian judicial authorities, under whose custody Romo was held at the facilities of the 1st Federal Court of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil—on September 24, and in the presence of the judge, the Prosecutor General of the Republic, and the secretary of the aforementioned Court, to ask the agent some questions.

The agent acknowledged the detention and his subsequent transfer to the Londres 38 facility.

Romo Mena had been arrested in Brazil during proceedings ordered by the judge of the 3rd Criminal Court of Santiago, Ms. Gloria Olivares, in the case regarding the disappearance of Alfonso Chanfreau Oyarce.

The agent had moved to that country on instructions from the DINA at the end of 1975, a time when he had received countless judicial summons in cases of forcibly disappeared persons. The DINA not only instructed him to leave the country but also provided him and his family with false identity documents and the means for their subsistence and settlement.

In July 1992, Brazilian authorities ordered his arrest and, in November, his expulsion from that country.

In November 1992, the spouse of Ramírez Rosales filed a criminal complaint for kidnapping against the DINA agents, and in particular against Osvaldo Romo Mena. The case was filed in the 4th Criminal Court of the Presidente Aguirre Cerda Court and entered into processing under case number 9527.

On December 5 of that year, an indictment was issued against Romo Mena in the case. At the end of December 1992, the case was in the summary stage.

Source: (Corporation Report)

Santiago Court orders the Treasury to pay compensation to the siblings of a forcibly disappeared person.

The appellate court confirmed in all its parts the challenged ruling, issued by the Seventeenth Civil Court of Santiago, which ordered the payment of a total sum of $45,000,000 to the victim's siblings.

In a split decision, the Santiago Court of Appeals confirmed the sentence that accepted the lawsuit filed by the relatives of José Manuel Ramírez Rosales, who was detained and disappeared starting on July 27, 1974, in the Metropolitan Region.

The first-instance sentence maintains that, as stated previously, it is indisputable that when it comes to the reparation of human rights violations, the source of civil liability or the applicable statute cannot be found in our Civil Code, since the regulations for the regulation and protection of such rights are subsequent to our codification, and those contained therein were not conceived by Bello for the solution of contemporary problems, such as the one at hand, for which the development of new conceptions under the protection of International Law has emerged.

This, incorporated by virtue of Article 5 of our Political Constitution, is absolutely binding and mandatory.

The confirmed resolution adds that in the case sub lite, the disappearance of the plaintiffs' brother for political reasons constitutes, in fact, illegitimate activities carried out extrajudicially, outside the bounds of legality; therefore, it is a crime against humanity, which according to International Law through jus cogens norms, Customary Law, and Conventional Law, has been declared imprescriptible, without any distinction as to whether this refers to criminal or civil actions, and such an omission cannot be considered sufficient to interpret said normative body against its natural beneficiaries, which would be nothing less than contradicting its authentic history.

The decision was adopted with the dissenting vote of Justice Durán, who was of the opinion to accept the appeal filed by the Treasury of Chile and, consequently, revoke the first-instance ruling and dismiss the lawsuit, given that, in the present case, an action of a patrimonial nature has been exercised that seeks to enforce the extra-contractual liability of the State.

Therefore, there is no choice but to apply, in matters of prescription, the provisions of the Civil Code, as expressly mandated by Article 105, second paragraph, of the Penal Code. Furthermore, and since there are no normative bodies that establish the generic imprescriptibility of actions aimed at obtaining the recognition of the extra-contractual liability of the State or its institutional bodies, in their absence, it is appropriate to abide by the rules of common law, among which Article 2,497 of the Civil Code stands out, which states: "The rules relating to prescription apply equally in favor of and against the State, churches, municipalities, national establishments and corporations, and private individuals who have free administration of their property." Likewise, the rule contained in Article 2,332 of the aforementioned body of laws is applicable, so the action filed to obtain reparation for the damages caused was exercised when the four-year period established in the indicated precept had already expired in excess.

Source: DIARIOCONSTITUCIONAL.CL 9/5/2018 Date: 09-05-2018

CNCA pays tribute to artists who were victims of the dictatorship

Within the framework of the "Month of Memory," the National Council of Culture and the Arts held a tribute to artists who were victims of the military dictatorship, an act where the writer, Jorge Montealegre, presented his book "Eclipsed Memories. Mourning and community resilience in political imprisonment."

An emotional tribute to artists, cultural practitioners, and artisans who were victims of the dictatorship took place this Friday, September 9, in Valparaíso, at the extension center of the Council of Culture and the Arts (Centex).

The head of the Memory and Human Rights Unit of the National Council of Culture and the Arts, Francia Jamett Pizarro, highlighted the institution's role in observing symbolic reparation policies. "The celebration of commemorations and tributes to victims of human rights violations are part of the values and principles of the Council expressed in the 2011-2016 Cultural Policies.

This recognition of the artists who were victims of the dictatorship responds to an institutional commitment that seeks to highlight their lives and their works, and to build new narratives around symbolic reparation," the official expressed.

The writer, Jorge Montealegre, presented his book "Eclipsed Memories. Mourning and community resilience in political imprisonment," where he recounts how artistic and cultural creation, under the conditions of living in prisoner camps, allowed those who were incarcerated for political reasons to endure the ongoing human rights violations they suffered with greater dignity.

The "Month of Memory" cycle, organized by the CNCA, began last Friday, September 2, with a symbolic internal tribute to remember the legacy of Galia Díaz Riffo and Romina Irarrázabal Faggiani, officials who died five years ago in the Juan Fernández plane crash.

Source: cultura.gob.cl 9/09/2016 Date: 09-09-2016

The artists who were 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 and disappeared.

On September 11, the most painful stage we have ever lived began, caused by State agents and civilian accomplices. Today we commemorate 48 years of that tragedy that still mourns all of Chile.

More than three thousand people—men, women, children, and young people such as primary, secondary, and university students; pregnant women, the elderly, the visually impaired, and the disabled—were directly affected, and hundreds of thousands joined the category of relatives 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, artisans, textile workers, doctors, linotypists, dressmakers, secretaries, union and neighborhood leaders, municipal officials, public employees, railway workers, newspaper vendors, carpenters; peasant, mining, forestry, and construction workers; and engineers.

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

Some of their murderers and accomplices who are serving mild 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, the arts, and heritage, were victims of state terrorism.

Source: prensaopal.cl 9/08/2021