On August 23, 1974, José Orlando FLORES ARAYA, 19 years old, a student at the Escuela Industrial de Maipú, was detained. A teacher from the school and a friend of the victim were also detained for their participation in the PC. The latter were subsequently released.

This Commission has received reliable testimony that the victim was taken to "Venda Sexy," where he was confronted with a witness. He was later transferred to Villa Grimaldi, from where all trace of him was lost.

The relevant authority, in official communications addressed to the courts, denied the detention on several occasions. In 1977, however, and also by means of an official communication, it acknowledged that the arrest of José Flores had been carried out by a member of the Ejército "on the merits of evidence linking the protected person to subversive activities of the outlawed MIR." It also added, in that same communication, that "there is no detention center known as Villa Grimaldi."

Given the falsehoods contained in the official information and based on the merits of the testimony received, this Commission has formed the conviction that the victim disappeared due to the actions of State agents, who thereby violated his human rights.

José Orlando Flores Araya, 19 years old, single, a high school student and communist militant, was detained on Friday, August 23, 1974, at approximately 10:30 a.m. by a military patrol that arrived at the "4 Alamos" Industrial School in Maipú.

Once inside the educational facility, the uniformed men, under the command of Lieutenant Haroldo Latorre Sánchez—assigned to the Army Non-Commissioned Officers School and, at the time, Educational Chief of the Maipú schools—proceeded to call a group of students to the school's General Inspectorate.

There, their records were checked, and the victim was informed that he was being detained for political reasons, as he would later be accused of carrying a list to raise funds for the Communist Party. José Flores was taken from his school in the presence of the student body, the General Inspector, and the Director.

That same day, a former student of the establishment, Miriam Vega Alfaro, and the "Internal Combustion" teacher, José Alfaro Acuña, were also detained. In the 4th-year "A" course logbook for 1974, the following was written in the student file of José Orlando Flores Araya: "August 23, 1974, Lieutenant Haroldo Latorre removes the student for interrogation." The note is signed by the then-Director of the Maipú Industrial School, Mr.

Luis Figueroa. From the educational facility, José Flores was transported by the military to the Army Non-Commissioned Officers School located at Blanco Encalada Nº1550. He was admitted there without being registered in the unit's Guard Logbook, which was under the charge of Lieutenant Patricio Fuentes Brunetti.

The latter would later testify before the Prosecutor of the 1st Military Prosecutor's Office of Santiago that his duties were completely independent of those held by Department II or the "Security Service," and for this reason, the mandatory record of the victim's detention was not entered in the respective logbook.

At approximately 1:30 p.m. that day, Lieutenants Haroldo Latorre and Hernán Sánchez raided José Flores's home and informed his mother that he was under arrest. After being admitted to the facility, where he was recognized by teacher José Tomás Alfaro Acuña, José Flores was interrogated and subjected to duress by Lieutenant Hernán Ramírez Hald, Chief of Department II of the Army Non-Commissioned Officers School; that same night, he would hand him over to the DINA, without his release being recorded in the military unit's logbook.

DINA agents transported both detainees to the Villa Grimaldi facility, along with the aforementioned teacher. José Alfaro remained there until August 29, 1974, during which time he was able to hear the victim's voice and his name on the prisoners' list; he was later transferred to the "Tres Alamos" prisoner camp without knowing anything further about José Flores.

He was subsequently released and provided his testimony regarding the victim to the justice system. It is necessary to highlight two important facts that occurred after the victim's detention at his high school.

The first occurred two days later, on August 24, 1974, when his mother, Lidia Araya, went to the aforementioned military facility, and the Guard Corporal indicated that her son had been taken away by DINA agents the previous night.

The second fact occurred on August 26, 1974, when a DINA agent arrived at José Flores's house to raid it, informing his mother that her son was being held by the National Intelligence Directorate; the individual left, taking some of the victim's belongings with him.

José Flores Araya currently remains in the status of forcibly disappeared after DINA agents removed him from the Army Non-Commissioned Officers School and transferred him to the "Villa Grimaldi" facility, where his trail was lost.

Judicial and/or Administrative Actions

On August 27, 1974, Mrs. Lidia Araya filed a Writ of Amparo (Habeas Corpus), under case file Nº998 74, on behalf of her son José Flores before the Santiago Court of Appeals. Subsequently, on November 11 of the same year, she withdrew the appeal.

On the 12th of that month, she filed a complaint for the presumed disappearance of her son before the 7th Criminal Court of Santiago, with the case registered under Nº76.453. On March 31, 1977, a new Writ of Amparo was filed before the Court of Appeals, case file Nº137 77, which was dismissed on May 13 of that year based on a report from the Ministry of the Interior, which stated that there were no records of the victim's detention.

The resolution was confirmed by the Supreme Court on June 21 of the same year. In December 1974, after the complaint for the presumed disappearance of the victim (case Nº76.453) was initiated, various individuals linked to the investigated events appeared before the Investigating Judge, including Luis Figueroa Márquez, then-Director of the Maipú Industrial School, and Army Lieutenants Haroldo Latorre and Hernán Ramírez, both implicated in the detention, interrogation, and subsequent disappearance of the victim.

On January 21, 1975, a complaint for the victim's presumed disappearance was filed with the Court, which, along with being registered under Nº76.648, was consolidated with the current case. Both the National Executive Secretariat for Detainees (SENDET) and the Ministry of the Interior informed the Court in June 1975 that they had no records of José Flores Araya.

On June 2, 1976, the former teacher of the Maipú Industrial School, José Alfaro Acuña, who was detained on the same day as the victim, testified before the Judge of the 7th Criminal Court of Santiago. On that occasion, the witness affirmed having seen José Flores at the Army Non-Commissioned Officers School and subsequently at the DINA facility in Villa Grimaldi, until August 29, 1974, the date on which he was transferred to the Tres Alamos Prisoner Camp.

Despite the evidentiary records of the victim's detention, on October 4, 1976, the Judge ordered the closure of the summary proceedings and the dismissal of the case on the grounds that the existence of a crime had not been proven.

The Santiago Court of Appeals approved the resolution of the 7th Criminal Court Judge. On January 10, 1979, the case was reopened to the summary stage, and the dismissal was set aside. On July 20, 1979, it was resolved that the processing of the case would continue under the Visiting Judge Servando Jordán, appointed by the Santiago Court of Appeals to investigate cases of forcibly disappeared persons within his jurisdiction, with a series of investigative steps ordered by Judge Jordán.

On July 25, 1979, Colonel Mario Navarrete Barriga, Director of the Army Non-Commissioned Officers School, informed the Visiting Judge that "there is no record that the citizen José Flores Araya was detained in this Unit." On August 30, 1979, the victim's mother filed a criminal complaint for the crimes of kidnapping or detention of her son before the Visiting Judge.

On September 4, the complaint was added to case file Nº76.453 handled by Judge Jordán. During the month of October 1979, some of the victim's former classmates appeared before the Visiting Judge and confirmed the detention of José Flores by military personnel.

On October 25, 1979, the Criminal Judge of Taltal refuted the information provided by the Chilean Investigative Police regarding the claim that the victim had been detained and prosecuted in that court in March 1970, along with an "extremist cell," for an assault on the Governorate, the Mayor's Office, and other public services in the aforementioned city.

On November 2, 1979, Visiting Judge Servando Jordán determined that the detention of José Flores by Army Lieutenant Haroldo Latorre Sánchez at the "Cuatro Alamos" Industrial School in Maipú had been reliably established, and that he was subsequently transported by military personnel to the Army Non-Commissioned Officers School.

The ruling adds "that although the uniformed men maintain that the aforementioned Flores Araya was released after his stay at the Non-Commissioned Officers School, the truth is that there is no concrete evidence whatsoever, coming from that Military Institute, regarding the alleged release of the detainee." Having established the detention and not having proven the release, the Judge deemed it possible that personnel with military jurisdiction participated in the offenses committed, particularly Lieutenant Latorre.

Therefore, the ruling states, the Extraordinary Visit lacks the jurisdiction to continue processing the case, which must be referred to the 2nd Military Court for its consideration. On December 7, 1979, the Military Judge of the 2nd Army Division accepted the jurisdiction declined by the 7th Criminal Court of Santiago, ordering a summary investigation to be initiated in the 1st Military Prosecutor's Office dependent on the aforementioned Institutional Court, registered under Nº878 79.

Summoned to testify, the then-promoted Army Captain Haroldo Latorre indicated on February 8, 1980, before the Military Prosecutor, that he had indeed detained the victim and a teacher from the school on the indicated day, adding that he subsequently handed him over to his Unit and that the detainee was left under the responsibility of Lieutenant Hernán Ramírez "who, apparently, would have handed them over to the National Intelligence Directorate, DINA." He concluded his statement by affirming that he had no knowledge that the victim had been released after being detained.

The promoted Army Major Hernán Ramírez testified on March 25, 1980, before the Prosecutor, that he had indeed interrogated the victim, regarding which he could not report anything "due to secrecy," adding that he had to do so as he was the chief of Department II of the Non-Commissioned Officers School (the Intelligence Department existing in all military units).

In October 1980, the Minister of the Interior, Sergio Fernández, informed the Prosecutor that he had not issued any resolution affecting José Flores. On October 27, 1980, Army Colonel Fernando Arancibia Reyes, Vice Director of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), informed the Prosecutor that, after reviewing the DINA files in his agency's possession, it was verified that the detention of the victim was not recorded.

Summoned to testify again, Major Hernán Ramírez stated in August 1981 that "there was no written order to detain, or rather to interview, Flores Araya." On May 8, 1982, the Prosecutor indicated that the victim had indeed been detained by the then-Army Lieutenant Haroldo Latorre Sánchez; however, it had not been possible to prove the participation of any uniformed officer or member of the DINA in the presumed disappearance of José Flores, and therefore the commission of a crime was not justified, leading to a request for a temporary dismissal of the case.

On May 24, the Judge of the 2nd Military Court of Santiago approved the consulted resolution. Upon appeal of said ruling, the Martial Court confirmed the resolution of the Institutional Courts. A complaint appeal filed by the plaintiff before the Supreme Court against the First Military Prosecutor's Office of Santiago was denied by the highest court.

Among other efforts made by the victim's family was a letter addressed to the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Head of the Military Junta, Captain General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, which did not yield positive results.

Video testimony of the father of José Orlando Flores Araya Case of José Flores Araya available on youtube.com

Source: LABATALLA.CL 2017

Press

Owner of school in Maipú "funado" (protested)

Nearly 500 protesters arrived on Friday, May 30, at the Colegio Instituto O´Higgins in Maipú to denounce Colonel (R) Haroldo Latorre Sánchez, owner and rector of the establishment, who in 1974 detained a student from the Polytechnic High School of that same commune.

The Institute operates at the corner of Avenida Pajaritos and Tristán Valdés; its phone number is 531 1849. "We are all José Flores! We are all José Flores!" shouted the hundreds of young people in unison as they marched from the Maipú plaza to the Instituto O´Higgins, while dozens of students watched in astonishment and disbelief from inside the facility.

The march had begun a few minutes after five in the afternoon, when a banner was unfurled accusing Latorre of the disappearance of this 18-year-old student, heading north along Avenida Pajaritos, led by a young woman carrying a Chilean flag and two young men dressed in black representing a persecution, with the typical background sound of drums, whistles, and the chant: "Ole, ole, ole, ola.

Ole, ole, ole, ola. Like the Nazis, it will happen to them, wherever they go, we will protest them." August 8, 2005 – La Nacion

Judge issues 14 indictments for aggravated kidnapping at Villa Grimaldi

A total of fourteen former agents of the military regime were indicted for the crime of aggravated kidnapping, in the context of human rights violations committed at the Villa Grimaldi detention center in the Metropolitan Region.

The resolution was adopted this Monday by Visiting Judge Alejandro Solís, as part of the investigation he is conducting into the disappearance of eight people inside Villa Grimaldi between July and December 1974.

The list of those indicted is headed by Generals (R) Manuel Contreras, who was the head of the dissolved National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), Hernán Ramírez Hald, and César Manríquez, the latter a former Undersecretary of War of the military regime.

Also indicted were Brigadiers (R) Pedro Espinoza, Miguel Krassnoff, and Fernando Laureani; Colonels (R) Marcelo Morén Brito, Haroldo Latorre, Rolf Wenderoth, and Gerardo Urrich; Captain (R) Manuel Carevic; and Corporal (R) Basclay Zapata, all from the Army.

Likewise, the magistrate brought charges against civilian Osvaldo Romo Mena and retired Gendarmerie Sub-lieutenant Osvaldo Manzo. All were indicted for the disappearances of Rodolfo Valentín González Pérez (former FACH conscript), Fernando Silva Camus, Anselmo Radrigán Plaza, Marcela Salinas Eithel (should read Marcelo Salinas Eytel), José Flores Araya, María Teresa Bustillos Cereceda, Rafael Araneda Yévenes, and Jaime Robotham Bravo.

Magistrate Solís ordered that Carevic, Ramírez Hald, and Urrich remain in preventive detention at the Cordillera Prison, while no precautionary measures were decreed for the rest, as they were already on conditional release or are serving sentences for other crimes.

According to the Rettig and Valech reports, which have documented the human rights violations committed in Chile, Villa Grimaldi—also known as Cuartel Terranova—was the most important secret detention and torture center of the DINA.

This Monday's resolution is the second of importance regarding the investigation into the abuses committed at Villa Grimaldi. Previously, Judge Solís indicted eight former military officers for illegal duress against 22 people who were held at said facility.

The aforementioned ruling had also affected Contreras, Morén Brito, Espinoza Bravo, Krassnoff Martchenko, Romo Mena, Zapata Reyes, and Laurani Maturana, to which Maximiliano Ferrer Lima and Gerardo Godoy García were also added.

The former head of the DINA, along with Krassnoff, Moren Brito, and Laureani, are serving sentences for the aggravated kidnapping of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR) militant Miguel Ángel Sandoval.

Source: May 30, 2001 Date: 05-30-2001

José Flores Araya, the student who was taken from his classroom and placed at the disposal of the DINA José Orlando Flores Araya, 19 years old, a militant of the Communist Party, was detained on Friday, August 23, 1974, from inside the 4 Álamos Industrial School in Maipú, under the command of Lieutenant Latorre Sánchez, and was transported in a patrol vehicle driven by him to the Army Non-Commissioned Officers School, where he was interrogated by the Lieutenant and then placed at the disposal of DINA agents, who later transported him to the Villa Grimaldi detention center.

Subsequently, a DINA agent went to the detainee's house to inform his mother that her son was at the disposal of the DINA; this would be the last news anyone would have about José. According to the witness Alfaro, who was detained at the same time as José, the student was tortured at least 3 times at Villa Grimaldi.

These are the facts reliably established in the judicial process that concluded on February 26, 2015, with the final sentence of the Supreme Court, which ratified the first-instance sentence that condemned former members of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), César Manríquez Bravo and Marcelo Moren Brito, and Hernán Ramírez Hald and Haroldo Latorre to 10 years and one day in prison as responsible for the aggravated kidnapping of the student.

The current municipal advisor of Maipú, Patricio Chandía, was a classmate of Flores.

He remembers him as an impetuous guy

"Like everyone else at that moment, from the Communist Youth. Good at arguing in meetings. So I have the best impression of him; I think he was going to be a great leader." Another classmate of Flores was Víctor Hugo Mix.

At the Act for Human Rights held in Maipú on September 11 of last year, he recalled the moment when they took Flores and, immediately after, the teacher who was teaching them, surnamed Zamora: "We were in the classroom, and suddenly a troop of soldiers entered, accompanied by the director, and they made us put our hands on the desk, they checked our backpacks, our bags, and suddenly one said HERE HE IS, and they took him away." "The mechanics teacher mentioned to them that they reminded him of the Nazi era." After this, the teacher, surnamed Zamora, was also taken into custody.

Unlike his student, he survived. Three cases of Human Rights Violations in Maipú is a project financed by the Social Media Fund of the Government of Chile.

Source: labatalla.cl 12/20/2015 Date: 12-20-2015

General (R) Hernan Ramirez Hald sentenced to 10 years and 1 day in prison

The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice sentenced retired Army General Hernán RAMÍREZ HALD to 10 years and 1 day in prison as the perpetrator of the aggravated kidnapping of communist militant José Orlando Flores Araya, which occurred in 1974.

Once the sentence is executed, the General (R) must enter the Punta Peuco Prison to serve the sentence. For the same victim, the same crime, and also as a perpetrator, retired Army Colonel Haroldo LATORRE SÁNCHEZ was sentenced to 10 years and 1 day in prison.

The Criminal Chamber also sentenced former DINA agents Gerardo URRICH GONZÁLEZ and Manuel CAREVIC CUBILLOS to 10 years and 1 day in prison as perpetrators of the aggravated kidnapping of the Chilean Air Force conscript and former DINA agent, Rodolfo González Pérez, an event that occurred in 1974.

For both victims, who are currently disappeared, the Criminal Chamber also sentenced former DINA agents César MANRÍQUEZ BRAVO and Marcelo MOREN BRITO to 10 years and 1 day in prison as perpetrators of aggravated kidnapping.

The Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security is a co-adjuvant party in both cases, and its participation constituted a fundamental contribution to the judicial resolutions that culminated in the final sentence of the Supreme Court.

In August 2002, General RAMÍREZ HALD was sentenced by Judge Sergio Muñoz to 800 days of suspended prison as a cover-up for the assassination of union leader Tucapel Jiménez, which occurred on February 25, 1982.

At that time, RAMÍREZ HALD was the only active-duty officer convicted, and for this reason, he was called to retirement by the institution. Two years later, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court confirmed this sentence, which the high-ranking officer served in freedom under the observation of the Gendarmerie.

In the case of conscript Rodolfo González, according to the judicial investigation, after the 1973 military coup, he joined the DINA. As such, he performed surveillance duties in different detention centers and at the Military Hospital, guarding some detainees.

But González began to sympathize with the detainees, serving as a courier for communication with their families. While performing duties at the Military Hospital, he provided the same help to detainee Luz Arce Sandoval, who was hospitalized due to a gunshot wound.

Later, Luz Arce became a collaborating agent for the DINA and, according to case records, denounced the conscript. González Pérez was arrested on July 23, 1974, and taken to Villa Grimaldi, where he was brutally tortured, leading him to attempt suicide.

His name is inscribed on the list of the 119 disappeared of "Operation Colombo." In the case of José Flores Araya, he was detained on August 23, 1974, by a patrol under the command of then-Lieutenant Haroldo LATORRE and taken to the Army Non-Commissioned Officers School.

There, he was taken charge of by then-Lieutenant Hernán RAMÍREZ HALD, who was the commander of Intelligence Section II of that facility in charge of the detainees. From there, Flores Araya was taken to the Villa Grimaldi center, from where his whereabouts have been lost to this day.

Source: mediabanco.com, March 3, 2015 Date: 03-03-2015

Supreme Court issues sentence for aggravated kidnapping of two young men during the dictatorship

The Second Chamber of the Supreme Court, in a unanimous ruling, resolved to accept a cassation appeal that condemns the State for moral damages to Magaly González Pérez, the sister of one of the victims, who will receive compensation of 70 million pesos.

The Supreme Court issued a sentence for the aggravated kidnappings of José Flores Araya and Rodolfo González Pérez that occurred in 1974, during the Pinochet dictatorship. As reported by Radio BíoBío, the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court, in a unanimous ruling, resolved to accept a cassation appeal that condemns the State for moral damages to Magaly González Pérez, the sister of one of the victims, who will receive compensation of 70 million pesos.

Thus, the conviction of former DINA members César Manríquez Bravo, Marcelo Moren Brito, Gerardo Urrich González, Manuel Carevic Cubillos, Hernán Ramírez Hald, and Haroldo Latorre Sánchez to 10-year sentences was ratified.

The ruling details that "the indemnity action deduced is of a merely patrimonial nature, because the facts on which it is based are outside of a contractual or extra-contractual relationship, but are constitutive of a crime against humanity, from which emanates, in addition to the criminal action, a civil reparatory one."

Source: El Mostrador, February 27, 2015 Date: 02-27-2015

Villa Grimaldi Case: Bail granted to four former military officers

The Fourth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals, in a unanimous vote, granted freedom, upon payment of 500,000 pesos, to four retired Army officers whom Judge Alejandro Solís indicted for the aggravated kidnapping of eight dissidents to the military regime, within the framework of the "Villa Grimaldi" case investigation.

These are former members of the dissolved DINA, retired Generals Hernán Ramírez Hald and Cesar Manríquez, and retired Brigadiers Gerardo Urrich and Manuel Carevic, who have been held at the Peñalolén Military Police Battalion since last Monday.

The appellate court was composed of magistrates Alfredo Pfeiffer, Humberto Provoste, and the participating lawyer Ángela Radovic. Magistrate Solís adopted the resolutions based on the disappearances of Rodolfo González Pérez (July 24, 1974); Fernando Silva Camus (November 27, 1974); Anselmo Radrigán Plaza (December 12, 1974); Marcelo Salinas Eitel (October 21, 1974); José Orlando Flores Araya (August 23, 1974); Maria Teresa Bustillos Cereceda (December 9, 1974); Jaime Robotham (December 31, 1974); and Rafael Araneda Yévenes (December 12, 1974).

Source: lanacion.cl, August 12, 2005 Date: 08-12-2005

Breaking the silence of children and adolescents politically executed during the civic-military dictatorship 1973-1990 (BOOK) Testimonies, photographs, letters, and other documents that families and friends provided or wrote especially for publication are incorporated into the book "Breaking the silence of children and adolescents politically executed during the civic-military dictatorship 1973-1990," which was produced by the Association of Relatives of Politically Executed Persons (AFEP) with the support of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage, through the Culture, Memory, and Human Rights Unit, and the Human Rights Chair of the University of Chile. The publication, based mainly on the Report of the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (1991) and the Report of the National Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation (1996), seeks to reconstruct in a comprehensive and careful way each of the lives and stories of the victims. During the investigation, access was gained to the archive of the Association of Relatives of Politically Executed Persons, where documents that families have preserved over the years are kept. Illustrations by Álvaro Gómez were also included. The creation process was a complex challenge that involved combining delicacy, respect, and methodological rigor to state in this work a painful and inescapable truth.

Source: cultura.gobierno.cl 4/20/2023