Address : Asentamiento Surco Nuevo. San Carlos, Purén, Santa Bárbara Marital Status : Married, 6 children Occupation : Agricultural worker Political Affiliation : None Date of Detention : September 17, 1973

JOSE RAFAEL ZUÑIGA ACELDINE

ID Number : 54.801 of Los Angeles Date of Birth : 20-06-24, 49 years old at the time of detention Address : Asentamiento Los Boldos, San Carlos, Purén, Santa Bárbara Marital Status : Married, 7 children Occupation : Agricultural worker Political Affiliation : None Date of Detention : September 17, 1973

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

On September 17, 1973, José Secundino Zúñiga Aceldine, married, 6 children, an agricultural worker, along with his brother José Rafael Zúñiga Aceldine, presented themselves at 17:00 hours at the Santa Bárbara Carabineros Station, accompanied by their wives.

They had been summoned to testify alongside farmer Gilberto Araneda Riquelme through a local peasant named Juan Albornoz Lagos, to whom a police officer from the aforementioned unit had sent a note instructing the affected individuals to appear as soon as possible.

That afternoon, after remaining in the police facility for more than two hours, the three aforementioned peasants were held as detainees, a fact communicated to the wives of the Zúñiga brothers by one of the Carabineros of the unit. Among the police officers present were Second Sergeant José Flores Albornoz and the unit chief, Lieutenant Plante Euclides Aravena Sáez.

María González Quezada, spouse of José Zúñiga, and Jova Beroíza Faúndez, spouse of José Rafael, went to the police unit on the morning of September 18, where they were informed that the men had been transferred along with other detainees to the Los Angeles Regiment.

From then on, they visited various detention centers in the area, including the military facility, without obtaining information on the whereabouts or status of their husbands, who remain, to this day, as forcibly disappeared, as does José Gilberto Aravena Riquelme.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On July 4, 1977, a Writ of Amparo (Habeas Corpus) was filed for the Zúñiga brothers, case file 4.010, before the Court of Appeals of Concepción. After receiving a report from the Ministry of the Interior dated July 27, 1977, which denied having any records of the individuals in question based on inquiries made to the authorities in Los Angeles and the Carabineros of Santa Bárbara, the Court rejected the amparo on July 28, 1977.

The rejection was based on the claim that the affected individuals "have not been detained, nor has any resolution been issued affecting them by government authorities, as reported by the Minister of the Interior," and ordered the opening of a summary proceeding for alleged disappearance at the Criminal Court on duty in the city of Los Angeles.

On August 16, 1977, the Second Criminal Court of Los Angeles initiated case file 18.635 regarding the alleged disappearance of the Zúñiga Aceldine brothers.

Under the Judge's instructions, the Investigations Commissariat of Los Angeles investigated the reported facts, interviewing the wives of the affected individuals among other investigative steps.

Farmer Juan Albornoz Lagos appeared before the Judge on September 23, 1977.

On January 12, 1978, Second Sergeant José Flores Albornoz appeared, claiming he did not remember the detention of the affected individuals because there were many detainees held preventively, and therefore they were released the same day.

On January 18, 1978, the summary proceeding was declared closed, and given that there was insufficient evidence to prove the existence of a crime, the case was temporarily dismissed. However, on February 14, 1978, the Court of Appeals of Concepción, upon receiving the ruling for review, resolved to suspend the effects of the decision, returning the case to the summary stage as the investigation was incomplete, and decreed a series of investigative steps.

Once again, after receiving reports and statements from persons linked to the case, the judge declared the summary closed on June 7, 1978, and definitively dismissed the case by virtue of the recently enacted Amnesty Law (D.L. 2.191) and the provisions of Article 408 No. 5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Upon review by the Court of Appeals of Concepción, the court confirmed the ruling on June 26, 1978, but revoked the resolution of the Judge of the Second Criminal Court of Los Angeles by substituting the aforementioned article with Article 409 No. 1, on the grounds that the commission of a crime had not been fully justified; therefore, the case remained temporarily dismissed.

It is necessary to point out that the judge overseeing the summary proceeding never summoned Lieutenant Plante Aravena Sáez, the Chief of the police unit where the affected individuals were detained and subsequently disappeared, to testify.

A completely irregular situation is occurring in the commune of Curacautín, in La Araucanía, specifically at the Collico school, where the municipality retains a criminal convicted of crimes against humanity as its director.

The individual is Juan Carlos Burgos Belauzarán, a civilian convicted for his participation in the disappearance of 28 peasants in Santa Bárbara and Quilaco, in the foothills of the Biobío, between September and December 1973.

Juan Carlos Burgos Belauzarán is the name of the criminal convicted of crimes against humanity who works as the teacher in charge of the Collico rural school in Curacautín. The offender was convicted, along with four Carabineros and nine civilians, as the perpetrator of the kidnapping and disappearance of 28 peasants in Quilaco and Santa Bárbara, in what constitutes one of the most brutal crimes of the dictatorship.

Burgos Belauzarán was sentenced to four years of major imprisonment in its minimum degree, with the accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for public offices and political rights, and absolute disqualification for professional practice for the duration of the sentence; however, he currently appears as the teacher in charge of the Collico rural school, with a salary of more than $2 million.

He has held the position since at least 2016.

Due to the gravity of this situation, not only because of its illegality but because of what a conviction for crimes against humanity entails, SUMMARY contact was made with both the DAEM (Municipal Education Administration Department) of Curacautín and the Regional Ministerial Secretariat (Seremi) of Education in La Araucanía, both of which avoided assuming responsibility and announced that the situation is in the hands of a legal team "to reach a resolution."

The municipal education department stated that "the Supreme Court has not yet informed us, and in the current collection of background information, the disqualification appeared, and that is why the information was sent to the lawyers. I had no idea; I have been in the position for almost a year and I am not from Curacautín."

Patricio Aguilera, director of the DAEM, noted that this rural school is currently in recess, but Juan Carlos Burgos Belauzarán appears to have earned a salary of more than $2 million in March 2023. In this regard, Aguilera replied that "he is on medical leave, and the leave is paid by the Isapre (health insurance).

We have now sent the background information to the legal advisors once we received the certificate of disqualification; we immediately referred it to our lawyers."

When asked about why a human rights violator remains in charge of a school, the Seremi of Education for La Araucanía, María Isabel Mariñanco, limited herself to holding the employer responsible, avoiding any mention of possible measures.

"In the administrative sphere of school management, personnel hiring is the responsibility of the employer, which in this case is the municipality. As the Ministry of Education, we call on municipalities and the local public education service, in their capacity as employers, to provide greater rigor in the processes of reviewing the background of those who work in educational establishments."

For now, the criminal convicted of crimes against humanity, Juan Carlos Burgos Belauzarán, is on medical leave, and according to the DAEM, they are "waiting" for the legal team's review to finalize his dismissal; for the time being, he continues to appear as the teacher in charge of the Collico school.

Below, we describe the events in which Burgos Belauzarán participated directly as a perpetrator, committed in Santa Bárbara and Quilaco between September and December 1973:

The judicial investigation establishes in detail the various criminal episodes carried out by the uniformed officers and civilian perpetrators of true extermination raids.

Thus, on September 13, 1973, a group of civilians and Carabineros, all armed with firearms and traveling in motor vehicles, arrived at the home of Cristino Humberto Cid Fuentealba, located on the El Rodal plot on the outskirts of Quilaco, proceeding to detain him in the presence of his relatives, and then taking him away on foot to an unknown destination, causing him to disappear to this day.

On September 14, 1973, Juan de Dios Fuentes Lizama and Juan Francisco Fuentes Lizama were kidnapped from their home located in a hut on the Corcovado estate, on the road to Villacura, in the commune of Santa Bárbara, by Carabineros and civilians, and their fate remains unknown to this day.

On September 16, 1973, Juan de Dios Rubio Llancao and Julio Alberto Rubio Llancao were detained and transferred to the Santa Bárbara Carabineros Station, under the command of the Unit Chief, then-Lieutenant Planté Aravena Sáez.

On the same day, Guillermo Purrán Treca went to the indicated police unit seeking protection because he could not return to his home, as he had missed the bus and the curfew was approaching, but he was held there as a detainee.

At night, these three peasants, plus José María Tranamil Pereira, who had also been detained, were taken out of the police facility and transported to the Quilaco bridge, where the Carabineros riddled them with bullets; since that date, no news has been known about the four peasants.

On September 16, 1973, Sebastián Hernaldo Campos Díaz voluntarily presented himself at the Santa Bárbara Carabineros Station, as he had been previously summoned, and was detained; his whereabouts remain unknown to this day.

At noon on September 17, 1973, Elba Burgos Sáez was detained by Carabineros on a public street in the city of Santa Bárbara, was put into a pickup truck, and taken to an unknown destination; since that date, no news of her whereabouts or existence has been known.

On the afternoon of September 17, 1973, José Rafael Zúñiga Aceldine, José Secundino Zúñiga Aceldine, and José Gilberto Araneda Riquelme voluntarily went to the Santa Bárbara Carabineros Station, complying with a summons that Carabineros of the aforementioned police unit had issued through a third party, and were entered into said facility as detainees; since that date, no news of their whereabouts or destination has been known.

In the commune of Quilaco, in the early hours of September 20, 1973, a group of Carabineros and civilians arrived at the home of José Felidor Pinto Pinto, a leader of the Campo Lindo peasant settlement located on the old Huinquén estate, whom they detained, taking him from his house to an unknown destination in vehicles, from which moment no news of his fate was ever heard again, his trail disappearing to this day.

On the morning of September 20, 1973, in the commune of Santa Bárbara, the group of executioners arrived at the 'El Huachi' estate, located 8 kilometers from that commune, and detained José Domingo Godoy Acuña, Julio César Godoy Godoy, and Desiderio Aguilera Solís, transferring them to the Santa Bárbara Carabineros Station, from where they were taken out at night to an unknown destination, and have not been seen again nor has there been any news of their whereabouts to this day.

Around noon that day, the same group went to the Loncopangue village and also to the vicinity of the Rañiguel estate in the same sector, proceeding to detain Luis Alberto Cid Cid, Luis Bastías Sandoval, and Raimundo Salazar Muñoz, who were loaded onto a Quilaco Municipality truck driven by José Feliciano Gutiérrez Ortiz, known as 'El Chamo', and then taken along the public road leading to Quilaco to a path that leads to the confluence of the Bío Bío and Quilmes rivers, where they were taken off the vehicle and, guarded by their captors, were led on foot to the banks of the indicated watercourses, at which moment their captors allegedly fired firearms at them, their bodies falling into the channel of the aforementioned rivers, their actual whereabouts remaining unknown to this day. Also that same day, in the afternoon, the local resident Segundo Marcial Soto Quijón was detained in Quilaco by a group composed of Carabineros and civilians, a date from which he was made to disappear.

In the commune of Santa Bárbara, at approximately 14:00 hours on the same day, September 20, the criminal group detained José Nazario Godoy Acuña in the Los Junquillos sector, who was subsequently transferred to the Santa Bárbara Carabineros Station.

Around 22:30 hours on September 20, 1973, in the commune of Santa Bárbara, they arrived at the home of Manuel Salamanca Mella, located on Avenida La Feria without number in Santa Bárbara, where they detained him in the presence of his relatives, and then took him to the Carabineros Station.

On the same date, the same group went to the boarding house located at Calle Rosas No. 343 in the commune of Santa Bárbara, where they detained José Mariano Godoy Acuña, who was transferred to the Station where they were last seen, and they have not been seen again nor has there been any news of their whereabouts to this day.

On the night of September 20, 1973, the same armed group of Carabineros and civilians arrived at the home of Miguel Cuevas Pincheira located at Calle Rosas No. 371 in Santa Bárbara and detained him in the presence of his relatives, spouse, and children, taking him from his house and transferring him to an unknown location, and he has not been seen again nor has there been any news of his whereabouts to this day.

On September 23, 1973, in the early hours of the morning, the group of executioners broke into the La Palma smallholding in the commune of Santa Bárbara to kidnap the peasants Sergio D’Apollonio Petermann, 48 years old, and his son Carlos Jacinto D’Apollonio Zapata, 22 years old, from their home.

Carlos Jacinto was transferred to the bridge that connects the communes of Santa Bárbara and Quilaco, over the Bío Bío River, where they placed him on one of the railings and fired at him with firearms, causing him to fall into the riverbed.

However, the current dragged his body to one of the banks, where his body was found by relatives and acquaintances on the morning of the following day. They took the corpse to his home and proceeded to hold a wake to then bury him, but in the afternoon of that day, the same individuals who had kidnapped him the night before broke in to steal the young man's body and took it away to make it disappear to the present day.

On the morning of November 3, 1973, at approximately 11:00 hours, the group of Carabineros and civilians arrived at Plot No. 112 in the Piñiquihue sector of the commune of Quilaco, where they detained José Roberto Molina Quezada, took him from his house, and took him away in a vehicle to an unknown destination, from which moment no news or knowledge of his whereabouts was ever heard again.

On the night of Saturday, November 3, they arrived at the home of Gabriel José Viveros Flores located on the outskirts of Loncopangue, proceeding to detain him in the presence of his relatives, taking him from his house and taking him away to an unknown destination.

Around 16:00 hours on November 7, 1973, while Aliro Segundo Oporto Durán, 17 years old, was in a house located in the Raleo sector of the town of Alto Bío Bío, Carabineros personnel arrived to detain him, but the young man ran in the direction of the Bío Bío River, being pursued by the police, one of whom shot him, managing to apprehend him, from which moment all news of his whereabouts or existence is unknown.

by Juan Contreras Jara

Source: resumen.cl, May 10, 2023

Date: 10-05-2023

State to compensate relatives of four forcibly disappeared persons from Santa Bárbara and Quilaco with 430 million pesos.

In a unanimous ruling, the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court ratified the sentence that ordered the State of Chile to pay a total compensation of $430 million to the children and grandchildren of four forcibly disappeared persons from the towns of Santa Bárbara and Quilaco, Biobío Region.

It should be recalled that the highest court thus accepted the cassation appeal filed against the ruling of the Court of Appeals of Concepción, which had annulled the resolution of the First Civil Court of Concepción that established the civil liability of the State in the disappearances of José Rafael Zúñiga Aceldino, José Secundino Zúñiga Alcedino, José Molina Quezada, Cristino Cid Fuentealba, and Luis Alberto Cid Cid.

The sentence establishes that the crimes correspond to crimes against humanity and, therefore, are imprescriptible in both criminal and civil aspects.

"That, on the other hand, as has already been outlined, the civil actions brought here against the Treasury, aimed at obtaining full reparation for the damages caused, find their foundation in the general principles of International Human Rights Law and their normative consecration in international treaties ratified by Chile, which oblige the Chilean State to recognize and protect this right to full reparation, by virtue of the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 5 and Article 6 of the Political Constitution of the Republic," says part of the ruling, which specifically orders the following:

• $80 million to Claudia Zuñiga Zúñiga and an equal amount to Marcela Zúñiga Zúñiga for the disappearance of their grandfathers: José Rafael Zúñiga Alcedini and José Secundino Zúñiga Aceldini;
• $60 million to Marta Molina Molina and an equal amount to Hugo Molina Molina, grandchildren of José Molina Quezada;
• $50 million to Manuel Cid Matus and an equal amount to Rosendo Cid Matus, children of Luis Cid Fuentealba; and
• $50 million to Miguel Cid Ortega, son of Luis Cid Cid.

Source: soychile.cl 11/12/2015

Details of the conviction of former Carabineros and civilians for the qualified kidnapping of 28 peasants

Police and Judicial

The Supreme Court issued prison sentences for four former police officers and 11 civilians who participated in the detentions that occurred between Santa Bárbara and Quilaco in 1973.

Carlos D’Apollonio Zapata (22 years old) and his father Sergio D’Apollonio Petermann (48) were seized at their home in the La Palma smallholding on September 23, 1973, by a patrol composed of Carabineros and civilians. Witnesses saw when both were taken shortly thereafter to the bridge that connects Quilaco with Santa Bárbara. Right there, they were executed and thrown into the Bío Bío River.

During the early hours of the following day, the relatives only managed to rescue Carlos's corpse and took it to their house to hold a wake. However, the same captors from the previous day broke into the house again and took the body, and no clue as to its location has been found to this day.

This is one of the many events that surrounded the crimes perpetrated after the coup d'état, between September and November 1973, by a patrol formed by uniformed officers and civilians, which left a toll of 28 forcibly disappeared persons, mostly peasants from the Quilaco and Santa Bárbara areas.

Led by the then-Lieutenant of Carabineros Planté Euclide Aravena Sáez, the group had the active participation of civilians in the detentions and subsequent disappearances of the victims.

Twenty years had to pass for the judicial investigation to begin. In 2000, there was a preliminary investigation initiated by the head of the Criminal Court of Santa Bárbara, Waldemar Koch, continued by the judge with special dedication for human rights cases, Miguel Salgado, following a resolution of the Supreme Court after the agreements of the Dialogue Table.

Later, the case passed into the hands of the special minister for Human Rights cases, Carlos Aldana Fuentes, who issued sentences in 2017 that were ratified by the Court of Appeals of Concepción in 2019.

On Thursday of last week, 49 years after the crimes occurred, the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court finally issued a definitive sentence for the former Carabineros and civilians involved in the detentions and disappearances of those 28 peasants.

The highest court revoked ex officio part of the sentence issued in 2017 by the Court of Appeals of Concepción, in the part that considered the civilians as accomplices to the crimes, and in a replacement sentence, convicted them as perpetrators for having had direct participation in the detentions and kidnappings.

The determination was adopted by ministers Haroldo Brito, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, Leopoldo Llanos, and minister María Teresa Letelier.

In the end, the following were convicted as perpetrators of the crimes: former Carabineros officers Planté Euclide Aravena Sáez (14 years in prison); Héctor Isaías Echeverría Beltrán (11 years in prison); José Heraldo Pulgar Riquelme (11 years in prison); and Carlos Santiago Sepúlveda Rivera (10 years and one day).

Also convicted were civilians Exequiel del Carmen Celedón Barrera (10 years and one day); Sergio Amado Fuentes Valenzuela (6 years of imprisonment); Luis Enrique Ricardo Antonio Barrueto Bartning (6 years of imprisonment); Manuel Darío Barrueto Bartning (6 years of imprisonment); Jorge Denis Domínguez Larenas (5 years and one day in prison); Jorge Eduardo Valdivia Dames (5 years and one day in prison); José Roberto Valdivia Dames (5 years and one day in prison); Eugenio Villa Urrutia (4 years in prison, with the benefit of freedom); Juan Carlos Burgos Belauzarán (4 years in prison, with the benefit of freedom); and José Feliciano Gutiérrez Ortiz (4 years in prison, with the benefit of freedom).

THE VICTIMS

José Domingo Godoy Acuña, Julio Godoy Godoy, Desiderio Aguilera Solís, José Nazario Godoy Acuña, Manuel Salamanca Mella, José Mariano Godoy Acuña, Miguel Cuevas Pincheira, Sebastián Hernaldo Campos Díaz, José Rafael Zúñiga Aceldine, José Secundino Zúñiga Aceldine, José Gilberto Araneda Riquelme, Juan de Dios Rubio Llancao, Julio Rubio Llancao, José María Tranamil Pereira, José Guillermo Purrán Treca, Elba Burgos Sáez, Juan de Dios Fuentes Lizama, Juan Francisco Fuentes Lizama, Sergio D´Apollonio Petermann, Aliro Oporto Durán, Cristino Humberto Cid Fuentealba, José Felidor Pinto Pinto, Luis Alberto Cid Cid, Luis Alberto Bastías Sandoval, Raimundo Salazar Muñoz, Gabriel José Viveros Flores, Segundo Marcial Soto Quijón, and José Roberto Molina Quezada.

Source: latribuna.cl 24/10/22