Before the death of President Allende and prior to the departure of Minister Flores and his two companions from the La Moneda Palace, Augusto OLIVARES BECERRA, a journalist, member of the Partido Socialista, Press Director of the National Television channel, and advisor to President Allende, committed suicide.

He was on the first floor of the building, together with some civilians. According to the information gathered by the Commission, it can be established that he retreated to a bathroom located under a staircase, after which a gunshot was heard.

The bullet entered through his temple, leaving him in an agonizing state. One of the doctors who was inside the Palace recounted to this Commission the moment he placed Olivares's head on his lap, confirming his death moments later.

The situation of harassment at La Moneda in which Augusto Olivares took his own life leads the Commission to consider him a victim of the situation of political violence.

The group that left the Palace via Calle Morandé was detained by military forces, who forced them to lie face down on the ground. This group was composed of advisors to the President, members of the GAP, doctors who provided services at La Moneda, and officials from the Investigaciones Service.

Most of the doctors who were present (with the exception of some who served as advisors to the President and who will be mentioned later) were released at that time. The rest of the detainees were then moved to the sidewalk, where they remained lying down.

At 18:00 hours, this group was taken to the Regimiento Tacna in two military vehicles. In that facility, they remained lying on the ground, face down, with their hands behind their necks, from the afternoon of September 11 until midday on September 13.

On September 12, the members of the Investigaciones Service were released, except for one who also remained in this facility until midday on the 13th, at which time he was released.

According to the information gathered, the Commission can affirm that the group that remained at the Regimiento Tacna until midday on the 13th was composed, on one hand, of nine advisors and members of the Presidency of the Republic and, on the other, of fifteen members of the GAP.

As indicated above, the information gathered allows for the affirmation that the former Director of Investigaciones, Eduardo Paredes, was also detained at the Regimiento Tacna until September 13. For this Commission, the version published in the press at that time, which maintained that Paredes had died in a confrontation, is implausible.

From this group, the advisors and members of the Presidency of the Republic were: Jaime BARRIOS MEZA […] Daniel ESCOBAR CRUZ […] Egidio Enrique HUERTA CORVALAN […] Claudio JIMENO GRENDI […] Georges KLEIN PIPPER […] Eduardo PAREDES BARRIENTOS, 34 years old, surgeon, leader of the Partido Socialista, former Director of Investigaciones, Director of Chile Films, advisor to the President; Egidio Enrique PARIS ROA […] Héctor PINCHEIRA NUÑEZ […] Arsenio POUPIN OSSIEL […]

In the same group were the following members of the President's Security Detail (GAP): Manuel CASTRO ZAMORANO […] Sergio CONTRERAS […] José FREIRE MEDINA […] Daniel GUTIERREZ AYALA […] Oscar LAGOS RIOS […] Oscar MARAMBIO ARAYA […] Juan MONTIGLIO MURUA […] Julio MORENO PULGAR […] Jorge ORREGO GONZALEZ […] Oscar RAMIREZ BARRIA […] Luis RODRIGUEZ RIQUELME […] Jaime SOTELO OJEDA […] Julio TAPIA MARTINEZ […] Oscar VALLADARES CAROCA […] Juan VARGAS CONTRERAS […] All of them were, in addition, members of the Partido Socialista.

The members of the group composed of the President's advisors and members of the GAP, with their hands and feet tied, were loaded onto military trucks and taken from the Regiment to an unknown destination.

Consistent testimonies indicate that the military vehicle headed to Peldehue, to the property assigned to the Regimiento Tacna, where they were allegedly executed and buried. Since that date, they have all remained in the status of forcibly disappeared.

The Commission learned that one of the members of the GAP managed to deceive his captors, switching from his companions' group to another and subsequently being released. It is highly improbable that he is one of those recently mentioned.

Considering that this group of the President's collaborators left the La Moneda Palace via Calle Morandé at approximately 14:00 hours, where they were detained by State agents, held in a military facility, and from there taken by them to an uncertain destination, this Commission is convinced of their status as victims, as their disappearance is the responsibility of the State agents who held them in detention.

Another situation, linked to the previous one, is that of a group of people who were detained outside the La Moneda Palace around 08:45 in the morning. All of them were members of the GAP and arrived at that time in a pickup truck, being detained by Carabineros personnel.

The information gathered allows for the affirmation that at least the following people were detained under these circumstances: Domingo BLANCO TARRES […] Carlos Alfonso CRUZ ZAVALLA […] Gonzalo JORQUERA LEYTON […]; all of them members of the Partido Socialista. The same situation occurred with Enrique ROPERT CONTRERAS […]

All these detainees were taken to the Intendencia de Santiago and from there removed at approximately 11:00 hours that same day to be taken to the Sixth Precinct of Carabineros.

Their lifeless bodies were found on the banks of the Mapocho River, under the Puente Bulnes, at the end of September 1973, with the exception of Domingo Blanco Tarrés. The latter was taken by Investigaciones personnel to the Santiago Preventive Detention Center, from where he was released on September 19, 1973, by order of the Second Military Prosecutor's Office of Santiago.

Since then, he has been in the status of disappeared.

Considering that there is sufficient evidence to affirm that all these people were detained by State agents and that subsequently, three of them were found dead from gunshot wounds at the Puente Bulnes of the Mapocho River and one of them disappeared after having been removed from the Santiago Preventive Detention Center, also by State agents, this Commission is convinced of their status as victims of human rights violations, attributable to those agents, in the cases of Domingo Blanco Tarrés, Carlos Cruz Zavalla, Gonzalo Jorquera Leyton, and Enrique Ropert Contreras.

On the other hand, on the same day, the 11th, while attempting to travel from Talca to Santiago to join the President's Security Detail group, two members of said group were detained by a military patrol on the Pan-American Highway, near Curicó: Francisco LARA RUIZ […] Wagner Herid SALINAS MUÑOZ […], both members of the Partido Socialista.

Both were in Talca and, upon learning of what had happened, decided to head to Santiago. On the outskirts of Curicó, they were intercepted by a military patrol, who, upon seeing documents certifying their membership in the GAP, proceeded to detain them and transport them to the Curicó Prison.

The Gendarmerie Service reported that on September 30, 1973, they were released from that penal facility, but were handed over to State agents "with a short shackle and a padlock, both prisoners shackled." The remains were handed over to their families at the Santiago Morgue, with death having been certified on October 5, 1973, and gunshot wounds cited as the cause.

According to this information, the Commission is convinced of the responsibility held by State agents in the deaths of Francisco Lara Ruiz and Wagner Herid Salinas Muñoz.

Juan Antonio Eduardo Paredes Barrientos, married, father of two, surgeon, former Director of the Investigations Police, and a socialist militant, was detained on September 11, 1973, upon leaving the La Moneda Palace, which was under bombardment.

He was taken to the Tacna Regiment, where he remained until September 13, the date on which he was driven away in a military truck to an unknown destination; he remains forcibly disappeared to this day.

Eduardo Paredes was a physician and had served as Director of the Investigations Police. At the time of the Military Coup, he was the Director of Chile Films and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Party.

On September 11, he was inside La Moneda, and at 10:00 a.m., he spoke by telephone with his sister, the lawyer Mireya Paredes, who requested that he leave the building due to the imminent bombardment. Paredes refused, stating that his duty was to remain with the President of the Republic.

On September 11, the La Moneda Presidential Palace, the seat of government, was seized by Army infantry and tank units led by General Javier Palacios, who were later joined by Carabineros forces. At 11:00 a.m., the Chilean Air Force began the bombardment, which destroyed a large part of La Moneda.

Members of the Presidential Guard, known as the GAP ("Group of Personal Friends"—alluding to an expression used by the President of the Republic himself) and other individuals remained in the Palace until they received the order from President Salvador Allende to leave.

They exited through a door on Calle Morandé 80 of the La Moneda Palace. There, they were held at gunpoint, beaten by the military, and ordered to lie on the ground with their hands behind their necks, remaining under constant threat, including being crushed by a tank that moved toward them.

Two members of the Presidential Guard, Antonio Aguirre Vásquez and Osvaldo Ramos Rivera, were taken prisoner inside La Moneda and sent to the Public Assistance Emergency Hospital because they were wounded.

A few days later, these two individuals were removed from the medical center by military personnel and have since remained in the status of forcibly disappeared. Other members of the GAP who had come from the presidential residences of El Cañaveral and Tomás Moro did not manage to enter La Moneda and were detained in the vicinity by Carabineros, who initially took them to the Santiago Intendencia building.

Among them were Gonzalo Jorquera Leyton, Williams Osvaldo Ramírez Barría, Carlos Cruz Zavala, and Domingo Blanco Tarrés, who were either disappeared or executed.

The people detained at La Moneda remained on Calle Morandé until 18:00 hours. At that time, these prisoners were taken in two military vehicles to the Tacna Regiment, located about 12 blocks from the La Moneda Palace and under the command of Colonel Joaquín Ramírez Pineda.

Dr. Patricio Arroyo Pinochet stated in a judicial declaration that while he was detained outside La Moneda on September 11, General Palacios authorized him to locate two doctors who were among the detainees.

To do so, he had to walk along the line of prisoners, and among them, he saw Eduardo Paredes. Other witnesses to these circumstances include doctors Oscar Iván Soto Guzmán and Carlos Patricio Guijón Klein.

Survivors of these events have provided information that allows for the reconstruction of these facts: the prisoners remained in the aforementioned regiment until September 13. While detained in that regiment, they were forced to crawl on their knees, lie down with their arms behind their necks, or stand with their arms raised.

For nearly 48 hours, they were forced to remain in painful positions on rough or gravel ground, being trampled by soldiers who ran over them and beat them with the butts of their weapons or inflicted wounds with their bayonets, under the constant surveillance of guards armed with machine guns who threatened them and asked the officers to execute them immediately.

The prisoners were constantly taken to an office on the second floor of the Regiment, where they were tortured and interrogated by personnel from the Military Intelligence Service (SIM). Afterward, they were returned in poor physical condition to rejoin the other prisoners and continue in the painful positions assigned to them.

Each change of guard began with a beating of the prisoners with rifle butts.

Eduardo Paredes was subjected to especially rigorous treatment. According to the testimony of Ellis Belmar, one of the detectives who survived these events, Paredes was separated from the rest at the Tacna Regiment and returned in poor physical condition, complaining of the torture he had suffered.

Another detective who notified the family about Paredes's detention reported that he was being punished. Detective Fernando Hugo del Pino Abarca stated in a judicial declaration that Eduardo Paredes was among the detainees from La Moneda and that until September 12, when the witness was released, he saw Paredes among these detainees at the Tacna Regiment.

Another surviving detective, Douglas Eloy Gallegos Todd, stated in a judicial declaration that on September 11, he spotted the victim on several occasions and that on September 12, at the Tacna Regiment, he happened to be next to Eduardo Paredes in the stable where they were being held prisoner.

There were 49 such prisoners. The following day, it was ordered that the 17 Investigations officials who made up the presidential protection team be released, and some other prisoners were separated. Finally, a group of people remained as prisoners, 21 of whom have been identified: ten advisors to the President of the Republic or government officials, ten members of the Presidential Guard, and one laborer.

The President's advisors were Jaime Barrios Meza, commercial engineer, presidential advisor, and General Manager of the Central Bank of Chile; Sergio Contreras, public relations officer for the Intendencia and journalist; Daniel Escobar Cruz, Chief of Cabinet for the Undersecretary of the Interior; Enrique Huerta Corvalán, Palace Intendant; Claudio Jimeno Grendi, sociologist and presidential advisor; Georges Klein Pipper, physician and presidential advisor; Eduardo Paredes Barrientos, physician, presidential advisor, and former Director of Investigations; Enrique París Roa, psychiatrist, presidential advisor, and member of the Superior Council of the University of Chile; Héctor Ricardo Pincheira Núñez, medical student and presidential advisor; and Arsenio Poupin Oissel, lawyer, Undersecretary General of Government, and presidential advisor. The members of the Presidential Guard who have been identified are as follows: Manuel Ramón Castro Zamorano, José Freire Medina, Daniel Gutiérrez Ayala, Oscar Lagos Ríos, Juan Montiglio Murúa, Julio Hernán Moreno Pulgar, Luis Rodríguez Riquelme, Jaime Sotelo Ojeda, Julio Tapia Martínez, Oscar Valladares Caroca, and Juan Vargas Contreras. Additionally, there was the laborer Oscar Luis Avilés Jofré, who had gone to La Moneda to support the Government.

Around 14:00 hours on September 13, 1973, these prisoners, with their hands and feet tied, were thrown into a military truck, one on top of the other, and driven out of the Regiment to an unknown destination.

However, one person who managed to survive and has contributed to reconstructing these events is Juan Bautista Osses Beltrán, who was taken prisoner to the Tacna Regiment but was incorporated into another group of prisoners, which allowed him to survive after being imprisoned at the Estadio Chile and the Estadio Nacional.

Osses notes in his extensive declaration that a group of 13 members of the Presidential Guard accompanied Allende to La Moneda and were detained inside. Subsequently, along with the other prisoners, he was taken to the Tacna Regiment, where they were informed that they would be executed by firing squad at 12:00 midnight, then that the execution would be at 3:00 a.m., and later, at 6:00 a.m.

Osses has confirmed that among the detainees at the Tacna Regiment were Héctor Daniel Urrutia, Daniel Gutiérrez, Enrique Huerta, Oscar Lagos Ríos, Juan Montiglio, Julio Moreno, Eduardo Paredes, Enrique París, Georges Klein, Héctor Pincheira, Arsenio Poupin, Luis Rodríguez Riquelme, and Oscar Valladares.

The witness was removed from the Tacna Regiment in the early hours of September 13, 1973, and taken along with other detainees to the Estadio Chile.

Beatriz Celsa Parrau Tejos, who was detained at the Tacna Regiment, has been able to provide some important background information. She was at INDUMETAL, where she was attending to a wounded person in her capacity as a nurse.

At 18:00 hours on September 11, this company was occupied by Carabineros, and everyone there was detained and taken to a police station, and on the same day, transferred to the Tacna Regiment. There, she learned that those who had been captured at La Moneda were being held, and despite being separated from that group, she had the opportunity to see them when they went to the bathroom or when they were taken for interrogations.

She saw several doctors there whom she knew from her professional activities, as well as government leaders, among them Dr. Eduardo Paredes. She also observed numerous groups of other prisoners entering or leaving.

On September 13, at midday, through the cracks of the shed where about 90 women were being held, Celsa Parrau was able to see a truck leave the Regiment carrying bundles that looked like human bodies. When they were taken out of the aforementioned shed at 14:30 hours, she observed that the La Moneda prisoners were no longer there.

For his part, the Chief of Investigations at La Moneda, detective Juan Seoane, remained among the La Moneda detainees until after midday on September 13, at which time he was able to witness how the prisoners were taken away in the military truck.

Seoane had the opportunity to see Paredes among the detainees at the Tacna Regiment on the night of September 11 to 12. On the morning of the 12th, the witness was separated from the victim. Other detectives confirmed having seen Paredes both at La Moneda and at the Tacna.

According to the testimonies of survivors, they heard from the military personnel who participated in the operation that they had been taken to the Peldehue military camps, located in Colina, where they were allegedly executed by firing squad and buried.

A soldier from the Tacna Regiment who was able to witness part of the events relates that the prisoners were tied with wire and thrown into an Army PEGASO truck that was part of a convoy that left the barracks at approximately 14:00 hours, while all conscripts were ordered to remain in their quarters and not walk through the courtyards.

In the afternoon, the contingent that had been part of the convoy returned, and word spread among the military that the prisoners had been taken to the property that the Tacna Regiment has in the Peldehue military camps in Colina.

There, they were allegedly killed in front of a hole or pit, about five to six meters in diameter and several meters deep, which existed a short distance from the dwelling used by the property's guard staff.

The prisoners were placed in groups of four at the edge of the pit and shot. Once executed and thrown to the bottom of the pit, grenades were allegedly thrown inside, and the executions continued in this manner, four by four.

The soldier adds that he had to go to the aforementioned property at the end of September 1973 and found the cited pit covered. There, it was confirmed to him that the executed had been buried in that place and that there were 26 or 27 of them.

Military authorities have repeatedly refused to provide reliable information regarding the fate of Eduardo Paredes.

Eduardo Paredes's family contacted the criminal lawyer Miguel Schweitzer to act urgently in the victim's defense. In the complaint filed by this lawyer, it is stated that the Ministry of Defense and the General Secretariat of Government only provided evasive answers, until September 18, 1973, when various government figures, including the journalist Alvaro Puga (Alexis), informed them that there was no point in defending Eduardo Paredes Barrientos because he was dead.

Lawyer Schweitzer was informed that he could not be given details on how the death occurred and that the military authorities would not release the body, nor would they issue a death certificate.

On the other hand, on September 14, 1973, the newspaper El Mercurio published the news that Dr. Eduardo Paredes had died in a confrontation, without providing concrete details. However, upon consulting General Augusto Lutz, Chief of the Military Intelligence Service, he and Colonel Víctor Barría informed the victim's father that these reports were absolutely false and that Eduardo Paredes was in perfect condition, but that they did not know where he was at that moment because the detainees were being moved from one place to another, and that it was most likely that he was at the Estadio Chile.

In publications that appeared on September 18, 1973, the Secretary General of Government, Pedro Ewin, reported having knowledge of the victim's death, and on September 19, 1973, the Press Secretary of the Military Junta, Federico Willoughby, confirmed the death of the victim in a confrontation, denying the versions of a firing squad execution of prisoners.

None of these statements indicated the place, day, time, or other details of the alleged confrontation.

However, this massacre of prisoners has never been officially acknowledged, nor have the bodies been released, and the individuals mentioned, among them Juan Antonio Eduardo Paredes Barrientos, have been missing since September 13, 1973.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On May 10, 1978, Mrs. Mireya Paredes Barrientos, the victim's sister, filed a complaint for alleged disappearance, which was entered under case file 88.481-9 in the Second Major Criminal Court of Santiago.

Without any proceedings being carried out, the summary was declared closed one day later, and on May 12, 1978, the case was definitively dismissed, applying Decree Law No. 2.191 of Amnesty as the legal basis.

The Fourth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals ordered the court of first instance to restore the case to the summary stage and continue the investigation.

On June 28, 1978, the complainant requested that the Court issue an official letter to the Ministry of Defense so that it would provide the name of the authority at the Tacna Regiment on September 12, 1973. The Court did not grant this request.

On June 28, 1973, the Commander of the Tacna Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Ricardo Canales, reported that the former Director of Investigations, Eduardo Paredes Barrientos, was not taken to that unit on September 11, 1973.

On September 25, 1978, the complainant requested the constitution of the Court at the newspaper La Segunda to find out if there were photos of the events of the 11th at La Moneda. The Court granted this request but did not carry it out.

On November 28, 1978, the Second Court resolved again to definitively dismiss the case, also by application of the Amnesty Decree Law. The Third Chamber of the Court of Appeals revoked this resolution, changing it to a temporary dismissal.

On March 31, 1979, the reopening of the case was requested, based on the summons to testify of General Javier Palacios Ruhman, head of the La Moneda military operation. The aforementioned General was never summoned to appear to testify before the Courts.

On November 20, 1979, the complainant requested the reopening of the summary, supporting the petition with the meager and incomplete proceedings carried out by the justice system. The Court agreed to the reopening.

On September 20, 1979, a complaint for illegal coercion, potential homicide, and other crimes against the person of Eduardo Paredes was filed before the Visiting Minister, Mr. Servando Jordán. The same document requested the consolidation of case file 88.481-9, which was being processed in the Second Criminal Court.

The Visiting Minister declared himself incompetent, ordering the referral of the complaint to the Military Justice system. The First Chamber of the Court of Appeals confirmed this resolution.

On November 6, 1979, the plaintiff filed an appeal against this resolution, a complaint that was rejected by the Supreme Court on January 14, 1980.

The Second Military Prosecutor's Office initiated case file 20-80 to investigate the circumstances of Eduardo Paredes's disappearance, accepting jurisdiction on January 10, 1980.

After multiple requests, it was achieved that Army General Baeza, Director of Investigations, send a list of the personnel of that Service who were part of the Presidential Guard, and with a memo prepared by the plaintiff's side, the detectives were interrogated.

Most of them declared not having seen Eduardo Paredes on September 11 and 12; however, some of them acknowledged having seen him in those circumstances, both at La Moneda and at the Tacna Regiment, in the capacity of a prisoner.

Detective Fernando del Pino, who declared having seen Eduardo Paredes detained at the Tacna Regiment, was called to the supplementary list, which meant frustrating his promotion to Sub-prefect. Detective Eduardo José Ellis Belmar acknowledged having seen Paredes at La Moneda but denied having seen him at the Tacna; however, in a sworn statement on September 8, 1987, he acknowledges that this statement was made by hiding facts because the government had another version and he feared reprisals from his institution.

Detective Juan Seoane and detective Douglas Eloy Gallegos Todd declared having seen Paredes both at La Moneda and likewise in the capacity of a detainee at the Tacna Regiment.

The Press Secretary of the Government Junta declared before the Military Prosecutor's Office that the press information about Paredes's death was made officially, but that he did not remember the source of the information in military circles.

For his part, the journalist Alvaro Puga declared that he reported unofficially that Paredes had died in a confrontation with military forces and that he obtained the information from a General Staff Officer, who did not authorize him to give his name.

Army Major General Luis Joaquín Ramírez Pineda, who served as Commander of the Tacna Regiment in September 1973, declared that he was unaware, and it was not his obligation to know, the status of the detainees who were at the Tacna at that time.

He placed the detainees at the disposal of the National Executive Secretariat of Detainees (SENDET) and did not know what happened to them subsequently. He said this in response to questions about whether he took steps on behalf of Paredes.

For his part, General Palacios, who directed the attack on La Moneda, acknowledges that he was in charge of the seizure and that he detained the group of people who were there.

On April 9, 1981, the summary was closed and was reopened on April 29, 1981, at the request of the complainant, and it was ordered that new proceedings be carried out.

On September 8, 1982, the summary was closed again, and in Ruling No. 238, the Military Prosecutor certified the detention of Paredes by unidentified military personnel; however, he considered that the background information was insufficient to estimate that his subsequent disappearance was the consequence of a crime, and therefore requested the temporary dismissal.

The Military Judge resolved the temporary dismissal on October 21, 1982, which was appealed on December 26, 1983.

On January 19, 1983, the summary was reopened according to a resolution in the second instance by the Court Martial, which revoked the appealed resolution and ordered the carrying out of some of the proceedings requested by the plaintiff's lawyer.

On July 26, 1988, the case, retaining the same file number, passed to the Fifth Military Prosecutor's Office, in accordance with the redistribution due to the creation of new Prosecutor's Offices.

On January 6, 1989, the Military Prosecutor General became a party, representing the Military Public Ministry, and requested a definitive dismissal, which, as he pointed out, should have already been decreed in the year 1980, when the process passed to the jurisdiction of the Prosecutor, due to the fact that criminal liability is extinguished by virtue of the 1978 Amnesty Decree Law 2.191.

On January 2, 1990, the summary was closed, and on the 29th of that same month, the Military Judge definitively dismissed the process by virtue of the Amnesty Decree Law.

On February 7, 1990, the plaintiff's lawyer appealed the definitive dismissal to the Court Martial. At the end of 1992, they were awaiting the hearing of the case for the disappearance of Eduardo Paredes Barrientos in the Court Martial.

Source: Rettig Report