Juan Fidel Valencia López
Victim of the military dictatorship — 34 years old.
Background
Juan Fidel Valencia López
Victim of the military dictatorship — 34 years old.
Case summary
Juan Fidel Valencia López, 34 years old and with no political affiliation, was murdered by a military patrol on December 1, 1973, in Viña del Mar. Although the official version alleged a supposed act of aggression, he was declared a victim of human rights violations due to his mental health condition and the disproportionate use of force by State agents.
Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos[1]
Juan Fidel Valencia López died that day on Calle El Salto in Viña del Mar from gunshot wounds with no exit wounds, as recorded in the Medical Death Certificate from the Legal Medical Institute.
According to information provided by family members, Juan Valencia—who suffered from a mental illness—was shot on the night of December 1, 1973, by a military patrol inside a shed located near his home.
The Coraceros Regiment of Viña del Mar, in an official letter addressed to the morgue of the hospital in that city, stated that Valencia López was taken down by a military patrol in the El Salto sector for having assaulted a sentry and seized his weapon.
The Superior Council reached the conviction that, even if the version that there was an assault by Juan Fidel Valencia López were true, the State agents should have used more rational and prudent means to proceed with his arrest. For this reason, it declared him a victim of human rights violations.
References
- 1Museum of Memoryhttps://interactivos.museodelamemoria.cl/victims/?p=2347