Juan Luis Rivera Matus, married, father of seven, electrician, union leader at Chilectra, and member of the Communist Party, was detained on November 6, 1975, at 10:30 a.m. as he left the General Management building of Chilectra, located at the corner of Calle Santo Domingo and San Antonio in Santiago, the entity where he worked.

The apprehension was carried out by approximately 5 unidentified individuals in civilian clothes, who did not display any written warrant for their actions nor provide any explanation. He was taken away in a white, license-plate-less Peugeot station wagon to an unknown destination. The whereabouts of Juan Luis Rivera Matus were never discovered.

It should be noted that the victim had been suspended from his job at Chilectra for 40 days following the Military Coup of September 11, 1973, but was later reinstated to his duties.

Days before his disappearance, on October 24, 1975, Rivera Matus's father passed away, for which he requested a 5-day leave, which was granted. Upon the expiration of this period, he requested an extension to be charged against his vacation time, which was initially accepted; however, he was later ordered to return to work due to the company's operational needs.

On November 5, 1975, he received a letter from the entity informing him of his dismissal for engaging in political activities.

The affected party then went to the Personnel Management office on November 6 to protest this measure, where he was told that his dismissal was not their decision and that he should go to the General Management office.

He did so, but the General Manager sent word that he could not receive him and that he should return later. Upon stepping out onto the street, he was approached by his captors and apprehended in the manner described above, an event witnessed by Casimiro Adalberto Vargas Contreras, Jorge Demetrio Salinas Robles, and Mario José Aracena Arcaya.

It is necessary to note that for some days prior, certain individuals—who, based on their characteristics, appear to be the same ones who detained him—had been watching the victim's house from the street, between approximately 08:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., using the same vehicle later employed to apprehend him.

The witnesses agree in their description of the individuals who watched Rivera Matus's home as the participants in his capture: relatively young men, highlighting one dark-skinned subject with straight black hair, between 35 and 40 years of age, and another of dark complexion, 1.65 meters tall, black hair, 35 years old, and of heavy build.

Casimiro Adalberto Vargas Contreras, a neighbor of the victim and also one of the doormen at the Chilectra building, would later testify that from the first days of November, some individuals had been watching Juan Luis Rivera Matus's house.

He notes that on November 6, he saw the victim leave the Chilectra building and be detained by 4 dark-skinned subjects, one of them wearing a short-sleeved red shirt and having curly hair. The witness noted that the victim did not struggle or shout, but his countenance appeared distressed.

The captors put him into a white Peugeot 404 van, moving toward Cerro Santa Lucía toward an unknown destination.

Miguel Angel Osorio Aguila, a neighbor of the affected party, would later affirm that since the end of October 1975, he saw people foreign to the neighborhood (Villa O'Higgins) standing about 3 houses away from Mr. Rivera's home during the day, with the watchers rotating each day, two at a time, which lasted for about two weeks. The strangers moved in a white station wagon without license plates.

Jorge Demetrio Salinas Robles, a neighbor of the disappeared man, maintained that on the day of the detention, he was arriving at the Chilectra building with Mr. Rivera's son and saw the victim inside a white Peugeot van with the captors. The witness had previously seen them in the same vehicle a few days earlier in Villa O'Higgins while they were watching the victim's home.

Gabriel Gastón Cerón Zúñiga, the victim's direct supervisor at Chilectra, would point out for his part that on October 24, 1975, the victim requested leave due to his father's death, which was granted.

The witness adds that on November 4 or 5, he received orders from the operations manager, Rafael Yoshidzumi, who appeared before him with two subjects who did not identify themselves, to go to Rivera's home to inform him to report to work immediately. As he could not locate the victim at his home, he left a message with his spouse.

On November 6, Rivera Matus arrived at his office, showing a dismissal letter from Chilectra. Both went to the witness's direct supervisor, Julio Charles Charles, who told them that the dismissal was due to the fact that the affected party did not leave his vacation slip at the Personnel Office, which was denied by Rivera. The latter then went to the Director of Personnel, Aurelio Rodríguez.

José Julio Charles Charles, a Chilectra official, declared that on November 6, 1975, two subjects appeared in his office—claiming to be from Investigaciones—stating they wanted to speak with the victim.

As he was on leave, he offered them his address, but they refused it, stating they would return the following Monday. To regularize the situation, he ordered that Rivera Matus be sought, who then appeared, but the Director of Personnel, Aurelio Rodríguez, told him that the affected party was not yet entitled to vacation and his employment contract was terminated.

He is unaware if Rivera was detained, but adds that he was a communist, though not an activist.

Jorge González Pérez, a doorman at the Chilectra building, declared that on October 30, 1975, two subjects arrived at the company displaying credentials from Investigaciones, which even had the Chilean coat of arms printed on them, stating they wanted to speak with the Head of Personnel, so he showed them the way.

Aurelio Rodríguez Somerst, Director of Personnel at Chilectra, affirmed before the Court that investigated the victim's alleged disappearance that, upon learning that Mr. Rivera was missing work, he asked Mr.

Yoshidzumi to give instructions for the victim to report to his duties, and as he did not return, his services were terminated. He adds that Rivera never spoke with him and that apparently he "was hiding from something."

Mario José Aracena Arcaya, a coworker of the disappeared man, observed in November 1975 that three men detained Rivera Matus at the exit of the Chilectra building, putting him into a white Peugeot in which they took him away.

Rafael Hernán Yoshidzumi Sánchez, operations manager at Chilectra, declares in the same vein as the Head of Personnel, affirming that on October 30, 1975, two subjects appeared in his office claiming to be from Investigaciones, stating they wanted to speak with the victim.

As he was on leave, he offered them his address, but they refused it, stating they would return the following Monday. To regularize the situation, he ordered that Rivera Matus be sought, who then appeared, but the Director of Personnel, Aurelio Rodríguez, told him that he was not yet entitled to vacation and his employment contract was terminated for having missed work improperly.

He is unaware if Rivera was detained, but adds that he was a communist, though not an activist.

Since his apprehension, the fate of Juan Luis Rivera Matus at the hands of his captors remains unknown.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On November 6, 1975, a Writ of Amparo was filed on behalf of the victim, case file No. 1483-75, before the Santiago Court of Appeals, which, following a negative report regarding his detention from the Ministry of the Interior, was rejected.

Case file 107.877, followed before the First Criminal Court of Santiago for alleged disappearance, where Mrs. Olga Sánchez Rivas, spouse of the disappeared man, appeared as the complainant. In this case, reports were gathered from various organizations, in addition to an investigation order carried out by the Investigative Police, with no results regarding the whereabouts of Rivera Matus.

All the previously identified witnesses also testified. On May 26, 1976, the proceedings were temporarily dismissed in accordance with Article 409 No. 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a resolution approved by the Santiago Court of Appeals on July 14, 1976.

The victim's whereabouts were investigated in various places, such as police stations, prisons, and morgues; letters were sent to the Ministry of the Interior, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Ministry of Justice, and others, all without positive results.

Source: Rettig Report

On Saturday, May 19, 2012, as planned, the long-awaited Memorial for the Forcibly Disappeared and Political Executions of Maipú was inaugurated, with the presence of family members of the victims to whom this tribute is paid. From this date forward, it will remain in a physical space in the Plaza de Maipú and, most importantly, in the memory of the generations who will be able to visit it.

The Mayor of Maipú, Alberto Undurraga, led this emotional ceremony, alongside the president of the Association of Forcibly Disappeared, Lorena Pizarro, members of the Maipú municipal council, and other political and religious authorities, in a setting of reflection and hope that was conveyed in almost all the interventions of the speakers on this occasion.

In part of his speech, Mayor Undurraga highlighted that:

"The 68 men and women of Maipú whom we honor today tell us that history is for honoring, but also for learning, because we can never again repeat the human rights abuses in the history of Chile, for which we also demand truth and justice."

"The inauguration of the memorial in the Plaza de Maipú has a special meaning, as it is a space for citizen encounter between the past and the future. 'We do it here and not in another place. This Memorial is more than a work of communal infrastructure; it is a symbol that reminds those of today and those of tomorrow of the value of life.

It is a permanent reminder of how we must build the future of Chile and that of Maipú.'"

At the end of the ceremony, we consulted with councilman and professor Carlos Jara, who was a tenacious promoter of this work alongside local leaders and authorities, about his feelings upon attending this inauguration, knowing his special work and feelings for the realization of this tribute, which was a pending debt of Maipú.

In this regard, Councilman Jara noted: "This is a work for the present time, to remember the men and women of Maipú who one day left us in a cruel and unjust manner. Here are their names, and in our conscience and hearts, a deep feeling must remain engraved to never give up in the defense and respect for human rights." He added, "This memorial is a reunion with historical memory; it is to feel again the tremendous pain for the suffering of so many compatriots, but it is at the same time to look toward the future and build paths to understand each other and learn to value our own truths and those of others, to be tolerant and avoid excesses, always seeking and imposing dialogue over confrontation and peace over violence."

The Memorial for the Forcibly Disappeared and Political Executions of Maipú is a construction with rusted steel plates. According to the architectural proposal of its author, architect Rubén Peralta, the plates are gnawed by time, just like our history.

They are illuminated from inside the Memorial, lighting up the names of the martyrs while light filters through the slots, replicating the effect of stars in the sky of Maipú.

Source: labatalla.cl, May 22, 2021

Date: 05-22-2012

The irrefutable evidence hanging over Major (ret.) Alvaro Corbalán Castilla when he served in the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINE) has further raised the presumptions of the plaintiffs regarding the homicide of the former communist leader Juan Luis Rivera Matus.

The investigating judge of the case, Joaquín Billard, is now focusing his efforts on establishing the links that existed in the work carried out by the Joint Command and the DINE. For these purposes, the testimony of an agent whose alias "Ramírez" has not yet been identified by the magistrate is key.

The Fifth Department of the Investigative Police is intensifying its work to find the whereabouts of the former agent who, according to sources linked to the process, accompanied Corbalán in his Chevrolet Chevette when he arrived at the Colina air base—known as Remo Cero—on the day the trail of Rivera Matus was lost.

Although Corbalán has denied that he was there on the date the crime occurred, the truth is that in addition to the testimony of former agent Andrés Valenzuela Morales, known as El Papudo, there are testimonies that account for the arrival of a high-ranking DINE operative at the facility.

Witnesses state that they saw two DINE operatives who had not visited Remo Cero before, and one of them, the highest-ranking one, asked to see a group of detainees. Suddenly—these reports ensure—they observed how Rivera Matus was beaten with unusual violence.

While this was happening, another group of detainees was taken out of the military compound in a van heading, as was learned years later, to Fuerte Arteaga, Quebrada Rincón de los Ratones. Rivera Matus was moved moments later in the same Chevrolet car toward the same Fort, but his body was buried in a different grave.

Due to the similarity in the discovery of the bodies of the first detainees, among whom was Ricardo Weibel, it is estimated that the same group acted in the illegal burial. The operatives proceeded first to finish off the bodies, in the event that anyone was still alive, and then deposited them in a grave over which they poured fuel to burn the corpses.

Although at this point in the crime the presence of the DINE is no longer mentioned, the plaintiffs maintain that there is significant background information when it comes to establishing Corbalán's responsibility in the first beating of Rivera Matus, where he would have been killed.

A new Army report clearly indicates that the retired major was indeed working at the DINE on the date of the crime, a fact that confirms the suspicions of the plaintiffs.

Operation Colombo

In a parallel line, Billard is advancing in defining how the cases of the so-called Operation Colombo, or the case of the 119, will be regrouped, which by decision of the special judges will remain in his hands.

Complying with the stipulations in the appointment of the latest exclusive judges, those designated by the Santiago Court of Appeals, the group of special magistrates, including the first ones appointed by the Supreme Court, have held meetings in which they have divided the proceedings, achieving the long-awaited organization of the cases according to the intelligence agency that operated and the date on which the crime occurred.

In Billard's case, along with the DINE proceedings, such as Rivera Matus, he is also reviewing the cases regarding Operation Colombo these days together with the presiding judge Juan Guzmán Tapia and the exclusive judge Mario Carroza, head of the Third Criminal Court of Santiago.

The latter has participated in almost all the organization meetings of the judges, as he is the most enthusiastic about separating the cases according to the corresponding episodes.

In Billard's conversations with Guzmán, criteria have been defined—judicial sources ensure—to establish the transfer of cases; however, according to other information, it is difficult for the Court minister to choose to abandon his cases, and instead, it is more likely that he will help Billard in the search for archived files to reopen them and advance in a parallel process.

Source: primeralinea.cl, August 26, 2002

Date: 08-26-2002

Gaby Rivera, new president of the AFDD: "We will always be a counterpart to any government that does not live up to human rights."

Daughter of Juan Luis Rivera Matus, detained in November 1975, Rivera was elected as the new president of the Association of Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared, taking the baton left by Lorena Pizarro, now an elected deputy.

Gaby Rivera is the new president of the Association of Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared. Daughter of Juan Luis Rivera Matus, detained in November 1975, Rivera won the internal election of the organization and will be in charge of relieving the work that Lorena Pizarro, elected deputy for the coming legislative period, had been doing.

"It is an absolute continuity," affirms Gabriela Rivera regarding her election. Like her predecessor, the leader is a member of the Communist Party. "With great honor," she noted.

Although since the beginning of the pandemic the AFDD has been less active in the streets—the mythical Friday march at La Moneda is no longer held—it has not been oblivious to the political processes that are being carried out in the country today.

That is why Rivera views with hope the Fundamental Charter that may emerge from the Constitutional Convention. As the AFDD, they have supported several initiatives and have been part of others, evidently those related to respect for human rights.

As the new president of the AFDD explains, the organization she presides over has expressed to the constituents the need for respect for human rights to be the backbone of the new Constitution.

"We, as an Association, have hopes in this new Constitution, the same one that we are writing among everyone, because we were also part of this; we delivered our petitions regarding what should be in this new Constitution, which is, mainly, respect for human rights.

Human rights must be the center and the axis of this new Magna Carta, and we have the hope that it will be so. We work for that and we bet on it so that this whole process is, effectively, what is being asked for."

Another process in which the AFDD was very active was the presidential election of Gabriel Boric. In an unprecedented event, the organization called to vote for the member of Convergencia Social, appealing to the discourse of respect for human rights that he maintained during his campaign.

On the other hand, the relatives of the forcibly disappeared could not stand idly by in the face of the rise of the candidacy of José Antonio Kast, a recognized defender of the dictatorship and several criminals against humanity.

Now, Rivera recalled that before any government "that does not live up to human rights," the AFDD will be a counterpoint, regardless of who inhabits La Moneda.

"We have a positive expectation regarding what is coming; we worked for this new Government even though the AFDD had never been in that situation, but we believe that this was the opportunity to bet on it as an Association so that it was, effectively, Gabriel Boric who assumed the Government and not the other option.

We are going to demand our rights, clarifying that as the AFDD we will always be a counterpart to any government that does not live up to human rights, always highlighting that we have the hope that this government will live up to it."

In addition, the president of the AFDD expressed her desire to meet with Gabriel Boric during the first weeks of his mandate to present her demands and work in this regard.

"We need a country with respect for human rights, a country where we all fit, with the precision that the violations of human rights have to be resolved, that these types of events never happen again, that events like those that occurred since October 18, 2019, where the lives of many young people were cut short, leaving them blind, leaving them imprisoned, never happen again," the leader stated.

Undoubtedly, one of the issues that most worries the relatives of those forcibly disappeared during the dictatorship is the continuity of the fight to search for their loved ones. First it was the wives, today it is the daughters, who next?

"We hope that the grandchildren, the great-grandchildren will follow us," replied Rivera, adding that "we are going to continue forward with the commitment to find every last forcibly disappeared person."

In any case, the new president of the AFDD stressed that the search for the forcibly disappeared should not only be limited to their relatives, as it is a task to which the country as a whole should commit, taking into account, above all, that the violations of human rights were against the entire nation.

"More than the relatives, the entire society has to take charge, because our relatives were employees, they were workers, they were people who liked to play soccer, they were neighbors, they were part of this society, not only our relatives, so I think that society has an important challenge, because it has to understand that the violations of human rights were not only against the people who are direct victims, but were perpetrated against the country, against the entire society, and as a country, as a State, as a Government we have to take charge," she concluded.

Source: radio.uchile.cl, February 5, 2022

Date: 02-05-2022

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. IACHR approves friendly settlement agreement between the family of a forcibly disappeared person and the Chilean State.

The Chilean State allegedly failed to comply with the duty to adequately repair the damage caused.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) communicates its decision to approve the friendly settlement agreement regarding petition 1275-04 A, Juan Luis Rivera Matus, signed on January 31, 2020, between the victims and their representatives and the Chilean State.

On November 29, 2004, the IACHR received a petition alleging the international responsibility of the Chilean State for the facts related to the detention and subsequent disappearance of Mr. Juan Luis Rivera Matus by State agents on November 6, 1975.

In particular, the petitioning party indicated that the State had failed to comply with the duty to adequately repair the damage caused, because the petitioners did not receive economic compensation, constituting a violation of articles 1.1, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR).

The agreement included a pecuniary reparation clause, with which the controversy raised before the IACHR regarding the lack of civil reparation for the family of Mr. Juan Luis Rivera Matus within the framework of petition 1275-04 A is ended, regarding which the State committed to carry out this reparation within a period of six months and inform the Commission in a timely manner about its compliance.

The IACHR points out that it values the collaborative dialogue between the Chilean State and the petitioning party in the bilateral negotiations for the design of this friendly settlement agreement, and urges the corresponding authorities to advance in the fulfillment of the international obligations derived from it until the total fulfillment of the agreement is achieved.

Likewise, it values the good will of the petitioning party and their committed work in achieving an agreement that allows the victim's relatives to resolve this case.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl, May 20, 2020

Date: 05-20-2020

Supreme Court reduces sentences for the homicide of Juan Rivera Matus

The highest court accepted the appeal for annulment presented by the defense of the retired military officers convicted for the crime of the former communist leader.

The Second Chamber of the Supreme Court considerably reduced the sentences imposed for the qualified homicide of the communist leader Juan Rivera Matus, who disappeared in November 1975 by members of the Joint Command.

The highest court sentenced the retired general of the Chilean Air Force (FACH) Enrique Ruiz Bunger and the commander (ret.) of the FACH Arturo Madrid Hayden to suspended prison sentences.

For the same crime, the former operational head of the CNI Álvaro Corbalán Castilla and the officer (ret.) Sergio Díaz López, the former member of the DINE, were sentenced to four years in prison.

The latter was granted the benefit of supervised release, while in Corbalán's case, the sentence must be served effectively.

In the second-instance ruling, the Seventh Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals had sentenced the four former military officers to ten years.

Rivera Matus, 52 years old at the time of his disappearance, was married and had seven children. He worked as an electrical technician at Chilectra, where he was also a union leader.

He was detained on November 6, 1975, by five men in civilian clothes as he left his work.

The Rivera Matus case is considered one of the most emblematic regarding human rights violations, as it revealed the inaccuracy of the information provided by the Armed Forces to the Dialogue Table.

Although the military branches included him in a list of detainees whose bodies had been thrown into the sea, Judge Amanda Valdovinos determined that his remains had been buried at the Army's Fuerte Arteaga, in Colina.

Source: elmostrador.cl, July 30, 2007

Date: 07-30-2007

A 600-day prison sentence was handed down against the former head of the FACH Intelligence Service, General (R) Enrique Ruiz Bunger, as an accessory to the kidnapping of Communist militant Juan Luis Rivera Matus in November 1975, by the presiding judge of the First Criminal Court of Santiago, Joaquín Billard.

Although the sentence was issued as a "remitted" penalty—meaning it is not served in prison in exchange for periodic identity checks—it is the first time a judge has sentenced Ruiz Bunger, one of the architects of the Comando Conjunto in 1975.

The magistrate also sentenced the former operational head of the CNI, Major (R) Alvaro Corbalán, as the perpetrator of the same crime. He also sentenced Army officer (R) Sergio Díaz López to ten years as a perpetrator. FACH officer (R) Carlos Madrid Heiden was sentenced to 600 days of remitted prison as an accessory.

Corbalán has been serving a life sentence for several days at the Punta Peuco prison for the crime of carpenter Juan Alegría Mundaca, committed by the CNI and the DINE in 1983 in an attempt to cover up the assassination of union leader Tucapel Jiménez. Additionally, another ten-year prison sentence was issued against him for the homicide of Lisandro Sandoval.

The fate of Rivera Matus acquired a special connotation, as it was the first case that cast doubt on the 2001 Armed Forces report regarding the final destination of 200 forcibly disappeared persons, which resulted from the human rights dialogue table.

In March 2001, while conducting excavations at the Fuerte Arteaga in Colina, based on information contained in the aforementioned report, Minister Amanda Valdovinos found a complete skeleton, which was finally proven to be the remains of Rivera. However, he appeared in that report as having been thrown into the sea along with 150 other political prisoners.

The kidnapping and homicide of Rivera Matus corresponded to a joint operation between the DINE, for which Corbalán worked in 1975, and the newly formed Comando Conjunto, one of whose promoters was General Ruiz Bunger.

Rivera, a Chilectra worker, was kidnapped and taken to the FACH Colina Regiment, where he remained for a few days. From there, he was removed by Corbalán and Díaz and taken inside the then-military compound of Peldehue, where he was executed. The autopsy performed on his remains revealed that the detainee, after being killed, was doused with oil and burned.

Rejection of amnesty

In 2002, the revelations of Otto Trujillo, ‘Colmillo Blanco’, in La Nación Domingo, pointed to a fact that was little known until then: the collaboration between the DINE and the Comando Conjunto in 1975 to kidnap and murder Juan Luis Rivera Matus.

The information provided by Trujillo was key to the lead followed by Judge Joaquín Billard. This also continued the path opened by Minister Alejandro Solís and did not apply the amnesty in favor of those convicted.

The defense for the sentenced individuals even argued that Juan Luis Rivera Matus was no longer a forcibly disappeared person, since his remains were found at Fuerte Arteaga in 2001. And that, therefore, the classification of kidnapping as a permanent crime to reject the amnesty could no longer be invoked.

But the judge rejected these arguments and stated that, in this case, the crime continued to be committed beyond March 1978, the date up to which the amnesty extends. But the magistrate's fundamental arguments pointed to the fact that these crimes, being crimes against humanity, are not subject to amnesty.

Source: lanacion.cl, May 5, 2004

Date: 05-05-2004

Judge issued sentences in three cases of forcibly disappeared persons

The presiding judge of the First Criminal Court of Santiago with exclusive dedication to human rights cases, Joaquín Billard, sentenced former CNI operational head Álvaro Corbalán Castilla to ten years and one day in prison for the qualified kidnapping and death of Juan Luis Rivera Matus, which occurred in December 1975.

Along with Corbalán, and receiving the same sentence, was former member of the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINE), Sergio Díaz López.

Meanwhile, as accessories, the head of the Air Force Intelligence Service (SIFA), Freddy Ruiz Bunger, and Carlos Madrid Hayden received sentences of 600 days of remitted prison.

The notification, in Corbalán's case, was made this morning at Punta Peuco. Sources close to the case indicated that the Army would have preferred not to transport him to the court, in order to avoid problems following his recent outings.

Juan Luis Rivera Matus was named in the first report of the Dialogue Table as one of the victims of repression who had been thrown into the sea, along with 131 other people. However, in 2001, his remains appeared on the grounds of the "Justo Arteaga Cuevas" Fort in Peldehue. For many, this fact shattered the credibility of that body.

Rivera Matus was a member of the PC and was a union leader at Chilectra. He was detained on November 6, 1975, at the corner of Santo Domingo and San Antonio by about five people in civilian clothes who put him into a white Peugeot station wagon without license plates.

On the same day of his kidnapping, a writ of amparo was filed on his behalf before the Santiago Court of Appeals, which, like almost all similar actions filed during the military regime, was rejected without further processing by the appellate court, following a negative report on the detention issued by the Ministry of the Interior. On May 26, 1976, the case had been temporarily dismissed.

Other cases

But this was not the only sentence issued by the magistrate. He also sentenced former DINA agent Osvaldo Romo Mena for the crime of qualified kidnapping of Jorge Espinoza Méndez, nicknamed "Abel" or "Juancho," whose last traces date back to June 18, 1974.

According to the Rettig Report, Espinoza Méndez was seen by witnesses at the Londres 38 detention center and disappeared while in the custody of the DINA, with no further news of him.

The magistrate also sentenced former DINA agents Miguel Krassnoff, Marcelo Moren Brito, Basclay Zapata, and Osvaldo Romo to ten years and one day for the crime of qualified kidnapping against former MIR militants Elsa Leuthner, María González, Hernán González, and Ricardo Troncoso Muñoz.

The case of Troncoso Muñoz is particular. Before his detention, he had remained in asylum at the Mexican Embassy in Santiago from October 10, 1973, until March 1, 1974, the date he left the asylum, desperate due to the delay in being granted a safe-conduct. Fifteen days later, he was detained by DINA agents.

The magistrate is still investigating the case of Juan Suil Faúndez, who was made to disappear by SIFA agents in the mid-seventies. The other two cases the magistrate had, one of them regarding Operation Colombo, were attached to the file being processed by special judge Juan Guzmán Tapia.

With the convictions in these three cases, the path is opened for the Supreme Court to unify the criteria regarding the application of the Amnesty Law. In 1997, the criteria for rulings by the Second Criminal Chamber of the highest court changed, where the application of that legal body was modified and the theory of permanent kidnapping was established.

Source: elmostrador.cl, May 4, 2004

Date: 04-05-2004

First indictments issued for the death of Rivera Matus

The first indictments for the death and disappearance of Juan Luis Rivera Matus were issued today by the presiding judge of the First Criminal Court of Santiago, Joaquín Billard.

The magistrate indicted Alvaro Corbalán Castilla, who was part of the Comando Conjunto; Air Force General (R) Enrique Ruiz Bunger, Arturo Madrid, also a member of that repressive entity, and Sergio López Díaz, a former member of the DINE, for the crime of qualified kidnapping.

Ruiz Bunger had also been indicted by Judge Mario Carroza last week as the perpetrator of the crime of qualified kidnapping of Víctor Vega, David Urrutia, Juan Carlos Orellana, and Ricardo Weibel Navarrete, who are listed as disappeared, and four survivors.

Carroza is also investigating the implications of the alleged re-articulation of the Comando Conjunto recently denounced by former agent Otto Trujillo.

Díaz López, meanwhile, is a former Army officer who was part of the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINE).

Until the statement by former Comando Conjunto agent Andrés Valenzuela—alias Papudo—made in France in January of this year, there was information that Rivera Matus had been detained at the Colina military compound, where that repressive organization operated. The indication was that the detainee had been removed by the DINE after being killed.

However, the testimony of Papudo allowed for the verification that the person in charge of removing the Chilectra leader from that military facility was Corbalán, who was accompanied by López.

The investigation into the Rivera Matus case has advanced by establishing that his death is a different case from other crimes that occurred during the military regime, as it cannot be attributed to a specific repressive group but rather to individuals who allegedly carried out the crime in isolation.

Because an indictment was never issued in this case for almost 27 years, the Supreme Court, as the final instance, could not refer to the principle of res judicata.

Doubts about the table

The name of Juan Luis Rivera Matus appeared in the report delivered by the Armed Forces to the Dialogue Table, in which it was indicated that his remains had been thrown into the sea. However, and as part of the search for other forcibly disappeared persons conducted by Minister Amanda Valdovinos, his remains were found at the Army's Justo Arteaga fort in Colina.

The discovery was one of the first and dramatic alerts regarding doubts and inaccuracies in the information collected by the Armed Forces in that instance.

The remains of the union leader were delivered to his relatives in May of last year: they showed signs of having been burned after death, according to experts from the Legal Medical Service (SML).

Rivera Matus was a member of the PC and was a union leader at Chilectra. He was detained on November 6, 1975, at the corner of Santo Domingo and San Antonio by about five people in civilian clothes who put him into a white Peugeot station wagon without license plates.

On the same day of his kidnapping, a writ of amparo was filed on his behalf before the Santiago Court of Appeals, which, like almost all similar actions filed during the military regime, was rejected without further processing by the appellate court following a negative report on the detention issued by the Ministry of the Interior. On May 26, 1976, the case had been temporarily dismissed.

Source: elmostrador.cl, October 4, 2002

Date: 04-10-2002

Children of Juan Rivera Matus travel to Chile to bury him for the second time

Tonight, the relatives of Juan Luis Rivera Matus, whose remains appeared at Fuerte Arteaga, will travel to Chile to definitively bury the body of this former Chilectra worker who was listed as having been thrown into the sea, "40 miles off the coast," in the Army's report to the dialogue table.

Four of his seven children reside as refugees in France, from where they will return to Santiago for a few days to bury their father, who was detained according to witnesses at the corner of San Antonio and Santo Domingo in Santiago when he was 52 years old.

Patricio Rivera, one of the children, noted that "it is a kind of jumble of joy, pain, and hope. It is like two sufferings in a few days. My father has been buried three times: first by the murderers, then in the sea, and now I hope it will be the final one." Two months ago, they had traveled to San Antonio to hold a symbolic funeral for their father when it was reported that he had been thrown into the sea.

Living in France are his children Patricio, Jovina, Cecilia, and María Angélica, while Gaby, Olga, and Juan Carlos are in Chile. According to Patricio Rivera, the Chilean embassy in Paris has welcomed them very well, especially Ambassador Marcelo Schilling, "who has given us all his support and solidarity.

We have also received a letter from President Ricardo Lagos, whom we publicly thank for his invitation to attend our father's funeral. For us, it is a noble, humanitarian, and solidarity gesture toward our family," he added. The body of Juan Rivera Matus will be taken to the memorial for the forcibly disappeared in the General Cemetery of Santiago next week.

Source: cooperativa.cl, 5/5/2001

Date: 05-05-2001

Relatives of Rivera Matus: Armed Forces information is false

The credibility of the data provided by military entities to the Dialogue Table is going through its most critical moment, as it was officially confirmed today that one of the skeletal remains found at the Army's Fuerte Arteaga in Colina corresponds to Chilectra union leader Juan Rivera Matus.

In addition to refuting the military report—according to which Rivera Matus had been thrown into the sea off the coast of San Antonio—this opens a new breach of uncertainty for other relatives whose loved ones appear as having been thrown into the ocean by the military during the Pinochet regime.

After being informed this morning by Judge Amanda Valdovinos at the Palace of Justice, the family of the murdered leader described said information as "false" and a "lie" for which the Armed Forces must answer to the country.

"With pain and understanding, we demand truth and justice and that it be clarified how our father was detained and in what conditions he was killed," said Gabriela Rivera Sánchez, daughter of Rivera Matus.

Judge: "There is a confusion" of background information

Meanwhile, Mireya García, vice president of the Association of Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared Persons, stated that the identification of the leader provides "information that comes to disqualify the data provided by the Armed Forces."

However, Judge Valdovinos recalled today that the armed institutes collected data to help locate forcibly disappeared persons, but "the task of corroboration has always belonged to the courts of justice."

According to the magistrate, in the case of the union leader Rivera, "there is a confusion" of background information originated by those who originally provided it and which served to prepare the Army's report on forcibly disappeared persons.

"Nothing to say"

"The Army asked for information, received it, and delivered it," the sources added, insisting that the Army "no longer has anything to say."

A different opinion is held by Pamela Pereira, daughter of a forcibly disappeared person and vice president of the Socialist Party, who rejected the statements of military spokespersons. The leader—who was part of the Dialogue Table—said that the Armed Forces "are in a position to make more efforts, even when they say no with the pretense of shaking off this issue."

Source: latercera.cl, 28 2002

The remains of a Chilean communist leader

The remains of a Chilean communist leader, murdered during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and who had supposedly been thrown into the sea, were finally buried on Saturday in a cemetery in the capital.

Relatives and friends of union leader Juan Rivera Matus marched from the headquarters of the Communist Party to the memorial for the Forcibly Disappeared in the General Cemetery, in the northern area of Santiago.

"With his discovery (Juan Rivera), it is ratified that in Chile there was lying, and some lie to this day or provide maliciously false information. We now demand that the whole truth be told. It exists, and it is possible to know it," said Viviana Díaz, president of the Association of Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared Persons.

Source: elmostrador.cl, May 11, 2001

Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemns the State of Chile for reducing sentences for criminals against humanity

The Court declared the responsibility of the Supreme Court for the violation of the rights to judicial guarantees, as well as judicial protection in the cases of 44 forcibly disappeared persons and five political executions.

In the framework of the case of Vega González and others Vs. Chile, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights declared the international responsibility of the State of Chile for the violation, among others, of the rights to judicial guarantees and judicial protection to the detriment of 49 victims—among them, the journalist José “Pepe” Carrasco—and the right to personal integrity of 99 relatives.

According to the statement issued by the international court, the case deals with facts related to a series of judicial decisions issued between 2007 and 2010, in which the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, acting as a criminal cassation court, applied "media prescripción" (partial statute of limitations) as part of a review process of convictions of people who had been found responsible for acts of forced disappearance and extrajudicial execution that occurred during the civil-military dictatorship.

"As a consequence of these cassation decisions, the sentences imposed on those responsible were substantially reduced. Chile made a partial recognition of international responsibility in the present case and accepted the incompatibility of this figure with its conventional obligations," the text says.

The media prescripción is provided for in Article 103 of the Chilean Penal Code, and contemplates the reduction of the prison sentence imposed on a person responsible for a crime in cases where they present themselves or are brought to the order of the court after half or more than half of the time assigned for the statute of limitations of the criminal action or the sentence has elapsed.

According to the Court's criteria, this is contrary to the State's obligations regarding the investigation and sanction of crimes against humanity and serious human rights violations due to the following:

• It generates a mitigation of the punitive dosage that can cause the sentence to become ridiculous, making the sentence imposed in some cases end up being lower than the minimum established for certain crimes.
• It violates the principle of effective administration of justice and sanction for serious human rights violations and the right of access to justice for victims, generating impunity.
• It affects the proportionality that must govern when determining sanctions in cases of serious human rights violations. The Court determined that, in the specific case, the rule was applied and allowed for the substantial reduction of the sentences imposed on those responsible for the facts related to the forced disappearance of 44 victims and the extrajudicial execution of 5 victims, and acted as a factor of impunity, incompatible with the State's obligations to investigate and sanction crimes against humanity.

The Court also found that the right to judicial guarantees of 98 relatives of the disappeared and executed persons had been violated by not allowing their participation in all stages of the process, particularly by not letting them intervene in the cassation stage before the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, an instance in which the media prescripción was applied.

Similarly, the Court concluded that the State violated the right to personal integrity of 99 relatives of said disappeared and executed persons due to the uncertainty, suffering, and anguish caused by the state conduct examined in the Judgment.

Due to these violations, the Court ordered various reparation measures:

• Review and/or annul the sentence reductions that had derived from the unconventional application of the media prescripción.
• Adapt its internal legal system so that the figure of media prescripción is not applicable under any terms to crimes against humanity and serious human rights violations, and until such modification is made, it must apply conventionality control.
• Provide psychological, psychiatric, or psychosocial treatment to the victims who request it, or in its case, pay an established subsidiary amount.
• Carry out the publication and dissemination of this Judgment and its official summary.
• Carry out a public act of recognition of international responsibility.
• Pay the amounts set in the Judgment for material and immaterial damages, and for the reimbursement of costs and expenses.

It should be mentioned that among the cases in which there was a conviction for the violation of said guarantees is that of Juan Luis Rivera Matus, Felipe Segundo Rivera Gajardo, Gastón Fernando Vidaurrázaga Manríquez, José Humberto Carrasco Tapia, and Abraham Muskatblit Eidelstein, among several others, who were victims of extrajudicial execution and violation of the personal integrity of their relatives.

Source: radio.uchile.cl, September 26, 2024

IACHR approves friendly settlement agreement between the family of a forcibly disappeared person and the Chilean State.

The Chilean State allegedly failed to comply with the duty to adequately repair the damage caused.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) communicates its decision to approve the friendly settlement agreement regarding petition 1275-04 A Juan Luis Rivera Matus, signed on January 31, 2020, between the victims and their representatives and the Chilean State.

On November 29, 2004, the IACHR received a petition alleging the international responsibility of the Chilean State for facts related to the detention and subsequent disappearance of Mr. Juan Luis Rivera Matus by State agents on November 6, 1975.

In particular, the petitioner party indicated that the State had failed to comply with the duty to adequately repair the damage caused, because the petitioners did not receive economic compensation, constituting a violation of articles 1.1, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR).

The agreement included a clause for pecuniary reparation, which puts an end to the controversy raised before the IACHR regarding the lack of civil reparation for the family of Mr. Juan Luis Rivera Matus within the framework of petition 1275-04 A, regarding which the State committed to carrying out this reparation within a period of six months and informing the Commission in a timely manner of its compliance.

The IACHR notes that it values the collaborative dialogue between the Chilean State and the petitioner party in the bilateral negotiations for the design of this friendly settlement agreement, and urges the corresponding authorities to advance in the fulfillment of the international obligations derived from it until achieving full compliance with the agreement.

Likewise, it values the good will of the petitioner party and its committed work in achieving an agreement that allows the victim's relatives to resolve this case.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl, 20/5/2020

Funeral of Juan Rivera Matus held.

SANTIAGO.—Amidst emotional speeches, musical tributes, and displays of grief, the funeral of Juan Rivera Matus was held this noon at the memorial for the forcibly disappeared in the General Cemetery, 25 years after he was taken prisoner during the military regime.

Numerous relatives and friends of the communist leader arrived this morning at the PC headquarters on Avenida San Pablo to begin, together with leaders and militants of the collective, a march to accompany the funeral of his remains.

The remains of the leader were found on a property located inside the Army's Fuerte Arteaga, in the commune of Colina, following the proceedings carried out by Magistrate Amanda Valdovinos according to the information provided by the Armed Forces to the Dialogue Table.

This, despite the fact that the name of the communist militant appeared in the same report within a list of forcibly disappeared persons who had allegedly been thrown into the sea. After the identity of the remains was verified, they were delivered to his relatives this week, who were confirmed that Rivera's body was burned at the time of his burial.

Source: emol.com, 12/5/2001

Children of Juan Rivera Matus travel to Chile to bury him for the second time

Tonight, the relatives of Juan Luis Rivera Matus, whose remains appeared at Fuerte Arteaga, will travel to Chile to definitively bury the body of this former Chilectra worker who was listed as having been thrown into the sea, "40 miles off the coast," in the Army's report to the dialogue table.

Four of his seven children reside as refugees in France, from where they will return to Santiago for a few days to bury their father, who was detained according to witnesses at the corner of San Antonio and Santo Domingo in Santiago when he was 52 years old.

Patricio Rivera, one of the children, noted that "it is a kind of jumble of joy, pain, and hope. It is like two sufferings in a few days. My father has been buried three times: first by the murderers, then in the sea, and now I hope it will be the final one." Two months ago, they had traveled to San Antonio to hold a symbolic funeral for their father when it was reported that he had been thrown into the sea.

Living in France are his children Patricio, Jovina, Cecilia, and María Angélica, while Gaby, Olga, and Juan Carlos are in Chile. According to Patricio Rivera, the Chilean embassy in Paris has welcomed them very well, especially Ambassador Marcelo Schilling, "who has given us all his support and solidarity.

We have also received a letter from President Ricardo Lagos, whom we publicly thank for his invitation to attend our father's funeral. For us, it is a noble, humanitarian, and solidarity gesture toward our family," he added. The body of Juan Rivera Matus will be taken to the memorial for the forcibly disappeared in the General Cemetery of Santiago next week.

Source: cooperativa.cl, 5/5/2001