Address: Cuatro Oriente Sur No. 19, Población Rosita O'Higgins, Chillán Marital Status: Single Occupation: Merchant Political Affiliation: No known political affiliation Date of Detention: September 23, 1973

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa, single, 20 years old, merchant, was detained on September 23, 1973, at approximately 11:45 PM, at his home in the city of Chillán by a patrol of Carabineros and military personnel.

The uniformed men asked for the victim, and as he was in bed at the time, they forced him to get dressed, stating they had orders to take him away. The group of captors was led by an Army Lieutenant with the surname Depis.

As the uniformed men were taking the victim out to the street, they fired several shots into the air. From there, they transported Juan Poblete Tropa to the 2nd Carabineros Precinct of Chillán. That same day, two other people were detained by Carabineros in the city of Chillán: Luis Antonio Ibarra Durán and Leopoldo López Rivas; both also remain in the status of forcibly disappeared.

Mrs. María Tropa went to the aforementioned police station the following morning, September 24, 1973, where she was attended to by the guard on duty, who informed her that her son, Juan Poblete, was being held there, as she herself recounted in a sworn statement: "he was indeed in the dungeons of that unit.

I continued to go there to leave him food and clothing. All of this was received by the guard on duty and delivered to my son. On September 27, that is to say, four days after his detention, I had the opportunity to enter the interior of the barracks and hand him a package through a small window in the dungeon.

He showed signs of having been mistreated. He had swelling all over his body. From that moment on, I have never seen him again." In her statement, the victim's mother adds that on one occasion, Lieutenant Depis told her not to worry because her son was "on an island" and was doing well.

The truth is that no organization took responsibility for the victim's detention and imprisonment, and the information about his stay on an island was false, as evidenced by the testimony provided by Mr.

Mario Weitzel, father of the detained and executed Patricio Weitzel Pérez, who was arrested at his home by Carabineros and civilians in the early hours of October 1, 1973. On that occasion, two boarders who were staying at his home were also detained: Arturo Prat Martí and Gregorio Retamal Venegas, who have remained disappeared since that date.

Patricio Weitzel's father made countless efforts to find his son; he searched the rivers in the area trying to identify his son's body among the corpses that were floating. He was a watchmaker, and by chance, a child came to his workshop carrying his son's watch.

When asked where he had gotten it, he replied that his father had given it to him, and the minor then ran away. Faced with this, he decided to follow him, arriving near the El Ala bridge on the Ñuble River.

There, in a house, he was able to speak with the father, whom he asked to show him the place where he had taken the things that his son was carrying when he was detained. They then went to the place: "There we saw about 8 corpses that were stranded and half-decomposed; my son was not there.

Then he pointed out some blackberry bushes among which I found Patricio. His hands were tied behind his back with wire and he was wearing his jacket. I did not recognize any of the other corpses, but from one that was headless, I took a shoe and a belt and kept them." He then buried his son's body in some boldo bushes.

On December 26, 1973, he reported the illegal burial to the First Criminal Court of Chillán. Upon arriving at the Court on December 27, as summoned by the judge, he realized that a truck full of soldiers, two Carabineros vans, and one civil police vehicle were waiting for him.

The Judge called him and told him they would go to the site. There, they recovered the corpses, noting that all of them had a bullet hole in the skull, except, logically, for the decapitated corpse. The Judge authorized him to bury his son's body privately.

"Some time later," notes Mario Weitzel, "the mother of Juan Poblete Tropa came to my home, and upon seeing the shoe and the belt that I took from the headless corpse, she recognized them as belonging to her son and has kept them as such."

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On April 4, 1979, a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) was filed before the Court of Appeals of Chillán on behalf of the victim. The filing, which was registered under case number 106.169-79, was subsequently rejected by the Court, which ordered the records to be sent to the Third Criminal Court.

In the aforementioned Court, case number 11.374-A was initiated for alleged disappearance. On June 13, 1979, Mrs. María Tropa presented new evidence to the Criminal Court, indicating that corpses had been found at the El Ala Bridge, among which was that of her son.

She added that said corpse was entered into the local cemetery under the name of José Gregorio Retamal. A series of investigative steps were requested, which were not carried out.

Subsequently, on January 15, 1990, the remains that could correspond to Poblete Tropa or Retamal Venegas were exhumed. On April 27, 1990, a request was filed to reopen case number 11.374-A, which had been temporarily dismissed and archived.

On May 8, 1990, the Judge of the Third Criminal Court of Chillán decided to reopen the case for the victim's alleged disappearance, decreeing a series of investigative steps to establish the identity of the remains exhumed in the Chillán Cemetery.

Before the report from the Legal Medical Institute could be obtained to establish the identity of the exhumed remains, the Military Court requested jurisdiction. The Criminal Judge denied it, leading to a jurisdictional dispute, which was resolved in favor of the Military Justice of Chillán.

At the end of 1992, the status of this case was unknown, and the identification of the exhumed remains, which had been sent to the Legal Medical Institute in Santiago for forensic examination, had not been achieved.

Source: (Corporation Report)

In a virtual meeting, the visiting judge, Carlos Aldana, informed the victim's family of the results of the forensic examinations performed on the bones, which showed that part of the skeletal remains indeed belong to Poblete Tropa, now allowing them to be retrieved from the forensic institute for the funeral.

Through a series of forensic and laboratory reports developed in Chile and Austria, it was confirmed that part of the skeletal remains found 30 years ago in the Chillán cemetery belong to Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa, who until now was listed as a forcibly disappeared person and whose trail was lost in September 1973.

In a virtual meeting, the visiting judge, Carlos Aldana, informed the victim's family of the results of the forensic examinations performed on the bones, which showed that part of the skeletal remains indeed belong to Poblete Tropa, now allowing them to be retrieved from the forensic institute for the funeral.

"The decision is yours. The court normally supports it, and the procedure is regulated by the Legal Medical Service, where you will be detailed on how to proceed," indicated Aldana.

Since 1990, when the bones were found in the cemetery, suspicions arose that they might belong to other detainees, including Arturo Prat Martí and José Gregorio Retamal.

For this reason, lawyer Patricia Parra highlighted the importance of the forensic examinations, both for her clients, relatives of Poblete Tropa, and for the other families, reported Bio Bio Chile.

It should be remembered that in the process opened for the disappearance of Poblete Tropa, Judge Aldana indicted retired Carabineros General Patricio Jeldres Rodríguez as a direct perpetrator of the crime of kidnapping.

For this reason, after the confirmation of the identity of the remains, Poblete will be removed from the list of forcibly disappeared persons, and the classification of the crime for which Jeldres is charged will also change, moving from kidnapping to qualified homicide.

According to the information gathered in the investigative file, Judge Aldana was able to determine that at approximately 11:45 PM on September 23, 1973, 20-year-old Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa was sleeping at his parents' home, a place where a picket of Carabineros, led by the then-Lieutenant Jeldres Rodríguez, arrived and proceeded to violently remove the victim from the home, without a judicial or administrative order, to transport him to the Second Carabineros Precinct of Chillán, where he was reportedly beaten.

Days later, on the 27th of the same month, they put him into a van, as his mother, María Sabina Tropa, was able to witness; she was informed that he would be taken to the Chillán Regiment, where they denied that he had ever been admitted.

Nothing more was known of him until his mother received some personal items belonging to her son from Mario Weitzel Trincado, which were found on a headless body in the vicinity of the "El Ala" Bridge on December 24, 1973. Along with him, Weitzel Trincado found the body of his son, Patricio Lautaro Weitzel Pérez.

Source: El Ciudadano, August 1, 2021

Date: 08-01-2021

Judge Carlos Aldana issues indictment against retired Carabineros general for homicides and kidnappings in Chillán

In the resolution (case file 6-2017 and accumulated cases), Judge Aldana Fuentes indicted the retired Carabineros General, Jeldres Rodríguez, as the perpetrator of the qualified homicides of Patricio Lautaro Weizel Pérez and Gabriel Marcelo Cortez Luna; the qualified kidnappings of Ricardo Troncoso León, Arturo Lorenzo Prat Martí, José Gregorio Retamal Velásquez, Robinson Ramírez del Prado, Leopoldo López Rivas, and Mario Fernando Moreno Castro; and the aggravated kidnapping of Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa.

The judge serving as a special investigator for human rights violation cases for the Courts of the jurisdictions of Concepción and Chillán, Carlos Aldana Fuentes, issued an indictment against retired Carabineros General Patricio Enrique Jeldres Rodríguez for his responsibility in two consummated crimes of qualified homicide, six consummated crimes of qualified kidnapping, and one consummated crime of aggravated kidnapping.

These illicit acts were perpetrated between September and December 1973 in the commune of Chillán.

In the resolution (case file 6-2017 and accumulated cases), Judge Aldana Fuentes indicted the Carabineros Lieutenant at the time of the events, Jeldres Rodríguez, as the perpetrator of the qualified homicides of Patricio Lautaro Weizel Pérez and Gabriel Marcelo Cortez Luna; the qualified kidnappings of Ricardo Troncoso León, Arturo Lorenzo Prat Martí, José Gregorio Retamal Velásquez, Robinson Ramírez del Prado, Leopoldo López Rivas, and Mario Fernando Moreno Castro; and the aggravated kidnapping of Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa.

Furthermore, he indicted the civilian Juan Antonio Sepúlveda Peña as an accomplice in the aggravated kidnapping of Troncoso León.

In the resolution, the investigating judge established the following facts:

a) Case file 7-2017: “On October 1, 1973, around 11:00 hours, while Ricardo Troncoso León, a photographer and theater director with the pseudonym ‘Gonzalo Román,’ was at his home located in the El Tejar neighborhood, Pasaje Sur No. 387 in the city of Chillán, with his wife and young daughter, a Carabineros patrol from the Second Precinct of Chillán arrived, commanded by a Lieutenant, in a jeep with the Carabineros logo and accompanied by a civilian nicknamed ‘El vuela poco,’ named Juan Antonio Sepúlveda Peña.

They proceeded to raid the home and detain him without a competent judicial or administrative order, transporting him to the premises of said institution. He remained there in that capacity, and the family was informed on the 3rd of the same month and year that he had been transferred to the Regiment, where this fact was denied.

His whereabouts or fate have remained unknown from that date until now.” b) Case file 9-2017: “At 22:00 hours on October 1, 1973, a Carabineros patrol dedicated to detaining persons opposed to the military regime arrived at the home of Patricio Lautaro Weitzel Pérez, located at Pabellones Pizarro, street six, house four, in the commune of Chillán.

Without a competent judicial or administrative order, they entered said home and proceeded to detain him, along with his fellow students from the Escuela Normal de Chillán, Arturo Lorenzo Prat Martí and José Gregorio Retamal Velásquez, transporting them to the Second Carabineros Precinct of Chillán, where they were subjected to interrogations and torture by the aforementioned Carabineros operational group, led by Lieutenant Patricio Jeldres Rodríguez.

Their bodies were found in the bed of the Ñuble River, near the El Ala Bridge.

Subsequently, on December 24, 1973, a young woman arrived at the watch repair shop owned by Mr. Mario Weitzel Trincado—father of Patricio Lautaro Weitzel Pérez—to repair a wristwatch. Upon realizing it belonged to his son Patricio Lautaro—who had been forcibly disappeared since September 1973—he followed her at a distance after assisting her, arriving at the El Ala Bridge sector over the Ñuble River, on whose bank he found the bodies of six people floating in the water, including that of his son Patricio.

He left him half-buried in the same place while he fulfilled his duty to report it to the court on December 26, 1973. A criminal case was opened, and the judge visited the aforementioned site the following day, ordering the recovery of the body and its transfer to the morgue for the corresponding autopsy, and subsequently ordered its release to the family members, who gave him a burial.

Regarding the victims Arturo Lorenzo Prat Martí and José Gregorio Retamal Velásquez, since the date of their detention—October 1, 1973—and their transfer to the Second Carabineros Precinct of Chillán, no certain news of their whereabouts or location is known.” c) Case file 11-2017: “Around 10:00 hours on September 25, 1973, Robinson Enrique Ramírez del Prado, President of the Central Única de Trabajadores of Chillán, was detained by a group of Carabineros without a competent judicial or administrative order in the presence of his boss (Juan León Bernier) and coworkers at his workplace, the ‘El Cóndor’ tannery, located at Av. Collin No. 866, Chillán. He was seen entering the Second Precinct by his cousin Gerardo Pradenas del Prado, who at the time was a Carabineros officer at the same precinct, and they were confronted personally to determine the degree of kinship between them. Subsequently, the victim was placed in a cell, which was the last time he was seen.

At 13:00 hours on September 26, 1973, at his shoe repair shop located at the intersection of Av. Brasil and Av. Libertad in the city of Chillán, Leopoldo López Rivas, a member of the Communist Party, was detained by a group of Carabineros without a competent judicial or administrative order in the presence of his assistant (Vicente Vidal Méndez).

He was transported to the Second Precinct of Chillán, where his detention was acknowledged at the aforementioned police facility by the Carabineros on duty when reviewing the entry log before Mrs. Rosario Peña Espinoza, who arrived at said location at 15:00 hours that same day.

Likewise, it is established that both detainees—Robinson Ramírez del Prado and Leopoldo López Rivas—were subjected to intense and cruel torture, remaining in poor physical condition. In that state, they were removed from the aforementioned police unit and loaded into a vehicle by Carabineros personnel—along with the also-detained Luis Ibarra Durán and Juan Poblete Tropa—a date from which—September 25 and 26, 1973—no news regarding their whereabouts or location is known.” d) Case file 15-2017: “Around 23:45 hours on September 23, 1973, while Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa was sleeping at his parents' house, Carabineros led by Lieutenant Patricio Jeldres Rodríguez, supported by military personnel, arrived and violently removed him without a judicial or administrative order. He was taken to the Second Carabineros Precinct of Chillán, where he was visited by his mother, María Sabina Poblete Tropa, who observed that he was very mistreated due to the duress received. On September 27, 1973, while his mother was going to the precinct to leave lunch for her son, she noticed him being loaded onto a van. When she asked about his destination, she was informed that he would be taken to the Regiment, a place where they denied having received him.

From that day on, the family lost all news of his whereabouts until they received information from Mr. Mario Weitzel Trincado, who provided them with items found on a headless corpse that was in the vicinity of the ‘El Ala’ Bridge on December 24, 1973, next to the body of his son, Patricio Lautaro Weitzel Pérez.

After forensic genetic examinations, a GMI laboratory report, and an integrated expert report were conducted, incorporated at page 1767 and following on September 23, 2019, it was established with an identification probability of at least 99.99997% that the left femur labeled 62 belongs to the indicated victim, that is, Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa.

On page 1992, the corresponding death registration was ordered at the Civil Registry Service, with the cause of death: undetermined.” e) Case file 5-2018: “Around 12:00 midnight on October 1, 1973, Mario Fernando Moreno Castro, a leader of the Socialist Party, was at his home on Calle Cabildo No. 441, Chillán Viejo (a home he shared with his wife Rosa Elba Salinas Farías and their 3-year-old daughter, who were not at the location at that moment).

He realized his home was being raided by Carabineros officials and chose to flee through the rear fence of the property, passing through the interior courtyards of his neighbors. When he was passing through the intersection of Juan Martínez de Rozas and Cabildo streets, he was assisted by Mrs.

Mónica Muñoz Orellana, who saw him walking in the middle of the street carrying a white handkerchief on his shoulder. Mario told her that he was escaping from the raid on his home and that he was heading to turn himself in to the Carabineros of the 2nd Precinct.

Given the circumstances of the time and the prevailing curfew, Mrs. Mónica had him enter the restaurant where she worked (‘Sociedad Mutualista Bernardo O’Higgins’), located at the corner of Juan Martínez de Rozas and Cabildo, half a block from Moreno Castro's home, where he remained hidden all night.

Around 6:00 in the morning, Mario Moreno Castro left the restaurant, again expressing his intention to turn himself in at the 2nd Carabineros Precinct of Chillán, but not before leaving his belongings so they could be delivered to his wife.

At the moment Mrs. Mónica Muñoz Orellana opened the door, she encountered a Carabineros jeep and held a dialogue with the Carabinero Troncoso (deceased), whom she knew, since the restaurant served as a boarding house for Carabineros in the area.

She asked what they were doing there so early, and Carabinero Troncoso pointed out that ‘A little bird had escaped from them, but it was nearby.’ After the Carabineros patrol left, Mario Moreno Castro left the place, a moment from which he has never been seen alive again to date.

On the morning of October 2, 1973, when Rosa Elba Salinas Farías returned home after her shift at the Chillán Hospital, she realized her home had been raided. She was informed by neighbors that her partner had been detained that dawn by a Carabineros patrol in a place near her home, so she went to the 2nd Carabineros Precinct of Chillán in search of him, where she was informed at first that Mario Moreno was detained in that police facility, but subsequently the same Carabineros officials denied that information.” f) Case file 6-2017 and accumulated cases: “At 17:00 hours on September 18, 1973, a Carabineros patrol composed of Herminio Fernández Mercado (deceased), Juan Francisco Opazo Guerrero (deceased), Márquez Rodolfo Riquelme Echeverría (deceased), and Pedro Loyola Osorio (deceased) arrived at the home of Gabriel Marcelo Cortez Luna, located at Pabellón Manuel Rodríguez, No. 107 in the commune of Chillán. They entered without a competent judicial or administrative order, violently searching the home in search of Jorge Cortez Luna (the victim's older brother), who was not at the location. They proceeded to detain the brothers Gabriel Marcelo and Pedro Eduardo Cortez Luna, whom they transported to the Second Carabineros Precinct of Chillán, where Pedro Cortez Luna was released by order of Lieutenant Patricio Enrique Jeldres Rodríguez because they had been fellow students at the Liceo de Hombres in Chillán, while Gabriel Marcelo Cortez Luna remained detained at said police unit.

After many searches by his family, his mother learned on October 18, 1973, that in the facilities of the Legal Medical Service of Chillán there was a body that presented as the cause of death ‘cranial-encephalic perforation, ballistic projectile, action of uniformed contingent,’ according to the medical death certificate issued on September 20, 1973, which was buried in the common grave of the Chillán cemetery.

Upon exhumation of the body, it was verified that it corresponded to the victim Gabriel Marcelo Cortez Luna, who had died on September 19 of the same year at the level crossing of Calle Maipón, upon reaching the Chillán Railway Station.”

Finally, Judge Aldana resumed the processing of case file 8-2017 (accumulated with 6-2017), in which Jeldres Rodríguez is indicated as the author of the crimes of qualified kidnapping of Gustavo Domínguez Jara, Wilson Becerra Cifuentes, and Tomás Domínguez Jara. These illicit acts were committed starting October 11, 1973, in the commune of Chillán.

Source: pjud.cl, May 18, 2022

Date: 05-18-2022

Investigating judge confirms identity of remains of forcibly disappeared person found in Chillán

The remains of Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa were found in 1990 in the Chillán Cemetery. A retired Carabineros officer will move from being accused of kidnapping to qualified homicide for the disappearance of the young man in 1973.

Carlos Aldana, the investigating judge for human rights violation cases, informed the family of the forcibly disappeared person, Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa, that the remains located in the Chillán Cemetery in 1990 correspond to the young man murdered during the dictatorship.

Accompanied by the professionals who carried out the expert reports from the Legal Medical Service, and in the company of lawyers from the Human Rights Office of the Court of Appeals of Concepción, Aldana was able to confirm to the Poblete Tropa family that the examined remains correspond to the 20-year-old young man who was detained by Carabineros in 1973.

As reported by Radio Bio Bio, Judge Aldana told the family members that they can retrieve and dispose of the remains of Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa to hold his funeral. For her part, and as detailed by the same media outlet, the family thanked the investigating judge for “the commitment he has shown to achieve the clarification of the facts.” This was stated to the aforementioned radio station by María Cristina Poblete Tropa, the victim's sister.

In said case regarding the forced disappearance and murder of Poblete Tropa during the dictatorship, Judge Aldana indicted retired Carabineros General Patricio Jeldres Rodríguez as the perpetrator. The event allegedly occurred starting September 23, 1973, in Chillán, the date and place where Poblete was last heard from.

According to the investigative file, it was verified that near midnight on September 23, 1973, the 20-year-old merchant, who had no known political affiliation, was taken from his parents' home by a group of Carabineros commanded by the then-Lieutenant Jeldres.

Subsequently, on September 27 of that year, his mother was able to hear from Poblete for the last time, who was seen getting into a van headed for an unknown destination.

Nothing more was known of Poblete until his mother received from Mario Weitzel Trincado some personal items of her son, which were found on a headless body in the vicinity of the “El Ala” Bridge on December 24, 1973. Next to him, Weitzel Trincado found the body of his son, Patricio Lautaro Weitzel Pérez.

Now, by confirming the identity of Poblete Tropa, his name will be removed from the list of forcibly disappeared persons. Likewise, the kidnapping indictment against Patricio Jeldres will be reclassified as qualified homicide against the murdered young man.

Source: El Desconcierto, August 1, 2021

Date: 08-01-2021

Judge Carlos Aldana informs family members of the identification of the remains of a forcibly disappeared person

Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa was taken from his parents' home around 23:45 hours on September 23, 1973, by a Carabineros picket and was seen by his mother for the last time on September 27 as he was being loaded into a van.

The investigating judge for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of Concepción and Chillán, Carlos Aldana Fuentes, held a virtual meeting with family members of Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa, who until now appeared as a forcibly disappeared person.

In the meeting, Judge Aldana (accompanied by professionals from the Legal Medical Service and lawyers from the Human Rights Office of the Concepción Court of Appeals) informed the relatives of Poblete Tropa of the results of a series of expert and laboratory reports developed in Chile and Austria, which concluded that part of the remains found belonged to their relative.

In the meeting, Judge Aldana Fuentes told the family members that they can retrieve and dispose of the remains of Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa to hold his funeral. “You have the decision. The court normally supports it, and the procedure is regulated by the Legal Medical Service, where they will detail how to proceed,” he commented to them.

Meanwhile, the family members present via Zoom thanked the investigating judge for the commitment he has shown to achieve the clarification of the facts.

“I, first of all, am going to thank Judge Aldana, because he followed this case, since many others left it and were not capable of carrying our testimony. I thank him from my heart and I hope that he will be with us until the end,” stated María Cristina Poblete Tropa, the victim's sister.

In the process opened for the disappearance of Poblete Tropa (case file 6-2017 and accumulated), Judge Aldana indicted retired Carabineros General Patricio Jeldres Rodríguez as the direct perpetrator of the crime of kidnapping. This illicit act was perpetrated starting September 23, 1973, in the commune of Chillán.

According to the background information collected in the investigative file, Judge Aldana was able to determine that around 23:45 hours on September 23, 1973, Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa was sleeping at his parents' home, a place where a Carabineros picket arrived, led by the then-Lieutenant Jeldres Rodríguez, who proceeded to violently remove the victim from the home without a judicial or administrative order, to transport him to the Second Carabineros Precinct of Chillán, where they allegedly beat him.

Subsequently, on September 27, Poblete Tropa was seen by his mother, María Sabina Tropa, at the moment he was being loaded into a van, losing his trail and destination from then on, until his mother received from the hands of Mario Weitzel Trincado some personal items of her son, which were retrieved from a headless body that lay next to the corpse of Patricio Lautaro Weitzel Pérez, son of Weitzel Trincado, in the vicinity of the ‘El Ala’ bridge, on December 24, 1973.

Source: periodicoellibertador.cl, August 1, 2021

Date: 08-01-2021

Austrian laboratory and SML confirm identity of person disappeared in 1973

The investigating judge for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of Concepción and Chillán, Carlos Aldana Fuentes, held a virtual meeting with family members of Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa, who until now appeared as a forcibly disappeared person.

In September of that year, Mauricio Poblete Tropa was kidnapped and decapitated days later.

Judge Aldana (accompanied by professionals from the Legal Medical Service and lawyers from the Human Rights Office of the Concepción Court of Appeals) informed them regarding the results of a series of expert and laboratory reports developed in Chile and Austria, which concluded that part of the remains found belonged to their relative who disappeared in 1973, so now, they will be able to hold his funeral.

Poblete Tropa, who was taken from his bed on the night of September 23 by a Carabineros picket, was declared disappeared. And although the headless body found at the El Ala Bridge that same year had already been subjected to an expert examination, it was not until the intervention of the Austrian laboratory that his identity was proven.

Now, retired Carabineros General Patricio Jeldres, who is prosecuted for the crime of kidnapping, could face additional charges for homicide.

Source: ladiscusion.cl, July 31, 2021

Date: 07-31-2021

Juan Poblete Tropa now rests in peace

The San José Obrero chapel in the Rosita O’Higgins neighborhood sheltered the mortal remains of Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa yesterday, in what became his final funeral, after 32 years. Memories described him as a charismatic 20-year-old young man, the youngest of four siblings: César, María, Marta, and him.

His father was a bricklayer, and his mother, Mrs. María, was a seamstress and bone-setter. They belonged to the families that arrived at the Rosita O’Higgins neighborhood in August 1960, happy to have a decent roof over their heads.

The large presence of neighbors and old friends of Juan's youth reflects that “Rosita” was a great family. Juan Poblete Tropa belonged to a group of young people who wanted a better world for their peers to live in, with more opportunities and equality.

That was his “error,” wanting to serve others according to the dictates of his conscience. Despite not having political affiliation, he was identified as a member of groups strongly committed to the socialist government of Salvador Allende.

On the night of September 23, 1973, he was detained in his home by a patrol of Carabineros and military personnel. The rest is history. His mother, Mrs. María, then began a constant pilgrimage through police stations, outposts, and the military barracks, asking for some sign of her son.

However, only a clue found in the vicinity of the El Ala bridge allowed her to assume that Juan was no longer in this world and that he could have been buried under another identity in plot No. 3 of the Municipal Cemetery.

After three exhumations, the doubts were cleared, and starting Friday, he could be waked in his home, the same one from which he was snatched by the military patrol in 1973. His funeral was held yesterday, and since then, he rests definitively in peace. His mother had passed away a few years ago.

Heartfelt memories

Yesterday's mass was officiated by Father Raúl Manríquez and concelebrated by priests Fernando Varas and Fernando Osorio. It was also possible to observe former members of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), who identified themselves with flags and armbands, as well as representatives of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared of Ñuble, in addition to various communal and provincial authorities.

Priests Varas and Osorio knew him closely and highlighted his characteristics as a good son, an excellent athlete, and a committed agent of social change. “His sin was wanting to serve others,” they stated.

Both agreed that yesterday's rain had a purifying effect that will allow for the cleaning of the wounds caused by the blinding hatred that cut short the lives of so many Chileans. Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa now rests in peace.

Source: ladiscusion.cl, May 29, 2005

Date: 05-29-2005

Remains of Juan Poblete Tropa, disappeared in 1973, successfully identified

The remains belonging to Juan Poblete Tropa, detained in 1973 and which had been exhumed last year from the Municipal Cemetery, arrived at the facilities of the Legal Medical Service of Chillán. During the last seven months, the remains were subjected to expert examinations at the Legal Medical Institute in Santiago to confirm the identity.

This was because there were doubts regarding the identity, as the body that was buried in the cemetery was decapitated, having been moved there after being thrown into a common grave in 1973. The expert examinations were ordered by the First Civil Court of Chillán, after being requested by Ignacio Marín, a lawyer for the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior.

The court originally held the case before the criminal courts were created. Poblete Tropa was detained on September 23, 1973, by a patrol of Carabineros and military personnel from his home in the Rosita O’Higgins neighborhood, being transported to the Second Carabineros Precinct and subsequently the body was thrown at the El Ala bridge.

The identification of the body was possible thanks to the statements of Mario Weitzel, father of Patricio Weitzel, who in October 1973 found his son's body in the mentioned sector, along with eight other mutilated and executed bodies. Relatives of Poblete Tropa are arranging the retrieval of the body, which could be finalized in the coming hours.

Source: ladiscusion.cl, May 25, 2005

Date: 05-25-2005

Funeral of Juan Poblete Tropa confirmed

The family of Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa had to wait almost 32 years to give their loved one a Christian burial. After the Legal Medical Service confirmed that the remains exhumed seven months ago from the Municipal Cemetery of Chillán belong to the young man, detained by a military and former Carabineros patrol on September 23, 1973, the family members immediately scheduled the wake and funeral service.

The remains will be waked tomorrow, Friday, in the house where he lived, the same one where he was detained, located in the Rosita O’Higgins neighborhood, Pasaje 4 Oriente Sur, house 19. The following day, at 12:00 hours, a mass will be held at the San José Obrero Chapel, located on Avenida Chile, to subsequently move the funeral procession to the Municipal Cemetery.

The information was released by Marcelo Poblete, nephew of Poblete Tropa, who, on behalf of the family, expressed his satisfaction with the recovery of the remains after three decades. “We had the opportunity to see the remains and we had certainty when recognizing the part of the femur; it also clearly presented a perforation in the head as a result of a projectile,” indicated Marcelo Poblete, who also clarified that among the remains was the head, “which was probably thrown into the grave,” he specified.

Like most relatives of the forcibly disappeared, the family of Juan Poblete Tropa dedicated a good part of their life to the search, knocking on doors that were closed for years. TWO FAMILIES FOR ONE BODY.

The particularity of the case lies in the fact that initially, Poblete Tropa's body was buried in the Municipal Cemetery under the name of José Gregorio Retamal Velásquez, who was detained along with Arturo Prat Martí and Patricio Weitzel Pérez, and whose bodies, like Poblete's, were thrown into the Ñuble River in the El Ala Bridge sector.

The confusion began to clear up after Weitzel's father, who had recognized his son's body, kept a shoe from another body that turned out to be Poblete's.

Source: ladiscusion.cl, May 25, 2005

Date: 05-25-2005

Identity of forcibly disappeared person confirmed

DNA tests performed at the Legal Medical Institute allowed for the confirmation of the identity of the remains exhumed from the municipal cemetery of Chillán last year. The remains correspond to Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa, detained on September 23, 1973, and who had been in the status of disappeared since then.

The results were confirmed based on genetic tests performed on Poblete's relatives and from now on will serve as evidence to be contributed to the First Civil Court, where the investigation into the young man's detention is being followed, indicated Ignacio Marín, a lawyer for the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior.

The results rule out the other names that it was estimated the remains could belong to: Arturo Prat Martí and Gregorio Retamal, who were detained along with Poblete Tropa.

The remains of the three students were thrown from the El Ala Bridge after being detained by personnel from the Second Carabineros Precinct and were found months later, being transferred to a common grave.

Marín indicated that the recognition is an important step in the line of clarifying the facts and allowing for the establishment of responsibilities.

The lawyer indicated that, after delivering the background information to the judge, the family will be in a position to provide a Christian burial after 31 years.

Source: ladiscusion.cl, October 6, 2004

Date: 10-06-2004

Breaking the silence of children and adolescents who were political executions during the civil-military dictatorship 1973-1990

Testimonies, photographs, letters, and other documents that families and friends provided or wrote especially to be published are incorporated into the book “Breaking the silence of children and adolescents who were political executions during the civil-military dictatorship 1973-1990,” which was produced by the Association of Relatives of Political Executions (AFEP) with the support of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage, through the Culture, Memory, and Human Rights Unit, and the Human Rights Chair of the University of Chile.

The publication, based mainly on the Report of the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (1991) and the Report of the National Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation (1996), seeks to reconstruct in a comprehensive and careful way each of the lives and stories of the victims.

During the investigation, access was gained to the archive of the Association of Relatives of Political Executions, where documents that families have preserved over the years are kept. Illustrations by Álvaro Gómez were also included.

The creation process was a complex challenge that involved combining delicacy, respect, and methodological rigor to state in this work a painful and inescapable truth.

Source: cultura.gobierno.cl, April 20, 2023