Before the death of President Allende and prior to Minister Flores and his two companions leaving 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 is possible to establish that he withdrew to a bathroom located under a staircase, after which a gunshot was heard.

The bullet penetrated 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 his 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 of 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 us to affirm 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 […] 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, 24 years old, telephone operator and orderly at La Moneda; 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 evade his captors, switching from his group of companions 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 us to affirm that at least the following people were detained under those 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 that same day, the 11th, while they were 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 that proved their membership in the GAP, proceeded to detain them and transfer them to the Curicó Jail.

The Gendarmerie Service reported that on September 30, 1973, they were released from that penal facility, but that they 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 that lies with the State agents in the deaths of Francisco Lara Ruiz and Wagner Herid Salinas Muñoz.

Repressive Context: Member of the Presidential Guard, GAP. Militant of the Socialist Party Date of Detention: September 11, 1973

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Julio Moreno Pulgar, single, telephone operator, orderly at the Presidential Palace, and a militant of the Socialist Party, was detained on September 11, 1973, as the last group of people inside the La Moneda Palace, which was under bombardment, was leaving.

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

Moreno Pulgar was a member of the Presidential Guard, better known by the term given by the press of the time as the GAP, "Personal Friends Group," alluding to an expression used by the President of the Republic himself.

Moreno Pulgar resided at the Tomás Moro Presidential Residence and had been on guard duty at La Moneda since September 10, as confirmed by his sister, Elba Rosa, who called him at that location at 23:00 hours.

His shift was to end on September 11, but the events that occurred forced him to remain at La Moneda. His sister, Elba Rosa, who was a telephone operator at the Tomás Moro residence, tried to communicate with him at the La Moneda Palace in the morning but was unable to establish contact.

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

The members of the Presidential Guard and other individuals remained in the Palace until they received the order from President Salvador Allende to leave. They exited through the Morandé 80 street door of the La Moneda Palace, where they were held at gunpoint and 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 that location.

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 said medical center by military personnel and have since remained in the status of forcibly disappeared. Other members of the GAP who were coming from the El Cañaveral presidential residence did not manage to enter La Moneda and were detained in its vicinity.

They were, among others, Gonzalo Jorquera Leyton, Williams Osvaldo Ramírez Barría, Carlos Cruz Zavala, and Domingo Blanco Tarrés, who were part of a group of approximately 13 people, some of whom were subsequently victims of political executions, while others remain in the status of forcibly disappeared.

These individuals detained at La Moneda remained on Morandé Street 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.

Survivors of these events have provided information that allows for the reconstruction of the facts: the prisoners remained in the aforementioned regiment until September 13. While detained in that military unit, 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 requested that the officers execute them immediately.

Subsequently, they remained in a sector known as the "boxes" or former stables; from there, the prisoners were taken to an office located on the second floor of the Regiment, where they were subjected to political imprisonment and torture 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.

There were 49 such prisoners. Of them, it was ordered that the 17 detectives 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, presidential advisor and General Manager of the Central Bank of Chile; Sergio Contreras, public relations officer for the Intendancy 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, psychiatrist and presidential advisor; Eduardo Paredes Barrientos, physician, presidential advisor, and former Director of Investigations; Enrique París Roa, presidential advisor and member of the Superior Council of the University of Chile; Héctor Ricardo Pincheira Núñez, presidential advisor; and Arsenio Poupin Oissel, lawyer, General Undersecretary of Government, and presidential advisor. The members of the Presidential Guard who have been identified are as follows: José Freire Medina, Daniel Gutierrez 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 come to La Moneda in support of 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 were taken out of the Regiment to an unknown destination.

Almost all members of the Presidential Guard who were at La Moneda on September 11, 1973, were victims of political executions or disappeared. However, one 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 leave alive after being imprisoned at the Estadio Chile and the National Stadium.

Osses notes in his extensive statement 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 midnight, later that the execution would be at 3:00 hours, and later still, at 6:00 hours.

Osses has recognized that among those detained at the Tacna 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, is the one who 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 she knew from her professional activities and government leaders. She also observed numerous groups of other prisoners entering or leaving. On September 13, at noon, through the cracks of the shed where about 90 women were locked up, 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 noon on September 13, at which time he was able to witness how the prisoners were taken away in a military truck.

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 to 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 with a diameter of about five to six meters 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 thus the executions continued 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.

However, this massacre of prisoners has never been officially recognized, nor have the bodies been returned, and the mentioned persons, including Julio Hernán Moreno Pulgar, have been missing since September 13, 1973.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

The family did not take judicial action for many years for fear of reprisals; however, they made inquiries at other institutions. Finally, on July 11, 1990, they filed a complaint for alleged disappearance before the Fifth Criminal Court of Greater Santiago, which was registered under No. 126465-6.

In the document, it was requested that information be obtained from the Civil Registry, that the Investigative Police be officially requested to conduct an investigation, and that the emergency hospitals and clinics of Santiago, as well as the Legal Medical Institute, be officially notified.

It was also requested that the International Police and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs be consulted to verify if the affected person left the country or sought asylum. Currently, the case is in the summary stage (1992).

Additionally, it was requested that the Intelligence Services of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Carabineros be officially notified to gather the information contained therein regarding the disappeared person.

The other efforts made shortly after Julio Moreno's disappearance were carried out before the International Red Cross, hospitals, the morgue, and prisons. All these procedures were unsuccessful in finding Julio Hernán Moreno Pulgar.

Source: Rettig Report