The Lautaro Brigade of the DINA was the extermination unit assembled by Manuel Contreras and directed by Army Major Juan Morales Salgado. This brigade operated from the clandestine barracks at Calle Simón Bolívar 8630.

The actions of this group of DINA agents known to date include the capture of the Communist Party leadership in 1976. The brigade functioned with a contingent of more than 70 members, whose operational members carried out the gathering of information, arrests, interrogations/torture, execution, and the disappearance of the bodies of the detainees.

For these purposes, they had access to a large infrastructure; in addition to the barracks themselves, they had a varied number of vehicles at their disposal, as well as access to Puma helicopters from the Army Aviation Command (CAE) that operated from Peldehue.

The members of the Lautaro Brigade came from all four branches of the Armed Forces, in addition to having some civilian agents attached to the various branches. Its composition was mostly made up of non-commissioned officers.

The fact that there were at least seven agents from the Navy in this brigade makes it clear that the institution lied when it declared that the Navy withdrew all its personnel from the DINA in 1975. Another characteristic of the Lautaro Brigade is that it had a large number of women, who, as has been discovered, were characterized by their coldness and cruelty regarding the crimes.

Several of them, due to their knowledge of medicine and nursing, cooperated in the experiments carried out in the chemical laboratory at Michael Townley's house in Lo Curro. Townley constantly attended the Calle Simón Bolívar barracks to experiment on detainees with the gas manufactured by the chemist Eugenio Berrios.

The information that has been recovered as of August 2007 emerged after the investigation into the “Calle Conferencia” case carried out by Judge Víctor Montiglio, who managed to establish the fate of a number of detainees from the Communist Party leadership, among them the general secretary of the PC in hiding, Víctor Manuel Díaz López, as well as Bernardo Araya Zuleta, María Olga Flores Barraza, Mario Zamorano Donoso, Onofre Jorge Muñoz Poutays, Uldarico Donaire Cortés, Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño, Elisa Escobar Cepeda, Lenín Adán Díaz Silva, Eliana Espinoza Fernández, and Marta Lidia Ugarte Román. To this day, it has been established that Víctor Manuel Díaz López was arrested in the early hours of May 12, 1976, at the house located at Calle Bello Horizonte No. 979, in the Las Condes district, days after the arrest of several PC leaders detained in the operation known as the “Ratonera” at Calle Conferencia No. 1587. Víctor Díaz was taken to the Villa Grimaldi torture center and subsequently transferred to “Casa de Piedra,” another DINA torture center located in the Cajón del Maipo, a place where it is known that Augusto Pinochet visited Víctor Díaz and other PC leaders detained there. At the beginning of 1977, Manuel Contreras gave the order to Juan Morales Salgado to eliminate Víctor Díaz, and in compliance with that order, agents Sergio Escalona Acuña and Bernardo Daza Navarro took Díaz out of a cell and tied a plastic bag over his head, suffocating him, while Army Lieutenant (nurse) Gladys de las Mercedes Calderón Carreño injected him with cyanide. Subsequently, they proceeded to place the body in plastic bags, tie it up, attach a piece of rail to it, and place it in potato sacks, then tie it with wire to ensure the bindings would not open. The body was transported in vehicles to the Army regiment in Peldehue, where they had other executed individuals brought from Villa Grimaldi and tied in the same way as Víctor Díaz. They loaded the bodies into the Army Aviation Command's Puma helicopter and set off toward the coast of the Fifth Region to throw the bodies into the sea. This modus operandi of the Lautaro Brigade agents demonstrates the brutality and dehumanization of all its members. Below is the list of some of the agents of the Lautaro Brigade. 1 Acevedo Acevedo, Heriberto del Carmen Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 2 Ahumada Despouy, Joyce Ana Army Non-commissioned officer 3 Altamirano Sanhueza, Orlando del Tránsito Navy Non-commissioned officer 4 Alvarez Droguett, Victor Manuel Army Non-commissioned officer 5 Alvarez Vega, Hiro Army Non-commissioned officer 6 Arriagada Mora, Jorge Hugo FACH Civilian employee 7 Aspe Rojas, Celinda Angélica Navy Non-commissioned officer 8 Benavides Escobar, César Raúl Army General 9 Bermúdez Méndez, Carlos Justo Army Non-commissioned officer 10 Bitterlich Jaramillo, Pedro Segundo Army Non-commissioned officer 11 Cabezas Mardones, Eduardo Patricio FACH Non-commissioned officer 12 Calderón Carreño, Gladys de las Mercedes Army Officer and nurse 13 Castro Andrade, Sergio Hernán Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 14 Chaigneau Sepúlveda, Federico Humberto Army Lieutenant Colonel 15 Daza Navarro, Bernardo del Rosario Navy Non-commissioned officer 16 Díaz Radulovich, Jorge Iván FACH Non-commissioned officer 17 Díaz Ramírez, Guillermo Eduardo FACH Non-commissioned officer 18 Escalona Acuña, Sergio Orlando Navy Non-commissioned officer 19 Escobar Fuentes, Jorge Marcelo Army Brigadier 20 Ferrán Martínez, Guillermo Jesús Army Non-commissioned officer 21 Garea Guzmán, Eduardo Army Civilian employee 22 Guerrero Aguilera, Gustavo Enrique Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 23 Guerrero Soto, María Angélica Army Non-commissioned officer 24 Gutiérrez Valdés, Pedro Antonio Army Non-commissioned officer 25 Jaime Astorga, Rufino Eduardo Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 26 Jímenez Escobar, Berta Yolanda Navy Non-commissioned officer 27 Krassnoff Martchenko, Miguel Army Brigadier 28 Lagos Yañez, Luis Alberto FACH Civilian employee 29 Lawrence Mires, Ricardo Víctor Carabineros Lieutenant Colonel 30 López Tapia, Carlos José Army Colonel 31 Magna Astudillo, Elisa del Carmen Army Officer 32 Manríquez Manterola, Jorge Lientur Navy Non-commissioned officer 33 Marcos Muñoz, Carlos Segundo Civilian attached to the Army 34 Meza Serrano, José Miguel Navy Non-commissioned officer 35 Montre Méndez, Manuel Antonio Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 36 Morales Salgado, Juan Hernán Army Colonel 37 Navarro Navarro, Teresa del Carmen Navy Non-commissioned officer 38 Obreque Henríquez, Manuel Jesús Army Non-commissioned officer 39 Ojeda Obando, José Alfonso Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 40 Orellana de la Pinta, Claudio Orlando Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 41 Oyarce Riquelme, Eduardo Alejandro Army Non-commissioned officer 42 Pacheco Fernández, Claudio Enrique Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 43 Pichunmán Curiqueo, Jorge Segundo Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 44 Piña Garrido, Juvenal Alfonso Army Non-commissioned officer 45 Reyes Lagos, Eduardo Antonio Army Non-commissioned officer 46 Rinaldi Suárez, Carlos Ramón Army Non-commissioned officer 47 Rivas González, Adriana Elcira Navy Non-commissioned officer 48 Riveros Valderrama, René Miguel Army Officer 49 Saavedra Vásquez, Orfa Yolanda Army Non-commissioned officer 50 Sagardía Monje, Jorge Laureano Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 51 Sarmiento Sotelo, José Manuel Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 52 Silva Vergara, Marilin Melahani Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 53 Sovino Maturana, Hernán Luis Army Captain 54 Torrejón Gatica, Orlando Jesús Army Non-commissioned officer 55 Troncoso Vivallos, Emilio Hernán Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 56 Urrutia Acuña, Luis Arturo Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 57 Vacarella Gilio, Italia Donata Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 58 Valdebenito Araya, Héctor Manuel Carabineros Non-commissioned officer 59 Vilches Muñoz, Ana del Carmen FACH Civilian employee

Source: elsiglo.cl, 2002

The massive retired Army non-commissioned officer cried and said he regretted the crime. The two Marines who until now appeared as the material authors participated by preparing the body to be thrown into the sea.

A former agent of the DINA's Lautaro Brigade who operated at the Simón Bolívar 8630 barracks in La Reina confessed to having murdered the general secretary of the Communist Party in hiding, Víctor Díaz López, in January 1977.

He is a retired Army non-commissioned officer, nicknamed “El Elefante” (The Elephant) due to his physical build, who, although detained, has not yet been prosecuted by Judge Víctor Montiglio, who is instructing the process known as Calle Conferencia.

This new information is added to the large amount of previously unknown information obtained within the framework of this investigation by the Special Affairs and Human Rights Brigade of the Investigative Police and Judge Montiglio.

Until now, the Marines Sergio Escalona Acuña and Bernardo Daza Navarro, prosecuted in the case, appeared as those who had materially committed the crime against the communist leader. However, it is now known that it was El Elefante who put a plastic bag over Díaz's head to suffocate him, while Army Lieutenant Gladys Calderón Carreño injected him with cyanide to accelerate his death.

The two Marines, today retired non-commissioned officers, were present and prepared the body to be thrown into the sea from a Puma helicopter of the Army Aviation Command. In the investigation, some former agents also confessed that at the Simón Bolívar barracks, they “experimented” on the faces of some prisoners, disfiguring them.

In addition to practicing other forms of torment “comparable only to those of the Nazis in concentration camps,” according to a source linked to the inquiry. New defendants Minister Víctor Montiglio continues to prosecute more former agents of the Lautaro Brigade, all of whom were absolutely unknown until now.

The three newly declared defendants in the last few hours, who join the previous 44 indicted, are former agents María Angélica Guerrero Soto, retired Army non-commissioned officer; Sergio Castro Andrade, retired Carabineros non-commissioned officer; and Luis Lagos Yáñez, then a civilian employee attached to the Air Force.

According to sources closely linked to the process, “El Elefante” even reached the point of tears, expressing that he was “repentant” for the crime committed, arguing that “if he did not follow orders,” he would be the one to suffer the same fate as the prisoners.

The background of this judicial investigation indicates that both the Lautaro Brigade, which is now known to have been the most numerous and bestial of the DINA, and the Calle Simón Bolívar barracks operated as extermination entities for militants and leaders of the Communist Party who worked covertly after the 1973 military coup.

Mainly their two clandestine leaderships of 1976, who were kidnapped and forcibly disappeared. The Lautaro Brigade was directed by the then-Army Major Juan Morales Salgado, but it was a group over which both Manuel Contreras and Augusto Pinochet maintained direct control.

Source: La Nación, March 14, 2007

51 former DINA agents accused for the disappearance of pregnant woman Reinalda Pereira

The emblematic case of the Medical Technologist and leader of the Sótero del Río Hospital advances with the presentation of charges for qualified kidnapping against the members of the Simón Bolívar barracks.

It includes “Mamo” and Pedro Espinoza. The entire staff of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) and those who were in charge of the Simón Bolívar barracks and clandestine detention center were accused this Friday by Judge Miguel Velásquez for the disappearance of Reinalda del Carmen Pereira Plaza in 1976.

The visiting minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals charged a total of 51 former agents of Augusto Pinochet's first secret police with the crime of qualified kidnapping, which affected the woman who was arrested while waiting for a bus in Ñuñoa.

The case of Reinalda del Carmen, a militant of the Communist Party, is one of the most emblematic of the first years of the dictatorship for being one of several pregnant women who are on the list of the forcibly disappeared in the sad history of the military regime.

The woman, who was 29 years old at the time of her disappearance, was married and expecting her first child (she was 5 months pregnant). She worked as a Medical Technologist at the Doctor Sótero del Río Hospital, where she also served as a Personnel Delegate, was Secretary of the Federation of Health Professionals and Technicians, and was a leader of the Association of Medical Technologists.

PERMANENT KIDNAPPING: "SHE WAS NEVER SEEN ALIVE AGAIN"

In the resolution, the magistrate established that “it is legally proven that, after 4:00 PM on December 15, 1976, at the streets Exequiel Fernández and Rodrigo de Araya, in the district of Ñuñoa, Reinalda del Carmen Pereira Plaza, 29 years of age, a medical technologist and communist militant, who was pregnant, was arrested by DINA agents.” He adds that they “were moving in two cars, and she was forced into one of them and taken to a secret barracks located at Calle Simón Bolívar 8800, where she was interrogated under illegal duress and then forcibly disappeared, with no news of her whereabouts to this date.” He finally establishes that the described facts “constitute the existence of the crime of qualified kidnapping of Reinalda del Carmen Pereira Plaza, provided for and sanctioned in section 3 of article 141 of the Penal Code of the time, since the confinement of the victim resulted in serious harm to her person, given that she was never seen alive again.”

THE CASE IS THE SUBJECT OF THE DOCUMENTARY "REINALDA DEL CARMEN, MI MAMÁ Y YO"

THE LIST OF THOSE ACCUSED FOR HER KIDNAPPING IS AS FOLLOWS:

1- Juan Manuel Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda. 2- Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo. 3- Juan Hernán Morales Salgado. 4- Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires. 5- Federico Humberto Chaigneau Sepúlveda. 6- Hernán Luis Sovino Maturana. 7- Gladys de las Mercedes Calderón Carreño. 8- Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido. 9- José Alfonso Ojeda Obando. 10- Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo. 11- Jorge Laureano Sagardía Monje. 12- Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya. 13- Bernardo del Rosario Daza Navarro. 14- Sergio Orlando Escalona Acuña. 15- Jorge Lientur Manríquez Manterola. 16- José Miguel Meza Serrano. 17- Luis Alberto Lagos Yáñez. 18- María Angélica Guerrero Soto. 19- Jorge Iván Díaz Radulovich. 20- Guillermo Jesús Ferrán Martínez. 21- Jorge Segundo Pichunmán Curiqueo. 22- Orfa Yolanda Saavedra Vásquez. 23- Elisa del Carmen Magna Astudillo. 24- Claudio Orlando Orellana de la Pinta. 25- Eduardo Alejandro Oyarce Riquelme. 26- Heriberto del Carmen Acevedo. 27- Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández. 28- Emilio Hernán Troncoso Vivallos. 29- Sergio Hernán Castro Andrade. 30- Teresa del Carmen Navarro Navarro. 31- Juan Edmundo Suazo Saldaña. 32- Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica. 33- José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo. 34- Carlos Enrique Miranda Mesa. 35- Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett. 36- Orlando del Tránsito Altamirano Sanhueza. 37- Gustavo Enrique Guerrero Aguilera. 38- Manuel Antonio Montre Méndez. 39- Guillermo Eduardo Díaz Ramírez. 40- Hiro Álvarez Vega. 41- Celinda Angélica Aspe Rojas. 42- Jorge Hugo Arriagada Mora. 43- Berta Yolanda del Carmen Jiménez Escobar. 44- Justo Bermúdez Méndez. 45- Eduardo Patricio Cabezas Mardones. 46- Carlos Eusebio López Inostroza. 47- Italia Donata Vaccarella Gilio. 48- Camilo Torres Negrier. 49- Joyce Ana Ahumada Despouy. 50- Marilín Melahani Silva Vergara 51- José Domingo Seco Alarcón.

Source: lanacion.cl, June 13, 2014

36 former DINA agents sentenced for crimes against communist leaders

The Fifth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced 36 former agents of the National Intelligence Directorate – DINA – for the murder of 6 communist leaders executed in December 1976 by the DINA's Lautaro Brigade at the extermination center called the Simón Bolívar Barracks, in the capital.

In the case labeled “Conferencia dos” (case roll 829-2017), through a unanimous ruling, the Fifth Chamber of the appellate court—composed of ministers Omar Astudillo, Mireya López, and Jenny Book—sentenced former Army officers and DINA hierarchs Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo and Juan Hernán Morales Salgado to 20 years in prison as authors of the qualified homicides of Juan Fernando Ortiz Letelier, Horacio Cepeda Marinkovic, and Lincoyán Yalú Berríos Cataldo.

In addition, they must serve 12 years in prison as authors of the qualified kidnappings of Fernando Navarro Allendes, Héctor Véliz Ramírez, and Waldo Ulises Pizarro Molina; and 3 years in prison for the simple kidnapping of Fernando Ortiz Letelier, Horacio Cepeda Marinkovic, and Lincoyán Berríos Cataldo.

In the first instance, in a ruling issued in December 2016, Minister Miguel Vásquez Plaza had sentenced these criminals and Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires to life imprisonment, plus 15 years and one day, plus 4 years, respectively.

Lawrence Mires was still a fugitive when the case was heard in Court; although he was recently captured, the ruling does not record the change in the procedural status of the convicted person. Meanwhile, agents Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Jorge Iván Díaz Radulovich, Heriberto del Carmen Acevedo, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Emilio Hernán Troncoso Vivallos, Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica, and Carlos Eusebio López Inostroza were sentenced to 15 years and one day in prison as co-authors of the homicides of Ortiz Letelier, Cepeda Marinkovic, and Berríos Cataldo. In the case of agents José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Federico Humberto Chaigneau Sepúlveda, Gladys de las Mercedes Calderón Carreño, Jorge Laureano Sagardía Monje, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Sergio Orlando Escalona Acuña, Jorge Lientur Manríquez Manterola, José Miguel Meza Serrano, Luis Alberto Lagos Yáñez, Jorge Segundo Pichunmán Curiqueo, Orfa Yolanda Saavedra Vásquez, Elisa del Carmen Magna Astudillo, Eduardo Alejandro Oyarce Riquelme, Sergio Hernán Castro Andrade, José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo, Gustavo Enrique Guerrero Aguilera, Jorge Hugo Arriagada Mora, Berta Yolanda Jiménez Escobar, Carlos Justo Bermúdez Méndez, Orlando del Tránsito Altamirano Sanhueza, Carlos Enrique Miranda Mesa, Guillermo Eduardo Díaz Ramírez, Teresa del Carmen Navarro Navarro, Celinda Angélica Aspé Rojas, and Camilo Torres Negrier, they were sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison for the qualified kidnappings of Fernando Navarro Allendes and Héctor Véliz Ramírez; plus 541 days in prison for the simple kidnapping of Ortiz Letelier, Cepeda Marinkovic, and Berríos Cataldo. Finally, María Angélica Guerrero Soto was sentenced to 61 days in prison for the crime of simple kidnapping of Fernando Ortiz Letelier, Horacio Cepeda Marinkovic, and Lincoyán Berríos Cataldo. The Lautaro Brigade of the DINA and the Simón Bolívar barracks The Simón Bolívar Barracks was a secret DINA detention and torture facility installed in a large house at Calle Simón Bolívar No. 8800 in the La Reina district, in Santiago. The Lautaro Brigade, directed by Army officer Juan Hernán Morales Salgado and dependent on Manuel Contreras and Pedro Espinoza Bravo, operated in this place. The aforementioned brigade performed operational functions and specialized in the extermination of prisoners who fell into their hands and were taken to that secret barracks. Likewise, in the second half of 1976, groups of DINA operational agents, led by officers Germán Barriga Muñoz and Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, arrived at said facility, focusing fundamentally on repressing members of the Communist Party, especially its leadership; to that end, they enabled facilities for the installation of offices, confinement dungeons, and cells for interrogations and torture, using duress with various methods against the detainees. After prolonged torture sessions, the prisoners were eliminated using various methods, which in some cases included the use of pentothal and throat-slitting. Finally, the bodies of those murdered were made to disappear by the executioners. There were no surviving prisoners from this extermination facility, which is why the existence of this place could only be known to the courts in 2007 through the confession of one of the members of the brigade.

Source: resumen.cl, May 28, 2020

35 agents of the Pinochet dictatorship sentenced for the disappearance of a pregnant woman

Visiting minister Miguel Vázquez Plaza confirmed yesterday morning the sentencing of 35 former members of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for the qualified kidnapping of Reinalda Pereira Plaza in December 1976.

The woman was 5 months pregnant at the time of her arrest. Agents Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, Juan Hernán Morales Salgado, and Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires were sentenced to 10 years as authors of the crime.

Meanwhile, Gladys de las Mercedes Calderón Carreño, Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Sergio Orlando Escalona Acuña, Jorge Lientur Manríquez Manterola, María Angélica Guerrero Soto, Orfa Yolanda Saavedra Vásquez, Elisa del Carmen Magna Astudillo, Eduardo Alejandro Oyarce Riquelme, Heriberto del Carmen Acevedo, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Emilio Hernán Troncoso Vivallos, Teresa del Carmen Navarro Navarro, José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo, Gustavo Enrique Guerrero Aguilera, Manuel Antonio Montre Méndez, and Jorge Hugo Arriagada Mora must serve 7 years in prison. Hernán Luis Sovino Maturana, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, José Miguel Meza Serrano, Luis Alberto Lagos Yáñez, Jorge Iván Díaz Radulovich, Jorge Segundo Pichunmán Curiqueo, Sergio Hernán Castro Andrade, Carlos Enrique Miranda Mesa, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Orlando del Transito Altamirano Sanhueza, Guillermo Eduardo Díaz Ramírez, Berta Yolanda del Carmen Jiménez Escobar, Carlos Eusebio López Inostroza, and Joyce Ana Ahumada Despouy must serve 4 years as accomplices to the disappearance. The arrest of a pregnant woman Reinalda Pereira was 29 years old and five months pregnant when she was kidnapped. A communist militant and medical technologist, she became part of the long list of the forcibly disappeared during the Pinochet dictatorship. She was the only daughter of a peasant woman born in Lonquén, who traveled to Santiago to work as a domestic servant. In 1973, she was expelled for political reasons from the Sótero del Río Hospital, where she worked as a medical technologist. She was detained at the Army Railway Regiment, and her husband, Maximiliano Santelices—also a communist militant—was at the National Stadium. Despite being five months pregnant, she was arrested at the corner of Exequiel Fernández and Rodrigo de Araya by two men who forced her into a car. On the same day, other PC militants and members of the party's clandestine leadership were arrested. In December 1976, the Ministry of the Interior would say that Reinalda went to Argentina, crossing “on foot” through the Los Libertadores pass. It would take years until it was proven that this was false. The investigation that was opened in the Third Criminal Court of Santiago lasted for more than 13 years. It was a complaint by Gladys Marín in 1998 that reopened the case of Reinalda and “the 13” disappeared PC militants. In February 2007, Maximiliano Santelices passed away due to cancer, without knowing what happened to his wife or whether his child was ever born. It was Jorgelino Vergara Bravo, “el mocito” (the errand boy), who provided details to the justice system regarding the torture inflicted on Reinalda Pereira by the DINA. Yesterday, the sentence against those who disappeared Reinalda and her child was confirmed.

Source: eldesconcierto.cl, October 19, 2017

Sentencing of DINA agents for the kidnapping of leaders and the homicide of the general secretary of the Communist Party

The minister for extraordinary causes regarding human rights violations at the Santiago Court of Appeals, Miguel Vázquez Plaza, sentenced 53 former agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for their responsibility in the consummated crimes of eight counts of aggravated kidnapping and one count of aggravated homicide of Communist Party leaders, detained within the framework of the so-called "Calle Conferencia 1" case.

In the ruling (case file 2.182-1998), the presiding judge issued sentences against the former state agents for their responsibility, as authors or accomplices, in the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Mario Jaime Zamorano Donoso, Onofre Jorge Muñoz Poutays, Uldarico Donaire Cortez, Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño, Elisa del Carmen Escobar Cepeda, Lenin Adán Díaz Silva, Eliana Marina Espinoza Fernández, and Víctor Manuel Díaz López; and the homicide of Díaz López.

These crimes were perpetrated in 1976 in the Metropolitan Region.

In the resolution, the minister sentenced:

• Carlos José Leonardo López Tapia and Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko to 20 years in prison as authors of the crimes of aggravated kidnapping of: Mario Jaime Zamorano Donoso and Onofre Jorge Muñoz Poutays, perpetrated starting May 4, 1976; of Uldarico Donaire Cortez and Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño, committed starting May 5, 1976; of Elisa del Carmen Escobar Cepeda, perpetrated starting May 6, 1976; of Lenin Adán Díaz Silva, committed starting May 9, 1976; of Eliana Marina Espinoza Fernández, perpetrated starting May 12, 1976; and of Víctor Manuel Díaz López, perpetrated starting May 12, 1976.

• Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires must serve 20 years in prison as an author of the eight counts of aggravated kidnapping; and 15 years in prison as a co-author of the aggravated homicide of Víctor Díaz López, perpetrated on an undetermined day in the first fortnight of January 1977.

• Heriberto del Carmen Acevedo, Emilio Hernán Troncoso Vivallos, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Jorge Iván Díaz Radulovich, Orlando del Tránsito Altamirano Sanhueza, Eduardo Patricio Cabezas Mardones, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Guillermo Eduardo Díaz Ramírez, Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Carlos Enrique Miranda Mesa, Carlos Eusebio López Inostroza, and Lionel de la Cruz Medrano Rivas must serve 13 years in prison as co-authors of the crimes of aggravated kidnapping of Mario Jaime Zamorano Donoso, Onofre Jorge Muñoz Poutays, Uldarico Donaire Cortez, Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño, Elisa del Carmen Escobar Cepeda, and Víctor Manuel Díaz López; and as accomplices in the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Lenin Adán Díaz Silva and Eliana Marina Espinoza Fernández.

• Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido must serve a sentence of 13 years in prison as a co-author of the crimes of aggravated kidnapping of Mario Jaime Zamorano Donoso, Onofre Jorge Muñoz Poutays, Uldarico Donaire Cortez, Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño, Elisa del Carmen Escobar Cepeda, and Víctor Manuel Díaz López; and as an accomplice in the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Lenin Adán Díaz Silva and Eliana Marina Espinoza Fernández; in addition to 12 years in prison as a co-author of the aggravated homicide of Víctor Díaz López.

• José Alfonso Ojeda Obando was sentenced to 11 years in prison as a co-author of the crimes of aggravated kidnapping of Víctor Manuel Díaz López and Eliana Marina Espinoza Fernández; and as an accomplice in the crimes of aggravated kidnapping of Mario Jaime Zamorano Donoso, Onofre Jorge Muñoz Poutays, Uldarico Donaire Cortez, Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño, and Elisa del Carmen Escobar Cepeda.

• José Domingo Seco Alarcón was sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison as a co-author of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Víctor Manuel Díaz López and as an accomplice in the crimes of aggravated kidnapping of Mario Jaime Zamorano Donoso, Onofre Jorge Muñoz Poutays, Uldarico Donaire Cortez, Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño, Elisa del Carmen Escobar Cepeda, and Eliana Marina Espinoza Fernández.

• Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel and Leónidas Emiliano Méndez Moreno must serve 7 years in prison as accomplices in the crimes of aggravated kidnapping of Mario Jaime Zamorano Donoso, Onofre Jorge Muñoz Poutays, Uldarico Donaire Cortez, Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño, Elisa del Carmen Escobar Cepeda, Víctor Manuel Díaz López, Lenin Adán Díaz Silva, and Eliana Marina Espinoza Fernández.

• Juan Hernán Morales Salgado must serve sentences of 8 years and 15 years in prison as a co-author of the crimes of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated homicide of Víctor Díaz López, respectively.

• Jorge Claudio Andrade Gómez was sentenced to 6 years in prison as a co-author of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Víctor Manuel Díaz López.

• Sergio Orlando Escalona Acuña, Gladys de las Mercedes Calderón Carreño, and Jorge Segundo Pichunmán Curiqueo were sentenced to 5 years and one day and 12 years in prison as co-authors of the aggravated kidnapping and aggravated homicide of Víctor Díaz López, respectively.

• Nelson René Herrera Lagos, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Federico Humberto Chaigneau Sepúlveda, Elisa del Carmen Magna Astudillo, Orfa Yolanda Saavedra Vásquez, Celinda Angélica Aspe Rojas, Teresa del Carmen Navarro Navarro, Berta Yolanda del Carmen Jiménez Escobar, Jorge Hugo Arriagada Mora, Eduardo Oyarce Riquelme, Ana del Carmen Vilches Muñoz, Italia Donata Vaccarella Gilio, Jorge Lientur Manríquez Manterola, José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo, Gustavo Enrique Guerrero Aguilera, Luis Alberto Lagos Yáñez, María Angélica Guerrero Soto, Sergio Hernán Castro Andrade, Pedro Antonio Gutiérrez Valdés, Joyce Ana Ahumada Despouy, Hiro Álvarez Vega, José Miguel Meza Serrano, Carlos Justo Bermúdez Méndez, Marilín Melahani Silva Vergara, Camilo Torres Negrier, and Juan Edmundo Suazo Saldaña were sentenced to 3 years and one day in prison as accomplices in the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Víctor Díaz López.

Meanwhile, agents Jorge Segundo Madariaga Acevedo, Hugo Hernán Clavería Leiva, José Javier Soto Torres, Raúl Alberto Soto Pérez, Juan Carlos Escobar Valenzuela, Jerónimo del Carmen Neira Méndez, Pedro Mora Villanueva, and Jorge Marcelo Escobar Fuentes were acquitted.

The Facts

During the investigation phase of the case, Minister Miguel Vázquez was able to establish the following facts:

1.- That the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), at the end of 1975 or the beginning of 1976, underwent an operational evolution, resulting in a restructuring of its various groups, at which point the objective became the persecution and repression of the Communist Party.

The Barriga group, which was tasked with combating that party, operated at the Villa Grimaldi barracks, and the Lawrence group operated in parallel, in a first stage, at the Venecia barracks; notwithstanding the foregoing, the repressive operations were carried out in a coordinated and joint manner.

2.- That, circumscribed within this context, agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), on April 30, 1976, around 03:00 hours, went to the residence at Calle Conferencia No. 1587, Santiago commune, aware that a meeting of the Communist Party leadership would take place, and detained its occupants, Juan Becerra Barrera, his spouse María Angélica Gutiérrez Gómez, and her cousin Eliana Vidal; they were taken to various secret DINA establishments, where they were intimidated and interrogated under duress in order to provide information regarding the people who were going to or were supposed to attend their home and, in particular, regarding Mario Zamorano Donoso and Víctor Díaz López, among other Communist militants.

3.- That, once the information handled by the agents was corroborated, the occupants were returned to the Calle Conferencia residence to be forced to appear to live a normal daily life, under the supervision of security agents armed with submachine guns, who set up an operation called "Ratonera" (Mousetrap), with 5 agents remaining inside the place, who took turns in stealthy and covert anticipation of the arrival of each of the members of the Communist Party who would attend the meeting, in order to detain them.

4.- That, in parallel, an operation of similar characteristics was also set up at the home of Juan Becerra Barrera's mother, Mrs. María de las Mercedes Barrera Pérez, who on occasion hosted Mario Jaime Zamorano Donoso at her house located at Calle Alejandro Fierro No. 5113, Quinta Normal commune; an operation that was carried out simultaneously and in coordination with the one at Calle Conferencia, and in which at least 20 DINA officials participated together.

5.- That, in such a scenario, at approximately 19:00 hours on May 4, 1976, Mario Jaime Zamorano Donoso arrived at the Calle Conferencia property; he was a friend of the tenant and a leather worker who belonged to the Communist Party, first as a member of the Communist Youth and later of the Communist Party, becoming the National Organization Manager of said party in 1973, and was pursued by the security services.

Upon entering the house and as a result of a struggle with DINA agents, he was wounded by a bullet in the thigh. As he was bleeding, he was taken to one of the rooms at the back of the house so as not to obstruct the operation, and was later taken out at night, wrapped in a blanket, and transported to the Villa Grimaldi or Terranova detention barracks, located at Avenida José Arrieta No. 8200, La Reina commune, where he remained and was seen deprived of liberty by other detainees at that time, such as Máximo Vásquez Garay (detained at Villa Grimaldi since August 11, 1976, who identified him physically and by his thigh wound), and data provided by Edwin Bustos Streter, DINA agents Carlos Ramón Rinaldi Suarez, Guido Arnoldo Jara Brevis, and Eduardo Antonio Reyes Lagos; police report No. 103 and reports on page 8286 and 8290, issued by the Documentation and Archive Foundation of the Vicaría de la Solidaridad. His current whereabouts are unknown.

6.- That, around 21:00 hours on the same May 4, 1976, Onofre Jorge Muñoz Poutays arrived at the Calle Conferencia property; he was a member of the Communist Party Central Committee, and upon being identified as the husband of Gladys Marín, he was detained, led inside the property, and finally transported to the Villa Grimaldi barracks, according to information provided by former security agents Carlos Ramón Rinaldi Suárez, Guido Arnoldo Jara Brevis, and data incorporated by the reports on pages 8286 and 8290, issued by the Documentation and Archive Foundation of the Vicaría de la Solidaridad.

His current whereabouts are unknown.

7.- That, the following day, May 5, 1976, Uldarico Donaire Cortez (also known as Rafael Cortez) arrived at the aforementioned Calle Conferencia property around 09:00 hours, and Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño arrived around 09:30 hours; both were members of the Communist Party Central Committee, and as soon as they entered, they were immobilized and detained; then taken out in vehicles, handcuffed, guarded by agents, and transported to the Villa Grimaldi barracks, according to information provided by former security agents Carlos Ramón Rinaldi Suárez, Eduardo Antonio Reyes Lagos, Guido Arnoldo Jara Brevis; and reports on pages 8290, 8297, and 8301, issued by the Documentation and Archive Foundation of the Vicaría de la Solidaridad. Their current whereabouts are unknown.

8.- That, in the same way, on May 6, 1976, between 13:00 and 14:00 hours, the liaison Elisa del Carmen Escobar Cepeda, known as "Marcela" or "La Chica Elisa," a member of the Communist Party Central Committee, was detained by DINA agents at the same property and using the same procedure; she was also taken to the Villa Grimaldi barracks, according to information provided by former security agents Carlos Ramón Rinaldi Suárez and Guido Arnoldo Jara Brevis; witness Sergio Helio Ovalle Farias, and reports on pages 8290 and 8305, issued by the Documentation and Archive Foundation of the Vicaría de la Solidaridad. Her current whereabouts are unknown.

9.- That the Chilean government of the time, given the search efforts made by the victims' relatives, reported that Mario Zamorano Donoso and Onofre Jorge Muñoz Poutays had left the country for Argentina, false data that was not confirmed by the Argentine authorities; this is illustrative of a preparation and concertation that escapes the scope to which operational agents can access, evidencing the participation of the higher echelons of the DINA in the planning of the intelligence operation, which is corroborated by police report No. 907 in relation to reports No. 531 and No. 603 of the National Interpol Central of the Chilean Investigative Police.

10.- That, on May 9, 1976, around 09:00 hours, Lenin Adán Díaz Silva, a member of the Communist Party Technical Commission, in charge of contacts between members of the Central Committee and the search for houses for meetings or for the protection of Party members, was detained by DINA agents at the property owned by his father-in-law, José Apolonio Ramírez Ortega, located at Calle Gaspar de Orense No. 993, Quinta Normal commune, from where he left for an unknown destination, together with the already detained Elisa Escobar and a DINA agent, to be seen later deprived of liberty at the Villa Grimaldi barracks by the also detained Isaac Godoy Castillo (who shared a cell with Lenin Díaz on Tuesday the 24th, Wednesday the 25th, and Thursday the 26th of August 1976), which is corroborated by Humilde Apolonia Ramírez Caballero; report on page 8305 provided by the Documentation and Archive Foundation of the Vicaría de la Solidaridad, police report No. 103, police records No. 117 and 973, among other data from the process. His current whereabouts are unknown.

11.- That, on May 12, 1976, Eliana Marina Espinoza Fernández, with the political names "Sara" and "Ana," a member of the Communist Party National Propaganda Commission and liaison between Mario Zamorano and Víctor Díaz (who had already been previously sought by Elisa Escobar), upon learning of the raid on the home of some architects, decided to take the risk and leave her refuge at Calle Adorno No. 648, in order to warn Víctor Díaz López.

In such a scenario, she left the house very nervous, around 17:00 hours, using her sister's clothes so as not to be recognized, and accompanied by her brother-in-law Hernán Rivera Delgado, who took her to the sector of Independencia and Nueva de Matte to take public transport to a destination she did not reveal, at which point she was detained at an undetermined point by DINA agents and taken to the Villa Grimaldi detention barracks, where she remained deprived of liberty, which is evidenced by the connection existing between her and the rest of the detained members of the same collective, as well as by the modus operandi of that time, in accordance with the data provided by Ninfa Ana Espinoza Fernández, Juan Espinoza Vega, Humilde Apolonia Ramírez Caballero, and Sandra Eugenia Vila Macchiavello, and the report from the Investigations information department on page 4745. Her current whereabouts are unknown.

12.- That, in the early hours of May 12, 1976, DINA agents, in an operation called "The Night of the Long Knives," raided the home at Calle Bello Horizonte No. 979, Las Condes commune, at which time its occupants and eyewitnesses to the events, Jorge Canto Fuenzalida, his wife Sandra Eugenia Vila Macchiavello, and their daughters, were abruptly awakened with the phrase "We are from the DINA," intimidated with submachine guns, and forced to show the interior of the home, where they discovered the Secretary General of the Communist Party, Víctor Manuel Díaz López, nicknamed "Chino Díaz" and using the assumed name "José Santos Garrido Retamal," who had been in hiding since September 11, 1973, and had been sought for a long time by the security services, as evidenced by the various raids his family was subjected to, and the testimonies of Viviana Elisa Díaz Caro, Héctor Aureliano Zúñiga Muñoz, and José Alejandro Cifuentes Calderón, among others.

13.- That, once Víctor Díaz López was discovered in one of the rooms of the property, he was forced to walk, revealing his limp, for which he was insulted and severely beaten with fists; he was detained, interrogated, and forced to leave the property under the pretext, as communicated to the owners of the house, that he would be taken to the "Cuatro Álamos" detention center and returned to the property, probably the following day.

14.- That, after his detention, Víctor Díaz López was taken to the Villa Grimaldi barracks, where he was interrogated and tortured in order to make him give up other members of the party, given the "Modus Operandi" of that time used to dismantle political parties, and the data provided by detainees of that time, Isaac Godoy Castillo, Pedro Rolando Jara Alegría, Emilio Iribarren Ledermann, Horacio Renato Silva Balbontín, Rosa Elsa Leiva Muñoz, and Leonardo Alberto Scheneider Jordán; and DINA agents Eduardo Antonio Reyes Lagos and Carlos Ramón Rinaldi Suárez, among others.

15.- That the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), on an unspecified date, but from the end of 1975 or the beginning of 1976, occupied and enabled the property at Calle Simón Bolívar No. 8800, La Reina commune, consisting of a country house that was later conditioned for its purpose of confinement.

It had a single access gate, a guard booth to its right where the door guard was kept, a house at the back, a small soccer field, parking lots, and on the left side of the property a kind of gymnasium where there was a canteen, kitchen, and some locker rooms and bathrooms; a property in which the Lautaro brigade, in charge of Major Juan Morales Salgado, operated as a secret and clandestine place of confinement, which operated in practice as an extermination barracks; a situation that is recognized by the agents themselves who were members of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA).

16.- That, in said scenario, at the end of August or the beginning of September 1976, the DINA groups in charge of officers Germán Barriga and Ricardo Lawrence moved to the Simón Bolívar barracks, together with their operational agents, who continued with the work of investigating, locating, raiding, pursuing, repressing, and dismantling the members of the Communist Party, especially its leadership, for which provisional facilities were enabled for their installation, consisting of offices, a gymnasium, and locker rooms that were confinement cells, where interrogations and duress were carried out; a facility to which Víctor Manuel Díaz López was transferred together with said brigades, and he remained for at least four months in such a place, in a regime of confinement, permanently guarded, interrogated, and used by the agents who operated in said barracks to locate others in hiding; without prejudice to the privileges he obtained, such as television, a nightstand, and a radio, for collaborating at least apparently with the DINA agents, as a result of the duress he was subjected to; at which time the groups of Morales, Barriga, and Lawrence formed a single unit; which is why there are so many testimonies in the case file that account for his stay in such a barracks, among them Hugo Luis Castillo Ovalle, Jorgelino del Carmen Vergara Bravo, Carlos Segundo Marcos Muñoz, Jorge Laureano Sagardía Monje, Guillermo Jesús Ferrán Martínez, Claudio Orlando Orellana de la Pinta, and Eduardo Antonio Reyes Lagos.

17.- That all the victims of the process were detained to be interrogated and tortured by reason of their political militancy, with the aim of obtaining information about their party activities and, especially, the subsequent identification of other members of the Communist Party in hiding; duress that did not cease until the required information was obtained or until the victims became unconscious.

18.- That, once it was considered that Víctor Díaz López had nothing more to contribute, DINA agents proceeded, in compliance with an execution order issued by the superior hierarchical authority of the institution and transmitted by the head of the barracks to his subordinates, to kill Víctor Manuel Díaz López while he was inside a cell at the Simón Bolívar barracks, which was verified during an afternoon on an undetermined day in the first fortnight of January 1977.

19.- That, to kill him, the joint action of several agents of the barracks was used, who covered his head with a plastic bag and tied it around his neck, preventing him from breathing, which caused his death by asphyxiation, according to what was revealed by eyewitness Eduardo Antonio Reyes Lagos; by hearsay witnesses Carlos Segundo Marcos Muñoz, Jorge Laureano Sagardía Monje, Claudio Orlando Orellana de la Pinta; data provided by the accused (exclusively for kidnapping crimes) Jorge Iván Díaz Radulovich, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Eduardo Alejandro Oyarce Riquelme, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando; by what was reported through the newspaper "El Siglo," and even by the self-confessed author himself, Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, as will be reproduced in the corresponding opportunity of participation. Once his death was confirmed, the perpetrators placed the corpse in two thick polyethylene bags, one for the head and another for the feet, which they tied with wires around his waist, tying him to a piece of rail, as it was the method used so that the bodies in the sea would go to depth and not be found, by virtue of what was accused by Jorgelino del Carmen Vergara Bravo, Jorge Laureano Sagardía Monje, and data provided by Juan Carlos Molina Herrera and police report No. 1615, among other data from the process.

20.- That, immediately after, the corpse was placed in two burlap sacks, one for the head and another for the extremities, joined with wires, loaded into the trunk of a brigade vehicle, and transported to the Peldehue sector, where it was loaded onto a helicopter that departed for the high seas, being thrown from the heights at an undetermined point; a circumstance that is credited by the testimonies of Jorgelino del Carmen Vergara Bravo, Carlos Segundo Marcos Muñoz, Jorge Laureano Sagardía Monje, information provided by the newspaper "El Siglo," police records No. 973 and 242, police reports No. 907, statements of the accused (exclusively for kidnapping crimes) Jerónimo del Carmen Neira Méndez, Heriberto del Carmen Acevedo, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, and even by Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda himself on page 4343 when declaring: "...that there were more than 400 thrown into the sea, although not by the DINA."

21.- That the administrative government authority denied the detentions of all the victims of the case, reporting through the Confidential Department of the Ministry of the Interior that they were not detained by order of the Ministry, except for the peculiar situation of Víctor Díaz López, in which, by Exempt Decree No. 2052 of May 12, 1976, the arrest of "José Santos Garrido Retamal" at the Cuatro Álamos Camp was noted, with his release being noted by Exempt Decree No. 2054 of May 13, 1976, which is clarified by an official letter on page 4373, establishing that Víctor Díaz López and José Santos Garrido Retamal correspond to the same person, in accordance with what was stated by his spouse.

22.- That the throwing of bodies into the sea was a systematic practice used by security agents from the beginning of 1974 until 1978, which is credited by the different accounts of the personnel of the Army Aviation Command, among others, aviation mechanics and those in charge of maintenance, who account for those operations called "Military Secrets," in which they describe the way in which the bundles were loaded, preferably in Puma SA 330 models; the places from where the flights started, the coastal zones towards which they headed, and the way in which the bundles called "Packages" were thrown into the sea from the heights, either through a hatch in the center of the platform that was removed or through the side doors; a conclusion that is consistent with the joint reading of the accounts of Juan Carlos Molina Herrera, Bernardo de la Cruz Sepúlveda Lara, José Miguel Cabezas Flores, Ernesto Samuel Araneda Ortiz, Juan Jesús Pacheco Figueroa, Sergio del Carmen Castro Cano, Marcos Segundo Cáceres Rivera, Eufemio Segundo Pérez Vargas, Rigoberto Saavedra Navarro, Gabriel Enrique Saldaña Molina, Juan Domingo Pérez Collao, Juan Alfonso Díaz Morales, Julio Cesar Urbina Muñoz, and José Domingo Ávila; information provided by police record No. 1654; and testimonies of Investigative Police Sub-commissioners Sandro Gonzalo Gaete Escobar and Abel Alfonso Lizama Pino.

In the civil aspect, the presiding judge ordered the State of Chile to pay a total compensation of $3,460,000,000 (three billion four hundred sixty million pesos) to the victims' relatives.

Source: cronicadigital.cl, December 4, 2018