Uruguayan, forcibly disappeared in Puente Alto at the end of September 1973.

PAGARDOY SAQUIERES, ENRIQUE JULIO

: 21 years old, student, Uruguayan, forcibly disappeared in Puente Alto at the end of September 1973.

POVASCHUK GALEAZZO, JUAN ANTONIO

: 24 years old, married, Uruguayan, photographer, forcibly disappeared in Puente Alto, Santiago, at the end of September 1973. Ariel Arcos, Enrique Pagardoy, and Juan Antonio Povaschuk were detained near San José del Maipo in the Cajón del Maipo, probably on September 29, 1973, by Carabineros officers and Army personnel, and transferred to the then-Regimiento de Ferrocarriles in Puente Alto.

Their whereabouts have been unknown since then. According to surviving witnesses, also of Uruguayan nationality, as of September 11, 1973, all of them, including Ariel Arcos, Enrique Pagardoy, and Juan Povaschuk, were living in the town of El Ingenio in the Cajón del Maipo.

They had traveled to Chile as political exiles, as they were linked to the Tupamaro movement in their home country. According to the witnesses, due to the events of September 11, 1973, the group had agreed that if any of them were detained, the rest should flee toward Argentina by crossing the mountain range.

For this reason, when one of the group members was detained by Carabineros on September 20, the others rushed to carry out the planned journey. Thus, in the final days of September 1973, the group headed to the town of El Volcán in the Cajón del Maipo, and while Juan Povaschuk and Ariel Arcos went ahead to scout the terrain, the others, including Enrique Julio Pagardoy, took refuge inside an abandoned mine near the area.

The next day, they were surprised in that location by Carabineros, who took them to the San José de Maipo police station, where they were subjected to interrogation and mistreatment. During the night of that same day, they were removed by soldiers from the then-Regimiento de Ferrocarriles de Puente Alto and taken to their military facility, where they were again interrogated and beaten, this time by individuals in civilian clothing.

At this location, the survivors saw that Ariel Arcos and Juan Povaschuk were also being held. Subsequently, the military separated the group. Three members were taken to the Estadio Nacional, and Enrique Pagardoy, Juan Povaschuk, and Ariel Arcos remained at the Regiment.

Nothing has been heard of them since. Considering the evidence gathered and the investigation conducted by this Corporation, the Superior Council reached the conviction that Ariel Arcos, Enrique Pagardoy Saquieres, and Juan Antonio Povaschuck Galeazzo disappeared while they were deprived of their liberty by State agents. For this reason, it declared them victims of human rights violations.

Source: (Corporation Report)

: Military School (3rd and 4th year at ages 14 and 15 at Cam. Castro) Workplaces, dates, and employers

Mechanic in Las Toscas, employee. Union, movement, political sector, and/or reference activity at the time of disappearance

: MLN

ANNEX OF HISTORICAL DATA REGARDING THE DISAPPEARANCE

Date of disappearance : Estimated, last week of September 1973, after the coup in Chile. Place of disappearance (locality, city, country ): Santiago de Chile, Chile Time and circumstances thereof : While attempting, along with ENRIQUE PAGARDOY, JUAN ANTONIO POVASCHUK (also disappeared), and other Uruguayans, to cross the mountain range toward Argentina through the Paso Cajón del Maipo, they were detained and taken to the Comandancia Ferrocarrilera of Puente Alto.

They were held there for several days, being interrogated and tortured. Subsequently, the group, with the exception of PAGARDOY, was loaded onto a bus along with other people bound for the Estadio Nacional.

POVASCHUK and ARCOS were forced to disembark and were placed next to PAGARDOY with their backs against the barracks wall, where they were seen for the last time. Forces involved in the detention

Military

Carabineros of San José de Maipo Description of the operation (with reference to circumstances, use of vehicles and weapons, duress ): Detained inside an abandoned mine, transported in a pickup truck to the SAN JOSÉ DE MAIPO POLICE STATION, where they were divided by sex.

Later, soldiers from the PUENTE ALTO BARRACKS, along with men in civilian clothes (presumably intelligence agents), moved them to another location where they were tortured and then returned to the barracks.

They were handcuffed along with other Chilean prisoners. Identification of other victims involved in the detention operation (full name, identity document, age, marital status, address, reference group

)

ENRIQUE JULIO PAGARDOY: Disappeared; lived with Mr. Arcos JUAN ANTONIO POVASCHUK: Disappeared Warrants for the disappeared person prior to detention (means, date, authority, etc.

)

Wanted for criminal association (record No. 234052, 5th Shift Investigating Court) Capture order by the 1st Instance Military Court of the 4th Shift via official letter No. 995. Detained in Central Prison and Punta Carretas Penitentiary.

Existence of a search of the home or workplace of the disappeared person, whether before, during, or after the detention, referring to the disappeared person or persons linked to them (circumstances, date, authority, judicial order or other, witnesses, etc. ): Arcos was detained in Uruguay for political reasons between 02.18.71 and 02.03.72 and subsequently left Uruguay for Chile on June 28, 1973, settling in Santiago.

From that location, Mr. Arcos's mother received correspondence dated 08.29.73. His home in the Las Toscas seaside resort, Canelones, was raided. He worked there as a mechanic. Actual or presumed place of detention (identification, description, sources of information, if there are several, indicate them

)

SAN JOSÉ DE MAIPO POLICE STATION – CHILE

PUENTE ALTO RAILWAY COMMAND (BARRACKS) – CHILE

Cases that could be linked to this disappearance, including those of family members, children disappeared, or born in captivity

Disappearance of JUAN ANTONIO POVASCHUK AND ENRIQUE PAGARDOY

ANNEX OF INFORMATION ON ACTIONS TAKEN REGARDING THE DISAPPEARANCE

ACTIONS IN THE JUDICIAL SPHERE

Criminal Complaint

Criminal lawsuit against Gen. Augusto Pinochet, Gen. Manuel Contreras, and other responsible parties. Filed on 10/23/00. Court Roll 2182-98.

ACTIONS BEFORE CONSULATES AND/OR EMBASSIES

Agency : The mother communicated with a person (woman) at the Uruguayan Embassy in Chile; the woman searched for her son and a week later replied that they did not find him. This search was immediately after the coup d'état in Chile.

ACTIONS IN THE UN SPHERE

Organization where the action was taken

: UNHCR

Type of action : complaint Resolution or attitude assumed as a result : refugee status

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION (RETTIG)

(This information was extracted from http://www.tau.org/familiares/desaparecidos.htm )

Source: http://www.tau.org/familiares/desaparecidos.htm

This concerns Colonel Lander Uriarte Burotto, who since May 2015 had been serving a six-year prison sentence for the disappearance, in September 1973, of three Uruguayans. An Army colonel condemned in Chile for the disappearance of three Uruguayans in 1973 received the benefit of Sunday release today from the Supreme Court, which in a split decision accepted a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) filed by his defense.

According to judicial sources, the beneficiary is Colonel Lander Uriarte Burotto, who since May 2015 had been serving a six-year prison sentence for the disappearance, in September 1973, of the Uruguayans Ariel Arcos Latorre, Juan Povaschuk Galeazzo, and Enrique Pagardoy Saquieres.

The ruling by the Criminal Chamber of the highest Chilean court revoked, by three votes to two, a previous ruling by the Santiago Court of Appeals, which had rejected the benefit for Uriarte Burotto, among other reasons for not acknowledging the gravity of the crime committed nor having a conscience of the harm caused.

A few months ago, three magistrates of the same Chamber of the Supreme Court, Hugo Dolmestch, Carlos Künsemüller, and Manuel Valderrama, were constitutionally accused in Parliament after granting parole to six individuals imprisoned for crimes against humanity, but the action did not prosper in the Chamber of Deputies.

The three Uruguayans were detained days after the military coup that Augusto Pinochet led on September 11, 1973, in an abandoned mine in the Andes Mountains, about 50 kilometers from Santiago, when they were apparently attempting to cross on foot into Argentine territory.

The three had arrived in Chile three months earlier, after escaping from Uruguay following the coup that occurred on May 27, 1973, in that country, and after their detention, they were taken to the regiment in the town of Puente Alto, where they were tortured for several days, according to the testimony of other prisoners.

One night, the three Uruguayans were loaded into a military vehicle that was supposedly taking them to the Estadio Nacional in Santiago, used at that time as a concentration camp for several thousand political prisoners.

Along the way, their trail was lost forever. General Francisco Martínez Benavides and non-commissioned officer René Cruces Tapia were also prosecuted in the case. During the Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990), according to official data, some 3,200 opponents were killed by State agents, of whom 1,192 are still listed as forcibly disappeared.

Source: elpais.com, October 12, 2018

Date: 10-12-2018

JUSTICE IN CHILE: SIX RETIRED MILITARY OFFICERS TO PRISON FOR THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THREE YOUNG URUGUAYANS

Ariel Arcos Latorre, Juan Povaschuk Galeazzo, and Enrique Pagardoy Saquieres were detained in the Cajón del Maipo, probably on September 29, 1973, by Carabineros and Army personnel, and were transferred to the then-Regimiento de Ferrocarriles in Puente Alto.

Their whereabouts have been unknown since then. “The Supreme Court of Chile issued a final ruling this Tuesday, April 14, 2015, in the case of the Uruguayans 'Ariel Arcos and others.' The conviction against the 6 accused, all as perpetrators of the qualified kidnapping of three young Uruguayans in Puente Alto in 1973, was ratified to six years of effective imprisonment.

All those convicted are retired Army officers, starting with the Commander of the Puente Alto Regiment at the time, Mateo Durruty, whose son is a General in active service in the Army and Director of the Military Hospital,” reported Chilean human rights lawyer Dr.

Cristian Cruz via email past noon on Tuesday, which prompted an immediate telephone contact with CX36 to explain the scope of the ruling and detail the aforementioned case involving three young Uruguayans.

Listen to the interview with Dr. Cristian Cruz at the following link: http://www.ivoox.com/contacto-telefonico-abogado-chileno-derechos-audios-mp3rf4353088_1.html In contact with ‘Contrapunto,’ the afternoon program of Centenario, Dr.

Cristian Cruz explained that “today the Supreme Court issued sentences against State agents for various crimes of qualified kidnapping and homicide, perpetrated between 1973 and 1975, in Valparaíso, Cajón del Maipo, and Cerro San Cristóbal, respectively,” and referred specifically to the ruling (*) of the case he led, which—he noted— “issued a sentence in the investigation into the qualified kidnappings of the Uruguayan citizens Ariel Arcos Latorre, Juan Povaschuk Galeazzo, and Enrique Pagardoy Saquieres, illicit acts perpetrated at the end of 1973 in the Cajón del Maipo sector.

In the resolution, the chamber rejected the cassation appeal and confirmed the 6-year prison sentences for: Mateo Durruty Blanco, Mickel Uriarte Burotto, Gabriel Bernardo Montero Uranga, Francisco Fernando Martínez Benavides, Moisés Retamal Bustos, and Guillermo Antonio Vargas Avendaño, as perpetrators.” As the Radio Centenario audience knows, every day at 8:15 AM, we remember the comrades murdered or disappeared within the framework of Operation Condor, the repressive coordination of the civil-military dictatorships of the Southern Cone.

From these materials, we extract the data of these three young Uruguayans whose murderers were convicted today in Chile:

PAGARDOY SAQUIERES, Enrique Julio, “El Negro”

Forcibly disappeared on 9/29/73 in Chile. Extracted from the book A Todos Ellos

Born in Montevideo on February 6, 1952. Single, employee of a real estate agency in Atlántida, Pagardoy was a militant of the MLN, for which he was imprisoned between February 1971 and December 1972. On June 27, 1973, he left the country along with Ariel Arcos, bound for Chile via Buenos Aires.

He traveled to Chile in July 1973 and was detained on September 29, 1973, along with the Uruguayans Juan Antonio Povaschuk and Ariel Arcos, in El Cajón del Maipo, when they were attempting to cross the mountain range on foot, heading to Argentina.

All three are disappeared. The preliminary report of the Commission for Peace to the Presidency of the Republic of Uruguay, from October 2002, in Chapter III referring to:

“COMPLAINTS REGARDING URUGUAYAN CITIZENS ALLEGEDLY DISAPPEARED IN OTHER COUNTRIES”

states

"1. CHILE

6. The complaints regarding Uruguayan citizens allegedly disappeared in Chile received by the COMMISSION total 7. 7. The COMMISSION considers the 7 complaints partially confirmed, based on the terms of the official reports issued by agencies of that country regarding the persons identified in ANNEX X (three of them are: Enrique Pagardoy Saquieres, Juan Povaschuk, and Ariel Arcos).

POVASCHUCK GALEAZZO, Juan Antonio.

Forcibly disappeared on 9/29/73. Born in Montevideo on January 5, 1949, he lived in Cerrito de la Victoria. Married, father of one daughter, student of Economic Sciences and a photographer by profession, he was a militant in the MLN, for which he was imprisoned from November 1971.

Once released, he traveled to Chile, where he entered as a tourist on July 4, 1973, coming from Argentina. He was detained on September 29, 1973, along with several Uruguayans (Pagardoy and Arcos, among others) who were trying to leave for Argentina after the coup d'état in Chile, the country where they were residing.

He remains disappeared, as do Enrique Pagardoy and Ariel Arcos, who were detained on that occasion.

ARCOS LATORRE, Ariel.

Forcibly disappeared on 9/29/73 in Chile. Extracted from the book A Todos Ellos

Born in Rivera on December 1, 1949. He was single, an engineering student, automotive mechanic, lived in Las Toscas, and was a militant of the MLN, for which he was imprisoned from February 1971 to December 1972.

On June 27, 1973, he left the country bound for Chile, via Buenos Aires, along with Enrique Pagardoy. Information provided by the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation of the Chilean State “ Enrique Julio Pagardoy Saquieres, 21 years old , student, Uruguayan, forcibly disappeared in Puente Alto at the end of September 1973.

Juan Antonio Povaschuck Galeazzo, 24 years old , married, Uruguayan, photographer, forcibly disappeared in Puente Alto, Santiago, at the end of September 1973. Ariel Arcos, Uruguayan, forcibly disappeared in Puente Alto at the end of September 1973.

The three Uruguayans were detained near San José del Maipo in the Cajón del Maipo, probably on September 29, 1973, by Carabineros officers and Army personnel, and transferred to the then-Regimiento de Ferrocarriles in Puente Alto.

Their whereabouts have been unknown since then. According to surviving witnesses, also of Uruguayan nationality, as of September 11, 1973, all of them, including Arcos, Pagardoy, and Povaschuck, were living in the town of El Ingenio in the Cajón del Maipo.

They had traveled to Chile as political exiles, as they were linked to the Tupamaro movement in their countries. According to the witnesses, due to the events of September 11, 1973, the group had agreed that if any of them were detained, the rest should flee toward Argentina by crossing the mountain range.

For this reason, when one of the group members was detained by Carabineros on September 20, the others rushed to carry out the planned journey. Thus, in the final days of September 1973, the group headed to the town of El Volcán in the Cajón del Maipo, and while Juan Povaschuck and Ariel Arcos went ahead to scout the terrain, the others, including Enrique Pagardoy, took refuge inside an abandoned mine near the area.

The next day, they were surprised in that location by Carabineros, who took them to the San José del Maipo police station, where they were subjected to interrogation and mistreatment. During the night of that same day, they were removed by soldiers from the then-Regimiento de Ferrocarriles of Puente Alto and taken to their military facility, where they were again interrogated and beaten, this time by individuals in civilian clothing.

At this location, the survivors saw that Ariel Arcos and Juan Povaschuck were also being held. Subsequently, the military separated the group. Three members were taken to the Estadio Nacional, and Enrique Pagardoy, Juan Povaschuck, and Ariel Arcos remained at the regiment.

Nothing has been heard of them since. Considering the evidence gathered and the investigation conducted by this Corporation, the Superior Council reached the conviction that Ariel Arcos, Enrique Pagardoy, and Juan Povaschuck disappeared while they were deprived of their liberty by State agents. For this reason, it declared them victims of human rights violations.”

Source: radio36.com, Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Date: 04-14-2015

6 CHILEAN MILITARY OFFICERS CONVICTED FOR THE DISAPPEARANCE OF 3 URUGUAYANS

In 2012, only Colonel Mateo Durruty had been sentenced to 6 years in prison. Now, retired General Francisco Martínez, former Brigadier Ander Uriarte, and former non-commissioned officers Gabriel Montero, Moisés Retamal, and Guillermo Vargas have been added.

The young men were captured in the Cajón del Maipo after the 1973 military coup while attempting to cross the mountain range toward Argentina. The Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced 6 retired Chilean military officers this Monday to 6-year prison terms for the qualified kidnapping of 3 young Uruguayans after the 1973 military coup, according to judicial sources.

In a unanimous ruling, the II Chamber of the appellate court modified the first-instance sentence, issued by special judge Joaquín Billard Acuña, which had sentenced only Colonel Mateo Durruty to 6 years in prison for this crime.

Now, retired General Francisco Martínez, former Brigadier Ander Uriarte, and former non-commissioned officers Gabriel Montero, Moisés Retamal, and Guillermo Vargas have been added to the conviction. All those convicted are currently at liberty, indicated a statement from the Judiciary. As this is a second-instance ruling, the defense for the military officers can appeal to the Supreme Court.

CAPTURED IN THE CAJÓN DEL MAIPO

The victims were the Uruguayans Ariel Arcos Latorre, Juan Povaschuk Galeazzo, and Enrique Pagardoy Saquieres, who were detained by Carabineros on September 29, 1973, in an abandoned mine in the Cajón del Maipo along with 4 other compatriots, including 2 women, who managed to survive.

The 3 had arrived in Chile as refugees during the government of Salvador Allende, fearing they would be detained in their country due to suspicions of belonging to the leftist revolutionary group National Liberation Movement-Tupamaros.

After Pinochet's coup, the young men attempted to flee Chile by crossing the Andes Mountains on foot toward Argentina, a circumstance in which they were detained and handed over by the Carabineros to soldiers of the Ferrocarrileros regiment in Puente Alto.

TORTURE AND DISAPPEARANCE

In the regiment, according to testimonies from some military officers of the same unit and survivors, they were severely beaten and, among other tortures, were forced to eat crushed glass. Ariel Arcos Latorre, 23 years old, was a university student, as was Enrique Pagardoy, 21 years old, and Juan Antonio Povaschuk, 24, was a photographer.

After a couple of days of confinement in the regiment, the transfer of the detainees to the Estadio Nacional was ordered, but Arcos, Pagardoy, and Povaschuk were separated from the group by order of one of the officers, and nothing more was heard of them since.

Source: La Nacion, May 26, 2014

Date: 05-26-2014

Retired military officers prosecuted for the kidnapping of Uruguayans

A retired general and a brigadier were prosecuted by judge Joaquín Billard as perpetrators of the kidnapping and disappearance in September 1973 of the Uruguayan citizens Ariel Arcos Latorre, Juan Povaschuk Galeazzo, and Enrique Pagardoy Saquieres.

The accused are General Francisco Martínez Benavides and Colonel Lander Uriarte Burotto, as well as the also-retired non-commissioned officer René Cruces Tapia. Previously, the former commander of the Puente Alto Mountain Engineers Regiment, retired Colonel Mateo Durruty Blanco, had also been declared a defendant for this same crime.

Days after the military coup, six Uruguayans were arrested by Carabineros from the San José de Maipo sub-station inside an abandoned mine in the mountain area. Apparently, they were hiding to plan an escape to Argentina, as they had taken refuge in Chile after the Uruguayan military uprising on June 27, 1973.

The police took them to the aforementioned regiment, where, according to the case records, they were repeatedly tortured, just like the hundreds of prisoners who passed through that barracks commanded by Durruty.

Some were even forced to swallow crushed glass, as testified judicially by former detainee Alfonso Brizuela Durán. From that barracks, they were taken out one night by Army personnel to be moved supposedly to the Estadio Nacional.

However, along the way, the guards removed the three aforementioned Uruguayans from the military vehicle and made them disappear to this day. Both General Francisco Martínez and Colonel Lander Uriarte and non-commissioned officer René Cruces belong to the group of accused of committing crimes against humanity who are less well-known and were prosecuted for the first time.

In the case of Durruty Blanco, he already has a 10-year and one-day sentence issued in the first instance by the minister of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, Marta Hantke, for the kidnapping and disappearance from the Puente Alto regiment in September 1973 of Juan Manuel Llanca Rodas.

But this sentence must still be reviewed by that court and then by the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, which could leave Durruty at liberty if it significantly reduces the sentence, as is the criticized legal criterion that that court established more than two years ago. Those prosecuted by Billard were granted provisional release while the investigation continues.

Source: La Nacion, Thursday, January 15, 2009

Date: 01-15-2009

Chile Roto / Uruguayans in Chile 9/11/1973

A book that refers to different situations and experiences of Uruguayan refugees in Chile (militants of the National Liberation Movement - Tupamaros and other movements) during the final days of Salvador Allende's government in Chile, as well as the persecution they were subjected to following the coup d'état of September 11, 1973. ed.

TAE Year of publication Mentions Regimiento de Ingenieros Ferrocarrileros de Puente Alto Escuela Militar del Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins Regimiento de Artillería No. 1 "Tacna" Gadea Galán, Nelsa Zulema Arcos Latorre, Ariel Pagardoy Saquieres, Julio Enrique Povaschuk Galeazzo, Juan Antonio Fontela Alonso, Alberto Mariano Cendán Almada, Juan Ángel Fernández, Julio César López López, Arazatí Ramón Julién Cáceres, Mario Roger Grisonas Andrijauskaite, Victoria Lucía Julien Grisonas, Anatole Boris Julién Grisonas, Victoria Eva Resource type Book Authorship Eleuterio Fernández Huidobro Graciela Jorge Access type Not free

Source: sitiosdememoria.uy, no date

Uruguayan Ambassador to Chile: Truth in Human Rights is not an alternative to Justice

The Ambassador of Uruguay to Chile, Rodolfo Camarosano, made these statements after placing a commemorative plaque at Villa Grimaldi in memory of the forcibly disappeared persons from his country in Chile.

In an emotional ceremony, the Ambassador of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay to Chile, Rodolfo Camarosano, placed a plaque in the Villa Grimaldi Peace Park with the list of the forcibly disappeared persons from his country in Chile.

The diplomat was accompanied by the ambassadors to Chile from Venezuela, Arévalo Méndez; from Mexico, Otto Granados; and Adolfo Curbelo from Cuba, an activity that began with a guided tour, which was also attended by Uruguayans residing in Chile, family members of the victims, and the general public.

The diplomat, on behalf of his Government, thanked the Villa Grimaldi Peace Park Corporation “for allowing us to be present here and leave on the wall that mark of what we call active memory.” On the occasion, he expressed that there must never again be “torture, executions, and the forced disappearance of persons.

The entire society must continue to reflect so as not to ignore history.” “We want and demand truth, because truth is an instrument of protection that serves to avoid living through terrible experiences again.

Knowing about what happened helps to forge the conscience and commitment of the members of society so that it is not repeated in the future,” he noted. “Truth is necessary to understand, but it is also a way of doing justice; it is not an alternative to it but an integral part of it.

It cannot replace the State's obligation to punish the guilty and ask the victims to renounce their rights,” he added. Commitment: truth and justice for the disappeared Uruguayans “We are aware that many times the truth is so complex that we can only approximate it, but that does not imply that it is not necessary to walk that path, on which we all find ourselves.

On that path, we meet as representatives of the Uruguayan State,” he pointed out. He then said that he committed himself not to lower his arms in finding truth and justice and named the disappeared Uruguayan detainees who are from now on on the commemorative plaque at the memory site located in the Peñalolén commune: Ariel Arcos; ARAZATI RAMON LOPEZ LOPEZ; Enrique Pagardoy; Nelsa Gadea; Julio César Fernández; Juan Povaschuk; Alberto Fontela; Juan Cendán; and Mónica Benayo.

For her part, the General Secretary of the Villa Grimaldi Peace Park Corporation, Teresa Izquierdo, said that it was a source of pride “for the human rights fighters who make up its board of directors, as well as for its partners and professionals, that your Government has decided to pay tribute to its citizens forcibly disappeared in Chile at our memory site.” “What we are doing with the Uruguayan Embassy is a necessary exercise of historical memory: we do not want human rights violations to occur again in Chile and Uruguay and in any other country in Latin America or the entire world.

Their names are now engraved forever on one of our walls to remember them,” and she wished for “a better world for our countries.” The thread to narrate the history of the Libertad prison Subsequently, the documentary El Almanaque was screened, by filmmaker José Pedro Charlo, a former political prisoner for 8 years, who attended the presentation and ceremony.

Charlo stated that his film did not arise from a plan to show the history of the Libertad prison, located in Montevideo, the largest political prison of the 70s, which came to hold 2,872 people. The story of El Almanaque recounts how one of the inmates, Jorge Tiscornia, kept in the interior of his clogs in great detail, during 12 years of his imprisonment, the details of what was happening inside the prison, and even photographed it at the end of his confinement.

Charlo indicated that for him, what was important was “the personal bond, and finding threads that allow telling stories in such a way that those stories pose a dialogue with the spectator that reaches the sensitivity of the spectator in some way.” “I wanted to tell the story of the Libertad prison, and at some point, that plan was in me, but I couldn't tell it until I found the way to do it, starting from reading the book that Jorge (Tiscornia) wrote,” the protagonist, he detailed.

Then the play El Pozo was presented with musicians Gonzalo Victoria from Uruguay and Jorge Martínez from Chile, dedicated to the Uruguayan composer, archaeologist, and researcher Oscar “Laucha” Prieto, who during the Uruguayan military dictatorship was also a political prisoner.

Source: villagrimaldi.cl, no date