The 12 retired officers of the Navy and Carabineros who were prosecuted yesterday by Judge Eliana Quezada for the crime of kidnapping and torture against former political prisoners following the 1973 coup d'état on the training ship Esmeralda, were arrested this morning by agents of the Special Affairs and Human Rights Brigade, led by Commissioner Sandro Gaete.

The accused are Vice Admirals Juan Mackay Barriga and Sergio Barra von Kretschmann, Navy Captain Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, and Carabineros Colonel Nelson López Cofré. Also prosecuted were Navy non-commissioned officers Bertalino Castillo Soto, Jorge Leiva Cordero, Jaime Lazo Pérez, Reginaldo Rebolledo López, Manuel Leiva Valdivieso, Juan Reyes Bausar, Luis Cabezón Cattanzano, and Alejo Esparza Martínez.

All were taken to the PDI barracks in Viña del Mar, and later, at approximately 11:30, were transferred to the Valparaíso courts to appear before the presiding judge. The judge must determine which naval or Carabineros facility the accused will be held in.

The resolution was issued due to the illegal arrest and torture of María Eliana Comeném, Alberto Neumann Lagos, Claudina Moreno Cortés, María and Rosa Huerta Sánchez, and María Isabel Vásquez Pezoa.

Source: La Nación, December 1, 2009

Magistrate notifies fourteen former uniformed personnel involved in the Woodward case of their prosecution

During the morning, the Human Rights Brigade of the Investigative Police (PDI) began the transfer to the Valparaíso Court of Appeals of the last 14 individuals prosecuted for the disappearance of the English priest Miguel Woodward, who was also tortured aboard the Chilean Navy training ship Esmeralda and subsequently disappeared.

It should be noted that on August 26, Judge María Eliana Quezada ordered the prosecution of these fourteen former uniformed personnel. The events date back to the first days of the military dictatorship, when the Chilean Navy implemented "Plan Cochayuyo," designed to repress social organizations and control the area after the military coup.

After 11:00, the retired Carabineros and Navy officials involved in this human rights case began arriving at the Fifth Region Court of Appeals so that the magistrate could notify them of their prosecution and pretrial detention.

The prosecuted individuals are retired Carabineros Héctor Tapia Olivares, Ángel Lorca Fuenzalida, and Enrique Corrales Díaz, all colonels; as well as Major Luis Araya Maureira, Captain Nelson López Cofré, and Second Sergeant Jorge Leiva Cordero.

Also prosecuted were former Navy officers Pedro Abregó Diamanti, Navy Captain; and retired Marine Infantry non-commissioned officers Manuel Leiva Valdivieso, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Jaime Lazo Pérez, Bertalino Castillo Soto, Alejo Esparza Martínez, Carlos Líbano Riquelme, and Sergio Hevia Fabres.

With this action, the number of those prosecuted in this case, which is emblematic regarding human rights in Valparaíso, reaches 33.

Source: Radio Universidad de Chile, August 30, 2010

Judge accuses ten Navy officials of responsibility in the Woodward Case

Judge Julio Miranda Lillo held ten Navy officers and non-commissioned officers responsible for the disappearance of the Chilean-British priest Miguel Woodward, whose physical trail was lost a few days after his arrest in September 1973.

Miguel Woodward Iriberry was a Chilean-British priest who, after the military coup, took refuge in various friends' homes, fearing for his life due to an arrest warrant issued by Army officers. On September 18, 1973, he returned to his home in Cerro Placeres, where he was intercepted by naval officers who took him to various interrogation points until his physical trail was lost.

This Wednesday, Judge Julio Miranda Lillo presented an accusation against ten sailors for their alleged responsibility in Woodward's disappearance. These are Navy officers and non-commissioned officers who are identified in the charges presented within the framework of the Woodward Case.

The prosecuted sailors are Luis Francisco Pinda Figueroa, Carlos Alberto Miño Muñoz, Guillermo Carlos Inostroza Opazo, José Manuel García Reyes, Marcos Cristián Silva Bravo, Nelson Roberto López Cofre, Jorge Leiva Cordero, Manuel Atilio Leiva Valdivieso, Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto, and Héctor Fernando Palomino López.

Judge Miranda argued that "the facts described above constitute the crime of kidnapping followed by serious harm (possibly resulting in death) to the person of Michael Roy Woodward Iribery, as contemplated by Article 141 of the Penal Code in force at the time of the events, meeting all the requirements that constitute it, as he was deprived of his freedom of movement without legal basis, and kept under detention or confinement in Navy facilities, which has continued from the month of September 1973 onwards, without his whereabouts being known or his remains being found." Miguel Woodward was taken to the Universidad Santa María and then transferred to the training ship Esmeralda, an emblematic site of the Chilean armed forces used as a center for political imprisonment and torture during the dictatorship. Due to the deterioration experienced by Woodward after the interrogations, he was transferred to the Naval Hospital, with no physical record of him existing thereafter. Although a naval doctor issued a death certificate for the priest, it was never possible to locate his body. The final efforts were carried out in the common grave of the Valparaíso cemetery, without positive results. The accusation will be notified to the plaintiffs and then to the defense of the accused, to then begin the plenary stage, prior to the issuance of a first-instance conviction.

Source: Radio Universidad de Chile, May 18, 2011

Minister issues accusations in the Woodward case

Valparaíso / The Navy did not comment, although it stated it has provided full cooperation.

The presiding minister of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Julio Miranda Lillo, issued an accusation in the investigation into the case of the aggravated kidnapping of priest Miguel Woodward Iribery, which occurred in September 1973.

The magistrate formulated charges against the prosecuted individuals Luis Francisco Pinda Figueroa, Carlos Alberto Miño Muñoz, Guillermo Carlos Inostroza Opazo, José Manuel García Reyes, Marcos Cristián Silva Bravo, Nelson Roberto López Cofre, Jorge Leiva Cordero, Manuel Atilio Leiva Valdivieso, Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto, and Héctor Fernando Palomino López, as perpetrators of the crime.

In the accusation, Minister Julio Miranda established that "after a harsh interrogation and the application of torture, Woodward was taken in serious condition to the training ship Esmeralda, a vessel that the Navy had designated as a Detention and Interrogation Center, where he was examined by a doctor and treated in the infirmary, a situation of which the respective superiors were made aware, ordering his transfer to the Naval Hospital where his physical trail is lost, since a Navy doctor who worked at said hospital issued a medical death certificate." In the opinion of the presiding minister, "the facts described above constitute the existence of the crime of kidnapping followed by serious harm (possibly resulting in death) to the person of Michael Roy Woodward Iribery, which is contemplated by Article 141 of the Penal Code, in force at the time of the events, meeting all the requirements that constitute it, as he was deprived of his freedom of movement without legal basis, and kept under detention or confinement in Navy facilities, which has continued from the month of September 1973 onwards, without his whereabouts being known or his remains being found." The Navy, meanwhile, stated yesterday that "as this is a strictly judicial matter that is still ongoing, it is not appropriate for the Institution to comment or express an opinion regarding the resolutions of the courts of justice." It was indicated that during the development of the case, the Navy provided all facilities so that the Judiciary could carry out all its proceedings.

Source: Mercuriovalpo.cl, May 19, 2011

Definitive: Judicial rulings determine a truth we did not want to know: savage torture took place on the training ship Esmeralda

The ruling by the presiding minister of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Julio Miranda, establishes a legal truth that was an open secret for years in Chile. Aboard the flagship of our Navy, people were tortured and raped in a ruthless manner; they were also murdered.

The sentences were a new slap in the face. Three years and one day for two non-commissioned officers. In total, they will only be imprisoned for 19 days. The sentence was handed down in criminal case Roll No. 943-2007, which investigated the kidnapping of María Eliana Comené Hidalgo, Alberto Enrique Neumann, Claudina Rosa Moreno Cortes, María Elvira Huerta Sánchez, María Isabel Vásquez Pezoa, and Rosa Angélica Huerta Sánchez.

Non-commissioned officers Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto and Jaime Segundo Lazo Pérez were found responsible and sentenced to three years and one day in prison, which they will never serve, as their sentences were commuted.

That is what they received for kidnapping and then torturing 6 people aboard the training ship Esmeralda. Only two non-commissioned officers, with no one else found guilty, on a ship with hundreds of sailors, with officers in charge... only 2 guilty.

Some others were exempted from responsibility for having died or having been declared insane. "Stay still, we have orders to shoot" It is recorded on page 2,573 of the file "that on September 11, 1973, a group of people were gathered at Cerro La Cruz, summoned by a CUT leader named Manuel Solís.

After a few hours, two Navy trucks arrived at the location, and the house was surrounded by personnel from that branch. They made them lie on the floor with their hands on their heads and legs apart, and began to insult and disparage them, kicking them and hitting them with the butts of the rifles they were carrying." Then they loaded them onto a transport, lying face down, and took them to the Molo de Abrigo; in that sector, their captors, a group of sailors, simulated executions.

Later, they were all taken aboard the "training ship Esmeralda." The welcome they received consisted of insults and blows with rifle butts. The torture began later. "A witness recalls: 'on September 13, I was violated by a group composed of eight sailors inside a bathroom, where, amidst the beatings, I had to take off my underwear to see if I had anything hidden inside my body'." It was not the only time, nor was she the only one who suffered such cruelties.

Another witness, whose statement is recorded on page 2575, remembers having identified among the detainees Sergio Vuskovic, the Mayor of Valparaíso at the time, Alberto Neumann, María Eliana Comené, the Huerta sisters, among others.

She remembers that every day she was interrogated by Navy personnel, during which they assaulted her with punches and kicks, in addition to the mistreatment; throughout their stay on the "ship Esmeralda," they were made to listen to the beatings that others were subjected to, "they mistreated us for fun," she points out.

The violence included the application of electricity, blows with any blunt object the torturers had available, punches and kicks, and, of course, collective rapes of the women. The illegally detained were transferred from the Esmeralda to the ship Lebu and from there to the Maipo, all anchored in Valparaíso.

Some were also occasionally taken ashore to a Carabineros unit. The Cochayuyo Plan A member of the Carabineros testified in the proceedings: "k) Statement of Ricardo Alejandro Riesco Cornejo, on page 326, ratified on pages 536 and 1,181, in which he points out that on September 12 or 13, 1973, he was ordered to report to the 'training ship Esmeralda,' where he was notified that he was to proceed to guard all the people arriving at the ship and all the people who were already being held." He continues by pointing out: "the detainees were interrogated inside the training ship, specifically in the midshipmen's mess or dining room, by a group of people external to the ship who arrived in civilian clothes and were under the command of Frigate Captain Jaime Román (deceased). As he learned, the interrogating personnel belonged to the Carabineros of Chile, though he did not know their names." He adds that on one occasion he witnessed an interrogation where the application of electric current was used so that the detainee would confess faster. According to the torturers themselves, those participating in the interrogations included, among others: Sergeants Alejo Esparza, Jaime Lazo, Bertalino Castillo, nicknamed "El Choro," Francisco Prado Espejo, Valentín Riquelme, nicknamed "Gerónimo," Francisco Lagos, and Héctor Santibáñez and Juan de Dios Reyes Bazeur. The plan intended to capture opponents of the regime in the V Region was called "Cochayuyo." In the Lebu the women, Maipo to Pisagua, and the Esmeralda the center of torture. According to the statement of Rafael Guillermo Mac-Kay Backler, on pages 373, 1,061 and judicial 1,284, ratified on page 1,287, "upon arriving in Valparaíso on September 11, 1973, from Talcahuano, he learned of the military uprising. The Commander of the Esmeralda, Navy Captain Jorge Sabugo, informed the midshipmen that people would arrive at the Molo de Abrigo as detainees, and they were to guide them from the moment they got off the trucks until they reached the ship Lebu or Maipo." "A large number of people began to arrive, including men, women, and some foreigners, a situation that occurred day and night," Mac-Kay states. Other guards of the Esmeralda declared that "the prisoners were held 24 hours a day in the midshipmen's between-decks, where there were approximately five rows of double bunks; he remembers that on occasions they were taken from the place through a restricted access to which he did not have access; some detainees arrived complaining of pain, to which he provided dipyrone." They add that "the detainees inside the training ship were male, but he remembers that there was a foreign woman who was there for a short time; the women were held inside the ship Lebu." Between one thousand and 1,500 detainees on the Maipo alone It is estimated by a jailer that inside the Maipo there were between one thousand and 1,500 detainees after the coup. The judicial statement of Augusto Pedreros Silva, on page 565, is clear: "starting on September 11, 1973, I was assigned the task of sea guard, which I performed at the entrance door of the ACANAV building, in order to control the entry of personnel." He remembers that "the entry of civilian detainees was through the Silva Palma Barracks and from there they were taken by the Marine Infantry to the third floor, a place set up for interrogation at the ACANAV." And he continues: "The detainees were lined up one after another, with one arm resting on the person in front of them; they were hooded. He adds that one of the interrogators during the first period was Officer Jaime Román Figueroa, who had been a professor at the Academy. Subsequently, a group of Marine Infantry began to perform that function, whose chief was a non-commissioned officer with the surname Leiva. He points out that the interrogations were accompanied by torture, as the screams of the detainees could be heard, which consisted, among other things, of applying current; he affirms this because he had seen, on occasions, Investigative police officers carrying magnets in their hands. Finally, he points out that there was Carabineros personnel in the facility, remembering, in particular, a Lieutenant nicknamed 'La Paloma,' who would correspond to Lieutenant Patricia Orellana Alvarado, whom he saw passing by the interrogation rooms." Electric plates on the detainees A witness pointed out on page 2,588: "They took me with a kind of hard cloth bag on my head, then, in an office where there were three officers, they took off the bag and handcuffs, one named Cristian Gantes and Jaime Román Figueroa; there I was interrogated." "I do not remember if it was the next day or hours after that event, they covered my head again with a bag and took me to an upper floor, arriving at a kind of dungeon; there they tied me by my back to a wooden pole, with handcuffs, they took off my clothes from the waist up; in the interrogation they asked me about weapons, while they put electric plates on me, and so that I would not faint they threw water on me violently or threw themselves on me abruptly; said interrogation was repeated several times consecutively and was directed by Jaime Román Figueroa, whom I could identify by his perfume and voice. Finally," she adds, "I was on the Esmeralda until September 18, 1973." What one of the convicted declared Page 2600: "Giving an investigative and evidentiary statement, the accused Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto, on pages 192, 340, and 1,033, points out (...) Regarding the detainees they interrogated, they arrived at the War Academy transported by the Carabineros of Chile and the Gendarmería of Chile. (...) He also points out that he had to dress in civilian clothes at the time of interrogating a person, covering his face with a ski mask so that they would not recognize him, in order to prevent future attacks or personal or family reprisals." He states that the interrogation techniques were only dialogue, he only asked and they answered, there were no beatings, torture, or degrading or inhuman treatment, nor was there the application of electric current or torture of any other type." Sentences constitute a new slap in the face to the victims The statements are of a cynicism that irritates, which is why the presiding magistrate rejected them for not being in accordance with the reality of the facts. However, having so much time passed, they were acquitted of the rapes, as the court could not consider them proven, and although they did happen, the judge also failed to convince himself that the convicted were the ones who raped the women. Three years and one day is the sentence. Added to the benefits, they will never be imprisoned for the aberrations they committed. Only the 19 days when they were arrested for the first time. It is estimated by Human Rights organizations that there were 500 political prisoners on the Esmeralda, 1,000 on the ship Maipo, and 4,000 on the ship Lebu. Nearly 3,000 people passed through the Valparaíso Stadium, and 4,000 through the War Academy and the Silva Palma Barracks, all of whom were tortured and several of them murdered. A bloody testimony María Eliana, a literature student, relates: "They were stuck on all the walls, I counted eight marine infantrymen, some hooded and others with their faces painted black. They tell me to undress. I started to undress and I left my bottom part on, because I had a menstrual pad on. So, when they forced me to even take off my panties, I said I couldn't, because I was indisposed. They forced me to do it and that's where all the feminine rebellion comes in, the rebellion of the fighter; as much as they wanted to make us feel like animals, the moment arrived when the dignity of the human being rebelled against all that. And my anger, my indignation, was such that I took off my panties, took the bloody pad, and put it on the face of the lieutenant who was leading the group." It was not enough: "After that, still naked, by order of the lieutenant, two marine infantrymen from behind grabbed my buttocks and bent down to look at my anus." They were surely the same ones who raped women to demonstrate their power and lower the dignity of the detainees. They covered their faces with ski masks and hid their ranks. "On the Esmeralda," María Eliana remembers, "there was violence 24 hours a day; they would take out the comrades, beat them, torture them, and they would return purple and vomiting blood." "When they transferred me to the Lebu, we were separated from the comrades who were in the holds. We were in the cabins and there were so many of us that we couldn't breathe; we had to sleep sitting on the floor. They fed us only once a day, at 9 in the morning. It was some beans that even had worms; once we complained, they told us mockingly, 'why are you complaining if we are giving you meat?'" The treatment was truly inhuman and cruel. Among the torturers there were also civilians and Carabineros. On one occasion, María Eliana relates, "they took me to a cabin that had been set up as an interrogation room and there was a lieutenant who began to grope me and shout, saying: 'defend yourself now, you bitch!' He groped me in a frightening way; it was more than an hour of just that." The horror of the Naval War Academy María Eliana also passed through the Naval War Academy, on the Playa Ancha hill. "I was there for about four weeks; they took me out every night to interrogate me, they hit my ears with their hands, they put current on my tongue, in my vagina. They took us out to have fun with us, to sexually abuse us. There were mass rapes. In the end, one disconnects, tries to sublimate what is happening, but it is impossible to forget; in fact, when I was already in prison, I developed a serious infection, with vomiting and fever." "They sent me to the Naval Hospital and there they said it was just a gallbladder attack and they sent me back to prison. However, it was something much more serious. It was gonorrhea, and it was impossible to know how and where I had contracted it—on the Esmeralda, on the Lebu, at the Academy? The only thing clear is that I was left with my endometrium totally and absolutely destroyed," she finishes relating. The priest Miguel R. Woodward It is estimated that there were about 40 women detained on the Esmeralda, who were subjected to all kinds of mistreatment, torture, humiliation, and rape. Among the detainees, it is worth noting the presence of the Chilean-British Catholic priest, Miguel R. Woodward, who died as a result of the torture when, on September 22, 1973, he was taken to the Naval Hospital of Valparaíso on the instructions of a doctor from the same Navy. Although the Catholic Church claimed his body, it was never delivered to them, and he was buried in a common grave over which a road was later built.

Source: Cambio21, May 17, 2014

Justice sentenced two retired Navy non-commissioned officers for human rights violations in Valparaíso

According to the presiding minister, former naval officials Bertalino Castillo and Jaime Lazo were sentenced for the kidnapping and torture of six people, including the late Valparaíso councilman Alberto Newmann.

The late councilman Alberto Newmann was one of those kidnapped and tortured by the retired Navy non-commissioned officers. (EMV) Two retired Navy non-commissioned officers were sentenced to three years and one day in prison for violating the human rights of six people between September 11 and 13, 1973, after the coup d'état.

Among the victims was the doctor and councilman for Valparaíso, Alberto Newmann Lagos, who passed away in April of last year. According to what was reported today by the Judiciary, the presiding minister of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Julio Miranda, issued a sentence against former officials of the Chilean Navy, Bertalino Castillo Soto and Jaime Lazo Pérez, as perpetrators of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of María Elena Comené Hidalgo, Alberto Neumann Lagos, Claudina Moreno Cortés, María Elvira Huerta Sánchez, María Isabel Vásquez Pezoa, and Rosa Huerta Sánchez, perpetrated between September 11 and 13, 1973. The judicial investigation established that the victims were detained in various places in Valparaíso by Carabineros personnel or Navy personnel, and that they were taken to the ships "Esmeralda," "Maipo," and "Lebu." In said naval units, they were subjected to torture and subsequently taken to the "Cuarta Silva Palma" or the Naval War Academy, where they remained detained and subjected to abuse.

Source: soyvalparaiso.cl, April 24, 2014

Supreme Court rejects appeals and maintains sentences in the Woodward case

The highest court backed the decision of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, which determined the dismissal of 19 people in the investigation into the aggravated kidnapping of priest Miguel Woodward, which occurred starting in September 1973.

The Supreme Court rejected the appeals filed against the resolutions of presiding minister Julio Miranda Lillo and the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, which determined the dismissal of 19 people in the investigation into the aggravated kidnapping of priest Miguel Woodward.

In a unanimous ruling, ministers Nibaldo Segura, Jaime Rodríguez, Hugo Dolmestch, Carlos Künsemüller, and member lawyer Alberto Chaigneau rejected the filings made by the Ministry of the Interior, the State Defense Council (CDE), and the plaintiffs, who sought to annul both rulings.

The Supreme Court's sentence determines that the judges involved did not commit a serious fault or abuse in issuing the dismissal, considering that participation in the crime, which occurred starting in September 1973, was not proven.

On May 12, presiding minister Julio Miranda Lillo declared the summary closed in the investigation into the kidnapping of priest Miguel Woodward, issuing two resolutions in the process. In the first, he accused Luis Francisco Pinda Figueroa, Carlos Alberto Miño Muñoz, Guillermo Carlos Inostroza Opazo, José Manuel García Reyes, Marcos Cristián Silva Bravo, Nelson Roberto López Cofre, Jorge Leiva Cordero, Manuel Atilio Leiva Valdivieso, Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto, and Héctor Fernando Palomino López as perpetrators of the crime.

Meanwhile, in the second, he decreed a partial and temporary dismissal in favor of Guillermo Aldoney Hansen, Juan Mackay Barriga, Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, Carlos Costa Canessa, Víctor Valverde Stelenlen, José Yañez Riveros, Pedro Vidal Miranda, Alfredo Mondaca Salamanca, Claudio Cerezo Valencia, Héctor Tapia Olivares, Ángel Lorca Fuenzalida, Enrique Corrales Díaz, Luis Araya Maureira, Pedro Abregó Diamantti, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Jaime Lazo Pérez, Alejo Esparza Martínez, Carlos Líbano Riquelme, and Sergio Hevia Febres.

Source: soychile.cl, September 29, 2011

Minister Max Cancino sentences retired Navy members for kidnapping with serious harm in 1974.

The minister (s) on special assignment for human rights violation cases at the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Max Cancino, sentenced seven retired Navy officials for their responsibility in the crime of kidnapping with grave injury against Abelardo Enrique Zamorano Barrera, an illicit act perpetrated between March and April 1974 in the city.

In the ruling, case file 948-2016, Minister Cancino sentenced Ricardo Alejandro Riesco Cornejo, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Valentín Evaristo Riquelme Villalobos, Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto, Héctor Vicente Santibáñez Obreque, Jaime Segundo Lazo Pérez, and Alejo Esparza Martínez to 5 years and one day of effective imprisonment, plus the legal accessories of absolute perpetual disqualification from public offices and political rights, and absolute disqualification from holding professional titles for the duration of the sentences.

During the investigation phase of the case, the minister on special assignment established the following facts: That Abelardo Enrique Zamorano Barrera was detained in Valparaíso on March 25, 1974, while he was at Plaza de la Victoria, and was taken to the Cuartel Silva Palma by three individuals from the Naval Intelligence Service who were dressed in civilian clothes, based solely on information related to his membership in the MIR.

At said facility, a group of subjects, mostly belonging to the Marine Corps of the Chilean Navy, subjected him to cruel and repeated torment, duress, threats, and extensive interrogations involving beatings and electric shocks, incommunicado detention, and even the deprivation of food and water.

For most of the time, he remained hooded in a cell where he was forced to listen to the interrogations and torture of other people.

These procedures were used by the group of interrogators systematically as a means of obtaining information regarding the identification and location of other members of the movement. He remained detained in that place for approximately one month, being subsequently transferred to a detention camp called "Isla Riesco."

It is necessary to reason that the physical and psychological duress suffered by Abelardo Zamorano during his confinement at the Cuartel Silva Palma was corroborated by the extrajudicial testimonies of Alfredo Saieg and Rodrigo Alcázar Zuanich, who witnessed when the victim was subjected to interrogations and torture.

The resolution establishes that the sentences must be served effectively "in the corresponding penitentiary facilities, denying the defense's request for the sentences to be served at their homes, with the time they remained deprived of liberty in this case being credited, that is, between February 23 and 25, 2016, regarding Valentín Riquelme Villalobos, Jaime Segundo Lazo Pérez, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Ricardo Alejandro Riesco Cornejo, Héctor Vicente Santibáñez Obreque, and Bertalino Castillo Soto."

In the civil aspect, the ruling accepted the filed claim and ordered the treasury to pay an indemnity of $70,000,000 for moral damages to the victim.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl, July 19, 2019

Minister Jaime Arancibia issues indictment against (r) members of the Navy for kidnapping and the application of torture to a high school student.

The minister on special assignment for human rights violation cases at the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Jaime Arancibia Pinto, issued an indictment against retired members of the Navy for their responsibility in the crimes of illegal detention, kidnapping with grave injury, and the application of torture to a student from the city's Liceo N° 1.

In the resolution, the minister on special assignment indicted Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto, Jaime Lazo Pérez, Valentín Evaristo Riquelme Villalobos, Sergio Hevia Febres, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Gilda Mercedes Ulloa Valle, Alejo Esparza Martínez, and Héctor Vicente Santibáñez Obreque as authors of the crimes of which Gloria Estela Andrade Garrido was a victim at the Navy's Cuartel Silva Palma in October 1973.

During the investigation phase of the case, Minister Arancibia Pinto established that while Gloria Estela Andrade Garrido, 17 years old, was a student at the Liceo N° 1 of Valparaíso, located at Avenida Argentina N° 731 in this city, and an active participant in the Student Council of that establishment during 1973, on approximately October 11, 1973, at the request of the school principal, Leonor Illesca, who was in collusion with officials of the Chilean Navy, she was summoned to appear at the Cuartel Silva Palma, which was under the jurisdiction of that branch, without any court order and outside of any legal procedure, where she was interrogated about her political activities, subjected to mistreatment, beatings of varying severity, and torture, being released after approximately 12 days and resulting in permanent sequelae as documented in the Istanbul Protocol that has been submitted in this regard.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl, May 24, 2019

Minister Jaime Arancibia prosecutes 10 retired members of the Navy for illegal detention, kidnapping, and torture at the “Silva Palma” barracks in Playa Ancha

The minister on special assignment for human rights violation cases at the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Jaime Arancibia Pinto, issued a prosecution order against 10 retired members of the Navy for their responsibility in the consummated crimes of illegal detention, kidnapping with grave injury, and the application of torture against Alicia Olea Salinas.

These illicit acts were perpetrated in January 1974 at the Cuartel Silva Palma in Playa Ancha.

In the resolution (case file 276-2017), Minister Arancibia identified the retired officials Valentín Evaristo Riquelme Villalobos, Ricardo Alejandro Riesco Cornejo, Gilda Mercedes Ulloa Valle, Héctor Vicente Santibáñez Obreque, Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto, Jaime Segundo Lazo Pérez, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Alejo Esparza Martínez, Eduardo Mauricio Núñez Contreras, and Sergio Hevia Febres as authors of the crimes.

During the investigation phase of the case, the minister on special assignment was able to establish that: “the events occurred on January 23 or 24, 1974, when the victim Alicia Olea Salinas was detained by Navy personnel, without cause or justified motives, remaining detained at the Cuartel Silva Palma located in Playa Ancha in this city of Valparaíso, a place where she was interrogated by these agents, who inflicted kicks and punches, and applied electric shocks to various parts of her body, in addition to threats that they would harm her family.

Among the mistreatment received, they kept her in a forced position and for an entire day she remained sitting, in the full sun, on a chair in the courtyard of the aforementioned barracks, without food or water. Her interrogations were constant. As a consequence of her detention, she was subjected to a War Council, after which she was sentenced to three years of banishment.”

Source: g5noticias.cl, June 16, 2020

Valparaíso Court of Appeals confirmed the ruling sentencing retired Navy members for kidnapping with grave injury in 1974

The Valparaíso Court of Appeals confirmed the sentence that convicted seven retired Navy officials for their responsibility in the crime of kidnapping with grave injury against Abelardo Enrique Zamorano Barrera. The illicit act was perpetrated between March and April 1974 in the port city.

In the unanimous ruling (case file 1.804-2019), the Fifth Chamber of the appellate court—composed of ministers Patricio Martínez, Eliana Quezada, and acting lawyer Sonia Maldonado—ratified the sentence that convicted Ricardo Alejandro Riesco Cornejo, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Valentín Evaristo Riquelme Villalobos, Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto, Héctor Vicente Santibáñez Obreque, Jaime Segundo Lazo Pérez, and Alejo Esparza Martínez to 5 years and one day of imprisonment as authors of the crime.

“That, subsequently, what is expressed under the preceding motivations invalidates the arguments formulated by the appellant in court regarding the assessment of the evidence presented and the establishment of the participation of the recurring accused in the facts constituting the crime of kidnapping with grave injury, and also their assertions that the first-instance court had reached its conclusions based on mere assumptions and imputations, or on presumptions, disregarding the technical-legal rules that govern the matter,” the ruling maintains.

The resolution adds: “For the same reason and due to the considerations contained in the thirty-second basis of the appealed ruling, the reproaches regarding the lack of proof of contact between the victim and the prosecuted individuals lose substance, as they were convicted for the sole fact that it was proven that at the time and place of the complainant's detention, they were providing services at the Navy War Academy and the Cuartel Silva Palma, as well as the indications regarding the omission of the specific facts or typical actions imputed to each of the accused in particular.”

In the civil aspect, the sentence ordering the treasury to pay an indemnity of $70,000,000 (seventy million pesos) for moral damages to the victim was confirmed.

Source: g5noticias.cl, May 8, 2020

18 former Navy and Carabineros personnel prosecuted for the disappearance of priest Miguel Woodward

The minister on special assignment for human rights violation cases at the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Jaime Arancibia Pinto, initiated prosecution against 18 former Navy and Carabineros officials for their responsibility in the crime of aggravated kidnapping of the British-born priest Miguel Woodward Iriberry, an illicit act perpetrated starting in September 1973.

In the case, Minister Arancibia issued a prosecution order against retired Navy officials Guillermo Samuel Aldoney Hansen, Juan Guillermo Mackay Barriga, Ricardo Alejandro Riesco Cornejo, Víctor Sergio Valverde Steinlen, José Ignacio Yáñez Riveros, Pedro Vidal Miranda, Alfredo Hugo Moncada Salamanca, Claudio Francisco Cerezo Valencia, Pedro Abrego Diamantti, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Jaime Segundo Lazo Pérez, Alejo Esparza Martínez, Carlos Líbano Riquelme, and Sergio Hevia Febres (*).

Likewise, he prosecuted former Carabineros officials Héctor Nelson Tapia Olivares, Ángel Lorca Fuenzalida, Enrique Orlando Corrales Díaz, and Luis Ricardo Araya Maureira.

In the resolution, and after the description of the facts, the magistrate established that "the existence of the crime of aggravated kidnapping contemplated in article 141, paragraphs 1 and 4 of the Penal Code, is configured in the person of the priest Miguel or Michael Roy Woodward Iriberry, meeting all the requirements that configure it, since he was deprived of his freedom of movement without legal right, kept under detention or confinement, first in a facility controlled by the Navy and then in units of said institution, being subjected to continuous interrogations and torture, with his trail being lost, which has continued from his detention in the month of September 1973 until the present time, without his whereabouts being known or his remains having been found."

He added that it is an illicit act "that has the character of a permanent or continuous execution and is understood to be in the degree of commission throughout the entire period that the situation typified and sanctioned in the aforementioned legal provision lasts, which continues to this day due to the fact that the whereabouts or destination of Michael Woodward, or eventually his remains, are still unknown, with concrete information about the victim being lacking until now."

(*) Editor's Note: By resolution, File n° 140.454-2001, it is rectified that the second surname of the prosecuted Sergio Hevia -cited in this note- is Febres, so on March 15, 2017, the text was modified on this particular point, clarifying that the aforementioned is Sergio Hevia Febres.

Source: elmostrador.cl, May 8, 2015

The Navy must answer: ten former members of the Navy prosecuted for illegal detention, kidnapping, and torture

Human rights organizations in Valparaíso and the V Region have constantly denounced the responsibility of the Chilean Navy as a primary actor in the gestation of the 1973 coup d'état and its responsibility in the detention, murder, and torture of numerous Chilean men and women.

They have also expressed the existence of a true "pact of silence" within this institution, declaring that "the sailors deny everything that happened and do not provide any information, keeping a silence that for us means that there is an unwritten pact in this regard."

This constant struggle demanding justice and opposing impunity has achieved small advances thanks to the tenacity and courage of those who have denounced these horrible abuses against life and human dignity, as well as the actions of magistrates like Minister Jaime Arancibia in our region, who with integrity, professionalism, and equanimity have carried forward these processes.

Last Tuesday (June 16, 2020), the official news site of the Judiciary communicated the following:

“The minister on special assignment for human rights violation cases at the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Jaime Arancibia Pinto, issued a prosecution order against 10 retired members of the Navy for their responsibility in the consummated crimes of illegal detention, kidnapping with grave injury, and the application of torture against Alicia Olea Salinas.

Illicit acts perpetrated in January 1974, at the Cuartel Silva Palma in Playa Ancha.

In the resolution (case file 276-2017), Minister Arancibia identified the retired officials VALENTÍN EVARISTO RIQUELME VILLALOBOS, RICARDO ALEJANDRO RIESCO CORNEJO, GILDA MERCEDES ULLOA VALLE, HÉCTOR VICENTE SANTIBÁÑEZ OBREQUE, BERTALINO SEGUNDO CASTILLO SOTO, JAIME SEGUNDO LAZO PÉREZ, JUAN DE DIOS REYES BASAUR, ALEJO ESPARZA MARTÍNEZ, EDUARDO MAURICIO NÚÑEZ CONTRERAS, AND SERGIO HEVIA FEBRES as authors of the crimes.

During the investigation phase of the case, the minister on special assignment was able to establish that: «the events occurred on January 23 or 24, 1974, when the victim Alicia Olea Salinas was detained by Navy personnel, without cause or justified motives, remaining detained at the Cuartel Silva Palma located in Playa Ancha in this city of Valparaíso, a place where she was interrogated by these agents, who inflicted kicks and punches, and applied electric shocks to various parts of her body, in addition to threats that they would harm her family.

Among the mistreatment received, they kept her in a forced position and for an entire day she remained sitting, in the full sun, on a chair in the courtyard of the aforementioned barracks, without food or water. Her interrogations were constant. As a consequence of her detention, she was subjected to a War Council, after which she was sentenced to three years of banishment».”

Yesterday, Wednesday, I spoke with Alicia Olea Salinas regarding the resolution adopted by Minister Arancibia, referring to the judicial case in which she is the complainant. I transcribe the interview conducted below:

As a fighter for the defense of human rights and against impunity, what can you tell me in relation to the prosecution order against 10 former members of the Chilean Navy issued by Minister Jaime Arancibia… “When we talk about justice and no more impunity, when these things are coming to light and when new generations ask you what the Cuartel Silva Palma was, what the Buen Pastor women's prison was, these resolutions allow for an official, institutional historical record to remain, beyond the numerous archives possessed by human rights organizations.

This is important because situations that were very painful are coming to light and allow us to know what happened during the dictatorship.

Going back forty years to what happened, thinking also of so many comrades who have not achieved any justice, this is very encouraging. On the other hand, this affected not only those of us who were imprisoned, but an entire community, because we were not the only ones repressed, but our entire environment, at the university, in schools, the neighbors.

This resolution, in my case, I take it as a resolution that represents many comrades who have not had this possibility of obtaining some justice.

I started with this complaint around 2017, but long before that I was attending as a witness to other situations, other cases, around 2009, like the case of the disappearance of Yagtong Juantok, then I was a witness in another case of another comrade who currently lives in France, and then I presented my complaint to the Minister.”

And for you personally, as Alicia Olea Salinas, what has the ruling caused you…

“My stomach tightened, but deep down it gives me satisfaction, because after everything we have been through, there is a result.”

That is to say that, despite the time that has elapsed, which is also another form of impunity, you value these small steps that have been taken in the search for justice positively… “Exactly, and I value my partner Carlos and my daughter who accompanied me in all this very much; the PRAIS, where María José always supported me as a psychologist; everything we have done in our Historical Memory Workshop, where we have brought our forcibly disappeared comrades to light, who have only been shown as black and white images, they are not shown as the student, the worker, who had dreams, who had a life. That task we have done in the workshop is to change the black and white image for an image full of color.”

How was the emotional, psychological process, when remembering and reliving these despicable brutalities suffered when making this complaint? “I mentioned it once, that when the Valech Commission report came out and I went to give my testimony, I wrote barely five lines.

But now, as I was making this complaint, many things started appearing, your life transforms, because your body also tells you things and it is very hard to remember so many things, my stomach hurt from remembering so many atrocities. It was something very strong psychologically and emotionally. I also had the support of a therapist who helped me a lot to overcome this as well.”

How was the behavior of the repressors, when you had to face them in the confrontations?

“They ignore and deny everything, they never did anything, that is a cowardly attitude. Some are a little diminished, but others are still very arrogant. They protect each other, they continue to maintain the pact of silence.

When they go to testify to the Prosecutor's Office, they arrive in cars, with lawyers, well accompanied and protected, and we go alone, the former political prisoner goes alone.”

So there is a criticism here for the comrades who have not been able to accompany them in these circumstances… “Sure, that happened especially in the first confrontations, but in the PRAIS, with the Historical Memory Workshop, we started to accompany other comrades, and the PRAIS of Valparaíso also made itself present. Now there is accompaniment. This has been solved in part.”

Regarding Minister Arancibia, what can you tell me…

“He is a very upright, very human person, it is clear that what he seeks is to do justice, he works a lot because he has many cases in his hands. He is an honest and very good person.”

And in relation to the Chilean Navy, what can you tell me…

“This resolution shows that it was Navy officials who were convicted. In general, the sailors have gotten off 'lightly,' they have hardly been touched, and that is despite the fact that they initiated the coup and had several Concentration Camps, in addition to ships, like La Esmeralda, and other prison and torture facilities.

This resolution, this conviction is in the name of all our comrades who had a very bad time, many are dead and others are still disappeared to this day, this little piece of justice is for all of them.”

Source: elclarin.cl, June 19, 2020

Minister Jaime Arancibia indicts former uniformed personnel for homicide on Camino La Pólvora and torture of minors

The minister on special assignment for human rights violation cases at the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Jaime Arancibia Pinto, issued an indictment against retired members of the Navy, Army, and Carabineros for their responsibility in the crimes of kidnapping with grave injury, application of torture, and homicide. Illicit acts perpetrated between 1973 and 1974 in the Fifth Region.

In the first case (case file 144.063-2011), Minister Arancibia indicted retired Army and Carabineros members Luis Maureira González, Leonel Barahona Tapia, and Juan Cromilakis Fernández as authors of the kidnapping and aggravated homicide of Luis Silva Jara, committed on November 16, 1974, in Valparaíso.

During the investigation phase of the case, the minister on special assignment established that Luis Silva Jara was detained, along with other people, in an apartment located in the Merchant Marine sector of Playa Ancha, by a Carabineros patrol and two Army conscripts, for violating the curfew. The victim, when being taken to a police station, was executed in a sector on the Camino La Pólvora.

Adolescent victims

In the second case (case file 144.136-2013), the magistrate identified retired Navy members Bertalino Castillo Soto, Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, Guillermo Moreno Hierro, Juan Jorquera Terrazas, and Valentín Riquelme Villalobos as authors of the crimes of kidnapping with grave injury and application of torture to the adolescent Yeri Omar Prado Ojeda.

Illicit act perpetrated between September and October 1973.

According to the information gathered in the case, the minister was able to establish that Prado Ojeda was kidnapped by Navy personnel on September 25, 1973, when the adolescent, 15 years old at the time, went to the Cuartel Almirante Silva Palma in Valparaíso in order to obtain news about his father, who had been detained and transferred to said Navy facility the day before.

At the naval barracks, Prado Ojeda was the object of physical and psychological duress, “which translated into threats to his life and physical integrity and that of his father, mock executions, sleep deprivation, and deprivation of the satisfaction of physiological needs, beatings, and baths with cold water.”

Before being released, the minor was taken by naval personnel to Fuerte Papudo, located in the Recreo sector of Viña del Mar, where he met his father, who remained detained. After that brief meeting, he was abandoned in the Caleta Portales sector.

In the third case (case file 144.132-2013), Magistrate Arancibia Pinto held retired Navy members Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Juan Jorquera Terrazas, Guillermo Moreno Hierro, Alejo Esparza Martínez, Héctor Santibáñez Obreque, Jaime Lazo Pérez, Eduardo Núñez Contreras, and Valentín Riquelme Villalobos responsible for the crime of kidnapping with grave injury and application of torture to the adolescent Óscar Ibaceta Jorquera.

Illicit acts committed in February 1974.

In the case, the minister on special assignment established that Ibaceta Jorquera, 14 years old at the time, was kidnapped in February 1974 by Navy personnel when he went to the War Academy, located in Valparaíso, responding to a summons that had been left at his home, “under the threat that if he did not appear at the indicated place, his friends—who were already detained—would not be released.”

At the War Academy, the victim was the object of duress, “which translated into threats to his life and physical integrity and that of his friends, mock executions, sleep deprivation, and deprivation of the satisfaction of physiological needs, kicks and punches, and the application of electric shocks to his hands and groin.”

“The minor remained detained at the Cuartel Silva Palma for 20 days, being left with the obligation to sign in weekly at the Carabineros police station in Cerro Alegre, which was carried out for 11 months.” A situation that caused emotional damage to the victim, which continues to the present day.

In the fourth case (case file 144.133-2013), the minister on special assignment indicted retired Navy members Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Alejo Esparza Martínez, Héctor Santibáñez Obreque, Jaime Lazo Pérez, Eduardo Núñez Contreras, Valentín Riquelme Villalobos, Jaime Riesle Wetherby, and Sergio Hevia Febres as authors of the crimes of kidnapping with grave injury and application of torture to the adolescent Morelia Fernández Montenegro.

Illicit acts committed between February and May 1974.

In the investigation, Minister Arancibia Pinto established that the adolescent was detained during the night of a day in February 1974 by Navy personnel at her home located on Cerro Florida in Valparaíso.

Fernández Montenegro, 17 years old, was put into the vehicle in which the naval personnel were moving and taken, first, to the house of her cousin Patricio Fernández Avilés, with both being transferred to the Cuartel Silva Palma.

“In said facility, she remained detained for about 2 weeks, without food or hygiene measures, subjected to interrogations, physical mistreatment such as beatings and the application of electric shocks, psychological mistreatment such as sleep deprivation and threats to both her physical integrity and that of her family, and verbal mistreatment.

Then she was transferred to the ‘Buen Pastor’ women's prison, a place where she remained incarcerated for approximately 2 more weeks, being released during the second week of March 1974.”

In May of that same year, “she was detained again on two occasions by Navy personnel, who took her back to the Cuartel Silva Palma, where she was subjected to interrogations. On those occasions, the detentions were for approximately two days each.”

Source: pjud.cl, May 17, 2018

File n° 21-2016: kidnapping with grave injury and illegal detention case of Marco Antonio Contardo Guerra

VI.- That BERTALINO SEGUNDO CASTILLO SOTO, VALENTIN EVARISTO RIQUELME VILLALOBOS, RICARDO ALEJANDRO RIESCO CORNEJO, and JAIME SEGUNDO LAZO PEREZ are sentenced as authors of the crime of kidnapping with grave injury against Marco Antonio Contardo Guerra, an event that occurred between the months of October and December 1973, to the penalty of SIX YEARS of major imprisonment in its minimum degree, to the accessories of absolute perpetual disqualification from public offices and political rights, and absolute disqualification from holding professional titles for the duration of the sentence.

Source: Judiciary, April 30, 2019