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 Bertolino 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 decreed 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 to arrive 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 Febres.

With this development, the number of people prosecuted in this case, which is emblematic in terms of human rights in Valparaíso, rises to 33.

Source: Radio Universidad de Chile, August 30, 2010

4 former Navy members prosecuted for the aggravated kidnapping of Alberto Salazar Aguilera

The special judge, Alejandro Solís, who is substantiating the case regarding the detention and disappearance of this young MIR militant in Valparaíso, issued the prosecution of four former Navy members for the crime of aggravated kidnapping.

Alberto's father passed away eight months ago, while his mother continues to live in Talcahuano and participates in the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared of Concepción. He never stopped looking for his son, Alberto, but in the end, death overcame him.

On May 7, 2010, the life of Juan Salazar, an active member of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared of Concepción, came to an end. Eight months later, special judge Alejandro Solís, who is investigating the disappearance of his son, which occurred on November 22, 1974, in Valparaíso, submitted four retired Navy members to prosecution for the aggravated kidnapping of Alberto Salazar Aguilera.

Juan Salazar did not live long enough to hear this news. But his wife, Julia Aguilera, who survives him, has continued the fight to know what happened to her son, who was detained when he was just 22 years old.

He was a militant of the MIR and had studied social work at the University of Chile, Temuco campus. José Alberto's detention took place in Valparaíso at the hands of agents of the Navy Intelligence Service.

Following his second escape attempt, he was wounded by gunfire by his pursuers and was admitted to the Naval Hospital. His father, Juan Salazar, arrived there to ask about him after being informed of Alberto's detention via a phone call to Talcahuano, where he resided.

However, he was denied a visit and never heard from him again. All attempts to find out what had happened to his son bore no fruit, but that did not stop his parents, Juan and Julia, from continuing to search for him.

Eventually, their case reached the hands of special judge Alejandro Solís, who on January 31 submitted retired Navy members Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, Juan Reyes Basaur, Manuel Leiva Valdivieso, and Valentín Riquelme Villalobos to prosecution for the crime of aggravated kidnapping.

Along with this, he granted them release on bail upon payment of $500,000 (five hundred thousand pesos), and for Leiva Valdivieso, given his advanced age, he granted the measure of house arrest. The Supreme Court has yet to rule. In any case, this is an important step toward justice, although the truth about what happened to Alberto Salazar remains pending.

Source: La Tribuna del Biobío, February 1, 2011

Judge charges ten Navy officials for 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 detention in September 1973.

Miguel Woodward Iriberry was a Chilean-British priest who, after the military coup, took refuge in various friends' houses, 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 indictment 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 existence of 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 right, 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. Given the deterioration experienced by Woodward after the interrogations, he was transferred to the Naval Hospital, with no physical record of him thereafter. Although a naval doctor issued a death certificate for the priest, it was never possible to locate his body. The latest investigations were carried out in the common grave of the Valparaíso cemetery, without positive results. The indictment 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

Magistrate charges ten people for the kidnapping and probable death of Miguel Woodward in Valparaíso

The results of the investigation, released by the Judiciary, show that the priest was subjected to interrogations and torture on the training ship Esmeralda. The presiding judge of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Julio Miranda, formulated charges against 10 prosecuted individuals in the investigation into the aggravated kidnapping of the priest Miguel Woodward Iribery, which occurred starting in September 1973.

The magistrate charged 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 with the kidnapping and death of the priest.

According to the statement issued by the Judiciary, the investigation, reopened within the framework of the proceedings for human rights violations, managed to determine that, days after September 11, 1973, the priest Miguel Woodward "was seized by a group of marines who took him to the Universidad Santa María, without any administrative or judicial order to justify it." The investigation also corroborated that Woodward was subjected to interrogations and torture aboard the training ship Esmeralda and then transferred to the Naval Hospital, where his physical trail was lost.

In the opinion of the presiding judge, "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, 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 right, 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 indictment will be notified to the plaintiff parties and, subsequently, to the defense of the accused, to begin the plenary stage, prior to the issuance of a first-instance conviction.

Source: soychile.cl, May 18, 2011

Woodward Case: Justice establishes that torture took place on the training ship Esmeralda

The presiding judge Julio Miranda, of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, issued an indictment this Wednesday against 10 retired Navy officials for the torture and aggravated kidnapping of the Anglo-Chilean priest Miguel Woodward Iriberry, who was detained on September 18, 1973, at his home in Cerro Placeres by a naval patrol.

The accused, who are Navy officers and non-commissioned officers against whom the justice system has brought charges, 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.

Magistrate Miranda accuses all of them as perpetrators of the clergyman's disappearance. The resolution establishes that Woodward was transferred from the Naval War Academy (AGN) to the training ship Esmeralda, where he was allegedly a victim of torture.

The ruling determines that "the Naval War Academy located in the city of Valparaíso, after September 11, 1973, suspended its educational activities, and the Intelligence Service of the Interior Security Jurisdictional Area Command of the First Naval Zone, known as SICAJSI, was installed in said facility.

This was a hierarchical organization upon which different groups depended, formed mainly by Navy personnel, and to a lesser extent by Carabineros and the Investigative Police." Likewise, after investigating the case, Magistrate Miranda reached the conviction that the main function of these agents was "to dismantle groups opposed to the military regime established in the country, proceeding to order the capture of people who were militants or sympathetic to any political party or center, left-wing, or revolutionary movement, and their subsequent transfer to Navy units enabled as detention centers." Regarding the way these interrogations were carried out, the judge of the port city's appellate court explains that "the captives were subjected to multiple interrogation sessions with the application of physical and psychological torture of various kinds." In this particular case, according to the resolution, after a violent interrogation and "application of torture," Woodward was taken in a serious state of health 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. This situation was brought to the attention of the respective superiors, who ordered his transfer to the Naval Hospital, where his physical trail was lost. A Navy doctor issued a death certificate for Woodward; however, his body was never found. The Investigative Police (PDI) carried out excavations at the Playa Ancha Cemetery after testimonies maintained that Woodward's remains had been thrown into a common grave there, "however, despite having carried out an extensive excavation operation at the location determined by the information, it concluded without results," the judge points out.

Source: emol.cl, May 18, 2011

Supreme Court rejects complaints 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 the priest Miguel Woodward, which occurred starting in September 1973.

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

In a unanimous ruling, the ministers Nibaldo Segura, Jaime Rodríguez, Hugo Dolmestch, Carlos Künsemüller, and the acting 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 ordering the dismissal, considering that participation in the crime, which occurred starting in September 1973, was not proven.

On May 12, presiding judge Julio Miranda Lillo declared the summary investigation into the kidnapping of the priest Miguel Woodward closed, 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

Woodward Case: The Valparaíso Court issued a sentence for the kidnapping of the Chilean-British priest

The clergyman was illegitimately deprived of his liberty in Valparaíso, a few days after the 1973 military coup. Of the retired Navy personnel in the trial, only two will have to serve prison time. The State must compensate the victim's sister with 50 million pesos.

The Valparaíso Court of Appeals issued a sentence today in the case of the aggravated kidnapping of the Chilean-British priest Miguel Woodward, who, a few days after the 1973 military coup, was illegitimately deprived of his liberty.

The clergyman, who lived in the Héroes del Mar neighborhood of Cerro Los Placeres in the port city, was taken from his home and transferred to other locations without any administrative or judicial order to justify it.

Although 8 retired Navy officials were tried for this crime, only two were convicted. They are José Manuel García Reyes (to 3 years and one day in prison) and Héctor Fernando Palomino López (3 years and one day of imprisonment, although he was granted supervised release).

The other six uniformed personnel involved in the case were acquitted due to lack of participation, except for Manuel Atilio Leiva Valdivieso, who was diagnosed with dementia. In the civil aspect, meanwhile, the State must pay 50 million pesos to the sister of the disappeared priest for moral damages.

In the first instance, Woodward was taken by uniformed personnel to the Universidad Santa María and subsequently to the Naval War Academy, from where, due to the serious state of health he was in, he was transferred to the training ship Esmeralda.

On the vessel, he was supposedly going to receive medical attention. Finally, the last physical trace of the clergyman is at the Naval Hospital, where a Navy physician wrote a death certificate. It should be noted that there is also a death record at Cemetery Number 3 of Playa Ancha.

However, after several excavation operations, these proved fruitless. As revealed in the ruling by the presiding judge for human rights violation cases of the Valparaíso Court, the aforementioned background information demonstrates that there existed "the crime of kidnapping for which this summary was initiated and that, through the act of confining or detaining, injuries and the death of the victim were caused."

Source: El Mercurio, May 7, 2013

Sentence in the Case of Father Miguel Woodward, murdered by the Chilean Navy in September 1973

Judgment in the Case of Father Miguel Woodward, murdered by the Chilean Navy in September 1973

Declaration Following the Sentencing in the Case of Father Miguel Woodward, Tortured and Murdered by the Chilean Navy in September 1973-

The Sentence

On May 8, 2013, Minister Julio Miranda handed down the sentence in the criminal case regarding the torture and murder of Father Miguel Woodward at the hands of the Chilean Navy. The complaint filed by Patricia Woodward, the priest's sister, had been presented 11 years earlier in 2002 and was investigated by three Ministers in succession.

The sentences handed down against the 10 defendants are as follows: José Manuel García Reyes and Héctor Palomino López for the crimes of kidnapping with grave damage (death): three years and one day, resulting in their immediate release.

Carlos Miño, Marcos Silva, Guillermo Inostroza, Luis Pinda, and Bertalino Castillo: acquitted. Manuel Leiva: acquitted (due to dementia). Nelson López and Jorge Leiva Cordero: no rulings issued (due to death).

The sentence will be appealed before the Valparaíso Court of Appeals and, if necessary, before the Supreme Court. Furthermore, the civil claim for reparations was granted, reduced from the 500,000,000 pesos requested to 50,000,000.

This amount, if confirmed in the higher courts, will be 20% dedicated to recovering the travel expenses of the plaintiff between Spain (where she resides) and Chile. Conclusions The truth about Miguel's death has been revealed and the slanders directed against him have been refuted.

It is lamented that Miguel's body, hidden by the Navy, has not yet been found. It is required that the President of the Nation, his Government, and Parliament urgently undertake a reform of the Chilean judicial system regarding cases of human rights violations and the Navy.

It is further required that candidates for the Presidency and Parliament in the November elections commit to carrying out such reforms. We are grateful for the support provided by: Some entities of the Government of Chile, in particular the Human Rights Program, the Ministry of Justice, and the Investigative Brigade for Crimes Against Human Rights of the PDI.

Successive British Ambassadors and members of successive British Governments, a member of the British royal family, and members of both houses of the British Parliament. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.

The Christian Communities of the Catholic Church in Chile. The lawyers who have worked on the case, most of them pro bono. The media. Amnesty International and other human rights organizations. The members of the "Friends of Miguel" organization. Countless other individuals.

The Distorted History

The history of Miguel's death told in the Sentence is far from the facts described by eyewitnesses in the case file: In the Sentence, one of the witnesses from the Federico Santa María University attested to the torture Miguel suffered at the hands of: "....a Marine, with the surname García, [who] constantly submerged him and pulled him out of the swimming pool, with the aim of making him talk." Another witness said: "he was with his hands resting on the wall and his legs spread, next to him was Lieutenant Montenegro and I heard him asking him about his status as a priest, about his girlfriend, and how many points a cross has. Upon answering that it has four, Lieutenant Montenegro ordered him to be given four blows with a rifle butt...". However, the Minister seems to give little importance to the responsibility of the high command in these criminal acts that occurred at the Santa María University. In this regard, the testimony of Captain Sergio Valverde (charged by Minister Quezada and dismissed by Minister Miranda), responsible for the naval unit that occupied the University, is significant. He said he found out the next day what had happened to Miguel there and informed the then Chief of Staff of the I Naval Zone, Captain Aldoney (charged by Minister Quezada and dismissed by Minister Miranda). The latter told him not to worry and to transfer Miguel to the Naval War Academy -where he himself had his office-. Regarding what happened to Miguel at the Naval War Academy, a witness, who had been detained and taken there, said of Miguel (whom she recognized in a photo years later) that she had seen him in the courtyard of the Academy "blindfolded and with his hands tied behind his back, barefoot, and he was forced to stay in a square from which he could not leave, because he was beaten with the butt of a rifle....". Later, Miguel was seen by Carabineros Lieutenant Nelson López. When he was near the interrogation rooms, he opened the door to one of them, seeing that inside there was a male detainee "with a bare torso and hooded....he was standing and was being interrogated by a group of people including people from the Carabineros and apparently some Officers...". The Minister does not mention other background information contained in the File on how, according to Lt. Nelson Jofre, the naval officers who witnessed -and could have participated in the torture (as implied by Lt. Nelson López)- included Captain (now retired Admiral) Juan Mackay and Lt. (now retired Navy Captain) Ricardo Riesco. Both were charged by Minister Quezada and subsequently dismissed by Minister Miranda. Regarding the Esmeralda, the Minister says briefly in his Sentence that Miguel was "taken to the Training Ship Esmeralda, to be examined by a doctor." However, in the File, the ship's nurses testified that the ship's doctor was not on board that day. Such was Miguel's suffering that a witness, also a prisoner on the Esmeralda, said of him "...upon looking at him, he could observe that he was in very poor physical condition, he complained a lot, it was an agonizing moan, he was very mistreated, his hands were very red, apparently with his fingers broken, even one of his fingers swollen and blackish in color." Regarding what had happened to Miguel, Captain MacCawley, former Director of the Naval Hospital, said that Aldoney had commented to him that "the former priest was never detained on the ship Esmeralda, much less subjected to torture and was only taken mistakenly in search of medical aid." For his part, Admiral Adolfo Walbaum, Chief of the I Naval Zone and Intendant of Valparaíso in 1973, said that Aldoney had told him that "a priest of British origin, with the surname Woodward, had died and that his death had occurred, apparently, in a shootout." In any case, the Minister makes no reference in his Sentence to the fact that Miguel died while he was on the Esmeralda. But that is how the ship's Second Commander, Eduardo Barrison, testified on two occasions before Minister Quezada. Regarding what happened at the Naval Hospital, the Minister says that, from the Esmeralda, Miguel was transferred (alive) to the Naval Hospital, "since a Navy doctor who worked at said facility issued a medical death certificate." However, this doctor, Dr. Costa Canessa, testified before Minister Quezada that he had been ordered to sign a partially filled-out certificate stating that Miguel had died of "cardio-respiratory arrest" after having been found on "the public thoroughfare." In reality, according to Dr. Costa, Miguel could have suffered a fall and the fall "may have been caused by violent blows, perhaps fists, rifle butts...". Furthermore, he said that his superiors did not even allow him to see Miguel's body. Finally, in a verbal statement to the Police -which he later retracted- Dr. Costa Canessa said he believed that the person who had given him the partially filled-out certificate was the doctor of the Latorre, Lt. (later retired Admiral) Kenneth Gleiser.

The False End of the Story

It is striking that Minister Miranda's Sentence leaves Miguel's story at the moments when he was transferred to the Naval Hospital, where a death certificate was issued. The real story -as we detail in a Memoir we are finalizing- is very different.

For the most part, it was recounted before the Minister and the Police by eyewitnesses. Miguel had arrived, in a comatose state, in a van stained with his blood at the pier where the Esmeralda was docked.

It is not known why they took him to the Esmeralda, where there was no doctor at that time, and not directly to the Naval Hospital, which was closer to the War Academy (perhaps it was to torture him more).

At the Prat pier, where the ship was docked, he was attended to by a doctor from the cruiser Latorre, who pronounced him dying, probably due to the heavy blows that had destroyed his internal organs. He was taken on board on a stretcher despite the protests of the Second Commander who wanted him taken immediately to the Naval Hospital.

Apparently, the doctor accompanied him on board the Esmeralda, where he was attended to by nurses. After Miguel's death on the Esmeralda, his body, accompanied by four Marines, was taken directly to the morgue of the Naval Hospital.

A sailor who was guarding the morgue that day declared before Minister Quezada that he was later ordered to take Miguel's body to the Gustavo Fricke Hospital in Viña del Mar. There he deposited it in another morgue, in which about 15 bodies of people murdered by the Navy were already lying.

That is where the trail is lost. On September 25, a van went up to the Playa Ancha Cemetery in Valparaíso with two sailors. They told the Administrator that they were carrying the body of a foreign priest, but no one saw his face uncovered because he was wrapped in a shroud.

In the presence of the Administrator, they buried him in a grave without a headstone. Later, Patricia attended an attempted exhumation at the site indicated by the Administrator. From there, Patricia made a public appeal for more information.

A few weeks later, a Deacon of the Church who had been a gravedigger at the Cemetery in 1973 came forward. At that time, he said, the Cemetery had been taken over by the Navy, which used it to clandestinely bury the bodies of those murdered.

One night, it was that gravedigger's turn to bury three bodies, with sailors pointing submachine guns at him. The three were tall, thin men (as Miguel was) and one had a wound on his chest, still bleeding, from a bullet.

The gravedigger and two of his companions were forced to bury the three bodies together in a single grave. The Minister ordered another exhumation, again without success. Someone told Patricia that a general "cleanup" had been done in that area in the late 80s, with the remains being thrown into the sea or incinerated.

That is the real story of what happened to Miguel at the end of his life. The former head of the Federico Santa María University, where Miguel suffered "water torture" (in the pool), was charged during the summary proceedings but later dismissed.

The Chief of Staff of the Naval Zone, Navy Captain Guillermo Aldoney, was promoted to Admiral and was responsible for the personal security of Pope John Paul II when he visited Chile in 1987. Before that visit, we informed His Holiness of Miguel's death and denounced the collusion with the Navy of the Catholic hierarchy of Valparaíso.

The Apostolic Nuncio in Spain confirmed to us that the Pope had received our letter, but even so, the pontiff was photographed giving the Sacrament of Communion to General Pinochet, a person who, at that time, was excommunicated ipso facto by a decree of the Episcopal Conference against torture.

Later, Admiral Aldoney was appointed to preside over a steel company, privatized by the military regime. The doctor of the cruiser Latorre who had attended to Miguel was promoted to Admiral and presided over the Navy's health services.

Captain Barison was the Second Commander of the Esmeralda, a ship that served, with his knowledge, for the torture of more than one hundred prisoners. He was not even charged.

Appeals

The sentence will be appealed on the grounds of: The extreme clemency of the sentences handed down against the only two convicted. The fact that, of the 33 people charged by Minister Quezada (including four retired Admirals), only 7 were "accused" (no officers among them).

The obstruction of Justice, up to the present time, by some members of the Navy High Command, including two Commanders-in-Chief who were implicated by the testimony of the Navy's Auditor General (not having even been charged). Patricia Woodward Fred Bennetts

Source: Judiciary, May 8, 2013

Valparaíso Court of Appeals hands down sentence in case of kidnapping of priest Woodward

Finally, and after 11 years of proceedings, the visiting minister, Julio Miranda Lillo, handed down a first-instance conviction in the investigation into the qualified kidnapping of priest Miguel Woodward Iriberry, which occurred a few days after September 11, 1973.

According to the case background: priest Miguel Woodward Iriberry was taken from his home on Cerro Placeres, then taken to the Federico Santa María University and subsequently to the Naval War Academy, without any administrative or judicial order to justify it.

Due to the serious state of health in which the priest was found, he was later taken to the Training Ship Esmeralda where, according to the proceedings, he was examined by a doctor, but according to family and friends on board the "White Lady," he was tortured.

Later, he was transferred to the Naval Hospital where his trail was lost. In the investigation, it was determined that there is an entry in the burial register of Cemetery No. 3 of Playa Ancha; however, upon carrying out an excavation at the site, no remains were found to substantiate said information, which is why the crime of kidnapping was consummated and this summary proceeding was initiated, which determined that the action of confining or detaining caused injuries and the death of the victim.

Minister Miranda Lillo finally sentenced the Navy officials, Petty Officer José Manuel García Reyes and First Sergeant Héctor Fernando Palomino López, to 3 years and one day in prison, but with the benefit of supervised release.

For his part, Chief Petty Officer Manuel Atilio Leiva Valdivieso was acquitted by application of Article 10, No. 1 of the Penal Code, upon determining his dementia. Meanwhile, Petty Officer Carlos Alberto Miño Muñoz, Navy Lieutenant Marcos Cristián Silva Bravo, Second Corporal Guillermo Carlos Inostroza Opazo, Petty Officer Luis Francisco Pinda Figueroa, and Chief Petty Officer Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto were all acquitted on the grounds that they had no participation.

In the civil aspect, the magistrate determined that the Treasury must pay an indemnity of 50 million pesos to the victim's sister, for moral damages. Once the sentence was known, Javier Rodríguez, of the Association of Friends of the Priest, said that this was an expected ruling, but described it as "laughable." Rodríguez also said that they are already evaluating going to higher instances to truly clarify what happened and announced that a demonstration will be held soon outside the port tribunal.

The sentence also generated reactions at the British embassy, from where the ambassador himself pointed out that "it is not the job of the British Government to comment on the decisions of the Chilean judicial system." However, he said, "we think that this was a very serious crime against humanity against an English citizen, which has caused endless suffering to his family for decades," commented Ambassador John Benjamin to Radio Bío Bío.

Finally, the document also recognizes that "the treatment Miguel received before his death has no justification whatsoever. Regardless of the political beliefs he may have had during his life, this does not justify in any way what they did to him. The treatment he received was brutal, cruel, irregular, and indefensible."

Source: biobiochile.cl, May 17, 2013

Justice convicted two former petty officers for the Woodward case

Editor's Note

This note includes the judicial resolution that -in 2016- rectified the original, which mistakenly named Sergio Hevia Fabres as part of the process, instead of Sergio Hevia Febres. The visiting minister of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Julio Miranda, handed down the first-instance conviction for the disappearance of priest Michael Woodward, which occurred days after September 11, 1973.

In the investigation, the prosecution of eight people had been decreed, but in the conviction, he only handed down sentences against two of them as direct culprits of the act: former Navy petty officers José Manuel García Reyes and Héctor Fernando Palomino López must serve sentences of 3 years and one day in prison with the benefit of supervised release.

The minister acquitted five defendants due to lack of participation: Carlos Alberto Miño Muñoz, Marcos Cristián Silva Bravo, Guillermo Carlos Inostroza Opazo, Luis Fernando Pinda Figueroa, and Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto.

In addition, Manuel Atilio Leiva Valdivieso was acquitted due to dementia. "According to the case background, Michael Roy Woodward Iriberry was illegitimately deprived of his liberty in Valparaíso, days after September 11, 1973, from his home located at Cerro Placeres, Calle Buenos Aires No. 1, Población Héroes del Mar, in the same city," the ruling states. "He went to the Federico Santa María University and then to the Naval War Academy, without any administrative or judicial order to justify it, so that, subsequently, due to the serious state of health in which he was found, he was taken to the Training Ship Esmeralda to be examined by a doctor, from there transferred to the Naval Hospital where his trail is physically lost, since a Navy doctor, who worked at said facility, issued a medical death certificate," it adds. "On the other hand, there is also an entry in the burial register of Cemetery No. 3 of Playa Ancha; however, despite having carried out an extensive excavation operation at the site determined by the background information, it concluded without results, consummating, in this regard, the crime of kidnapping for which this summary proceeding was initiated," the document sentences. In the civil aspect, the magistrate determined that the Treasury must pay an indemnity of 50 million pesos to the victim's sister, for moral damages. Error in the sentence: Involves a third party without participation The first-instance conviction for the disappearance of priest Michael Woodward included an error in the identification of one of the dismissed former sailors, which caused various problems for a citizen who had nothing to do with the events. In the resolution of Minister Julio Miranda, it is recalled that in 2010 several people were prosecuted as authors of the crime of qualified kidnapping, among them Sergio Hevia Fabres; this person and others being dismissed later, in mid-2011. However, the person actually prosecuted was Sergio Hevia Febres, who even has a completely different identity card than Hevia Fabres. Thus, the citizen harmed by this error, Sergio Hevia Fabres, initiated a long process before the Judiciary, which managed to culminate successfully in June 2016, when the extraordinary visiting minister Jaime Arancibia handed down a rectifying resolution. In it, it is explained that it was "a data transcription error of a person," since Sergio Hevia Fabres "is not prosecuted" in the aforementioned case.

Editor's Note

This note includes the judicial resolution that -in 2016- rectified the original, which mistakenly named Sergio Hevia Fabres as part of the process, instead of Sergio Hevia Febres.

Source: cooperativa.cl, May 7, 2013

Conviction ratified against former Navy members for kidnapping of young MIR student

The Santiago Court of Appeals ratified the sentence handed down by the extraordinary visiting minister Leopoldo Llanos, which convicted three members of the Navy for the qualified kidnapping of José Alberto Salazar Aguilera, a crime perpetrated starting November 22, 1974, in the city of Valparaíso.

José Alberto Salazar Aguilera is the son of Juan Salazar and Julia Aguilera, who were members of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared of Concepción almost from its beginnings. They were always together in their tireless fight to find their son.

Juan Salazar passed away in May 2010, with the enormous pain of having his son disappeared. They always arrived together. He, very well-dressed, in a tie and hat, and she, gentle, affectionate, and worried about her old man.

They were the couple of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared of Concepción. Mr. Juan Salazar and his wife, Mrs. Julia Aguilera, never missed the activities organized by the Association.

They punctually attended the Wednesday meetings and participated in the masses or exhibitions on the Pedestrian Walk with great commitment. He did not get to know that eight months later, in February 2011, the court minister Alejandro Solís, who was investigating the disappearance of his son, prosecuted four retired members of the Navy for the qualified kidnapping of the young MIR militant, who had studied Social Work at the University of Chile, Temuco campus, and was only 22 years old at the time of his disappearance.

Subsequently, the accused were convicted, a ruling that was ratified this Thursday unanimously by the Sixth Chamber of the appellate court –composed of ministers Jorge Dahm, Adelita Ravanales, and the lawyer (i) Joel González– confirming the resolution that convicted: Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, and Valentín Riquelme Villalobos, to sentences of 5 years and one day in prison, for their responsibility in the crime.

In addition, the dismissal was decreed regarding Manuel Atilio Leiva Valdivieso, due to death. In the civil aspect, the second-instance ruling ratified that the treasury must pay an indemnity of $15,000,000 (fifteen million pesos) to Gloria Salazar Aguilera, and revoked the indemnity payment in favor of Julia Aguilera Salazar.

According to the background information collected in the investigation, the following facts were proven: "On November 22, 1974, around 02:00 in the morning, José Alberto Salazar Aguilera, single, Social Work student at the University of Chile, Temuco Campus, MIR militant, was detained by agents of the Navy Intelligence Service on Calle Victoria in Valparaíso and placed in an incommunicado cell.

That same day, hours later, José Alberto Salazar Aguilera was taken from the naval facility and driven to the home where he rented a room, at Calle 6 Norte 324 in Viña del Mar; when the agents took him out of the vehicle in which they were transporting him, the detainee, before entering the house, made a first escape attempt and ran along Calle 6 Norte in the direction of the sea, being followed by two Navy agents, who fired shots into the air with the revolvers they were carrying; after catching up with him on Calle 4 Norte, they put him, with his hands on his neck, into a yellow van and he was taken to the Agua Santa sector in Viña del Mar. In this place, he attempted another escape. He ran in the direction of Calle Álvarez and at the corner of Ecuador he got on a public bus, driven by Belarmino Allende. At that moment, one of the pursuers appeared, Julio Ismael Bórquez Espinoza, who verbally identified himself to the driver as belonging to the Intelligence Service and, simultaneously, a passenger of the vehicle who also identified himself as Intelligence (Pedro Alonso Novoa Saavedra) stood up from his seat, pointed his gun at the victim, and ordered him to surrender; as Salazar refused to do so, his pursuer shot him twice. One bullet embedded itself in the bus and the other hit him in the abdomen; he was bleeding heavily and was taken off the bus by four people. Salazar was taken to the Naval Hospital where he remained until December 6, 1974, the date on which he was taken to the "Silva Palma" barracks. In this facility, he was seen for the last time by numerous witnesses, who remember him as sick. It is pointed out in different testimonies that Salazar remained in Silva Palma until March 10, 1975, the date on which he was seen for the last time."

Source: tribunadelbiobio.cl, November 28, 2014

Minister Jaime Arancibia prosecutes 18 former uniformed officers for the qualified kidnapping and disappearance of Michael Woodward in Valparaíso

The extraordinary visiting minister for human rights violation cases of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Jaime Arancibia Pinto, prosecuted 18 former Navy and Carabineros officials for their responsibility in the crime of qualified kidnapping of Chilean-British citizen Michael Roy Woodward Iriberry, a crime perpetrated starting in September 1973.

The priest, 42 years old, popularly known in Valparaíso as "Cura Miguel," was detained by Navy personnel on September 16 of that year. In the case, Minister Arancibia, in accordance with the provisions of articles 274 and 276 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, issued an indictment and preventive detention against retired Navy officers: Guillermo Samuel Aldoney Hansen, Juan Guillermo Mackay Barriga, Ricardo Alejandro Riesco Cornejo, Víctor Sergio Valverde Steinlen, Pedro Abrego Diamantti, and retired petty officers José Ignacio Yáñez Riveros, Pedro Vidal Miranda, Alfredo Hugo Moncada Salamanca, Claudio Francisco Cerezo Valencia, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Jaime Segundo Lazo Pérez, Alejo Esparza Martínez, Carlos Líbano Riquelme, and Sergio Hevia Fabres. Likewise, he prosecuted former Carabineros officers: Héctor Nelson Tapia Olivares, Ángel Lorca Fuenzalida, Enrique Orlando Corrales Díaz, and Luis Ricardo Araya Maureira. In the course of the investigation and with the background information collected, Minister Arancibia managed to prove the following facts: «I.- That after September 11, 1973, the Chilean Navy implemented, with certain modifications, an Anti-Riot Plan, also called "Plan Cochayuyo," devised prior to that date, approximately at the beginning of 1973, which had as its purpose, among other objectives, to stop insurgent action against its designs, maintain public order, and obtain absolute control of the population, especially in the Fifth Region. Thus, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the First Naval Zone, the Intelligence Service of the Command of the Jurisdictional Area of Internal Security of the First Naval Zone, called SICAJSI, was physically installed at the Naval War Academy, located in Valparaíso, an Academy that, in the near future, suspended the educational tasks that were its own, to house the aforementioned hierarchical structure organization that depended directly on the Commander-in-Chief of the First Naval Zone and his Chief of Staff. It was made up of different groups, mainly from the Navy, and on a smaller scale from Carabineros and the Investigative Police. The main function was to dismantle groups opposed to the military regime established in the country, proceeding for this purpose to order the capture of people who were militants or sympathetic to any political party or movement of the center, left, or revolutionary, and their subsequent transfer to Units controlled by the Navy or belonging to it, enabled as Detention and Interrogation Centers, among them the "Naval War Academy," the "Silva Palma" barracks, and the "Training Ship Esmeralda," among other facilities that were enabled for those purposes. II.- That within the framework structured for control and surveillance in the region, among other measures, the School of Naval Operations, with its director at the head, was ordered to take control of different sectors of Valparaíso; for this, it was settled divided into companies in different facilities, one of them, at the Federico Santa María Technical University, a company that, with the same structure it had before September 11, 1973, was assigned the Placeres and Barón hill sector, having to fulfill the task of protection of basic services, guards, patrols, raids, and arrests of civilians ordered directly by the Commander-in-Chief of the First Naval Zone, through SICAJSI. III.- That in order to obtain information on the activities of those opposed to the prevailing regime, the captured were subjected to interrogation sessions with the application of physical and psychic torment of various kinds. Thus, within the framework described above, days after September 11, 1973, and being on the list of people sought by intelligence agencies, the detention of priest Michael Roy Woodward Iriberry, known as "Cura Miguel," was ordered, who after having hidden for a few days in friends' houses, on September 16, 1973, in the evening hours, returned to his home located in the upper sector of Cerro Placeres, a place where a patrol from the Navy Operations School arrived, which proceeded to raid his home and arrest him, without him offering any resistance. All this, without any administrative or judicial order to justify it, being taken to the facilities of the Federico Santa María University, a facility where he was interrogated, heavily beaten, and subjected to various tortures, including keeping him submerged for several hours in the water of the swimming pool located in the courtyard of the educational center, all this, by order of the officer in charge, deciding his subsequent delivery to SICAJSI personnel at the Naval War Academy. IV.- That at the Naval War Academy, Michael Woodward continued to be subjected to new interrogations as well as new physical and psychic torments. This time by members of SICAJSI who worked there, among them, operatives and interrogators, members of Carabineros and the Navy, being kept in those conditions until September 22, 1973, the date on which, in the early hours of the morning, his transfer to a new detention and torture center was ordered, such as the Training Ship Esmeralda, where a more specialized group operated under the command of a Naval Air Force officer and professor at the War Academy. The detainee was transferred in a van in charge of an officer and his driver, on a stretcher, already being in very poor health, with evident signs of the mistreatment suffered, receiving at the breakwater of the Port of this city, the attention of the doctor of the cruiser Latorre, this, by order of the Commander of said ship Carlos Fanta Núñez. Subsequently, before the intention to take the aforementioned detainee on board the Esmeralda, the Second Commander of the training ship notices, who at first opposes, but then allows his entry for the purpose of receiving medical attention, leaving a record of the fact in the logbook of the training ship. The above is brought to the attention of the Chief of Staff, who orders his transfer to the Naval Hospital. It is at this moment that his physical trail is lost, since a doctor who worked at said hospital issued a medical death certificate without seeing any corpse and in the same circumstances an employee who worked at the Navy Funeral Home went to the Civil Registry office and registered said death. V.- That on the other hand, an entry was also made in the Burial Register of Cemetery No. 3 of Playa Ancha; however, despite having carried out excavation efforts at the site determined by the background information, these concluded without results. To date, the person deprived of liberty has not made contact with his family or friends, carrying out administrative procedures before State agencies, nor does he register entries or exits from the country, such fact being framed within a pattern similar to those that occurred during that era, which began through the tracking and surveillance of the victim until ending in a kidnapping." In this same case, on September 30, 2014, the Supreme Court sentenced retired Navy petty officers José Manuel García Reyes to the penalty of 5 years and one day in prison, without benefits; Manuel Atilio Leiva Valdivieso, 5 years and one day in prison, but given the mental illness he suffered, he was handed over to the care of his daughter, and Héctor Fernando Palomino López, 3 years and one day in prison, with the benefit of supervised release, for their responsibility in the kidnapping of Woodward. In addition, the Criminal Chamber of the highest court accepted a request from the plaintiffs for a non-disqualified visiting minister to reopen the investigation and investigate the responsibility of three officers in the crime, regarding whom a temporary dismissal had been decreed.

Source: resumen.cl, May 9, 2015

For Kidnapping of José Salazar Aguilera: Court Ratifies Conviction against Former Navy Officials

The Santiago Court of Appeals ratified the sentence handed down by the extraordinary visiting minister Leopoldo Llanos, which convicted three members of the Navy for the qualified kidnapping of José Alberto Salazar Aguilera, a crime perpetrated starting November 22, 1974, in the city of Valparaíso.

In a unanimous ruling (case roll 590-2014), the Sixth Chamber of the appellate court –composed of ministers Jorge Dahm, Adelita Ravanales, and the lawyer (i) Joel González– confirmed the resolution that convicted: Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, and Valentín Riquelme Villalobos, to sentences of 5 years and one day in prison, for their responsibility in the crime.

In addition, the dismissal was decreed regarding Manuel Atilio Leiva Valdivieso, due to death. In the civil aspect, the second-instance ruling ratified that the treasury must pay an indemnity of $15,000,000 (fifteen million pesos) to Gloria Salazar Aguilera, and revoked the indemnity payment in favor of Julia Aguilera Salazar.

According to the background information collected in the investigation, the following facts were proven: "On November 22, 1974, around 02:00 in the morning, José Alberto Salazar Aguilera, single, Social Work student at the University of Chile, Temuco Campus, MIR militant, was detained by agents of the Navy Intelligence Service on Calle Victoria in Valparaíso and placed in an incommunicado cell.

That same day, hours later, José Alberto Salazar Aguilera was taken from the naval facility and driven to the home where he rented a room, at Calle 6 Norte 324 in Viña del Mar; when the agents took him out of the vehicle in which they were transporting him, the detainee, before entering the house, made a first escape attempt and ran along Calle 6 Norte in the direction of the sea, being followed by two Navy agents, who fired shots into the air with the revolvers they were carrying; after catching up with him on Calle 4 Norte, they put him, with his hands on his neck, into a yellow van and he was taken to the Agua Santa sector in Viña del Mar. In this place, he attempted another escape. He ran in the direction of Calle Álvarez and at the corner of Ecuador he got on a public bus, driven by Belarmino Allende. At that moment, one of the pursuers appeared, Julio Ismael Bórquez Espinoza, who verbally identified himself to the driver as belonging to the Intelligence Service and, simultaneously, a passenger of the vehicle who also identified himself as Intelligence (Pedro Alonso Novoa Saavedra) stood up from his seat, pointed his gun at the victim, and ordered him to surrender; as Salazar refused to do so, his pursuer shot him twice. One bullet embedded itself in the bus and the other hit him in the abdomen; he was bleeding heavily and was taken off the bus by four people. Salazar was taken to the Naval Hospital where he remained until December 6, 1974, the date on which he was taken to the "Silva Palma" barracks. In this facility, he was seen for the last time by numerous witnesses, who remember him as sick. It is pointed out in different testimonies that Salazar remained in Silva Palma until March 10, 1975, the date on which he was seen for the last time."

Source: reddigital.cl, October 22, 2015

Roll No. 21-2016: case of kidnapping with grave damage and illegal detention of Marco Antonio Contardo Guerra

Sixteenth: That in giving his investigative statement, the accused Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto at page 60, states that he was a Navy official for 33 years, retiring in 1984. He arrived at the Naval War Academy on September 28, 1973, acting as an interrogator until December 28 of that year.

He was not at the Silva Palma barracks. It was his turn to interrogate detainees and his boss was Manuel Leiva Valdivieso, other colleagues were Francisco Lagos, Juan Reyes Basaur, Francisco Prado, and others he does not remember.

He interrogated the detainees in a normal way, talked to them, understanding that it was in time of war, but always without hitting or mistreating them. There was no extreme psychological pressure or application of electricity.

If they did not answer what he was looking for, he would change the subject to follow another line of interrogation, but always with good treatment. He never interrogated women, who were investigated by Carabineros and Investigations on the fourth floor of the Academy.

There were Carabineros women who interrogated, but there were none from the Navy. He never interrogated children. In December 1973, he was returned to his unit of origin, in the Marine Infantry of Las Salinas.

Source: Judiciary, April 30, 2019