Case No. 50.048 (Case No. 50.980): aggravated kidnapping of LUIS ALBERTO YAÑEZ VÁSQUEZ and GASPAR ANTONIO HERNÁNDEZ MANRIQUEZ

46) Testimony of José Enrique González Muñoz, on page 367, who ratifies his statement given to the Investigative Police on page 335, in which he indicated that in October 1973, he does not recall the exact date, while he was walking through the center of Parral toward his home, upon passing the Plaza de Armas, he was detained by a Carabineros patrol, among whom he recognized one with the surname Soto and another with the surname Luarte.

Those officers transported him in the police van they were using to the Parral Carabineros station; once he stepped out of the vehicle, he noticed that in the back courtyard of the unit there were a large number of detainees, eight or ten.

Later, some soldiers took him to the second floor of the unit and made him enter an office inside of which there was a desk, chairs, and a typewriter, in addition to a young Army officer, a lieutenant, whose name he does not know, accompanied by a Carabinero with the surname Hidalgo.

At the moment of entering the office, he was ordered to sit in front of a desk; then the Army officer began to ask him questions related to his alleged participation in political parties, applying electric current to him in parallel through two electrical wires that he had placed on his ears.

Later, at the moments when the military officer was asking him other questions, the Carabinero Hidalgo intervened verbally, pointing out that he had no political participation, for which the military officer stopped the interrogation.

Subsequently, he was taken out of the office and brought to the Parral Jail, where he remained for three days. He states that he was detained by Carabineros; at no time was he locked in the cells of the police station.

8) Deposition of José Efraín Zúñiga Castro , on pages 477, 494, and 657, who states that in October 1973, he does not recall the exact date but does remember that it was a Saturday, due to political ideals and after the military coup, he was detained by military personnel and transported to the Investigative Police and subsequently to the Third Carabineros Station of Parral and later to the Jail .

A few days after being in jail, he was taken again to the Carabineros for an interrogation, but before that, they placed him in a cell inside of which was an individual of dark complexion, curly black hair, approximately 1.65 meters tall, of heavy build, whom he saw quite beaten and wounded on his face, and who was also complaining of pains in his body.

As he saw him in very poor spirits, he went to talk to him and asked his name, and he told him his name was Gaspar Hernández; he even told him that he was the brother of a famous man nicknamed "El Águila" (The Eagle), whom he knew by name, as he had problems with the law.

On that occasion, Gaspar commented to him that they had brought him in through the small door that faces Calle San Martín, surely to avoid being seen in the barracks. He also commented that he had been brutally beaten by the Carabineros patrol that had detained him, and especially by Pablo Luarte , who had taken his watch and money amounting to the sum of 55,000 escudos.

He indicates that Gaspar Hernández was detained, according to what he recounted, due to the problems of his brother who was wanted by the police, and not due to political problems. On page 494, he states that he was detained in the month of October 1973 because he was a militant of the Socialist Party.

When he was detained only by military personnel, to later be taken to the Investigative Police , that time his brother Hermenegildo was detained. At the Investigative Police, they were beaten by military personnel , to later be taken to the Parral Jail; in that place he was there for about 17 days.

He saw Gaspar Hernández in a Carabineros cell; he showed signs of having been beaten. He said he was the brother of El Águila, that Sergeant Luarte had detained him, and he was demanding a sum of money.

Later, they took him to the jail; he never saw Gaspar Hernández there, since all the political detainees were in the jail. He remembers that Gaspar told him at the police station that he had entered through the side door, which led him to think poorly of that.

On page 657, in a confrontation proceeding with Pablo Luarte Vallejos, he indicates that he ratifies his previous statements and asserts that in the month of October 1973, while he was detained by the military in the Public Jail of Parral due to his militancy in the Socialist Party, one day that same month he was taken out of the jail by Carabineros from the Third Station of Parral and transported to said police unit to be interrogated.

Prior to the interrogation, he was placed in a cell where there was a young man who identified himself as Gaspar Hernández Manríquez; he told him that he was the brother of "El Águila," a person very well known because he was wanted for his police record.

He indicates that Gaspar was very depressed and commented to him that he had been detained by Carabineros and that among them he recognized the Carabinero Pablo Luarte, who had beaten him and taken his money and watch.

Regarding the photograph that the court shows him, which is on page 188, he says that it corresponds to the same young man with whom he was detained in a cell of the Third Station of Parral and who identified himself as Gaspar Hernández Manríquez.

He adds that he did indeed speak with Norma Hernández Manríquez and commented to her on the conversation he had with her brother in a cell at the Parral police station; however, he did not tell her that the Carabinero Luis Hidalgo had participated in his detention, as Gaspar did not name him in the conversation.

Source: Judiciary, November 12, 2008