On March 20, 1974, the driver Luis Alberto CORDERO MUÑOZ, 36 years old, was taken from his home by a military patrol. He was apprehended because he was being sought by judicial authorities. Since his detention, nothing further has been known of his whereabouts. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of State agents, who thereby violated his human rights.

D.O.B. : 06 05 40, 33 years old at the time of detention Address : Los Arrayanes No. 7137, Población Lo Prado, Pudahuel, Santiago Marital Status : Married, one child Occupation : Driver, occasional shoemaker Political Affiliation : No known political affiliation Date of Detention : March 20, 1974

Luis Alberto Cordero Muñoz, married, one child, a driver with no known political affiliation, was detained at his home in the commune of Pudahuel at 09:00 a.m. on March 20, 1974. On that occasion, a military patrol traveling in a Jeep arrived at Luis Muñoz’s house asking for him.

After identifying him, they proceeded to take him into custody without presenting a competent warrant. As he was leaving, Mrs. Orfelina Muñoz, the victim's mother, asked the uniformed men to please let him take his shoes, as they were taking him barefoot.

After initially refusing, they allowed her to bring him his footwear; once this was done, they left without stating the reason for or the location of the detention.

Previously, in mid-September 1973 and as a result of the coup d'état, Luis Cordero was detained during a raid on his home carried out by Carabineros officers, who, in addition to causing damage to the house, stole 14,000 escudos of the time.

The victim was taken to the Estadio Nacional. Upon being released, he had to remain hospitalized for a time, partly because he was diabetic and required periodic treatment, which was not provided to him by the uniformed personnel.

Luis Alberto Cordero Muñoz has remained forcibly disappeared since he was detained by a military patrol on March 20, 1974.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On December 9, 1974, a complaint for kidnapping was filed before the 9th Criminal Court of Santiago, which was registered under case file No. 13.265. Subsequently, his mother filed a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) on behalf of the victim on February 13, 1975.

The filing was entered into the Santiago Court of Appeals under case file No. 232-75 and was rejected on April 25, 1975, based on the information provided by the Minister of the Interior, stating that the victim was not being held by order of his Secretariat.

The report from the Ministry of the Interior, which took two months to respond to the Court's inquiry, states that regarding the issues raised by that Tribunal—specifically the problems arising in relation to the reports requested from various administrative authorities—General Raúl Benavides indicated that all information regarding detained persons is centralized in his Secretariat, for which reason all "heads of detention centers and SENDET forward to the Ministry of the Interior all requests for information presented to them regarding detained persons." He added that "at no time has it been his intention to interfere with or disregard the powers inherent to the Judiciary."

Along with resolving to reject the amparo, the Court issued an order to the 9th Criminal Court to initiate a summary proceeding for the alleged disappearance of the victim, which began on May 9, 1975, and was registered under case file No. 13.985.

From that date on, both cases were processed in parallel in the same Court without the investigating judge resolving to consolidate them. In the process under case file No. 13.265, corresponding to the kidnapping complaint for Luis Cordero, the judge of the 9th Criminal Court requested information from various administrative authorities, including the response from the Minister of the Interior, Army General Raúl Benavides, who stated that the victim was not being held by order of his Ministry.

The Civil Registry Service reported that the victim did not appear as deceased in their records.

The various hospital centers consulted informed the investigating judge that they had no record of medical care for Luis Cordero.

Army Colonel Hernán Ramírez communicated in February 1975 that there was no information on the victim in any of the agencies under the jurisdiction of the Santiago State of Siege Zone Headquarters, which was under his command. A similar response was provided in March 1975 by the National Executive Secretary for Detainees in response to the judicial inquiry.

On June 11, 1975, the summary proceeding was closed and the case was temporarily dismissed because "the existence of the reported crime was not sufficiently proven." The Court of Appeals approved the resolution of the judge of the 9th Criminal Court.

On the other hand, in the case initiated by the Court's order in the same Tribunal, registered under case file No. 13.985, the Investigations police informed the Tribunal in June 1975 that they had interviewed Mr.

David Chandía Zurita, a neighbor of the victim, who stated: "Indeed, in the month of March 1974, I reported Luis Alberto Cordero Muñoz (alias 'El Chito') to a military patrol, under the accusation of being a suspected extremist and that clandestine political meetings were being held at his home, which threatened the security of the fundamental powers of the State." The following month, the neighbor and accuser of the victim, David Chandía Zurita, appeared before the judge and stated that Luis Cordero was a paid terrorist and that he would never have reported him "no matter what kind of scoundrel he might have been." The Santiago Prefecture of Investigations communicated to the Tribunal on September 10, 1975, that the victim had no pending warrants or records of detention against him.

On June 3, 1976, the Minister of the Interior informed the Tribunal that the victim was not being held by order of that department.

Based on the responses from the authorities, the judge decided to close the summary proceeding and concluded that the existence of a crime had not been established, and therefore temporarily dismissed the case. The resolution is dated July 17, 1976. In August of the same year, the Court of Appeals approved the resolution of the judge of the 9th Criminal Court.

Source: (Corporation Report)