Luis Alejandro Largo Vera, single, a militant of the Socialist Party, has remained forcibly disappeared since September 14, 1973, the date on which he was detained. That afternoon, the victim, who lived with his mother in a boarding house at Calle Gorbea 2045 in downtown Santiago, left his home, indicating that he was going to visit some friends nearby.

According to witnesses, it is confirmed that he arrived at the property located at Alameda 2238 (between Abdón Cifuentes and Almirante Latorre) in the Plaza Los Héroes sector. He left that location around 18:00 hours (the time when the curfew began) and never returned home.

Due to being a neighborhood of university boarding houses, that sector was the object of constant raids. During those days, several militants of the Socialist Party who lived in the same neighborhood as Luis Largo Vera (the Brasil and Alameda sector) were detained.

Their testimonies indicate that the victim was a well-known militant in the area. According to the report of the Rettig Report, "Luis Largo Vera disappeared for political reasons, without knowledge of the exact circumstances in which that event occurred."

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

Following his detention, his mother—Mrs. Javiera Vera—carried out various efforts at prison facilities, the Estadio Nacional, and the Legal Medical Institute, without being able to obtain information regarding the situation of Luis Largo Vera.

Nor did she succeed in having any competent authority take responsibility for the victim's detention. In 1985, specifically on November 26, the family filed a report for alleged disappearance. The case, processed in the 4th Criminal Court of Santiago, was registered under No. 132.150-AGA.

Consulted by the Judge, International Police reported that Luis Largo Vera had no record of leaving the country. On December 5, 1985, the Civil Registry and Identification Service also reported that the victim had not renewed his identity card after June 18, 1973.

On that same day, December 5, 1985, Minister of the Interior Ricardo García Rodríguez informed the Court that "no order or resolution affecting the protected person Luis Alejandro Largo Vera has been issued by this Ministry." The Legal Medical Institute responded to the Judge's inquiry on December 11, 1985, stating that "having reviewed the index and admission books for the deceased, said person does not appear" registered from September 14, 1973, to date.

The 2nd Judicial Police Station, following an order to investigate from the Judge, proceeded to interview the victim's sister, in addition to making inquiries with the Identification Cabinet, International Police, and the Police Intelligence Headquarters, among other institutions.

In its report of December 24, 1985, it stated that no information could be obtained regarding the final situation of the victim. On February 11, 1986, the victim's sister testified before the Judge, stating that she ratified what was stated in the filing that gave rise to the case.

On February 17, 1986, the Judge of the 4th Criminal Court of Santiago declared the summary closed. Furthermore, the judge noted that, keeping in mind that "in these records, the existence of the crime that gave rise to the formation of this summary is not fully proven... (therefore) this case is temporarily dismissed." On April 4, 1986, the Court of Appeals confirmed the ruling of the 4th Criminal Court.

The anthropomorphic records of Luis Alejandro Largo Vera were annexed to case 4449-AF of the 22nd Criminal Court of Santiago for the crime of illegal burial in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery of unidentified persons who died between September and December 1973.

The Investigating Judge of the case ordered the excavation of 108 graves in September 1991. From there, 125 bodies were exhumed and sent to the Legal Medical Institute. Currently (late 1992), the expert identification reports are pending.

Source: (Corporation Report)

In these cases, the grieving process has been postponed due to the impossibility of having the remains and performing the funeral rites that constitute a public recognition of death, causing traumatic sequelae to persist in the surviving family members and in society in general.

Finally, the spirit of this publication is to restore to the victims, through memory, a place in the history of our region. It is hoped that the victims of the military dictatorship in Aysén will not be forgotten or rendered invisible, vindicating their status as victims and that of their families.

It is intended to make the entire society aware of its responsibility in the processes of memory and the construction of a new post-dictatorial and democratic identity, which facilitates the processes of transmission, reflection, and collective learning, so that events like these are never repeated.

These cases with fatal outcomes may not be all that occurred in Aysén, but they are those of which the Human Rights Group of Coyhaique has had knowledge and/or participation. During the research work that resulted in this book, information was found on other cases that were not even reported or recognized as political crimes, such as that of the agricultural leader Miguel Cumian.

Another case is the son of a well-known family from Puerto Aysén: Luis Alejandro Largo Vera, a student and socialist sympathizer who, at 26 years old, on September 14, 1973, left his home on Calle Gorbea in downtown Santiago near the time of the curfew, heading to the house of friends who lived very close by in Plaza Los Héroes, and from whom no information was ever obtained again.

This case is recognized by the Rettig Report, which reached the conviction that Luis Alejandro Largo Vera disappeared for political reasons, without knowledge of the exact circumstances in which that event occurred.

Today, this publication aims to make present a part of the thousands of life stories that were struck by the civil-military dictatorship in Chile, with the hope that it will be a contribution to new generations and that events like these will never happen again in the country. Human Rights Group of the commune of Coyhaique Coyhaique, October 2014

Source: Aysén deaths during the dictatorship (book)

"That in the exposed circumstances and as a consequence of the examination of the records, it is noted that the second-instance magistrates indeed incurred in evident contradictions." That is one of the main arguments of the Supreme Court to accept an appeal for annulment and confirm the sentence that condemned the Treasury to pay compensation of $30 million to the sister of Luis Alejandro Largo Vera, detained in September 1973 and whose remains were identified in 2017 as one of the victims illegally buried in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery.

The Judiciary reported that in a unanimous ruling (case roll 21.264-2020), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Carlos Künsemüller, Haroldo Brito, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, and Leopoldo Llanos—established an error of law in the second-instance resolution that reduced the compensation amount from $30 to $15 million. "Indeed, when issuing the impugned sentence in its third foundation, the lower court judges reason about a 'notorious difference regarding the compensation that was granted to the plaintiff and her sister due to the lack of service of the Legal Medical Service and what is intended to be obtained in these records, once it was fully proven that the remains analyzed by foreign laboratories correspond to those of her brother Luis Alejandro Largo Vera, from all of which it follows that the cause of action is different, since in the present case the moral damage claimed by the plaintiff who acted on her own behalf does not contradict what benefited her previously, since it is not possible to compare an identification error committed by a public service with the violent death of her brother committed by State agents, which evidently constitutes a crime against humanity," the ruling indicates. "For its part," it continues, "the sixth reasoning states that 'the defendant already obtained monetary compensation for events linked to the death of her brother and, although this occurred due to an identification error, it does not cease to be compensation derived from the crime committed to the detriment of the victim, a sufficient reason to accept what was subsidiarily requested by the Treasury of Chile and reduce the compensation amount set by the lower court'." For the Supreme Court: "(...) it is evident that the judges incurred in reasoning that contradicts itself, since, on one hand, they declare that the causes of action between both cases are different, asserting that the moral damage claimed by the plaintiff Eliana Isabel Largo Vera does not contradict what benefited her previously. Notwithstanding the above, immediately after, they justify the reduction of the compensation amount to be granted to the plaintiff based on the sum obtained for the aforementioned identification error, arguing for this that both reparations come from pecuniary compensations derived from the same event, that is, the crime committed to the detriment of Luis Alejandro Largo Vera." "Under these conditions, it is not understood how the judges arrived at the decision reproduced above, since while they explicitly state that the compensation obtained from the Treasury of Chile for the lack of service incurred by the Legal Medical Service and what is intended to be obtained in these records do not contradict each other, they decide immediately after to consider the previously received sum when regulating the compensation amount," it adds. "Indeed, if it is established that the causes of action between the reparation for the moral damage suffered by the plaintiff derived from a crime against humanity perpetrated on the person of her brother—and the previous one—for the error in the identification of his remains, are diverse, a coherent and harmonious reasoning prevents considering the latter to reduce the compensation quantum," the resolution concludes.

Source: enestrado.com 20/10/2020 Date: 20-10-2020

Patio 29: Civil Court of Santiago condemns the Treasury to pay compensation to the sister of a forcibly disappeared person.

The Court accepted the filed lawsuit after establishing that Largo Vera was a victim of a crime against humanity perpetrated by State agents, a crime that is imprescriptible in the criminal and civil spheres.

The First Civil Court of Santiago condemned the Treasury to pay compensation of $30,000,000 to the sister of Luis Alejandro Largo Vera, detained in September 1973 and whose remains were identified in 2017 as one of the victims illegally buried in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery.

The sentence maintains that with the civil responsibility of the State in the disappearance and subsequent death of Luis Largo Vera being proven, as was verified in the Truth and Reconciliation Report, in Case Roll No. 4.449-22, which investigated the crime of illegal burial in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery, and in case Roll 1207-2011, together with the recognition made in May 2017 by the Legal Medical Service in its now correct identification regarding Luis Largo; events where State agents intervened, the provisions of Article 6 of the Political Constitution of the Republic are applied, a norm that obliges State bodies to submit their action to it and the norms dictated in accordance with it, and Article 5 of our Constitution, in that the exercise of sovereignty recognizes as a limitation the respect for the essential rights that emanate from human nature; it being the duty of State bodies to respect and promote such rights, guaranteed by the Constitution, as well as by international treaties ratified by Chile and which are in force. The resolution adds that said constitutional provision makes it possible to incorporate into national law the obligations contemplated in international instruments, such as that of fully compensating for damages committed by human rights violations; which, consequently, acquires constitutional rank. Next, the ruling points out that in this context we also find Principle 15 of the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law, adopted by the Commission on Human Rights in its Resolution 2005/35 of April 19, 2005, which states that 'In accordance with its domestic law and international legal obligations, States shall provide reparation to victims for acts or omissions that can be attributed to the State and constitute manifest violations of international human rights law or serious violations of international humanitarian law'. It adds that in summary, the obligation of reparation is an obligation that weighs on the State that has violated the human rights of its citizens, an obligation that is part of the legal statute of Chile, as has been pointed out.

Therefore, it concludes

1.- That the exception of inadmissibility of the compensation opposed by the defendant is rejected; 2.- That the exceptions of prescription opposed are rejected; 3.- That the lawsuit on folio 1 is accepted, condemning the Treasury of Chile to pay ELIANA ISABEL LARGO VERA the sum of $30,000,000, an amount that will be paid adjusted in the proportion that the C.P.I. (Consumer Price Index) varies between the date of this sentence and the day of effective payment, plus current interest for adjustable operations, accrued from the time the ruling is final until effective payment. 4.- That the defendant is condemned to pay costs.

Source: diarioconstitucional 15/3/2019 Date: 15-03-2019

PATIO 29 BEHIND THE IRON CROSS (book)

Patio 29 used to be destined for the burial of the indigent, psychiatric patients, and people who died without being identified (NN). However, between September 1973 and January 1974, its graves were used to hide victims of repression as NN.

Javiera Bustamante and Stephan Ruderer reconstruct the painful history of the place, using testimonies from the families of the forcibly disappeared, letters, documents, and other sources. The book also accounts for the arduous process of identification and delivery of the bodies, as well as the irregularities that characterized these proceedings.

The powerful photographs that illustrate the volume were taken by visual artist Mara Daruich. Javiera Bustamante

Source: ocholibros.cl

ELIANA LARGO VERA "No Expiration Date" (book)

DESCRIPTION

This book gathers a series of documents, texts, and images that account for the forced disappearance of the author's brother, Luis Alejandro Largo, who, three days after the military coup, suffered a fate similar to that of thousands of Chileans and Latin Americans during the 70s: murdered, disappeared, tortured, and exiled by military hands.

The purpose of these pages is to "deny oblivion, communicate what transcends the personal-private dimension, and thus contribute to the history and memory of the country, to the new generations who will want to know and learn about their past, which is present and future."

Source: compralibros.cl year 2009