Luis Horacio Soto Silva
Victim of the military dictatorship — 19 years old.
Background
Luis Horacio Soto Silva
Victim of the military dictatorship — 19 years old.
Case summary
Luis Horacio Soto Silva, 19 years old and with no political affiliation, was murdered by multiple gunshot wounds on September 27, 1973, in Santiago. His body was found alongside two other victims in the Zanjón de la Aguada, but unlike one of them, his remains have never been located, nor has his death been officially registered.
Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos[1]
Enrique Armando Carvallo Lira died that day at 10:30 hours, due to a gunshot wound to the thorax with perforation of the heart, as recorded in the Medical Death Certificate from the Legal Medical Institute. In 1992, it was established that he had been buried as a "John Doe" (NN) in Patio Nº29 of the General Cemetery of Santiago.
Luis Horacio Soto Silva and Luis Armando Zani Espinoza died on the same date and under the same circumstances, but their remains have not been located, nor have their deaths been registered.
On September 27, 1973, the Eighth Criminal Court of Santiago initiated an investigation into the discovery of three unidentified male bodies, carried out by Carabineros that same day on one of the banks of the Zanjón de la Aguada.
The Autopsy Protocols for these three individuals, identified as "male John Does," which were attached to the investigation, concluded that the cause of death had been multiple gunshot wounds. Also included in this investigation was a report from the Homicide Brigade of the Investigaciones Police, in which the Court was informed that the bodies found belonged, according to their files, to Enrique Carvallo, Luis Soto, and Luis Zani.
Meanwhile, the three bodies were sent to the General Cemetery of Santiago and buried, without the knowledge of their families, as "John Does."
In November 1974, and without concluding the identification procedures for the three individuals, the investigation was dismissed on the grounds that "the reported crime did not appear sufficiently justified" (sic). In March 1975, this decision was upheld by the Court of Appeals of Santiago.
During 1992, in an investigation by the Seventh Criminal Court of Santiago, it was corroborated that Protocol Nº2492/73, attributed to a "male John Doe," corresponded to Enrique Armando Carvallo Lira; it was confirmed that he was buried under that status in Patio Nº29 of the General Cemetery of Santiago, and the court ordered the death to be registered in his name.
The other two deaths under the name of "unknown persons," registered in the Independencia District of the Civil Registry and Identification Service under Nº 2347 and 2348, which correspond to Autopsy Protocols Nº 2943/73 and Nº2944/73, and which would belong to Luis Soto and Luis Zani respectively, remain to the date the Superior Council reviewed this case, unresolved, as it has not been possible to locate family members to provide sufficient background information to corroborate the information obtained in the original investigation.
Considering the background information received, and despite the fact that the investigation carried out by this Corporation could not specify the circumstances in which Enrique Armando Carvallo Lira, Luis Horacio Soto Silva, and Luis Armando Zani Espinoza died, the Superior Council, keeping in mind the era, the death by multiple gunshot wounds, and the location where their bodies were found, reached the conviction that they were executed outside of any legal process by State agents.
For these reasons, it declared them victims of human rights violations.*
- Subsequent to the qualification of this case, on August 20, 1993, the Twenty-Second Criminal Court of Santiago, in the investigation it is conducting regarding illegal burials in Patio Nº29 of the General Cemetery, ordered the remains of Enrique Armando Carvallo Lira to be handed over to his family.
MemoriaViva[2]
Relatos de los Hechos
SILVA, LUIS HORACIO: 19 years old, single, victim of political execution on September 27, 1973, in Santiago. His remains have not been found, nor has his death been registered. Luis Horacio Soto Silva and Luis Armando Zani Espinoza died on the same date and under the same circumstances, but their remains have not been located, nor have their deaths been registered.
On September 27, 1973, the Eighth Criminal Court of Santiago initiated an investigation into the discovery of three male bodies, unidentified, made by the Carabineros that same day on one of the banks of the Zanjón de la Aguada.
The Autopsy Protocols for these three individuals, identified as "male NN," which were attached to the investigation, concluded that the cause of death had been multiple gunshot wounds. A report from the Homicide Brigade of the Investigative Police was also attached to this investigation, in which the Court was informed that the bodies found belonged, according to their files, to Enrique Carvallo, Luis Soto, and Luis Zani.
Meanwhile, the three bodies were sent to the General Cemetery of Santiago and buried, without the knowledge of their families, as "NN." In November 1974, and without completing the identification procedures for the three individuals, the investigation was dismissed on the grounds that "the reported crime did not appear sufficiently justified" (sic).
In March 1975, this decision was approved by the Court of Appeals of Santiago. During 1992, in an investigation by the Seventh Criminal Court of Santiago, it was corroborated that Protocol No. 2492/73, attributed to a "male NN," corresponded to Enrique Armando Carvallo Lira; it was confirmed that he was buried under that status in Patio No. 29 of the General Cemetery of Santiago, and the court ordered the death to be registered in his name.
The other two deaths under the name of "unknown persons," registered in the Independencia District of the Civil Registry and Identification Service under Nos. 2347 and 2348, which correspond to Autopsy Protocols No. 2943/73 and No. 2944/73, and which would belong to Luis Soto and Luis Zani respectively, remain to the date the Superior Council reviewed this case, unresolved, as it has not been possible to locate family members who could provide sufficient information to corroborate the data obtained in the initial investigation.
Considering the background information received, and despite the fact that the investigation carried out by this Corporation could not specify the circumstances in which Enrique Armando Carvallo Lira, Luis Horacio Soto Silva, and Luis Armando Zani Espinoza died, the Superior Council, keeping in mind the era, the death by multiple gunshot wounds, and the location where their bodies were found, reached the conviction that they were executed outside of any legal process by State agents.
For these reasons, it declared them victims of human rights violations.
Source: (Corporación)
Relatos de los Hechos
Testimonies, photographs, letters, and other documents that families and friends provided or wrote especially for publication are incorporated into the book "Breaking the silence of children and adolescents who were victims of political execution during the civil-military dictatorship 1973-1990," which was produced by the Association of Relatives of Political Executed Persons (AFEP) with the support of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage, through the Culture, Memory, and Human Rights Unit, and the Human Rights Chair of the University of Chile.
The publication, based mainly on the Report of the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (1991) and the Report of the National Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation (1996), seeks to reconstruct each of the lives and stories of the victims in a comprehensive and careful manner.
During the research, the archive of the Association of Relatives of Political Executed Persons was accessed, where documents that families have preserved over the years are kept. Illustrations by Álvaro Gómez were also included. The creation process was a complex challenge that involved combining delicacy, respect, and methodological rigor to state a painful and inescapable truth in this work.
Source: cultura.gob.cl 14/9/2023
INSTITUTIONAL MANAGEMENT AREA. SML
Forensic Identification
Regarding Forensic Identification, which is focused primarily on the work of identifying victims of human rights violations during the dictatorship, for the period between 2018 and 2021, 11 victims have been identified.
The sustained work by the Service during these years allowed for the genetic identification of a total of 176 victims of the civil-military dictatorship by the end of 2021. The list of people identified during the period is as follows:
Patio 29
Guillermo Alberto Bravo Díaz Sergio Alberto Gajardo Hidalgo Pedro Segundo Opazo Parra Abelardo Quinteros Miranda Celedonio Sepúlveda Labra José Fernando Pavez Espinoza, LUIS HORACIO SOTO SILVA Individual Cases Manuel Elías Catalán Paillal Carlos Hugo Zelaya Suazo Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa
Source: digital.gob.cl undated
References
- 1Museum of Memoryhttps://interactivos.museodelamemoria.cl/victims/?p=922
- 2