Luis Humberto Lagos Cid has been forcibly disappeared since that day, the date he was last seen, around 17:30 hours, in the taxi he worked in, in the area of Calle Bellavista. Subsequently, the National Detainee Service (SENDET) verbally informed the family that he had been detained while transporting two passengers identified as "extremists."

Three days later, Carabineros officers from the Lo Baeza police station—after informing the owner of the taxi that they had found the vehicle abandoned on a street in what was then the commune of Barrancas—returned it to him without leaving any record of the retrieval.

A writ of amparo was filed on May 7, 1974, which was denied. With new evidence, on July 26, 1979, the Plenary of the Honorable Supreme Court ordered the initiation of a summary proceeding in the Third Criminal Court of Santiago regarding a group of disappeared persons, which included the case of Luis Lagos Cid.

In September 1982, the case was temporarily dismissed without the whereabouts of the disappeared person or his remains being located.

A former collaborator of the Security Services, Juan René Muñoz Alarcón, confessed in 1977 to having seen Luis Lagos Cid in detention. Shortly thereafter, this witness was murdered, and his case was classified by this Corporation as a victim of human rights violations.

Considering the evidence gathered and the investigation carried out by this Corporation, the Superior Council reached the conviction that Luis Humberto Lagos Cid was detained by State agents and disappeared while being held in that status. By virtue of this, it declared him a victim of human rights violations.

ID No.                  :            3.472.271, Santiago Date of Birth        :            20-07-33, 40 years old at the time of detention Address              :            Población La Bandera, Santiago Marital Status      :            Married, one daughter Occupation          :            Taxi driver Political Affiliation:            No known political affiliation Date of Detention:            11 January 1974

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Luis Humberto Lagos Cid, married with one daughter, left his home in the Población La Bandera on 11 January 1974, around 07:40, to pick up the taxi he drove, which he did at approximately 08:30. He was last seen that day at 17:30, and nothing more was heard of him.

He was supposed to return the vehicle at 20:30, which did not happen, so the Carabineros were notified. On 14 January, the owner of the taxi was informed by officers from the Lo Beza Carabineros Station that the car had been found at the corner of Río Váquel and Lo López in Barrancas.

When he went to retrieve it, the police did not allow any forensic examination to be performed, explaining that they had used it and their fingerprints would be found on it. The car was a 1969 Datsun 1300, license plate ES-93 of Santiago.

His spouse, Elena Saavedra, immediately began searching for him in detention centers and at SENDET. At the offices of the National Secretariat for Detainees (SENDET), on 26 April 1974, an official informed her verbally that her husband had been detained while in the taxi, under circumstances where he was carrying two passengers with records as extremists.

Despite this information, his arrest was never officially acknowledged by the authorities, and he remains forcibly disappeared to this day.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS

On 7 May 1975, his spouse filed a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) before the Santiago Court of Appeals, case file 438-74. The Court consulted SENDET and the Ministry of the Interior; however, without explanation, it was decided to drop the inquiry to SENDET and only request a report from the Ministry, which responded—one month later—that he was not being held by order of that authority and that there was no information regarding his whereabouts.

Based on this response, the Court dismissed the writ on 7 June 1974. A complaint for alleged disappearance was also filed before the 4th Criminal Court of Santiago, case file 8308-4, for which there is no record.

Furthermore, on 26 July 1979, proceedings under case file 130.923 were initiated in the 3rd Criminal Court of Santiago, ordered by the Supreme Court, to investigate the disappearance of several people, including Luis Humberto Lagos Cid.

The Court decided to consolidate all the victims into a single case, even though their detentions were unrelated. Regarding Lagos Cid, no specific investigative steps were taken; the Carabineros who found the taxi were not summoned, nor was the owner of the vehicle.

On the other hand, Investigations (police) officers reported that because the Población La Bandera had been urbanized, the old addresses were no longer accurate, which was why they had not summoned the spouse to testify.

Only in October 1980, at the request of a lawyer, was it requested that the writ of amparo and the case for alleged disappearance from the 4th Court be attached to the proceedings. The former was sent, but the latter was not, as the case number was provided incorrectly and that Court reported that it corresponded to a case from 1965.

Case 83084 was requested, and the correct case number was 8308-4. In response to an inquiry regarding all those under investigation, the Ministry of Defense reported that they had no record of the detention of Lagos Cid.

The Minister of the Interior, Sergio Fernández Fernández, responded to another similar inquiry regarding all of them, except for Luis Lagos Cid. The same Sergio Fernández informed the Court that the lists of prisoners at the Estadio Nacional were not in the possession of the CNI and that they would be at the Ministry of Defense.

However, in an Official Letter sent subsequently, he indicated that the Ministry of Defense had reported that such a list did not exist. In this same Official Letter, he added this time that the CNI had possessed some lists of detainees drawn up unofficially in the first months of the military government, which were transferred to the internal computer system of that security agency, without having an official character.

Without sending this "unofficial" list, Minister Fernández considered the Court's inquiry answered. On 17 September 1982, without gathering further information regarding the disappearance of Luis Lagos, the summary proceedings were closed, and on the 23rd of the same month, a temporary dismissal of the case was issued on the grounds that the crime could not be proven.

This dismissal was approved by the Santiago Court of Appeals on 7 April 1983.

Source: (Corporation Report)