The worst storm in living memory in Valparaíso formed on a late winter Tuesday in the depths of the sea. Not even the stunned moon managed to shed a silver tear for the storm of terror that was approaching.

Perhaps because it never imagined the ferocity of those who went out to kill in an invented war. When it shook off its astonishment and wanted to scream so that the people of the port could escape through the hills toward the sky, they pierced its chest, shattered its gaze, and muddied its eternal lighthouse light forever.

And in the midst of the fear, Miguel fell, irremediably and forever: the Navy made him forcibly disappeared, like so many others. Because the rich do not forgive; they simply kill when they have to kill, and the sailors torture when they have to torture, only to then hide in the shadows of oblivion.

Miguel Woodward, a priest of the people, was tortured at the Academia de Guerra Naval, murdered on the Esmeralda, and made to disappear into the coastal mist, until his sister, Patricia Woodward, and her husband, Fred Bennetts, began the winding journey to unravel the truth and seek justice in a country without justice.

The result of their efforts—34 years after the coup and 6 years after having filed a complaint with the Court of Appeals of Valparaíso—has been the resolution of Judge Eliana Quezada, who indicted retired Vice Admirals Adolfo Walbaum Wieber, Guillermo Aldoney Hansen, and Juan Mackay Barriga; retired Navy Captains Sergio Barra Von Kretschmann and Ricardo Riesco Cornejo; as well as the physician Carlos Costa Canessa.

Walbaum was the head of the I Naval Zone and, additionally, the appointed intendant of the dictatorship; for his part, Aldoney was the Chief of Staff of the I Naval Zone. Vice Admiral Juan Mackay is the vice president of the Council of Retired Admirals and Generals of Valparaíso, Captain Barra was the head of Naval Intelligence in 1973, and Dr.

Costa signed Woodward’s death certificate without ever having examined or seen the priest’s body. He did so at the old Hospital Naval de Playa Ancha, where a room was set up on the top floor of the facility to house political prisoners tortured at the Academia de Guerra Naval so that they could subsequently continue to be interrogated and tortured by the Naval Intelligence Service.

Doctors, nurses, priests, and sailors collaborated with the security services, attempting to extract information from the detainees.

The use of various naval facilities and the participation of the high command in the planning and implementation of the repression imply institutional responsibility for the repression. For Patricia Woodward, “the Navy should take responsibility, as an institution, for all human rights violations inflicted under its command in all its facilities in Chile.” Furthermore, Bennetts points out categorically, the Navy “must recognize that there is no sense at all—and there never was—in insisting on the thesis articulated by the current commander-in-chief of the Navy, Admiral Rodolfo Codina, that responsibilities could reach the level of ‘operational commands,’ but never the high command.”

Judge Quezada’s resolution “has already reached this latter level, and the high command, by definition, does have authority, and therefore institutional responsibility in the political and moral sense, and in all other senses, except, evidently, in the purely judicial one, since criminal law is only applicable to individuals.” Furthermore, Fred Bennetts maintains, “Admiral Codina has said that he is the only high-ranking officer of the Navy who was in service in September 1973.

That is not so. And since the Navy has full powers to investigate its active-duty officials to guarantee that none of the officers of the current high command participated in the repressive actions after September 11, 1973,” it should investigate “at the level of the Council of Admirals the vice admirals Mariano Sarratea Saint-Lawrence, Director General of Finance; Cristián Gantes Young, Director General of Services; and Sergio Robinson Prieto, Chief of the General Staff of the Navy.” Perhaps the mystery and the secret surrounding the Navy’s repressive action would be unraveled, and the horizon of justice would be broadened.

A LITTLE JUSTICE IN THE MIDST OF IMPUNITY

Suddenly, they are only flashes of light in the coastal mist of those days, minuscule fragments of truth, scraps of memory, and glimpses of justice. However, for Patricia Woodward, Judge Quezada’s ruling constitutes a step forward, a hopeful step, not only because it identifies and prosecutes high-ranking officers, but because “it is significant that the basis of the charges is kidnapping, not murder.” Indeed, the judicial ruling indicts and declares the defendants guilty of aggravated kidnapping and torture of several political prisoners, which, for Jaime Contreras, a member of the Group of Friends of Miguel Woodward and a personal friend of the priest, means “a step of primary importance toward truth and justice, not only regarding Miguel’s case, but for all those tortured and killed by the Navy. It is clear that this step should be followed by indicting and prosecuting the middle management, the executors, and the cover-up agents of the ‘aggravated kidnapping’—understand murder—of Miguel, and by similar resolutions in other complaints.”

Despite this encouraging step, and the courage of Judge Eliana Quezada—highlighted by the plaintiffs every time she has been threatened with death and also subjected to pressure from the Navy—everything could come to nothing due to the general climate of impunity that has become entrenched in the country and, in particular, due to the conspiracy of silence surrounding the Woodward case.

A conspiracy, according to Patricia, “difficult even now to decipher, but certainly the Navy did not act alone. I would say that the links between different strata of Chilean society are still in force.” Moreover, Bennetts states, this “conspiracy of silence has many ramifications.

For example, the Ministry of the Interior is a key piece in the government’s supposed support for the clarification of human rights violations, but Miguel’s case has made it clear that this Ministry is not even allowing all the information held by the Rettig Report Archive to be provided to the courts when they require it.”

Likewise, it has been learned that the State Defense Council (CDE) is reportedly about to become a party to the proceedings, which is rejected by the relatives of the murdered priest since “the role of this organization has been very questionable in matters of human rights.

It is a cause for scandal among the people of the CDE itself that its fiscal prosecutor in Valparaíso, Enrique Vicente, is a defendant in the Miguel Woodward case and has made great efforts to inform himself about the contents of the file.

Lieutenant (ret.) Vicente, a former naval prosecutor, is well accompanied in the CDE by another former naval prosecutor, Luis Winter, appointed by the current government as a legal counselor despite complaints from human rights organizations.

In previous years, among the legal counselors appointed by the Lagos government was Gonzalo Vial—forger of the ‘Plan Z’ and manipulator of the Rettig Report—as was denounced in Punto Final. As if that were not enough, the CDE has as a manager a former Navy officer who, a few years ago when he was commanding the Esmeralda on a cruise to Halifax, said of Patricia Woodward, due to her statements to the Canadian press: ‘The lady is lying.’”

The mantle of silence and cover-up of the atrocities committed by the Navy is not limited to the institution or state bodies, but also extends to the Church to which Miguel belonged. In this context, Patricia asserts that “in 1986, we tried to obtain information about Miguel at the Bishopric of Valparaíso.

We got nothing. In a conversation with the then-elderly and ill former Bishop Tagle, he told me he did not remember if they had killed him or executed him by firing squad. And now, although it may seem that times are changing, the Episcopal Conference has not issued any statement to restore the dignity of my brother’s work among the poor.

In this country, many Catholics still believe the stories they told about the ‘communist’ priests, pure falsehoods and lies.” Fred, for his part, indicates having “recently learned that a priest friend of Miguel, concerned about his detention, contacted Bishop Emilio Tagle and was informed by him that he was fine.

Furthermore, the then-vicar general of the diocese, Jorge Bosagna—who had an office on the ship Lebu, a Navy detention and torture center, and who today is the director of the Hogar de Cristo—is accused of cover-up in Miguel’s summary proceedings.”

But, in addition, there is a kind of systematic whitewashing of the Navy’s image and its real role in the post-coup repression by the State and its main political authorities, which is expressed, for example, in the fact that “President Bachelet does not answer the letters sent regarding the Miguel Woodward case.

We do not know what relations the government may have with the Navy high command; we only see both of them at public events: at the arrival of new ships, at the farewell of the Esmeralda on every training cruise, as if nothing had happened on that ship.” In fact, it seems that a thick mantle of oblivion has been structured from the State, and particularly from the government, over everything that happened in Valparaíso, despite the available evidence regarding the violent repression exercised by the Navy.

Source: Punto Final, edition No. 661, May 2, 2008

In an incendiary letter, in which he describes Judge Eliana Quezada’s investigation as “dark,” the retired admiral defends the accused. But the statements in the proceedings by the defendants themselves contradict his claims.

The priest Miguel Woodward was taken hooded to the fourth floor of the Academia de Guerra Naval, on the Playa Ancha hill in Valparaíso, and sat tied to a chair. He was beaten for more than an hour by at least 10 Navy and Carabineros officers, among whom were Corvette Captain Juan Mackay Barriga, who later became a vice admiral, and Second Lieutenant Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, who later rose to the rank of Navy Captain.

However, for UDI senator Jorge Arancibia, all those prosecuted by Judge Eliana Quezada for the crime of Woodward are innocent. The parliamentarian, who fears that Joaquín Lavín will take his senatorial seat in the V Region and who is willing to do anything to cling to the seat, has now lashed out at the visiting minister investigating the crime.

In a recent letter of his, widely disseminated on electronic portals nostalgic for local fascism such as eldiezdeungranmes.blogspot.com, whose distinguished collaborator is Bernardita Huerta, daughter of Pinochet’s former foreign minister and admiral Ismael Huerta, Arancibia defended the “innocence” of the accused and attacked Judge Quezada’s investigation, describing it as “absolute darkness.” The former head of the Navy maintains that he visited the arrested men at the Marine Infantry barracks in Las Salinas, Viña del Mar, and verified that they have no guilt whatsoever.

He believed everything they told him without verifying anything. And on that basis, he built his widely disseminated defense and attack. Arancibia says that Mackay was only “an analyst” at the War Academy, and that Riesco “never participated in any operation on land.” And he adds that neither of them interrogated detainees or witnessed these sessions.

He also maintains that the naval physician Carlos Costa Canessa, also prosecuted, certified Woodward’s death at the Naval Hospital “in the presence of the body and not as the judge says, that he did it without seeing the corpse.” And that retired Vice Admiral Guillermo Aldoney Hansen, Chief of Staff of the Navy in 1973, is also innocent, as he had nothing to do with detainees or with Woodward.

The confessions But curiously, and to the misfortune of Lavín’s contender, the same characters he ardently defends in his letter contradict him. And when they do not, other officers or non-commissioned officers who testify in the Woodward case trial do so.

Riesco admits in the proceedings: “I was operational, I detained people on the street and even traveled to Santiago to detain ( ). I was at interrogations on the Esmeralda, at the War Academy, and at the Silva Palma barracks ( ).

The interrogators used electricity ( ). My alias was Alfonso.” Naval physician Costa stated judicially: “I never knew the priest Woodward. Nor did I see his corpse when I certified the death, because I only certified the corpse of someone with cranial trauma, but that body in no case corresponded to the priest, as it was not identified.” And in one of the most direct statements about how Woodward was mistreated that exist so far in the file, the retired Carabineros officer Nelson López Cofré, an operative at the War Academy, states: “I found out that a priest named Woodward arrived detained at the academy. I went to see the interrogation that the Navy people did. They had him sitting, hooded, and tied to a chair on the fourth floor. From the Navy, there were officers Juan Mackay Barriga, Sergio Bidart Jiménez, and Ricardo Riesco Cornejo. I was there with the Carabineros officers Ángel Lorca Fuenzalida, Luis Araya Maureira, and Enrique Corrales Díaz, also operatives at the academy, and our non-commissioned officers Eduardo Vergara Bravo [‘the Bat’] and Jorge Leiva Cordero [‘the Onion’]. Several of those named beat him. We were there for about an hour.” Aldoney and the Mackay family Regarding Mackay Barriga, the one called “the Onion” declared: “The detentions were carried out by order of Corvette Captain Juan Mackay, who ordered the transfer of some detainees from the academy to the Esmeralda.” Valentín Riquelme Villalobos, a commando and Marine Infantry non-commissioned officer, now retired, and one of the interrogators and torturers at the academy, said judicially: “The interrogations were witnessed and supervised by the Navy officers. Among them, Juan Mackay, Ricardo Riesco, and Lieutenant Rafael Mackay Backler, nephew of Captain Mackay.” Regarding Aldoney, retired Navy Captain Franklin González Rodríguez, who was the head of naval intelligence (Ancla 2) in Valparaíso, and whom Aldoney himself sent to work at the War Academy after the coup, declares: “We identified the subversives and informed Aldoney, who then ordered the operational groups to act.” Aldoney said in the proceedings that Woodward “seems to have had pneumonia,” and he informed the Rettig Report Commission: “Woodward’s case was an accident.” The name of Bidart is new in the investigation, and there is data that he directed the Marine Infantry platoon that detained the priest and took him to the Santa María University, where he would have been tortured first. The Valparaíso Court denied the defendants’ release, considering them a danger to society, and the participation in the trial of the lawyer from the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior, Karina Fernández, and lawyer Juan Matus influenced this. by Jorge Escalante

Source: lanacion.cl, May 11, 2008

Following their prosecution as authors of the aggravated kidnapping of the priest Miguel Woodward on September 16, 1973, the retired uniformed officers are now in custody. The victim’s sister, Patricia Woodward, described Judge Eliana Quezada’s resolution as a “step forward.” In the hands of justice and detained are the retired Navy officers subjected to prosecution this Friday as authors of the aggravated kidnapping of the priest Miguel Woodward, within the framework of the crimes committed aboard the Esmeralda after the 1973 military coup. 34 years after his death and six years after the investigation was opened, Judge Eliana Quezada ordered the detention of retired Vice Admirals Guillermo Aldoney Hansen and Juan Mackay Barriga and retired Navy Captain Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, who were taken to the Marine Infantry Barracks in Viña del Mar, while retired Vice Admirals Adolfo Walbaum Weiber and Sergio Barra Von Kretschman remained under house arrest due to their advanced age, as both are over 80. Meanwhile, the retired first lieutenant of the Medical Corps, Carlos Costa, prosecuted as an accomplice to aggravated kidnapping, took refuge in a clinic in the Fifth Region to avoid being arrested. The most emblematic victim of the case being investigated by the judge is the priest Miguel Woodward, 42, who worked in the Christians for Socialism group and was detained by a naval patrol on September 16, 1973, for his social work in the Los Placeres hill in Valparaíso. From there, he was taken to the Federico Santa María University, then to the Academia de Guerra Naval, to finally remain a prisoner on the training ship Esmeralda, used for that purpose. Once there, he was subjected to torture along with other political prisoners, duress that left him very badly wounded. This situation forced his executioners to take him, in agony, to the Naval Hospital, where he finally died. Woodward’s autopsy was signed by First Lieutenant Carlos Costa, who, in his capacity as a physician, approved the cause of death. At the time of the 1973 military coup, Adolfo Walbaum Wieber was a rear admiral, Guillermo Aldoney Hansen and Sergio Barra Von Kretschmann were Navy captains, and Juan Mackay Barriga and Ricardo Riesco Cornejo were lieutenants. After learning of the prosecution of the retired Navy officers, the sister of the priest who was a victim of the dictatorship, Patricia Woodward, expressed her satisfaction with the judge’s resolution and described it as a “step forward.” “I am very happy with the news that my brother Miguel Woodward’s case has taken a very important step forward and that there are people from the Navy prosecuted who played a relevant role in the torture inflicted on him in 1973. I hope this means that we are reaching truth and justice for Miguel and for the victims of the Navy,” she expressed. The prosecution of Admirals Walbaum and Aldoney is particularly significant given that, at the time, they were Head of the I Naval Zone and Chief of Staff of the I Naval Zone. This fact exposes the statements of successive commanders-in-chief of the Navy, including the current Admiral Rodolfo Codina: they alleged that the responsibilities for the crimes were individual, not institutional, and that, in any case, no high-ranking officer had intervened in them. The prosecuted Adolfo Walbaum Wieber: In addition to his naval position, he was the first intendant of Valparaíso appointed by the military junta. Guillermo Aldoney Hansen: After retiring from the Navy, he began a successful career in the business world. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Mutual de Seguros de Chile, an entity founded by the Chilean Navy, among whose other members is the current commander-in-chief of the Navy. In 1982, he assumed the presidency of the powerful holding company Compañía de Aceros del Pacífico (CAP), at that time controlled by CORFO; a few years later, he managed to privatize it through a curious financial operation. Closely linked to the Catholic hierarchy—which never claimed the death of Miguel Woodward—Guillermo Aldoney was appointed responsible for the Pope’s security during his visit to Chile in 1986. His cousin Jaime disappeared after being detained by the naval forces that were under his command. Juan Mackay Barriga: is vice president of the council of retired admirals and generals of Valparaíso. In 1973, he allegedly attended torture sessions at the naval facilities in Valparaíso. Sergio Barra Von Kretschmann: was head of naval intelligence in 1973 and later rose to second-in-command of the DINA. Captain Riesco worked under his orders. Carlos Costa Canessa: while a doctor at the Naval Hospital, he issued a death certificate in the name of Miguel Woodward without seeing any corpse.

Source: Lanacion.cl, April 18, 2008

Proceedings for the aggravated kidnapping of Miguel Woodward: Thirteen others prosecuted for the disappearance of the priest

Four former officers and 9 other retired Navy officials were placed in preventive detention at a naval facility. VALPARAÍSO.—The judge of the Court of Appeals of Valparaíso, María Eliana Quezada, issued thirteen more indictments yesterday in the investigation she is conducting into the disappearance of the Anglo-Chilean priest Miguel Woodward, which occurred after the 1973 military coup, after he had remained detained on the training ship Esmeralda.

With the resolution, the number of those prosecuted rises to 19, all former Navy officials. The new defendants are Navy Captains Víctor Valverde Steinlein and Luis Holley de la Maza; Frigate Captains José Yáñez Riveros and Marco Silva Bravo; Sergeant Majors José Manuel García (the only one from the Marine Infantry), Alfredo Moncada Salamanca, Luis Pinda Figueroa, and Carlos Miño Muñoz; and Petty Officer José Rojas Araya.

Also First Sergeants Pedro Vidal Miranda and Héctor Palominos López; Second Corporal Guillermo Inostroza Opazo and First Sailor Claudio Cerezo Valencia. Yesterday, 10 of the 13 new defendants were notified, and they were placed in preventive detention at the Navy’s Order and Security Barracks No. 2 in Las Salinas.

Already prosecuted in the case are retired Vice Admirals Guillermo Aldoney Hansen, Juan Mackay Barriga, Adolfo Walbaum Wieber, and Sergio Barra von Kretschmann, retired Marine Infantry Navy Captain Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, and retired First Lieutenant of the Medical Corps Carlos Costa Canessa, all released on bail.

Judge Quezada said that the investigation is close to being closed. Meanwhile, the Navy, through the head of Public Relations, Commander Felipe García Huidobro, indicated that the institution enabled the facility where the defendants will remain by judicial order.

Sentences in the Prats case Judicial Prosecutor Daniel Calvo submitted a report to the Court of Appeals in which he supports the sentence handed down by Judge Alejandro Solís against the former director of the DINA, Manuel Contreras, and eight other former agents of the organization for the crimes of illicit association and aggravated homicide of the former commander-in-chief of the Army Carlos Prats and his wife, Sofía Cuthbert, which occurred on September 30, 1974.

Calvo recommended that the appellate court dismiss all appeals filed by the lawyers of the convicted to reverse the sentences, and he expressed his agreement with the classification of the crimes imputed to retired General Contreras and Pedro Espinoza, Raúl Iturriaga, Cristoph Willeke, José Zara, Juan Morales, Mariana Callejas, Reginaldo de la Cruz, and Jorge Iturriaga.

In his report, the judicial prosecutor criticizes the amnesty and agrees with Solís that the crimes investigated in the case constitute a crime against humanity, and therefore are imprescriptible and non-amnestiable.

Source: El Mercurio, September 24, 2008

Six responsible for torture and death of Father Miguel Woodward in prison

Miguel Tapia G.

In a brief moment, the Second Chamber of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals revoked the bail granted by Judge Luis Alvarado to the six retired Navy officers responsible for the torture and kidnapping of the Chilean-British priest Miguel Woodward.

Thus, the justice system ultimately maintained the pretrial detention for the accused, deeming them "a danger to the security of society," a measure that affects Admirals Guillermo Aldoney Hansen, Adolfo Walbaum Weber, and Juan McKay, and Navy Captains Sergio Barros and Ricardo Riesco Cornejo; the latter a former member of the DINA.

Additionally, Navy Health Lieutenant Carlos Costa was sent to prison. Judge Luis Alvarado is temporarily replacing the minister of the same Court, Eliana Quezada, who has instructed the final part of the proceedings regarding the death of Father Woodward, defining responsibilities in his kidnapping, torture aboard the training ship Esmeralda, his death at the Naval Hospital, and the disappearance of his body in September 1973.

Judge Alvarado had determined the release of the six defendants upon payment of a 100,000 peso bail each. But immediately, the Second Criminal Chamber of the port city's appellate court determined unanimously that the six accused must remain in prison.

The determination was signed by ministers Julio Miranda, Mónica González, and the president of the court, Manuel Silva, who considered the defendants a danger to society. The lawyer for the Ministry of the Interior, Karina Fernández, explained that "due to the gravity of the case's background, because they constitute a crime against humanity and, after gathering all the arguments provided by the parties, they were considered a danger to society and, also considering the requirements of the investigation and its success, they were kept in pretrial detention." Meanwhile, the defense lawyer for four of the officers, Carlos Portales, criticized the Court's decision, describing the justification of its ministers as "exaggerated" and noting that from now on he will focus on preparing the defense for the retired high commands. Indictment and detention of those responsible By Patricia Woodward I am very happy with the news that the case of my brother Miguel Woodward has taken a very important step forward and that there are Navy personnel prosecuted who played a relevant role in the torture inflicted upon him in 1973. I hope this means that we are reaching the truth and justice for Miguel and for the victims of the Navy.

Background of the Prosecution

Thirty-four years after the coup d'état, and after six years of judicial investigation, a resolution has been reached in the case of Father Miguel Woodward. Minister Eliana Quezada has declared the following as defendants: Vice Admiral (Ret.) Adolfo Walbaum Wieber, Vice Admiral (Ret.) Guillermo Aldoney Hansen, Vice Admiral (Ret.) Juan Mackay Barriga, Navy Captain (Ret.) Sergio Barra Von Kretschmann, Navy Captain (Ret.) Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, and Health Officer Dr.

Carlos Costa Canessa. For five of the accused, pretrial detention has been decreed at the Navy facilities in Las Salinas. The sixth, for health reasons, is detained at his home. It has been proven that naval forces, following a plan and procedures prepared months earlier by the Navy, took Miguel from his home in Placeres to the Federico Santa María University and from there to the Naval War Academy, where he was tortured without mercy.

Then, in a van stained with his own blood, they took him to the pier, where they forced him to board the Esmeralda. Subsequently, he was taken to the Naval Hospital where his physical trail is lost. The prosecution of Admirals Walbaum and Aldoney is particularly significant given that, at the time, they were respectively Chief of the 1st Naval Zone and Chief of Staff of the 1st Naval Zone.

This fact exposes the statements of successive Commanders-in-Chief of the Navy, including the current Admiral Rodolfo Codina: they alleged that the responsibilities for the crimes were individual, not institutional, and that, in any case, no high command would have intervened in them.

Admiral Walbaum, in addition to his naval position, was the first Intendant of Valparaíso appointed by the military junta. Admiral (Ret.) Guillermo Aldoney, after retiring from the Navy, began a successful career in the business world.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Mutual de Seguros de Chile, an entity founded by the Chilean Navy, among whose other members is the current Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Adm. Rodolfo Codina.

In 1982, he became President of the powerful holding company Compañía de Aceros del Pacífico (CAP), at that time controlled by CORFO; a few years later he managed to privatize it through a curious financial operation.

Closely linked to the Catholic hierarchy—which never claimed the death of Miguel Woodward—Admiral Aldoney was appointed head of security for the Pope during his visit to Chile in 1986. His cousin Jaime disappeared after being detained by the naval forces that were under his command.

Admiral Juan Mackay is Vice President of the Council of Retired Admirals and Generals of Valparaíso. In 1973, he attended torture sessions at the naval facilities in Valparaíso accompanied by a young nephew of his, Rafael Mackay Backler.

Captain Barra was Chief of Naval Intelligence in 1973 and later rose to 2nd Chief of the DINA. Captain Riesco worked under his orders. Dr. Costa Canessa, while being a doctor at the Naval Hospital, issued a death certificate in the name of Miguel Woodward without seeing any body.

Hostility against the Judge Judge Quezada, a dedicated and brave woman, will continue her investigations with the help of the Human Rights and Special Affairs Brigade. Her goal will be to seek the other authors of Miguel's death along with the cover-ups and accomplices of that crime.

Among the specific testimonies that will be investigated are the clandestine burials by the Navy of several forcibly disappeared persons in Quarter 14 of the Playa Ancha Cemetery in Valparaíso. However, the judge, who has received death threats, also faces hostility from her peers in the Valparaíso Court of Appeals.

Recently, they unanimously tried to impose deadlines on the investigation of the four human rights violation cases for which she is responsible. The Supreme Court had to intervene, declaring this practice illegal.

Although the Supreme Court also recommended that the Judge give priority to her investigations, the President of the Court of Appeals determined, immediately afterward, that, on the contrary, she should give priority to integrating the Chamber.

This person, Manuel Silva Ibáñez, was well known for his rulings favorable to the dictatorship during the 80s, including cases such as the "Passport Case" and the case of the decapitated men that included the journalist Paredes.

Regarding the Navy of today, far from collaborating with justice, it has obstructed it. Admiral Cristián Millar, when he held the position of Secretary General of the Navy, shamelessly admitted that a serving Admiral may have visited Minister Gabriela Corti in 2004 "on his own" to persuade her that she should postpone a planned reconstruction of the scene aboard the Esmeralda.

During those same years, the Navy Auditor General, Adm. Juan Antonio Galván Bernabeu, on the occasion of the delivery of the Esmeralda's logbook to the judge, informed the sailors referred to therein that they would be the subject of judicial interrogations.

Previously, an unidentified high-ranking Navy official had gathered several witnesses who had been summoned by Minister Corti: they agreed on their testimonies in advance. The Navy remains the same. The Code of Military Justice continues to force sailors to obey the criminal orders of their superiors.

They are in the top world ranking in arms purchases and successive governments have tolerated their "democratic" pretensions. The Esmeralda must sail in freedom From: Amnesty International On May 4, the training ship "Esmeralda" set sail again from the port of Valparaíso.

Amnesty International considers that the "Esmeralda" will not be an adequate "ambassador" for Chile while the victims and their families continue to fight to obtain truth, justice, and reparation. Amnesty International recently welcomed the decision of the visiting minister of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Eliana Quezada, who charged six retired Navy officers for the qualified kidnapping and torture of Father Miguel Woodward immediately after the 1973 coup.

It must be noted that it has been the action of the Chilean justice system and the persistence of the victims and their relatives that has generated results. The cooperation of the Chilean Navy, distant, elusive, and reluctant, has unnecessarily and painfully prolonged for many years the clarification of the cases of human rights violations in which the institution's personnel participated, both aboard the training ship and in other ships and facilities. "The Chilean Navy, as well as society as a whole, must commit to advancing decisively toward the resolution of the cases.

Nations are ennobled and strengthened when the actors responsible for human rights violations face justice and answer for their acts. Obtaining truth, justice, and reparation is a legitimate and deserved act within the framework of the law," said the director of Amnesty International - Chile, Sergio Laurenti.

Article 17.1 of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 18, 1992, states: "every act of disappearance shall be considered a continuing offense as long as its perpetrators continue to conceal the fate and whereabouts of the disappeared person and the facts remain unclarified." "Enforced disappearance of persons is a continuing offense.

The fundamental reason for the delays in judicial proceedings is the clear lack of cooperation from the alleged perpetrators," said Amnesty International. When seeing off the "Esmeralda" again, the authorities must ensure at the same time that the Justice system can carry out its work with all the necessary resources and personnel so that the magistrates can resolve "the matters they hear (...) without influence (...), pressures, threats, or undue interference (...) from any sectors or for any reason." Amnesty International's "Freeing the Esmeralda" campaign, which seeks to draw attention to the hidden history of the training ship and the Navy's responsibilities in unclarified human rights violations, will remain active to educate and help promote—for as long as necessary—the concern of the international community.

Source: Zonaimpacto.cl, May 28, 2008

Retired Navy officers detained and prosecuted in Woodward case

Following their prosecution as authors of the qualified kidnapping of Father Miguel Woodward on September 16, 1973, the retired uniformed personnel are now incarcerated. The victim's sister, Patricia Woodward, described the resolution of magistrate Eliana Quezada as a "step forward." In the hands of justice and detained are the retired Navy officers subjected this Friday to prosecution as authors of the qualified kidnapping of Father Miguel Woodward, within the framework of the crimes committed aboard the Esmeralda after the 1973 military coup. 34 years after his death and six years after the investigation was opened, Minister Eliana Quezada ordered the detention of retired Vice Admirals Guillermo Aldoney Hansen and Juan Mackay Barriga and retired Navy Captain Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, who were taken to the Marine Infantry Barracks in Viña del Mar, while retired Vice Admirals Adolfo Walbaum Weiber and Sergio Barra Von Kretschman remained under house arrest due to their advanced age, as both are over 80 years old. Meanwhile, the retired First Lieutenant of Health, Carlos Costa, prosecuted as an accomplice to qualified kidnapping, took refuge in a clinic in the Fifth Region to avoid being arrested. The most emblematic victim of the case being investigated by the magistrate is Father Miguel Woodward, 42, who worked in the group Christians for Socialism and was detained by a naval patrol on September 16, 1973, for his social work in the Los Placeres hill in Valparaíso. From there, he was taken to the Federico Santa María University, then to the Naval War Academy, to finally remain a prisoner on the training ship Esmeralda, used for that purpose. Once there, he was subjected to torture along with other political prisoners, duress that left him very badly wounded. This situation forced his executioners to take him in agony to the Naval Hospital where he finally died. Woodward's autopsy was signed by First Lieutenant Carlos Costa, who, in his capacity as a doctor, approved the cause of death. At the time of the 1973 military coup, Adolfo Walbaum Wieber was a Rear Admiral, Guillermo Aldoney Hansen and Sergio Barra Von Kretschmann were Navy Captains, and Juan Mackay Barriga and Ricardo Riesco Cornejo were Lieutenants. After learning of the prosecution of the retired Navy officers, the sister of the priest who was a victim of the dictatorship, Patricia Woodward, expressed her satisfaction with the magistrate's resolution and described it as "a step forward." "I am very happy with the news that the case of my brother Miguel Woodward has taken a very important step forward and that there are Navy personnel prosecuted who played a relevant role in the torture inflicted upon him in 1973. I hope this means that we are reaching the truth and justice for Miguel and for the victims of the Navy," she expressed. The prosecution of Admirals Walbaum and Aldoney is particularly significant given that, at the time, they were Chief of the 1st Naval Zone and Chief of Staff of the 1st Naval Zone. This fact exposes the statements of successive Commanders-in-Chief of the Navy, including the current Admiral Rodolfo Codina: they alleged that the responsibilities for the crimes were individual, not institutional, and that, in any case, no high command would have intervened in them.

The prosecuted

Adolfo Walbaum Wieber: In addition to his naval position, he was the first Intendant of Valparaíso appointed by the military junta. Guillermo Aldoney Hansen: After retiring from the Navy, he began a successful career in the business world.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Mutual de Seguros de Chile, an entity founded by the Chilean Navy, among whose other members is the current Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. In 1982, he assumed the presidency of the powerful holding company Compañía de Aceros del Pacífico (CAP), at that time controlled by CORFO; a few years later he managed to privatize it through a curious financial operation.

Closely linked to the Catholic hierarchy—which never claimed the death of Miguel Woodward—Guillermo Aldoney was appointed head of security for the Pope during his visit to Chile in 1986. His cousin Jaime disappeared after being detained by the naval forces that were under his command.

Juan Mackay Barriga: is vice president of the council of retired admirals and generals of Valparaíso. In 1973, he allegedly attended torture sessions at the naval facilities in Valparaíso. Sergio Barra Von Kretschmann: was chief of naval intelligence in 1973 and later rose to second chief of the DINA.

Captain Riesco worked under his orders. Carlos Costa Canessa: while being a doctor at the Naval Hospital, issued a death certificate in the name of Miguel Woodward without seeing any body.

Source: April 18, 2008, Lanacion.cl

Father Woodward officially died aboard the Esmeralda

This is established by the training ship's logbook

The investigation by Judge Eliana Quezada reveals details regarding the case of the priest, tortured to death in Navy facilities. The documents indicate that he was taken off the training ship at 12:30 on September 22, 1973, half an hour after his death.

Miguel Woodward's last breath was likely taken aboard the Esmeralda and not on the way to the Naval Hospital, as the sailors who have testified in the case of the priest's death claim. They probably did not want a man of the Church to be the first and only mortal victim aboard the "White Lady." But the data that confirms this is the judicial investigation, carried out based on the training ship's own logbook. 34 years after the death of the clergyman, the investigations managed to establish that Woodward was taken off the ship on September 22 at 12:30 in the afternoon.

If one adds to this data that the death certificate indicates that the death occurred exactly at noon, it is logical to conclude that the clergyman died before reaching land. In 2006, and after the Navy gave her a photocopy of the Esmeralda's logbook, the minister of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Eliana Quezada, in charge of the investigation, summoned the two midshipmen who recorded Woodward's entry and exit from the training ship to testify.

They are retired officers Thomas Ilich and Humberto Toro Santa María. Asked by the judge if they knew the reason for the summons, both responded affirmatively, as they said, because they had already been interviewed on the subject by the then Navy Auditor General, Rear Admiral José Antonio Galván Bernabeu, who retired in December 2006.

Two weeks ago, and summoned to testify for this reason, Galván had to give explanations in court about the proceedings carried out. About a month ago, UDI Senator Jorge Arancibia stated in a letter that the minister's investigation was "dark" and defended those prosecuted in the case.

But, despite his statements—which received the support of the right-wing bloc and cost him a protest at Congress—there are practically no doubts about the fundamental aspects of the Woodward case. Even the defendants themselves, in their judicial confessions, debunk Arancibia's version, as LND published two weeks ago.

Today, the investigations seek to clarify the only aspect of the case that is not totally cleared up: who detained the priest and at what time. It is only known that it was at night, probably on September 20, at his home in the Los Placeres hill, and that from there he was taken to the War Academy, in Playa Ancha, where he suffered torture.

He allegedly remained in this place for at least three days.

KEY TESTIMONY

Vice Admiral Cristián Gantes Young The main testimony in the case, which confirms the duress Woodward received in that place, was that of retired Carabineros Captain Nelson López Cofré, who was a member of the team that interrogated the clergyman.

According to López's statement to the justice system, Woodward was tied to a chair, beaten, and interrogated for about an hour by a group of 10 people, among whom were Navy and Carabineros officials. In his statement, the former policeman named the prosecuted Juan Mackay Barriga and Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, both sailors, and five Carabineros, among them retired Sergeant Jorge Leiva Cordero.

The policeman also said that the team of torturers had used a machine that produced current and, although he claimed he had not participated in the illegal duress beyond an occasional blow, he detailed minutely the type of cable and the wooden box used, as well as the sections of the detainee's body where "the others" applied the current.

Another judicial statement in this case, by María Elena Gálvez Valdenegro, detained in that same facility starting September 18, 1973, sheds light on the state Woodward was in during his time at the War Academy.

Gálvez says she saw a man in front of the building whom the guards identified as a "revolutionary priest who trained university students in the hills." According to her testimony, it was a tall, thin man who was blindfolded, had his hands tied behind his back, and was standing barefoot on a tile.

When he lost his balance, his jailers made him return to his original position with violent blows from the butts of their rifles.

THE LAST MOMENTS

It is also not yet clear why Woodward was taken out of the War Academy and taken, in terrible physical condition, to the Esmeralda, which was docked at the breakwater. When the van that transported him arrived at that place, two men dressed in blue denim suits, in charge of his custody, got out.

There, according to statements in the case, a strong argument took place between the commander of the training ship, retired Navy Captain Jorge Sabugo Silva, and his second in command, Eduardo Barison Roberts.

While the latter insisted that Woodward should not board the training ship, due to the terrible state he was in and the wounds that made him bleed profusely, Sabugo, who is now dead, pointed out the opposite.

Finally, the ship's commander imposed his rank and the priest was taken aboard. In the proceedings, however, the decision is blamed on the then Chief of Staff of the First Naval Zone, Guillermo Aldoney Hansen.

He declared that he had received a call from Sabugo requesting approval to embark the detainee, and that he ordered him to proceed because the ship's commander assured him that Woodward was suffering from pneumonia.

In his judicial statement, Barison confirms the poor conditions in which the priest arrived. And his testimony is endorsed by the statement of another detainee during those days on the training ship, Jorge Basaude Sagredo.

According to the latter, when he arrived as a prisoner at the breakwater, before they took him up to the ship, he saw a man there who, he later learned, was a priest who worked in the Los Placeres hill sector.

The detainee, he relates, was almost unconscious, although he managed to exhale an agonizing moan, and his fingers were broken and blackish in color. The then First Sailor Lorenzo Felipe Rivas adds in the proceedings that he saw three or four people unrelated to the Esmeralda move the corpse of a person, about 35 years old, with a wound on his forehead.

And he points out that he later found out it was a priest. Now Judge Eliana Quezada's efforts are focused on reconstructing the moments that preceded the priest's detention: where and at what time he was detained, and also if he was taken to another site before the War Academy.

Those findings could not only lead to new prosecutions. They would also allow closing one of the most controversial cases of the dictatorship. The statement of the third man of the Navy The exact moment of Miguel Woodward's death is not the only novelty in the case being substantiated by Minister Eliana Quezada.

In April of this year, the third-ranking officer of the Navy, Vice Admiral Cristián Gantes Young, was summoned to testify in the case, due to information indicating that he had been aboard the Esmeralda in the days when Woodward died.

The main clue was an anonymous letter that, in mid-2007, arrived simultaneously at La Moneda, the Senate, and the port city's court. The letter details, with an extreme degree of knowledge, the names of each of the high-ranking officers who had remained on the training ship after the coup d'état.

Of all of them, undoubtedly the most revealing name is that of Gantes, current Director of Navy Services and the only one of all the officers mentioned who remains in active service. In his statement before Judge Quezada, Gantes points out that he remained on the Esmeralda just until September 11, the day a resolution was announced in which midshipman personnel were transferred from the training ship. "In my case, I was transferred to the destroyer Blanco Encalada (...).

From that moment on, I completely disassociated myself from the instruction course of the training ship Esmeralda." At that time, Gantes was in the middle of a course—under the command of midshipman instructor Fernando Espinoza Simonetti—and on September 10, together with an extensive crew of officers, he had arrived back from the annual trip through Europe.

The Esmeralda left for Talcahuano that same night, but returned to be absolutely operational at the Valparaíso pier on the day of the coup. Gantes's statement also points out that to reach the Blanco Encalada, docked in Talcahuano, "on September 12, 1973, I had to travel by air to the indicated city, where I boarded said ship and joined its crew around noon." Further on, the vice admiral relates that, once aboard the Blanco Encalada, the ship headed to Valparaíso, where it arrived on September 17, to set sail the next day for the Juan Fernández island, from where it returned on the 22nd.

LND requested from the Navy's Public Relations Directorate the service record and the transfer order of Gantes, but there was no formal response to this request. On Tuesday, the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior, one of the plaintiff parties in the case, requested the judge to call Gantes's instructor, Fernando Espinoza Simonetti, and other crew members of the training ship to testify.

The prosecuted In April of this year, Minister Eliana Quezada prosecuted six retired Navy officers, in a resolution that, essentially, responds to the hierarchical structure of the time. Five are charged as authors of qualified kidnapping:

• Navy Captain Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, who was allegedly one of the heads of the interrogation teams—composed of Marines and Carabineros—both on the Esmeralda and at the War Academy. At the head of the group was the deceased Jorge Román. According to Riesco's statement, current was applied during interrogations so that the detainees would provide information.
• Above Riesco in the chain of command was Juan Mackay Barriga, who was the operational chief, supervised interrogations, and, in addition, reported directly to the Intelligence Service of the Command of the Jurisdictional Area of Internal Security (SICAJSI).
• Above Mackay was Vice Admiral Sergio Barra von Kretschmann, chief of SICAJSI. Barra later served in the Joint Command and later even became deputy director of the DINA.
• Following the chain of command, the Chief of Staff of the First Naval Zone was Vice Admiral Guillermo Aldoney Hansen, in charge of dictating the norms to be followed by SICAJSI. His superior and highest rank of the time was Vice Admiral Adolfo Walbaum Wieber, commander of the First Naval Zone.
• The only one prosecuted as a cover-up is the then First Health Lieutenant Carlos Costa Canessa, who signed Woodward's death certificate—where he states that he died of cardiorespiratory arrest on a public road—without ever seeing the priest's body.

Source: La Nación, May 31, 2008

The 12 prosecuted for torture on the Esmeralda detained

The 12 retired Navy and Carabineros officers who were prosecuted yesterday by Judge Eliana Quezada for the crime of kidnapping and torture against former political prisoners after the 1973 coup d'état on the training ship Esmeralda, were arrested this morning by agents of the Special Affairs and Human Rights Brigade, led by Commissioner Sandro Gaete.

The accused are Vice Admirals Juan Mackay Barriga and Sergio Barra von Kretschmann, Navy Captain Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, and Carabineros Colonel Nelson López Cofré. In addition, Navy non-commissioned officers Bertolino Castillo Soto, Jorge Leiva Cordero, Jaime Lazo Pérez, Reginaldo Rebolledo López, Manuel Leiva Valdivieso, Juan Reyes Bausar, Luis Cabezón Cattanzano, and Alejo Esparza Martínez were prosecuted.

All were taken to the PDI barracks in Viña del Mar, to then, at about 11:30, be referred to the Valparaíso courts to appear before the visiting minister. The judge must arrange which naval and Carabineros facility the accused will be admitted to.

The resolution was issued for the illegal arrest and torment of María Eliana Comeném, Alberto Neumann Lagos, Claudina Moreno Cortés, María and Rosa Huerta Sánchez, and María Isabel Vásquez Pezoa.

Source: La Nación, December 1, 2009

Kidnapping and torture on the Esmeralda: Court grants bail to 12 former uniformed personnel

VALPARAÍSO.— The Valparaíso Court of Appeals ordered the release on bail of 12 former uniformed personnel prosecuted for the kidnapping and torture of six people aboard the training ship Esmeralda. The special minister María Eliana Quezada revoked the pretrial detention decreed on November 30 against three retired Navy officers, a former Carabineros officer, and 8 former uniformed personnel.

The accused are retired Navy Vice Admirals Sergio Barra von Kretschmann, Juan Mackay Barriga, and Ricardo Riesco Cornejo; in addition to former Carabineros officer Nelson López Cofré, and former uniformed personnel Bertalino Castillo Soto, Jorge Leiva Cordero, Jaime Lazo Pérez, Reginaldo Rebolledo López, Manuel Leiva Valdivieso, Juan Reyes Bausar, Luis Cabezón Cattanzano, and Alejo Esparza Martínez.

All were in pretrial detention in various Navy and Carabineros facilities, except for one who remained under house arrest for health reasons. The plaintiff lawyer Daniela Marzi indicated that she will not appeal the resolution: "We decided not to challenge it, because we trust a lot in the resolutions of Judge Eliana Quezada, and if she considers that the requirements for pretrial detention are not met, regardless of our opinion, we prefer to respect her resolution."

Source: El Mercurio, December 16, 2009

Navy suspends launch of "Bicentennial Regatta" after arrest of retired officers

The ceremony was to be held yesterday at 10 p.m. on the training ship "Esmeralda" and the ambassadors of the 13 countries that will participate in the nautical competition were invited. SANTIAGO.— The Navy suspended yesterday the official launch act of the Bicentennial Regatta "Velas Sudamérica 2010," due to the arrest of several retired officers who have been prosecuted for torture committed in 1973, the EFE news agency reported today.

The ceremony, which was to be headed by the Minister of Defense, Francisco Vidal, and to which the ambassadors of the 13 countries that will participate in the nautical competition were invited, was to be held aboard the training ship "Esmeralda." Hours before the act, scheduled for 10:00 p.m. yesterday in Valparaíso, Judge Eliana Quezada notified the defendants of their prosecution and ordered their pretrial detention, which was immediately carried out by detectives of the Human Rights Brigade of the Investigative Police.

Among those prosecuted are two retired vice admirals, a navy captain, and seven navy non-commissioned officers, as well as a former colonel and a former non-commissioned officer of the Carabineros. Aboard the Esmeralda, the British-born priest Miguel Woodward died on September 21, 1973, a case also instructed by Judge Quezada and in which nearly twenty retired officers and non-commissioned officers have already been prosecuted.

Among the prosecuted sailors are Vice Admirals Sergio Barra von Kretschmann and Juan Mackay Barriga and Navy Captain Ricardo Riesco Cornejo. Judge Quezada is also investigating other complaints of torture aboard the Esmeralda and at the Naval War Academy, as well as at the "Silva Palma" Barracks and the "Fuerte Miller" of the Marine Infantry.

The Bicentennial Regatta "Velas Sudamérica 2010" is organized by the Navies of Chile and Argentina and will travel, between February and June of next year, to various ports of Latin American countries, commemorating the 200 years since the beginning of the Independence process of both countries.

The fleet, with sailboats from thirteen countries in America and Europe, will set sail from Rio de Janeiro on February 7, 2010, and will arrive approximately on June 23 at the Mexican port of Veracruz, after traveling more than 11,000 nautical miles, with stops in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic.

Source: Emol.com, December 2, 2009

Woodward Case: Dismissal of high-ranking retired Navy officers confirmed

Supreme Court rejected complaints that sought to convict retired Vice Admirals Guillermo Aldoney Hansen and Juan Mackay Barriga, along with three other captains and 14 retired non-commissioned officers, for the crime of priest Michael Woodward The Supreme Court confirmed this Thursday the dismissal of 19 people who were accused of qualified kidnapping in the Woodward case.

The measure benefits several retired Navy officers. In a unanimous ruling, the Second Chamber of the country's highest court rejected the complaints filed to annul previous resolutions of the visiting minister Julio Miranda Lillo and the Valparaíso Court of Appeals.

Magistrate Miranda Lillo investigated the death of the priest and Mapu militant Michael Woodward Iribarry (42), who died on September 22, 1973, at the Naval Hospital of Valparaíso, after being tortured on the training ship Esmeralda.

On May 12, the minister declared the summary closed and accused 10 people as authors of the crime: retired Carabineros Colonel Nelson Roberto López Cofré, retired Frigate Captain Marcos Cristián Silva Bravo, and retired Navy non-commissioned officers Luis Francisco Pinda Figueroa, Carlos Alberto Miño Muñoz, Guillermo Carlos Inostroza Opazo, José Manuel García Reyes, Héctor Fernando Palomino López, Jorge Leiva Cordero, Manuel Atilio Leiva Valdivieso, and Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto.

However, in the same resolution, the minister decreed the temporary dismissal of 19 people, among them retired Vice Admirals Guillermo Aldoney Hansen and Juan Mackay Barriga; retired Navy Captains Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, Víctor Valverde Steienlen, and José Yáñez Riveros; and retired Health Lieutenant Carlos Costa Canessa, who as a doctor at the Naval Hospital issued a death certificate in the name of Michael Woodward without seeing any body.

The remaining dismissed are retired Navy non-commissioned officers. Against both measures of the visiting minister, which were later confirmed by the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, the Ministry of the Interior, the State Defense Council (CDE), and the plaintiff lawyers appealed.

However, the ministers of the Second Chamber of the country's highest court—Nibaldo Segura, Jaime Rodríguez, Hugo Dolmestch, Carlos Künsemüller, and the participating lawyer Alberto Chaigneau—rejected the presentations, considering that the participation of these 19 people in the crime was not proven.

Source: La Nación, September 29, 2011