On November 29, 1973, at the Arco Iris settlement, Manuel SILVA CARREÑO, 44 years old, married, a peasant farmer, was arrested.

On that occasion, five Carabineros officers arrived in an institutional van and proceeded to arrest Manuel Silva inside his home in the presence of witnesses. Moments later, his spouse went to the Paine Sub-Commissariat, where she was informed that he had been transferred to the San Bernardo Infantry School, a location where his admission was not acknowledged.

On August 14, 1980, a lawsuit for kidnapping was initiated, a process in which a witness testified to having been transported to the Paine sub-commissariat along with the victim, witnessing his execution by agents of that facility. Carabineros from that unit who were working on the date of the victim's arrest declared that they were unaware of the event, stating that after the military pronouncement, no arrests were recorded in that unit.

In 1982, the case was definitively dismissed.

The Commission formed the conviction that the disappearance of Manuel Silva is the responsibility of State agents, constituting a violation of human rights. This conviction is based on the fact that his arrest is proven and that all traces of him were lost while he remained detained and under the custody of state agents, and he remains missing to this day.

Manuel Silva Carreño, married, an agricultural worker, was detained on November 29, 1973, at his home located in the Arco Iris Settlement in Paine by Carabineros officers, including Sergeant José Floriano Verdugo Espinoza and Víctor Sagredo Aravena.

His wife was a witness to his detention. At no time were they shown any legal warrant to justify such an action. A few minutes later, Angel Daniel Navarro González was also detained from the same settlement.

They were taken together in a police van to the Paine Sub-prefecture, where they remained for a couple of hours before being taken to the San Bernardo Infantry School and from there to the Chena military facility, where they were to be executed.

Daniel Navarro managed to survive and was a witness to the events. The detentions and executions of these two settlers have never been acknowledged by the responsible authorities. Manuel Silva Carreño is a forcibly disappeared person.

The detention, execution, and the moments following them are recorded in a statement provided by the survivor, Daniel Navarro, in the case for alleged disappearance (docket 26038) of the Maipo-Buin Court of Letters, which is reproduced verbatim below.

"On November 29, 1973, around 7:30 PM, while I was working alone on my small farm located in what was then the Camilo Torres Settlement—now divided into plots—a van arrived with 5 Carabineros. I only knew one of them, Sergeant Verdugo, who was leading the group.

He asked me my name and told me I had to accompany him to the Paine Police Station. When I asked him why, he replied that they would tell me there. I told him that Sergeant Reyes had already interrogated me, to which he replied that it must have been a mistake.

I asked for permission to notify a neighbor named Luis Muñoz, who had a house about sixty meters away. I went to the place with them, and since he was not there, I told his wife that I was being detained and to notify my family.

After this, they put me in the van and told me to lie face down. No Carabinero got into the back, and there I saw that there was another person lying face down. He turned, and I recognized him as Manuel Silva Carreño, a coworker.

On the way, a little further on, Silva spoke to me, saying, 'now they are going to liquidate us.' I told him that was how it was, and we didn't talk anymore. We arrived at the police station, and before getting out, they blindfolded us.

Then they took us to a room that I believe was the Guard Room, because I had been there days before when I was summoned and interrogated by Sergeant Reyes. They asked us for our names and all our personal details and searched us to see if we were carrying documents.

I didn't have anything, and Silva, whom I heard giving his personal details, said please not to lose them. They asked us where we kept the submachine guns, and we both told them we didn't know because we had never had any.

They used profanity, and I recognized the voice of the Carabinero Sagredo. Later, someone approached—who must have been a Carabinero—and told me to sign something, which must have been a statement, because I couldn't see since I was blindfolded.

As I told him I couldn't do it because I couldn't see, he took my hand to help me sign. Later, I heard them doing the same with Silva. From there, they took us both inside the police station and back into the van.

Again, face down and still blindfolded, but now there was a person inside the van who must have been a Carabinero. We asked him where they were taking us and what we were being accused of. He told us to be calm and that they were going to take us to San Bernardo to take our statements.

I recognized his voice as that of the Carabinero González. We didn't talk anymore and stayed calm. From the moment we left the police station, I was paying attention to the road, and I noticed that we passed the Paine Railway Crossing and then turned onto the highway heading north.

After a good while, I don't know how long, the van stopped at a part of the road, and the one who was with us got out. I heard another one tell him that they had run out of gas and would have to push it to the pump.

While they were pushing it, I took the opportunity to lift myself up a little, and lowering the blindfold, I looked through the glass ahead and was able to see that we were in Nos, as I saw the avenue of oriental plane trees that is in San Bernardo.

A Carabinero shouted to keep my head down, so I threw myself on the floor again, and shortly after, they stopped at a pump and filled up with gas. After we continued, about ten minutes later, they stopped at a place that I believe was the San Bernardo Police Station.

Here they took us out and again took our personal details and again made us sign something, always blindfolded, in the same way as before. About ten minutes later, they put us back in the van, still face down, and when I was in this position, someone touched my feet and asked me what the other surname of Capetillo was—whom I knew lived in the Settlement and was a coworker.

I answered 'Mora,' and I felt him walk away. At that moment, I felt that in the front, another person was talking to the driver, and I recognized the voice of the first one, Soto, who had previously been serving in Huelquén, so I said to him, 'my First Sergeant Soto, help us please,' but he didn't answer me, and I heard the driver say to him in a low voice, 'the asshole recognized you.' I didn't hear anything else, and about fifteen minutes later, we started, and I heard some people getting in the front and others in the back.

We made several turns, and I tried to orient myself as to where we were going, but I couldn't. About fifteen minutes later, the van stopped in a place where you could hear people playing soccer; you could hear the tapping of a ball on the floor and the shouting of people.

Here, the one who was inside the van got out, and I heard someone get out from the front and walk toward the back. I also felt the footsteps of a person approaching from the opposite direction, and then I heard them talking.

He asked where they were bringing us from, and the other replied, 'from Paine.' He added, 'we went yesterday and brought a truckload of these assholes.' The other asked if they had put up resistance, and I heard him answer no, and he said, 'they put up resistance against us, especially in La Legua,' adding, 'I massacred an asshole who, seeing that he threw a bomb at a patrol, denied it to me until the end and was finished off.' I felt that other people arrived at the place and said, 'let's go.' People got in the front and in the back where we were—I think there were three of us, based on the voices I heard. One sat on top of Silva because I heard him complaining and saying not to break his arm. The one who was on top of Silva asked him if he knew where they were taking us, and when he replied no, he said, 'to feed the vultures.' He asked Silva if he had done his Military Service; he said yes, then he said, 'you betray your school, asshole.' This same person asked us if we knew Calderón. I told him if it was the one from El Vínculo, and he said that was the one, that he was the last one the vultures had eaten. I then heard the muffled noise of the engine as if we were passing through a tunnel or an underpass, which I thought was on the highway, and then it continued on the normal road. Minutes later, the one who was on Silva said, addressing the driver, to say the password. A little further on, the van stopped, and I heard them asking a person who was there if the Major was there. The other said no, to which he replied, 'if the Major arrives, tell him that Corporal Rivas is going up with two individuals.' The vehicle started and continued; I could hear the engine noise as if it were getting heavy, and I imagined they were going up a hill. When we had gone a little further up the hill, I heard someone say, 'there's a fork up ahead, that's where it is.' Then the vehicle stopped, the doors opened; I heard them get out, and one said to Silva, 'let's see, you get out first.' Immediately another said, 'you get out now,' addressing me. He took me by the arm, leading me to one side, and after taking a few steps, he put his hand on my head, telling me to lean over and keep walking like that alone. At that moment, lowering the blindfold, I straightened up and turned around in desperation, saying to him, 'no way,' and I clung to him, grabbing his arms, recognizing him as a classmate from the school in San Rafael who lived in San Rafael, Andrés Romero. He was a soldier and was carrying a submachine gun. There was a moon, and the light of the van could be seen. While we were struggling and he was kicking me, I looked toward where they had taken Silva and saw from behind that a soldier was shooting and that Silva, whom I recognized by his clothes, fell to the ground. Even more scared, I looked for where to escape and had the soldier held tight so he wouldn't let go. I must have been about fifteen meters from the van and about thirty from where the others and Silva were. Where I had him held, and the soldier was struggling to break free, when I let him go, he fell backward, and I ran in a zigzag toward a ravine. I looked back and saw the soldier following me without shooting. I ran a stretch and threw myself to the ground, crawling through a ravine, and just then I heard a volley of gunfire. Then I stood up and ran, turning back again, and managed to escape down the hill. Through an irrigation ditch, I managed to reach a road that I thought was the Calera de Tango road, but it was the Pan-American highway. I was able to reach some houses in San Bernardo, where I hid until the next day, and with the help of a lady I don't know, who gave me money, in the afternoon I went to Santiago, managing to reach my brother's house, who lives in the Pudahuel Commune, where I remained hidden for two years. Later, in September 1975, through a lawyer, I presented myself to the Carabineros to regularize my situation and was detained and sent to the San Bernardo Infantry School, where I was interrogated and released after two days."

Information provided by Manuel Silva Carreño's wife to Minister Hermosilla in case 2-90-E allows for the conclusion that his arrest was due to a denunciation made by a neighbor with whom he had had an argument before his detention.

His wife added that Manuel Silva had not been harassed previously, despite the fact that his brother, Ramón Luis Silva Carreño, had been detained since October 16, 1973 (and is currently disappeared).

The detention of Manuel Silva Carreño is framed within the repression in Paine in 1973. (Further information in the case of José Domingo Adasme Núñez).

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

The first actions taken by the family members were to go to the detention centers of the Paine Sub-prefecture, the Chena Detention Camp, and the National Stadium. They also inquired at the National Executive Secretariat for Detainees and the International Red Cross. His name did not appear in any of these facilities.

Based on the information provided by the survivor Angel Daniel Navarro González, a complaint was filed for the crime of kidnapping against the members of the Paine Sub-prefecture staff and the personnel of the San Bernardo Infantry School involved in the events.

The complaint was filed on January 9, 1980, before the Maipo-Buin Court of Letters and was registered under No. 26038-1.

The official letters sent to the Legal Medical Institute, the Civil Registry Directorate, and the General Cemetery of Santiago were answered stating that this person did not appear as deceased. International Police also responded negatively.

When the San Bernardo Infantry School was officially asked regarding the stay of Silva Carreño at the Chena Detention Camp, it replied that such an inquiry should be made to the Ministry of National Defense, but when the information was requested from this Ministry, it reported in turn that the inquiry should be directed to the Ministry of the Interior.

The response on this occasion was provided by Minister Sergio Fernández Fernández on August 16, 1980, stating that there were no records of Silva Carreño nor evidence that any order had been issued against him.

In the same document, Minister Fernández added that among the facilities authorized at that time, the Cerro Chena Detention Camp in San Bernardo did not appear—an implausible piece of information given that the families of five executed persons had received death certificates issued by the Civil Registry and/or the San Bernardo Infantry School in which the place of death was recorded as the Cerro Chena Detention Camp (Juan Guillermo Cuadra Espinoza, Ignacio Santander Albornoz on October 5, 1973; Carlos Manuel Ortiz Ortiz on October 6, 1973; Ramón Alfredo Capetillo Mora on October 1, 1973; Luis Alberto Díaz Manríquez on October 2, 1973; and Gustavo Hernán Martínez Vera on October 6, 1973), all of them peasants from Paine arrested between September and October 1973.

Sergeant Manuel Reyes Alvarez declared that he had not performed duties in the unit at that date. Another 13 members of the unit stated in their declarations that they had performed services in November '73 at the Sub-prefecture.

But all of them agreed in stating: a) they did not know Manuel Silva Carreño or Daniel Navarro González; b) there were no political detainees or detainees of any kind in that facility; c) the military were the ones who patrolled the area; d) they were not in a position to specify which unit the patrols belonged to.

These responses are also implausible if one considers that Sergeant Manuel Reyes himself, in 1975, in case 23853 of the Maipo-Buin Court of Letters regarding the illegal arrest of the Albornoz Prado brothers, had declared: "many times we had to detain people who were specifically ordered by the military, who gave us names and addresses, and we only went to those places, detained them, and immediately they were handed over to the military." In case 24005-1 in the same Court, the Carabinero staff that performed duties in that unit in October 1973 declared.

They clearly state that the patrolling had been in charge of the military from San Bernardo.

The Judge, accepting the request of the plaintiff, summoned all those people whom Daniel Navarro González had mentioned in his statement to testify. Upon appearing, Otto Erlwein Schleyer, a farmer and owner of the San Rafael Estate, acknowledged having been informed of the detention and subsequent escape of Navarro González from Cerro Chena and referred to him, adding: "he caused me problems since he was from the Popular Unity and always bothered me because he wanted to take my estate away until he managed to expropriate the whole estate." When Oscar Eugenio Ebensperger Besoain testified, he acknowledged that in his capacity as Agricultural Inspector of the State Bank and by order of Captain Nelson Bravo Espinoza, he asked those who had weapons to hand them over and that on several occasions he received them and handed them over to Captain Bravo. He denied having made such a request to Daniel Navarro. Mario Salgado Turi, for his part, denied before the Court that, having been the Mayor of Paine, he had expressed to Navarro González the prohibition of working on the agricultural property of Otto Erlwein. Jorge Stein Ferrari, who in 1975 was Sub-prefect of Carabineros of the Rural Prefecture of Santiago, denied having arrested Daniel Navarro and having given instructions to a subordinate for him to be taken to the San Bernardo Infantry School. In March 1981, the Court, for the fourth time, sent an official letter to the San Bernardo Infantry School instructing the appearance of Corporal Rivas and the Non-Commissioned Officer or soldier Andrés Romero. It was answered that such an official letter should be sent to the Ministry of National Defense. This Ministry, on May 4, 1981, through its Minister, Carlos Forestier Hoensgen, replied that more precision was required in the identification of these two people in order to know who the official letter was referring to.

Despite the wealth of information gathered and the investigation being inconclusive, the Judge resolved on June 20, 1981, to close the summary and temporarily dismiss the case. The case was appealed, and the Rancagua Court of Appeals revoked the Judge's resolution on September 4, 1981, with only one more proceeding having been ordered.

The summary was closed again and the case temporarily dismissed on November 2, 1981, which, when consulted with the corresponding Court, was confirmed on January 22, 1982.

It is worth noting that in the amparo appeal docket 194-74, filed before the Santiago Court of Appeals in favor of his brother Luis Ramón Silva Carreño, once the case had been ruled "no grounds," the Court received an official response from the Director of the San Bernardo Infantry School and Chief of the interior zone of the Departments of San Bernardo and Maipo, Colonel Pedro Montalba Calvo.

In it, it verbatim stated: "it is noted that Manuel Silva Carreño was detained here, who fled from the Chena Prisoner of War Camp on the night of December 1, 1973, his current whereabouts being unknown." In the official letter, the detention of Manuel Silva Carreño was implicitly acknowledged, and it contained incorrect information, given that the one who had fled was Andrés Navarro González.

At the time of answering the official letter, the Colonel did not know the identity of the person who had escaped.

The family members of Manuel Silva Carreño provided the background of the case in case 2-90-E, which is being investigated by the Extraordinary Visiting Minister Germán Hermosilla, in a complaint filed by the Vicariate of Solidarity of the Archbishopric of Santiago for illegal burials that occurred in Paine.

His anthropometric data were also delivered to the 22nd Criminal Court of Santiago, in case docket 4449-AF, which is being investigated by Judge Andrés Contreras, in a complaint for illegal burials of forcibly disappeared persons that occurred in 1973, in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery.

In the month of September 1991, 108 graves were exhumed, whose remains are at the Legal Medical Institute. At the closing of this report (December 1992), work was still underway on the identification process of the victims.

Source: (Corporation Report)