Manuel Araya Zavala, married, an artisanal fisherman, was detained on the night of October 5, 1973, after having an altercation at a liquor store near his home in the city of Iquique. The owner of the establishment accused him of being a "communist" and called the military.

After the argument, Manuel Araya returned to his home. However, a few minutes later, a military patrol arrived at the house, raided the home, and took him away under arrest. For three days, the victim remained held incommunicado at the Telecommunications Regiment of Iquique, but he was able to send letters to his spouse, María Santibáñez Alvarez, and to his mother.

On the fourth day, he was transferred to Pisagua. From there, he sent several letters to his wife, the last of which was dated November 7, 1973. As the family lost all contact with him, a sister of the victim went to the Sixth Division of the Army and met with General Carlos Forestier, Commander of that Division.

He showed her a book in which Manuel Araya Zavala had signed for his release from the Pisagua Prison Camp. In November 1973, a former prisoner named Manuel Lay Ogalde, who had been released from the Pisagua concentration camp, arrived at the home of Manuel Araya’s spouse and informed her that the victim was on his way in the next truck carrying released detainees from Pisagua, but this did not happen.

Another former political prisoner, whose name María Santibáñez does not recall, informed her that her husband had been in the same truck with him from Pisagua, but that they had forced him to get off the vehicle along with other prisoners at the exit of Pisagua.

The newspaper "El Tarapacá" of Iquique reported that Manuel Araya Zavala was transferred to the Pisagua Military Camp on October 25, 1973, where he would remain "until the investigations that would allow for the determination of whether there are grounds for prosecution are completed." However, the victim never returned from Pisagua.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

In 1974 or 1975, María Santibáñez Alvarez personally filed a complaint for alleged disappearance, the result of which she is unaware of due to having lacked professional legal counsel at that time. Nevertheless, she was summoned several times to the Investigative Police (Policía de Investigaciones), where the officers mocked her, telling her that her husband had abandoned her.

Ashamed and humiliated, the woman did not return to the Investigative Police or the Court. In June 1990, following a judicial complaint filed before the Criminal Court of Pozo Almonte regarding the crime of illegal burial in the vicinity of the Pisagua Cemetery, a case was initiated under file No. 3805.

The bodies of 19 victims were found who, while being held at the Pisagua Camp, had been executed by their captors. Of these, 7 corresponded to persons who were in the status of forcibly disappeared, but Manuel Heriberto Araya Zavala was not found.

After several appeals regarding jurisdictional disputes, the Supreme Court resolved the case in favor of Military Justice, placing the case under the Military Prosecutor's Office of Iquique, where it was filed under No. 321-90.

In February 1991, the military prosecutor ordered the closure of the summary proceedings and subsequently dismissed the case totally and definitively, by virtue of Decree Law 2.191 of 1978 (Amnesty Law).

In 1992, a ruling on an appeal to the Supreme Court was pending. On August 20, 1991, and in light of the discovery of bodies in a clandestine grave in Pisagua, the woman filed a new complaint for kidnapping and qualified homicide of Manuel Araya Zavala in the Fourth Court of Letters of Iquique.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity

Anyelina Rojas Valdés.- Although the proceedings are advancing, even with several sentences condemning the perpetrators of the crimes committed in Iquique and Pisagua between 1973 and 1974, the families feel the pain because many of them have not found the remains of their loved ones, because the sentences seem disproportionate in relation to the gravity of the crimes, and because it comes 43 years after the events occurred.

For this reason, for the relatives, for the survivors, and for those who died, it is necessary to remember the victims of political executions and the forcibly disappeared. They are part of the Heritage of our Memory.

FOR THE MEMORY

After September 11, 1973, the detention of militants and supporters of the Unidad Popular parties, or anyone deemed suspicious, began immediately. In Iquique, political prisoners first passed through the Telecommunications Regiment, to then be transferred, in the vast majority, to the Pisagua prison camp.

It was the forced journey... The first complaint for the death of the forcibly disappeared and the victims of political executions in Iquique and Pisagua was filed in 1987 by the lawyer for the Vicariate of Solidarity, Carlos Fresno, that is, 14 years after the crimes occurred.

The case was transferred to Military Justice and was dismissed. On June 2, 1990, the clandestine grave of Pisagua was discovered, where skeletal remains appeared, showing evidence of deaths by gunshot, blindfolds, bound hands, and being placed in sacks.

This event shocked the city of Iquique, Chile, and the entire world. From the bowels of the earth, a truth systematically denied by the military authorities and the Chilean Army, which administered the Pisagua prison camp, was brought to light.

Thus, the last to be executed was the first to resurface from the salty earth: Manuel Sanhueza, a militant of the Communist Youth, affectionately called "Choño." A fundamental role in discovering the clandestine grave of Pisagua was played by the then-judge of Pozo Almonte, Nelson Muñoz, now deceased.

For many months prior, the magistrate had been in charge of a small group with which he searched for the remains of those executed in Pisagua. Only on June 2, 1990, was a result reached, and the truth emerged from the bowels of the northern earth.

It was a tense day. It was feared that the bodies would be removed as a way to conceal the crime. Despite this, the remains arrived at the Legal Medical Service that night. As a result of the discovery, the minister of the Court of Appeals of Iquique, Hernán Sánchez Marré, was appointed as a Visiting Minister (Ministro en Visita).

The judge had to declare himself incompetent because military personnel were involved; therefore, the case fell under the jurisdiction of the military courts. Thus, the desires for truth and justice were once again thwarted.

After the return to democracy, President Patricio Aylwin created the National Corporation for Reparation and Reconciliation, which allowed, for the first time after 17 years of dictatorship, the establishment of an accredited list of human rights victims, whether as executed, detained, or forcibly disappeared.

This report is one of the precedents that the Investigating Judge (Ministro de Fuero), Mario Carroza, has had, along with hundreds of testimonies, to accredit the crimes and issue several sentences. Preceding Carroza in chronological order were Joaquín Billard, Carmen Garay, Daniel Calvo, and Juan Guzmán.

The case is titled "Nash and others" and was filed against Pinochet and all those found responsible in 1998. In parallel, in Iquique, the minister of the Court of Appeals, Mónica Olivares, was appointed as a visiting minister to investigate all cases of human rights crimes in the Tarapacá jurisdiction that occurred starting in 1973.

The Minister works independently of Judge Carroza and keeps the cases she handles in complete secrecy so as not to damage the investigation. In one of them, referring to the murder of the prison guard Isaías Higueras, she has just achieved a sentence against Blas Barraza and Miguel Aguirre, who had already been sentenced in other cases by Minister Carroza.

Several of the cases regarding what happened in Iquique and Pisagua are represented by the human rights lawyer Adil Brkovic. He is also a fundamental piece in advancing the investigations and possesses important information and testimonies.

THE VICTIMS

The first execution occurred in Iquique, less than 1 week after the military coup, affecting the life of: 1.- LUIS FERNANDO ROJAS VALENZUELA, 49 years old. According to the official information of the time, it is indicated that the victim had resisted his detention by a military patrol and that he even tried to snatch the rifle from one of the soldiers.

In Military Communiqué No. 24 of the Government Junta, Luis Rojas was executed on the spot at around 7:00 PM on September 17, 1973. The truth is that the Rettig Report finds the explanation little credible and accredits that he was, at the very least, a victim of unnecessary violence.

In light of the indictments made by the Investigating Judge, Mario Carroza, who is investigating the crimes that occurred in Iquique and Pisagua, other crimes are accredited. This concerns the case of 6 prisoners to whom a "false escape law" was applied, according to information contained in the Rettig Report and considered in the minister's investigation, along with many other proceedings.

The first three of this group, whose remains appeared in the clandestine grave of Pisagua on June 2, 1990, are: 2.- JUAN CALDERÓN VILLALÓN: He was 25 years old at the time of his detention in September 1973.

He was an official of the Customs Investigation Department of the Superintendency of Customs in Valparaíso, where he was detained. A militant of the Socialist Party. After his detention, he was transferred to Pisagua aboard the ship Maipo and executed in Pisagua on September 29, 1973. 3.- MARCELO GUZMÁN FUENTES: A health educator, 34 years old, a chief official at the Iquique Hospital at the time of his detention.

He was a militant of the Socialist Party. He presented himself voluntarily to the Telecommunications Regiment, without suspecting that that act of compliance with the military authorities would end his young life.

Executed in Pisagua on September 29, 1973. 4.- LUIS ALBERTO LIZARDI LIZARDI: A 29-year-old port employee and militant of the Socialist Party. He was detained on September 11 and taken to the Telecommunications Regiment, and subsequently transferred to Pisagua, where he was finally executed on September 29, 1973.

These three people, while they remained detained in Pisagua, were taken from their cells to perform voluntary labor outside the prison and were transferred to the Pisagua Viejo sector, where the Cemetery is located.

There, the escape law was applied to them, and they were buried at the site. Their remains appeared in burlap sacks in the clandestine grave of Pisagua, discovered on June 2, 1990, after years of fruitless searching.

The investigation led by Minister Mario Carroza establishes that the events constitute the commission of the crime of qualified homicide, provided for and sanctioned in Article 391 No. 1 of the Penal Code.

On the same day—September 29—three other detainees were taken from their cells to complete the previous group, but their remains did not appear, maintaining to this day the status of forcibly disappeared.

They are: 5.- NOLBERTO CAÑAS CAÑAS: 48 years old, a militant of the Socialist Party, and at the date of his detention, he was serving as the Interventor of the Northern Fishing Complex. He was detained in Iquique, transferred to the Telecommunications Regiment, and from there to Pisagua, where he was executed on September 29, 1973. 6.- JUAN JIMÉNEZ VIDAL: 42 years old, a Customs official in Valparaíso with no known political affiliation.

After the military coup, he presented himself voluntarily on September 13, 1973. Executed on September 29, 1973. 7.- MICHEL SALIM NASH SÁEZ: A 19-year-old youth who was fulfilling his Military Service in Iquique.

He was a militant of the Communist Party. He was discharged and arrested on September 11 and transferred to Pisagua. There are testimonies indicating that he refused to use his weapon against the people.

He was executed on September 29, 1973. Despite being part of the previous group where military authorities acknowledged their execution by "escape law" and supposedly buried them in the Pisagua Cemetery, his remains did not appear.

In the investigation led by the minister, charges are brought against the soldier Miguel Aguirre Alvarez, to whom participation as a perpetrator is attributed in the crimes of repeated qualified kidnapping against Juan Jiménez, Michel Nash, and Nolberto Cañas.

The Investigating Judge issued sentences in all these cases on August 17, 2016. It was possible to confirm what is already stated in the Rettig Report, which indicates regarding the false escape: "With their deaths explained as the result of an escape, this Commission cannot believe it so, as it seems very improbable that these prisoners would have tried to flee while they were being transported to perform labor.

The strong military guard of these transports, the configuration of the place, and the state of health of some of them, especially Cañas Cañas, make an escape attempt improbable and absolutely implausible that the only means to avoid them consisted of putting them to death." Thus, Juan Calderón, Nolberto Cañas, Marcelo Guzmán, Juan Jiménez, Luis Lizardi, and Michel Nash were victims of serious human rights violations committed by State agents.

ANONYMOUS HERO

An emblematic case is that of the young soldier Michel Nash, an anonymous hero. He leaves a testimony of life for history that there is no law of command or due obedience when it comes to murdering. For that noble gesture, he paid with his life.

Michel Nash was a militant of the Communist Youth, for which, when the coup d'état occurred and his superiors told him that he would have to take up arms against "the Marxists," he refused and said that he was willing to defend his Homeland, but that he would not shoot against the people he swore to protect.

Immediately afterward, he was discharged from the Army, stripped of his soldier's uniform on September 11, and sent to the Pisagua Prison camp. That would be a journey of no return. Minister Carroza also recently achieved a sentence for the cases of: 8.- JORGE MARÍN ROSSEL: 19 years old, he was a militant of the Socialist Party and Secretary of the Youth of that party in Iquique.

He worked as an official for Emporchi. He was married and had a small daughter who, at the time of his detention, was barely 3 months old. He was detained on September 28, 1973, by State agents at his home and taken to the Telecommunications Regiment.

Since that date, he has been missing. 9.- WILLIAMS MILLAR SANHUEZA: 42 years old, 5 children, he was a worker for the State Railways company. He was a union leader and a militant of the Socialist Party.

He was detained on September 16, 1973, at his home and released. Subsequently, on the 24th of the same month, he was summoned via a Military Communiqué and presented himself at his work. From there, he was transferred to the Investigative Headquarters and then to the Telecommunications Regiment, from where his trail was lost.

According to the information gathered in the investigation stage led by Minister Carroza, after September 11, 1973, the general headquarters of the VI Army Division, based in Iquique, organized an intelligence corps that, among others, detained Jorge Rogelio Marín Rossel and Williams Robert Millar Sanhueza and transferred them to the Telecommunications Regiment "to lock them up as political prisoners, under the complacent and complicit gaze of the officers who were part of said military facility (...)" The purpose was "to keep them in a sector of the regiment known as 'La Chanchería' where they were subjected to interrogations under torture until September 29 of that year (...) an occasion on which the other prisoners stopped seeing them, and a communiqué from the military authority announced to the media a conjectured escape and ordered that if they were located, they should be shot on the spot. Since that day, their whereabouts remain unknown, despite the intense searches by their relatives." This case of a false confrontation is inexorably connected to that of the soldier 10.- PEDRO PRADO ORTIZ, also dead, supposedly as a victim of the previous two, but ultimately, he was a victim of the same dictatorship. The minister's sentence opens an avenue to establish the truth in the death of this young soldier. For his family, the Army's version at that time seemed credible; however, today it is possible to access other versions that allow for clarifying what actually happened on the dawn of October 1, 1973, when the young man met his death. Another case, for which there is not much information, is that of 11.- MANUEL HERIBERTO ARAYA ZAVALA, 29 years old, who was detained at his home by soldiers, and his trail is lost after passing through the Telecommunications Regiment and Pisagua. Today he is a forcibly disappeared person. According to investigations, on October 9, 1973, he was detained in Arica and taken to the Rancagua Regiment, along with two other socialist militants, whose final destination was Pisagua. The official version indicates that the military vehicle in which they were traveling overturned and caused their deaths. Years later, it was proven that the vehicle was pushed into a ravine.

FIRST EXECUTIONS BY FIRING SQUAD

Five prominent public professionals, some militants of Unidad Popular parties and others without affiliation, were the first to be executed by firing squad in Pisagua. It occurred on October 11, 1973, after being prosecuted and sentenced to death in a supposed First War Council, which was not such and which was carried out in the Political Prisoner Camp, under the charge of military prosecutor Mario Acuña.

Acuña—now deceased—was a man feared by all the prisoners. It was not for nothing that their fate, which translated into living or dying, was in his hands. He also possessed a true criminal record for his connection with drug trafficking and smuggling.

He arrived in Iquique as a judge after being punished, and the military coup allowed him to regain power, to the point of being appointed the prosecutor of Pisagua. Regarding these deaths of October 11 and through Communiqué No. 82, the Chief of the State of Siege Zone of the Province of Tarapacá and Commander-in-Chief of the Sixth Army Division, Carlos Forestier Haensen (deceased), reported the execution of 5 people after the War Council was constituted the previous day, October 10.

The same Council that, according to subsequent investigations and records, is debunked. The executed were: 12.- JULIO CABEZAS GACITÚA: 45 years old, a lawyer by profession, he served as Fiscal Prosecutor of the State Defense Council of Iquique and did not belong to any party.

After being summoned in a Military Communiqué, he surrendered voluntarily to the military authorities. There are testimonies that remember him walking with a blanket over his arm toward the Sixth Army Division.

He never thought of his tragic end. This is a case of great impact, since it is attributed that his death was a revenge by Military Prosecutor Acuña, who was involved in a drug and smuggling case where his participation was already accredited.

Lawyer Cabezas, who had no political affiliation and was not a supporter of the Unidad Popular, was considered a man of great prestige and austerity. He was appointed by the State Defense Council to investigate smuggling and cocaine trafficking in Iquique.

In 1972, Mario Acuña arrived in Iquique, transferred from a court in San Miguel, where he was involved in a scandal while a judge. In this northern city, he assumed the functions of a judge. Journalistic investigations again connect him to a criminal case, as he is linked to a group of people who diverted merchandise to Peru and Bolivia—a smuggling crime—which was destined from the central level to the north.

Profuse information on this situation is provided by a publication called "Los Intocables," which indicates that with the operation, they contributed to the black market and, in exchange, received cocaine as payment for the services.

This is precisely what the Prosecutor of the State Defense Council, Julio Cabezas, was investigating. Even the Supreme Court—relates Freddy Alonso, a former detainee who investigated the subject—had backed the accusations against him, so his fate was already sealed.

The higher court had authorized the dismissal and imprisonment of Acuña. But the coup occurred, and events took another course. Acuña was appointed Military Prosecutor of Pisagua and was in charge of the supposed War Council where, along with Cabezas, Mario Morris Berríos (Customs Investigations), Juan Valencia Hinojosa (ECA Administrator), José Córdova Croxato (Port Administrator), and Humberto Lizardi Flores (teacher) were executed.

Curiously, all of them—except for Lizardi—made up, until days before, the Investigative Commission of the State Defense Council for the smuggling and drug trafficking case. 13.- JOSÉ CÓRDOVA CROXATO: 35 years old, he served as Port Administrator of the Iquique Port Company, being detained on September 11 at his workplace, Emporchi.

He was a militant of the MAPU. 14.- HUMBERTO LIZARDI FLORES: A young 26-year-old English teacher at the Iquique branch of the University of Chile (current UNAP) and a militant of the MIR. He was also detained on September 11 while teaching at the then-Commercial Institute.

His mother, Baldramina Flores, has dedicated her life to honoring the memory of her beautiful son. 15.- MARIO MORRIS BARRIOS: 27 years old, he was an official of the Customs Investigation Department and had no political affiliation.

He had just been assigned to the city of Iquique, so he was staying at a hotel, where he was detained on September 11. 16.- JUAN VALENCIA HINOJOSA: 51 years old, head of the Agricultural Commerce Company (ECA) of Iquique and a militant of the Communist Party.

On September 11, he presented himself voluntarily to the Intendencia, without foreseeing that he was surrendering to murderous hands. A Military Communiqué regarding these executed people was published in the then-newspaper El Tarapacá on October 26, 1973, that is, 15 days after the executions took place. "They were condemned for being confessed and being authors of the crimes of treason against the country (note: a crime not applicable to civilians) and espionage; and for infringement of the State Security Law, by actively participating in subversive and infiltration plans in the Armed Forces." Once democracy was recovered, the Commission declared that it had serious doubts about the holding of the War Council. According to the version of people who were detained in Pisagua, "the procedures that were subsequently observed each time a Council was held were not carried out on this occasion: in general, the fact of the Council having been constituted was made known, naming the accused and grouping them according to the penalty requested for each of them. Then they were presented to the lawyer who would defend them. Furthermore, there has been no knowledge of any defense carried out by any lawyer in this supposed first War Council." There is a testimony indicating that the 5 prisoners were executed in the Pisagua cemetery and their remains deposited in sacks. All of them appeared in the clandestine grave discovered on June 2, 1990. On October 21, the Salesian priest 17.- GERARDO POBLETE, only 31 years old, a philosophy teacher, was taken from the Don Bosco school and beaten to death at the Carabineros Police Station in Iquique. For his murder, the Carabineros non-commissioned officer BLAS ESPINOZA BARRAZA is serving a sentence of 5 years and one day. Along with him, the Carabineros non-commissioned officer FROILÁN MONCADA SAEZ and the Carabineros major ENZO MENICONI LORCA—who died in 2008—were sentenced; the latter was condemned as an accessory. He served as the prefect of the Carabineros of Iquique and was also a representative of the Don Bosco school. In addition, Blas Barraza, along with Miguel Aguirre, were prosecuted for other crimes against humanity, such as the murder of Miller and Marín; and of Isaías Higueras, crimes for which they were sentenced.

The war council, constituted in Pisagua on October 29, sentenced to death:

18.- RODOLFO FUENZALIDA FERNANDEZ,

43 years old, civil pilot, detained on the 11th. He was a militant of the Socialist Party. Like almost all the detainees, he made the journey from his place of detention to the Telecommunications Regiment and from there to Pisagua.

19.- JUAN ANTONIO RUZ,

32 years old. He worked as a Customs official and turned himself in voluntarily at the Telecommunications Regiment.

20.- JOSE SAMPSON OCARANZA,

33 years old, who worked as a public relations officer for the Iquique municipality. He also presented himself voluntarily. He did so before the Carabineros.

21.- FREDDY TABERNA GALLEGOS,

he was the youngest of this group, only 30 years old, and like the others, he presented himself voluntarily, without foreseeing that this decision would be a point of no return. Today, a street in his neighborhood, El Morro, remembers him with his name.

This War Council acted illegally, since the Auditor did not share the criteria for the death penalty and proposed 10 years, due to his irreproachable prior conduct. The legislation states that all those passing judgment must agree on the sentence.

Furthermore, it establishes that the crimes of which they were accused were not proven. And worse still, if they had been executed, the same sentence, the report cites, recognizes that the crimes were committed "in a state of frustration." That is to say, they were not carried out.

It also recognizes the subjection to systematic torture, applied to obtain confessions. The Commission already establishes that the 4 were "executed by State agents in a process that, by not having conformed to the law, violated the rules for the protection of the human rights of the accused."

THIRD WAR COUNCIL

One month later, exactly, when the atmosphere of terror was the constant in the Pisagua prison, the third War Council was constituted... The death of the following is intuited:

22.- GERMAN PALOMINOS LAMAS,

25 years old. He is sentenced to death. He was a militant in the Socialist Party. He was a carpenter by trade. He is accused of belonging to the subversive group AGP and that in the organization, he was in charge of preparing bombs and handling explosives.

The accusation states that the objective was to attack the regiment. Palominos, says the official version, confessed to these crimes. Recently, Judge Carroza handed down a sentence for this crime.

23.- ISAIAS HIGUERAS ZÚÑIGA

He was a prison guard at the Iquique jail and a communist militant. The events occurred on January 11, 1974, when Higueras met his death as a result of the brutal torture session to which he was subjected in Pisagua. The relatives received a sealed urn, but they never believed the version.

The newspaper Fortín Mapocho, of June 16, 1990, page 12, records... 12 days after the discovery of the Pisagua mass grave, that Iván Zamora Ordenes, a former prison official, called "the warden," confessed to having participated in executions, receiving military orders.

And that his companion Isaías Higueras died as a result of the beatings. He was forced to record in the statistics that his companion had died as a result of a sudden heart attack.

24.- NELSON MARQUEZ AGUSTO

29 years old, communist militant. He lived at the party headquarters on Tarapacá Street and worked as a fishing crew member. With his mental faculties disturbed, according to witnesses, as a consequence of the innumerable torture sessions to which he was subjected, he attempted an impossible escape and was executed in the Pisagua camp.

THE NON-POLITICALS

Six prisoners without political ties and associated with drug trafficking activities were supposedly released, according to what was informed to their families. However, their bodies appeared in the Pisagua mass grave.

In the Museum of Memory, the following are identified:

25.- ORLANDO CABELLO CABELLO.

44 years old, retail merchant, no political militancy. Detained at his home by Iquique Carabineros, placed at the disposal of the Telecommunications Regiment and subsequently transferred to Pisagua.

26.- NICOLAS CHANEZ CHANEZ.

43 years old, transport businessman, no political militancy. He was detained and sent to the Iquique Investigations Barracks, from there transferred to Pisagua.

27.- JUAN MAMANI GARCIA.

27 years old, transporter, no political militancy, was detained by Carabineros, taken to the Iquique Telecommunications Regiment and from there transferred to Pisagua.

28.- LUIS MANRIQUEZ WILDEN.

44 years of age, retail merchant, no political militancy.

29.- HUGO MARTINEZ GUILLEN.

36 years of age, retail merchant, no political militancy, detained by Carabineros on November 2, 1973, taken to the Telecommunications Regiment and subsequently transferred to Pisagua.

30.- JUAN ROJAS OSEGA,

38 years of age, no known political militancy, detained by Carabineros personnel on November 1, 1973, transferred to the Telecommunications Regiment and from there to Pisagua.

They were linked to drug trafficking and merchandise smuggling, but the accusation was not judicially established.

According to the Museum of Memory, the official information that was delivered through a military communiqué from the Army's VI Division was that these people had been released on January 29, 1974. Furthermore, some of the families were officially notified of the supposed release of their relatives through a letter from the Chilean Army.

This was how the spouse of one of the forcibly disappeared received letter No. 3550 380, of July 19, 1974, issued by the Command of the Army's VI Division, in which it expresses to her that Nicolás Chanez was detained and transferred to Pisagua "with the purpose of investigating and determining responsibilities in an alleged violation of the Arms Control Law." "Once it was investigated and his innocence was proven, as far as the Arms Law is concerned, he was released on the date indicated above.

If he has not arrived home by this date, you should look for the answer elsewhere or ask yourself, your conscience as a wife who knows the activities your husband carried out."

The bodies of all of them were found in 1990, in the Pisagua mass grave, bagged, with their hands tied and their eyes blindfolded.

This Commission holds the full conviction that Orlando Cabello, Nicolás Chanez, Juan Mamani, Luis Manríquez, Hugo Martínez, and Juan Rojas were not released but executed without prior process and their bodies made to disappear by State agents.

MORE EXECUTIONS

The fateful year 1973 culminates, but the practices of disappearance and death by State agents continue.

31.- ALBERTO YAÑEZ CARVAJAL,

31 years old and a prison official, was detained in January 1974. Executed together with

32.- LUIS TORO CASTILLO,

34 years old, a railroad worker.

They were accused of an alleged "Plan 22," which consisted of a series of attack points in the event of a Civil War or Military Coup.

One of the most shocking deaths, because it affected a minor, was that of:

33.- HENRY TORRES FLORES

16 years old. He was a laborer, without political militancy, and resided in Calama with his mother. His father lived in Iquique, which is why he was visiting him in this city when the events occurred. He was detained in July 1974 by military personnel and taken to the Pisagua prisoner camp.

A letter sent to his mother with the military censorship stamp proves his time in this prisoner camp, from where he disappeared. Since then, he has been a forcibly disappeared person.

34.- MANUEL SANHUEZA MELLADO,

30 years old, member of the Central Committee of the JJCC (Communist Youth). He was detained on July 10, 1974, and transferred to Pisagua, where he disappeared. His remains were found in the clandestine mass grave of Pisagua.

Indeed, it was a moment of special silence when his almost intact body emerged from the earth with the rictus mortis, like a heartbreaking scream, to expose the crimes of the dictatorship.

35.- MARCELINO LAMAS LARGO

23 years old, socialist militant, was detained by members of the Army and seen in the dungeons of the former Iquique customs facility. A place from which he has disappeared to this day.

Source: EDICIONCERO.CL 9/11/2016

Date: 09-11-2016

Human Rights judge of the La Serena Court leads search proceedings in Pisagua and Iquique

The minister in extraordinary visit for human rights violation cases of the La Serena Court of Appeals, Sergio Troncoso Espinoza, led the search proceedings for the remains of forcibly disappeared persons in sectors of the localities of Pisagua and Iquique.

"Proceedings are being carried out within the framework of the Search Plan developed by the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of Justice. There are several institutions that are coordinated for this work, because they are in different sectors of the locality of Pisagua and for that same reason, personnel from the Legal Medical Service; the Investigative Police, specifically the human rights support unit and also experts from the Tarapacá unit; the National Monuments Council and the Institute of Occupational Safety have had to attend," specified Judge Troncoso.

The actions began at the Municipal Car Lot of Iquique and the Former Customs House. Then, during Tuesday and Wednesday, the judge moved to Pisagua, a visit in which direct relatives of the soldier Michael Selim Nash Sáez, who disappeared while serving his military service at 19 years old, also participated, among others; as well as leaders of groups of forcibly disappeared persons.

Regarding the work carried out in the field, Judge Troncoso stated that there are "certain evaluations that must be carried out in some sectors of the locality, with a view to future work that could be carried out in the tasks of searching for the bodies of forcibly disappeared persons in the region."

He added that "the proceedings are still ongoing and we are waiting for the results that could come from the excavation work that is being carried out, but the preparatory work for two sites was quite promising, in the sense that they give hope, there is a thread that one can grasp, with a view to both corroborating and ruling out the existence of some situations or indications that could give us light about the trajectory and final destination of the forcibly disappeared persons of this region."

The judge warned that "it must be remembered that the objective of the Search Plan is not only to find the bodies, but also to be able to establish the trajectories, so it is also relevant to find places where the bodies may have passed or where the removal that occurred at some time of the remains of victims of the dictatorship is known, and that is also part of the inquiry carried out by the Human Rights Unit."

Finally, the judge held a meeting with the board of the Pisagua Corporation, whom he informed of the progress of the various cases he is handling.

The case associated with the Former Municipal Car Lot of Iquique and the former Customs Station was filed against those responsible for the crimes of illegal inhumation and exhumation of nine victims, all kidnapped and transferred to the Pisagua concentration camp, their whereabouts unknown to this day.

They are: Manuel Heriberto Araya Zavala, 29 years old, artisanal fisherman and taxi driver detained at his home on October 5, 1973; Henry Francisco Torres Flores, 16 years old, worked as a loader. He was detained in July 1974 together with his friend Hugo Eugenio Martínez Martínez; Juan Francisco Jiménez Vidal, 42 years old, Customs official from Valparaíso, presented himself voluntarily on September 13, 1973, before the military authorities; Michel Selim Nash Sáez, 19 years old, who was serving his military service in Iquique, was discharged and arrested on September 11, 1973; Nolberto Jesús Cañas Cañas, 48 years old, socialist militant and comptroller of the Northern Fishing Complex; Rodolfo Jacinto Fuenzalida Fernández, 43 years old, civil pilot. He was detained on September 11, 1973; Juan Antonio Ruz Díaz, 32 years old, Customs official in Iquique; José Demóstenes Sampson Ocaranza, 33 years old, was a public relations officer for the Iquique Municipality. He presented himself voluntarily to the Iquique Carabineros on September 21, 1973; Freddy Marcelo Taberna Gallegos, 30 years old, was director of the Regional Planning Office (ORPLAN, currently MIDEPLAN) in the city of Iquique. He presented himself voluntarily on September 16, 1973, at the Telecommunications Regiment.

Regarding the second case, the crimes of illegal inhumation and exhumation were allegedly committed to the detriment of four victims, all kidnapped in the current province of Iquique: Williams Robert Millar Sanhueza, 42 years old, worker for the State Railways company, detained on September 24, 1973; Jorge Rogelio Marín Rossel, 19 years old, secretary of the Socialist Party Youth in Iquique and worked as an Emporchi official, detained on September 28, 1973; Marcelino Lamas Largo, 23 years old, kidnapped on two occasions by agents of the dictatorship's intelligence services.

The second episode occurred after Christmas 1974, being transferred to the Iquique Customs Post; Rolando de La Cruz Silva López, 21 years old. The last time he was seen was at the Colorado Station.

Source: pjud.cl 4/29/2025

Specialized teams search for victims of forced disappearance in Pisagua, in the context of proceedings that are part of the National Search Plan

They will be developed at different points in the locality of Pisagua, seeking to clarify the final destination of a dozen victims of forced disappearance by State agents between September and October 1973.

During the civil-military dictatorship (1973-1990), Pisagua became a center for the detention, execution, and disappearance of political prisoners, as the National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture – Valech Report managed to establish and accredit.

For this reason, during this week, proceedings are being carried out in that place in the context of the National Search Plan for Truth and Justice, a State policy implemented in August 2023, whose executing body is the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.

There are four places that are being worked on by specialized teams from ministries and related services, who, under the coordination of the Human Rights Program and the direction of the minister in extraordinary visit for human rights violation cases, Sergio Troncoso, are advancing in the investigation of the final whereabouts of at least 13 victims.

"The proceeding that we are carrying out this week, in particular in Iquique and here in Pisagua, arises from certain accounts that have been collected by the human rights program and also through the work of the families' groups. These accounts give an account of possible sites of interest where we could find the remains of disappeared persons," explains the visiting judge.

The places in question are the former Municipal Car Lot of Iquique, the former Customs Station, the campsite, and the theater of Pisagua. The first sites are associated with case File 27-2024 and the second with case File 402-2023.

In both cases, and through the Undersecretariat of Human Rights, the Human Rights Program has filed criminal complaints against those who may be responsible for the crimes of illegal inhumation and exhumation of the victims who have remained disappeared since September and October 1973.

This was confirmed by the Regional Ministerial Secretary (Seremi) of Justice and Human Rights of Tarapacá, Pablo Valenzuela Ramírez, who accompanied and highlighted the proceedings that are being carried out. "In the context of the National Search Plan, as a public policy promoted by the Government of our President Gabriel Boric, and which is intended to reconstruct the trajectories of those people who were victims of forced disappearance during the dictatorship, these search proceedings are being carried out regarding people who were disappeared during the civil-military dictatorship."

The Seremi added that "these proceedings, which are being led by the Visiting Judge Mr. Sergio Troncoso, are carried out in coordination with the Human Rights Program of our Ministry, as well as with the Legal Medical Service, PDI (Investigative Police), and Sernageomin.

The most important thing is that we have the presence of the relatives of these victims of forced disappearance, who have had a preponderant participation, both in the development of the National Search Plan and in its application."

The participation of the families has been constant in the proceedings of the National Search Plan and, in the case of Pisagua, fifteen relatives have accompanied the search teams.

This is the case of Leyla Nash – sister of Michel, a 19-year-old conscript murdered for refusing to execute detainees – who is part of the Association of Relatives of Political Executed and Forcibly Disappeared Persons of Iquique, Pisagua, and Santiago.

She also belongs to the Porfiria Collective of Memory of Recoleta, "which focuses on keeping alive the memory of our executed and disappeared relatives," she points out.

For Leyla, the proceeding being carried out "gives a lot of hope. Finding any of our own in this place is very important. It doesn't matter who is found; it is fundamental to be able to begin the mourning for the families... the last time I saw my brother was on April 19, 1973, when he came to do his military service in Iquique.

Our farewell was the most natural thing in the world, we said to each other, 'okay, see you, bye.'"

"In the past, search work was carried out, but places were left uninvestigated and others are new, which come from judicial or extrajudicial testimonies. We also have information about executions in certain places or information from people about inhumations," contextualizes Pablo Fuenzalida, head of the Legal Area of the Human Rights Program.

AFEPI AND ITS HISTORIC STRUGGLE

The Association of Relatives of Political Executed and Forcibly Disappeared Persons of Iquique and Pisagua, AFEPI, has waged a historic struggle in the search for their loved ones. The president of this organization is Héctor Marín Rossel, who lost his brother Jorge, 19 years old, in a fake armed confrontation at the Telecommunications Regiment, where the Armored Cavalry School stands today.

In that same setup, and having shared the journey of torture, William Millar Sanhueza, 42 years old, was also murdered.

MUNICIPAL LOT AND CUSTOMS

The case associated with the Former Municipal Car Lot of Iquique and the former Customs Station was filed against those responsible for the crimes of illegal inhumation and exhumation of nine victims, all kidnapped and transferred to the Pisagua concentration camp, their whereabouts unknown to this day. They are:

• Manuel Heriberto Araya Zavala, 29 years old.

Artisanal fisherman and taxi driver detained at his home on October 5, 1973. One month later, the family received the last letter.

• Henry Francisco Torres Flores, 16 years old,

worked as a loader. He was detained in July 1974 together with his friend Hugo Eugenio Martínez Martínez. The last news of the adolescent corresponds to a letter dated July 23, 1974, missives that were allegedly written by his friend Hugo Martínez, since Henry did not know how to write.

• Juan Francisco Jiménez Vidal, 42 years old,

Customs official from Valparaíso, presented himself voluntarily on September 13, 1973, before the military authorities. While deprived of liberty, the local press of Iquique reported that on September 29, 1973, "six extremists" had been killed in the Pisagua camp while trying to flee; one of them was Juan Francisco.

• Michel Selim Nash Sáez, 19 years old,

who was serving his military service in Iquique, was discharged and arrested on September 11, 1973, being transferred to the Pisagua concentration camp, where a fake escape law was applied to him.

• Nolberto Jesús Cañas Cañas, 48 years old,

socialist militant and comptroller of the Northern Fishing Complex. He was detained in Iquique and, like most political prisoners, transferred to the Telecommunications Regiment and from there to the Pisagua Prisoner Camp. He was executed after a fake escape law.

• Rodolfo Jacinto Fuenzalida Fernández, 43 years old,

civil pilot. He was detained on September 11, 1973, and, after passing through different centers, was allegedly executed in the Pisagua concentration camp.

• Juan Antonio Ruz Díaz, 32 years old,

Customs official in Iquique. He presented himself voluntarily to the Telecommunications Regiment and was then allegedly executed in the Pisagua concentration camp.

• José Demóstenes Sampson Ocaranza, 33 years old,

was a public relations officer for the Iquique Municipality. He presented himself voluntarily to the Iquique Carabineros on September 21, 1973, being confined in various detention centers to then be executed in the Pisagua concentration camp.

• Freddy Marcelo Taberna Gallegos, 30 years old,

was director of the Regional Planning Office (ORPLAN, currently MIDEPLAN) in the city of Iquique. He presented himself voluntarily on September 16, 1973, at the Telecommunications Regiment, his last known news being that he was executed in an illegal War Council on October 29, 1973, in Pisagua.

Regarding the second case, the crimes of illegal inhumation and exhumation were allegedly committed to the detriment of four victims, all kidnapped in the current province of Iquique:

• Williams Robert Millar Sanhueza, 42 years old,

detained on September 24, 1973. Father of 5 children, he was a worker for the State Railways company. He was a union leader and a militant of the Socialist Party. He was detained on September 16, 1973, at his home and released.

On the 24th of the same month, he was summoned via a Military Communiqué, presenting himself at his work. From there he was transferred to the Investigations Barracks and then to the Telecommunications Regiment, from where his trail was lost.

• Jorge Rogelio Marín Rossel, 19 years old,

detained on September 28, 1973. He held the position of Secretary of the Socialist Party Youth in Iquique and worked as an Emporchi official. He was married and had a small daughter just 3 months old.

• Marcelino Lamas Largo, 23 years old,

kidnapped on two occasions by agents of the dictatorship's intelligence services. The second episode occurred after Christmas 1974, being transferred to the Iquique Customs Post, where the last news was had.

• Rolando de La Cruz Silva López, 21 years old.

The last time he was seen was at the Colorado Station. The history of the judicial process indicates that after the discovery of a charred body in 1974, it was pointed out that it was Silva López, and unknown subjects had buried him in a hasty manner. To this day, his family does not know his whereabouts.

THE FIRST DISCOVERY

Historic was the discovery registered on June 2, 1990. The then-judge Nelson Muñoz and a volunteer team managed to find 19 bodies in a mass grave in the surroundings of the Pisagua cemetery. In addition to other remains contained in the so-called "bag No. 20."

The images of the discovery were widely disseminated. The families who gathered at the offices of the Legal Medical Service were able to quickly identify the following victims:

• Manuel Eduardo Sanhueza Mellado
• Nicolás Chanez Chanez
• Tomás Orlando Cabello Cabello
• Luis Manríquez Wilde
• Juan Orlando Rojas Osega
• Hugo Tomás Martínez Guillén
• Alberto Amador Yáñez Carvajal
• Luis Alberto Toro Castillo
• Nelson José Márquez Agusto
• Germán Elidio Palominos Lamas
• Juan Apolinario Mamani García
• José Rufino Cordova Croxatto
• Juan Valencia Hinojosa
• Julio César Cabezas Gacitúa
• Mario Morris Barrios
• Humberto Lizardo Flores
• Luis Alberto Lizardi Lizardi
• Marcelo Omar Guzmán Fuentes
• Juan Efraín Calderón Villalón

Source: edicioncero.cl 4/25/2025