MANUEL JESUS TAMAYO MARTINEZ

On April 3, 1976, Luis MUÑOZ VELASQUEZ, former Secretary of the San Bernardo Section of the PS and candidate for Alderman, Juan Humberto HERNANDEZ ZASPE, former President of the Federation of Industrial and Technical Students (FEITECH), and Manuel Jesús TAMAYO MARTINEZ, a sociologist and socialist leader who worked closely with the members of his party's Central Committee, acting as a "liaison" between Carlos Lorca, Ricardo Lagos—also forcibly disappeared—and another socialist faction, were detained along with other Chileans on a public street in Mendoza.

The three were friends and had arrived in Argentina during the course of 1974, leaving Chile where they were persecuted for political reasons. They worked together at the "Modernflood company" in Mendoza and were in charge of reorganizing a Socialist Coordinating Committee, participating in activities of the so-called PS Consensus Commission.

According to several eyewitnesses, the military operation involved joint forces from the Argentine Federal Police and DINA agents. There is testimony that the three detainees were transported by land from Mendoza to Villa Grimaldi at the end of April 1976.

The Commission estimates that the three socialist detainees were forcibly disappeared while in the power of their captors, DINA agents, in Chile, in violation of their human rights.

Source: (Rettig Report)

Manuel Tamayo Martínez was born on May 6, 1951, and was the second child of Manuel and Juana. He completed his primary education at the Salvador Sanfuentes Experimental School, across from the Quinta Normal.

He spent much of his childhood with his family in that old Santiago neighborhood. The family home was in the vicinity of the Lourdes Church, a solemn site that seemed to overwhelm Manuel, contrasting with the bustle and joy of the families, vendors, and couples in love who filled the meadows and parks of the Quinta Normal.

Fond of sports and diligent in his school performance, he attended secondary school at the Liceo Darío Salas, an establishment where, between 1968 and 1969, he became one of the leaders of its Student Center.

Given the natural influence of his family, who had always sympathized with the left (his grandfather Juan had personally suffered the rigors of persecution during the government of González Videla), it was not strange that Manuel decided to join the ranks of the JS at his high school.

Between Lenin and Elton John Amidst the rising social struggles and the effervescence of the final years of the Frei Montalva administration, Manuel made time to read and study authors such as Lenin, Sartre, and Maritain, without neglecting his school performance.

His friends from that time remember him as a rather withdrawn boy who liked the music of Elton John and The Beatles, and who did not hide his confidence in the progress of the popular movement, especially following the enthusiasm generated by the candidacy of Dr.

Salvador Allende. Toward the beginning of the 1970s, Manuel's family moved to the south-eastern area of Santiago, in the current commune of Macul. Because of this, Manuel transferred his militancy to the party activist group in that sector, attached to the leadership of the Cordillera Regional.

From there, he worked actively on the presidential campaign of the Unidad Popular. Two simultaneous degrees in Concepción Upon graduating and reaching the age of majority, he traveled to Concepción, where he studied two degrees at the same time at its traditional university: Sociology and Commercial Engineering.

There, he met a large contingent of young socialists who had moved to that city to strengthen the presence of the UP and the JS in a campus that until then had appeared as an exclusive stronghold of the MIR.

On September 9, 1973, Manuel traveled to Santiago to attend his sister Iris's wedding, and was unable to return to Concepción. Those were tense days, and the only thing driving him was the concern to return to the capital of the Biobío region and find out the situation of the comrades he was associated with at the university.

After confirming the complicated situation in the capital of the Biobío region, where many of his friends had been forced to abandon their homes and evacuate the city, Manuel dedicated himself to arranging the arrival in Santiago of several of his comrades in distress, while he began to collaborate with the support teams for leader Ricardo Lagos Salinas, a member of the PS Central Committee who had immediately gone into hiding.

Rafael Merino, son of the then-regional secretary of the PS in Concepción, was one of the militants whom Manuel located and sheltered in the capital. Merino and Lagos Salinas were being subjected to an implacable hunt after the coup-supporting press identified them as responsible for "Plan Zeta" in the Concepción area.

In clandestine work In the tasks aimed at the reorganization of the party, Manuel also connected with the Commission for Consensus, through his friendship with Luis Muñoz, acting as a liaison between that structure and the PS Directorate, which included Exequiel Ponce, Carlos Lorca, and Ricardo Lagos Salinas.

But by the beginning of 1976, several of his party contacts had been detained, leaving him momentarily cut off and without much information regarding the real scope of the wave of repression that had been affecting PS teams and structures since the middle of the previous year.

Rejecting the possibility of asylum, Manuel made the decision to cross into Mendoza, where he arrived on March 12, 1976. His friends Luis Muñoz and Juan Hernández were waiting for him there. They, however, were facing serious security difficulties: the intelligence services of the Southern Cone were already coordinated under Operation Condor, and the sinister task forces of the Argentine armed forces were closely following their movements.

In the first days of April, the three friends presented themselves at the Mendoza Delegation of the Social Action Coordinating Office, requesting to be recognized as refugees. To process this status, the officials asked them to return the following day.

What follows is already known history: Manuel and his two friends were detained in the middle of a heavy operation by military and security personnel. On April 25, 1976, Rafael del Río Carrasco, Manuel's brother-in-law, received an unsettling phone call from a woman who did not identify herself, who stated that the young man was detained in Chile, in a place called "Monte Maravilla," without giving further details, arguing that she could not continue speaking because the communications were tapped.

Before hanging up, she managed to tell them that along with Manuel was also the MIR leader Edgardo Enríquez, brother of the general secretary of the MIR and detained in another Operation Condor operation.

At that moment, the name meant nothing, but with the passage of time, human rights organizations and officials of the Investigative Police have collected evidence that Monte Maravilla is the name of one of the properties of Colonia Dignidad, to which, as has been judicially proven, political prisoners were transferred from Villa Grimaldi and from some cities and towns near the mysterious enclave.

Precisely, a civilian who collaborated actively with the DINA, Juan Muñoz Alarcón (who would be known as "The Hooded Man of the National Stadium"), acknowledged in an extensive statement before the Vicaría de la Solidaridad his time at Colonia Dignidad, a place where he received instruction "to hunt people." In his extensive statement, he said he knew that there were a total of 142 forcibly disappeared persons in Dignidad, and he recognized Manuel Tamayo Martínez among them.

At the time of his detention, Manuel was 24 years old.

Source: pschile.cl undated

Minister Carroza sentences 20 former DINA agents for homicides and qualified kidnappings. Operation Condor Case.

In the case, Minister Carroza acquitted 32 other former DINA agents due to a lack of evidence of their participation in the events. The visiting minister for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, sentenced twenty former members of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for their responsibility in the crimes of kidnapping and qualified homicide of victims of the coordinated action of South American intelligence services in the 1970s, known as Operation Condor.

In his ruling, the presiding Minister sentenced agents Cristoph Georg Willeke Floel and Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann to 17 years of effective imprisonment, as authors of the repeated crime of qualified kidnapping of: Jorge Isaac Fuentes Alarcón, Julio del Tránsito Valladares Caroca, Juan Humberto Hernández Zazpe, Manuel Jesús Tamayo Martínez, Luis Gonzalo Muñoz Velásquez, Alexei Vladimir Jaccard Siegler, and Héctor Heraldo Velásquez Mardones; and as authors of the crime of qualified homicide of: Ricardo Ignacio Ramírez Herrera, Jacobo Stoulman Bortnik, Matilde Pessa Mois, Hernán Soto Gálvez, and Ruiter Enrique Correa Arce. In the case, Minister Mario Carroza also sentenced: -Juan Hernán Morales Salgado to 15 years and one day in prison, as an indirect author of the crime of qualified kidnapping of Alexei Vladimir Jaccard Siegler and Héctor Heraldo Velásquez Mardones; and as an indirect author of the crime of qualified homicide of Ricardo Ignacio Ramírez Herrera, Jacobo Stoulnian Bortnik, and Matilde Pessa Mois; -Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo to 15 years and one day in prison, as the author of the repeated crimes of qualified kidnapping of Julio del Tránsito Valladares Caroca, Juan Humberto Hernández Zazpe, Manuel Jesús Tamayo Martínez, Luis Gonzalo Muñoz Velásquez, Alexei Vladimir Jaccard Siegler, and Héctor Heraldo Velásquez Mardones; and as the author of the crime of qualified homicide of Ricardo Ignacio Ramírez Herrera, Jacobo Stoulman Bortnik, Matilde Pessa Mois, Hernán Soto Gálvez, and Ruiter Enrique Correa Arce; -Jorge Marcelo Escobar Fuentes, Federico Humberto Chaigneau Sepúlveda, and Miguel René Riveros Valderrama must serve 15 years and one day in prison, as indirect authors of the repeated crimes of qualified kidnapping of Alexei Vladimir Jaccard Siegler and Héctor Heraldo Velásquez Mardones; and as indirect authors of the crime of qualified homicide of Ricardo Ignacio Ramírez Herrera, Jacobo Stoulman Bortnik, Matilde Pessa Mois, Hernán Soto Gálvez, and Ruiter Enrique Correa Arce; -Gladys de las Mercedes Calderón Carreño must serve 10 years and one day in prison, as the author of the repeated crimes of qualified kidnapping of Alexei Vladimir Jaccard Siegler and Héctor Heraldo Velásquez Mardones; and as the author of the qualified homicides of Ricardo Ignacio Ramírez Herrera, Jacobo Stoulman Bortnik, Matilde Pessa Mois, Hernán Soto Gálvez, and Ruiter Enrique Correa Arce; -Carlos José Leonardo López Tapia was sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison, as the author of the repeated crime of qualified kidnapping of Juan Humberto Hernández Zazpe, Manuel Jesús Tamayo Martínez, and Luis Gonzalo Muñoz Velásquez; -José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Eduardo Alejandro Oyarce Riquelme, and Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya must serve 7 years in prison, as authors of the repeated crime of qualified kidnapping of Alexei Vladimir Jaccard Siegler and Héctor Heraldo Velásquez Mardones; and as authors of the crime of qualified homicide of Ricardo Ignacio Ramírez Herrera, Jacobo Stoulman Bortnik, and Matilde Pessa Mois; -Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko and Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García will serve 5 years and one day in prison, as authors of the crime of qualified kidnapping of Jorge Isaac Fuentes Alarcón; -Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez and Orlando José Manzo Durán must serve 5 years and one day in prison, as authors of the crime of qualified kidnapping of Julio del Tránsito Valladares Caroca; -Jerónimo del Carmen Neira Méndez, Hermón Helec Alfaro Mundaca, and Juan Ángel Urbina Cáceres were sentenced to 301 days in prison, with the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence, as accomplices to the crime of qualified kidnapping of Jorge Isaac Fuentes Alarcón, and -Manuel Rivas Díaz, to 100 days in prison, with the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence, as an accomplice to the crime of qualified kidnapping of Jorge Isaac Fuentes Alarcón. In the case, Minister Carroza acquitted 32 other former DINA agents due to a lack of evidence of their participation in the events.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl 9/22/2018

Date: 09-22-2018

TRIBUTES TO THOSE FORCIBLY DISAPPEARED 42 YEARS AGO IN OPERATION CONDOR

On Saturday, April 21, at 7:30 PM, a meeting for memory will be held at the Museum of Memory in tribute to the fighters who fell during the dictatorship. Furthermore, on Sunday, April 22, at 11:00 AM, at Villa Grimaldi, a cultural social act will be held in tribute to the three forcibly disappeared persons.

They are: Juan Hernández Zaspe, President of the Federation of Industrial and Technical Students of Chile (FEITECH); Luis Muñoz Velásquez, accountant, former student leader from Puente Alto and socialist leader in San Bernardo; and Manuel Tamayo Martínez, former leader of industrial students, student of sociology and commercial engineering at the University of Concepción.

On April 3, 1976, within the framework of "Operation Condor," the DINA and the Argentine Federal Police in Mendoza (where the DINA had a barracks) kidnapped the three young socialists with a large armed deployment that occupied the adjacent streets.

Witnesses to this were José Cerda, Alex Muñoz, and Cecilia Muñoz. They took them to the Maipo regiment in Mendoza. At night, they transported them to Chile through the Los Libertadores border crossing in a truck with a canvas cover.

They handed them over to the Cuatro Álamos torture camp. In the morning, they transferred them to the Villa Grimaldi torture and extermination center. Juan Feres Nazarala was in the same cell block, separated by wooden partitions from Luis Muñoz.

Upon being released, he informed the president of the Chilean Commission for Human Rights, Jaime Castillo Velasco, about those kidnapped in Mendoza. Judge Mario Carroza issued indictments 26 months ago against 29 genocidaires for qualified kidnapping.

Currently, in the Operation Condor case, the Constitutional Court (a body with a Pinochetist and Piñerist majority) not only arbitrarily modifies the decisions of the legislative power regarding Sernac, health, and education, but also hinders the function of the courts as part of the impunity and protection of genocidaires, to delay the processing of criminal cases, requesting suspension without any legal basis and keeping the investigation and ruling of cases in the courts of justice paralyzed for months and years.

In the trials in Argentina in the Operation Condor case, the genocidaires are sentenced in common prisons and without privileges. Juan, Luis, and Manuel were part of a generation that collaborated in a transformative project and resisted the oppressive tyranny.

Their legacy of dedication and sacrifice, in an unequal historical combat, took the side of humanity. Our comrades are not just history but the present. We will not allow them to be ignored or forgotten.

Their rebellion was a creative action and one of builders of conscience, and they were committed to socialism; they had solid values, principles, and ideals. They dedicated and offered their lives to social transformation, and for that, they were persecuted. They are heirs of Allendism, and their struggle deserves all our tributes.

BY RICARDO KLAPP SANTA CRUZ

Source: cronicadigital.cl 4/18/2018

Date: 04-18-2018

39 YEARS SINCE ONE OF THE STRIKES OF OPERATION CONDOR

In a joint operation by the Argentine Federal Police and agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), three young Chilean socialists were detained and transported to Villa Grimaldi, the last place where they were seen alive.

This Sunday, April 19, the Truth and Justice Center will pay tribute to them at 10:30 AM at the Park for Peace. This month marks 39 years since the detention in Mendoza, Argentina, of three young men who were transported to Chile within the framework of Operation Condor, the coordination of the repressive agencies of the dictatorships of the Southern Cone of Latin America in the 70s.

They are Luis Muñoz Velásquez, Juan Humberto Hernández Zazpe, and Manuel Jesús Tamayo Martínez, who were kidnapped on April 3, 1976, made to cross the Andes Mountains, and then held in the former Terranova Barracks of the DINA.

The facts were judicially proven and were one of the reasons, among others, that the Santiago Court of Appeals had to approve the stripping of immunity of Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, a ruling made known on July 5, 2004.

The young men were arrested in front of number 1270 of Belgrano Street, in Mendoza, "by groups of the Argentine Federal Police and DINA agents." They were "placed handcuffed into a truck that drove away from the site of the detention, followed by two cars with Chilean license plates.

Relatives of the detainees made efforts with the trans-Andean authorities without obtaining results, but they were informed that they had been sent to Chile," the ruling stated. The three were apprehended in a deployment that included the occupation of the adjacent streets.

At the date of their detention, Muñoz was 28 years old, Hernández 24, and Tamayo 25. Transported to Chile in the back of a truck Juan Feres Nazarala, a MAPU militant who was detained on April 15, 1976, by DINA agents and taken to Villa Grimaldi, spoke with Luis Muñoz and learned that the other two socialist militants were inside the facility.

Muñoz confirmed to him that Manuel Tamayo and Juan Hernández were also at Villa Grimaldi. He commented that he was in terrible conditions, that he had been tortured, and that he had been kidnapped in Mendoza along with his two comrades and transported to Chile, handcuffed and hidden in the back of a truck.

In those brief conversations, he said that at the Argentine and Chilean border crossings, the police made jokes regarding the cargo they were carrying in the vehicle. They exchanged personal data and references of their respective families, in case either of them regained their freedom.

The MAPU member managed to be released, handing the data to lawyer Jaime Castillo Velasco, who in turn gave it to Luis's relatives. Monte Maravilla, one of the properties of Colonia Dignidad It is known that Manuel Muñoz worked until before leaving Chile on tasks of reorganizing the Socialist Party and connected with the Commission for Consensus, acting as a liaison between that structure and the PS Directorate, which included Exequiel Ponce, Carlos Lorca, and Ricardo Lagos Salinas, the latter all being forcibly disappeared.

In Argentina, he had the mission of channeling economic resources to send to Chile and support the activity of that structure. In December 1975, Juan Hernández returned to Chile for a few days and went back to the trans-Andean city on January 7, 1976.

Days later, he requested political asylum in Argentina. In Santiago, meanwhile, his parents' house was raided by DINA agents, who stated that they were looking for Juan for being "a dangerous element," as he "worked against the government from Argentina." From the trans-Andean country, he sent some letters to his family, commenting that he was being watched and followed by unknown civilians.

On April 25, 1976, Rafael del Río Carrasco, Manuel Tamayo's brother-in-law, received a phone call from a woman who did not identify herself, who stated that the young man was detained in Chile, in a place called "Monte Maravilla," without giving further details, arguing that she could not continue speaking because the communications were tapped.

Before hanging up, she managed to tell them that along with Manuel was also the MIR leader Edgardo Enríquez, brother of the general secretary of the MIR and detained in another Operation Condor operation.

Subsequently, human rights organizations and officials of the Investigative Police collected evidence that Monte Maravilla is the name of one of the properties of Colonia Dignidad, a place to which political prisoners were transferred from Villa Grimaldi and from some cities and towns near the mysterious enclave. Sources: Judiciary, PS Chile website memorial.

Source: cronicadigital.cl 4/11/2015

Date: 04-11-2015

MANUEL JESÚS TAMAYO MARTÍNEZ

Manuel Tamayo Martínez was born on May 6, 1951, and was the second child of Manuel and Juana. He completed his primary education at the Escuela Experimental Salvador Sanfuentes, located across from the Quinta Normal.

He spent much of his childhood with his family in that old Santiago neighborhood. The family home was in the vicinity of the Iglesia de Lourdes, a solemn site that seemed to overwhelm Manuel, contrasting with the bustle and joy of the families, vendors, and couples in love who populated the lawns and parks of the Quinta Normal.

Fond of sports and diligent in his academic performance, he completed his secondary education at the Liceo Darío Salas, an institution where, between 1968 and 1969, he became one of the leaders of the Student Council.

Given the natural influence of his family, who had always been sympathizers of the left (his grandfather Juan had personally suffered the rigors of persecution during the government of González Videla), it was not surprising that Manuel decided to join the ranks of the JS (Socialist Youth) at his high school.

On April 3, 1976, Luis MUÑOZ VELASQUEZ, Juan Humberto HERNANDEZ ZASPE, and Manuel Jesús TAMAYO MARTINEZ were kidnapped on a public street in Mendoza, Argentina.

They had arrived in Argentina in 1974, fleeing political persecution in Chile, and were working together at the company "Modernflood." Joint forces of the Argentine Federal Police and DINA agents participated in the operation.

Subsequently, there is testimony that they were taken to Villa Grimaldi in Chile. The Commission concludes that the three socialist detainees were forcibly disappeared by the DINA in Chile, in violation of their human rights.

MAQUI

Aristotelia chilensis The Maqui is a tree considered a symbol of peaceful and benevolent intention for the Mapuche people. For this reason, honoring our ancestral roots, it is included in this commemoration ceremony 50 years after the Coup d'État, representing each of the people who suffered during the Dictatorship at Irán 3037 and in the commune of Macul, as an element of healing and a symbol of peace.

It is an evergreen tree or shrub native to Chile, reaching 3 to 4 meters in height. Its flowers are small and yellowish. Its fruit is a dark, shiny violet berry; it is edible and has a sweet flavor. It prefers humid and shady places to live.

However, it tolerates different types of soil and can be planted in full sun, requiring moderate watering, adapting to the conditions of its environment. It is a noble species for combating soil erosion.

It is considered a medicinal plant with anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, astringent, and analgesic properties, making it effective for relieving, for example: sore throats, tonsillitis, wound healing, and diarrhea. The fresh juice of the leaves can be used either internally or topically.

Source: iran3037.cl 2023

Victims of Chile: Hernández Zaspe, Tamayo Martínez, and Muñoz Velásquez

Case Description

Honorable judges: we will now describe what happened to three Chilean citizens, members of the Socialist Party of that country.

Juan Humberto Hernández Zaspe, Chilean, 23 years old at the time of the events, had been a member of the Socialist Party since he was very young. He was president of the Federation of Secondary Students (FEITECH) and, as a representative, traveled to different regions and countries.

Following the 1973 coup d'état in Chile, the leadership of the Socialist Youth went underground. After the arrest of most of them in September 1975, Hernández Zaspe left the country to ensure his safety. Thus, he settled in the Argentine city of Mendoza, where he reunited with two of his party comrades, Manuel Jesús Tamayo Martínez and Luis Gonzalo Muñoz Velásquez.

Manuel Jesús Tamayo Martínez also belonged to the Socialist Party from his youth. In the neighborhood, he met Hernández Zaspe, with whom he formed a deep friendship, as they were not only neighbors but also shared political affinities.

Due to the establishment of the dictatorial regime, both he and his family suffered intense persecution, which led him to go into exile in Argentina at the beginning of 1976. He planned to continue his journey to Ecuador but settled first in the city of Mendoza.

Luis Gonzalo Muñoz Velázquez belonged to a family with strong ties to the Socialist Party. Following the coup d'état, many of them were persecuted, suffered raids, and were imprisoned by the dictatorship, which forced them to leave their country and, as refugees, they settled, in principle, in Argentina.

Luis, who was detained in Chile for a brief period in 1975, initially fled to the Misiones city of Posadas, where his parents were also located, but later, in the first months of 1976, he moved to Mendoza with his brother Alex and his sister-in-law.

Unlike the rest of his family, he did not request refugee status from the UNHCR until he arrived in Mendoza, as he always maintained the intention of being able to re-enter his country.

In Mendoza, Hernández and Tamayo lived together in an apartment on Calle Belgrano, while Muñoz lived in another, on the same street, with his brother Alex, his sister-in-law, and another Chilean refugee, José Cerda.

With the goal of redirecting the resistance and forming a Socialist Party coordinating committee, Hernández, Tamayo, and Muñoz continued their political activities from Mendoza, regrouping other compatriots who had also escaped the Chilean dictatorship.

Between December 1975 and January 1976, Hernández Zaspe traveled to Chile to visit his family. Once back in Mendoza, the DINA raided the family home in Chile on several occasions. Insistently, and despite knowing that he was in the city of Mendoza and continuing his political activity from there, they appeared demanding the presence of Juan Humberto, who planned to return to Chile for a visit in March, but the pressure of the repressive forces stalking him once again thwarted his project.

In Mendoza, they suffered similar pressure.

Let us recall the particular harassment that Chilean citizens faced in that city from the local police. Furthermore, personnel from the Chilean DINA circulated permanently through the city streets, monitoring the movements of their compatriots.

This circumstance forced them to approach the local UNHCR representative to request asylum. There, they were told they should present themselves again on April 5, 1976, to continue the process, but they never arrived.

On April 3, 1976, Hernández Zaspe, Tamayo Martínez, and Muñoz Velázquez were kidnapped on a public street on Calle Belgrano in the Argentine city of Mendoza. This city, as we know, was within the jurisdiction of Area 332, under the command of the Director of the Liceo Militar General Espejo based in that city.

Around 5:30 PM, while walking along Calle Belgrano, they were surprised and subdued by a group of men. Some of them, belonging to the Argentine Army, were in uniform and traveling in a truck from that force. Others, dressed in civilian clothes, traveled in private cars identified with Argentine and Chilean license plates; among them were local police personnel and Chilean DINA agents.

Hernández, Tamayo, and Muñoz were violently placed against a wall, searched, beaten, and then forced into the military truck. Muñoz stood up inside the vehicle, the bed of which had no canvas cover, and raised his arms to draw the attention of passersby. But they threw him to the floor of the truck. They set off and took them to one of the Military Units located in Parque San Martín.

That same night, in the back of a pickup truck, they were transferred to Chile. There, they were taken first to the clandestine detention center (CCD) known as "Cuatro Álamos," located in the city of Santiago, and then housed in the CCD "Villa Grimaldi," on the outskirts of the city, where they were savagely tortured.

It was at the Villa Grimaldi CCD where they were last seen. Juan Humberto Hernández Zaspe, Manuel Jesús Tamayo Martínez, and Luis Gonzalo Muñoz Velásquez remain forcibly disappeared to this day.

The Muñoz Velásquez family became aware of what happened immediately, as one of his brothers witnessed the operation and notified their relatives in Chile so they could take action.

For its part, the Hernández Zaspe family found out a few days later, when Flor, Luis's sister, traveled to Mendoza and met Jorge Quesada, her brother's friend, at her brother's home. He told her what had happened and recommended that she return to Chile, as he feared the house was being watched.

Furthermore, worried about not having news of him, they wrote to a relative, who, after some inquiries, confirmed that Juan Humberto had been detained in Mendoza and handed over to Chilean forces by the Argentine authorities.

The Tamayo Martínez family also learned of the detention a few days after it happened, as in addition to the news brought by Flor Hernández Zaspe from Mendoza, they received a call that alerted them.

Since then, the three families attempted to file complaints and take steps to find their loved ones, but none of them yielded results. Both the Argentine and Chilean authorities denied information regarding their whereabouts.

Evidence The facts related are supported by abundant testimonial and documentary evidence incorporated into the debate.

Flor Hernández Zaspe, Juan Humberto's sister, testified in this debate regarding her brother's political affiliation and the persecution he suffered for that reason. She recounted the circumstances of her brother's exile in Mendoza and added that they always maintained fluid contact through correspondence.

She gave an account of the visit she made to the family home in Chile between December 1977 and the first days of January 1978, and the raids they suffered once her brother returned to Mendoza. In this sense, she related that the first few times they did not identify themselves, but by the third opportunity, they introduced themselves as members of the DINA and, after demanding Juan Humberto's presence, stated they knew he was in the city of Mendoza working against the Chilean dictatorship.

It is clear that this information came from the coordinated intelligence tasks that the Argentine and Chilean repressive forces were carrying out.

Flor Hernández Zaspe concluded that if the Chilean repressors already had that information, the reason for appearing at her home was to collect more data on her brother, such as activities or relationships he had in Mendoza.

She also concluded that the Chilean intelligence directorate operated in a coordinated manner with other military organizations in Latin America in search of their opponents, a point that has been proven in this trial.

Flor Hernández Zaspe claimed to have warned her brother about these raids and the information the repressors had, all of which motivated the cancellation of his next visit to Chile. In this regard, she added that once her brother Juan Humberto disappeared in Argentina, the DINA did not return to look for him at his home in Chile.

Regarding the kidnapping operation, Flor Hernández related the circumstances in which it occurred, all of which she was able to reconstruct based on the account of Chilean witnesses who witnessed it and who were also based in Mendoza.

In this sense, she explained that in the second week of April 1976, she traveled to Mendoza and met a young Chilean at her brother's house. He told her how Luis had been detained on a public street along with Muñoz Velázquez and Tamayo. Furthermore, she added that the young man recommended that they not file any complaint and return to Chile soon, as the situation in Mendoza was very difficult.

Flor Hernández Zaspe also remembered Manuel Jesús Tamayo Martínez, whom she knew from being friends in the neighborhood in Chile.

Honorable judges: in this room, we have also heard from Manuel Tamayo's siblings, Juan Jorge and Adriana Iris Tamayo Martínez. Both referred to their brother's political trajectory and related the persecution he was subjected to in his country.

Particularly, Juan Tamayo described the relationship that united him with Juan Humberto Hernández Zaspe, with whom he shared political participation in the Socialist Party and with whom he had also lived in the city of Mendoza for a time.

Having also lived in that city, Juan Tamayo recalled the presence of Chilean DINA personnel on the streets of Mendoza and the insecurity this caused for Chilean refugees.

Both Juan and Adriana Tamayo recalled the way they learned about the disappearance of their brother Manuel in Mendoza and the difficulties they had in taking action.

For his part, Alex Muñoz Velázquez, brother of Luis Gonzalo, referred to his brother's political trajectory and the persecution he was subjected to in Chile. He related his transfer to our country and the place where they settled in the city of Mendoza.

In the debate, José Cerda Herrera also provided testimony; he knew Luis Gonzalo Muñoz Velázquez from Chile and reunited with him in the Argentine city of Mendoza, where both had escaped due to the persecution in their country.

He recalled that it was there that he met Juan Humberto Hernández Zaspe and Manuel Jesús Tamayo Martínez and that together, the four of them worked to regroup the Chilean exiles of the party. Although he referred to the meetings, he clarified that for security reasons, they did not know the activities of the others.

Regarding the persecution in the city of Mendoza, Cerda Herrera recalled the presence of Chilean intelligence personnel who infiltrated the exiles, and that some even requested asylum from the UNHCR, but that this organization rejected them.

Honorable judges: Alex Muñoz, María Cecilia Muñoz, and José Cerda Herrera witnessed the kidnappings of Hernández Zaspe, Tamayo Martínez, and Muñoz Velásquez. In this hearing, the three agreed on the circumstances in which the operation occurred, which we have already described.

The first two clarified that they were able to recognize that it was Luis Muñoz Velázquez and his friends when he waved his arms inside the military truck, showing himself, and they could clearly see that he was wearing the clothes they themselves had lent him that day.

In particular, Alex Muñoz described the presence of Chilean personnel and vehicles; and María Muñoz clarified that she was able to recognize the Chilean personnel by their tone of voice.

The three also explained what the fate of the victims was, according to what they were able to reconstruct over time. Thus, the three affirmed that after their detentions, Hernández Zaspe, Muñoz Velázquez, and Tamayo Martínez were transferred from the city of Mendoza to Chile, where they were last seen at the CCD known as Villa Grimaldi.

In particular, Flor Hernández Zaspe referred to the correspondence they exchanged with a relative who, at that time, was Archbishop of Santa Fe, Vicente Hernández Zaspe, whom they asked for help to locate Juan Humberto.

He informed them that after his detention in Mendoza, his brother and his companions were handed over by the Argentine authorities to the Chilean forces and that he was in a "camp in Peñalolén." The witness added that years later she learned it was the "Villa Grimaldi" CCD; and that there were survivors of that Detention Center who remembered the arrival, from Argentina, of 3 prisoners who were in a very poor state of health.

In this sense, we have heard in this room from witnesses Gabriela Salazar and Juan Carlos Feres Nazarala, survivors of Chilean detention centers, who shared captivity with Hernández Zaspe, Tamayo Martínez, and Muñoz Velázquez and finish accrediting the clandestine transfers from the Argentine city of Mendoza to Chile.

Gabriela Salazar, a survivor of the Villa Grimaldi and Cuatro Álamos detention centers, recalled the arrival of three detainees at the latter place of confinement, which she described as a transit point for detainees.

She told this room that from the cell in which she was held, she could hear the newcomers asking the guards of the place to give them water and complaining of exhaustion from having been transferred from the city of Mendoza.

Salazar clarified that although she could not speak directly with them, she heard those moans and, years later, related what she experienced with what was known up to that moment about the fate of Hernández, Tamayo, and Muñoz.

She explained that due to the location of her cell, she could hear if the detainees who arrived were housed in Cuatro Álamos or if they were transferred immediately. That is why she asserted that the detained Muñoz, Hernández, and Tamayo did not enter the detention center, so they were transferred.

On the other hand, her testimony also illustrates the dimension of Condor and the interaction of Chile with the rest of the Southern Cone dictatorships, as she recalled other kidnapped persons who were transferred to Chile from other countries.

Added to Salazar's testimony is that of Juan Carlos Feres Nazarala, a survivor of the CCD located on the outskirts of the city of Santiago de Chile known as "Villa Grimaldi," who shared captivity with Luis Gonzalo Muñoz Velásquez.

Feres recalled that although he could not see him, they were able to talk. Thus, he was able to verify the deplorable physical state in which Muñoz was by the way he complained of pain. Feres concluded that, without a doubt, Muñoz had been tortured in that CCD.

Feres also reproduced in the hearing everything that Muñoz told him about the circumstances of his kidnapping in the city of Mendoza, the participation of Argentine and Chilean personnel in that procedure, and the transfer to Chile, by land, in the back of a pickup truck.

He also added that Muñoz detailed the complicity of the authorities of both countries when, at the time of the transfer, he heard them making jocular comments about the cargo they were transporting.

In addition to what Muñoz himself related about the presence of DINA personnel in the operation, Feres recalled that in the detention center there was an officer of that body who, interpreting the macabre role of the "good cop" and after not having visited him for six or seven days, appeared and offered him an Argentine-brand cigarette.

This officer told him that he had bought them recently in Argentina, where he had had to travel to carry out a mission.

Feres Nazarala explained that although in Villa Grimaldi he could not talk to or see Hernández Zaspe and Tamayo Martínez, he knew from Muñoz that they were also transferred to that CCD. He also explained that, judging by the deplorable physical state in which Muñoz was after having been tortured, it was possible that Hernández and Tamayo had died as a consequence of the torments received in that place.

Finally, Feres Nazarala recalled Muñoz's concern that his family did not know he was detained on Chilean soil and for that reason, as soon as he regained his freedom, he brought this circumstance to the attention of a lawyer who notified his family.

The evidentiary picture synthesized is reinforced by the abundant documentary evidence incorporated into this debate. Among it, we have the handwritten letters by Juan Humberto Hernández Zaspe, provided by his sister Flor when testifying at the hearing.

In them, the fluid communication he maintained with his family is evident. In addition to telling about his work activities, Hernández relates the harassment that Chileans suffered from the Argentine authorities. The last letter received is dated March 21, 1976, a few days before his kidnapping and disappearance.

Also incorporated are the records sent by the justice system of Mendoza, where the background information that both the Vicaría de la Solidaridad of Chile and the Mendoza regional office of the Ecumenical Movement for Human Rights had on these events was compiled.

Likewise, their disappearances are also the subject of investigation before the Chilean justice system within the framework of case no. 2182-98 "Operation Condor," some elements of which were sent via letters rogatory and incorporated into this debate.

Among them, we have the presentations and complaints formulated by the victims' relatives, who related the circumstances regarding the disappearance of their loved ones, in the same way they did in this hearing.

As we have already explained, here too, the deaths or removals of some defendants and the limitations of the investigative stage prevent us from making formal accusations against some of those responsible for these events.

For the moment, it is only appropriate to mention that for the illegal deprivation of liberty of Juan Humberto Hernández Zaspe, Carlos Horacio Tragant is charged, on which we will return when examining his responsibility.

Source: mpf.gob.ar undated