The arrest and subsequent disappearance of Manuel affected four generations of my family: my grandparents (deceased), my parents (deceased), his siblings, his wife, and his son. The suffering of my parents was indescribable; they passed away without knowing what happened to him.

Manuel began his militancy in the MIR at the age of 14, continuing until his disappearance in 1974. His political life began in high school in Santiago, working at the student, peasant, and community levels.

Later, at the University of Concepcion, he continued his work in the student, peasant, and community sectors. By the time of the coup, he was in charge of the coal sector in Concepcion and the radio station "La Voz del Carbon," which he produced himself with a comrade.

On the day of the coup, he was arrested and taken to Quiriquina Island. When he was released, Manuel moved to Santiago with his family and worked clandestinely, attempting to rebuild the MIR. He was in the process of forming the MIR's clandestine radio station when he was detained by the DINA.

He stood out for his intelligence, political clarity, analytical and organizational skills, critical thinking, creativity, oratory, loyalty, dedication, and an intrinsic understanding of the needs of the poorest and most needy in Chile.

He placed all these qualities at the service of his political vision: the creation of a broad, grassroots movement that would encompass all sectors of Chilean society, without political sectarianism, where positions would be occupied by the most capable individuals with the best political and human qualities.

It was to be a broadly democratic movement, fighting for the formation of a more just society in Chile that would provide opportunities for all. The "man of the 21st century" that Che spoke of was his vision for this new society.

To us, as a brother, Manuel was our friend, a sibling, a confidant for our concerns, an advisor, a playmate—fun, loyal, affectionate, and ingenious. He always found a solution to any problem; we knew we could count on him unconditionally under any circumstances.

His wisdom and advice have accompanied us our whole lives. It has been terrible for us to live without him, and we continue to miss him. For anyone who knew him, what was most impressive was his transparency, sincerity, total lack of interest in holding positions just for the sake of status, his maturity, clarity, and intelligence.

Manuel was simply an exceptional human being from every point of view. We feel immensely proud that Manuel was and is our brother. Manuel lives on in the memory of his family, friends, and surviving comrades.

Source: Received from his sister on 31-8-07

Manuel Jesús Villalobos Díaz, married, one child, a militant of the MIR, was detained in the early hours of September 17, 1974, at his home on Calle Morandé 882, Apt. B, in the capital. He was taken by 5 DINA agents commanded by Osvaldo Romo Mena, who broke violently into the apartment asking for him—identifying him by his family nickname—before beating the victim's brother-in-law, and then the victim himself, whom they handcuffed before inflicting a ferocious beating in the presence of his spouse, his sister, his brother-in-law, and his 8-month-old son.

After being beaten and interrogated in his own home, Manuel Villalobos Díaz was forced into a red Chevrolet C-10 pickup truck with a dark canopy and license plates from the Municipality of Las Condes, and was taken to an unknown destination.

The agents removed all kinds of books and documents from the apartment, including the victim's birth certificate. Later, by chance, his father, Mr. Manuel Villalobos Olivares, saw him on October 13, 1974, near the 9 1/2 bus stop on Gran Avenida, inside a Chevrolet C-10 pickup truck, between two individuals.

Later, on October 24, 1974, his spouse, while in front of the Military Hospital, noticed the presence of the same Chevrolet pickup truck in which Manuel Jesús had been placed after being detained. Two of the captors were inside: one around 23 years old, tall, thin, dark-skinned, with straight black hair, thin lips, dark brown eyes, and wearing sportswear; the other about 35 years old, tall, fat, dark-skinned, with curly black hair, brown eyes, and wearing a dark suit.

She approached them and was recognized by the agents, who told her that their "only mission is to detain people, and that afterwards, the whereabouts of the arrested person are unknown," and "that they were following orders." Still in the month of October, his mother went to the offices of the Military Garrison Command of Santiago.

There, she was given a handwritten paper containing the figures: 35550-5416 and E-2; according to the officer who assisted her, these meant that the victim was in the custody of the DINA. In that same month of October 1974, reports from political prisoners stated that the victim was being held at 4 Alamos.

His sister was detained on January 14, 1975, by DINA agents who threateningly told her, "remember that you have a disappeared brother." She was taken to Villa Grimaldi, where she was interrogated about her brother, but they never asked her how to locate him.

Also at that facility, she was able to identify Osvaldo Romo Mena as the head of the agents who arrested Manuel Jesús. The victim's brother-in-law was also detained on September 15, 1975, by DINA agents and taken to Villa Grimaldi.

There, he recognized Osvaldo Romo Mena as the head of the group that raided his house. His family carried out countless efforts and inquiries, with the anguish of knowing that the victim suffered from serious health problems (recurrent epistaxis, which on several occasions caused him anemia).

Apart from the respective judicial proceedings, they requested hearings and information from members of the Government Junta and the Ministers of the Interior, Justice, and Defense. Many of these efforts received responses, but all were negative.

Likewise, they sent the case details to various Heads of State and international organizations. They left no door unknocked, but they still do not know the fate the victim met at the hands of the DINA.

His spouse was intensely sought by security agencies starting in November 1975, forcing her to abandon her search and seek asylum with her son. She was prohibited from entering the country until 1982. The name of Manuel Jesús Villalobos Díaz appeared on a list of 119 Chileans killed abroad in clashes with rival ultra-left groups or in clashes with the Argentine Armed Forces.

These lists were released by the magazines LEA in Argentina and O'DIA in Brazil, publications that issued only one number, without a responsible editor, and whose address as a printer's imprint turned out to be false. The 119 names corresponded to people detained by Chilean security services who had disappeared after being arrested.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On September 30, 1974, a complaint for kidnapping was filed, initiating case 116.946 in the Third Criminal Court of Santiago. The complainant ratified the terms of the complaint before the Court and informed it that, subsequent to the reported events, she located two of the captors who were in civilian clothes in front of the Military Hospital, who told her that their mission was to place detainees at the disposal of the military jurisdiction.

She also provided the Judge with the response her father-in-law received from General Sergio Arellano Stark, Chief of the State of Siege Zone of the Santiago Province, who reported that there was no information on his whereabouts in that headquarters, estimating that he might have left the country.

The General also indicated that the victim's sister belonged to the MIR, was a messenger for the Central Force Group, and was detained (as of March 11, 1975) at Tres Alamos under Decree No. 806 of January 30, 1975.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Interior and the National Secretariat of Detainees reported having no information on the affected party. On April 22, 1975, case 117.541 of the same Court was consolidated with this case, initiated by order of the Santiago Court of Appeals after it ruled negatively on the amparo (habeas corpus) appeal 1118-74, filed on September 20, 1974.

During the processing of the amparo appeal, the Ministry of the Interior informed the Court that the person in question was not being held by order of that State Secretariat. Similar reports were provided by the Ministry of Defense and the Chief of the State of Siege Zone of the Santiago Province.

On June 24, 1975, Judge María Antonieta Gutiérrez Forno temporarily dismissed the case, on the grounds that although Manuel Jesús Villalobos Díaz was kidnapped from his home, there was insufficient evidence to accuse a specific person as author, accomplice, or accessory.

This resolution was approved by the Santiago Court of Appeals on August 25, 1975. On August 14, 1975, the victim's father filed a criminal complaint for the crime of kidnapping before the Third Criminal Court, incorporating the information from the foreign publications that published a list of 119 Chileans killed abroad, in which Manuel Jesús appears.

The Court initiated case 116.946-bis, which was later consolidated with the original case, leaving the dismissal order without effect. On June 3, 1975, his family filed a new amparo appeal before the Santiago Court of Appeals, docket 713-75, providing as new evidence the fact that the victim's mother went to the facilities of the Military Garrison of Santiago, where the officer who assisted her told her that her son was in the custody of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA).

The new reports requested from the Ministry of the Interior, SENDET, and DINA were negative, and on July 10, 1975, the appeal was rejected and the records were sent to the Third Criminal Court, initiating case 118.542, which was consolidated on August 28 of that year with case 116.946.

A third amparo appeal presented before the Court Martial, docket 60-80, was also consolidated with this case; that Court declared itself incompetent and sent the files to the Santiago Court of Appeals, receiving docket 100-75.

This latter Court rejected the amparo appeal and sent the records back to the Third Criminal Court, noting that the Judge had not given preferential attention to the case as recommended by that Court. Specifically, this referred to requesting the manuscript given to the victim's spouse at the Santiago Garrison Command and investigating the ownership of the Chevrolet C-10 pickup truck into which the victim was placed after being detained.

On November 11, a criminal complaint was added to the process against the agents who apprehended the victim, indicating their physical descriptions. On November 26 of that year, the Ministry of the Interior informed the Court that the Municipality of Las Condes indicated that license plate EM-965 did not correspond to a Chevrolet pickup truck, but to an Austin MG automobile (this plate had been provided by the victim's relatives to the Courts).

On March 24, 1976, the Court reiterated an official letter to the DINA, requesting that the agency place agent Osvaldo Romo Mena at the disposal of the Judge. However, on September 13, 1976, the Director of that security agency reported that the identified agent is not and has never been an official of that institution.

Finally, witnesses testified, ratifying the circumstances they witnessed regarding the arrest of the affected party and their own detentions by DINA agents, and their subsequent imprisonment in Villa Grimaldi, where they were able to recognize Osvaldo Romo as the head of the group of civilians who apprehended Manuel Jesús Villalobos.

On November 17, 1976, the case was temporarily dismissed because the existence of a crime perpetrated against Manuel Jesús Villalobos Díaz had not been fully proven. This resolution is contradictory to the first dismissal ruling, which established the crime of kidnapping against the victim.

The dismissal was approved by the Court of Appeals on March 29, 1977, despite the fact that efforts to locate Osvaldo Romo Mena—who, during the processing of the case, appears as the main accused in the kidnapping of Manuel Jesús Villalobos Díaz—had not been exhausted.

On August 1, 1978, his family, in the company of other relatives of people in the same situation as the victim, filed a criminal complaint against General Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda and other agents of that agency.

The case, initially originating in the 10th Criminal Court, was transferred to the Second Military Prosecutor's Office of Santiago due to the civil court's lack of jurisdiction, under docket No. 553-78.

During the processing of this complaint, General Manuel Contreras responded via an official letter to a minute issued by the Prosecutor's Office, in which he stated that Osvaldo Romo was an informant for a DINA agent (he does not identify the agent), that the DINA sent detainees to 3 and 4 Alamos, and that the DINA's interrogation site was the Villa Grimaldi barracks.

The prosecutor requested reports from the various heads of the Armed Forces and Order security agencies, receiving as a response that the affected party appears on a list of Chileans killed by their own comrades abroad.

On March 17, the case was temporarily dismissed, and it was reopened on October 5, 1983. Without any proceedings being carried out for four years, on November 20, 1989, Army Lieutenant Colonel Enrique Ibarra Chamorro, Military Prosecutor General, requested the application of the Amnesty Decree Law (D.L. 2.191) for this case, because the process had the exclusive purpose of investigating alleged crimes that occurred during the period between September 11, 1973, and March 10, 1978, and because during the 10 years of processing, it had not been possible to "determine the responsibility of any person." On November 30, 1989, the request was accepted by the 2nd Military Court, which dismissed the case totally and definitively—which was still in the summary stage—due to "the criminal responsibility of the persons allegedly accused in the reported events having been extinguished." The plaintiff parties appealed this resolution to the Court Martial, which confirmed the ruling in January 1992. A Complaint Appeal was then filed before the Supreme Court of Justice, which, as of December 1992, had not yet issued its resolution. On November 16, 1992, the former DINA agent Osvaldo Romo Mena was arrested and interrogated in several cases regarding forcibly disappeared persons, and by December 1992, 6 indictments had been issued against him. Romo Mena, among other things, has acknowledged his status as an agent and his participation in detentions and interrogations. The agent was located in Brazil as a result of proceedings ordered in the case of the disappearance of Alfonso Chanfreau Oyarce. He was first detained in Brazil and then expelled from the country. He had traveled to that country at the end of 1975 on instructions from the DINA, as he was being summoned to numerous courts for cases of forcibly disappeared persons. The security agency, among other things, provided him with false identity documents for himself, his spouse, and his children. With the information now available, the assertions of General Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda that Romo was only an informant for an agent are invalidated. Furthermore, it is hoped that the former agent will provide information that will allow for the clarification of the fate or whereabouts of other forcibly disappeared persons, including Manuel Jesús Villalobos Díaz.

Source: (Corporation Report)

Osvaldo Romo commanded the group of five DINA agents who, on September 17, 1974, violently broke into the home of Manuel Jesús Villalobos Díaz, married, 22 years old. It was the DINA's first incursion against this family, in which they took the young MIR militant into custody.

Four months later, when his sister was detained, the agents interrogating her at Villa Grimaldi told her: "Remember, your brother disappeared." The first time the agents arrived at apartment B of Morandé 882, in the center of Santiago, to take Manuel, it was in the early hours of the morning, a time of helplessness, to increase the fear in the environment.

First, they beat his brother-in-law; immediately after, they asked for the young man, using his family nickname. They handcuffed him and then inflicted a ferocious beating. Paralyzed, his wife with their eight-month-old son, his sister, and his brother-in-law watched the scene.

After the interrogation and the beating, they forced him into a red Chevrolet C10 pickup truck with a dark canopy and Las Condes license plates. The young book seller, Manuel Villalobos, a militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), was taken to an unknown destination.

On the same day, Néstor Alfonso Gallardo Aguero, 24, an accountant and regional leader of the MIR in Temuco, also disappeared, but the links between the two are unknown. In mid-1975, the names of Manuel Villalobos and Néstor Gallardo appeared on a list of 119 Chileans supposedly killed abroad in clashes with rival ultra-left groups or with the Argentine Armed Forces.

The publicity stunt aimed at covering up the disappearances of resistance members was orchestrated by the security services of the Southern Cone, within the framework of Operation Condor. They were following orders Before leaving with the detainee, the subjects took numerous books and documents, including Manuel's birth certificate.

Almost a month later, on October 13, his father, Manuel Villalobos Olivares, saw him near the 9 1/2 bus stop on Gran Avenida, inside a Chevrolet C10 pickup truck, between two individuals. Days later, on the 24th of that same month, his wife was passing in front of the Military Hospital when she saw the Chevrolet pickup truck in which Manuel had been taken again.

She also observed that two of the individuals who had apprehended him were inside. One of them was approximately 23 years old, tall, thin, and dark-skinned. He had straight black hair, thin lips, and dark brown eyes.

On that occasion, he was wearing a dark suit. The other, about 35 years old, was tall, fat, and also dark-skinned. He had curly black hair, brown eyes, and was also wearing a dark suit. She approached the agents, who recognized her immediately.

They then commented that their "only mission is to detain people, and that afterwards, the whereabouts of the arrested person are unknown," and "that they were following orders." Still in October, his mother went to the offices of the Military Garrison Command of Santiago in search of information about the young man.

There, she was given a handwritten paper with the figures: 35550-5416 and E-2. According to the officer who assisted her, those numbers meant that the detainee was in the custody of the DINA. It was also learned in that same month that some political prisoners had seen Manuel Villalobos at Cuatro Alamos.

Persecuted family Manuel's sister was detained on January 14, 1975, by DINA agents who took her to Villa Grimaldi. There, they interrogated her about her brother, but they never asked her how to locate him.

At the facility, she recognized Osvaldo Romo as the head of the agents who had broken into her house in September. Her captors threateningly reminded her: "Remember that you have a disappeared brother." Subsequently, on September 15 of that year, Manuel's brother-in-law was also detained and likewise taken to Villa Grimaldi; there, he recognized Osvaldo Romo as the head of the group that raided his apartment.

The family did everything possible to find out something about Manuel. Added to their anguish over not knowing the young man's whereabouts was the fact that he suffered from a serious ailment, recurrent epistaxis or hemorrhage, which on several occasions had caused him anemia.

In addition to the judicial proceedings, they requested hearings and information from members of the Government Junta and the Ministers of the Interior, Justice, and Defense. They also sent information about the young man's disappearance to various Heads of State and international organizations.

Source: archivochile.com, undated

Linka the memoirist: A poem for "Catú," Manuel Jesús Villalobos Díaz

A contribution from Chacha: Linka: A memoirist. Cecilia Angélica Opazo (LINKA) could no longer continue her sociology studies after the coup. Committed to her ideals to this day, she also writes, and did not deny the social and political memory that formed her back at the University of Concepcion.

Her student and militant practice merged with the excluded on the shores of Caleta El Blanco, located in the coastal depths of Lota, south of Pueblo Hundido, a cove kissed by the open sea called the Pacific, which rarely bathes it calmly.

LINKA, like every revolutionary, is a comrade of great sensitivity, with the plus that she can also transmit it in letters; she has written beautiful and profound poems and stories wonderfully recounted from her experiences that have rescued passages of our social and political memory that were abandoned or lodged in amnesia.

LINKA gives me her work for our task of recovering our historical memory, and I make available on this Pacita blog a poem she wrote for our dear brother "Catú," Manuel Jesús Villalobos Díaz, a forcibly disappeared person among our 119. Hector Sandoval Torres Mail: hector_sandovaltorres@yahoo.com "The coward flees from the truth because the lie is like him" - Salvador, Cuban poet.

FINDING YOU... I WILL LOOK FOR YOU...

I WILL SCRAPE THE RELENTLESS OCEAN

DROP BY DROP... ROCK BY ABYSS...

DESOLATE WITH BROKEN HOPE... WITH HOPE

TO SEARCH FOR YOUR BONES...

TO FIND YOU... FINGER BY FINGER

FEMUR AND PATELLA I WILL RECOVER

TOOTH BY TOOTH YOUR SMILE

THAT SMILE TRACED FROM YOUR MOUTH

THAT DEEP LAUGHTER OF YOUR EYES

AND WITH YOUR JAW REMADE

MENDED RESTORED SMILE OF YOUR EYES

I WILL RAISE IN MY HANDS YOUR BANNER

THAT OF THE WIDE LAUGHTER AND FRANKNESS

THIS OLD TRIBUTE THAT SINCE I SAW YOU...

WAS GESTATING IN ME

SO MUCH LOOKING AT YOU IN THE MEMORY

STAMPED IN MY MEMORY

IN THE SILENCE LOST FOREVER

LISTENING TO YOUR VOICE LIKE A TORRENT

LIKE A CASCADE OF LAUGHTER

LIKE A FLOCK OF BIRDS....

HELLO COMRADE! HOW ARE YOU?

WHAT DO THE MINERS AND THE PARTY SAY?

FOREVER YOUR VOICE LIKE A BELLY LAUGH

EVERY TIME I SEE YOU

YOU ARE AN OPEN WOUND

YOU ARE A BLOODY WOUND HERE IN MY CHEST

AND YOUR EYES LAUGH AT ME

AND YOUR LAUGHTER WATCHES OVER ME

FROM THE LAST POSTER ON MY DOOR

FROM THIS COLLAGE OF DISLODGED BONES...

YOUR GAZE DISSEMINATED IN SPACE

YOUR LAUGHTER DISTRIBUTED IN EACH WAVE

IT REITERATES YOUR PORTRAIT IN THE MEMORY

HELLO COMRADE! HOW ARE YOU?...

WHAT DO THE FISHERMEN AND THE SEA SAY?...

THE POPULAR MASSES AND THE PAIN

WHAT PAIN?! WHAT PAIN?!

THIS DARK PAIN OF KNOWING YOU DISTANT

DISSEMINATED IN THE AIR

THIS INTENSE DESIRE TO FIND YOU...

TO LAUGH WITH YOU IN EVERY GESTURE

THIS WANTING TO SEARCH FOR YOU FOREVER

BECAUSE I DID NOT WANT TO BELIEVE

THAT YOU WERE LOOKING AT ME FROM YOUR OLD EYES

COMRADE FROM YOUR OPEN LAUGHTER...

UPON FINDING YOU IN THE STREET I REMAINED SILENT

I HOLLOWED OUT IN THE MEMORY

I WANTED TO RUMMAGE IN THE SKY TO FIND YOU...

YOU, YOU TOO

I DID NOT WANT TO SEE YOU THERE...

IT WAS NOT YOU, I DID NOT BELIEVE IT,

I NO LONGER WANTED TO FIND YOU.

NOT THERE, IT WAS A NIGHTMARE, A MISTAKE...

A TRAGEDY

BUT TO SEE YOU IN THE STREET...

THE LAUGHTER STAMPED ON THE CEMENT

THE DEEP GAZE MORE THAN A LAKE

MORE THAN THE SEA MORE THAN THE ETERNAL ABYSS

I STARTED FEELING LIKE A CHILD

THE BROWN SHREDS OF YOUR BROWN SKIN HURT ME

THE EYES RIGID IN THEIR SOCKETS

I WAS MISSING YOU COMRADE

I AM HURRYING MY STEP

I LIGHTEN MY THOUGHT

AND I BECOME STUPID IN THE ROUTINE

AND I MOURN YOU

I CANNOT RESIGN MYSELF COMRADE

TO ACCEPT THAT I WILL NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN

THAT I WILL NOT HEAR YOUR LAUGHING VOICE AGAIN

HELLO COMRADE, MY SON WAS BORN

AND I FIND NO CONSOLATION

EVERY TIME I SEE YOU COMRADE.......

Source: archivochile.com, undated