Marta Edith Vásquez Fredes, single, born on November 15, 1948, in Curanilahue. Her parents: Nicolás Amado Vásquez Muñoz and Marta Fredes Galdames. She spent her entire childhood in Curanilahue with her 9 siblings, which is why she was always very sociable and cheerful, as she loved being surrounded by friends and sharing with them throughout her life.

She completed her studies at Escuela Básica No. 8 and also took a fashion course until she obtained her diploma. Upon finishing her studies, she always dedicated herself to working in order to help the rest of her siblings.

Over time, she set up a fruit and vegetable stand at the market, which helped to somewhat increase the family income. Her vocation was always to help those who turned to her for assistance; her projects and goals were always in accordance with her social conscience, forming mothers' centers and watching over the social improvement of the people of her town.

Her greatest hobbies were folklore, dance, music, and sports. Her social commitment was awakened in her from a very young age, as she learned it from her father. Her commitment became more pronounced as a leader of open-air markets and later as a militant and official of the Partido Comunista.

I believe she never imagined that something so serious would happen to her, as she was always a cheerful girl and very beloved by her friends and acquaintances in her town. She was detained on October 23, 1973, when she voluntarily presented herself at the police station, as she was being sought and, because of this, her siblings were being tortured; in this way, she prevented them from being tortured further.

At the moment she presented herself at the police station, the Carabineros officer on duty was Arismendi, but those who pursued her the most were Lieutenant Guillermo Cofre and Sergeant Fernando Alvial (current captain), and the head of the military personnel with the surname Jeldres from a regiment in Angol.

There are at least 2 witnesses who were detained at that time in the police station; these are: Efraín Cantero and Claudio Meza, among others. There was no place left unvisited; she was searched for throughout the entire region, and we also went to Angol, Valdivia, etc.

We went after the military looking for information, since they had already left the town; we found out a lot about her whereabouts from the very moment of her detention and disappearance. Among the legal steps taken were: the complaint to the local Criminal Court and to the Archbishopric of Concepción.

From all the legal actions taken, we have not obtained any response, as the judge handling the legal proceedings declared himself incompetent to carry out the case. The family has faced this situation with great pain, which has united us more to seek the truth of the events that occurred and thus further affirm our social conscience.

Our participation in the Association began almost from its formation; our role within it has always been to denounce the disappearance of our relatives as well as all types of abuses against the people of the town, carried out by the military regime.

I believe our opinion of this regime is that of the majority of the people: that it is an abominable dictatorship that has at no time respected human rights; a sign of this is the detention and disappearance of so many women, children, etc., as well as the thousands of dead they have on their conscience.

For us, truth and justice mean: as Truth, to know the whereabouts of our relative, to know what happened to her. As Justice, that each of those responsible for her disappearance answers for their participation in the act and receives their just punishment that will be imposed by the Justice system; we do not want an eye for an eye, but what we want is for Justice to be served.

Source: Corporation report

Within the activities carried out at the local level in commemoration of the 40 years since the Coup d'État, the Collective Women for Memory carried out a series of initiatives, such as the one we present below, led by Paulina Pérez de Pablo.

This is a project of research and reconstruction of memory sites of women (from the eighth region) who were tortured, murdered, and forcibly disappeared during the dictatorship. The first part consists of 6 photographs, which were exhibited at the discussion "WOMEN FOR MEMORY 40 YEARS AFTER THE COUP," held thanks to the work of the collective Women for Memory, as well as other women, lesbians, feminists, and girls who joined this network of political, feminist, combative, conscious, rebellious, and historical women to work together and keep our historical memory alive.

Today, in addition to feeling infinitely grateful, I feel part of this collective and have the responsibility to continue with this project, which will later encompass the memory of all the women and girls of our region who were victims of violence by the Chilean state.

María Edith Vásquez Fredes

Born on November 15, 1948, in Curanilahue, she was a woman very beloved in the community for her charisma and dedication. She had a fruit and vegetable stand at the open-air market in her hometown, where she was a leader, and later a militant and official of the Partido Comunista.

When she was 25 years old, she voluntarily presented herself at the Fourth Carabineros Police Station to prevent her father and siblings from remaining detained and tortured due to her militancy and social struggle.

Nothing more was ever heard of her. This event occurred on October 23, 1973, in Curanilahue. The police station where she turned herself in is now a vacant lot, and people say her body may be buried at the site.

"El Buen Pastor" Women's Prison Former Women's Prison of Concepción, run by the so-called "prison nuns," which during the military regime also functioned as a center for the political imprisonment and torture of a large number of female political prisoners and combative women.

It is located at the streets Lientur and Camilo Henríquez and was transformed into a clinic belonging to the Universidad San Sebastián in Concepción.

Iris Yolanda Vega Bizama

Born in 1950, wife of Ogan Lagos Marín, a forcibly disappeared detainee. Both were militants of the MIR. Iris Yolanda participated in the Association of Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared Detainees of the region, even participating in a hunger strike.

She was kidnapped by state agents and died in an explosion in an event that has still not been clarified, on June 23, 1979, on Maipú Street, between Aníbal Pinto and Colo Colo in Concepción. She was 29 years old and was the mother of a small child. The place of her death is today a parking lot in Concepción.

Alba Sonia Ojeda Grandón

Executed on September 16, 1973, at the age of 29 and 6 months pregnant. Everything happened in the patio of her home, together with her husband, Ricardo Raúl Lagos Reyes, 47 years old, Mayor of Chillán and a militant of the Partido Socialista, and his son, Carlos Eduardo Lagos Salinas, 20 years old, a university student.

Marcia Miranda Díaz

Born in 1960 in Lota, single, she participated actively with Father Bernardo Durier, who was in charge of the youth groups of the Christian community. Due to her link with the priest, who was accused by the state of being "a communist," she was subjected to torture, beatings, and atrocious humiliations on more than 2 occasions, from which she could never recover.

On November 23, 1984, in a desperate act, she set herself on fire in front of School 4 of Lota Bajo, leaving 3 letters. In one of them, she wrote: "I cannot go on living after everything they have done to me."

Jane Vanini Capozi (Gabriela)

29 years old, Brazilian, secretary of the magazine Punto Final, died on December 6, 1974, in Concepción. Her remains were identified in May 2005, after having been exhumed from a cemetery in Concepción.

Jane Vanini, a militant of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR), died that day in the Lorenzo Arenas neighborhood of Concepción after her home was raided by Navy personnel. Jane Vanini had entered Chile in 1971 as a political exile from the military regime established in her country and was living with a journalist and leader of the MIR.

Both had chosen to enter into clandestinity due to the political persecution deployed against militants of that political organization and were living in Concepción. She died fighting, which is why neighbors in the sector say they will never forget the shootout at the site nor the courage of this woman.

The house where she lived still exists; in her honor, the plaza in the sector bears her name. Neighbors had built a memorial, which was removed by the penultimate president of the neighborhood council.

Source: resumen.cl, October 18, 2013

Date: 10-18-2013

The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court sentenced retired Carabineros officer Guillermo Cofré Silva to five years and one day in prison for the qualified kidnapping of Partido Comunista militant María Edith Vásquez Fredes, which occurred in October 1973 in the city of Curanilahue, Bío Bío Region.

In a split decision, the ministers of the highest court, Nibaldo Segura, Jaime Rodríguez, Rubén Ballesteros, Hugo Dolmestch, and the member lawyer Luis Bates, determined that the former uniformed officer bears responsibility as the perpetrator of the crime.

Furthermore, the magistrates ratified that the convicted man must pay compensation of 50 million pesos to each of the victim's six siblings for the moral damages caused. Despite the evidence presented by the plaintiff, the ruling included the dissenting vote of ministers Segura and Ballesteros, who were in favor of accepting the exception of the statute of limitations for the criminal action.

According to the case file, Vásquez Fredes was detained on October 23, 1973, after she voluntarily presented herself at the city's police station upon learning that the police had detained and tortured her siblings in order to capture her.

Source: La Nación, September 9, 2009

Date: 09-09-2009

Court ratifies ruling for kidnapping of woman in 1973

The sentence was ratified yesterday by the Court of Appeals of the Bío Bío Region, which in a unanimous ruling—signed by ministers Guillermo Silva, Irma Bavestrello, and Claudio Gutiérrez—ratified the resolution of the visiting minister Carlos Aldana.

Retired Carabineros officer Guillermo Cofré Silva was sentenced to five years and one day in prison and the payment of 50 million pesos for the qualified kidnapping of María Edith Vásquez Fredes, an event that occurred in October 1973 in the city of Curanilahue, VIII Region.

In July 2007, the magistrate acquitted José Bustos Vivanco, René Rodríguez Salgado, and Luis Hernán Zúñiga Guzmán due to "lack of participation" in the events, but sentenced Cofré Silva to the afflictive penalty and the payment of fifty million pesos to the victim's six siblings.

María Edith Vásquez Fredes, a merchant and militant of the PC, was detained on October 23, 1973, after voluntarily presenting herself at the city's police station upon learning that during the efforts the police were making to find her whereabouts, one of her siblings had been detained and was being tortured.

Her trail was lost after she entered the police facility, but there are two witnesses who saw her at the moment she presented herself at the police station.

Source: La Nación, September 5, 2008

Date: 09-05-2008

Commemoration of the 48 years since the departure of Edith Vásquez, forcibly disappeared by the dictatorship in Curanilahue

A series of activities gave life to the commemoration of the 48 years since the detention and disappearance of María Edith Vásquez Fredes, a young woman who at 24 years old lost her life at the hands of the repressive forces of the dictatorship in Curanilahue.

The young woman Edith Vásquez, a communist militant, leader of the street vendors' union, folklorist, and seamstress, stood out at 24 for her social and political contribution to the popular movement in the Curanilahue of the Unidad Popular.

One day before her disappearance, Edith turned herself in voluntarily at the former police station of Curanilahue. On October 23, 1973, the whereabouts of María Edith Vásquez Fredes were known for the last time.

The dictatorship was looking for her, and despite having taken refuge outside of Curanilahue, she decided to return to the town because her father and siblings were detained and under torture. Edith turned herself in with courage and died for the love of her family.

According to the ruling ratified by the Concepción Court of Appeals in 2008, visiting minister Carlos Aldana resolved that former Lieutenant Guillermo Jofré, along with other Carabineros, were guilty of torturing and murdering Edith Vásquez and then throwing her body into the river at the Trongol bridge.

Edith Vásquez lives in memory 48 years after Edith's death, her relatives refuse to forget and continue to wield the tireless banner of truth, justice, and reparation. The Vásquez Fredes family, together with PRAIS Arauco, the Association of Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared Detainees, the Sebastián Acevedo Human Rights Corporation, the Coal Art and Memory Festival, and with the support of the Municipality of Curanilahue, organized a day of activities to commemorate the forced disappearance of Edith Vásquez.

This included a route of memory that visited the main places related to the murder of Edith Vásquez. The route began on the morning of Saturday, October 23, at the former Curanilahue police station, where a mural created by the Arteaga collective in homage to Edith was presented, opening the meeting with words from relatives and companions from Curanilahue.

Then, the attendees moved to the former Curanilahue police outpost, where Carabineros murdered Edith Vásquez, paying a symbolic tribute by leaving carnations at the scene of the event. Subsequently, the participants marched to the Curanilahue Hospital, where they visited the site where the future PRAIS house of the Arauco province will be built.

Later, they moved to the Trongol bridge, where a commemorative plaque was inaugurated. Finally, a central act at the Curanilahue Cultural Center closed the day, where testimonies, audiovisual records, music, and poetry were shared.

The day featured the participation of relatives, leaders, authorities, and municipal and provincial PRAIS users, neighbors of Curanilahue, and special visits from human rights defenders from Coronel and Concepción: María Candelaria Acevedo, president of the Sebastián Acevedo Human Rights Corporation, and Esther Araneda, president and founder of the Association of Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared Detainees of Concepción, in addition to a telematic greeting from Alicia Lira Matus, president of the Association of Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared Detainees, who sent a message full of conviction from Santiago.

Source: resumen.cl, 10/29/2021