On September 8, 1983, in the context of the Fifth Day of National Protest, nine deaths occurred:

María Elena RODRIGUEZ RODRIGUEZ was 27 years old and worked as a street vendor.

On September 8 at noon, on Calle Serrano (Valparaíso), a group of protesters was holding a march in support of the National Protest. At the same location, a Carabineros officer who was on his way home detained a person who was distributing pamphlets.

Witnesses to the event stated: "a few steps away, the detainee fled. The police officer drew his weapon and fired, wounding him in the shoulder; but, upon exiting, the projectile killed the street vendor María Rodríguez, who was in the vicinity."

For its part, Carabineros stated: "a mob of approximately fifty people tried to take the detainee away, who struck the police officer to escape. Feeling threatened, the carabineros officer drew his revolver, with which he tried to strike the detainee, and at that moment a shot went off accidentally.

The bullet passed through the detainee's shoulder and, simultaneously, struck María Elena Rodríguez, who was passing by the place at that moment."

The evidence presented allows this Commission to form the conviction that María Elena Rodríguez was an innocent victim of the political violence of the period.