My daughter, Maria Isabel Beltrán Sánchez, was born on May 2, 1952, in Santiago. She was an only child for 10 years, after which Roberto and Felipe were born. She grew up in a modest home, among hardworking people.

From a young age, Maria Isabel was a restless and dreamy child, but very responsible. She struggled to concentrate in school because she did not accept the rules of the education system at that time; she did not like to submit to something with which she did not agree.

Much later, she would show her strength of will and capability. While still small, she had to take care of other things, such as looking after her brother Roberto, as I worked day and night as an assistant at the Institute of Neurosurgery, which made it impossible for me to care for my children.

This left Maria Isabel with no free time for herself. Nevertheless, she was very cheerful, jovial, and talkative. Very organized. She adored her brothers. She had also learned the profession of nursing assistant from me.

Her life passed quietly until the government of Eduardo Frei, when she entered the Faculty of Sciences and Musical Arts of the U. de Chile to study Music Pedagogy. She was 18 years old and was already beginning to vibrate with social problems; the acute housing shortage and the dramatic situation in which the settlers lived precipitated "land seizures." She participated in these actions in the company of other students, most of them, and Maria Isabel herself, belonging to the FER (Frente de Estudiantes Revolucionarios, MIR, created in 1965).

She used to go to a settlement together with some other companions, many of whom are currently forcibly disappeared, to learn about the people's needs, support them, and spread awareness of their problems.

In that settlement, she met a settler one day named Javier Pacheco Monsalves, one of the leaders. Isabel accepted being his partner, and from this relationship, her daughter Tamara Isabel was later born. She was very happy with the arrival of her daughter, as she filled a great part of her life.

Due to her status as a militant, she made continuous trips to the Parral area. When the military coup arrived, it caught her in that place.

She began to be sought after. I, understanding the danger my daughter was in, decided by any means to bring her back with me to Santiago. It was the end of September. She did not want to seek asylum because she said: "Mom, I have no reason to leave my homeland if I have not committed any crime." She stayed then and began to lead a life dedicated to her daughter.

She was very worried about her partner; he had managed to save himself on the 11th from being murdered at La Moneda, where he worked as a bodyguard for Salvador Allende. However, they were only able to see each other for a short time, because, after being detained on October 6, 1973, he was executed by firing squad in Chena that same night.

For my daughter, this was a terrible blow; more than 22 days passed before they handed over his body. I tried to instill courage in her; they were very hard days. The month of December arrived, and she was preparing to give the best for her daughter at Christmas, but it was not to be, as the military had ordered my daughter's arrest.

That was how, on December 18, 1973, during an operation in the early morning, uniformed men entered my home and proceeded to detain her along with Patricia Contreras Farras, a friend who lived with us.

On December 8, I went to the Escuela Militar; there they informed me that they had not been admitted and that it was possible they were at Investigaciones. There, they told me no. I decided to go to the cárcel de Mujeres and the Casa Correccional (today the Centro de Orientación Femenina COF), with the same negative result.

On December 19 and 20, I returned to these institutions without obtaining even the slightest news about where they were. When I was returning home, after one of so many visits to those places, it was more or less 6:00 PM on December 20, with my son Roberto, a jeep parked in the middle of the public road and very close to my home caught my attention.

Inside the jeep was Maria Isabel, three men in the capacity of detainees, and two armed military personnel. I tried to approach, but the military would not let me. Speaking from a distance, I asked her where they were holding her; she told me, almost crying, "Mommy, don't look for me in Santiago, they have me at the Escuela de Artillería de Linares, they have brought me only to confront me with you." I observed that my daughter had wounds on her face that furrowed her jaw and on her neck, and also on her legs.

She added, "They are going to kill me." I replied: "Because you are a mother and a widow, they will respect you; you have suffered enough from the execution of your husband." Shortly after, they took her away again.

On December 24, I received direct information that both Maria Isabel and Patricia were at the Regimiento de Artillería de Linares. My daughter was ill, as she was suffering from hemorrhages again, aggravated by the mistreatment suffered there.

I quickly packed a suitcase with clothes, toiletries, and chocolates to take to them in Linares. On December 26, I traveled to Linares, heading immediately to the Escuela de Artillería del Regimiento, where the officer on duty confirmed that my daughter was there in the capacity of "incommunicado." Despite that information, I could not know more about her, much less have the possibility of seeing her.

Three days later, Patricia Contreras was transferred to another prison facility and separated from Maria Isabel.

In the first days of January 1974, according to a Sworn Statement contained in the report of the Vicaria de la Solidaridad, Norma del Tránsito Parra saw and spoke with Maria Isabel when she was taken from the Casa Correccional to the Escuela de Artillería.

I returned to Linares on January 12; I received the same cold treatment as always. I asked for permission to go to the restroom; they did not object. When I went inside and reached the bathroom in a hallway, I was able to see my daughter; she was standing with two military men armed with submachine guns.

It was 10:30 in the morning. My impulse was to approach to hug her, but the military prevented me; I could only speak to her from afar. She asked me about Tamara, her daughter, if I had baptized her. I answered her, trying to appear calm; she looked so thin and yellowish, her hair was shorn close to the top of her head.

She asked me to bring her dressings and cotton, then she repeated what she had said on another occasion: "Mommy, they are going to kill me," "don't tell my little daughter that I have been a prisoner. Tell her anything, but don't let her know this." The military separated us and told me they were taking her to the "Treatment Room." I returned to the waiting room and clearly heard my daughter scream, "kill me, kill me, I don't know anything." With pain, I realized what the "treatment room" meant.

In silence, I left that place. My heart was torn. Since that date, I never saw my dear daughter Maria Isabel again. I never heard from her again.

Several times I returned to Linares, but the only thing they told me was that my daughter was no longer there. They never told me where they took her. On June 19, 1974, Colonel Carlos Morales Retamal, Intendant and Chief of the Plaza of the Province of Linares, wrote me a letter in which he informed me that "...in the middle of January, she was released so that she could undergo specialized medical treatment, with the promise of presenting herself to the Garrison Command in Linares once discharged, a promise that to date she has not fulfilled."

The Minister of the Interior, on May 30, 1974, informed the Court of Appeals that "...Maria Isabel Beltrán Sánchez was not being held by order of any administrative authority and that this Ministry is unaware of her current whereabouts..." All requests made have been fruitless.

I continue in this fight to know the truth and I ask for justice for my daughter and punishment for those who made her disappear.

Source: Her mother

Disappeared from Linares: María Isabel Beltrán Sánchez, José Gabriel Campos Morales, Anselmo Antonio Cancino Aravena, Héctor Hernán Contreras Cabrera, Alejandro Róbinson Mella Flores, Arturo Enrique Riveros Blanco, José Alfonso Saavedra Betancourt, Jaime Bernardo Torres Salazar, and Jorge Bernabé Yáñez Olave.

Santiago, April 27, 2011. HAVING SEEN: In these case files No. 2.182-98, known as the "Linares Episode," roll of the Santiago Court of Appeals, by resolution of April 7, 2008, written on pages 7,332 to 7,646, the accused indicated below were punished to serve the following sanctions: a) Juan Hernán Morales Salgado, fifteen years of major imprisonment in its medium degree, pertinent legal accessories, and to pay the costs of the trial, for his responsibility as the author of the repeated crimes of qualified kidnapping of Arturo Enrique Riveros Blanco, Jaime Bernardo Torres Salazar, Jorge Bernabé Yáñez Olave, José Saavedra Betancourt, and José Gabriel Campos Morales, carried out between the months of September and October 1973, in the city of Linares. b) Claudio Abdón Lecaros Carrasco, Gabriel del Río Espinosa, Antonio Aguilar Barrientos, and Félix Renato Cabezas Salazar, each to suffer fifteen years of major imprisonment in its medium degree, respective legal accessories, and to satisfy the costs of the litigation, for their responsibility as co-authors of the repeated crimes of qualified kidnapping of Anselmo Antonio Cancino Aravena, José Gabriel Campos Morales, Alejandro Robinson Mella Flores, María Isabel Beltrán Sánchez, and Héctor Hernán Contreras Cabrera, the first two of these defendants, of four offended parties, except Campos Morales, the third; and of three, with the exception of Beltrán Sánchez and Contreras Cabrera, the remaining, all illicit acts verified between the months of September, October, and December 1973, as well as January and February 1974, in the commune of Linares. c) Humberto Lautaro Julio Reyes, to ten years of major imprisonment in its medium degree, pertinent legal accessories, and to pay the costs of the lawsuit, for his responsibility as the author of the aforementioned crime of qualified kidnapping of María Isabel Beltrán Sánchez. Given the length of the corporal punishments inflicted, none of the benefits contained in Law No. 18.216 were granted to them. Finally, in its civil section, the exception of absolute incompetence of the court opposed by the Treasury of Chile to the civil lawsuits for compensation for damages directed against it was accepted. An appeal for cassation in form was filed against this decision by the legal assistance of Cabezas Salazar and Morales Salgado; and an appeal by the legal counsel of the defendants Aguilar Barrientos, Cabezas Salazar, Julio Reyes, Morales Salgado, and del Río Espinosa, as can be seen from pages 7,679 to 7,713, 7,715 to 7,721, 7,724 to 7,756, 7,765 to 7,768, and 7,770 to 7,774; while Lecaros Carrasco did so personally on page 7,653; the same means of challenge used by the private plaintiffs and civil claimants on page 7,669; and once the report of the Judicial Public Ministry was evacuated, which runs on pages 7,797 and 7,798, who was in favor of dismissing the cassation libels and confirming, in what was appealed, with the declaration that the penalties imposed on the convicts be reduced. Subsequently, a chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals, by ruling of December 14, 2009, which appears on pages 7,913 to 7,921, complemented by that of December 17 of the same year, which appears on page 7,922, rejected the appeals for cassation in form filed and confirmed said verdict in what was appealed, with the declaration that the corporal penalties applied to the defendants Morales Salgado, del Río Espinosa, Cabezas Salazar, Lecaros Carrasco, and Aguilar Barrientos, are reduced with respect to each of them, to the single temporary penalty of five years and one day of major imprisonment in its minimum degree; and that suffered by Julio Reyes, to three years and one day of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree, to whom, for complying with the requirements of Article 15 of Law No. 18.216, the franchise of supervised release was granted for the same time, during which he must comply with the obligations imposed by Article 17 of the aforementioned legal text; finally, the partial and definitive dismissal of March 3, 2008, which is read on page 7,206, was approved. Against these pronouncements, separate appeals for cassation in substance were filed by the defenses of the incriminated Lecaros Carrasco, Aguilar Barrientos, and Julio Reyes, in the main part of their presentations on pages 7,924 to 7,928 verso, 7,929 to 7,949, and 8,100 to 8,115, based on ordinals 1°, 3°, 5°, and 7° of Article 546 of the Code of Criminal Instruction; of cassation in form and substance by the agents del Río Espinosa, Cabezas Salazar, and Morales Salgado, from pages 7,950 to 8,013, 8,044 to 8,090, and 8,116 to 8,135, those based on literals 6° and 9° of Article 541 of the same statute and on similar numbering to those exposed before, those of substance; same paths chosen by the private plaintiffs and civil claimants in their libels on pages 8,014 to 8,028 and 8,029 to 8,043, which are built on the already indicated numerals of the procedural code of penalties.

On page 8,183, the appeals for cassation in form of the main part of pages 7,950 to 8,013 and 8,116 to 8,135 were declared inadmissible, the latter regarding cause 6 of Article 541 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, relating to the accused del Río Espinosa and Morales Salgado, respectively.

Then the files were brought in relation to what concerns the other remedies. CONSIDERING: FIRST: That the first paragraph of Article 775 of the Code of Civil Procedure, applicable in the case by mandate of Article 535 of its namesake of Criminal Prosecution, enables this court to invalidate the award ex officio when from the examination of the background it appears that, either during the process or due to the issuance of the ruling, some vice has been committed that authorizes formal cassation.

SECOND: That the anomaly detected arose after the hearing of the case, during the study and analysis of the censored edict, this court notices that the decision under review suffers from such defects, without it having been possible to invite the lawyers of the appearing parties to debate about them.

THIRD: That in accordance with the line of argument in development, Article 500 of the Procedural Code of penalties, in its fourth literal, mandates that the definitive sentences of first instance and that of second that modifies or revokes that of another court, must include, "The considerations by virtue of which the facts attributed to the prosecuted are proven or not proven; or those that they allege in their defense, whether to deny their participation, to exempt themselves from responsibility, or to attenuate it"; to continue, in its fifth ordinal, with "The legal or doctrinal reasons that serve to qualify the crime and its circumstances, both aggravating and mitigating, and to establish the civil responsibility or irresponsibility of the prosecuted or of third parties summoned to the trial." FOURTH: That the legal assistance of the perpetrators Morales Salgado and Aguilar Barrientos, from pages 7,084 to 7,116 and 7,052 to 7,082, respectively, in their responses to the charges filed, requested in a subsidiary manner the recognition -among others- of the mitigating factor of criminal responsibility consisting of the gradual prescription of the criminal action, enshrined in Article 103 of the punitive Code. FIFTH: That, in turn, the verdict of the lower court destined reasoning 71°) to address such a request, without issuing a direct pronouncement on the topic, since it limited itself to denying it and for this it referred to its basis 61°), where it resolved a different request of the lawyers: the total prescription of the action of the same character, that is, a circumstance extinguishing criminal responsibility. SIXTH: That from the analysis of the resolution issued by the appellate court, which adopts the one appealed, it flows that the abstention from any reflection regarding the factual and legal foundations tending to verify the appropriateness of the request made by two of the defendants regarding the half-prescription was maintained, since it was limited to confirming it with several declarations that do not have a connection with what is now observed. SEVENTH: That from what has been exposed, it is highlighted that the sentencers ad quem left without specific motivation the approach and decision regarding their refusal to apply Article 103 of the penal statute, as they confirmed, without new arguments on what was proposed, the award of the a quo. Then it is not possible to find in the criticized edict any speculation that allows elucidating the circumstances that led the judges to resolve in the way they did, which demonstrates the absence of the requirements ordered by the law, and entails as a sanction the nullity. EIGHTH: That, for further abundance, a lack of necessary explanation also stands out regarding the definition of the punishments regulated for the accused, since, regarding Morales Salgado, del Río Espinosa, Aguilar Barrientos, and Cabezas Salazar, they appear involved in various qualified kidnappings, two of them in five injustices, the third in four, and the other in three, in such a way that even with the recognition of the mitigating factor of their irreproachable past conduct, even of a highly qualified nature -a determination that is also not specified or duly developed, in the terms prescribed by Article 68 bis of the Penal Code, as read in the reproached ruling, this does not manage to explain the quantum of the penalties, since in any event it allows as a maximum the reduction by only one bracket, which is compensated by the repetition of crimes, which assumes at least a floor of major imprisonment in its minimum degree, and not the five years that it determines in its motive 4°, which does not coincide with the operative part of the same, where it fixes that of five years and one day of major imprisonment in its minimum degree. NINTH: That, consequently, the rebutted ruling is incurred in the cause of Article 541, N° 9°, of the criminal prosecution Code, in accordance with Article 500, N°s. 4° and 5°, of the same compilation, by virtue of the fact that it has not been extended in the form provided by the law applicable to the event sub lite, by express order of the final paragraph of Article 541 already outlined, a deficiency that, moreover, cannot be remedied except with the invalidation of the award that contains it, so this Court will proceed to annul it ex officio, and in its place will extend the replacement one that corresponds, in accordance with what is established between the second to fourth paragraphs of Article 544 of the criminal adjective compilation. TENTH: That the courts may, knowing by way of appeal, consultation, or cassation or in any incident, invalidate ex officio the sentences when the background of the appeal shows that they suffer from vices that give rise to cassation in form. Seen, also, what is provided in Articles 500, N°s. 4° and 5°, 541, N° 9°, and 544 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and 775, 786, and 808 of the Civil Procedure Code, THE SENTENCE of December 14, 2009, which consists of pages 7,913 to 7,921, as well as its complement of December 17 of the same year, which appears on page 7,922, IS ANNULLED EX OFFICIO, which are null, and they are replaced by the one that is dictated below, without a new hearing, but separately. By reason of what was resolved, the appeals for cassation in substance promoted by the accused Cabezas Salazar, from pages 8,044 to 8,090 and by the private plaintiffs and civil claimants, from pages 8,014 to 8,028 and 8,029 to 8,043, are considered not filed; an identical situation that extends to the libels of cassation in substance that were formulated by the defenses of the sentenced Lecaros Carrasco, Aguilar Barrientos, del Río Espinosa, and Julio Reyes, in their libels on pages 7,924 to 7,928, 7,929 to 7,949, 7,950 to 8,013, and 8,100 to 8,115, respectively. And no pronouncement is issued on the appeals for cassation in form attempted from pages 8,044 to 8,090, 8,014 to 8,028, and 8,029 to 8,043. It is cautioned that Minister Mr. Künsemüller concurs in the invalidation of the ruling, solely by virtue of the anomaly referred to in the eighth consideration, insofar as the lack of foundation to reject the mitigation of the half-prescription or gradual prescription of the criminal action, which is also reproached to him, in his opinion, lacks influence on the operative part of what was resolved, given that, in any case, it is inappropriate, due to the reasons that he will set forth in the replacement sentence. Register. Drafting by Minister Mr. Rodríguez and the caution, its author. Roll No. 2263-10. Pronounced by the Second Chamber composed of Ministers Mr. Nibaldo Segura P., Jaime Rodríguez E., Rubén Ballesteros C., Hugo Dolmestch U., and Carlos Künsemüller L. Authorized by the Minister of Faith of this Supreme Court. In Santiago, on April 27, 2011, I notified in the Secretariat by the Daily State the preceding resolution, as well as personally to the Judicial Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, who did not sign.

Source: interactivos.museodelamemoria.cl

María Isabel, my mom, was born in the autumn of 1952 in Santiago and lived until she was 15 with her mother and her two brothers in a modest home on Cienfuegos Street. She had black, wavy hair and big eyes like mine; they remember her with her miniskirt, her satchel, her hippie look, and her cigarettes.

They say she was a super simple woman, a tough girl, super advanced for her time, rebellious and free. She loved music, Gospel, and learned to play the transverse flute while studying music pedagogy at the University of Chile.

She met and fell in love with my dad, a settler leader of the 26 de Julio Land Seizure in Cerrillos; she was 19 years old when she became pregnant with me. Once, to reconstruct her history, I gathered all her MIR companions at my house so they could talk to me about them.

At one moment, the song "A White Shade Of Pale" by Procol Harum played, and I commented to María Camus, her best friend, that that song gave me a tremendous emotion, and she told me: "But Tamara, that song was your mom's favorite and she listened to it when she was waiting for you."

In the early morning of December 18, '73, uniformed men took her from her house; since that day, her whereabouts are unknown. I was 2 and a half years old when I saw her for the last time and 25 years old when I learned the story of my family's origin.

She is María Isabel Beltrán Sánchez, forcibly disappeared. I am Tamara Callejas Leiva and I remember my mom; you remember her, remind others of her.

Technical sheet

To make this micro-biography, Tamara Callejas was interviewed, who recorded this radio capsule in September 2014 in the studios of Radio Universidad de Chile, where it was subsequently mixed and broadcast.

Source: latidosdelamemoria.cl, undated

U. de Chile awards posthumous degrees to four students who were victims of the dictatorship

Within the framework of the commemoration of the 46th anniversary of the Coup d'État, the University of Chile distinguished with posthumous degrees and titles four students from the Music Pedagogy, Sociology, Political Economy, and Medicine programs, who were victims of the dictatorship.

In addition, the creation of a Truth and Memory Policy was announced, which will allow for reparatory measures to be carried out within the institution.

This Wednesday, the University of Chile held its official ceremony commemorating the coup d'État, an instance in which it delivered four new posthumous and symbolic degrees to students who were forcibly disappeared and political executions by the civil-military dictatorship headed by Augusto Pinochet.

In an act held in the Hall of Honor and in the presence of the relatives of the decorated students, the rector of the University of Chile, Ennio Vivaldi, called for reflection on the truth and how this is the only path through which Chile can advance toward the future.

"We call for reflection on that which has been tried so stubbornly to hide: why they killed our four students. As long as we do not have that conversation, the country will continue to wander between one falsehood and another.

When we manage to have all the forcibly disappeared and political executions return to being alive in the truth of what happened to them, we will be able to talk again as a country," stated Rector Vivaldi.

The individuals distinguished on this occasion were the forcibly disappeared María Isabel Beltrán Sánchez and María Cecilia Magnet Ferrero, the forcibly disappeared Ramiro Carlos Gonzáles Gonzáles, and the political execution Iván Renato Poblete Vargas.

Photo: Felipe Poga – U. de Chile Press.

An initiative that arose from the president of the Association of Relatives of Political Executions (AFEP), Alicia Lira, who was also present at the act of memory organized by the University of Chile. There, she highlighted the consistency of the university and valued the holding of this tribute in times when, she assured, "there is a fascism unleashed on the streets."

"The honor, the commitment, the consistency of the University of Chile is remarkable in these three ceremonies, where not only those who died or disappeared are recognized, but also those who fought against State terrorism and those of us who have fought for memory," thanked the president of AFEP.

"This ceremony gains more meaning when there is a fascism unleashed on the streets, denialism, and what this government has done by not paying tribute or commemorating a constitutionally elected president," added Lira.

For her part, the president of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared (AFDD), Lorena Pizarro, lamented that the victims of the civil-military dictatorship continue to be a wound that does not close due to impunity and denialism.

In that sense, Pizarro alluded to the insert published by Pinochet supporters in a national newspaper to criticize the position taken by the Government in deciding not to commemorate the date.

"This September 11, something has been evidenced that is good to be evidenced, but it is no less serious for that. It is the position that the right, the extreme right, has taken to advance in the construction of the country. A Government that no longer has shame or qualms about saying 'we don't talk about September 11'," maintained Pizarro.

"That is a signal, it is not an isolated action. It is a signal of who they are and how they are going to advance later on. Or does it seem casual to anyone that, along with that, El Mercurio dares to make that publication?" added the leader of the AFDD.

This group of students joins the 112 who received the distinction in April and September 2018, in the first and second delivery of this recognition. Thus, to date, there are 116 students who were victims of the civil-military dictatorship who have already received their posthumous and symbolic titles and degrees.

Photo: Felipe Poga – U. de Chile Press.

Likewise, in her words during the ceremony, the president of the Student Federation of the University of Chile (FECh), Emilia Schneider, joined the representatives of the victims of the dictatorship and highlighted the importance that it takes for current Chile that the different actors of society become part of the memory.

"In Chile, we have a weak and restricted democracy, which is in a state of profound wear and tear, and a sign of this is the advance of hate speech, extreme nationalism, and, in general, political alternatives that promote violence, fanaticism, and the imposition of positions over democratic dialogue," said Schneider.

"It is necessary to undertake as a society a process of deepening and reconstruction of democracy, and in that, there is no task more urgent than advancing in truth, justice, and memory," warned the president of the FECh.

This group of students joins the 112 who received the distinction in April and September 2018, in the first and second delivery of this recognition by the University of Chile. Thus, to date, there are 116 students who were victims of the civil-military dictatorship who have already received their posthumous and symbolic titles and degrees.

Source: radio.uchile.cl Date: 09-11-2019

Within the framework of the "Month of Memory," the National Council of Culture and the Arts held a tribute to artists who were victims of the military dictatorship, an act where the writer, Jorge Montealegre, presented his book "Memorias Eclipsadas. Duelo y resiliencia comunitaria en la prisión política" (Eclipsed Memories. Mourning and community resilience in political imprisonment).

An emotional tribute to artists, practitioners, and artisans who were victims of the dictatorship took place this Friday, September 9, in Valparaíso, at the extension center of the Council of Culture and the Arts (Centex).

The head of the Memory and Human Rights Unit of the National Council of Culture and the Arts, Francia Jamett Pizarro, highlighted the institution's role in observing symbolic reparation policies. "The celebration of commemorations and tributes to victims of human rights violations are part of the values and principles of the Council expressed in the Cultural Policies 2011-2016.

This recognition of the artists who were victims of the dictatorship responds to an institutional commitment that seeks to highlight their lives and their works, and to build new narratives around symbolic reparation," expressed the head.

The writer, Jorge Montealegre, presented his book "Memorias Eclipsadas. Duelo y resiliencia comunitaria en la prisión política," where he recounts the way in which artistic and cultural creation, in conditions of living in prisoner camps, allowed for coping in a more dignified way with the permanent human rights violations suffered by those who were imprisoned for political reasons.

The "Month of Memory" cycle, organized by the CNCA, began last Friday, September 2, with a symbolic internal tribute to remember the legacy of Galia Díaz Riffo and Romina Irarrázabal Faggiani, officials who died five years ago in the Juan Fernández plane crash.

Source: cultura.gob.cl, 9/09/2016 Date: 09-09-2016

The leaders of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared of Linares did not rule out resorting to the International Court of that instance, with the aim of denouncing the definitive ruling of the Supreme Court for the disappearance of militants and left-wing sympathizers during the government of Augusto Pinochet.

The spokesperson for said entity, Juana Soto, indicated that "we are very disappointed to know the resolution of the justice system, and although we highlight the meticulous work of Minister Solís, who we believe reached the bottom of the investigation, we do not think the same of the judges." Soto harshly criticized the position of President Piñera's government, in the sense that "we are in a right-wing government and for that same reason what more could we expect from such a delicate issue as that of Human Rights; on the other hand, today, although the Judiciary is independent of the Government, with connections, things are often achieved, even impunity." On the other hand, the daughter of María Isabel Beltrán, whose case is one of the most emblematic in the southern Maule region, Tamara Callejas, [said]: "there is a bias of impunity in these decisions; my hope remains alive to know what really happened to my mother, but I believe that just as there are people who I am sure have collaborated in these houses that Minister Solís investigated, I cannot rule out that there are those who did not tell everything they know."

In a split decision, the ministers of the Second Chamber of the highest court determined to acquit Gabriel Del Río Espinoza due to his lack of responsibility; while they revoked 5 years of imprisonment for his responsibility as the author of kidnappings and granted the benefit of supervised release to Juan Hernán Morales Salgado; Claudio Abdón Lecaros Carrasco; Antonio Aguilar Barrientos; Félix Renato Cabezas Salazar; and three years of imprisonment with the benefit of conditional remission to Humberto Lautaro Julio Reyes.

It must be remembered that the Supreme Court issued a definitive sentence in the investigation into the qualified kidnappings of Arturo Enrique Riveros Blanco, Jaime Bernardo Torres Salazar, Jorge Bernabé Yáñez Olave, José Saavedra Betancourt, José Gabriel Campos Morales, Anselmo Antonio Cancino Aravena, Alejandro Robinson Mella Flores, María Isabel Beltrán Sánchez, and Héctor Hernán Contreras Cabrera, which occurred starting in September and December 1973, in the city of Linares.

Source: La Tercera, Tuesday, May 3, 2011 Date: 05-03-2011

The role of a former military officer prosecuted for human rights violations as a professor at the National Academy of Political and Strategic Studies (ANEPE), an institution under the Ministry of Defense, has caused discomfort among some parliamentarians.

The individual in question is General (Ret.) Humberto Julio Reyes, who was indicted by Judge Alejandro Solís for the aggravated kidnapping of María Isabel Beltrán, a militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), in 1974.

The former officer, who spent one week in preventive detention in 2003 at the Army’s Telecommunications Regiment in Peñalolén, has been teaching the courses "Strategic Political Leadership I" and "Workshop on Strategic Political Leadership of National Defense" at the government agency for the past five years.

Although the name of Humberto Julio, a former Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs during the military regime, was widely publicized by the press two years ago due to a complaint involving former Investigative Police director Nelson Mery in human rights violations, no one took note of his academic role at ANEPE.

Not even Deputy Laura Soto (PPD), who is leading the case of Odette Alegría and a group of former political prisoners from the Linares Regiment who are accusing Mery—a case linked to the disappearance of María Isabel Beltrán—noticed. "This is unacceptable," the legislator told El Mostrador.cl, announcing that she would request an official report from the Ministry of Defense to clarify this matter.

"If someone is being prosecuted for human rights violations, they should not be working in public agencies," the legislator stated, adding that she considers it "a shame that the money of all Chileans, especially the poorest, is being used to pay a torturer. He is being prosecuted for very serious acts, not only for torture, but for the disappearance of people."

Meanwhile, Senator Jaime Gazmuri (PS), while acknowledging that he has been invited to ANEPE on several occasions, claimed not to know the former military officer. However, he agreed with Soto that if there is an ongoing legal process, that person should be removed from their duties. "If there are legal proceedings, I believe it is highly inappropriate for them to continue teaching," he affirmed.

"Now, for people who are not facing legal proceedings, there is no problem, as there should be no complaints. You cannot say that just because someone was in the Armed Forces they were a torturer; there were people who did not work in the repressive apparatus," noted the member of the Senate Defense Committee.

Caution

Deputy Mario Bertolino (RN) was somewhat more compassionate, commenting that "a person is innocent until proven otherwise. The fact that he is being prosecuted does not mean he is responsible, but rather that he is in a process intended to clarify who is responsible. Now, if he is at liberty, he has already provided the background information and we must wait for the process to conclude."

The president of the Chamber's Defense Committee, Jorge Ulloa (UDI), expressed a similar view. Although he described the situation as "complex," he clarified that "if ANEPE has not taken measures, it is because it has considered it reasonable to keep that teacher in that establishment. The entity's decision will be focused once the judicial process ends."

The Government was much more cautious when asked about the situation of the former officer working in the agency under the Ministry of Defense. The Undersecretary of War, Gabriel Gaspar, who knows Julio as he also teaches at ANEPE, stated that "we do not have opinions on judicial processes; we respect the work of another branch of the State."

Julio's Version

When he was called to testify, Professor Humberto Julio Reyes did not understand the reasons well. It was then that he learned that former Investigative Police director Nelson Mery had mentioned him among the officers present during Beltrán's detention.

When he agrees to tell his story, the first thing he does is take two books from his library that recount the situation: "Difícil envoltorio" by Mónica Echeverría and "Tiempo de Días Claros" by Patricia Verdugo. "They tell the story there," he says.

He is 61 years old, married, has three children—one of whom is an Army captain at the War Academy—and left the Army 10 years ago after an acrimonious discussion with General Jorge Lucar. Julio had provided Augusto Pinochet himself with information regarding alleged irregularities, amounting to nearly one million dollars, in invoices from companies supplying the Military Hospital.

The fact was denied by the institution, and the officer had to leave the Army.

Julio does not want to talk about that incident, but he does agree to talk about what happened 32 years ago when he was a captain.

Beltrán, along with Patricia Contreras, was detained in Santiago, and a patrol was sent specifically from the Seventh Region for that purpose. Julio participated in the raid on the house, and both women were taken to the Linares Artillery School. It is there that their trail was lost some time later.

-What was your specific participation in this event? -I was in Santiago, in charge of a unit at the Military Institutes Command, and I was tasked with supporting the procedure. I had to carry out the raid on the home where these people were, that is, the usual search for weapons and other things.

Consequently, I was present at the operation, but the detention and transfer to Linares were not my problem.

-Who ordered you to go to that house? -The normal chain of command.

-Who is that person? -There is no record of who was on duty that night 32 years ago. It would be irresponsible to say that it seems it was so-and-so.

-Why did they detain those women? -Linares must have had some information to detain them. The press says they were from the MIR.

-And did you find weapons in that house? -No, we did not find weapons. A lot of documentation that was not evidence of anything.

-To whom did you hand over the women? -To the intelligence officer in Linares.

-Who was that? -That is in the case file.

"I only saw them that night"

"It is very surprising that 30 years after the events occurred, they say, 'but General Julio was there,'" comments the former officer. "What is the substantial difference in the detention? According to my memory, the Linares patrol had a mission to detain those people, whereas the one I received in Santiago was to support the procedure and raid the house."

-Did you never see those people again? -No, I saw them that night.

-Why did the judge prosecute you? -He didn't tell me anything, but he assumed that by being the highest-ranking officer present, I immediately became responsible. But regardless of who carried out the detention in Santiago—the Linares patrol or if it had been me, which is not the case—the important thing is that these people were handed over the next day, safe and sound, in Linares to other authorities.

-You were an aide to Colonel Gabriel del Río at the time of the operation. Has he not been detained? -As far as I know, not for this case. I haven't spoken to him lately because he resides in Linares. On one occasion he came to talk to me here, but this case was not yet known.

-Has your lawyer, Marcelo Cibié, had access to the summary? -Yes, and he tells me that I should be acquitted because the only thing that is debatable is the detention here in Santiago. But if we start from the basis that at that time that activity was legal, because it obeyed the order of an authority or power, the detention of that person in those circumstances was not an illicit act.

-Where is the divergence? -Nelson Mery said that he was ordered to detain one person and not the other, and that is the point of divergence.

-And if you are convicted in this case? -One must obey the law.

-Would you have to stop teaching? -It is complicated to think about teaching while in detention.

-But this entity belongs to the Ministry of Defense? -It may be that some employer finds it complicated or even has a legal impediment. Maybe someone is interested in some other work I do and the issue doesn't matter to them.

-Did you ever belong to the DINA? -No, I did not specialize in that area.

April 19, 2006 El Mostrador.cl

Five military personnel and two detectives prosecuted for kidnappings in Linares

The investigating judge, Alejandro Solís, prosecuted five retired members of the Army and two former detectives as authors of the aggravated kidnapping of three MIR militants and one union leader, who were last seen alive at the Linares Artillery School between September 12, 1973, and January 2, 1974.

The ruling serves as an expansion of the resolution issued on July 6, 2003, when he indicted six former officers for other cases of forcibly disappeared persons contained in the same episode.

The magistrate decided to indict Colonel (Ret.) Gabriel del Río Espinoza, who was the commander of the aforementioned facility and—at the same time—regional intendant at the time; Colonel (Ret.) Claudio Abdón Lecaros Carrasco; former Investigative Police commissioner Héctor Torres Guajardo; Sergeant Major (Ret.) Antonio Aguilar Barrientos; and former Investigative Police commissioner Nelson Volta Rosas, in their capacity as authors of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Guillermo del Canto Ramírez, a MIR leader.

According to the investigation substantiated by Solís, at 00:30 hours on January 2, 1974, Del Canto was detained while he was with his spouse, Marianela Méndez Soto, at the home of his cousin, Félix Ignacio Valenzuela Ferrer, located at Calle Santa Clara No. 560 in the commune of La Cisterna.

In effect, several officials who claimed to belong to the Linares Regiment entered the premises and detained Del Canto Ramírez and his cousin, because he was an "accomplice"—according to the captors.

Both detainees were taken in a truck to the Military School in Santiago, where they were interrogated. The following morning, Valenzuela Ferrer was released, while Guillermo del Canto was transferred to the Linares Artillery Regiment, where he remained detained for several days, being interrogated and tortured, to subsequently, on an undetermined date, be taken to the Tejas Verdes prisoner camp in San Antonio, where his trail was lost to this day.

Three other victims

On the other hand, Judge Solís prosecuted General (Ret.) Carlos Edmundo Morales Retamal, then director of the Linares Artillery School, in his capacity as author of the crime of aggravated kidnapping against university student and former MIR militant María Isabel Beltrán Sánchez, committed starting on September 18, 1973.

He also prosecuted former Investigative Police commissioner Héctor Armando Torres Guajardo and Sergeant Major (Ret.) Antonio Aguilar Barrientos as authors of the crime of aggravated kidnapping against former MIR militant Héctor Hernán Contreras Cabrera, committed starting on December 8, 1973.

Finally, the judge indicted Colonel (Ret.) Juan Hernán Morales Salgado in his capacity as author of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of José Alfonso Saavedra Betancourt, a former union leader at the Celco company, perpetrated starting on September 12, 1973.

The magistrate granted provisional release to all those prosecuted, and only in the case of Morales Salgado, who is being charged in this case for the first time, was the benefit granted subject to consultation with the Court of Appeals.

The First Chamber of the appellate court confirmed the release of the former military officer this Tuesday, with the favorable votes of judges Juan Cristóbal Mera and Amanda Valdovinos, as well as the participating lawyer Benito Mauriz.

Mery's companions

In the indictment, which consists of more than 60 pages, Judge Solís recorded the various allusions that exist in these cases regarding the participation of the former director of the Investigative Police in the detention of these opponents of the military regime.

In fact, several witnesses identify him as part of the group of agents who detained María Isabel Beltrán. Likewise, one of the detectives who served at the Artillery School, Armando Torres Guajardo, maintained that in that unit "there was a Security Department, in charge of Captain Lecaros, and it had other officials, such as Nelson Mery, under the command of Jorge Zincke.

He participated in the interrogations, and regarding María Isabel Beltrán, a MIR militant arrested in Santiago, he witnessed about 3 interrogations led by Captain Lecaros, who, to intimidate her, would hit her on the back with a rubber 'churro' (baton)."

Meanwhile, one of the survivors of the Linares Artillery School, Osvaldo Efraín Salazar Saavedra, who was detained on December 19, 1973, by a platoon of military personnel and detectives who took him to the Military School and then transferred him to the Linares Artillery School, states that Nelson Mery participated in that group.

For his part, the former director of the civil police, who left his post due to his alleged link to human rights violations, declared in the process that "on September 12, 1973, being a detective, he was designated as a liaison officer at the Linares Artillery School, and on one occasion he was called by the 'Intelligence Office' and Aguilar asked him if he knew Patricia Contreras, whom he knew because he was a friend of her sister, Elena."

"He answered yes, and they ordered him to go to Santiago because she was allegedly involved in hiding weapons in Panimávida. They arrived at a house on Calle Cienfuegos in a military jeep, in charge of Captain Humberto Julio; Sergeant Aguilar and Detective Volta also went.

They detained her and took her to the Military School; the next day, on the way back, he got out of the jeep and looked into the truck she was in and also found María Isabel Beltrán, who was detained by military personnel," he added.

"He always considered that María Isabel Beltrán was a military intelligence target, as Colonel Morales Retamal stated in writing, noting that she belonged to a MIR cell, maintained extremist activities in Parral, and was involved in the infiltration of people into the Armed Forces, the main charge for which she was detained," Mery assured the court.

Source: El Mostrador, April 8, 2005 Date: 04-08-2005

Nelson Mery was confronted with (Ret.) military officer over disappearance of MIR militant

The former director of the Investigative Police, Nelson Mery, was confronted this morning with Brigadier General (Ret.) Humberto Julio, former Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs during the military regime, regarding the disappearance of the MIR militant Isabel Beltrán, which is being investigated by Judge Alejandro Solís.

The proceeding took place this morning at the Investigative Police School facilities.

Julio, who is being prosecuted for the kidnapping of six forcibly disappeared persons, including Beltrán, accuses the former police chief of having been the head of the commission that detained the 21-year-old student and fellow MIR militant Patricia Contreras.

Mery has denied having participated in the detention of Beltrán and maintained that he only detained Contreras, who has testified in his favor.

The former director of the civil police implicated the retired general and other former officers in the disappearance of Beltrán, who at the time of her detention—September 18, 1973—was a Music Pedagogy student at the University of Chile and an alleged MIR militant.

For that reason, Mery's defense maintains that the fact that Julio is accusing the former police chief of having participated in the woman's detention is motivated by a desire for revenge.

Source: December 14, 2004 El Mercurio Date: 12-14-2004

Ending the symbols of the Dictatorship, a pending task in Linares

On September 11, 2023, fifty years will have passed since the bloody civil-military coup led by dictator Augusto Pinochet, and symbols of the dictatorship still exist in our country, such as the "Pinochet Plaza," which is located in the city of Linares, in the second passageway of a neighborhood adjacent to the Artillery School, located at the intersection of Avenida Presidente Ibáñez and Calle Chacabuco.

This constitutes not only a painful affront to the families of thousands of victims of the brutal human rights violations committed in our country during the 17 years of the dictatorial regime, but also represents an apology for state terrorism.

In the case of the Linares Artillery School, there are numerous documents and testimonies that account for the fact that said facility was a place of detention and torture, where Chilean men and women from the city of Linares and its surroundings directly suffered this reprehensible and inhumane crime against humanity.

On the other hand, in the Plaza de Armas of the city of Linares, one can visit the Memorial for the Forcibly Disappeared and Politically Executed, where a total of 53 forcibly disappeared persons and 15 politically executed persons are recorded—a staggering figure that accounts for the magnitude of the repression suffered by the people of Linares.

Precisely for the reasons given above in this note, it seems inexplicable that a plaza in homage to the dictator Pinochet continues to exist in that city. It is a pending task, as it is possible to end these ignominious monuments through the permanent struggle to de-monumentalize the symbols of the dictatorship, where different organizations and wills must unite to achieve this objective, as happened in Valparaíso, where it was achieved that the statue of Admiral Merino, manager and promoter of the 1973 coup d'état, was removed from the gardens of the Maritime Museum.

In a chronicle written on June 23, 2022, I reported on this achievement, stating on that occasion that "After 8 years and 9 months of a tireless struggle for the de-monumentalization of the symbols of the dictatorship promoted here in Valparaíso by the Cine Fórum Collective starting on September 11, 2013, and supported by former political prisoners who survived imprisonment and torture in Chilean Navy facilities, today, Thursday, June 23, 2022, the statue of Merino was removed from the gardens of the Maritime Museum, placing in its stead another statue representing a naval apprentice, a monument that could correspond to that of the young Arturo Prat."

In this long and tireless path of struggle, many comrades from social and human rights organizations, as well as anti-coup sailors, joined in, but it is also necessary to highlight the decisive actions undertaken by lawyer Luis Mariano Rendón against the Chilean Navy, demanding an end to the tributes to those responsible for crimes against humanity and brutal and systematic human rights violations, in this particular case demanding the removal of the Merino statue.

It was precisely as a result of a protection appeal filed by lawyer Rendón that the Sixth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals issued a resolution on June 17 that gave the Navy a period of five days to remove the Merino statue from the gardens of the Naval Museum.

Lawyers Nelson Caucoto and Francisco Bustos joined this protection appeal on behalf of the sons and daughters of Luis Enrique Sanguinetti Fuenzalida, who are plaintiffs in the criminal case for the crime of their father, who appears classified as a victim in the Rettig Report list—a lawsuit that the Court of Appeals took into consideration to issue its sentence.

In its ruling of June 17, 2022, the Court of Appeals states verbatim:

"(...) the Chilean Navy is ordered to remove the statue of José Toribio Merino Castro from the front of the Maritime Museum of Valparaíso and from any other property or public space, within a period of five days from the date this ruling becomes final, and this Court must be notified of its execution..."

(Cover image

Pinochet Plaza: photograph taken in December 2022. On the pyramidal stone, the following is inscribed: "To the government of the Armed Forces and Order. In memory of its martyrs who fell in the civil-military pronouncement of Sept. 11, 1973, and in homage to the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Captain General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte.

Defenders of the past, builders of the present, sentinels of the future. Children of Linares.")

Source: elporteño.cl 12/31/2022

University of Chile delivers posthumous and symbolic degrees and announces Truth and Memory Policy

The distinguished individuals were the forcibly disappeared María Isabel Beltrán Sánchez, a Music Pedagogy student, and María Cecilia Magnet Ferrero, a Political Economy student; the forcibly disappeared Ramiro Carlos Gonzáles Gonzáles, a Medicine student; and the politically executed Iván Renato Poblete Vargas, a Sociology student.

This Wednesday, September 11, the University of Chile held the official ceremony commemorating the coup d'état in the Hall of Honor, where they presented four new posthumous and symbolic degrees to students who were forcibly disappeared and politically executed by the civil-military dictatorship.

The Rector of the University of Chile, Ennio Vivaldi, called for reflection "on that which has been so stubbornly attempted to be hidden: why they killed our four students. As long as we do not have that conversation, the country will continue to wander between one falsehood and another.

When we manage to have all the forcibly disappeared and executed return to life in the truth of what happened to them, we will be able to talk again as a country."

In addition to this, the creation of a Truth and Memory Policy within the university campus was announced, within the framework of the institutional commitment to memory, truth, justice, and reparation that has been developed in recent years.

"We want to announce that we will promote a Truth and Memory Policy for the University of Chile at the institutional level, which implies developing long-term, coherent, and coordinated efforts to preserve its history under the dictatorship and, based on that history, project a future that guarantees that acts of violence never again install themselves institutionally in our University," informed the Vice-Rector of Extension and Communications, Faride Zeran.

Thus, the initiative will involve transdisciplinary work that allows for the preservation of the university's history under the civil-military dictatorship and the taking of reparation and memory measures in the field of heritage, archives, and research, among others.

The distinguished individuals were the forcibly disappeared María Isabel Beltrán Sánchez, a Music Pedagogy student, and María Cecilia Magnet Ferrero, a Political Economy student; the forcibly disappeared Ramiro Carlos Gonzáles Gonzáles, a Medicine student; and the politically executed Iván Renato Pérez Vargas, a Sociology student.

The president of the Association of Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared Persons, Lorena Pizarro, pointed out that "one cannot stop thinking about how many lives the dictatorship extinguished, how that wound continues to lacerate us and continues to cause pain in this society, in this Chile that was built to the 'measure of the possible,' which not only meant impunity for the genocidal, it was equal to the absence of rights, it was equal to the lack of human happiness, it was equal to condemning the vast majority of the population to the misfortune of living in deprivation, repression, and marginality."

On the other hand, the president of the Association of Relatives of Politically Executed Persons, Alicia Lira, assured that "the honor, the commitment, the consequence of the University of Chile is remarkable in these three ceremonies, where not only those who died or disappeared are recognized, but also those who fought against State terrorism and those of us who have fought for memory.

This ceremony takes on more meaning when there is fascism unleashed in the streets, denialism, and what this government has done by not paying homage or commemorating a constitutionally elected president."

This group of students joins the 112 who received the distinction in April and September 2018, in the first and second delivery of this recognition by the University of Chile.

Source: eldesconcierto.cl, 09.11.2019

Linares Case: REFLECTIONS ON THREE LIVES - Tamara Callejas. The journalist

The Linares case and the disappearance of a woman, María Isabel Beltrán, has brought into public question the role played in this event by the current director of the Investigative Police, Nelson Mery, and has led to the prosecution of General Humberto Julio, who has publicly accused the former and said that he must assume the responsibility that falls to him.

However, this story has a third protagonist, which is the daughter that María Isabel left behind, and it is precisely she who writes these words after reading and reflecting on the statements of these two characters.

It is very difficult to understand how the events happened that December 18, 1973; the actors are many, but each one has a different vision of what was experienced, and unfortunately, 30 years have passed, where the case has been dismissed a great number of times and has remained in the military justice system for just as long, because this is not a new case; like all those that refer to human rights, it has been going on for almost the same 30 years.

It has been remarkably complicated to find people willing to testify; the clues are very few, and surely many have been made to disappear, just like my mother. My mother was María Isabel Beltrán Sánchez, a forcibly disappeared person, and my father was Javier Antonio Pacheco Monsalve, a politically executed person.

I was born on July 26, 1971, and I was a little over two years old at the time of the coup. Due to diverse circumstances, I was given up for adoption to a family that gave me all their love and who raised me as their true daughter.

But the pain of that December 18, the day of María Isabel's detention, has had no end. How to understand the fact that I was not allowed to live with my mother, and even more so, that I cannot even recover her remains to end that tremendous sadness and finish the mourning?

All this comes to my mind when I hear the statements of those who were the last people to see my mother alive. I am referring to Nelson Mery and Humberto Julio, and surely other names who were with her in the days that followed, her torturers and murderers.

They were there that night of December 18, 1973. The strangest thing is that none of them recognize the fact of her detention; apparently, none of them carried an order, and both claim to see her already in the truck when it was on its way to Linares.

It is all these things that make one predict a very difficult encounter with the truth, very little veracity in the accounts of those who were that night on Calle Cienfuegos in Santiago, and then at the Linares Artillery School.

Mr. Julio declares that he never gave an order for an illicit act and that he never received one either. How can he say this if he himself says that it was very difficult to understand what those orders would mean over time?

On the other hand, if none of them had a major participation in this case, why did they take so long to give their version of the events? Two words come to mind: cowardice and shamelessness. There is talk of hierarchical loyalties, but at the same time, there is knowledge of the secret pact that speaks about eliminating anyone from their ranks who could give names of important figures, from Pinochet downwards, but never so low; one must remember that when they are mentioned, there is talk of excesses by mid-level and low-level commanders who, without obeying or respecting orders, murdered and tortured. Was that the situation of my mother? Some minor commander made the determination to detain her, overriding the law of military hierarchical obedience. Was that possible? Humberto Julio also declares that he is not going to be the one to point the finger, but that the judges must know how to understand the signals given by those prosecuted, in order to reach the "true culprits." Doesn't that mean that he knows then what really happened and that he is afraid to say names, to protect himself? I admire such cooperation. On the other hand, Mr. Mery declares, before Judge Solís, in my mother's case, for which Jorge Zincke, Carlos Morales Retamal, and Humberto Julio, among others, are being prosecuted. The ping-pong between Mery and Julio begins: they were never there, they never saw her, they cannot explain how she arrived at the truck that would take her to live her tragedy. Different versions of her detention make one think that one of the two is lying, key witnesses like Patricia Contreras herself, who was detained along with my mother. She declares that both were detained at the same time; there is a nebula in the detention that needs to be clarified. I believe that both Mery and Julio know more about this. Why so much silence? Why is the person Mery knew, who was Patricia Contreras, alive and my mom is not? There are many questions, and I feel it is very difficult to understand. It is clear to me that the main actors of the event are getting tangled up with the truth; memory is fragile, especially if 30 years have passed. But that does not justify, nor does it make the participants in the detention, torture, and disappearance of my mother any less guilty or responsible. No circumstance can explain that fact. I only hope that their consciences make them, even for a second, understand the pain it causes me. And that the attitude of shamelessness and cowardice only leads them to be recorded as beings of the lowest category, in my eyes and in those of many who are in my situation.

Source: archivochile.com (no date)

LETTER TO: María Isabel Beltrán Sánchez FROM: Támara Isabel Callejas Beltrán

Dear Mom

48 years have already passed since the day they took you from my side; I was two years old. It was December 18, 1973; my dad had already been killed, and we were wandering from house to house looking for refuge from an event that was already imminent.

From that fateful day, you never returned, and it is from there that I want to tell you how my life went. Shortly after they detained you, I was also torn from my grandmother's side; she took me to your "friend's" house so she would take care of me while she looked for you, and with the passage of time, I ended up in the house of another family who finally kept me.

There are things I don't know how they happened, and the protagonists of this will never have the courage to tell me the truth, but that's how it is: I grew up forgetting you, because that day they tore you from my side, I also disappeared... they say that for a time I cried every day and asked for you... "she's coming back," they would tell me.

I missed you so much that I stopped eating and got sick. And so time passed and I forgot. As I grew up, I felt that I was in a place where I didn't belong; I cried every night and didn't know why. I felt alone; I knew that this family that had me wasn't enough; there was something more, but I didn't know what it was.

And that's how one day my doubts started to become reality. I found a wedding photo where those beings who claimed to be my parents were, but the date of their marriage didn't coincide with the year of my birth.

Had I perhaps been born out of wedlock? I didn't understand what was happening, and I confronted them. They didn't say anything, but I understood that they were keeping a secret and that the whole family knew it except me, but no one wanted to tell me anything... many questions came to my mind; I felt more loneliness and a pain I couldn't understand...

That was how one day in October 1996, the truth was thrown ruthlessly in front of me. For the first time, I saw your photo. We are the same, I thought; I finally found someone who looks like me. They weren't my real parents; I was adopted.

Everything started to make sense, but I also felt a lot of pain... my real parents had been victims of the horror of the dictatorship. And you, mom... you were disappeared... the search for my identity began, in a country that wasn't prepared to help a person like me. "You are like the cases of the Argentine grandchildren," they told me, but no one understood deep down what I was going through... my life changed, mom; I had rage, impotence, pain; I felt vulnerable.

As the days, months, and years passed, I went about reconstructing my identity. I met my grandmother, my grandfather, my aunts, uncles, cousins; I had a lot of family. I changed "dad" to the memorial. Just that year, mom, you were expecting my son, your grandson, mom, the one you won't be able to meet.

He is a beautiful, intelligent young man, and you know he loves me so much that with him I learned to know unconditional love, that love that I know you gave me but, no matter how hard I try, I cannot remember...

I only feel it. Mom, I am full of borrowed memories; your friends and family told me so many things about you. I feel like I know you, but I envy those who close their eyes and can see your face; I, no matter how hard I try, cannot.

I have your photo with me always, and wherever I go, you go too. I want to tell you that this hasn't been easy; I have felt your loss forever; there isn't a day that I don't feel the lack you have left in my life.

I love you very much, mom, and I will keep fighting until the day I die to be able to find something of you and be able to perform this rite that is so necessary and be able to bring you a flower. I don't want to keep throwing flowers into the sea, rivers, or hills anymore.

You know, mom, a few years ago I had to be in court with the genocidal people who tortured you and made you disappear. I wasn't prepared for that moment, but I walked in front of them, and since I look so much like you, I knew afterward how shocked they were to see me.

At that moment, it was you through me who was walking in front of them; everyone lowered their gaze. Finally, the sentences were so low that after three years they were already walking the streets. One day I ran into one on the subway; I approached him and shouted that he was a genocidal person and made him get off the train he was on.

It wasn't much, but the impotence of so much impunity overwhelmed me. I didn't want to be here anymore. I needed to make a change and leave this country. That was how one day I made the decision to leave and see if, by being far away, I could somehow close chapters of my life, and I came to live in Buenos Aires.

Here I started going every Thursday to accompany the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in the round they do, demanding truth and justice for their children, parents, siblings, husbands. Here I managed to find a place; here I found others like me who shared their stories, and I finally felt a sense of belonging.

And here I am, starting from scratch; it hasn't been easy, but I know I will forge my own path. I love you very much, mom, and I am proud of your struggle, your courage, and your strength, and I know that one day we will meet again and I will see your face... and we will give each other that hug I have been waiting for my whole life. Your daughter, Tamara Isabel.

Source: epistolariodelamemoria.cl 09/11/2020 Date: 09-11-2020

Red de Actrices de Chile - MARÍA ISABEL BELTRÁN SÁNCHEZ

VIDEO AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE.COM

"I am full of borrowed memories; your friends and family told me so many things about you. I feel like I know you, but I envy those who close their eyes and can see your face; I, no matter how hard I try, cannot." Letter to María Isabel Beltrán Sánchez from her daughter Tamara Isabel Callejas Beltrán.

Source: Red de Actrices de Chile 7/29/2022 Date: 07-29-2022