Operation against the MIR leadership in the southern zone

Between August 23 and August 24, 1984, the CNI, with agents sent from Santiago, carried out an operation intended to eliminate the leaders of the MIR in the southern part of the country, specifically in Concepción, Los Angeles, and Valdivia.

Many of them had entered the country illegally and were carrying out clandestine work. All of them had been followed by security agents beforehand, and for that reason, the agents had absolute clarity regarding their activities.

In all cases, it was publicly reported that there had been armed confrontations as a result of which the victims died. However, based on the various records gathered, the Commission has reached the conviction that they were executed.

The first incident took place on the morning of August 23, 1984, in Hualpencillo, a town near Concepción. At that location, the laborer Luciano Humberto AEDO ARIAS was executed near his home; according to witnesses, he was shot without being ordered to surrender and without attempting to offer resistance.

Hours later, the minibus in which Mario Octavio LAGOS RODRIGUEZ and Nelson HERRERA RIVEROS—a laborer and a merchant, respectively—were traveling was intercepted in the Lorenzo Arenas sector of Concepción.

The public transport vehicle had been followed from Talcahuano and was ordered to stop in a high-traffic area, in front of the Vega Monumental. Witnesses interviewed by this Commission indicated that there was no resistance to the arrest by the victims, who got off the minibus unarmed and without hostages.

They performed this action with their arms raised; at that moment, Mario Lagos received a gunshot wound to the armpit, which confirms that position of his arms. The autopsy of Nelson Herrera indicates that he was killed subsequently by a gunshot to the skull at close range while he was already handcuffed, which is evidenced by the marks on his wrists.

All these events were filmed by cameramen using Televisión Nacional equipment who were stationed in the sector before the events took place, which also indicates that this was not a casual confrontation but rather events planned in advance.

At six o'clock in the evening on the same day, August 23, Mario Ernesto MUJICA BARROS, an accountant, was killed by gunfire in Los Angeles at the entrance to his home, without there having been any opposition to an arrest on his part, according to the testimonies known to the Commission.

At more or less the same time, Raúl Jaime BARRIENTOS MATAMALA and Rogelio Humberto TAPIA DE LA PUENTE—an employee and a forestry engineer, respectively—died on the road connecting Valdivia to Niebla. On this occasion, it was also officially reported that there had been a confrontation and that a third person had fled the scene, which is entirely improbable given the conditions of the terrain.

The Commission has information that the victims had been arrested in Valdivia and taken to that location for their execution by CNI agents.

On August 24, the last of the events occurred, which cost the life of Juan José BONCOMPTE ANDREU, an economist by profession. He was surprised in his home by a large number of agents. Juan Boncompte attempted to flee through the back of the house but was surrounded, and was then shot repeatedly, as a result of which he died immediately.

Several witness accounts indicate that there was no resistance of any kind by the victim and that he was at the mercy of the agents when he was killed.

Based on the merit of the statements from numerous interviewed witnesses, other gathered evidence, and the implausibility of the official versions of how the events occurred, this Commission is convinced that these seven people were executed by state agents in violation of their human rights.