The visiting judge for human rights violation cases at the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Jaime Arancibia Pinto, issued an indictment against retired members of the Navy, Army, and Carabineros for their responsibility in the crimes of kidnapping with serious injury, application of torture, and homicide. These illicit acts were perpetrated between 1973 and 1974 in the Fifth Region.

In the first case (case file 144.063-2011), Judge Arancibia indicted retired Army and Carabineros members Luis Maureira González, Leonel Barahona Tapia, and Juan Cromilakis Fernández as authors of the kidnapping and qualified homicide of Luis Silva Jara, committed on November 16, 1974, in Valparaíso.

During the investigation phase of the case, the visiting judge established that Luis Silva Jara was detained, along with other individuals, in an apartment located in the Marina Mercante sector of Playa Ancha by a Carabineros patrol and two Army conscripts for violating the curfew. While being led to a police station, the victim was executed on a road in the La Pólvora sector.

Adolescent victims

In the second case (case file 144.136-2013), the magistrate identified retired Navy members Bertalino Castillo Soto, Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, Guillermo Moreno Hierro, Juan Jorquera Terrazas, and Valentín Riquelme Villalobos as authors of the crimes of kidnapping with serious injury and application of torture against the adolescent Yeri Omar Prado Ojeda.

This illicit act was perpetrated between September and October 1973.

According to the evidence gathered in the case, the judge established that Prado Ojeda was kidnapped by Navy personnel on September 25, 1973, when the adolescent, 15 years old at the time, went to the Cuartel Almirante Silva Palma in Valparaíso to seek news about his father, who had been detained and transferred to that Navy facility the previous day.

At the naval barracks, Prado Ojeda was subjected to physical and psychological duress, “which translated into threats to his life and physical integrity and that of his father, mock executions, sleep deprivation, denial of the satisfaction of physiological needs, beatings, and cold water baths.”

Before being released, the minor was transported by naval personnel to Fuerte Papudo, located in the Recreo sector of Viña del Mar, where he met with his father, who remained in detention. After that brief encounter, he was abandoned in the Caleta Portales sector.

In the third case (case file 144.132-2013), Magistrate Arancibia Pinto held retired Navy members Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Juan Jorquera Terrazas, Guillermo Moreno Hierro, Alejo Esparza Martínez, Héctor Santibáñez Obreque, Jaime Lazo Pérez, Eduardo Núñez Contreras, and Valentín Riquelme Villalobos responsible for the crime of kidnapping with serious injury and application of torture against the adolescent Óscar Ibaceta Jorquera.

These illicit acts were committed in February 1974.

In the case, the visiting judge established that Ibaceta Jorquera, 14 years old at the time, was kidnapped in February 1974 by Navy personnel when he went to the Academia de Guerra, located in Valparaíso, in response to a summons left at his home, “under the threat that if he did not appear at the indicated place, his friends—who were already detained—would not be released.”

At the Academia de Guerra, the victim was subjected to duress, “which translated into threats to his life and physical integrity and that of his friends, mock executions, sleep deprivation, denial of the satisfaction of physiological needs, kicks and punches, and the application of electric shocks to his hands and groin.”

“The minor remained detained at the Cuartel Silva Palma for 20 days, and was left with the obligation to sign in weekly at the Carabineros station in Cerro Alegre, which was carried out for 11 months.” This situation caused emotional damage to the victim, which persists to this day.

In the fourth case (case file 144.133-2013), the visiting judge indicted retired Navy members Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Alejo Esparza Martínez, Héctor Santibáñez Obreque, Jaime Lazo Pérez, Eduardo Núñez Contreras, Valentín Riquelme Villalobos, Jaime Riesle Wetherby, and Sergio Hevia Febres as authors of the crimes of kidnapping with serious injury and application of torture against the adolescent Morelia Fernández Montenegro.

These illicit acts were committed between February and May 1974.

During the investigation, Judge Arancibia Pinto established that the adolescent was detained during the night of a day in February 1974 by Navy personnel at her home located on Cerro Florida in Valparaíso.

Fernández Montenegro, 17 years old, was placed in the vehicle used by the naval personnel and taken, first, to the house of her cousin Patricio Fernández Avilés, with both being transferred to the Cuartel Silva Palma.

“She remained detained in that facility for about 2 weeks, without food or hygiene measures, subjected to interrogations, physical abuse such as beatings and the application of electric shocks, psychological abuse such as sleep deprivation and threats to both her physical integrity and that of her family, and verbal abuse.

She was then transferred to the ‘Buen Pastor’ women’s prison, where she remained incarcerated for approximately 2 more weeks, being released during the second week of March 1974.”

In May of that same year, “she was detained again on two occasions by Navy personnel, who took her back to the Cuartel Silva Palma, where she was subjected to interrogations. On those occasions, the detentions lasted approximately two days each.”

Source: elclarin.cl, May 17, 2018

Luis Humberto Silva Jara Case: former conscript soldier sentenced for the execution of a dockworker detained in Playa Ancha, Valparaíso

On January 22, the substitute judge of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Max Cancino, sentenced former conscript soldier Leonel Enrique Barahona Tapia to 10 years and one day in prison, without benefits, as the author of the crime of qualified homicide of Luis Humberto Silva Jara.

In the ruling (case file 144.063-2011), Judge Cancino also sentenced, in addition to Leonel Barahona, former conscript Luis Mauricio Maureira González and former Carabineros officer Juan Alberto Cromilakis Fernández to 60 days in prison for their responsibility in the crime of simple kidnapping, with the benefit of a suspended sentence.

During the investigation phase, the visiting judge in charge of the proceedings established the following facts: "That on November 16, 1974, in the early hours of the morning, the victim Luis Silva Jara was sharing time with some friends inside an apartment located in the Marina Mercante sector of Playa Ancha, Valparaíso.

At approximately 03:20 hours, a patrol of uniformed officers arrived at the location, composed of an officer from the First Carabineros Station of Playa Ancha and two conscript soldiers from the Maipo regiment.

After having a conversation with the young people, they forced them to leave the apartment to proceed to detain them for violating the curfew, despite them being inside a residence. At the moment the uniformed officers were leading the young people along the Camino de la Pólvora toward the corresponding police unit, upon reaching Calle Panamá, one of the guards fired his rifle at one of the detainees, striking Luis Silva Jara in the back, who died instantly at the scene."

Source: derechoshumanos.udp.cl, February 2020