A total of nine further indictments were issued for human rights violations, in a context where expectations are growing to see how the right wing, regardless of improving compensation for victims' families, will address a legislative proposal that would attempt to put an end to trials against military personnel 30 years after the military coup occurred.

In a resolution issued by Judge Juan Guzmán Tapia, the following former DINA members were indicted yesterday as perpetrators of the 1976 kidnapping of nine communist militants: Colonel (Ret.) Carlos López Tapia, Brigadier (Ret.) Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Colonel (Ret.) Germán Barriga Muñoz, Carabineros Colonel (Ret.) Ricardo Lawrence Mires, and physician Osvaldo Pincetti.

The indictments were issued for the disappearance of former deputy Bernardo Araya and his wife, María Olga Flores, and members of the PC's clandestine leadership, all of whom remain forcibly disappeared to this day: Mario Zamorano, Jorge Muñoz (husband of the current president of the PC, Gladys Marín), Elisa Escobar, Uldarico Donaire, Jaime Donato, Lenín Díaz, and Víctor Díaz.

The latter was the father of the former president of the AFDD, Viviana Díaz. The disappearance of the first clandestine leadership of the PC is known as the Calle Conferencia case, because the DINA set up a trap in a house on this street, in Santiago Poniente, to capture the PC leadership.

These victims are included in the first lawsuit against Augusto Pinochet and other military personnel (Ret.), which was filed on January 12, 1998, by Gladys Marín.

The plaintiff's lawyer, Eduardo Contreras, highlighted that “this shows that truth and justice can continue to be pursued, unlike what the UDI wants.” Contreras also underscored “the courage and ethical standing of Judge Guzmán, who, without recusing himself from the case, indicted such a direct relative of his.”

Indeed, Carlos López Tapia, a cousin of Judge Guzmán, was the head of the Villa Grimaldi clandestine center in 1976, the place where the PC detainees were taken and subsequently disappeared. López was also a member of the Caravan of Death during its first tour through the south and, according to his own statements in the proceedings, he attended the extrajudicial execution of the MIR leader in the foothills of what is now the Tenth Region, José Liendo Vera, better known as “Comandante Pepe,” on the night of October 3, 1973, in Valdivia.

Yesterday, Guzmán admitted that the measure “was difficult, because we judges are human beings.”

Four Others

Meanwhile, Judge Jorge Zepeda indicted Army officer (Ret.) Claudio Lecaros Canales, non-commissioned officer (Ret.) José Muñoz Pozo, and Carabineros non-commissioned officer (Ret.) Omar Mella Lillo. The indictment was issued for their roles as perpetrators of the homicide of Rubén Acevedo Gutiérrez and the kidnapping of Vidal Riquelme Ibáñez and Cesáreo Soto.

The three victims presented themselves on September 15, 1973, at the El Melosal police station in San Javier, in what is now the Seventh Region, from where they were removed by military personnel from the Linares Artillery School, taken to the Loncomilla bridge, and executed. Only Acevedo's body was recovered.

In turn, Judge Daniel Calvo indicted FACH Colonel (Ret.) Guillermo Gómez Aguilar as the perpetrator of the kidnapping of Gabriel Marfull González. He was detained on September 13, 1973, and taken to the El Bosque Air Base. There, he was executed, and his body was transported to Cuesta Barriga, where it was abandoned.

In both cases, Fasic lawyer Nelson Caucoto is acting as plaintiff representing the families, and he praised the investigation conducted thus far by the two magistrates yesterday.

THE FALL OF THE PC

On Calle Conferencia, located in the western area of the Santiago commune, the DINA set up a “trap” in May 1976: agents of the repressive organization waited for several days for the arrival of the PC leadership that was working on the party's rearticulation and captured them one by one to subsequently make them forcibly disappear.

In December of the same year, the DINA struck again, and this time its agents detained members of a new PC leadership, in what is known as the “case of the thirteen.” In this second wave of repression, Waldo Pizarro, husband of Sola Sierra and father of the current president of the AFDD, Lorena Pizarro, fell.

Source: June 3, 2003, La Nación