The events took place in the Quinta Normal commune on September 7, 1983. The visiting judge sentenced Roberto Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles González Cortés to 20 years in prison.

For their responsibility in the homicides of Alejandro Salgado Troquián and Hugo Ratier Noguera, the extraordinary visiting judge for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Miguel Vázquez Plaza, convicted 23 former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI).

The events occurred in the Quinta Normal commune on September 7, 1983, and were presented at the time as a shootout, which turned out to be staged. Judge Vázquez sentenced Roberto Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles González Cortés to 20 years in prison.

Meanwhile, former agents José Aravena Ruiz, José Salas Fuentes, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross, Egon Barra Barra, Jorge Vargas Bories, Norman Jeldes Aguilar, Fernando Rojas Tapia, Manuel Morales Acevedo, Sergio Canals Baldwin, and José Vidal Veloso must serve 15 years and one day in prison as perpetrators of the crimes.

Raúl Méndez Santos, Rodolfo Olguín González, Ema Ceballos Núñez, Miguel Gajardo Quijada, Rosa Ramos Hernández, Francisco Orellana Seguel, Juan Carlos Vergara Gutiérrez, Raúl Escobar Díaz, Rafael Ortega Gutiérrez, and Luis Gálvez Navarro were sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison as accomplices.

During the investigation of the case, Judge Vázquez established that Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquián died from gunshot wounds received in the back, after agents of the CNI, the Chilean Investigative Police, and other repressive agencies began firing without any provocation and with great firepower against the property located at Calle Janequeo 5707.

Source: eldinamo.cl, July 22, 2019

Santiago Court convicts 23 former CNI agents for murders in 1983 staged shootout

The Santiago Court of Appeals confirmed the first-instance sentence issued by Judge Miguel Vásquez Plaza on July 19, 2019, which convicted 23 former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for their responsibility in the qualified homicide of Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) militants Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquián.

The crimes were perpetrated on September 7, 1983, in a staged shootout on Calle Janequeo in the Quinta Normal commune. In the ruling (case file 4741-2019), the Third Chamber of the appellate court—composed of judges Verónica Sabaj Escudero, Alejandro Aguilar Brevis, and Rodrigo Carvajal Schnettler—resolved to reject the appeals and cassation motions filed by some of the convicted individuals and to confirm the first-instance sentence, with the modification of reducing from 20 to 17 years the prison sentences applied to former Army officers and former CNI leaders Roberto Urbano Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles Mauricio González Cortés, in their capacity as co-perpetrators of the crime. The first of the convicted, Schmied Zanzi, served as head of the CNI's Metropolitan Division; Corbalán Castilla was head of the Anti-Subversive Division, and Aquiles González acted as head of the "Brigada Azul," specialized in the repression of the MIR. Meanwhile, former Army officers Sergio María Canals Baldwin, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ros, Fernando Rafael Mauricio Rojas Tapia, Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, and former agents José Abel Aravena Ruiz, José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, Egon Antonio Barra Barra, Jorge Octavio Vargas Bories, Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, and José Isaías Vidal Veloso must serve 15 years and one day in prison as perpetrators of the crimes. For their part, former agents Rodolfo Enrique Olguín González, Ema Verónica Ceballos Núñez, Luis Hernán Gálvez Navarro, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Francisco Javier Orellana Seguel, Miguel Fernando Gajardo Quijada, Juan Carlos Vergara Gutiérrez, Raúl Boris Méndez Santos, Raúl Hernán Escobar Díaz, and Rafael Ricardo Ortega Gutiérrez were sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison as accomplices to the crimes. The case decreed the acquittal of agents Zinaida Lena Vicencio González, Jorge Raimundo Ahumada Molina, and Eduardo Martín Chávez Baeza, as their participation in this event was not proven. Another individual prosecuted in this case, former PDI officer Jorge Arnaldo Barraza Riveros, passed away during the proceedings; meanwhile, the prosecuted former Carabineros officer Miguel Ángel Patricio Soto Duarte remains a fugitive. This staged shootout was carried out by the CNI on the same day and immediately following the execution of three other MIR militants on Calle Fuenteovejuna, in a criminal act also orchestrated as a staged shootout. Judicially, both events are processed as separate episodes, despite the fact that it was a single repressive operation. The investigation into the repressive act demonstrated that the dictatorship's repressive apparatus developed a tracking and surveillance operation during the months prior against a group of MIR members who were operating clandestinely in the resistance struggle against the tyrannical regime. With the data obtained from this prior observation, the CNI orchestrated the extermination operation that resulted in the detention of a dozen people, the attack and murder of the three residents of the house on Calle Fuenteovejuna, in the Las Condes commune, and then the attack and murder of two other militants at the house on Calle Janequeo in the Quinta Normal commune. On September 7, 1983, dozens of agents from the CNI, the SIFA, the Investigative Police, and other repressive agencies went to the residence located at Calle Janequeo No. 5707, Quinta Normal commune, which had been under surveillance for several weeks, proceeding to surround and cordon off the area, and then, using a base of fire and other weaponry, fired without any provocation and with great firepower against the property, as a result of which Hugo Ratier Noguera, 39 years old, was killed by various gunshot wounds in the backyard of the home. Additionally, as he was arriving at the same residence where he lived, Alejandro Salgado Troquián, 30 years old, was gunned down by multiple gunshot wounds and executed on the public thoroughfare, specifically on Calle Janequeo in front of number 5946. A minor, the adopted son of Salgado and a resident of the home alongside Salgado and Ratier, was a victim and witness to the events but managed to flee to neighboring houses during the gunfire, thus saving his life and later denouncing the criminal attack.

Source: resumen.cl, November 18, 2021

Supreme Court confirms convictions of 22 CNI agents for crimes in staged shootout in Quinta Normal in September 1983

The Supreme Court confirmed the convictions against 22 agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for their responsibility in the qualified homicide of Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) militants Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquián.

The crimes were perpetrated on September 7, 1983, in a staged shootout on Calle Janequeo in the Quinta Normal commune, in Santiago. In a unanimous ruling, the Second Chamber of the high court (case file 10.047-2022)—composed of judges Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Leopoldo Llanos Sagristá, Jean Pierre Matus, and acting lawyers Gonzalo Ruz L. and Leonor Etcheberry C.—ruled out any error of law in the sentence and rejected the cassation motions filed by almost all of the convicted individuals against the ruling of the Santiago Court of Appeals, issued in November 2021, which in turn confirmed with some changes the first-instance ruling issued in July 2019 by Judge Miguel Vásquez Plaza. In the resolution, the Second Chamber confirms the sentences applied to former Army officers and former CNI leaders Roberto Urbano Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles Mauricio González Cortés, who remain sentenced to 17 years in prison as co-perpetrators of the crime. The first of the convicted, Schmied Zanzi, served as head of the CNI's Metropolitan Division; Corbalán Castilla was head of the Anti-Subversive Division, and Aquiles González acted as head of the "Brigada Azul," specialized in the repression of the MIR. Meanwhile, former Army officers and CNI operatives Sergio María Canals Baldwin, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ros, Fernando Rafael Mauricio Rojas Tapia, Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, and former agents José Abel Aravena Ruiz, José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, Egon Antonio Barra Barra, Jorge Octavio Vargas Bories, and José Isaías Vidal Veloso must serve 15 years and one day in prison as perpetrators of the crimes. For their part, former agents Rodolfo Enrique Olguín González, Ema Verónica Ceballos Núñez, Luis Hernán Gálvez Navarro, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Francisco Javier Orellana Seguel, Miguel Fernando Gajardo Quijada, Juan Carlos Vergara Gutiérrez, Raúl Boris Méndez Santos, Raúl Hernán Escobar Díaz, and Rafael Ricardo Ortega Gutiérrez were sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison as accomplices to the crimes. Agent Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, also convicted in previous instances, passed away during the proceedings. Staged shootout On September 7, 1983, dozens of agents from the CNI, the SIFA, the Investigative Police, and other repressive agencies went to the residence located at Calle Janequeo No. 5707, Quinta Normal commune, which had been under surveillance for several weeks, proceeding to surround and cordon off the area, and then, using a base of fire and other weaponry, fired without any provocation and with great firepower against the property, as a result of which Hugo Ratier Noguera was killed by various gunshot wounds in the backyard of the home. Simultaneously, as he was arriving at the neighborhood and the same residence where he lived, militant Alejandro Salgado Troquián was gunned down by multiple gunshot wounds and executed on the public thoroughfare, specifically on Calle Janequeo in front of number 5946, two blocks from the attacked house. Hugo Norberto Ratier Noguera, 39 years old, was an Argentine national, originally from Misiones, and had resided in Chile since 1970. He was a leader of the MIR and remained active in the underground. He was married and a father of three; shortly before these events, his wife and children had left the country for security reasons. Alejandro Salgado Troquián, 30 years old, a veterinarian by profession, was also a MIR militant, married, and a stepfather to his partner's children. A minor, the adopted son of Salgado and a resident of the home alongside Salgado and Ratier, was a victim and witness to the events but managed to flee to neighboring houses during the gunfire, thus saving his life and later denouncing the criminal attack. This staged shootout was carried out by the CNI on the same day and immediately following the execution of three other MIR militants on Calle Fuenteovejuna, in the Las Condes commune, in a criminal act also orchestrated as a staged shootout where Arturo Vilavella Araujo, Lucía Orfilia Vergara Valenzuela, and Sergio Peña Díaz were murdered. The three had returned clandestinely to Chile to join the struggle against the dictatorship. Judicially, both events are processed as separate episodes, despite the fact that it was a single repressive operation. The investigation into the repressive act demonstrated that the dictatorship's repressive apparatus developed a tracking and surveillance operation during the months prior against a group of MIR members who were operating clandestinely in the resistance struggle against the tyrannical regime. With the data obtained from this prior observation, the CNI orchestrated the extermination operation that resulted in the detention of a dozen people, the attack and murder of the three residents of the house on Calle Fuenteovejuna, and then the attack and murder of two other militants at the house on Calle Janequeo in the Quinta Normal commune. by Darío Núñez

Source: resumen.cl, January 27, 2024