In October 1974, Antonio LLIDO MENGUAL, a former priest of Spanish nationality linked to the MIR, was seen by witnesses at the José Domingo Cañas detention center. Subsequently, Antonio LLIDO, whose date of arrest is unknown, was transferred to Cuatro Alamos, from where he was forcibly disappeared while in the custody of the DINA.

The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of State agents, who thereby violated his human rights.

The priest Antonio Llidó Mengual, a Spanish national and member of the Christians for Socialism group—formed by laypeople and religious figures during the Unidad Popular government—was detained on approximately September 24, 1974, by DINA agents at a plot of land located in the outskirts of Santiago under unknown circumstances.

His arrest appears to be related to a group of people linked to the MIR, including Ariel Salinas Argomedo, who was detained by DINA agents on September 25 of that year and also remains a forcibly disappeared person.

Father Llidó was taken to the DINA facility located at the intersection of José Domingo Cañas and República de Israel, where he was seen until mid-October of that year, at which time he was transferred to Cuatro Álamos, the incommunicado detention center of Tres Álamos, which was also under the control of the DINA. He disappeared from this facility around October 25, 1974.

During his forced stay at the José Domingo Cañas facility, he was cruelly tortured and mocked for his status as a priest. The conditions he endured are documented in the testimonies of people detained by the DINA who survived the torture and the method of forced disappearance implemented by that security agency of the military regime.

Ms. Rosalía Martínez Cereceda, detained along with her spouse Julio Laks Feller on September 22, 1974, and transferred to the aforementioned facility, states in her testimony that Father Antonio Llidó arrived at that location on September 24 and remained there until mid-October 1974.

The priest was in very poor health, suffering from frequent stomach hemorrhages; however, his spirits were very high, and he dedicated himself to comforting the other prisoners. For his part, Julio Laks Feller declares that 2 or 3 days after the priest arrived, he was subjected to repeated interrogation sessions and returned each time in worse physical condition.

After 3 days, he had great difficulty moving as a result of the beatings and the application of electricity to his entire body for several hours at a time; his shirt was stained with blood, and he apparently suffered from internal hemorrhaging and muscle tears.

On one occasion, he was examined by a DINA doctor who recommended his immediate hospitalization, a recommendation that was rejected by an officer with the surname Morel (referring to Marcelo Moren Brito), who replied that this was not possible because the interrogations had not concluded.

The witness adds in his testimony that, despite his physical state and the demeaning treatment he received due to his status as a priest, he always maintained a surprising presence of mind and still found the strength to console his cellmates, sharing with them the little food they had.

In mid-October 1974, the witness was transferred to 4 Álamos. There, a few days later, he witnessed the arrival of Father Llidó, who was held in cell No. 13. His health was somewhat better, but he still suffered from great pain.

Around the 20th of the same month, the priest was taken from his cell and the facility, along with other detainees, with orders to carry all their belongings. Mr. Edmundo Lebrecht, in a testimony signed in Berlin, states that he saw and spoke with the victim during October 2 and 3, 1974, at the José Domingo Cañas facility, learning that he was a priest and that he had been detained at a plot of land in Santiago.

He had been a victim of prolonged applications of electric shocks and beatings of all kinds while remaining handcuffed to a metal bunk. Due to his status as a priest, the torture he was subjected to was marked by sadism.

He personally attended to him when he was thrown into the cell, where he was vomiting and suffering from loud death rattles caused by the agonizing thirst that electric shocks provoke.

Ms. Cecilia Jarpa Zúñiga, detained by the DINA on October 3, 1974, states in her testimony that she was transferred to José Domingo Cañas, where the priest Antonio Llidó was already being held as a detainee.

In the first days of her stay there, she only heard his name, but he was subsequently transferred to her cell—between October 8 and 12—due to his poor state of health. There, she was able to see him and confirm his poor physical condition; he was suffering from a gastric ulcer that had hemorrhaged.

Despite this, he maintained great fortitude, characterized by his constant concern for the other detainees. Likewise, Ms. Marta Caballero Santa Cruz states in her testimony that she was detained on October 5, 1974, and transferred to José Domingo Cañas, where Father Antonio Llidó was being held.

Former detainee María Julia Andrés Plana notes in her statement that she was arrested on October 10, 1974, and taken blindfolded to the José Domingo Cañas facility, where she noticed the presence of numerous prisoners, among them the priest Antonio Llidó, who was in poor health and had to remain lying on the floor; however, he maintained his spirits, good humor, and offered words of encouragement to all who were there.

The witness adds that on October 11, she was transferred to 4 Álamos along with a group of about 10 prisoners, among whom was Father Llidó; this was the last time she had the opportunity to see him.

Former prisoner Hermann E. Schwember Fernández states in his testimony that he was detained on October 8, 1974, by the DINA and taken directly to 4 Álamos, from where he was taken on the 11th or 12th to be interrogated at a secret facility.

On October 13, he was taken back to 4 Álamos, remaining confined in room No. 13, which housed about 20 prisoners. There he found Father Llidó Mengual, who had arrived in terrible physical condition due, as he recounted, to torture by electric shock and beatings in various parts of his body; he had intense chest pains and suffered damage to his mouth, salivary glands, and teeth.

Through conversations he had with him, he learned that his detention was the result of the search for some political activists known to Father Llidó, and the torture was intended to force him to provide information about those people.

That night on the 13th, the older prisoners organized a small choir to lift the spirits of those who were arriving from the interrogation and torture houses. In the middle of the singing session, the weak voice of the priest was heard joining the choir, and he continued singing for a good while.

In the following days, Antonio sang, danced, taught French, and talked at length with all the prisoners in the cell. In his capacity as a priest, he was sought out by prisoners who needed help reflecting on their own situation.

Near a Sunday, it was proposed that he celebrate Mass, which sparked a long and fraternal debate because there was no difficulty in obtaining bread, but the priest insisted that some wine was necessary, even if it were only a few drops.

Occasionally they had access to a more reasonable guard, Carlos "Mauro" (Carlos Carrasco Matus, later detained and disappeared), and they asked him to get wine. The guard stated he had difficulties for that Sunday but that for the next one he would do his best to help.

The priest did not have high hopes regarding getting out of prison soon and hinted a couple of times, in a calm manner, that he knew what awaited him would not be easy. One morning, around October 25, the guards entered very early to look for a group of detainees, among whom were Antonio Llidó, an architect named Carlos Gajardo Wolff, and the sociologist Ariel Salinas, all of whom remain disappeared to this day.

The witness adds in his testimony that he keeps in his mind the hurried way Antonio, half-asleep, got dressed and stood in line, looking at them calmly, while the other prisoners held onto the illusion that perhaps they were being taken to the "Free Talk" section.

Another survivor of the DINA torture houses, Mr. Juan Ramón Ramírez Cortés, detained on January 16, 1974, and who remained confined in the facilities of Londres 38, Tejas Verdes, San Antonio Prison, 4 Álamos, Ritoque, and Puchuncaví, points out that in the first two places he was subjected to all kinds of torture and humiliation that left him in very poor physical condition.

He arrived at 4 Álamos on August 30, 1974, when that facility was still under the control of the Carabineros; later, the DINA took charge, whose agent in charge was one with the surname Pacheco (referring to Pacheco Conrado).

The witness expresses in his statement that after the Fiestas Patrias of that year, a Spanish priest, Father Antonio Llidó, entered his cell; he was a man of firm character but deep humanity. On the night he entered, he was in poor condition; he had been tortured for days, was physically shattered, and could not move.

As they were putting on a show, they asked him to sing, which he refused because he was very tired; days later, he sang and danced a "Jota," despite the fact that he continued to feel very ill; he apparently had internal injuries and could only drink milk.

After a while, they took him out of the cell, and he never heard from him again. Finally, Mr. Cristián Esteban Van Yurick Altamirano states in his testimony that he was detained by the DINA on July 12, 1974, and transferred to Londres 38, where he was subjected to intense interrogations with the application of torture.

Subsequently, he was taken to 4 Álamos and confined in cell No. 13, through which numerous prisoners passed, among them the priest Antonio Llidó Mengual, who, according to his own conviction, was arrested in relation to Ariel Salinas Argomedo.

He believes the priest's detention occurred in the week of September 20, 1974, at a plot of land. He spent several days at José Domingo Cañas. He told him an anecdote that happened to him with some packets of cornstarch: when the agents were going to try to eat them, they discovered they had papers with data inside. He sang a lot and organized a choir among the detainees.

It should be noted that Father Antonio Llidó Mengual was prosecuted in case A-637 of the Valparaíso Naval Prosecutor's Office, along with several people accused of being MIR militants. In said case, like other defendants who were arrested by the DINA and who are in the status of forcibly disappeared, he was declared a fugitive, suspending the processing of the case until his appearance or apprehension.

Despite the numerous efforts and steps taken by his family, Church authorities, the Spanish Consulate, and religious groups from various countries, his fate at the hands of the DINA remains unknown.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

From the beginning of October 1974, when the family received news of Antonio Llidó's detention on October 1 in Santiago, they began efforts to try to learn from the Chilean military authorities his location and the charges against him.

Antonio Llidó Mengual was a Spanish citizen and a priest; therefore, his sister, Josefa Llidó Mengual, appealed to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Apostolic Nunciature of the Vatican in Spain on October 17, 1974, regarding the detention and disappearance of her brother.

The Embassy requested that the Chilean authorities disclose the place where Llidó was being held and authorize his departure from Chile.

The calls made by his sister to the Bishop of Valparaíso, D. Emilio Tagle, from the first moment she learned of his detention, were initially met with the response that he was detained but that officially nothing would be known.

On June 27, 1975, Monsignor Tagle continued to say that: "Antonio Llidó is imprisoned and will be released soon." Faced with the family's insistence, he assured them: "the news is recent and certain, and we will not have official information." On September 23, 1975, the Spanish lawyer Joaquín Ruíz-Giménez, upon returning from Chile, where he discussed the matter with Cardinal Silva, the leaders of the Ecumenical Committee for Peace Cooperation, the Chargé d'Affaires of the Spanish Embassy, and Monsignor Tagle, stated: "Unfortunately, all information coincides that all trace of Antonio's whereabouts has been lost. And I do not hide from you that for the moment the impression is very pessimistic."

On September 29, in a telephone conversation between Josefa Llidó and Monsignor Tagle, the latter said "that he knows nothing about Antonio." And faced with the sister's surprise, he ended: "that that is what they were telling him." Here ended the family's contacts with the Bishop of Valparaíso, who, moreover, never returned to the family the personal items that were deposited in the room of the Quillota parish where Antonio lived.

Efforts made by the Embassies of Belgium and France in Chile, Amnesty International, the Swedish Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, the French Red Cross, the UN Commission on Human Rights, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Spanish Red Cross, and the numerous interventions that the Spanish Embassy in Chile has carried out over the years also proved fruitless.

Also, from the moment of his detention, actions were taken from within Chile to find Antonio Llidó's whereabouts. The Spanish priest, D. Jesús Rodriguez, left a record in a sworn statement of his efforts to locate Llidó's whereabouts.

In it, he states that he made three visits to the Bishop of Valparaíso, Don Emilio Tagle Covarrubias. In one of them, which occurred in March 1975, the Bishop indicated that he had spoken with a Minister of State who had informed him that Antonio Llidó was indeed detained in a place of confinement and that he was doing well.

Subsequently, in the month of May of that year, the Bishop informed him that he had spoken with a very high State authority, with a view to solving the problem of the detained priest. The following month, June 1975, Monsignor Tagle was emotionally dejected and expressed to him "that from information received from a Minister of State, he had learned that Antonio Llidó, at the moment of being transferred from one detention center to another, had escaped"; the Bishop added, "I cannot understand this situation.

I cannot manage to understand what happened."

On November 27, 1974, the Spanish Ambassador addressed the Commander of the 2nd Army Division and General Commander of the Santiago Garrison, begging for the release and eventual handover to the Spanish Consulate of Antonio Llidó Mengual and three other Spanish citizens.

On December 4, 1974, Monsignor Sotero Sanz Villaba, Apostolic Nuncio of the Vatican in Chile, stated: "that according to news given by a high Authority of the Government of Chile, Father Llidó is detained and in good health." This news was communicated to the Spanish Embassy in Santiago.

All of this is narrated in a letter from the Nuncio to D. José Ortuño, Director of the OCSHA Secretariat in Madrid.

On January 31, 1975, the Chargé d'Affaires of the Spanish Embassy in Chile addressed the International Committee of the Red Cross in Providencia, Santiago, informing them of the efforts before local authorities to find Antonio Llidó's whereabouts, which had been fruitless to date.

On June 30, 1978, a letter from the Spanish Ambassador in Chile to the Director General of Ibero-America of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, regarding the delivery to the Director of Protocol, Ricardo Letelier, of the letter dated (06-17-1978) from President Adolfo Suárez to General Pinochet, in which Mr. Suárez begs Pinochet for an exhaustive investigation into the case of Antonio Llidó Mengual.

On January 15, 1979, Pepa Llidó Mengual granted power of attorney to the lawyer Alejandro González Poblete of the Vicariate of Solidarity, to represent her in Chile in any criminal case that has been initiated or may be initiated to investigate his whereabouts; likewise, she confers power to file the judicial complaint, and before administrative authorities regarding the situation affecting Mr.

Llidó Mengual, he is especially empowered to initiate any other judicial or extrajudicial action leading to the same end.

On November 22, 1991, Josefa Llidó Mengual conferred broad power of attorney for judicial actions in favor of Don Hector Salazar Ardiles, to represent her in any trial of any kind and nature, currently pending or occurring in the future in Chile, in relation to the disappearance of the grantor's brother, Antonio Llidó Mengual, which occurred in said country in 1974.

On January 10, 1992, Josefa Llidó Mengual filed a complaint before the 14th Criminal Court of Santiago for the application of torture and kidnapping in favor of Antonio Llidó Mengual; this process was entered under roll number 113608-FL.

In the filing, it was requested, among other measures, that the Carabinero Officer Ciro Amerto Torre Sáez be summoned, who at the date of Llidó's detention was serving in the DINA in charge of the secret detention facility of José Domingo Cañas, where the victim was held in captivity; that Marcelo Moren Brito, an Army Officer who also performed operational functions in the DINA, be summoned to testify; and the Gendarmerie Officer Orlando Manzo Durán, who was the person responsible for the DINA facility called Cuatro Álamos.

The Supreme Court of Chile has applied the Military Junta's Amnesty Decree of 04-18-1978 and has dismissed the complaint filed on January 10, 1992, by Ms. Josefa Llidó Mengual.

On July 4, 1996, Pepa Llidó Mengual filed a complaint against Pinochet and others before the National Court of Spain for genocide, terrorism, and torture, in which Augusto Pinochet has been prosecuted since December 10, 1998, and is subject to an international arrest warrant.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity