The DINA Lautaro Brigade was the extermination unit assembled by Manuel Contreras and directed by Army Major Juan Morales Salgado. This brigade operated from the clandestine barracks at Calle Simón Bolívar 8630.

The actions of this group of DINA agents known to date include the capture of the Communist Party leadership in 1976. The brigade functioned with a contingent of more than 70 members, whose operational personnel carried out the gathering of information, detentions, interrogations/torture, execution, and the disappearance of the bodies of the detainees.

For these purposes, they had access to a large infrastructure; in addition to the barracks themselves, they had a varied number of vehicles at their disposal, as well as access to Puma helicopters from the Army Aviation Command (CAE) that operated from Peldehue.

The members of the Lautaro Brigade came from the four branches of the Armed Forces, in addition to having some civilian agents attached to the various branches; its composition was mostly non-commissioned officers.

The fact that there were at least seven agents from the Navy in this brigade makes it clear that the institution lied when it declared that the Navy withdrew all its personnel from the DINA in 1975. Another characteristic of the Lautaro Brigade is that it had a large number of women, who, as has been discovered, were characterized by their coldness and cruelty in the face of crimes.

Several of them, due to their knowledge of medicine and nursing, cooperated in the experiments that were carried out in the chemical laboratory at Michael Townley's house in Lo Curro. Townley constantly attended the Calle Simón Bolívar barracks to experiment on detainees with the gas manufactured by the chemist Eugenio Berrios.

The information that has been recovered as of August 2007 appears after the investigation of the “Calle Conferencia” case carried out by Judge Víctor Montiglio, who has managed to establish the fate of a number of detainees from the Communist Party leadership, among them the general secretary of the PC in hiding, Víctor Manuel Díaz López, as well as Bernardo Araya Zuleta, María Olga Flores Barraza, Mario Zamorano Donoso, Onofre Jorge Muñoz Poutays, Uldarico Donaire Cortés, Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño, Elisa Escobar Cepeda, Lenín Adán Díaz Silva, Eliana Espinoza Fernández, and Marta Lidia Ugarte Román. To date, it has been established that Víctor Manuel Díaz López was detained in the early hours of May 12, 1976, at the house located at Calle Bello Horizonte No. 979, in the Las Condes district, days after the detention of several PC leaders detained in the operation known as the “Ratonera” at Calle Conferencia No. 1587. Víctor Díaz was taken to the Villa Grimaldi torture center and subsequently transferred to “Casa de Piedra,” another DINA torture center located in the Cajón del Maipo, a place where it is known that Augusto Pinochet allegedly visited Víctor Díaz and other PC leaders detained there. At the beginning of 1977, Manuel Contreras gave the order to Juan Morales Salgado to eliminate Víctor Díaz, and in compliance with that order, agents Sergio Escalona Acuña and Bernardo Daza Navarro took Díaz from a cell and tied a plastic bag over his head, suffocating him, while the Army lieutenant (nurse) Gladys de las Mercedes Calderón Carreño injected him with cyanide. Subsequently, they proceeded to place the body in plastic bags, tie it up, attach a piece of rail to it, and put it into potato sacks, then tie it with wire to ensure the bindings would not open. The body was transported in vehicles to the Army regiment in Peldehue, where they had other executed victims brought from Villa Grimaldi and tied in the same way as Víctor Díaz. They loaded the bodies onto the Army Aviation Command's Puma helicopter and set off toward the coast of the Fifth Region to throw the bodies into the sea. This mode of operation of the Lautaro Brigade agents demonstrates the brutality and dehumanization of all its members. Below is the list of some of the agents of the Lautaro Brigade.

1 Acevedo Acevedo, Heriberto del Carmen - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 2 Ahumada Despouy, Joyce Ana - Army - Sub-officer (Ret.) 3 Altamirano Sanhueza, Orlando del Tránsito - Navy - Sub-officer (Ret.) 4 Alvarez Droguett, Victor Manuel - Army - Sub-officer (Ret.) 5 Alvarez Vega, Hiro - Army - Sub-officer (Ret.) 6 Arriagada Mora, Jorge Hugo - FACH - Civilian employee (Ret.) 7 Aspe Rojas, Celinda Angélica - Navy - Sub-officer (Ret.) 8 Benavides Escobar, César Raúl - Army - General (Ret.) 9 Bermúdez Méndez, Carlos Justo - Army - Sub-officer (Ret.) 10 Bitterlich Jaramillo, Pedro Segundo - Army - Sub-officer (Ret.) 11 Cabezas Mardones, Eduardo Patricio - FACH - Sub-officer (Ret.) 12 Calderón Carreño, Gladys de las Mercedes - Army - Officer (Ret.) and nurse 13 Castro Andrade, Sergio Hernán - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 14 Chaigneau Sepúlveda, Federico Humberto - Army - Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) 15 Daza Navarro, Bernardo del Rosario - Navy - Sub-officer (Ret.) 16 Díaz Radulovich, Jorge Iván - FACH - Sub-officer (Ret.) 17 Díaz Ramírez, Guillermo Eduardo - FACH - Sub-officer (Ret.) 18 Escalona Acuña, Sergio Orlando - Navy - Sub-officer (Ret.) 19 Escobar Fuentes, Jorge Marcelo - Army - Brigadier (Ret.) 20 Ferrán Martínez, Guillermo Jesús - Army - Sub-officer (Ret.) 21 Garea Guzmán, Eduardo - Army - Civilian employee (Ret.) 22 Guerrero Aguilera, Gustavo Enrique - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 23 Guerrero Soto, María Angélica - Army - Sub-officer (Ret.) 24 Gutiérrez Valdés, Pedro Antonio - Army - Sub-officer (Ret.) 25 Jaime Astorga, Rufino Eduardo - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 26 Jímenez Escobar, Berta Yolanda - Navy - Sub-officer (Ret.) 27 Krassnoff Martchenko, Miguel - Army - Brigadier (Ret.) 28 Lagos Yañez, Luis Alberto - FACH - Civilian employee (Ret.) 29 Lawrence Mires, Ricardo Víctor - Carabineros - Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) 30 López Tapia, Carlos José - Army - Colonel (Ret.) and Army Prof. 31 Magna Astudillo, Elisa del Carmen - Army - Officer (Ret.) 32 Manríquez Manterola, Jorge Lientur - Navy - Sub-officer (Ret.) 33 Marcos Muñoz, Carlos Segundo - Civilian - attached to the Army 34 Meza Serrano, José Miguel - Navy - Sub-officer (Ret.) 35 Montre Méndez, Manuel Antonio - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 36 Morales Salgado, Juan Hernán - Army - Colonel (Ret.) and Army Prof. 37 Navarro Navarro, Teresa del Carmen - Navy - Sub-officer (Ret.) 38 Obreque Henríquez, Manuel Jesús - Army - Sub-officer (Ret.) 39 Ojeda Obando, José Alfonso - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 40 Orellana de la Pinta, Claudio Orlando - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 41 Oyarce Riquelme, Eduardo Alejandro - Army - Sub-officer (Ret.) 42 Pacheco Fernández, Claudio Enrique - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 43 Pichunmán Curiqueo, Jorge Segundo - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 44 Piña Garrido, Juvenal Alfonso - Army - Sub-officer (Ret.) 45 Reyes Lagos, Eduardo Antonio - Army - Sub-officer (Ret.) 46 Rinaldi Suárez, Carlos Ramón - Army - Sub-officer (Ret.) 47 Rivas González, Adriana Elcira - FACH - Sub-officer (Ret.) 48 Riveros Valderrama, René Miguel - Army - Officer (Ret.) 49 Saavedra Vásquez, Orfa Yolanda - Army - Sub-officer (Ret.) 50 Sagardía Monje, Jorge Laureano - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 51 Sarmiento Sotelo, José Manuel - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 52 Silva Vergara, Marilin Melahani - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 53 Sovino Maturana, Hernán Luis - Army - Captain (Ret.) 54 Torrejón Gatica, Orlando Jesús - Army - Sub-officer (Ret.) 55 Troncoso Vivallos, Emilio Hernán - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 56 Urrutia Acuña, Luis Arturo - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 57 Vacarella Gilio, Italia Donata - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 58 Valdebenito Araya, Héctor Manuel - Carabineros - Sub-officer (Ret.) 59 Vilches Muñoz, Ana del Carmen - FACH - Civilian employee (Ret.)

Source: AFDD, La Nacion, El Mostrador, Punto Final, Memoria Viva archives

On Wednesday morning, the minister on special assignment for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Miguel Vázquez, sentenced 35 agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for the qualified kidnapping of Reinalda Pereira Plaza in December 1976, during the military regime.

At the time of her detention and subsequent disappearance, Pereira was 5 months pregnant. In the ruling, the minister sentenced Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, Juan Hernán Morales Salgado, and Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires to 10 years in prison as authors of the crime.

On the other hand, agents Gladys de las Mercedes Calderón Carreño, Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Sergio Orlando Escalona Acuña, Jorge Lientur Manríquez Manterola, María Angélica Guerrero Soto, Orfa Yolanda Saavedra Vásquez, Elisa del Carmen Magna Astudillo, Eduardo Alejandro Oyarce Riquelme, Heriberto del Carmen Acevedo, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Emilio Hernán Troncoso Vivallos, Teresa del Carmen Navarro Navarro, José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo, Gustavo Enrique Guerrero Aguilera, Manuel Antonio Montre Méndez, and Jorge Hugo Arriagada Mora must serve seven years in prison as authors of the illicit act. Finally, Hernán Luis Sovino Maturana, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, José Miguel Meza Serrano, Luis Alberto Lagos Yáñez, Jorge Iván Díaz Radulovich, Jorge Segundo Pichunmán Curiqueo, Sergio Hernán Castro Andrade, Carlos Enrique Miranda Mesa, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Orlando del Transito Altamirano Sanhueza, Guillermo Eduardo Díaz Ramírez, Berta Yolanda del Carmen Jiménez Escobar, Carlos Eusebio López Inostroza, and Joyce Ana Ahumada Despouy were sentenced to four years in prison for their responsibility as accomplices in the victim's disappearance.

Source: Meganoticias, October 18, 2017

Santiago Court confirms ruling sentencing 30 DINA agents for qualified kidnapping of pregnant young woman

The appellate court confirmed the sentence that convicted 30 agents of the defunct National Intelligence Directorate for their responsibility in the crime of qualified kidnapping of Reinalda del Carmen Pereira Plaza.

A 29-year-old woman, five months pregnant, who was detained on December 15, 1976, in the current Macul district and taken to the clandestine detention barracks located at Calle Simón Bolívar No. 8800, La Reina district, from where her trail was lost.

In the sentence (case file 3.023-2019), the Sixth Chamber of the appellate court—composed of ministers María Rosa Kittsteiner, María Paula Merino, and Paula Rodríguez—ratified the sentence that convicted Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Juan Morales Salgado, and Ricardo Lawrence Mires to 10 years in prison as authors of the crime.

Meanwhile, as co-authors, Gladys Calderón Carreño, Juvenal Piña Garrido, Héctor Valdebenito Araya, Sergio Escalona Acuña, Jorge Manríquez Manterola, María Angélica Guerrero Soto, Orfa Saavedra Vásquez, Elisa Magna Astudillo, Heriberto del Carmen Acevedo, Claudio Pacheco Fernández, Emilio Troncoso Vivallos, Teresa Navarro Navarro, José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo, Gustavo Guerrero Aguilera, and Jorge Arriagada Mora must serve 7 years in prison.

In the case of José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, José Miguel Meza Serrano, Jorge Iván Díaz Radulovich, Jorge Segundo Pichunmán Curiqueo, Sergio Hernán Castro Andrade, Carlos Enrique Miranda Mesa, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Orlando del Tránsito Altamirano Sanhueza, Guillermo Eduardo Díaz Ramírez, Bertha Yolanda del Carmen Jiménez Escobar, Carlos Eusebio López Inostroza, and Joyce Ana Ahumada Despouy, they must serve 4-year sentences as accomplices.

The appellate court adopted the evidence that allowed the minister on special assignment Miguel Vázquez Plaza to establish the responsibility and participation of the then-State agents convicted in the kidnapping and disappearance of the medical technologist. “That, in this course of action, the reasoning in the reviewed sentence is shared, for the purpose of establishing the participation of the convicted, insofar as the evidentiary records outlined in the appealed sentence... constitute a set of judicial presumptions which, given their multiplicity, gravity, precision, and concordance, and for meeting the legal requirements provided in Article 488 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, allow for the accreditation of the participation that, as co-authors, in the terms provided in Article 15 No. 1 of the Penal Code, is attributed to them... and which is complemented by the reasoning in the foundations...” it is detailed. The resolution adds: “At this point, it should be specified that the participation as a co-author attributed to Juan Morales Salgado fits fully into the provisions of Article 15 No. 1 of the Penal Code, since he acted under the direct orders of Manuel Contreras and was in charge of the Simón Bolívar barracks at the time of the events, corresponding to him in said capacity to coordinate the operational work of the brigades that acted under his command, especially in relation to the dismantling of the Communist Party, assigning personnel under his charge for this, directing investigation work and receiving the corresponding reports, ordering the entry and detention of the detainees in the unit, as well as the interrogations and torture to which they were subjected and, where appropriate, their death and disappearance, establishing that he was present during the interrogation and torture of the victim of these records, which determines that he intervened in an immediate and direct manner in the events, so his conduct implies a functional contribution to the global result, maintaining, together with the other perpetrators, the co-dominion of the act.” “For its part, the attribution of responsibility as a co-author... imputed to the defendant María Angélica Guerrero Soto, is established by virtue of her confession... which is corroborated by the merit of the records indicated in the reasoning of the appealed sentence,” the ruling adds. “That, in the same sense,” it continues, “it adheres to what is indicated in the sentence under study, insofar as the indications pointed out... gather the necessary force to configure judicial presumptions, which, given their multiplicity, gravity, precision, and concordance, allow for the accreditation of the participation attributed to them as accomplices, in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of the Penal Code.” For the appellate court, in this instance: “(…) as noted, it has been sufficiently demonstrated that all the defendants were part of an organized structure under subordination and dependency, in which coexisted those who exercised management duties and operational personnel, dedicated both to investigation and to the detention, custody, interrogation, torture, and, where appropriate, death and disappearance of the detainees, in which is observed, on one hand, the division of roles typical of co-authorship, since all of them made a functional contribution to the execution of the crime, each of them having co-dominion of the act and, on the other, a facilitation of the means with which the crime is committed, thus cooperating in the act of another, by prior or simultaneous acts, which is what characterizes complicity.” “In that understanding, contrary to what the defenses indicate in their appeals, it is convenient to specify that the convicted are not punished merely for belonging to the institution, but for the conduct displayed by each one in relation to the events that concern the victim of these records, Ms. Reinalda Pereira Plaza, which also leads to discarding the intervention of those accused with respect to whom, despite having been established that they were part of the same institution and performed functions at the property located at Simón Bolívar No. 8800 in La Reina, their punishable participation in any of the forms provided by law has not been proven.” It concludes.

Detention and disappearance

In the appealed ruling, the minister on special assignment Miguel Vázquez Plaza established the following facts: “a) That the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), on an unspecified date, but during the first semester of 1976, occupied and enabled a property at Calle Simón Bolívar No. 8800, La Reina district, consisting of a country house, which was conditioned for its purpose of confinement.

It had a single access gate, a guard booth to its right where door guard duty was performed, a house at the back, a baby soccer field, parking lots, and on the left side of the property a kind of gymnasium where there was a mess hall, kitchen, and some locker rooms and bathrooms, which were conditioned to be used as dungeons, a property in which the Lautaro Brigade, in charge of Major Juan Morales Salgado, operated and which was used as a secret and clandestine place of confinement; to said premises, people were brought as detainees, to be interrogated under the use of various techniques of physical duress, especially regarding those who had or had had political militancy adhering to the Communist Party. b) That likewise, in the second semester of 1976, the DINA groups in charge of officers Germán Barriga and Ricardo Lawrence moved to said premises, together with their operational agents, who were primarily concerned with investigating, locating, raiding, pursuing, repressing, and dismantling the members of the Communist Party, especially its leadership, for which provisional facilities were enabled for their installation; consisting of offices, a gymnasium, and locker rooms that were confinement dungeons, where interrogations and torture were carried out, using duress with various methods. c) That Reinalda del Carmen Pereira Plaza, pregnant with her first child, 5 months into her pregnancy, a medical technologist and communist militant, who worked sheltering people and as a liaison between Eliana Ahumada and Fernando Navarro, although also related to the communist militant Fernando Ortiz, was detained at 29 years of age, approximately at 8:30 PM, while waiting for public transport, by security agents on December 15, 1976, at the corner of Calle Exequiel Fernández and Rodrigo de Araya, Ñuñoa district, currently Macul district. The agents who detained her were traveling in two Peugeot brand cars; one of them with license plate HLN-55, from which a subject got out who grabbed her violently; upon her screaming for help, a second subject got out with whom she was forcibly subdued and put inside the vehicle. The detention was materialized in the presence of witnesses who were in the various surrounding commercial establishments, who report that once the victim was subdued and the detention materialized, the car headed along Rodrigo de Araya in a northerly direction. d) That Reinalda del Carmen Pereira Plaza was taken to the secret detention barracks Simón Bolívar, where she was seen together with other prisoners who, in turn, had been detained by the same brigades under the same operational policy between December 13 and 15, 1976; that is, Héctor Véliz Ramírez, Fernando Navarro Allendes, Lincoyán Yalu Berríos Cataldo, Juan Fernando Ortiz Letelier, and Horacio Cepeda Marincovich. In this place, Reinalda was severely beaten, tortured, illegitimately coerced, and then made to disappear, without any news of her whereabouts to date. e) That the Chilean government of the time, given the search efforts carried out by her relatives, reported that the affected party had registered an exit ‘on foot’ through the Chile-Argentina border crossing Los Libertadores, on December 21, 1976, an official version that was judicially established as false, as stated in the process viewed, case file 2-77, in which it was verified that the route sheet that recorded said circumstances had been falsified. f) That the victim in these records was detained on public roads just like thirteen other people in similar circumstances; eleven belonging to the Communist Party and two to the MIR and, where the information provided by the Military Government was similar and erroneous, demonstrating a large-scale operation that obeyed a policy of investigation, persecution, and dismantling of the Communist Party and not an isolated event. g) That all the aforementioned people, including the victim, were detained to be interrogated and tortured by reason of their political militancy and, in order to obtain information about their party activities and the identification of other members of the Communist Party in hiding; duress that did not cease until the required information was obtained or until the victims lost consciousness.”

Source: pjud.cl, March 4, 2022

Former DINA agents convicted for crimes against clandestine PC leadership are fugitives

They are former military personnel Federico Humberto Chaigneau Sepúlveda, Eduardo Alejandro Oyarce Riquelme, José Miguel Meza Serrano, and Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett. The minister on special assignment Guillermo de la Barra has already dispatched judicial orders for their search and apprehension, and their international capture.

Four former agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) are fugitives from justice after being definitively convicted by the Supreme Court for their participation in the kidnappings of five members of the clandestine leadership of the Communist Party (PC), which occurred in 1976, within the framework of the Conferencia II Episode.

They are former military personnel Federico Humberto Chaigneau Sepúlveda, Eduardo Alejandro Oyarce Riquelme, and José Miguel Meza Serrano, who were sentenced to 12 years in prison as co-authors of the crimes of qualified kidnapping of Fernando Navarro and Héctor Véliz; and to a 3-year sentence as co-authors of the simple kidnappings committed against Fernando Ortiz, Horacio Cepeda, and Lincoyán Berríos.

The fourth fugitive is Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, who, in addition to being sentenced to the same penalties indicated for the aforementioned crimes, was also sanctioned with a sentence of 15 years and 1 day for being a co-author of the qualified homicides of Fernando Ortiz, Horacio Cepeda, and Lincoyán Berríos.

Regarding all these fugitives, the minister on special assignment Guillermo de la Barra has already dispatched judicial orders for their search and apprehension, and their international capture. For lawyer Francisco Ugás Tapia, of the law firm Caucoto Abogados, who represents the families of the mentioned victims, “it is of extreme gravity that criminals against humanity are evading the action of Justice, which in a previous and legally processed trial determined the facts imputed to them, the responsibilities that assist them, and the criminal sanctions that they correspond to serve for the crimes perpetrated. Faced with this situation, the State of Chile must redouble its efforts so that these subjects are apprehended and placed at the disposal of the Judiciary, because this State has the obligation to ensure the timely, due, and total fulfillment of the sentences that have been imposed on these subjects.”

Source: elmostrador.cl, August 9, 2023

Updated list of human rights violators who are fugitives from justice made official

This is a list prepared by the law firm Caucoto Abogados, which includes 14 criminals, among whom stand out people linked to the homicide of Víctor Jara, the execution of 38 peasants in the main Paine Case, and the assassination of the Spanish diplomat Carmelo Soria.

This Friday, the law firm Caucoto Abogados made official the updated list of former uniformed personnel who are fugitives from justice, convicted of various crimes against humanity. There are 14 people, some of them involved in the crime of Víctor Jara and Littré Quiroga, in the execution of 38 peasants in the main Paine Case, and the assassination of the Spanish diplomat Carmelo Soria, among other investigations, details a statement from the office specialized in human rights.

Regarding the list, it is made up of former military personnel, Carabineros, former Navy officials, and civilians who were members of the dictatorship's repressive apparatus, such as the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), the National Intelligence Center (CNI), and naval intelligence, who are accused as authors and co-authors of qualified kidnapping, qualified homicide, illicit association, and the application of torture, among other illicit acts.

Specifically, it is composed of

1. Jorge Octavio Vargas Bories (retired Army officer, CNI), sentenced as co-author of the assassination of Federico Álvarez Santibáñez to 10 years and one day. 2. Rubén Aroldo Morales López (retired Carabineros officer), sentenced to 10 years and one day of major imprisonment as author of the qualified homicide of Jorge Vásquez Matamala. 3.

Luis Enrique Barrueto Bartning, businessman sentenced to 10 years and one day as co-author of seven qualified kidnappings (forced disappearances) perpetrated in the Santa Bárbara district. To these are added four convicted in the Conferencia II episode: 4.

Federico Humberto Chaigneau Sepúlveda (retired Army officer, DINA) 5. José Miguel Meza Serrano (retired Navy official, DINA) 6. Eduardo Alejandro Oyarce Riquelme (retired Army sub-officer, DINA) All of them are sentenced as co-authors of the crimes of qualified kidnapping of Fernando Navarro Allendes and Héctor Véliz Ramírez, to a sentence of 12 years in prison each, to which are added the crimes of simple kidnapping of Juan Fernando Ortiz Letelier, Horacio Cepeda Marinkovic, and Lincoyán Berríos, for which they were sentenced to three years in prison, respectively. 7.

Víctor Álvarez Droguett (retired Army official, DINA), sentenced as co-author of the crimes of qualified homicide of Juan Fernando Ortiz Letelier, Horacio Cepeda Marinkovic, and Lincoyán Yalú Berríos Cataldo, to a sentence of 15 years and one day of major imprisonment in its maximum degree.

In addition, he is sentenced as co-author of the crimes of qualified kidnapping of Fernando Alfredo Navarro Allendes and Héctor Véliz Ramírez, to a sentence of 12 years of major imprisonment in its medium degree.

Additionally, he was sentenced as author of the crimes of simple kidnapping of Juan Fernando Ortiz Letelier, Horacio Cepeda Marinkovic, and Lincoyán Yalú Berríos Cataldo, to a sentence of three years of minor imprisonment in its medium degree.

Finally, Álvarez Droguett faces a 10-year prison sentence for the qualified kidnapping of Marta Ugarte Román. 8. Alberto Roque del Sagrado Corazón Badilla Grillo, retired Navy officer, who was sentenced as author of the qualified homicide and the application of torture against Enrique López Olmedo, to sentences of 12 years and 541 days respectively. 9.

Juan Dionisio Opazo Vera (former conscript) sentenced as co-author of 38 qualified homicides to a sentence of 10 years and one day, in the Paine Case, Main Episode. 10. Nelson Edgardo Hasse Mazzei (retired Army officer) 11.

Juan Renán Jara Quintana (retired Army officer), who together with Hasse Mazzei is convicted as co-author of the qualified kidnappings and qualified homicides of Víctor Jara Martínez and Littré Quiroga Carvajal.

For these crimes, a sentence of 10 years and one day was established for the kidnappings, in addition to 15 years in prison for the crimes. 12. Guillermo Salinas Torres (retired Army officer) 13. Pablo Belmar Labbé (retired Army officer) 14.

René Patricio Quilhot Palma (retired Army officer) In the case of these three fugitives from justice, they were convicted as co-authors of the crimes of qualified homicide of Carmelo Soria Espinoza, and as authors of an illicit association.

For the first charge, a sentence of 15 years and one day was imposed on Salinas Torres, and 10 years and one day on the remaining two, while for the crime of illicit association, all were sentenced to a 541-day prison term.

“Sentences must be fulfilled” Attending to this list, lawyer Francisco Bustos asserts that it is a worrying situation that should be a priority for the authorities. “States have the duty to investigate, judge, and punish crimes against humanity,” he maintains. “This duty is not exhausted with the mere issuance of a conviction; these sentences must be fulfilled, and in that sense, that there are fugitives for any crime, and especially 14 fugitives for crimes against humanity, represents a serious failure of state duties,” he adds.

Finally, he stressed that “the judiciary and the plaintiffs in trials for crimes against humanity must redouble measures, including the imposition of precautionary measures, in order to avoid this form of impunity.”

Source: eldesconcierto.cl, November 24, 2023

Former CNI agent who was a fugitive from justice is captured and transferred to Colina I

Jorge Vargas Boris, former Army officer and agent of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), was captured and transferred yesterday to the Colina I prison. The former uniformed officer is convicted as co-author of the assassination under torture of the high school teacher and former MIR militant, Federico Álvarez Santibáñez, which occurred on August 21, 1979.

Vargas Boris had been a fugitive from justice since January 2023 and, after being captured by the Metropolitan Police Intelligence Brigade, was notified by the minister on special assignment Paola Plaza González of the fulfillment of the sentence.

The former agent was on the list of 14 former uniformed personnel who are fugitives from justice and who are convicted of various crimes against humanity. With Vargas Boris, the capture of the two fugitives for the Álvarez Santibáñez case was completed, since in June 2023 Manfredo Enrique Jurgensen Caesar (doctor, CNI) was apprehended in Argentina, who was convicted as co-author of the teacher's crime and who died days later while deprived of liberty. “This is good news that shows the functioning of the institutions.

In this sense, a year ago there were two fugitives for the crime of Mr. Federico Álvarez who could be found by justice,” expressed the plaintiff Francisco Bustos, of the law firm Caucoto Abogados. Bustos added that “It is to be hoped that the same efforts will be applied to the other fugitives such as those sentenced in Conferencia II, Operation Condor, and other cases, to avoid impunity.

In the same sense, the judiciary should review the system of precautionary measures in these cases in order to prevent these situations.”

Convicted for torture and executions

Jorge Vargas Boris has been convicted since January 2023 by the Supreme Court to 10 years and one day in prison, as co-author of the assassination of the teacher Federico Álvarez Santibáñez, who was detained on August 14, 1976, when he was distributing pamphlets against the dictatorship.

Subsequently, he was handed over to the CNI, whose agents tortured him for five days, until he was taken to a military prosecutor's office, which he entered in an agonizing state. During this time, Álvarez was examined by three CNI doctors, who in their reports certified the good state of health of the victim.

He was 32 years old at the time of his death. In 2009, he was convicted for the homicides of the journalist José Carrasco Tapia and Abraham Muskatblit, to a sentence of 7 years of major imprisonment in its minimum degree, a sentence that has already been served.

His name was also involved in the case of Operation Albania, or better known as the Corpus Christi massacre, executed in June 1987, but the court decided to acquit him of the charges against him.

Other fugitives

In November of last year, the law firm Caucoto Abogados, an office specialized in human rights, published an updated list with 14 former uniformed personnel who are fugitives from justice convicted of various crimes against humanity. They are the former uniformed personnel:

• Rubén Aroldo Morales López (retired Carabineros officer), sentenced to 10 years and one day of major imprisonment as author of the qualified homicide of Jorge Vásquez Matamala.
• Luis Enrique Barrueto Bartning (businessman), sentenced to 10 years and one day as co-author of seven qualified kidnappings (forced disappearances) perpetrated in the Santa Bárbara district.

Four convicted in the Conferencia II episode:

• Federico Humberto Chaigneau Sepúlveda (retired Army officer, DINA),
• José Miguel Meza Serrano (retired Navy official, DINA),
• Eduardo Alejandro Oyarce Riquelme (retired Army sub-officer, DINA), all sentenced as co-authors of the crimes of qualified kidnapping of Fernando Navarro Allendes and Héctor Véliz Ramírez, to a sentence of 12 years in prison each, and of the crimes of simple kidnapping of Juan Fernando Ortiz Letelier, Horacio Cepeda Marinkovic, and Lincoyán Berríos, for which they were sentenced to 3 years in prison respectively;

Chaigneau also has convictions in the Operation Condor process. He is sentenced to two sentences of 18 years of major imprisonment in its maximum degree, for the crimes of repeated qualified kidnapping of Alexei Jaccard Siegler and Héctor Velázquez Mardones; and as co-author of the repeated crimes of qualified homicide of Ricardo Ignacio Ramírez Herrera, Jacobo Stoulman Bortnik, Matilde Pessa Mois, Hernán Soto Gálvez, and Ruiter Enrique Correa Arce.

Víctor Álvarez Droguett (retired Army official, DINA), – sentenced as co-author of the crimes of qualified homicide against Mr. Juan Fernando Ortiz Letelier, Mr. Horacio Cepeda Marinkovic, and Mr. Lincoyán Yalú Berríos Cataldo, to a sentence of 15 years and 1 day of major imprisonment in its maximum degree; – sentenced as co-author of the crimes of qualified kidnapping against Mr.

Fernando Alfredo Navarro Allendes and Héctor Véliz Ramírez, to a sentence of 12 years of major imprisonment in its medium degree; – sentenced as author of the crimes of simple kidnapping against Mr. Juan Fernando Ortiz Letelier, Mr.

Horacio Cepeda Marinkovic, and Mr. Lincoyán Yalú Berríos Cataldo, to a sentence of 3 years of minor imprisonment in its medium degree; – sentenced to 10 years in prison for the qualified kidnapping of Marta Ugarte Román.

• Alberto Roque del Sagrado Corazón Badilla Grillo (retired Navy officer),

sentenced as author of the crime of qualified homicide and application of torture against Enrique López Olmedo, to sentences of 12 years and 541 days respectively;

• Juan Dionisio Opazo Vera (former conscript) sentenced as co-author of 38 qualified homicides to a sentence of 10 years and one day, in the Paine Case, Main Episode.

Nelson Edgardo Hasse Mazzei (retired Army officer), and Juan Renán Jara Quintana (retired Army officer), – Convicted as co-authors of the qualified kidnappings and qualified homicides of Víctor Jara Martínez and Littré Quiroga Carvajal. A sentence of 10 years and one day was imposed for the kidnappings and 15 years in prison for the homicides.

• Guillermo Salinas Torres (retired Army officer); Pablo Belmar Labbé (retired Army officer); René Patricio Quilhot Palma (retired Army officer),

– Convicted as co-authors of the crimes of qualified homicide of Carmelo Soria Espinoza and authors of illicit association. For the first charge, a sentence of 15 years and one day was imposed on Salinas Torres, and 10 years and one day on the remaining two.

For the crime of illicit association, all were sentenced to a 541-day prison term. René Riveros Valderrama (retired Army officer) sentenced in the Operation Condor process, to two sentences of 18 years of major imprisonment in its maximum degree, for the crimes of repeated qualified kidnapping of Alexei Jaccard Siegler and Héctor Velázquez Mardones; and as co-author of the repeated crimes of qualified homicide of Ricardo Ignacio Ramírez Herrera, Jacobo Stoulman Bortnik, Matilde Pessa Mois, Hernán Soto Gálvez, and Ruiter Enrique Correa Arce.

Source: elclarin.cl, January 20, 2024