The Fifth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals has initiated criminal proceedings against five retired military officers for their responsibility in the so-called "Caravana de la Muerte" (Caravan of Death), Valdivia episode, regarding the series of homicides committed on October 3 and 4, 1973.

Among those prosecuted is General (R) Santiago Sinclair Oyaneder, a former member of the Government Junta and former Vice Commander-in-Chief of the Army, who thus becomes the highest-ranking military officer to be declared a defendant in a human rights violation case.

It should be noted that the Court of Appeals revoked the decision of the first-instance judge, Patricia González, who had previously denied the prosecution.

The appellate court prosecuted Santiago Sinclair Oyaneder, Juan Carlos Michelsen Délano, José Feliú Madinagoitia, Mario Rafael Manterola Garrido, and Hugo Alberto Guerra Jorquera for their responsibility in the events, revoking the decision of Judge Patricia González that had denied the prosecution.

On May 13, Judge González determined to prosecute former Army members Pedro Espinoza Bravo and Marcelo Moren Brito as authors of the homicides of Rudemir Saavedra Bahamondes, Víctor Rudolph Reyes, Víctor Saavedra Muñoz, Santiago García Morales, Luis Valenzuela Ferrada, Sergio Bravo Aguilera, Luis Pezo Jara, Víctor Fernando Krauss Iturra, Pedro Barría Ordoñes, Enrique Guzmán Soto, and José Barrientos Warner.

In another resolution, the magistrate prosecuted former Army members Sergio Arellano Stark, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Marcelo Moren Brito, Carlos López Tapia, and Juan Chiminelli Fullerton as authors of the homicide of José Liendo Vera, and Antonio Palomo Contreras and Emilio De La Mahotiere González as accomplices.

According to the resolution

"On October 3, 1973, a 'Puma' helicopter landed in Valdivia with a group of military personnel under the command of the then-Army General, Sergio Víctor Arellano Stark, delegated by the then-Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, for the purpose of carrying out coordination tasks regarding institutional criteria for internal government and judicial procedures, or to review and accelerate cases; that, following the arrival of the aforementioned military personnel, on October 4, 1973, it was ordered that Rudemir Saavedra Bahamondez, Víctor Eugenio Rudolph Reyes, Víctor Segundo Valeriano Saavedra Muñoz, Santiago Segundo García Morales, Luis Mario Valenzuela Ferrada, Sergio Jaime Bravo Aguilera, Luis Hernán Pezo Jara, Víctor Fernando Krauss Iturra, Pedro Purísimo Barría Ordoñez, Enrique Del Carmen Guzmán Soto, and José René Barrientos Warner be removed from the Valdivia Public Prison and taken to the Llancahue military site, specifically to the shooting range of the Valdivia Military Garrison, where they were executed by firing squad as a result of a sentence pronounced in a supposed War Council, the materiality of which does not exist."

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For the case of Liendo Vera, it was determined:

"Following the arrival of the aforementioned military personnel, it was ordered that Gregorio José Liendo Vera, an agronomy student, militant of the MIR (Revolutionary Left Movement), and leader of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement, be removed from the Valdivia Public Prison and taken to the Llancahue military site, specifically to the shooting range of the Valdivia Military Garrison, where he was executed by firing squad as a result of a sentence handed down in a supposed War Council, the materiality of which does not exist."

General (R) Sinclair and the Caravana de la Muerte

Retired Army General, former member of the Military Junta, and former appointed senator Santiago Sinclair was arrested on Thursday along with three other former uniformed officers for their participation in the homicide of 12 people during the passage of the "Caravana de la Muerte" through Valdivia.

Along with Sinclair, Juan Carlos Michelsen, José Feliú Madinagoitía, and Mario Manterola Garrido were arrested as authors.

Meanwhile, the arrest of Hugo Guerra Jorquera remained pending.

The investigation verified that the death of 12 people in October 1973 was coordinated by Sergio Arellano Stark, leader of the "Caravana de la Muerte," who was excluded from criminal proceedings due to dementia; the now-deceased former commander of the IV Army Division, Héctor Bravo; and General (R) Sinclair.

All those prosecuted by Judge Patricia González were admitted to the Military Police Brigade of the Telecommunications Regiment, located in the commune of Peñalolén, in the Metropolitan Region.

Sinclair was the one who indicated to Sergio Arellano Stark who the 12 detainees were—among whom were peasants, union leaders, and MIR militants—who were to be executed, according to lawyer Tomás Pascual of the Ministry of the Interior's Human Rights Program, a plaintiff in the case:

"The intervention was necessary for Arellano and his entourage to commit these crimes, since it is inconceivable that officers from Santiago could have knowledge of which people to execute if it were not for the local officers pointing out who should be executed.

In that sense, Sinclair, along with Michelsen, Feliú, Manterola, Guerra, and a series of other subjects who are now deceased—including the then-commander-in-chief of the IV Army Division, Mr. Bravo Muñoz—carried out this action."

The jurist highlighted that the former member of the Government Junta even mandated the doctor, a health officer in Valdivia, to certify the deaths.

Source: elciudadano.com, February 6, 2015

Santiago Court Modifies Sentences of Former Army Officers for 12 Executions in the Valdivia Episode of the Caravana de la Muerte

The Third Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced four former Army officers for their responsibility in the qualified homicide of Gregorio José Liendo Vera, Pedro Purísimo Barría Ordóñez, Rudemir Saavedra Bahamondes, Víctor Eugenio Rudolph Reyes, Víctor Segundo Valeriano Saavedra Muñoz, Santiago Segundo García Morales, Luis Mario Valenzuela Ferrada, Sergio Jaime Bravo Aguilera, Luis Hernán Pezo Jara, Víctor Fernando Krauss Iturra, Enrique del Carmen Guzmán Soto, and José René Barrientos Warner.

The crimes were perpetrated in October 1973, during the passage through the city of Valdivia of the so-called "Caravana de la Muerte," led by Pinochet's delegate, the now-deceased Sergio Arellano Stark.

In the ruling (case file 2.070-2018), the Third Chamber of the capital's Court—composed of judges Carlos Gajardo, Alejandro Madrid, and lawyer (i) Paola Herrera—sentenced Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo to 10 years in prison as the author of the crimes.

Meanwhile, also as authors, Juan Viterbo Chiminelli Fullerton and Santiago Arturo Sinclair Oyaneder must serve 5 years and one day in prison; while Emilio Robert de la Mahotiere González was sentenced to 3 years and one day in prison as a cover-up. Notably, Sinclair Oyaneder was Vice Commander-in-Chief of the Army during the Pinochet dictatorship and an appointed senator between 1990 and 1998.

This ruling modifies the first-instance sentence issued in November 2017 by Judge Patricia González, who had sentenced Espinoza Bravo to 18 years in prison, Chiminelli Fullerton to 14 years in prison, and had ruled for the acquittal of Sinclair and de la Mahotiere.

Four other directly implicated individuals died between the date of the first-instance sentence and this Court verdict. These deceased criminals were also former Army officers: Carlos José Leonardo López Tapia, Hugo Alberto Guerra Jorquera (both sentenced in the first instance to 12 years in prison), Antonio Alberto Palomo Contreras, and Guillermo Juan Carlos Michelsen Délano.

The sentence established the following facts:

"That the death of these twelve people was intended to be justified by the sentence that had allegedly been handed down against them by a War Council, which attributed to them participation as authors in the event that occurred at the Neltume police station." However, these allegations, which would lend some degree of legality to the executions, must be discarded.

Adding further on

"Consequently, there are not sufficient elements of conviction in this regard, primarily because the physical file, which should have been initiated on the occasion of such judicial action, does not exist, and therefore it is unknown who formed part of it, what charges were formulated, what sentence was handed down, and what penalties were imposed.

Nor can the exact date on which such a Council was organized and the other circumstances in relation to it be determined."

It then continues

"Consequently, it can only be concluded that the deaths by firing squad of... have no legal justification whatsoever and, therefore, only obey the decision of those who exercised military command at that time, for which they availed themselves of the cooperation of several other persons subordinate to them, in an attempt to clothe with legality an act that had none."

"That by reason of the aforementioned, the deaths of the victims already indicated can only be considered as a homicide under the terms provided in Article 391 No. 5 of the Penal Code, as it must be concluded that the decision to order the execution of each of them, creating the appearance of the execution of a judicial resolution coming from a supposed War Council, reveals the existence of a plan previously conceived to proceed to kill people who were being subjected to a regular judicial procedure, followed before a Prosecutor's Office," it concludes.

The Court points out precisely that

"it is necessary to take into consideration that all the acts that ended with the execution of the victims began with the arrival in the city of the entourage led by Sergio Arellano Stark, and it is thus that, in the brief lapse of their stay in the city, all the executions were carried out, proceeding in the same way in all those places where he was present, which demonstrates that it was a plan previously conceived and that allows us to understand that the facts that configure this qualifying circumstance, such as the resolution to commit an illicit act, the interval of time between the resolution and the execution of the act, and the persistence during said interval of the will to commit a crime, concur in this instance."

"On the other hand, it is not possible to understand that the qualifying circumstance of treachery (alevosía) considered by the first-instance court also concurs, because from the way in which the executions were carried out, it is not possible to understand that the perpetrators created the conditions for it, since the security conditions for their actions, in this case, existed previously if one takes into account that the victims were deprived of liberty and defenseless prior to the events," it argues.

On the same day of the arrival of Arellano Stark's entourage in Valdivia, it was ordered that Gregorio José Liendo Vera, an agronomy student, militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), and leader of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement, be removed from the public prison of said city.

He was kept imprisoned after being accused of having instigated and led an attack on the Neltume Carabineros station on September 12 of that year. He was taken to the Llancahue military site, specifically to the shooting range of the Valdivia military garrison, where he was executed by firing squad.

Likewise, the following day, October 4, 1973, it was ordered that Rudemir Saavedra Bahamondes, Víctor Eugenio Rudolph Reyes, Víctor Segundo Valeriano Saavedra Muñoz, Santiago Segundo García Morales, Luis Mario Valenzuela Ferrada, Sergio Jaime Bravo Aguilera, Luis Hernán Pezo Jara, Víctor Fernando Krauss Iturra, Pedro Purísimo Barría Ordóñez, Enrique del Carmen Guzmán Soto, and José René Barrientos Warner be removed from the same aforementioned prison and taken to the shooting range of the Valdivia military garrison, Llancahue, where they were executed.

Source: resumen.cl, August 8, 2020

Caravana de la Muerte: Former General Sinclair and Three Other Former Army Officers Sentenced for Crimes in Valdivia in 1973

The Supreme Court sentenced four former Army officers for their responsibility in the consummated crimes of qualified homicide of Gregorio José Liendo Vera, Rudemir Saavedra Bahamondez, Víctor Eugenio Rudolph Reyes, Víctor Segundo Valeriano Saavedra Muñoz, Santiago Segundo García Morales, Luis Mario Valenzuela Ferrada, Sergio Jaime Bravo Aguilera, Luis Hernán Pezo Jara, Víctor Fernando Krauss Iturra, Pedro Purísimo Barría Ordóñez, Enrique del Carmen Guzmán Soto, and José René Barrientos Warner.

The crimes were perpetrated in October 1973, in the city of Valdivia, in the case known as: Caravana de la Muerte, Valdivia Episode.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 122.163-2020), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of judges Haroldo Brito, Jorge Dahm, Leopoldo Llanos, Judge María Teresa Letelier, and lawyer (i) Ricardo Abuauad—revoked the challenged sentence and, in a replacement sentence, sentenced former General Santiago Arturo Ariel de Jesús Sinclair Oyaneder to an effective prison term of 18 years as the author of the crimes.

Meanwhile, Juan Viterbo Chiminelli Fullerton must also serve 18 years of imprisonment, convicted as a co-author. Both had been sentenced to 5 years in prison in the Santiago Court of Appeals ruling.

The convicted former officer Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo must serve 10 years in prison as an author, and Emilio Robert de la Mahotiere González, 5 years and one day in prison as an accomplice. The aforementioned resolution of the capital's Court had sentenced the latter to 3 years in prison; in the case of Espinoza Bravo, the sentence is maintained.

Three of the convicted were members of the ominous caravan led by Sergio Arellano Stark, and the fourth, Santiago Sinclair, was commander of the Cazadores Regiment in Valdivia. Four other former Army officers directly implicated in these crimes died during the course of the process; these deceased are Carlos José Leonardo López Tapia, Hugo Alberto Guerra Jorquera (both sentenced in the first instance to 12 years in prison), Antonio Alberto Palomo Contreras, and Guillermo Juan Carlos Michelsen Délano.

Former General Sinclair has also been prosecuted since June 2021 in another case of crimes against humanity investigating the Chihuío massacre, committed in October 1973 in the mountains of the Valdivia province, where 17 peasants were murdered.

It should be mentioned that, subsequent to these criminal episodes, Santiago Arturo Ariel de Jesús Sinclair Oyaneder was promoted by Pinochet to important functions in his dictatorial regime. He was appointed Vice Commander-in-Chief of the Army, then Chief of the Presidential Staff of the dictator, a member of the Military Junta during the dictatorship, and in the post-dictatorship period, an appointed senator (between 1990 and 1998).

The Facts

On October 3, 1973, the same day of the arrival of the Puma helicopter with Arellano Stark's entourage in Valdivia, it was ordered that Gregorio José Liendo Vera, an agronomy student, militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), and leader of the Revolutionary Peasant Movement, be removed from the public prison of said city.

He was kept imprisoned, accused of having instigated and led an attack on the Neltume Carabineros station on September 12 of that year. Liendo Vera was taken to the Llancahue military site, specifically to the shooting range of the Valdivia military garrison, where he was executed by firing squad.

Likewise, the following day, October 4, 1973, it was ordered that Rudemir Saavedra Bahamondes, Víctor Eugenio Rudolph Reyes, Víctor Segundo Valeriano Saavedra Muñoz, Santiago Segundo García Morales, Luis Mario Valenzuela Ferrada, Sergio Jaime Bravo Aguilera, Luis Hernán Pezo Jara, Víctor Fernando Krauss Iturra, Pedro Purísimo Barría Ordóñez, Enrique del Carmen Guzmán Soto, and José René Barrientos Warner be removed from the same aforementioned prison and taken to the shooting range of the Valdivia military garrison, in Llancahue, where they were executed.

Supreme Resolution

The highest court established an error of law in the sentence pronounced by the Santiago Court of Appeals, issued in August 2020, by applying in its ruling the so-called "half-prescription" (media prescripción), a common loophole used by certain judges and ministers to benefit or favor criminals against humanity.

In this regard, the ruling of the Second Chamber states: "(...) consequently, the application of the figure of half-prescription or gradual prescription of the penalty, contemplated by Article 103 of the Penal Code, is not admissible in the case of crimes against humanity, since the aforementioned qualification obliges the consideration of International Human Rights Law regulations, which exclude the use of both total prescription and so-called half-prescription, as these institutes are understood to be closely linked in their foundations and, consequently, contrary to the regulations of ius cogens originating from that sphere of International Criminal Law, which reject impunity and the imposition of penalties not proportional to the intrinsic gravity of the crimes, based on the passage of time."

"That, this being the case, by having accepted the mitigating factor of half-prescription or gradual prescription of the penalty regarding the accused, the sentencers of the instance have incurred an error of law that has substantially influenced the operative part of the ruling, insofar as its application allowed them to make a reduction of the penalty to be imposed, in a case not permitted by law, for which reason the appeals for cassation on the merits under study will be accepted in what relates to the present cause," it concludes.

By Darío Núñez

Source: resumen.cl, June 17, 2023