Miguel Angel Tapia Rojas, 17 years of age at the time of the events, with no known political affiliation, was detained on September 26, 1973, on a public street in the Franklin sector of Santiago, along with his friend Marco Antonio Martínez Traslaviña, 15 years of age, who has also been forcibly disappeared since that date.

The captors were Carabineros officers who transported the two youths to the 4th Police Station of that institution, where they remained until September 28 or 29. That night, they were taken out along with 8 or 9 other prisoners and transported to the Paradero 1 of Gran Avenida, where they were executed at the site where the railway line passes.

One of the prisoners, nicknamed "El Tres Dedos" (The Three-Fingered One), survived this massacre and managed to reach the Barros Luco Hospital. Carabineros arrived at that facility with the intention of taking him, but were prevented from doing so by the hospital staff.

The events that culminated in the detention and subsequent disappearance of Miguel Angel Tapia began to unfold on September 25. Mr. Juan Antonio Carvacho López stated in a sworn declaration that on that day he accompanied his friend Miguel Angel to buy shoes on Calle Franklin, where they were detained by civilians who transported them to the 4th Carabineros Police Station.

They were released that same day, but not before Miguel Angel’s hair was cut with a blade. The following day, the witness adds in his account, the victim went to look for him again to complete the purchase that had been frustrated the day before.

He could not accompany him, but he lent him a chilote cap, as his friend had had his hair shaved off due to the irregular nature of the cut he had been subjected to; Miguel Angel then left accompanied by another friend, named Marco Antonio Martínez Traslaviña, and neither of the two returned home.

Years later, the witness learned of the events narrated by a resident of the Población José María Caro, nicknamed "El Tres Dedos," who reported that he was being held at the 4th Police Station when the two youths arrived, and that on the night of September 28 or 29, about 8 or 9 people who were being held were taken out of the police facility and transported to the Paradero 1 of Gran Avenida, where the train line passes, and at that place they were executed by Carabineros, with "El Tres Dedos" miraculously surviving.

The whereabouts of this last person, known only by his nickname, remain unknown.

From the date of his disappearance, his family carried out countless efforts to find his whereabouts, but all were fruitless, and they still do not know the fate he met at the hands of his captors.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On September 25, 1991, a complaint for alleged foul play was filed before the Ninth Criminal Court of Santiago, in which the aforementioned facts were presented. The case was registered under No. 58861-1, and as of December 1992, the judge was considering issuing a dismissal.

The anthropomorphic records of Miguel Angel Tapia Rojas were attached to case 4449-AF of the 22nd Criminal Court of Santiago, regarding the crime of illegal burial in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery of unidentified persons who died between September and December 1973.

The investigating judge of the case ordered the excavation of 108 graves in September 1991. From there, 125 bodies were exhumed and sent to the Legal Medical Institute. At present (late 1992), the expert identification reports are pending.

Source: Corporation report

The book “Breaking the Silence of Children and Adolescents Who Were Political Executions During the Civic-Military Dictatorship 1973-1990” incorporates testimonies, photographs, letters, and other documents that families and friends provided or wrote specifically for publication.

It was produced by the Association of Relatives of Political Executions (AFEP) with the support of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage, through the Culture, Memory, and Human Rights Unit, and the Human Rights Chair of the University of Chile.

The publication, based mainly on the Report of the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (1991) and the Report of the National Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation (1996), seeks to reconstruct each of the victims' lives and stories in a comprehensive and careful manner.

During the research, the archive of the Association of Relatives of Political Executions was accessed, where documents that families have preserved over the years are kept. Illustrations by Álvaro Gómez were also included.

The creation process was a complex challenge that involved combining delicacy, respect, and methodological rigor to state a painful and inescapable truth in this work.

Source: cultura.gob.cl 4/20/2023 Date: 04-20-2023

SML Identifies Five Victims Associated with the Patio 29 Case Using Samples from Deceased Relatives

On Wednesday, December 4, and Thursday, December 5, the Legal Medical Institute (SML) announced the confirmation and new identities of victims of human rights violations associated with the Patio 29 case, whose identification was possible thanks to genetic analyses performed on samples provided by already deceased relatives (posthumous samples).

Judge Leopoldo Llanos, along with the national director of the SML, Patricio Bustos, and representatives of the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior, met with the relatives of William Ramírez Barría, Luis Alberto Gutiérrez Merino, Jorge Orlando Riquelme Guzmán, and Miguel Ángel Tapia Rojas to inform them of the identities of their loved ones through genetic analyses of autosomal STRs, Y-chromosome STRs, and mitochondrial DNA performed at the laboratories of the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) in the United States, and the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in Bosnia, whose identities were confirmed with 99.9% accuracy.

At the same time, they reported a new identification. This concerns José Adrián Ramírez Díaz, which was made possible through genetic analyses from the laboratories of the UNTHSC and the GMI of the Institute of Legal Medicine in Innsbruck, Austria.

To date, the SML has taken 47 posthumous samples since 2012, which has allowed for the expansion of the family network of the dictatorship's victims and the performance of the necessary forensic examinations to confirm their identities. With this, the forensic agency continues to work to provide new identifications and consolidate the database of relatives' samples.

Williams Osvaldo Ramírez Barría, 23 years old, single, member of the Presidential Guard (GAP), militant of the Socialist Party. He was detained by Carabineros on September 11, 1973, outside the Santiago Intendencia, subsequently taken to the Sixth Police Station, and on September 13, to the Investigations Headquarters, from which he disappeared.

Luis Alberto Gutiérrez Merino was 19 years old, worked in construction, and was single. He was killed on September 18, 1973, in Santiago.

Jorge Orlando Riquelme Guzmán, 25 years old, single, student, killed on October 24, 1973, in Santiago.

Miguel Ángel Tapia Rojas, 17 years old at the time of his detention, with no political affiliation, was detained on September 26 on a public street in the Franklin sector. He was taken to the 4th Carabineros Police Station and from there (on the 28th or 29th) was executed at the Paradero 1 of Gran Avenida.

José Adrián Ramírez Díaz, 20 years of age, assistant to a street market merchant, with no political affiliation, was detained by Carabineros on October 17, 1973, at the intersection of Oriental and Ictinos streets, from where he disappeared.

Source: biobiochile.cl 12/5/2013 Date: 12-05-2013

Santiago Court Issues Convictions in Two Human Rights Violation Cases

The Santiago Court of Appeals issued a ruling in two human rights violation cases. Both involve the crimes of illegitimate coercion and homicide, illicit acts perpetrated in San Fernando and Santiago, respectively.

In the second ruling, the challenged sentence that had ordered compensation for the relatives of political executions Óscar Duarte Pedraza and Miguel Tapia Rojas was annulled. Their qualified homicides were perpetrated by personnel from the 4th Carabineros Police Station of Santiago, at the intersection of Placer and Lira streets, on September 24 and October 5, 1973, respectively.

In this sense, the Santiago Court's ruling establishes that the payment of civil compensation is not appropriate when a dismissal has been issued due to the death of the only person prosecuted in the case.

Source: elciudadano.com May 2019

Patio 29: Behind the Iron Cross (BOOK)

Patio 29 was usually intended for the burial of the indigent, psychiatric patients, and people who died without being identified (NN). However, between September 1973 and January 1974, its graves were used to hide victims of repression as NN.

Javiera Bustamante and Stephan Ruderer reconstruct the painful history of the site, using testimonies from the relatives of the forcibly disappeared, letters, documents, and other sources. The book also accounts for the arduous process of identification and the handing over of the bodies, as well as the irregularities that characterized these proceedings.

The powerful photographs that illustrate the volume were taken by visual artist Mara Daruich.

Bustamante, Javiera; Ruderer, Stephan

Source: ocholibros.cl, no date