Repressors from the U. Santa María processed in the Woodward case

In a massive resolution, Judge Eliana Quezada of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals processed four officers and nine non-commissioned officers (ret.) of the Navy as co-perpetrators of the kidnapping—in September 1973—of the priest Miguel Woodward.

With this, the minister raised the number of those indicted in this investigation to 19, precisely as the 35th anniversary of the disappearance of the clergyman, who was a member of the MAPU, is reached.

For the first time, the magistrate reported on Captain (ret.) Víctor Valverde Steinlein, who, as the then-director of the Navy's School of Operations, was the head of the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María (UTFSM), which the Navy used until the end of October 1973 as a detention center following the military coup.

She also indicted Captain (ret.) Luis Holley de la Maza and Frigate Captains (ret.) José Yáñez Riveros and Marcos Silva Bravo. These men commanded the teams that the Navy formed, coordinated by Valverde, to repress in the Los Placeres, Esperanza, and Barón hills, using the facilities of the UTFSM as a place of confinement for those arrested in that area.

Miguel Woodward was arrested at his home in Placeres on September 21 and taken to that university, where he received his first beatings and torture. "A patrol from the UTFSM Operations Barracks arrested Woodward, where he was interrogated, beaten, and subjected to various forms of torture by Navy officials who made up the School of Operations Company stationed there, only to hand him over the following day to the Naval War Academy (AGN)," the ruling by Judge Quezada states.

Ten of the thirteen processed individuals are already under arrest at the Marine Infantry barracks in Las Salinas in Viña del Mar, after being located by Investigations officials. Frigate Captain (ret.) José Yáñez Riveros is returning to Chile in November because he is aboard a commercial vessel.

Regarding the other Frigate Captain (ret.) Marcos Silva Bravo, he is on vacation in the south, where he is being sought by police officials. Non-commissioned officer Alfredo Mondaca Salamanca lives in Iquique and has already been located.

It is expected that both will enter the same barracks today to serve their arrest. Miguel Woodward continued to be tortured at the AGN and was left dying, for which he was taken to the training ship Esmeralda, where a field hospital existed.

There, he was checked by the officer and naval doctor Kenneth Gleiser, who recommended taking him to the Naval Hospital, then located on the Playa Ancha hill. The exact place where Woodward died has not been determined.

The current processed individuals had a role in the arrest, beating, and torture of the priest, as well as in his subsequent transfer to the AGN and the Esmeralda. The head of the AGN and the clergyman's torturers at this academy—three vice admirals, two captains, and one lieutenant, all retired—were already indicted last April.

List of Processed Individuals

1.- Víctor Valverde Steilein (Captain, ret.) 2.- Luis Holley de la Maza (Captain, ret.) 3.- José Yáñez Riveros (Frigate Captain, ret.) 4.- Marcos Silva Bravo (Frigate Captain, ret.) 5.- José García Reyes (Non-commissioned officer, ret.) 6.- Alfredo Mondaca Salamanca (Non-commissioned officer, ret.) 7.- Luis Pinda Figueroa (Non-commissioned officer, ret.) 8.- Carlos Miño Muñoz (Non-commissioned officer, ret.) 9.- José Rojas Araya (Non-commissioned officer, ret.) 10.- Pedro Vidal Miranda (Non-commissioned officer, ret.) 11.- Héctor Palomino López (Non-commissioned officer, ret.) 12.- Guillermo Inostroza Opazo (Non-commissioned officer, ret.) 13.- Claudio Cerezo Valencia (Non-commissioned officer, ret.)

Source: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 La Nación