Address : Avda. Condell 1433, Pobl. Cerro Colorado, Renca, Santiago. Marital Status : Single Occupation : Unemployed Repressive Org. : No information Date of Detention : October 8, 1973

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Orlando Miguel Ponce Quezada, 16 years of age at the time of the events, was detained on October 8, 1973, during an operation carried out by military and Carabineros personnel in the Cerro Colorado neighborhood of the Renca commune.

Following his arrest, he was placed in a red pickup truck under the command of Carabineros, who forced him face down onto the floor of the vehicle and proceeded to jump on his body. Along with other detainees, he was taken to the Renca Carabineros Station, where he remained for approximately 2 hours, before being placed back into the pickup truck and transported to the side of Cerro Colorado, a location guarded by personnel from the Chilean Air Force (FACH).

There, he was shot in the back, and his lifeless body was abandoned, remaining in that location for approximately 3 days—FACH personnel did not allow local residents to approach the area—at the end of which, Carabineros retrieved the body, placed it in a bag, and transported it to an unknown location.

The circumstances of his death are recounted in the testimony of Mr. Patricio Hernán Ordenes, who states that in October 1973, the Cerro Colorado neighborhood was surrounded and raided by the military.

The men were taken to the Plaza, where they were required to surrender their identity cards. The soldiers had a list of people, and he was told he would be detained because he "was going to murder the neighbor next door." They forced him into a pickup truck, face down, which contained Carabineros.

Subsequently, at two different stops, two other people were loaded into the truck, and they were finally transported to the Renca Station, where they remained for more or less an hour. Afterward, they were loaded back into the red pickup truck and taken two or three kilometers from the neighborhood, to the side of Cerro Colorado, which was cordoned off and guarded by the Air Force.

The three prisoners were forced to descend. They first interrogated a detainee of about 30 years of age, whom they beat until he was completely covered in blood; he fell into a ditch, and one of the police officers stood on top of him, nearly drowning him; afterward, they threw him like a sack into the pickup truck.

Immediately, they ordered the other detainee, a boy of about 15 years of age whom he recognized as the nephew of a neighbor of his, named Miguel Ponce Quezada, to walk toward the hill. While he was complying with the order, the Carabinero in charge, who had a mark or mole on one of his cheeks, ordered the rest of the police to shoot him, an order that was not obeyed.

He then drew his revolver and threatened his subordinates with shooting them if they did not obey his order. He gave the order to fire a second time, and the boy fell, mortally wounded. They left his body there. After the "execution," the witness—who was also beaten—and the other detainee were taken back to the Renca Station.

For her part, Ms. Leontina del Carmen Rebolledo Rivero, the victim's aunt and from whose home he was detained, notes in her testimony that in the days following the events, she was informed that her nephew's corpse was in a sector of Cerro Colorado, showing a bullet hole.

The body remained in that location for about 3 days, being spotted by a large number of neighborhood residents and also by her, though it was impossible to approach the site because it was closed off by Carabineros.

She later learned that her nephew's body was retrieved from the site and placed in a bag. The action was carried out by Carabineros, who proceeded to take it away to an unknown destination.

His family attempted, without positive results, first to have the body returned and then to learn the place of burial. To date, it has also not been possible to obtain a death certificate.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

No action before a court is recorded. The records of Orlando Miguel Ponce Quezada were attached to case 4449-AF of the 22nd Criminal Court of Santiago for 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. Currently (late 1992), the forensic identification reports are pending.

Source: Corporation report

Orlando Ponce was an adolescent who was detained on October 8, 1973, during an operation in which military and Carabineros participated, in the Cerro Colorado area, Renca. As the site Memoria Viva recounts, "Following his arrest, he was placed in a red pickup truck under the command of Carabineros, who forced him face down onto the floor of the vehicle and proceeded to jump on his body." He was tortured and shot in the back near Cerro Colorado, where they left his body for several days before later transporting it to an unknown destination.

According to his aunt, Leontina Rebolledo, "The body remained in that location for about 3 days, being spotted by a large number of neighborhood residents and also by her, though it was impossible to approach the site because it was closed off by Carabineros.

She later learned that her nephew's body was retrieved from the site and placed in a bag. The action was carried out by Carabineros, who proceeded to take it away to an unknown destination." Minister Mario Carroza stated in his sentencing ruling of 10 years and one day that "at the police unit, they remained for a couple of hours and were then forced to board the pickup truck again, and in it, they were taken to the foothills of Cerro Colorado, where they were ordered to get out and, immediately afterward, they began to beat them heavily with their feet, hands, and the weapons they were carrying. Then, two of them were loaded, wounded, into the pickup truck, but Lieutenant Mario Pizarro Cortés allegedly ordered Ponce Quezada to walk in front of them (...) an instant that Lieutenant Mario Pizarro Cortés took advantage of to order the Carabineros accompanying him to shoot him, which they did, succeeding in striking down the minor." All human rights violators who are in Punta Peuco must be moved to common prisons. Enough with impunity.

Source: laizquierdadiario.cl, June 24, 2017

Date: 06-24-2017

Two retired Carabineros convicted for the homicide of a child in 1973

The convicted, Patricio Montecinos Bustos and Mario Pizarro Cortés, perpetrated the crime on October 13, 1973. Photo: EFE/Archive The Supreme Court of Chile sentenced two retired Carabineros to 10 years and one day in prison for the 1973 homicide of Orlando Ponce Quezada, a 15-year-old child, according to judicial sources.

The convicted, Patricio Montecinos Bustos and Mario Pizarro Cortés, perpetrated the crime on October 13, 1973, in the Cerro Colorado neighborhood, in the Santiago municipality of Renca. The murder Orlando Miguel Ponce Quezada appeared at the door of his house during a police raid, was detained and taken to a barracks, and two hours later to an unpopulated area, at which moment Lieutenant Mario Pizarro Cortés ordered the Carabineros accompanying him to shoot him.

The Carabineros followed the order and struck down the minor. Although he died instantly, "Pizarro Cortés approached the body and finished him off with his service pistol," the sentence recounts. In the civil aspect, the Court ordered the State of Chile to pay an indemnity of 40 million pesos (61,000 dollars) to a brother of the victim.

Another case The Court also convicted a retired military officer for the 1981 homicide of Gumercindo Gutiérrez Contreras in the southern town of Lautaro, in whose regiment the victim was performing his military service.

The sentence convicted Carlos Blanco Plummer to five years and one day in prison for the homicide of the youth while he was standing guard. Blanco Plummer was a second lieutenant known for intimidating recruits by placing his pistol against their temples, mouths, or necks.

According to the sentence, on March 20, 1981, the aforementioned second lieutenant stopped in front of Gutiérrez Contreras, asked him, "Do you want to die, kid?", after which he put the barrel of his service weapon in his mouth and fired.

Convictions The Second Chamber of the highest court also confirmed the convictions of six former agents of the Comando Conjunto for their responsibility in the qualified kidnapping (disappearance) of Juan Quiñones Ibaceta in July 1976.

The former agents Miguel Estay Reyno, Manuel Muñoz Gamboa, Daniel Guimpert Corvalán, César Palma Ramírez, Enrique Ruiz Bunger, and Juan Saavedra Loyola were sentenced to 10 years in prison. In the civil aspect, the treasury was ordered to pay an indemnity of 150 million pesos (228,000 dollars) to the victim's family members.

According to the sentence, Juan Luis Quiñones Ibaceta belonged to the Communist Party Youth (JJ.CC.) and participated in clandestine party activities during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Between 1975 and 1976, the Comando Conjunto was formed and operated, a group made up of personnel from the Chilean Air Force Intelligence Directorate (DIFA), the Carabineros of Chile (DICAR), the Navy (SIN), and civilians attached to the FACH, whose objective was to persecute, repress, and dismantle the Communist Party.

In this context, on July 23, 1976, the Communist Youth militant Juan Luis Quiñones Ibaceta had arranged to meet with an alleged comrade nicknamed "El Fanta," who was supposed to provide him with help to leave the country.

When he arrived at the meeting place, Quiñones Ibaceta was detained and taken to the barracks on Calle Dieciocho. "From that date until today, there is no news of his actual whereabouts," the sentence concludes.

Source: eleconomistaamerica.cl, August 4, 2016

Date: 08-04-2016

Minister Mario Carroza convicts Carabinero for the cowardly homicide of a 15-year-old minor in 1973

The minister on extraordinary assignment for the Santiago Court of Appeals for human rights violation cases, Mario Carroza, issued a first-instance sentence in the investigation into the qualified homicide of 15-year-old Orlando Ponce Quezada, executed in October 1973 in the foothills of Cerro Colorado in the Renca commune.

In the ruling, Minister Carroza sentenced retired Carabinero Lieutenant Mario Pizarro Cortés to 10 years and one day in prison as the perpetrator of the crime. Likewise, he acquitted retired Sergeant of the uniformed police Patricio Montecinos Bustos due to a lack of participation in the events.

In the civil aspect, it was resolved to order the treasury to pay the sum of $15,000,000 (fifteen million pesos) for moral damages to the plaintiff Alberto Haroldo Ponce Quezada, the victim's brother. According to the information gathered in the investigation, the magistrate was able to verify the following sequence of events in the case: "On the morning of October 13, 1973, military personnel, Carabineros, and Investigative police officers carried out a raid in the Cerro Colorado neighborhood of the Renca commune: in the operation, the Armed Forces and Order forces ordered men over 18 years of age to go with their identity cards to the sector where a soccer field existed at that time, located between Sargento Candelaria and Paula Jaraquemada streets, a place where their identities and records would be verified by Investigative officials." "In the course of this procedure, the victim, Orlando Miguel Ponce Quezada, only 15 years of age, out of curiosity leaned out into the front yard of the house in which he lived with the purpose of seeing what was happening with these people. Upon being surprised by a soldier, he received a warning to go inside and not come out, but he ignored the order and repeated the behavior, which allegedly led the soldier to order him to also go to where the adult men were. Once Ponce Quezada arrived at the location, he was forced to remain lying face down on the ground along with other residents. In the meantime, they continued checking documents, and once finished, they allowed some of them to be released, except for the youth Ponce Quezada, whom Carabineros loaded into a red C-10 pickup truck and, along with two other people, kept in the same conditions to then transport him to the First Renca Station." "At the police unit, they remained for a couple of hours and were then forced to board the pickup truck again, and in it, they were taken to the foothills of Cerro Colorado, where they were ordered to get out and, immediately afterward, they began to beat them heavily with their feet, hands, and the weapons they were carrying. Then, two of them were loaded, wounded, into the pickup truck, but Lieutenant Mario Pizarro Cortés allegedly ordered Ponce Quezada to walk in front of them; the youth Orlando Miguel Ponce Quezada obeyed the mandate and walked a couple of meters, an instant that Lieutenant Mario Pizarro Cortés took advantage of to order the Carabineros accompanying him to shoot him, which they did, succeeding in striking down the minor, who fell to the ground alive, but Pizarro Cortés finished him off with his service weapon, an act that finally caused his death as a consequence of craniocerebral trauma and three impacts in the abdominal sector, with exit wounds." "Once the crime was committed, the Carabinero officials left the scene in the pickup truck with the other two detainees and left the lifeless body of the minor abandoned. Although it was discovered by his family members, the military prevented them from retrieving it, and it remained in the location for days. Apparently, an Army truck finally took it to the Legal Medical Service, where they erroneously identified him as Sergio Fernando Fernández Pavez and buried him under that name in Patio 29. His remains were exhumed at the request of human rights groups, which forced a new identification procedure to be carried out on 127 corpses, succeeding in identifying one of them as those of Orlando Miguel Ponce Quezada."

Source: elclarin.cl, January 27, 2015

Date: 01-27-2015

Two bodies belonging to detainees of the military dictatorship identified

The remains of two victims of the dictatorship, one of them a sixteen-year-old adolescent, have been identified by the Legal Medical Service after having been exhumed in 1991 from Patio 29 of the General Cemetery of Santiago, judicial sources reported today.

They are Orlando Ponce Quezada, 16, and Mario Casanova Pino, 34, who were part of 125 corpses illegally buried in 108 graves marked as "NN" in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery of Santiago in 1973 and exhumed in 1991 by order of the Justice system.

Orlando Ponce Quezada, according to what human rights sources told EFE, was detained on October 8, 1973, during a massive raid by military and Carabineros in the working-class neighborhood "Cerro Colorado," in the Santiago municipality of Renca.

The adolescent, according to witness testimonies, was loaded into a red pickup truck under the command of Carabineros. Along with other detainees, he was taken to the Renca Station and two hours later taken in the same pickup truck to the side of Cerro Colorado, where soldiers of the Air Force shot him in the back.

His corpse remained for three days in the location, after which some Carabineros placed it in a bag and took it away to an unknown destination. Meanwhile, Mario Casanova Pino was executed with numerous gunshots on the morning of September 24, 1973, on a street in Santiago and remained as a forcibly disappeared person until 1991, when it was clarified that he had been buried as "NN" in the General Cemetery.

According to several witnesses, on the afternoon of September 17, 1973, Carabineros from the 4th Station of Santiago appeared at the family home accompanied by Mario Casanova, whom they were holding handcuffed.

His face showed signs of having been beaten. The police officers indicated that they were investigating the commission of a theft and then took him away again. The following day, family members went to the police barracks, but the detention was denied.

The Legal Medical Service sent the data of both identifications to special judge Alejandro Solís, in charge of the investigation regarding Patio 29, who must communicate the result of the forensic examinations to the victims' families and order the delivery of the remains. EFE

Source: publimetro.cl, March 8, 2011

Date: 03-08-2011

Remains of two victims in Patio 29 case delivered

The judge investigating the errors committed by the Legal Medical Service (SML) in the identification of the skeletal remains from Patio 29 of the General Cemetery, Alejandro Solís, delivered the correctly identified remains of their loved ones to the families of two of the victims.

These are the remains of Mario Eduardo Casanova Pino and Orlando Miguel Ponce Quezada, both forcibly disappeared since October 1973, whose families had never before received remains associated with their relatives, and thus they appeared outside the universe of the process.

With this delivery, the identifications in the Patio 29 case reach 35 in the investigation initiated in 2001 by the Legal Medical Service, which continues its forensic work in the search for new identities. According to the procedural records, there are more than 90 forensic examinations for which definitive results of the identification of remains exhumed from Patio 29 have not yet been obtained.

Source: lanacion.cl, March 8, 2011

Date: 03-08-2011

Minister Solís reports two new identities of remains exhumed from Patio 29

With the analyses, it was possible to identify with 99.999% certainty the remains corresponding to two victims of human rights violations, whose family members, until now, had not had information about their whereabouts, since no type of identification of them had ever been achieved.

The minister on assignment Alejandro Solís Muñoz announced two new identities of persons whose remains were illegally buried in a grave in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery, and who were identified by forensic examinations carried out at the Legal Medical Service.

With the analyses, it was possible to identify with 99.999% certainty the remains corresponding to two victims of human rights violations, whose family members, until now, had not had information about their whereabouts, since no type of identification of them had ever been achieved.

Furthermore, said victims were not linked in the identifications to the present case in the nineties. The remains correspond to Mario Eduardo Casanova Pino, 34 years of age at the time of his detention, which occurred on September 17, 1973.

According to judicial records, the victim died at 7:00 AM on September 24, 1973, on a public street, from multiple gunshot wounds, as recorded in his autopsy protocol from the Legal Medical Institute. He remained in the status of a forcibly disappeared person until 1991, when it was clarified that he had been buried as an N.N. in the General Cemetery.

According to several witnesses, in the afternoon hours of September 17, 1973, Carabineros from the Fourth Station of Santiago appeared at the family home accompanied by Mario Casanova, whom they were holding handcuffed; his face showed signs of having been beaten.

The captors indicated that they were investigating the commission of a theft. Afterward, they took him away again. The following day, the family members went to the police barracks, but the detention was denied.

During 1991, in an investigation carried out in the 3rd Criminal Court of Santiago for other disappeared persons, it was established that on September 26, 1973, an autopsy had been performed at the Legal Medical Institute of Santiago on the corpse of an N.N. person, sent in that capacity from the 2nd Military Prosecutor's Office of Santiago.

Through comparisons and fingerprint examinations, it was determined that the Protocol assigned with No. 22919 corresponded to Mario Casanova, whose body had been sent to the General Cemetery. The second identity corresponds to Orlando Miguel Ponce Quezada, 16 years of age at the time of his detention, which was carried out on October 8, 1973.

According to procedural records, the minor was detained by military and Carabinero personnel in the Cerro Colorado neighborhood of the Renca commune. Following his arrest, he was loaded into a red pickup truck under the command of Carabineros, who forced him face down onto the floor of the vehicle and proceeded to jump on his body.

Along with other detainees, he was taken to the Renca Carabineros Station, where he remained for about 2 hours, before being loaded back into the pickup truck in which he was transported to the side of Cerro Colorado, a location guarded by personnel from the Chilean Air Force (FACH).

There, he was shot in the back, and his lifeless body was abandoned, remaining in that location for about 3 days—FACH personnel did not allow local residents to approach the area—at the end of which, Carabineros retrieved the body, placed it in a bag, and transported it to an unknown location.

According to the testimony of Patricio Hernán Órdenes, who states that in October 1973, the Cerro Colorado neighborhood was surrounded and raided by the military. The men were taken to the plaza, where they had to surrender their identity cards.

The soldiers had a list of people, and he was told he would be detained because he "was going to murder the neighbor next door." They forced him into a pickup truck, face down, which contained Carabineros.

Subsequently, at two different stops, they loaded two other people, to finally be transported to the Renca Station, where they were for more or less an hour. Afterward, they loaded them back into the red pickup truck and took them two or three kilometers from the neighborhood, to the side of Cerro Colorado, which was cordoned off and guarded by the Air Force.

The three prisoners were forced to descend. They first interrogated a detainee of about 30 years of age, whom they beat until he was completely covered in blood; he fell into a ditch, and one of the police officers stood on top of him, nearly drowning him; afterward, they threw him like a sack into the pickup truck.

Immediately, they ordered the other detainee, a boy of about 15 years of age, whom he recognized as the nephew of a neighbor of his, named Miguel Ponce Quezada, to walk toward the hill. While he was complying with the order, the Carabinero in charge, who had a mark or mole on one of his cheeks, ordered the rest of the police to shoot him, an order that was not obeyed.

Then, he drew his revolver and threatened his subordinates with shooting them if they did not obey his order. He gave the order to fire a second time, and the boy fell, mortally wounded. They left his body there.

After the execution, the witness—who was also beaten—and the other detainee were taken back to the Renca Station. Meanwhile, Ms. Leontina del Carmen Rebolledo Rivero, the victim's aunt and from whose home he was detained, notes that in the days following the events, she was informed that her nephew's corpse was in a sector of Cerro Colorado, presenting a bullet hole.

The body remained in that location for about 3 days, being spotted by a large number of neighborhood residents and also by her, being impossible to approach the site, as it was closed off by Carabineros.

She later learned that her nephew's body was retrieved from the site and placed in a bag. The action was carried out by Carabineros, who proceeded to take it away to an unknown destination. His family attempted, without positive results, first to have the body returned and then to learn the place of burial.

To date, it has not been possible to obtain a death certificate. The SML forensic examinations were carried out by the ad-hoc experts appointed by the Court: Dr. Rhonda Roby, specialist in forensic genetics, and Dr.

Francisco Etxeberría Gabilondo, specialist in legal and forensic medicine. According to the procedural records, there are more than 90 forensic examinations for which definitive results of the identification of remains exhumed from Patio 29 have not yet been obtained.

Source: lasegunda.com, March 8, 2011

Date: 03-08-2011

BREAKING THE SILENCE OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WHO WERE POLITICAL EXECUTIONS DURING THE CIVIL-MILITARY DICTATORSHIP: 1973-1990 (BOOK)

"Night after night, we had to reassemble their faces, their jokes, their gestures, their nervous tics, their anger, their laughter. We forced ourselves to dream of them stubbornly, to remember again and again their way of walking, their special way of knocking on the door or sitting down tired when they arrived from the street, work, university, or high school.

We forced ourselves to dream of them, like someone drawing a beloved face in the air of an invisible landscape. Like someone returning to childhood and striving to continuously reassemble a puzzle, a facial puzzle shattered in the last piece by the blow of the gunfire. (...) Our dead are more alive every day, younger every day, fresher every day, as if they were always rejuvenating in an underground echo that sings them, in a love song that makes them reborn, in a tremor of hugs and sweat of hands, where the stubborn dampness of their memory does not dry." Pedro Lemebel, The Rettig Report (Love message to the incorruptible ear of memory) Breaking the silence: of the children and adolescents who were political executions during the civil-military dictatorship: 1973-1990. Association of Relatives of Political Executions. Edition: Association of Relatives of Political Executions.

Source: CULTURA.GOB.CL 4/2023

Human rights violator from Punta Peuco who had requested a presidential pardon has died

Retired Carabinero non-commissioned officer Mario Pizarro Cortés, who was serving a sentence in Punta Peuco, died today of terminal cancer at the Thorax Hospital. Retired Carabinero non-commissioned officer Mario Pizarro Cortés, who was serving a sentence in Punta Peuco, died today of terminal cancer at the Thorax Hospital.

The former official of the uniformed police was sentenced to 10 years and 1 day in prison for the homicide of 16-year-old Orlando Ponce Quezada, which occurred in the Renca commune in October 1973 during a massive raid by military and Carabineros in the "Cerro Colorado" neighborhood.

The adolescent, according to witness testimonies, was loaded into a red pickup truck under the command of Carabineros, who forced him face down onto the floor of the vehicle and proceeded to jump on his body.

Along with other detainees, he was taken to the Renca Station and two hours later taken in the same pickup truck to the side of Cerro Colorado, where the group, following the orders of Mario Pizarro Cortés, shot him in the back.

His corpse remained for three days in the location, at which time other Carabineros picked it up and took it away to an unknown destination. His body would appear in 2011 in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery of Santiago. Despite this horrendous crime committed, Pizarro had presented his petition for a pardon to President Michelle Bachelet last March.

Source: elciudadano.cl 2018