There are 18 people prosecuted for the Janequeo Case, but 2 are already in the prison: Álvaro Corbalán and Jorge Vargas Bories. The rest are former agents who had not previously appeared before the courts.

They participated in the “confrontation” in which two members of the MIR were riddled with bullets. The visiting judge Miguel Vázquez Plaza [issued indictments] against 18 former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for the qualified homicides of Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquian, which occurred on September 7, 1983, on Calle Janequeo, in front of numbers 5707 and 5946, in the commune of Quinta Normal.

For this case, the following CNI agents were prosecuted as perpetrators: 1- Roberto Schmied Zanzi. 2- Sergio Canals Baldwin. 3- Álvaro Corbalán Castilla. 4- Aquiles González Cortés. 5- Fernando Rojas Tapia. 6- Jorge Vargas Bories. 7- José Aravena Ruiz. 8- José Salas Fuentes. 9- Arturo Sanhueza Ross. 10- Egon Barra Barra. 11- Norman Jeldes Aguilar. 12- Manuel Morales Acevedo. 13- Raúl Méndez Santos. 14- Rodolfo Olguín González. 15- Zinaida Vicencio González.

The following were prosecuted as accomplices: 16- Rafael Ortega Gutiérrez. 17- Raúl Escobar Díaz. 18- Eduardo Chávez Baeza. According to the case records, it has been determined that: – A group of agents from the Central Nacional de Informaciones focused on investigating the activities of individuals who were part of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionario (MIR) and those who collaborated with said organization.

The group was also tasked with the investigation into the homicide of General Carol Urzúa Ibáñez, Intendant of Santiago, proceeding to arrest individuals affiliated with the aforementioned movement on the afternoon of September 7, 1983. – Within those activities, on September 7, 1983, an unspecified number of CNI subjects went to the residence located at Calle Janequeo 5707, in the commune of Quinta Normal, which had been under surveillance for several weeks.

They proceeded to surround the place and fire, without any provocation and with great firepower, against the property, as a result of which Hugo Ratier Noguera was killed by various gunshot wounds in the backyard of the property.

Furthermore, Alejandro Salgado Troquian, as he was arriving at his home, was gunned down by multiple gunshot wounds on the public thoroughfare, specifically on Calle Janequeo in front of number 5946. – According to the conclusions of their respective autopsies, the deaths were caused, in the case of Ratier, by thoracic, abdominal, and upper and lower limb trauma from bullets, two of which were received in the back; and, in the case of Salgado, by cranial, facial, pelvic, and upper left and lower right limb trauma from bullets, all of which entered from the rear.

An arrest warrant was issued for all those prosecuted, except for Corbalán Castilla and Vargas Bories, who are being held at the Punta Peuco Prison for other human rights cases.

Source: La Nacion, October 11, 2013

The court's ruling in the Janequeo case

“….In accordance with the provisions of Article 15 No. 3 of the Penal Code, Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, Aquiles Mauricio González Cortés, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ros, Egon Antonio Barra Barra, Jorge Octavio Vargas Bories, Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, Fernando Rafael Mauricio Rojas Tapia, Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, Raúl Boris Méndez Santos, Rodolfo Enrique Olguín González, and Zinaida Lena Vicencio González have participated as perpetrators in the aforementioned illicit acts under the terms of Article 15 No. 1 of the Penal Code. Likewise, Raúl Hernán Escobar Díaz, Rafael Ricardo Ortega Gutiérrez, Luis Hernán Gálvez Navarro, and Eduardo Martín Chávez Baeza have participated as accomplices in the aforementioned illicit acts in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of the Penal Code. And in accordance, furthermore, with the provisions of Articles 274 and 276 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, it is declared: That Roberto Urbano Schmied Zanzi, Sergio María Canals Baldwin, Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla, Aquiles Mauricio González Cortés, Fernando Rafael Mauricio Rojas Tapia, Jorge Octavio Vargas Bories, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ros, Egon Antonio Barra Barra, Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, Raúl Boris Méndez Santos, Rodolfo Enrique Olguín González, and Zinaida Lena Vicencio González are submitted to prosecution and pretrial detention as perpetrators of the crimes of qualified homicide against Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquian; and Raúl Hernán Escobar Díaz, Rafael Ricardo Ortega Gutiérrez, Luis Hernán Gálvez Navarro, and Eduardo Martín Chávez Baeza as accomplices to the crimes of qualified homicide against Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquian.”

Source: PoderJudicial.cl, October 10, 2013

Former CNI agents convicted for false confrontation

The events occurred in the commune of Quinta Normal on September 7, 1983. The visiting judge sentenced Roberto Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles González Cortés to 20 years in prison.

For their responsibility in the homicides of Alejandro Salgado Troquián and Hugo Ratier Noguera, the extraordinary visiting judge for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Miguel Vázquez Plaza, convicted 23 former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI).

The events occurred in the commune of Quinta Normal on September 7, 1983, and were reported at the time as a confrontation, which turned out to be false. Judge Vázquez sentenced Roberto Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles González Cortés to 20 years in prison.

Meanwhile, former agents José Aravena Ruiz, José Salas Fuentes, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross, Egon Barra Barra, Jorge Vargas Bories, Norman Jeldes Aguilar, Fernando Rojas Tapia, Manuel Morales Acevedo, Sergio Canals Baldwin, and José Vidal Veloso must serve 15 years and one day in prison as perpetrators of the crimes.

Sentenced as accomplices to 10 years and one day in prison were Raúl Méndez Santos, Rodolfo Olguín González, Ema Ceballos Núñez, Miguel Gajardo Quijada, Rosa Ramos Hernández, Francisco Orellana Seguel, Juan Carlos Vergara Gutiérrez, Raúl Escobar Díaz, Rafael Ortega Gutiérrez, and Luis Gálvez Navarro.

During the investigation of the case, Judge Vázquez was able to establish that Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquián died from gunshot wounds received in the back, after agents of the CNI, the Chilean Investigative Police, and other repressive agencies began firing without any provocation and with great firepower against the property located at Calle Janequeo 5707.

Source: eldinamo.cl, July 22, 2019

Santiago Court convicts 23 former CNI agents for murders in 1983 false confrontation

The Santiago Court of Appeals confirmed the first-instance sentence issued by Judge Miguel Vásquez Plaza on July 19, 2019, which convicted 23 former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for their responsibility in the crimes of qualified homicide of Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) militants Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquián.

The crimes were perpetrated on September 7, 1983, in a false confrontation on Calle Janequeo in the commune of Quinta Normal. In the ruling (case roll 4741-2019), the Third Chamber of the appellate court—composed of judges Verónica Sabaj Escudero, Alejandro Aguilar Brevis, and Rodrigo Carvajal Schnettler—resolved to reject the appeals and cassation motions filed by some of the convicted and to confirm the first-instance sentence, with the declaration of reducing from 20 to 17 years the prison sentences applied to former Army officers and former CNI leaders Roberto Urbano Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles Mauricio González Cortés, as co-perpetrators of the crime. The first of the convicted, Schmied Zanzi, served as head of the CNI's Metropolitan Division; Corbalán Castilla was head of the Anti-Subversive Division, and Aquiles González acted as head of the Blue Brigade, specialized in the repression of the MIR. Meanwhile, former Army officers Sergio María Canals Baldwin, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ros, Fernando Rafael Mauricio Rojas Tapia, Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, and former agents José Abel Aravena Ruiz, José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, Egon Antonio Barra Barra, Jorge Octavio Vargas Bories, Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, and José Isaías Vidal Veloso must serve 15 years and one day in prison as perpetrators of the crimes. For their part, former agents Rodolfo Enrique Olguín González, Ema Verónica Ceballos Núñez, Luis Hernán Gálvez Navarro, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Francisco Javier Orellana Seguel, Miguel Fernando Gajardo Quijada, Juan Carlos Vergara Gutiérrez, Raúl Boris Méndez Santos, Raúl Hernán Escobar Díaz, and Rafael Ricardo Ortega Gutiérrez were sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison as accomplices to the crimes. In the case, the acquittal of agents Zinaida Lena Vicencio González, Jorge Raimundo Ahumada Molina, and Eduardo Martín Chávez Baeza was decreed, as their participation in this event was not proven. Another person prosecuted in this case, former PDI agent Jorge Arnaldo Barraza Riveros, died during the course of the proceedings; meanwhile, the prosecuted former Carabineros officer Miguel Ángel Patricio Soto Duarte remains a fugitive. This false confrontation was carried out by the CNI on the same day and immediately following the execution of three other MIR militants on Calle Fuenteovejuna, in a criminal act also orchestrated as a false confrontation. Judicially, both events are processed as separate episodes, in circumstances where it was a single repressive operation. In the investigation of the repressive act, it was demonstrated that the dictatorship's repressive agency developed a tracking and surveillance operation during the months prior on a group of MIR members who were acting in the underground in the resistance struggle against the tyrannical regime. With the data obtained from that prior observation, the CNI orchestrated the extermination operation that resulted in the arrest of a dozen people, the attack and murder of the three residents of the house on Calle Fuenteovejuna, and then the attack and murder of two other militants in the house on Calle Janequeo in the commune of Quinta Normal. On September 7, 1983, dozens of agents from the CNI, SIFA, the Investigative Police, and other repressive agencies went to the residence located at Calle Janequeo No. 5707, in the commune of Quinta Normal, which had been under surveillance for some weeks, proceeding to surround and cordon off the place, and then, through the use of a base of fire and other weaponry, to fire without any provocation and with great firepower against the property, as a result of which Hugo Ratier Noguera, 39 years old, was killed by various gunshot wounds in the backyard of the home. Furthermore, as he was arriving at the same residence where he lived, Alejandro Salgado Troquián, 30 years old, was gunned down by multiple gunshot wounds and executed on the public thoroughfare, specifically on Calle Janequeo in front of number 5946. A minor, the adopted son of Salgado and a resident of the home along with Salgado and Ratier, was a victim and witness to the events but managed to flee to neighboring houses during the shooting, thus saving his life and later denouncing the criminal attack.

Source: resumen.cl, November 18, 2021

Supreme Court confirms convictions of 22 CNI agents for crimes in false confrontation in Quinta Normal in September 1983

The Supreme Court confirmed the convictions against 22 agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for their responsibility in the crimes of qualified homicide of Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) militants Hugo Ratier Noguera and Alejandro Salgado Troquián.

The crimes were perpetrated on September 7, 1983, in a false confrontation on Calle Janequeo in the commune of Quinta Normal, in Santiago. In a unanimous ruling, the Second Chamber of the highest court (case roll 10.047-2022)—composed of judges Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Leopoldo Llanos Sagristá, Jean Pierre Matus, and acting lawyers Gonzalo Ruz L. and Leonor Etcheberry C.—ruled out any error of law in the sentence and rejected the cassation motions in form and substance filed by almost all of the convicted against the ruling of the Santiago Court of Appeals, issued in November 2021, which in turn confirmed with some changes the first-instance ruling issued in July 2019 by Judge Miguel Vásquez Plaza. In the resolution, the Second Chamber confirms the sentences applied to former Army officers and former CNI leaders Roberto Urbano Schmied Zanzi, Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla, and Aquiles Mauricio González Cortés, who are sentenced to 17 years in prison as co-perpetrators of the crime. The first of the convicted, Schmied Zanzi, served as head of the CNI's Metropolitan Division; Corbalán Castilla was head of the Anti-Subversive Division, and Aquiles González acted as head of the Blue Brigade, specialized in the repression of the MIR. Meanwhile, former Army officers and CNI operatives Sergio María Canals Baldwin, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ros, Fernando Rafael Mauricio Rojas Tapia, Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, and former agents José Abel Aravena Ruiz, José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, Egon Antonio Barra Barra, Jorge Octavio Vargas Bories, and José Isaías Vidal Veloso must serve 15 years and one day in prison as perpetrators of the crimes. For their part, former agents Rodolfo Enrique Olguín González, Ema Verónica Ceballos Núñez, Luis Hernán Gálvez Navarro, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Francisco Javier Orellana Seguel, Miguel Fernando Gajardo Quijada, Juan Carlos Vergara Gutiérrez, Raúl Boris Méndez Santos, Raúl Hernán Escobar Díaz, and Rafael Ricardo Ortega Gutiérrez were sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison as accomplices to the crimes. Agent Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, also convicted in previous instances, died during the course of the proceedings. False confrontation On September 7, 1983, dozens of agents from the CNI, SIFA, the Investigative Police, and other repressive agencies went to the residence located at Calle Janequeo No. 5707, in the commune of Quinta Normal, which had been under surveillance for some weeks, proceeding to surround and cordon off the place, and then, through the use of a base of fire and other weaponry, to fire without any provocation and with great firepower against the property, as a result of which Hugo Ratier Noguera was killed by various gunshot wounds in the backyard of the home. Simultaneously, as he was arriving at the neighborhood and at the same residence where he lived, militant Alejandro Salgado Troquián was gunned down by multiple gunshot wounds and executed on the public thoroughfare, specifically on Calle Janequeo in front of number 5946, two blocks from the attacked house. Hugo Norberto Ratier Noguera, 39 years old, was of Argentine nationality, originally from Misiones, and had resided in Chile since 1970. He was a leader of the MIR and remained active in the underground. He was married and a father of three children; shortly before these events, his wife and children had left the country for security reasons. Alejandro Salgado Troquián, 30 years old, a veterinarian by profession, also a militant of the MIR, was married and a surrogate father to his partner's children. A minor, the adopted son of Salgado and a resident of the home along with Salgado and Ratier, was a victim and witness to the events but managed to flee to neighboring houses during the shooting, thus saving his life and later denouncing the criminal attack. This false confrontation was carried out by the CNI on the same day and immediately following the execution of three other MIR militants on Calle Fuenteovejuna, in the commune of Las Condes, in a criminal act also orchestrated as a false confrontation, where Arturo Vilavella Araujo, Lucía Orfilia Vergara Valenzuela, and Sergio Peña Díaz were murdered. The three had returned clandestinely to Chile to join the fight against the dictatorship. Judicially, both events are processed as separate episodes, in circumstances where it was a single repressive operation. In the investigation of the repressive act, it was demonstrated that the dictatorship's repressive agency developed a tracking and surveillance operation during the months prior on a group of MIR members who were acting in the underground in the resistance struggle against the tyrannical regime. With the data obtained from that prior observation, the CNI orchestrated the extermination operation that resulted in the arrest of a dozen people, the attack and murder of the three residents of the house on Calle Fuenteovejuna, and then the attack and murder of two other militants in the house on Calle Janequeo in the commune of Quinta Normal. by Darío Núñez

Source: resumen.cl, January 27, 2024