Date of Birth: 01-28-52, 24 years old at the time of his detention. Address: Parque Apoquindo, Calle 7 Nº 7801, Las Condes, Santiago. Marital Status: Single. Occupation: Radio Technician and Computer Science Student.

Political Affiliation: Member of the Communist Party. Date of Detention: August 5, 1976 * Name: OSCAR ORLANDO RAMOS GARRIDO Date of Birth: 08-10-17, 58 years old at the date of his detention Address: Parque Apoquindo, Calle 7 Nº 7801, Las Condes, Santiago Marital Status: Married, two children Occupation: Linotypist and radio technician Political Affiliation: Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.

Intendant of Llanquihue until September 9, 1973 Date of Detention: August 5, 1976

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Oscar Orlando Ramos Garrido, married, father of two, linotypist, former Intendant of Llanquihue, and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, was detained on August 5, 1976, at approximately 1:00 PM at his home by a group of five agents from the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA).

The agents raided the home and proceeded to apprehend him, forcing him into a red Peugeot vehicle in which they were traveling.

Along with Oscar Orlando, his son Oscar Arturo Ramos Vivanco, 24, single, radio technician, and communist militant, was also detained. Both were dedicated to radio repair, a job they performed in a room within the same house, which had been set up for that purpose.

Eyewitnesses to the raid and the detentions were Genoveva Ramos Vivanco and her four-year-old son—the daughter and grandson, respectively, of Oscar Orlando—who were able to observe how the agents first detained Oscar Arturo the moment he went to open the front gate for them.

He was handcuffed and placed into the vehicle used by the agents. Then, Oscar Orlando was detained in the radio workshop while he was working. The agents immediately proceeded to handcuff him and place him in the aforementioned vehicle.

Subsequently, his captors transported Oscar Orlando Ramos Garrido and his son Oscar Arturo Ramos Vivanco to the clandestine DINA detention center known as Villa Grimaldi. There, he was seen by several witnesses who managed to survive the torture and, in general, the conditions to which the detainees in that facility were subjected.

In this regard, Isaac Godoy Castillo, who was held in that same facility, testified that he had spoken with Oscar Arturo Ramos Vivanco, who told him that he had been detained along with his father, who was also at Villa Grimaldi.

He also recounted that the agents stole a "montgomery" (duffle coat) that Oscar Arturo was wearing at the time of his detention and replaced his shoes with older ones. From that point on, his trail was lost, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

Furthermore, it must be noted that on August 4, 1976, the day before the detention of Oscar Orlando Ramos Garrido and his son, his brother-in-law Hugo Ernesto Vivanco Vega had been detained on a public street in the presence of a witness.

This witness informed the affected man's spouse, Alicia de las Mercedes Herrera Benítez, who was also detained hours later at her home. Before her apprehension, she managed to communicate by telephone with her son Nicolás Hugo Vivanco Herrera and in person with her sister-in-law Carmen Vivanco Vega (wife of Oscar Orlando Ramos Vivanco), whom she informed of the detention of Hugo Ernesto Vivanco Vega.

Following these events, on August 10, 1976, Nicolás Hugo Vivanco Herrera—who, like his father and uncle, had also worked at the Imprenta Horizonte—was detained on a public street while he was making inquiries to determine the whereabouts of his parents. All of those apprehended remain, to this day, forcibly disappeared.

Beyond their family ties, the victims were also united by their common membership in the Communist Party. Their detentions took place in the midst of a sweep, initiated in July 1976, against various militants of that Party linked to the printing trade, including José Tolosa Vásquez (July 15), Guillermo Martínez Quijón (July 21), Juan Luis Quiñones Ibaceta (July 23), Guillermo Gálvez Rivadeneira (July 28), and Juan Aurelio Villarroel Zárate (August 13).

All of them, like the Vivanco Herrera family and Oscar Ramos and his son Oscar Arturo, remain forcibly disappeared.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On August 9, 1976, an Amparo appeal (Habeas Corpus), Case No. 713-76, was filed with the Santiago Court of Appeals on behalf of Oscar Orlando Ramos Garrido and Oscar Arturo Ramos Vivanco. It was rejected on September 21, 1976, based on a report from the Ministry of the Interior stating: "they are not detained, nor is there an arrest warrant against them." On the 27th of the same month and year, the resolution was confirmed by the Supreme Court.

Parallel to that resolution, on that same day, August 27, 1976, Case No. 94.579 was initiated in the Sixth Criminal Court of Santiago, corresponding to a complaint filed for the crime of kidnapping of Oscar Orlando Ramos Garrido and Oscar Arturo Ramos Vivanco.

The case was temporarily dismissed on several occasions. However, on June 1, 1978, the magistrate of the Sixth Court issued a final dismissal by virtue of Decree Law No. 2.191. This dismissal was subsequently changed to a temporary one by the Court of Appeals.

After that date, following the appointment of Mr. Servando Jordán as a Visiting Minister to investigate cases of forcibly disappeared persons in the Metropolitan area, the case came under his jurisdiction until September 24, 1979, when it was again temporarily dismissed.

This ruling was confirmed by the Court of Appeals on November 19, 1980, without having established the whereabouts of Oscar Orlando Ramos Garrido.

It is important to point out that, despite the military government denying the detention of Oscar Ramos Garrido and the others affected, in statements issued on July 14 and 17, 1976, through its National Social Communication Division (DINACOS), it informed the public that, following operations carried out by security services, it had managed to dismantle 32 "mailbox houses" (safe houses) of the Communist Party, which served as links between the National Directorate of that party and its Regional Committees.

The statement also reported the detention of militants of said group, adding that no further information could be provided so as not to hinder the ongoing investigations.

Another piece of evidence linking the responsibility of State security agencies to the disappearance of the victims is recorded in the August 12, 1976, edition of the weekly "Qué Pasa," in an article titled "From the MIR to the PC," which points out that, following operations carried out in recent days by security agencies, numerous militants and leaders of the Communist Party had been detained.

Along with the judicial proceedings, Carmen Rosa Vivanco Vega made countless efforts before national and international bodies and authorities, without succeeding in getting the Military Junta to acknowledge the detentions and subsequent disappearance of her spouse Oscar Orlando Ramos Garrido and her son Oscar Arturo Ramos Vivanco.

Following a letter sent by Carmen Vivanco to the Minister of the Interior, in which she requested information about her five forcibly disappeared relatives, she was summoned on August 16, 1977, to the General Headquarters of Investigations, where she was interrogated by an official regarding the letter.

However, on the 14th of that same month and year—at approximately 9:00 PM—three young individuals arrived at Carmen's home in a white Peugeot car, license plate NN-663 of Providencia. Two of them identified themselves as members of the DINA, coming from the Diego Portales building.

In the identification of one of them, she only managed to see the surname "Gómez" and the acronym DINA. The other who accompanied him stated his name was "Faúndez." Gómez told her that by order of General Pinochet, they were investigating the rumors regarding the detention of her relatives.

Along with this, he asked her to make a voluntary statement accounting for the facts. She agreed to this request, writing on a paper provided by the agents a brief account of the events, adding that she was sure the perpetrators belonged to a government security agency and that she was making this statement at the demand of Messrs.

Gómez and Faúndez and at the request of General Pinochet. Upon reading this, Gómez tore up the paper. Finally, she wrote another statement recounting the events, omitting that she was doing so at the request of the aforementioned subjects. Gómez asked her to leave a blank space, to which she refused.

Furthermore, on August 1, 1978, relatives of 70 disappeared persons, including those of Oscar Ramos Garrido and his son Oscar Ramos Vivanco, filed a criminal complaint with the 10th Criminal Court of Santiago for the crime of aggravated kidnapping against General (Ret.) Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, Army Colonel Marcelo Luis Moren Brito, and Army Lieutenant Colonel Rolf Gonzalo Wenderoth Pozo.

The identities of other agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), information on the secret detention centers of said organization, and other data regarding the structure and means at the DINA's disposal were also provided to the Court.

Without carrying out any investigative steps, on May 10 of that year, the judge of the 10th Court declared herself incompetent and referred the case to the Military Justice system; after several appeals, in May 1979, the case was lodged with the 2nd Military Prosecutor's Office of Santiago, under Case No. 553-78.

In 1983, the Court reviewed the four volumes of the Extraordinary Visit for cases of forcibly disappeared persons in the Metropolitan Region, which was substantiated by Minister Servando Jordán; they contained important information regarding the actions of the DINA and the responsibility of that security agency for hundreds of forcibly disappeared persons.

Without any investigative steps being taken for four years, on November 20, 1989, Army Lieutenant Colonel Enrique Ibarra Chamorro, Military Prosecutor General, requested the application of the Amnesty Decree Law (D.L. 2.191) for this case because the process had the exclusive purpose of investigating alleged crimes that occurred during the period between September 11, 1973, and March 10, 1978, and because, during the 10 years of proceedings, it had not been possible to "determine the responsibility of any person." On November 30, 1989, the request was accepted by the 2nd Military Court, which dismissed the case totally and definitively—which was still in the summary stage—on the grounds that "the criminal responsibility of the persons allegedly implicated in the reported events is extinguished." The plaintiffs appealed this resolution to the Court Martial, which confirmed the ruling in January 1992. A Complaint Appeal was then filed with the Supreme Court of Justice, which, as of December 1992, had not yet issued its resolution.

(Full details of the complaint against Manuel Contreras can be found in the case of Eduardo Alarcón Jara, July 30, 1974).

Carmen Vivanco Vega, spouse and mother of the victims and sister, sister-in-law, and aunt of Hugo Vivanco, Alicia Herrera, and Nicolás Vivanco Herrera, has for years carried out efforts and activities to denounce the situation in order to establish the fate of her relatives.

She turned to practically all public authorities responsible for citizen security and to several international organizations that watch over the respect for human rights. Despite all this, her relatives remain forcibly disappeared.

Source: Corporation report

During the military regime, five of her relatives disappeared. Paradoxically, Carmen is about to turn 91. One day before the detention of her husband and son, her brother and sister-in-law were captured. Relatives The five disappeared relatives of Carmen Vivanco:

• Her husband: Oscar Ramos Garrido.
• Her son: Oscar Ramos Vivanco.
• Her brother: Hugo Vivanco Vega.
• Her sister-in-law: Alicia de las Mercedes Herrera Benítez.
• Her nephew: Nicolás Vivanco Herrera

Complex are the feelings that converge within Carmen Vivanco regarding the death of Augusto Pinochet. She suffered the Military Regime in an extreme way. Five of her close relatives are forcibly disappeared. Among these are her husband and her son.

Her husband, Oscar Ramos, had served as intendant in the Province of Llanquihue in the last year of the Popular Unity (UP) and was a member of the Communist Party. His body, like that of his son, was never found, and the circumstances of his death are not even known.

Paradoxically, Carmen is about to turn 91, the same age at which the retired general who led the country during the period in which her relatives disappeared died. "It is a shame that he passed away without having taken responsibility for the death of our relatives.

My husband, my son, my sister-in-law, my brother, and my nephew are on the list of the disappeared. They were detained on August 4, 5, and 10, 1976," recounted Carmen Vivanco.

Oscar Orlando Ramos Garrido, Carmen's husband, was 58 years old at the time of their detention.

Oscar and his son were working on radio repairs when they were detained by the regime's security forces. Five DINA agents captured father and son and forced them into a red vehicle. Both were taken to Villa Grimaldi.

One day earlier, Carmen Vivanco's brother had been detained, then her sister-in-law disappeared, and finally a nephew. In total, five members of her family were kidnapped and never found again.

"The coup d'état caught Oscar in Santiago, as he was suffering from an ulcer and the doctor sent him to the national capital. But the detention was three years later," explained Carmen. During the month in which her husband and son disappeared (August 1976), a series of detentions were carried out by the DINA against members of the Communist Party and people related to the printing trade.

In fact, Oscar Ramos Garrido was a linotypist and radio technician.

"After he was detained, I went to a barracks to find out where they were, but they did not arrive at Investigations or the Legal Medical Institute. Later I went to the Vicaría de la Solidaridad and they helped me file the Amparo appeal.

Most likely they killed them, but I cannot mourn because I still haven't seen their bodies. If I saw their remains, I could mourn, but our uncertainty is eternal. That is why Pinochet's death, without having been convicted, is very serious for us," stated Carmen.

Carmen's son, Oscar Arturo Ramos Vivanco, was 24 years old when he was detained along with his father. The last thing known about him is that he told a prisoner that the military agents stole his duffle coat and changed his shoes for older ones.

Source: El Llanquihue, Tuesday, December 12, 2006 Date: 12-12-2006

The Second Chamber confirmed the sentence that condemned Juan Morales Salgado, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Rolf Wenderoth Pozo, and Ricardo Lawrence Mires to 20 years in prison as authors of the eight kidnappings, after ruling out any error of law in the resolution that dismissed the application of the "half-prescription" (mitigating factor based on time elapsed) in this case.

The Supreme Court rejected the cassation appeals filed against the sentence that convicted four agents of the dissolved National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for their responsibility in the crimes of qualified kidnapping of José Vicente Toloza Vásquez, Guillermo Gálvez Rivadeneira, Guillermo Albino Martínez Quijón, Hugo Ernesto Vivanco Vega, Alicia Herrera Benítez, Óscar Orlando Ramos Garrido, Óscar Arturo Ramos Vivanco, and Nicolás Hugo Vivanco Herrera.

These crimes were perpetrated between July and August 1976 in the Metropolitan Region.

In a unanimous ruling (Case No. 32.658-2018), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Haroldo Brito, Juan Manuel Muñoz Pardo, Jorge Zepeda, and lawyers Diego Munita and Carolina Coppo—confirmed the sentence that condemned Juan Hernán Morales Salgado, Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, Rolf Wenderoth Pozo, and Ricardo Lawrence Mires to 20 years in prison as authors of the eight kidnappings, after ruling out any error of law in the resolution that dismissed the application of the "half-prescription" in this case.

"That, without prejudice to what was reasoned previously, the constant jurisprudence of this Criminal Chamber has repeatedly held, in order to dismiss the cause in question, based on the violation of Article 103 of the Penal Code, that: a) On one hand, the classification of the illicit act committed as a crime against humanity obliges us to consider the regulations of International Human Rights Law, which excludes the application of both the statute of limitations and the so-called 'half-prescription' in this class of crimes, understanding such institutions to be closely linked in their foundations and, consequently, contrary to the regulations of jus 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. b) On the other hand, it is emphasized that whatever interpretation may be made of the foundation of the legal provision in discussion, the truth is that the norms to which Article 103 refers grant a mere faculty to the judge and do not impose the obligation to reduce the amount of the penalty even if several mitigating factors concur (Among others, SCS Case No. 35.788, of March 20, 2018, Case No. 39.732-17, of May 14, 2018, and Case No. 2458-18 of July 27, 2019). c) That, according to Article 95 of the Penal Code, the statute of limitations for criminal action is counted from the day the crime was committed, that is, from its consummation, the stage of the iter criminis to which the law assigns the full penalty indicated for the illicit act. Consequently, in the case of permanent crimes, such as the kidnapping in the present case, which our doctrine includes among those, because it is carried out the entire time the deprivation of liberty lasts (Matus-Ramírez, 'Manual de Derecho Penal Chileno. Parte Especial', Tirant lo Blanch, 2017, p. 335), the aggression against the protected legal interest continues as long as the unlawful situation caused by the perpetrator lasts, so these can only be understood as consummated from the moment the criminal activity has ceased and the agent has definitively interrupted their unlawful behavior, so only from this event could the passage of the statute of limitations for criminal action begin to be counted. (SCS No. 2458-18 of July 27, 2019). d) Finally, just as this Court has also held in previous rulings, Article 103 of the Penal Code is not only contemplated in the same title as the statute of limitations, but is developed after it, and as both institutions are based on the passage of time as a justifying element for their application, the impropriety of applying the total statute of limitations must necessarily reach the partial one, since there is no reason to recognize time as having the effect of reducing the sanction, because both situations are based on the same element that is rejected by the international humanitarian penal order, so that neither is appropriate in illicit acts such as the one in the present case. (SCS No. 34057-16 of October 6, 2016)," details the ruling of the highest court.

In the first-instance sentence, the visiting minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Leopoldo Llanos Sagristá, established the following facts: "I. The National Intelligence Directorate (hereinafter, DINA) maintained between the years 1974 and 1977 the clandestine detention center called 'Cuartel Terranova' or 'Villa Grimaldi,' located at Avenida José Arrieta No. 8200 in the commune of Peñalolén, Metropolitan Region, where a group of agents operated who constituted Brigades and Operational Groups (such as the 'Caupolicán' and 'Purén' Brigades, and the 'Halcón,' 'Águila,' and 'Mehuín' groups) who, with the knowledge of the Director of the organization and the President of the Government Junta and holding various degrees of hierarchy in command, ordered some and executed others' captures of people who were militants or sympathizers of political parties or left-wing movements, whom they locked up, illegitimately, in the place, breaking them under physical torture of various kinds, with the object of forcing them to provide information about other people of the political left in order to apprehend them. In January 1975, 'Villa Grimaldi' became the operations center of the Metropolitan Intelligence Brigade, which exercised internal repression in Santiago. Detainees were taken to 'Villa Grimaldi' for their first interrogations and were subjected to different forms of torture; prisoners who had already been interrogated and tortured were also held there for long periods, awaiting the decision on their fate. They were kept uninterruptedly blindfolded, in deficient hygienic conditions, and with scarce food. The most characteristic places where prisoners were kept were the following: 'La Torre,' 'Casas Chile,' and 'Casas Corvi.'

II. Likewise, the DINA maintained, from the end of 1975 and at least throughout the year 1977, the 'Simón Bolívar' Barracks, located at Calle Simón Bolívar No. 8.630, commune of La Reina, a facility in which the brigade called 'Lautaro' operated, whose main function, in addition to repressive tasks of detaining political dissidents, was the protection of the Director of the DINA, Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, and his family.

This brigade was directed by Army Major Juan Morales Salgado, who was also the head of the barracks, and who was under the strict supervision of the Director of the DINA, who was also his direct evaluator.

III. In the year 1975, a restructuring of the Brigades and operational groups that had 'Villa Grimaldi' as their barracks took place, merging the groups in charge of Army Captains Germán Barriga Muñoz and Carabineros Captain Ricardo Lawrence Mires, and integrated by numerous agents belonging to different branches of the Armed Forces and Carabineros, and whose name would have been the 'Delfín' brigade or group.

The purpose of this brigade was the repression of the Communist Party, carrying out tracking and detention tasks of leaders and militants of that Party, which were verified throughout the year 1976. Thus, during that period, the capture of dozens of Communist Party militants proceeded, many of them members of successive Central Committees that were constituted as the previous ones were being dismantled by the aforementioned repressive organization.

The detainees were taken to the 'Terranova' or 'Villa Grimaldi' barracks, where they were interrogated under torture. Some of them were subsequently taken, still deprived of liberty, to the 'Simón Bolívar' barracks—to which the 'Delfín' brigade moved approximately in mid-1976—which became the main operations center of the aforementioned brigade, and from where operational groups went out to practice detentions, in addition to transferring the Communist Party detainees who were in 'Villa Grimaldi.' To fulfill the functions described above, the so-called 'Delfín' brigade had the collaboration of the 'Lautaro' brigade, directed by Juan Morales Salgado. In the 'Simón Bolívar' barracks, the detainees, upon being admitted, handed over their personal belongings to an agent of the Barracks' general staff, who kept them in envelopes, writing on them the name of the detainees to whom the items belonged. In said barracks, the detainees were interrogated under torture, their trail being lost and their current whereabouts unknown; however, there is evidence that several of these people were killed, their bodies being removed and buried clandestinely; and others were thrown into the sea from helicopters; without their remains being recovered yet.

IV. Under these circumstances, the detentions of the following people occurred: a) José Vicente Toloza Vásquez, married, one child, linotypist, communist militant, was detained on July 15, 1976, near 9:00 PM, in the vicinity of the 2 and a half stop of Gran Avenida, perhaps Calle Milán, outside the Vicaría Zona Sur; b) Guillermo Gálvez Rivadeneira, widower, five children, journalist, former union leader, communist militant, detained on July 28, 1976, near 9:00 PM, in the vicinity of the Journalists' Circle on Calle Amunátegui No. 33; c) Guillermo Albino Martínez Quijón, married, linotypist, communist militant, was detained on July 21, 1976, near 5:00 AM, at his home located at Calle Roberto Espinoza No. 975; d) Hugo Ernesto Vivanco Vega, married, one child, employee, communist militant, was detained on August 4, 1976, near 12:30 PM on a public street, in the vicinity of Calle Cóndor and San Francisco in the commune of Santiago; e) Alicia Herrera Benítez, spouse of the previous one, one child, housewife, militant of the Communist Party, detained on August 4, 1976, at 4:00 PM at her home at Calle Cóndor 745, house 6; f) Óscar Orlando Ramos Garrido, married, two children, linotypist, former intendant of Llanquihue, and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, was detained on August 5, 1976, at 1:00 PM at his home located at Calle 7 No. 7801, Villa El Parque of the commune of Las Condes; g) Óscar Arturo Ramos Vivanco, son of the previous one, sympathizer of the Communist Youth, single, 24 years old, detained along with his father, at his home located at Calle 7 No. 7801, Villa El Parque of the commune of Las Condes; h) Nicolás Hugo Vivanco Herrera, married, 3 children, automotive worker, communist militant, detained on August 10, 1976, at 9:00 PM, at his home at Calle Cóndor 745, house 6. The consequences of these detentions are that the aforementioned people are in the status of disappeared, since, deprived of liberty, they have not made contact with their relatives; nor have they carried out administrative procedures before State agencies or private organizations, nor do they register entries or exits from the country, nor is their death recorded."

In the civil aspect, the sentence that condemned the treasury to pay a total compensation of $600,000,000, for moral damages, to the relatives of the victims was confirmed.

Source: pjud.cl 06/16/2021 Date: 06-16-2021

In an emotional act, the ANEF and regional authorities commemorate the legacy of Óscar Ramos and the countless victims of the dictatorship

Fifty years after the military coup, in a solemn act at the Los Lagos Regional Government building, the National Association of Fiscal Employees (ANEF) paid tribute to Óscar Orlando Ramos Garrido, former intendant of Llanquihue—and to this day a forcibly disappeared person—and to all the workers who suffered repression under the dictatorship.

With the presence of authorities, public officials, union representatives, and human rights defenders, a commemorative plaque was inaugurated, remembering the resistance, the commitment, and the challenge of keeping historical memory alive.

Pamela Espinoza, Regional President of the ANEF, expressed that every September 11 leads us to a profound reflection on our past. It leads us to remember and renew commitments for justice, truth, and reparation.

"Words," she said, "are often insufficient to describe the brutality of those times, but they also remind us of the constant effort to resist and restore democracy." "Under the bombardment of La Moneda, our peaceful and pluralistic path toward socialism was lost.

What followed was a state project of terror, replacing our political and social identity with an authoritarian and violent regime. From the first day, the dictatorship tried to erase the figure of President Salvador Allende and everything he represented, seeking to eliminate a crucial period of our collective history."

Pamela Espinoza ended her words by sharing the testimony of Daniel Velázquez, who during the dictatorship suffered the loss of his grandfather, father, and uncle at the hands of Carabineros in Palena.

"Among his words, there was a phrase that impacted me: 'Despite everything, I am happy. I seek that happiness that was snatched from my loved ones and I live it for them.' This message is for you, Daniel, and for all those who still wait for truth, justice, and reparation."

VOICES OF MEMORY

For her part, Marta Elena Muñoz, a former political prisoner and former collaborator of Oscar Ramos, remembered her work alongside him: "At that time, I served on a commission in the Youth Secretariat of the intendancy.

It was there that I met Don Óscar Ramos. More than a simple colleague, he was a reference: affable, simple, humble, but, above all, deeply committed to the cause of the Popular Unity Government and Salvador Allende.

During those years we worked without rest. Despite the difficulties, we moved forward with fervor. For me, it is an honor to have shared those moments and to be here today, remembering Don Óscar." In 1973, I returned to Osorno to continue my studies, and I lost contact with him.

Those times prior to '73 were not easy. The scarcity, the boycott, the shortages... everything made us foresee changes, but we never imagined what would come: a coup d'état and the pain of losing so many, including Óscar and his son, Oscarito.

Nor can I forget Mrs. Carmen, Oscarito's mother. After the disappearance, she dedicated her life to searching for her family, her partner, and especially her son. As a mother, I can imagine her pain."

TRIBUTES AND COMMITMENTS

One of the most symbolic moments was the inauguration of a plaque in homage to Oscar Ramos and all those workers who lived through the repression and the violation of their rights during the dictatorship.

Present at this ceremony were the Presidential Delegate, Giovanna Moreira, and the Regional Governor, Patricio Vallespín, who agreed to highlight the commitment of the State and the Government to the respect for human rights and, especially, to the Search Program for Forcibly Disappeared Persons, as well as to the sites of memory.

BACKGROUND: ÓSCAR RAMOS – A HISTORY OF STRUGGLE AND COMMITMENT

Óscar Ramos, born on October 17, 1916, in Ñuble, was a militant of the Communist Party. Appointed intendant of Llanquihue by President Salvador Allende, he held his position until September 9, 1973, when he traveled to Santiago for health reasons, never returning.

A linotypist and radio technician by trade, like his son, Óscar Arturo Ramos Vivanco, after the Military Coup he continued his militancy in clandestinity, forming part of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.

On August 5, 1976, agents of the DINA, Pinochet's secret police, kidnapped Oscar Ramos along with his son, Oscar Ramos Vivanco. One day earlier, his brother-in-law Hugo Vivanco Vega and his wife, Alicia Herrera Benítez, were also detained.

A few days later, Nicolás Vivanco Herrera, his nephew, would suffer the same fate. All of them would become forcibly disappeared persons. They were taken to the clandestine facility of Villa Grimaldi. Despite the testimonies that confirm their presence there and later at the Simón Bolívar barracks, their trail was lost forever in this extermination center of the dictatorship.

POSTPONED JUSTICE: THE SENTENCE

In 2021, almost five decades after these events, the Supreme Court confirmed a 20-year prison sentence for the four DINA agents involved in these kidnappings, underlining the impossibility of applying statutes of limitations to crimes against humanity.

CARMEN VIVANCO: AN ICON OF RESISTANCE

Carmen Vivanco Vega (1916-2020), wife of Óscar Ramos Garrido, symbolizes the tireless struggle of many women like her for justice and truth in Chile. Her life was marked by social commitment and political persecution, but 1976 represented the beginning of her arduous search to know the fate of her husband, her son, and 3 other relatives detained by the dictatorship.

She contributed to the founding of the Association of Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared Persons (AFDD) and, until the end of her days, Carmen remained firm in her search, maintaining: "Most likely they killed them, but I cannot mourn because I still haven't seen their bodies. Our uncertainty is eternal."

(Source: Memoria Viva).

Source: elajitador.cl 9/12/2023