4.- THAT EACH of the convicted individuals, Manuel Segundo Aguirre Cortés, Juan Carlos González Reyes, Sergio Orlando López Maldonado, Emilio Gerardo Pardo Pardo, Hugo Luciano Carrasco Pérez, Wilson Rubén Pacheco Obreque, and Pedro León Gutiérrez Ruiz, is SENTENCED as authors of the repeated crimes of illegal exhumation of the bodies of the victims executed by firing squad in Calama on October 19, 1973, to a penalty of THREE YEARS of minor imprisonment in its medium degree and a fine of 6 living wages; to the accessory penalties of suspension from public office or position during the term of the sentence, and to the payment of court costs.

Source: Judiciary, May 19, 2015

The Criminal Chamber issued final sentences against retired members of the Army for their responsibility in the crimes of kidnapping and qualified homicide of 26 victims who were illegally executed, and the subsequent illegal exhumation of their bodies.

These illicit acts were perpetrated in October 1973 and early 1976, respectively, within the framework of the extermination operation known as the “Caravan of Death. Calama Episode.”

In the first sentence (case file 104.259-2020), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Haroldo Brito, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, minister María Teresa Letelier, and acting lawyer Diego Munita—confirmed the single sentence of simple life imprisonment imposed on former officers Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo and Juan Viterbo Chiminelli Fullerton for their responsibility, as authors, of 21 qualified homicides and five qualified kidnappings of victims who were ultimately executed by firing squad in the Cerro Topater sector, in the commune of Calama.

Meanwhile, Carlos George Max Langer von Furstenberg, Hernán Rómulo Núñez Manríquez, and Víctor Ramón Santander Véliz must serve 15 years and one day in prison as authors of the consummated and repeated crime of qualified homicide.

In the case of Emilio Robert de la Mahotiere González and Luis Felipe Polanco Gallardo, they were sentenced to 12 years in prison as authors of the repeated crime of qualified homicide.

Finally, the sentence that revoked the acquittal of Óscar Figueroa Martínez was confirmed, and in its place, he was imposed a penalty of 16 years in prison as the author of the repeated crime of qualified homicide.

In the first-instance sentence, issued by visiting minister Hernán Crisosto, the following facts were established:

“ That on October 19, 1973, Army officials, including an Army General acting as Delegate Officer of the Commander-in-Chief of the Government Junta, who arrived from Santiago that same day in a ‘Puma’ helicopter, arrived at the No. 15 Infantry Regiment of Calama, where they proceeded, together with personnel from said Regiment, to remove and extract, without any right or decree, 26 people who were being held by the military authority from the Calama Public Jail, and transported them to a desert sector called ‘Topater,’ where the same officials who arrived in the helicopter, together with personnel from the Regiment, executed them using firearms.

That only the skeletal remains of the victims Mario Argüelles Toro, Carlos Alfredo Escobedo Cariz, Luis Alberto Hernández Neira, Hernán Elizardo Moreno Villarroel, Fernando Roberto Ramírez Sánchez, Alejandro Rodríguez Rodríguez, José Gregorio Saavedra González, Jorge Jerónimo Carpanchay Choque, Luis Alberto Gaona Ochoa, José Rolando Hoyos Salazar, Roberto Segundo Rojas Alcayaga, Carlos Berger Guralnik, Bernardino Cayo Cayo, Daniel Jacinto Garrido Muñoz, Domingo Mamani López, Jorge Rubén Yueng Rojas, Manuel Segundo Hidalgo Rivas, Luis Moreno Villarroel, Rosario Aguid Muñoz Castillo, Sergio Moisés Ramírez Espinoza, and Víctor Alfredo Ortega Cuevas were found and identified, while Haroldo Cabrera Abarzúa, David Ernesto Miranda Luna, Rafael Pineda Ibacache, Carlos Alfonso Piñero Lucero, and Milton Alfredo Muñoz Muñoz disappeared, and their whereabouts remain unknown to this date. ”.

In the civil aspect, the appealed sentence was confirmed, with the declaration that the state is ordered to pay Germán Berger Hertz, son of Carlos Berger Guralnik, the sum of $100,000,000 as compensation for moral damages.

Quebrada del Buitre

In the second ruling (case file 24.061-2019), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Haroldo Brito, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, minister María Teresa Letelier, and acting lawyer Diego Munita—confirmed the appealed sentence, with the declaration that the defendants Carlos Humberto Minoletti Arriagada, Julio Fernando Salazar Lantery, and Luis Mario Aracena Romo are sentenced to 3 years and one day of imprisonment, with the benefit of intensive supervised release for the same period, as authors of the repeated crimes of illegal exhumation of the bodies of the victims executed by firing squad in Calama on October 19, 1973.

Meanwhile, Manuel Segundo Aguirre Cortés, Juan Carlos González Reyes, Sergio Orlando López Maldonado, Emilio Gerardo Pardo Pardo, Hugo Luciano Carrasco Pérez, Wilson Rubén Pacheco Obreque, and Pedro León Gutiérrez Ruiz received 720 days of imprisonment, with the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence, as co-authors of the repeated crime of illegal exhumation.

These illicit acts were perpetrated in the city of Calama in the first days of 1976, in the sector known as Quebrada del Buitre.

Finally, Héctor José Iturra Orrego was sentenced to 230 days of imprisonment, with the benefit of conditional remission, as an accomplice to the exhumations.

In the first-instance resolution, minister Leopoldo Llanos established the following:

“ That by the merit of these records, it is legally proven in these proceedings that on October 19, 1973, twenty-six male individuals were removed from the Calama jail by Army personnel and executed in the vicinity of Cerro Topater, in the sector of the same name, located on the side of the road, to then be buried, that same day and during the night, in a grave opened for that purpose, in a place about 16 kilometers from the site of the executions, about 200 meters to the left side of the road that connects Calama with San Pedro de Atacama (a sector called ‘Quebrada del Buitre’), a grave that was then covered with earth to prevent its location, with the operation directed by an Army Officer belonging to the Engineering Section of the No. 15 Regiment of Calama.

Subsequently, at the end of 1975 or the beginning of 1976, the aforementioned personnel were instructed to exhume the aforementioned bodies, with some remains left at the same site, a procedure directed by the same Officer who was in charge of the original burial of the victims and which was carried out without complying with the corresponding regulatory and legal provisions, with the grave being covered with earth again.

The remains of the executed victims referred to were placed in bags, loaded into a military vehicle, and transported to another sector (called ‘Moctezuma’), about 1,000 meters to the east of the initial burial site, where they were buried again in a grave already prepared for that purpose, which was also covered with earth and stones.

All of this occurred while a military exercise was being carried out that allowed for the closure of the aforementioned road to carry out the task.

Fifteen days later, the same personnel from the Calama Regiment returned to exhume the remains corresponding to the aforementioned bodies, which had been placed in the new grave, likewise without complying with the relevant regulations and health standards, to proceed to deposit them in sacks that were placed in a military truck, with the sacks or bags being transported in the early hours of the morning to the El Loa Airport, where they were loaded onto a Chilean Air Force plane, which headed toward the sea to dispose of the remains.

The recounted events occurred in the context of an exceptional state that the country was experiencing starting on September 11, 1973, without respecting the fundamental rights of the victims, who were first deprived of their lives through execution, and then buried, with all information regarding the place where the remains had been deposited being hidden; these were subsequently exhumed, without respecting, as previously stated, the legal, health, and regulatory standards regarding exhumations, to then make them disappear, with the notorious and precise purpose of leaving the authors of the event that occurred in the city of Calama on October 19, 1973, in impunity. ”.

Source: pjud.cl, September 24, 2022