The accused were held in preventive detention, a measure they must serve in one of the Carabineros detention centers determined by the police institution. Investigating judge Alejandro Solís Muñoz issued indictments in four cases of forcibly disappeared persons and political executions, whose remains were found illegally buried in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery.

The magistrate prosecuted seven retired members of the Carabineros de Chile for events that occurred in October 1973, which led to the disappearance of a 15-year-old minor and three adults—aged between 18 and 22—in the southeastern area of Santiago (the current commune of Peñalolén).

Judge Solís ordered the prosecution of former members of the police unit Carlos Contreras Guzmán, Bernardo Pérez Arriagada, Juan Paredes Rodríguez, Pedro Herrera Mossuto, and José Tito Alveal for the abduction of the minor Pedro Pérez Godoy and the aggravated kidnapping of José Ramírez Díaz.

According to the evidence currently existing in the case, “Pedro Hugo Pérez Godoy, single, born on September 3, 1958, was 15 years, one month, and 22 days old on October 17, 1973, a primary school student, with no political affiliation, whose residence was located at Manzana 10, Site 20, Villa Los Guindos in the commune of Ñuñoa; and José Adrián Ramírez Díaz, single, 20 years old, assistant to a street market vendor, with no political affiliation, illiterate, member of a family of eleven siblings, residing at Manzana 17, Pasaje 152, house 6882, Villa Pedro Lagos in the commune of Peñalolén, were walking along a street near their homes on October 17, 1973, together with a friend, José Romilio Sepúlveda Merino. At the moment they reached the intersection of Los Orientales and Ictinos streets, in the commune of Ñuñoa, now Peñalolén, at approximately 3:00 PM, they were detained without cause or any administrative or judicial order by Bernardo Pérez Arriagada and Carlos Contreras Guzmán, officers belonging to the 13th Carabineros Precinct of Ñuñoa, who were traveling in a gray vehicle and were dressed in civilian clothes. They were taken to the premises of said precinct but could not be admitted because the cells were full, for which reason they were transferred to the Retén Quilín, a unit dependent on the 13th Precinct. However, there is no record of the victims' entry into said police unit, but there is a record of the departure of Pedro Hugo Pérez Godoy, who was removed from the precinct along with José Ramírez at 1:00 AM, during the curfew, by Carabinero Bernardo Pérez Arriagada, to a red pickup truck parked outside the police facility where Carabineros Juan Paredes Rodríguez and the aforementioned Contreras Torres were waiting. The latter had received the order to accompany Pérez Arriagada in this procedure from Suboficial Mayor José Tito Alveal, who in turn was under the command of Herrera Mossuto. The young men were forced into the back of the pickup truck. The truck, where José Ramírez Díaz and Pedro Hugo Pérez Godoy remained deprived of their liberty, was driven from the precinct to the facilities of the Viña Cousiño Macul, where it stopped and the detainees were made to get out and forced to walk to the banks of the San Carlos canal. It was at this site that, from a few meters away, they were shot with firearms, as a result of which the multiple wounds received caused their deaths; immediately, their bodies were thrown into the canal's current, a maneuver that, according to witness Sepúlveda, had been suggested from the very moment of the detention—which had no reason to be carried out—by Corporal Contreras: 'Let's kill them and throw them into the canal!' Nevertheless, the victims' remains were found illegally buried in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery and, due to the lack of accurate scientific methods at the time, could not be correctly identified in the proceedings held at the 22nd Criminal Court; indeed, although some of the recovered bones were attributed to the young Pérez Godoy, it was finally confirmed through DNA genetic testing that they belonged to another person, and as for Ramírez Díaz, the identification of his remains is still pending. Consequently, the death of neither of the detainees has been legally and reliably confirmed; we only know that those deprived of their liberty have not made contact with their relatives, nor carried out administrative procedures before State agencies, with no record of entries or exits from the country,” the ruling states. Meanwhile, for the aggravated homicides of Hernán Peña Catalán and Luis Vergara González, Judge Alejandro Solís prosecuted former police officers Juan Veloso Ortiz, Francisco Contreras Torres, and Pedro Herrera Mossuto. Regarding this case, the magistrate has managed to determine that: “On October 15, 1973, Luis Armando Vergara González, married, father of one child, 22 years old, a laborer, with no political affiliation, whose residence was located at Villa Lautaro, Manzana E, Site 18, Población Lo Hermida in the commune of Ñuñoa, was apprehended without legal cause in its vicinity at approximately 9:15 PM by Carabineros officers belonging to the 13th Precinct of Los Guindos in Ñuñoa, Francisco Contreras Torres and Manuel Veloso Ortiz, who were traveling in a red pickup truck that had been illicitly requisitioned from Miriam Contreras Bell, personal secretary to former President Salvador Allende. Immediately, the captors, together with the detainee, headed to the home of Hernán Manuel Peña Catalán, married, father of two children, 20 years old, who worked as a driver, with no political affiliation. Although his residence was located at Villa El Duraznal, Manzana 7, Site 5, Población Lo Hermida in the commune of Ñuñoa, he could not be found by the police at that location. However, after a search deployed in the vicinity of his home, Peña Catalán was detained and, together with Vergara González, was taken to the premises of the aforementioned Precinct.” Both victims were definitively identified by DNA testing performed at the Legal Medical Service after 2003. The accused were held in preventive detention, a measure they must serve in one of the Carabineros detention centers determined by the police institution. Furthermore, Judge Solís determined that: “Given the significance of the statements provided by Francisco Fernando Contreras Torres (on October 31, 2003, from pp. 658 to 660 of Volume II, Case File 15.607); Luis Arturo Mora Vera (pp. 880 to 881, dated April 21, 2004, Case File 15.607); Bernardo Segundo Pérez Arriagada (pp. 202 to 203 vta., dated September 9, 2003, and pp. 878 to 880, dated November 23, 2010, both Case File 9.731); Juan Gregorio Paredes Rodríguez (pp. 294, dated May 17, 2004, and 236, dated January 5, 2004, both from Case File 9.731); Carlos Alfredo Contreras Guzmán (pp. 883 to 885, dated November 24, 2010, pp. 567, dated March 7, 1980, and pp. 557, dated December 10, 1979, all from Case File 9.731); Pedro Alejandro Lorenzo Mossuto (pp. 709, dated November 13, 2003, and pp. 881, dated November 23, 2010, both from Case File 9.731); Juan Manuel Veloso Ortiz (p. 1059, dated August 18, 2006, of Case File 15.607); and the confrontation proceedings on pp. 283, 284 (without prejudice to 'exhorting them to tell the truth' in a new statement), pp. 269, 304, 305, 306, 329, 727 of Case File 9.731 and 839 of Case File 15.607, authorized photocopies of these shall be made and kept in a Separate File, in custody.” Likewise, it is ordered that, “Without prejudice to what has been resolved, the investigation shall continue regarding the repressive situation that affected Sergio Alberto Gajardo Hidalgo during the same period in which the crimes subject to this resolution were committed.”

Source: elmostrador.cl, December 7, 2012

Supreme Court confirms ruling convicting retired Carabineros for abduction of a minor, kidnapping, and homicide

The events occurred in Peñalolén in 1973. The repressors were traveling in a pickup truck that had been illicitly requisitioned from Miriam Contreras Bell, personal secretary to former President Salvador Allende.

The Supreme Court rejected the appeals for annulment filed against the sentence that convicted four retired Carabineros officers from the then-13th Precinct of Los Guindos for their responsibility in the crimes of abduction of a minor, aggravated kidnapping, and homicide, crimes perpetrated in October 1973 in the current commune of Peñalolén.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 20.937-2018), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of judges Carlos Künsemüller, Haroldo Brito, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, and ad hoc lawyer María Cristina Gajardo—confirmed the challenged sentence issued by the Santiago Court of Appeals, which sentenced Juan Gregorio Paredes Rodríguez to 10 years and one day in prison as the perpetrator of the aggravated homicide of José Adrián Ramírez Díaz, plus 3 years and one day in prison for the abduction of the minor Pedro Hugo Pérez Godoy.

Meanwhile, Francisco Fernando Contreras Torres must serve a single sentence of 10 years and one day in prison as the perpetrator of the aggravated kidnapping of Héctor Manuel Peña Catalán and Luis Armando Vergara González; Pedro Alejandro Lorenzo Herrera Mossuto must serve a single sentence of 7 years as the perpetrator of the aggravated kidnapping of Héctor Manuel Peña Catalán and Luis Armando Vergara González; and Bernardo Segundo Pérez Arriagada was sentenced to 7 years in prison as the perpetrator of the aggravated homicide of José Adrián Ramírez Díaz.

In the investigation of the case, conducted by investigating judge Leopoldo Llanos, the following facts were established: “Pedro Hugo Pérez Godoy, single, 15 years old, primary school student, with no political affiliation, whose residence was located at Manzana 10, Site 20, Villa Los Guindos in the commune of Ñuñoa; and José Adrián Ramírez Díaz, single, 20 years old, assistant to a street market vendor, with no political affiliation, illiterate, member of a family of eleven siblings, residing at Manzana 17, Pasaje 152, house 6882, Villa Pedro Lagos in the commune of Peñalolén, were walking along a street near their homes on October 17, 1973, together with a friend, José Romilio Sepúlveda Merino. At the moment they reached the intersection of Los Orientales and Ictinos streets, in the commune of Ñuñoa, now Peñalolén, at approximately 3:00 PM, they were detained without cause or any administrative or judicial order by officers belonging to the 13th Carabineros Precinct of Ñuñoa (…) The young men were forced into the back of the pickup truck. The truck, where José Ramírez Díaz and Pedro Hugo Pérez Godoy remained deprived of their liberty, was driven from the precinct to the facilities of the Viña Cousiño Macul, where it stopped and the detainees were made to get out and forced to walk to the banks of the San Carlos canal. It was at this site that, from a few meters away, they were shot with firearms.” In the case of Vergara and Peña, it was established that “on October 15, 1973, Luis Armando Vergara González, married, father of one child, 22 years old, a laborer, with no political affiliation, whose residence was located at Villa Lautaro, Manzana E, Site 18, Población Lo Hermida in the commune of Ñuñoa, was apprehended without legal cause in its vicinity at approximately 9:15 PM by two Carabineros officers belonging to the 13th Precinct of Los Guindos in Ñuñoa, who were traveling in a red pickup truck that had been illicitly requisitioned from Miriam Contreras Bell, personal secretary to the former President of the Republic, Salvador Allende. Immediately, the captors, together with the detainee, headed to the home of Hernán Manuel Peña Catalán, married, father of two children, 20 years old, who worked as a driver, with no political affiliation. Although his residence was located at Villa El Duraznal, Manzana 7, Site 5, Población Lo Hermida in the commune of Ñuñoa, he could not be found by the police at that location. However, after a search deployed in the vicinity of his home, Peña Catalán was detained and, together with Vergara González, was taken to the premises of the aforementioned Precinct.”

Source: elciudadano.cl, November 25, 2021

The pickup soccer game that ended with four forcibly disappeared persons and one homicide in 1973

A few weeks after the coup, a group of Carabineros took revenge for a fight during a soccer match in the Población La Faena. On International Human Rights Day, we tell this story, which is part of the podcast Ñuñoa tiene memoria, which narrates stories of places where dictatorship crimes occurred in the commune.

In September 1973, two soccer teams from the Población La Faena faced each other on the San Carlos field. The pickup game was between neighbors of the neighborhood: on one side was the Unión Victoria team, made up of residents from the west of Ictinos Street; on the other, the Club Deportivo Cordillera, made up of those who lived to the east.

The ball rolling across the dirt field kept the eight players on each side distracted from the enormous crisis the country was experiencing at the time. None of them knew yet that the country's cruel destiny would cross paths with the outcome of that match.

On International Human Rights Day, at El Desconcierto we remember this story, which is part of the Ñuñoa tiene Memoria podcast by Ñuñoa tu Radio in co-production with the Corporación Estadio Nacional, Memoria Nacional, which tells the stories of places in the commune where human rights violations occurred during the dictatorship, but in many cases are not recognized today.

What happens on the field does not stay on the field There were only a few days left until the coup d'état led by Augusto Pinochet. However, in this sector of the capital, which at that time belonged to Ñuñoa, the concern was how Unión Victoria could overcome the goal difference with Deportivo Cordillera.

The enthusiastic soccer players were young. The youngest was 15 years old, the oldest 22. A kick or simply a taunt—time has made these details fuzzy—strained the atmosphere, and insults led to punches.

Héctor Vásquez Sepúlveda, a resident of La Faena who moved from Unión Victoria to Cordillera, got into a fight with Francisco Contreras Torres, who belonged to his former team and was a Carabinero at the 13th Precinct “Los Guindos” (current 18th Precinct of Ñuñoa).

The intensity of the fight increased. Juan Manuel Veloso Ortiz, also a Carabinero from the 13th Precinct, a coworker and teammate of Francisco Contreras, joined the brawl to support him. On the opposing side, Hernán Peña Catalán, Luis Vergara González, José Ramírez Díaz, and Pedro Pérez Godoy got involved.

The San Carlos field was the scene of a pitched battle, although nothing different from what happens in hundreds of matches that occur every weekend in the neighborhoods of Santiago. “What happens on the field stays on the field,” some commented after the fight, but that was not the case. “The match was between them, two teams, a normal pickup game.

My dad's team was winning and, I don't know, they got annoyed and started throwing punches. My dad hit him, because he was good with his fists. Then the coup d'état happened, and the cop took it upon himself to go look for him.

I think that was an abuse of power,” recalls José Barahona Ulloa, Héctor Vásquez's son. Abuse of power Laborer Luis Vergara González was heading to his home in Villa Lautaro a few minutes after 9:00 PM, the time set by the Military Junta for the curfew that day, October 15, 1973.

A little over a month had passed since the bombing of La Moneda and with it the seizure of power by the Armed Forces. Luis was a few blocks from his house when a red pickup truck approached him, which until a few weeks earlier had belonged to Miria Contreras Bell, personal secretary to the late President Salvador Allende.

But the 22-year-old worker did not know that and only saw a vehicle from which Francisco Contreras, the police officer he had fought with on the San Carlos field, got out. Together with another Carabinero, they subdued him to take him into custody.

The vehicle quickly set off: he would not be the only one. A couple of streets away, in Villa El Duraznal, was the house of Hernán Peña, a 20-year-old driver who had also participated in the pickup game.

In his home, they only found his two children and other relatives, so the police decided to do a “sweep” of the neighborhood until they found him. They took him away too. The destination was the “Los Guindos” Precinct. “They were detained in a civilian car, which curiously had been taken, confiscated, from the secretary of President Allende.

It belonged to ‘la Payita’,” relates Alejandro Ancalao, doctor of history and head of the Heritage Department of the Municipality of Ñuñoa, an agency that is investigating the victims of the dictatorship in the commune. “Is ‘Beto’ there?” Ancalao narrates that two days later the police repeated the routine with “Pedro Pérez Godoy, who was a 15-year-old boy, and José Adrián Ramírez Díaz, who was a 20-year-old young man, a seventh-grade student who worked as a street market assistant.

They were detained on Ictinos Street.” These two young men were taken to the same place as their teammates from Deportivo Cordillera; however, it was already overwhelmed by the number of detainees, so they were transferred to the Retén Quilín, dependent on the 13th Carabineros Precinct.

At 1:00 AM, they were taken out of the police facility and transported in “la Payita’s” red pickup truck to the facilities of the Viña Cousiño Macul. The vehicle stopped before a panoramic view of Santiago under curfew.

Carabineros, under the instructions of Lieutenant Pedro Herrera Mossuto, made the amateur soccer players from the La Faena neighborhood get out and forced them to walk to the banks of the San Carlos canal.

In that place, the officers drew their firearms and shot them. The wounds caused the death of José Ramírez, while the whereabouts of Pedro Pérez remain unknown to this day. “Is ‘Beto’ there?” was heard only hours later on October 18, 1973, in front of Héctor Vásquez's house.

The young man from Deportivo Cordillera was taking a shower, and his siblings received the two Carabineros dressed in civilian clothes who were asking for him, Francisco Contreras and Juan Manuel Veloso.

The officers were known to the family because they lived in the neighborhood. It seemed like a simple visit from neighbors. When Héctor came out of the shower, they asked him to accompany them because he had to give a statement at the precinct regarding the fight at the soccer match.

The police took him away on a public bus, where they coincidentally ran into the young man's mother, who became worried when she saw the scene. The Carabineros told her not to worry, that they only needed to take his testimony and he would be back home soon.

Since that day, Beto has been a forcibly disappeared person, just like Luis Vergara and Hernán Peña, about whom no further information was obtained since their kidnapping. Héctor Vásquez's girlfriend at the time, Mercedes Ulloa Almonacid, who was expecting a child with him at the time of his kidnapping, recalls: “I found out because his sister told me he had been lost, that some people had taken him, but they didn't know if they were Carabineros because they weren't dressed as Carabineros; that he had been lost and then two, three, or four days passed (…) His sister started looking for him later. A week passed and he didn't appear. They had told us that his mother had seen him.” 13th Carabineros Precinct during the dictatorship Historian Alejandro Ancalao explains that the case of the young men from the La Faena neighborhood brings to light that the crimes of the dictatorship were against the entire population and not just directed at a political sector. “The objective was not only people with political participation, but the entire society. To instill terror, fear, in the entire society, and that was done indiscriminately,” he argues. The head of the Heritage Department of the Municipality of Ñuñoa adds that many of these abuses were carried out thanks to “the henchmen, those who accuse or denounce neighbors due to problems between them, and we end up with cases of forcibly disappeared persons who had absolutely no political relationship, but were simply due to the arbitrariness of public officials.” “Between 1973 and 1990, all the precincts in the country were places of detention. All of them. There is not one that did not have detainees, that did not have forcibly disappeared persons within them, or where there was no torture within some. All are recognized, and some were destroyed in the final days of the dictatorship to be able to erase some cases,” the expert concludes based on official reports. In 2017, the Supreme Court sentenced former Carabineros Francisco Contreras Torres and Pedro Herrera Mossuto to seven years in prison for the disappearance of Héctor Vásquez. Furthermore, in 2021, the highest court determined 10 years and one day in prison for officer Juan Paredes Rodríguez for the aggravated homicide of José Ramírez Díaz and the abduction of the minor Pedro Pérez Godoy; another 10 years and one day for Francisco Contreras Torres for the aggravated kidnappings of Hernán Peña and Luis Vergara, the same crime for which it sentenced Pedro Herrera Mossuto to 7 years in prison. Likewise, Bernardo Segundo Pérez Arriagada was sentenced to 7 years in prison for the murder of José Ramírez Díaz. Héctor Vásquez's son, José Barahona, maintains that “it was little that they gave the cop” and says, almost 50 years after the event: “I have little hope that he is alive; what I have hope for is that his bones might appear.” Despite the sentences, those close to the victims and neighbors of the precinct know very little information about the case. For example, Mercedes Ulloa states that she knew the other victims besides Héctor Vásquez, her boyfriend at the time. “But I didn't know that the same thing had happened to them, that they had taken them, that they had killed them,” she says. Ñuñoa tiene memoria is a work by Edgar Pfennings de la Vega on the script and research, Felipe Zenteno on the music, and Rodrigo Montanter and Fernando Pereira on the sound. Other sites in the commune that are remembered in this podcast are the current 18th Precinct “Los Guindos,” the old Campus Oriente of the University of Chile, and the Investigations Barracks at Obispo Orrego No. 241, in addition to the partially recognized Estadio Nacional and José Domingo Cañas.

Source: eldesconcierto.cl, December 11, 2022