The judge with exclusive dedication to investigating human rights cases, Jaime Salas, decided to prosecute five retired Carabineros as perpetrators of the aggravated kidnapping of César Avila Lara, former provincial director of Education of Osorno, and the former governor of La Unión, Santiago Aguilar, who were forcibly disappeared in the days following the 1973 coup d'état.

Those prosecuted are Colonel (ret.) and chief of the Third Police Station of Rahue, Adrián Fernández; Second Sergeant (ret.) Rolando Bécar Solís; First Sergeant Rafael Pérez Torres, Sergeant Major (ret.) Francisco Inostroza, and First Sergeant (ret.) Gustavo Muñoz.

Santiago Aguilar was governor of the La Unión department until September 11, 1973. A member of the Communist Party, he was detained on the 17th of that month by Carabineros personnel belonging to the Third Police Station of Osorno.

Witnesses stated that he was transferred to the Valdivia Prison. His trail was lost on October 6 of that year. Professor César Avila Lara, acting provincial director of basic education of Osorno and a socialist militant, was detained in front of the Penitentiary of that city on September 27, 1973, by a Carabineros patrol from the aforementioned unit, according to the website memoriaviva.com.

According to witness testimonies, Avila had been transferred to the Third Police Station of Rahue, from where he disappeared. His sister-in-law, Luisa Ponce, also stated that a detective with the surname Lamilla summoned her to the Investigations building in July 1978, where he told her that César "was executed by firing squad, but that the Carabinero had been discharged." Judge Salas also ordered that the retired non-commissioned officers must serve preventive detention at the Gil de Castro police training group in Valdivia, while the officer (ret.) must remain at the First Carabineros Police Station of the city, reported Radio Bío Bío.

Source: La Nacion, April 11, 2003

Temuco Court sentences 19 former Carabineros for human rights violations

The heaviest sentences were received by former Carabineros officer Adrián Fernández Hernández, to 15 years in prison, without benefits, and former officers Rolando Becker Solís and Rafael Pérez Torres, to 12 years in prison, also without benefits.

In a split decision, the Temuco Court of Appeals sentenced 19 former Carabineros in the investigation into various crimes of aggravated kidnapping and torture committed in various sectors of the Osorno province after the 1973 coup d'état.

The document sentences former Carabineros officer Adrián Fernández Hernández to 15 years in prison, without benefits, and former officers Rolando Becker Solís and Rafael Pérez Torres to 12 years in prison, without benefits.

Sentences of 10 years and under without benefits were received by Gustavo Muñoz Albornoz, German García, Raúl Enrique Zapata, Camilo Astete, and Carlos Obando Rodríguez, while Nelson Rodríguez, Antonio Barros, Héctor Matus, Francisco Ovando, and Guido Almonacid were granted the benefit of supervised release, reported Radio Universidad de Chile.

Source: eldinamo.cl, February 4, 2013

Supreme Court issues ruling against Carabineros personnel for crimes against humanity

The resolution of the highest court ratified the convictions against those responsible for this series of illicit acts, which affected 31 victims. The Supreme Court issued a final sentence in the investigation into various crimes of aggravated kidnapping and torture, perpetrated between September and October 1973, in the sectors of Rahue, San Juan de la Costa, Puyehue, Río Negro, Puerto Octay, Río Bueno, Pilmaiquén, and others in the Osorno province.

In a split decision, the ministers of the Second Chamber, Milton Juica, Hugo Dolmtesch, Carlos Künsemüller, Haroldo Brito, and Lamberto Cisternas, ratified the ruling of the Temuco Court of Appeals which—on January 29, 2013—issued a sentence for the series of crimes committed by Carabineros personnel from a police outpost located on the outskirts of the provincial capital.

The resolution of the highest court ratified the convictions against those responsible for this series of illicit acts, which affected 31 victims:

• Adrián Fernández Hernández: 15 years in prison. Without benefits.
• Rolando Becker Soliz: 12 years in prison. Without benefits;
• Rafael Pérez Torres: 12 years in prison. Without benefits;
• Gustavo Muñoz Albornoz: 10 years and one day in prison. Without benefits;
• Germán García: 8 years in prison. Without benefits;
• Raúl Enrique Zapata: 8 years in prison. Without benefits;
• Camilo Astete Cáceres: 7 years in prison. Without benefits;
• Carlos Obando Rodríguez: 5 years in prison. Granted the benefit of supervised release;
• Nelson Rodríguez Guerrero: 4 years in prison. Granted the benefit of supervised release;
• Antonio Baros Muñoz: 4 years in prison. Granted the benefit of supervised release;
• Héctor Matus Martínez: 3 years and one day in prison. Granted the benefit of supervised release;
• Francisco Ovando Cárcamo: 3 years and one day in prison. Granted the benefit of supervised release;
• Guido Almonacid Almonacid: 3 years and one day in prison. Granted the benefit of supervised release;
• Mario Cabello Yáñez: 700 days in prison. Granted the benefit of conditional remission;
• René Bórquez Angulo: 700 days in prison. Granted the benefit of conditional remission;
• Orozimbo Sepúlveda Ignao: 700 days in prison. Granted the benefit of conditional remission;
• Renato Lezana Lezana: 600 days in prison. Granted the benefit of conditional remission;
• Amado Beck Hernández Rivas: 600 days in prison. Granted the benefit of conditional remission;
• Sergio Conejeros Ortega: 600 days in prison. Granted the benefit of conditional remission;
• Renato Padilla Etter: acquitted;
• Jorge Barrientos Camadro: acquitted;
• Armando Ángulo Fuchslocher: acquitted;
• Pablo Mansilla Bórquez: acquitted;
• Dagoberto Gajardo Cerón: acquitted; and
• Nelson Soto Rubilar: acquitted.

According to the Supreme Court ruling, this series of crimes are crimes against humanity, therefore imprescriptible and not subject to amnesty: "Crimes against humanity are defined as those injustices that not only contravene the legal interests commonly guaranteed by criminal laws, but at the same time imply a denial of the moral personality of man, such that for the configuration of this illicit act there is an intimate connection between common crimes and an added value that stems from the disregard and contempt for the dignity of the person, because the main characteristic of this figure is the cruel way in which various criminal acts are perpetrated, which clearly and manifestly contradict the most basic concept of humanity; also highlighting the presence of cruelty toward a special class of individuals, thus combining an eminent intentional element, as a specific interior tendency of the agent's will. In short, they constitute an outrage to human dignity and represent a grave and manifest violation of the rights and freedoms proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, reaffirmed and developed in other relevant international instruments," the ruling maintains. The resolution adds: "Among the characteristics that distinguish this type of transgression are imprescriptibility, the impossibility of granting amnesty, and the impossibility of establishing exclusions of responsibility that attempt to prevent the investigation and punishment of those responsible for such grave violations of essential rights such as torture, summary, extra-legal, or arbitrary executions, and forced disappearances, all of which are prohibited by international human rights law. Thus, taking into account the nature of the facts investigated in this case and as they were presented in the ruling under review, as well as the context in which they must undoubtedly be inscribed and the participation that members of the State have had in them, there is no doubt that they must be subsumed in light of international humanitarian law within the category of crimes against humanity and that they must be eradicated, as they deserve such reprobation from the universal conscience for attacking fundamental human values that no convention, pact, or positive norm can repeal, weaken, or disguise." The ruling was adopted with the dissenting votes of ministers Juica and Brito, who were in favor of not applying the principle of half-prescription in the case of one of the convicted persons.

Source: radio.uchile.cl, March 21, 2014

Minister Álvaro Mesa issues indictment against retired Carabineros for the aggravated kidnapping of a young worker in Osorno

The minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights violation cases in the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, presented an indictment against three retired Carabineros for their responsibility in the crime of aggravated kidnapping of construction worker Marcelo del Carmen Gutiérrez Gómez.

The illicit act was perpetrated starting on October 5, 1973, in the Bahía Mansa sector of Osorno. In the resolution (case file 14-2013), Minister Mesa Latorre identifies the Carabineros captain at the time of the events, Adrián José Fernández Hernández, and personnel Jorge Daniel Garcés Garcés and Rodolfo Segundo Cheuquelaf Lorenzo, as perpetrators of the aggravated kidnapping of the 17-year-old youth and member of the Revolutionary Student Front (FER).

During the investigation stage of the case, the visiting minister managed to gather sufficient evidence to establish the following facts: "A.- That the Armed Forces and Public Order and Security Forces on September 11, 1973, assumed the Supreme command of the Nation, gathering the Constituent, Legislative, and Executive powers in the Government Junta as established in Communiqué No. 5 of the same date, as well as in Decree Law No. 1, subsequently clarified and complemented by Decree Laws Nos. 128, 527, and 788, a State of Siege was ordered throughout the national territory, ordering level one quartering for the Armed Forces and Order and Security. B.- That starting on September 11, 1973, the command of the 3rd Carabineros Police Station of Osorno was in charge of Captain Adrián Fernández Hernández, a unit to which the Bahía Mansa Outpost was added, among others, in consideration of the events occurring in the country. He organized and coordinated a special group of Carabineros that included Mario Maragaño Oyarzún (deceased, as recorded on page 1042, Vol. III), Guillermo Antilef Quintul, Sergio Rozas Silva (deceased, as recorded on page 1040, Vol. III), Gustavo del Carmen Muñoz Albornoz (deceased, as recorded on page 1041, Vol. III), Rafael Pérez Torres, Juan Canales, José Ríos Vergara (deceased, as recorded on page 1039, Vol. III), Eliseo Águila Salgado (deceased, as recorded on page 1036, Vol. III), Juan Segundo Moreira Garcés, Vladimiro Fernández Rojas, Óscar Vargas Vargas, Rolando Vargas Vargas (deceased, as recorded on page 1037, Vol. III), and Francisco Inostroza Baeza (deceased, as recorded on page 1046, Vol. IV), among others, according to the statement of Rubén Molina González (pp. 246-248, Vol. I; pp. 288-289, Vol. I), of José Oberto Santana Oyarzún (pp. 162-164, Vol. I; pp. 251-253, Vol. I; pp. 292-293, Vol. I), of Ademar Catalán Aguilar (pp. 169-171, Vol. I; pp. 319-323, Vol. I), of Leopoldo Arcos Rodríguez (pp. 181-183, Vol. I), of Luis Humberto Pinol Carillanca (pp. 173-176, Vol. I; pp. 254-255, Vol. I; pp. 267-268, Vol. I; pp. 324-329, Vol. I; pp. 335-336, Vol. I; pp. 347-348, Vol. I; pp. 829-831, Vol. III; pp. 837-838, Vol. III; pp. 975-976, Vol. III). This group carried out patrols in the area under the aforementioned police unit, while proceeding to detain people who were subsequently taken to the Police Station to be interrogated in the facilities of that unit; or who were removed by this special group of Carabineros to be taken to places unknown to this date. C.- That the facility used preferably for interrogations was the basement of the Third Carabineros Police Station of Osorno, according to testimonies, among others, of María Gladys Ávila Rosas (pp. 657-658, Vol. III), of Antonio Ewaldo Molina López (pp. 659-662, Vol. III), of María Eufemia Millaquipai Guichaquelen (pp. 260-264, Vol. I; pp. 297-299, Vol. I), a place where men and women were detained indiscriminately, with the torture consisting of the application of electric current to various parts of the body, rapes or attempted rapes of detained women, introduction of sticks into the anus of men, among other described tortures, with Captain Adrián Fernández Hernández, who was in charge of the Third Carabineros Police Station of Osorno, appearing as the one giving the orders, seconded by his trusted group. D.- That after September 11, 1973, the Carabineros of Chile established a frequent control post at the Pucatrihue Junction, on the route connecting Osorno with Bahía Mansa, according to testimonies, among others, of Federrina del Rosario Barrientos Cancino (pp. 567-569, Vol. II), of Héctor Vargas Soto (pp. 367-369, Vol. II; pp. 482-488, Vol. II), of María Judith Aucapán Ancapán (pp. 535-537, Vol. II). At this location, vehicles traveling through were controlled, including the buses that made the daily route connecting these two destinations, which belonged to the Carrasco or Tuchie Company. Carabineros, both from the Bahía Mansa Outpost and the Third Carabineros Police Station of Osorno, proceeded to identify and search the passengers, occasionally taking one or some of them off, sometimes detaining them, to subsequently indicate to the drivers of the machines to continue their way. E.- That on October 5, 1973, Marcelo del Carmen Gutiérrez Gómez, 17 years of age, a construction worker and member of the Revolutionary Student Front (FER), left his home in the city of Osorno bound for Bahía Mansa to bring food to his stepbrother Edgar Eugenio Cárdenas Gómez, a socialist militant who was highly sought after in the area after September 11, 1973. Eyewitnesses told the family that he was forced to get off the minibus in which he was traveling by Carabineros who detained him and took him to an unknown destination. To this date, the fate of the affected person remains unknown. The victim's stepbrother, Edgar Cárdenas Gómez, was executed by Carabineros on October 5, 1973, along with Jorge Aguilar Cubillos, an official of the Agrarian Reform Corporation (CORA) and a radical militant, and María Ester Bustamante Llancamil, a socialist militant. The three had gone to take refuge in a fisherman's hut when Carabineros from the 3rd Rahue Police Station of Osorno and the Bahía Mansa Outpost broke into the place, killing them immediately, according to the statement, among others, of Ana del Carmen López Barría (pp. 188-192, Vol. I; pp. 302-308, Vol. I; pp. 356-361, Vol. I; p. 466, Vol. II). The official version of the authorities at the time was that the three extremists were killed when a group carried out a terrorist action against the Bahía Mansa Outpost; the same version added that there had been a confrontation and that the victims were involved in a subversive plan against the Armed Forces and that a large quantity of weaponry and explosives had been found in their possession, according to the statement, among others, of Ramón Plaza de los Reyes Bachmann (pp. 312-316, Vol. I). F.- That days prior to his detention, that is, on October 5, 1973, Marcelo del Carmen Gutiérrez Gómez traveled to his stepfather's house in the Bahía Mansa area to bring food to his brother Edgar Cárdenas Gómez, according to the account of Inés Elena Bertín Yáñez (p. 32, Vol. I), who was taking refuge there along with Ester Bustamante Llancamil and Jorge Aguilar Cubillos, who were being intensely sought by the new authorities of the country, as per letter E) above. Likewise, on October 4, 1973, Gutiérrez Gómez traveled back to Osorno to buy food and medicine at the pharmacy where the wife of Jorge Aguilar Cubillos worked, returning on October 5 to Bahía Mansa, as has been indicated. The press reported on October 6, 1973, that the brother of Gutiérrez and the other two people had been executed by firing squad when they tried to assault an outpost, which, according to testimonies of Carabineros who served at the Bahía Mansa Outpost at the time, was false, since the assault on the Bahía Mansa Outpost never happened; rather, those detained by Carabineros from the same outpost were handed over to a Carabineros patrol from Osorno commanded by Captain Adrián Fernández Hernández, according to the account of Luis Humberto Pinol Carillanca (pp. 173-176, Vol. I; pp. 254-255, Vol. I; pp. 267-268, Vol. I; pp. 324-329, Vol. I; pp. 335-336, Vol. I; pp. 347-348, Vol. I; pp. 829-831, Vol. III; pp. 837-838, Vol. III; pp. 975-976, Vol. III) and of Héctor Vargas Soto (pp. 367-369, Vol. II; pp. 482-488, Vol. II; pp. 653-654, Vol. II). G.- That according to the account of Rodolfo Segundo Cheuquelaf Lorenzo (pp. 760-762, Vol. III; pp. 772-773, Vol. III; pp. 1017-1018, Vol. III), there was a day when a young man was detained on suspicion at the Bahía Mansa Outpost, who was then released. He points out that the day before his detention, his colleagues had seen him in the surroundings and had apprehended him; that when the assault on the Bahía Mansa Outpost occurred, Captain Adrián Fernández Hernández arrived at the detachment along with Carabineros Rafael Pérez Torres, Muñoz Albornoz, and the deceased Juan Canales. They proceeded with the operation and at one point Fernández called Osvaldo Nelson Rosas Cárdenas (deceased, as recorded on page 1045, Vol. III). Immediately thereafter, Rosas Cárdenas called Cheuquelaf along with another of his companions and told them that by orders of Captain Fernández they had to go and detain a person who was traveling in one of the buses going from Osorno to Bahía Mansa, which could be from the Tuchie or Carrasco company, a person who would be between 18 and 20 years old and who was carrying provisions. They headed to the Pucatrihue junction in a green double-cab pickup truck that had been provided by the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG), which was used at the time by Jorge Aguilar Cubillos in his capacity as an official of the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG), according to the testimony of Ana del Carmen López Barría (pp. 188-192, Vol. I; pp. 302-308, Vol. I; pp. 356-361, Vol. I; p. 466, Vol. II). They made the bus stop, controlled it, and encountered the same young man who had been released two or three days earlier. He was indeed carrying a bag with provisions, an action he was carrying out at the same time as Marcelo del Carmen Gutiérrez Gómez, while bringing food to his brother Edgar Cárdenas Gómez, who was hiding in Bahía Mansa, as narrated in letter E) above. This young man was told to get off the bus, and the driver was ordered to continue his way. Osvaldo Nelson Rosas Cárdenas identified the person, confirming the name that Captain Fernández had given him, which he had written down. Rosas Cárdenas hit him with the butt of his rifle in the stomach, ordered him to get into the pickup, and they headed to the outpost, where the young man was handed over to Captain Fernández. Subsequently, the detainees were loaded into the vehicles in which the Carabineros under Captain Fernández were traveling, that is, those who were accused as attackers of the Bahía Mansa Outpost along with the young man who was detained on the bus as indicated above. Subsequently, the newspaper La Prensa of the time reported that three detainees accused of the assault on the outpost had died, according to the testimonies indicated above; Report of the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (p. 2, Vol. I); individual case information (pp. 28-30, Vol. I); Report of the Museum of Memory and Human Rights (pp. 68-76, Vol. I). H.- That according to Héctor Vargas Soto, according to his statements (pp. 367-369, Vol. II; pp. 482-488, Vol. II; pp. 653-654, Vol. II), he claims to have been a witness when Carabineros, among them Sergeant Rosas Cárdenas (deceased, as recorded on page 1045, Vol. III), made a young man get off an Osorno-Bahía Mansa bus, specifically at the Pucatrihue junction, to then hit him with rifle butts until his skull was destroyed. The Carabineros, numbering six or seven, arrived at that place in a vehicle belonging to the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG). I.- That on the other hand, Mrs. Ana del Carmen López Barría, according to her account (pp. 188-192, Vol. I; pp. 302-308, Vol. I; pp. 356-361, Vol. I; p. 466, Vol. II), states that she was the partner of Jorge Aguilar Cubillos, one of the supposed extremists who assaulted the Bahía Mansa Outpost on October 5, 1973. That once the coup d'état occurred, he fled to a rural sector along with Edgar Cárdenas Gómez and María Ester Bustamante, since his name had appeared in the communiqués issued by the new authorities. That she never heard from Jorge Aguilar Cubillos again until October 6, 1973, when she learned that he was deceased in the morgue of the Osorno hospital. She went to the hospital together with Jorge Aguilar Cubillos's mother, Mrs. Ema Cubillos, and his sister-in-law named Onorinda Aguilar Cubillos, a place where a nurse allowed them to see the body of Jorge Aguilar Cubillos, in addition to the body of María Ester Bustamante and Edgar Cárdenas Gómez, all with ballistic impacts, with Jorge Aguilar Cubillos having 36 bullet impacts, one of them between the eyebrows with an exit wound, and the body of María Ester Bustamante with a large hole in her back, learning that the latter was pregnant. J.- That continuing her account, Mrs. Ana del Carmen López Barría states that while at the Osorno hospital morgue, three Carabineros officials from the Third Police Station of Osorno appeared with the order to take them before Captain Adrián Fernández Hernández. Upon arriving at the police station, she remained detained for 22 days, a period of time during which she was subjected to different types of interrogations, which included, among other tortures, the application of electric current to her breasts. She also states that on the first occasion they interrogated her, they made her listen to a cassette with the recording of a young man who identified himself as Marcelo Gutiérrez Gómez, realizing that it was the brother of Edgar Cárdenas Gómez, who, according to what Fernández told her, had been detained by Carabineros of the Third Police Station under his command on October 5, 1973, whom they had subjected to an intense interrogation and torture to obtain the whereabouts of Edgar, Jorge, and María Ester, and she could hear Marcelo Gutiérrez Gómez screaming and begging them not to continue subjecting him to torture; he was crying and indicating that he did not know where his brother was. She adds that during the time they made her listen to the recording, that is, for about three minutes, Marcelo Gutiérrez Gómez never indicated the place where his brother was in the company of Jorge Aguilar Cubillos and María Ester Bustamante Llancamil. Immediately thereafter, Captain Adrián Fernández Hernández told her that if she did not cooperate, the same thing would happen to her. K.- That in the same sense, Mrs. María Eufemia Millaquipai Guichaquelen declares (pp. 260-264, Vol. I; pp. 297-299, Vol. I), stating that she was detained together with Mrs. Ana del Carmen López Barría at the Third Carabineros Police Station of Rahue in Osorno, a place where she was also subjected to torture, which included the application of current, for long minutes, to her breasts, vagina, arms, elbows, temples, neck, legs, knees, and ankles; her torturers were men, recognizing among them, by his voice, Captain Adrián Fernández Hernández. All the torture sessions were in the basement of the police station and with her eyes blindfolded. She also states that when she was able to talk to Mrs. Ana del Carmen López Barría, the latter told her, crying, that her husband Jorge Aguilar Cubillos had been killed and was already buried, and that she had been detained for having sent food to her husband with a young man, who was also detained, and that she did not know what had happened to him. L.- That according to the statement of María Angélica Vergara Herrera (pp. 352-355, Vol. I; pp. 444-445, Vol. II), she states that she was the wife of Edgar Eugenio Cárdenas Gómez and that she learned of the death of Marcelo Gutiérrez Gómez from the mouth of his wife, Mrs. Inés Bertín Yáñez (deceased, as recorded on page 1047, Vol. IV), who indicated to her that Marcelo Gutiérrez Gómez was detained by Carabineros of the Third Police Station of Osorno, who were in uniform and had taken Marcelo Gutiérrez Gómez off the bus that made the Osorno-Bahía Mansa route. M.- That in accordance with what was done in letters E) to L) above, it is inferred that the person in question is Marcelo del Carmen Gutiérrez Gómez, 17 years of age at the date of his detention, who traveled to Bahía Mansa, a coastal sector of Osorno, with the purpose of bringing food to his stepbrother Edgar Cárdenas Gómez, who was hiding in that place along with two other people; that on October 5, 1973, Marcelo del Carmen Gutiérrez Gómez was detained by a Carabineros patrol at the Pucatrihue junction that connects Osorno with Bahía Mansa, who were carrying out an order from Captain Adrián Fernández Hernández, commissioner of the Third Carabineros Police Station of Osorno, with jurisdiction over the Bahía Mansa Carabineros Outpost, a patrol that was composed, among others, by the Carabinero Cheuquelaf Lorenzo. That prior to his detention on October 5, 1973, Marcelo del Carmen Gutiérrez Gómez had been detained on suspicion at the outpost of the indicated locality and had been released, as indicated by Luis Humberto Pinol Carillanca, who was the chief of the Bahía Mansa Outpost at the date the events occurred; that according to the merit of the described evidence, to this date, the whereabouts of Marcelo del Carmen Gutiérrez Gómez remain unknown since the date he was detained by Carabineros belonging to the Third Carabineros Police Station of Osorno."

Source: biobiochile.cl, December 30, 2021