Repressors from U. Santa María indicted in Woodward case

In a massive resolution, Judge Eliana Quezada of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals indicted four officers and nine non-commissioned officers (ret.) of the Navy as co-perpetrators of the kidnapping—in September 1973—of the priest Miguel Woodward.

With this, the minister brought the number of those indicted in this investigation to 19, precisely as the 35th anniversary of the disappearance of the clergyman, who was a member of the MAPU, is reached.

For the first time, the magistrate accounted for Navy Captain (ret.) Víctor Valverde Steinlein, who, as the then-director of the Navy's School of Operations, was the head of the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María (UTFSM), which the Navy used until the end of October 1973 as a detention center following the military coup.

She also indicted Navy Captain (ret.) Luis Holley de la Maza and Frigate Captains (ret.) José Yáñez Riveros and Marcos Silva Bravo. These men commanded the teams formed by the Navy and coordinated by Valverde to carry out repression in the Los Placeres, Esperanza, and Barón hills, using the facilities of the UTFSM as a place of confinement for those arrested in that area.

Miguel Woodward was arrested at his home in Placeres on September 21 and taken to that university, where he received his first beatings and torture. "A patrol from the UTFSM Operations Barracks arrested Woodward, where he was interrogated, beaten, and subjected to various forms of torture by Navy personnel who were part of the School of Operations Company stationed there, only to be handed over the following day to the Naval War Academy (AGN)," the ruling by Judge Quezada maintains.

Ten of the thirteen indicted are already under arrest at the Marine Infantry barracks in Las Salinas in Viña del Mar, after being located by Investigations personnel. Frigate Captain (ret.) José Yáñez Riveros is returning to Chile in November because he is aboard a commercial vessel.

Regarding the other Frigate Captain (ret.) Marcos Silva Bravo, he is on vacation in the south, where he is being sought by police officers. Non-commissioned officer Alfredo Mondaca Salamanca lives in Iquique and has already been located.

It is expected that both will report today to serve their arrest at the same barracks. Miguel Woodward continued to be tortured at the AGN and was left dying, for which he was taken to the training ship Esmeralda, where a field hospital existed.

There, he was checked by the naval officer and physician Kenneth Gleiser, who recommended taking him to the Naval Hospital, then located on the Playa Ancha hill. The exact place where Woodward died has not been determined.

The current defendants participated in the detention, beating, and torture of the priest, as well as his subsequent transfer to the AGN and the Esmeralda. The head of the AGN and the torturers of the clergyman at this academy—three vice admirals, two navy captains, and one lieutenant, all retired—were already indicted last April.

List of Indicted

1.- Víctor Valverde Steilein (Navy Captain ret.) 2.- Luis Holley de la Maza (Navy Captain ret.) 3.- José Yáñez Riveros (Frigate Captain ret.) 4.- Marcos Silva Bravo (Frigate Captain ret.) 5.- José García Reyes (Non-commissioned officer ret.) 6.- Alfredo Mondaca Salamanca (Non-commissioned officer ret.) 7.- Luis Pinda Figueroa (Non-commissioned officer ret.) 8.- Carlos Miño Muñoz (Non-commissioned officer ret.) 9.- José Rojas Araya (Non-commissioned officer ret.) 10.- Pedro Vidal Miranda (Non-commissioned officer ret.) 11.- Héctor Palomino López (Non-commissioned officer ret.) 12.- Guillermo Inostroza Opazo (Non-commissioned officer ret.) 13.- Claudio Cerezo Valencia (Non-commissioned officer ret.)

Source: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 La Nación

Judge accuses ten Navy officials of responsibility in Woodward Case

Judge Julio Miranda Lillo held ten Navy officers and non-commissioned officers responsible for the disappearance of the Chilean-British priest Miguel Woodward, whose physical trail was lost a few days after his arrest in September 1973.

Miguel Woodward Iriberry was a Chilean-British priest who, after the military coup, took refuge in various friends' houses, fearing for his life due to an arrest by Army officers. On September 18, 1973, he returned to his home in Cerro Placeres, where he was intercepted by Navy officers who took him through various interrogation points until his physical trail was lost.

This Wednesday, Judge Julio Miranda Lillo presented an accusation against ten sailors for their alleged responsibility in the disappearance of Woodward. These are Navy officers and non-commissioned officers who are identified in the charges presented within the framework of the Woodward Case.

The indicted sailors are Luis Francisco Pinda Figueroa, Carlos Alberto Miño Muñoz, Guillermo Carlos Inostroza Opazo, José Manuel García Reyes, Marcos Cristián Silva Bravo, Nelson Roberto López Cofre, Jorge Leiva Cordero, Manuel Atilio Leiva Valdivieso, Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto, and Héctor Fernando Palomino López.

Judge Miranda argued that “the facts described above constitute the crime of kidnapping followed by serious harm (possibly resulting in death) to the person of Michael Roy Woodward Iribery, as contemplated by Article 141 of the Penal Code, in force at the time of the events, meeting all the requirements that constitute it, as he was deprived of his freedom of movement without legal basis, kept under detention or confinement in Navy facilities, which has continued from the month of September 1973 onwards, without his whereabouts being known or his remains having been found.” Miguel Woodward was taken to the Universidad Santa María and then transferred to the training ship Esmeralda, an emblematic site of the Chilean armed forces used as a detention and torture center during the dictatorship. Given the deterioration experienced by Woodward after the interrogations, he was transferred to the Naval Hospital, with no physical record of him existing after that. Although a naval doctor issued a death certificate for the priest, it was never possible to find the location of his body. The latest investigations were carried out in the common grave of the Valparaíso cemetery, without positive results. The accusation will be notified to the plaintiffs and then to the defense of the accused, to then begin the plenary stage, prior to the issuance of a first-instance conviction.

Source: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 Radio Universidad de Chile