Retired Carabineros Colonel Sergio Arévalo Cid and retired Army Sergeant Major José Francisco Puga Pascua have been prosecuted and placed in preventive detention as perpetrators of the torture inflicted upon the former Intendant of Concepción, Fernando Álvarez Castillo.

According to the evidence gathered in the investigation conducted by the Minister of the Concepción Court of Appeals, Carlos Aldana, based on witness statements, documentary evidence, and expert reports, the participation of State agents in the events that led to the death of the regional authority was established.

It was determined that in the early hours of September 11, 1973, Carabineros personnel, under the command of Major Mario Omero Cáceres Riquelme, arrested the Intendant of Concepción at his home, transferring him to the Talcahuano Naval Base, from where he was sent to Isla Quiriquina.

He remained detained there until November 5, 1973, the date on which, by order of the then-Intendant, Lieutenant General Washington Carrasco Fernández, he was transferred along with other individuals to the Fourth Police Station of Concepción.

There, he was placed at the disposal of the Carabineros Intelligence Service (SICAR), commanded by Captain Sergio Arévalo Cid, to be interrogated regarding the alleged existence of hidden weapons in the Province of Concepción. "Officials from SICAR and the Military Intelligence Service of the III Army Division based in Concepción (E-2) participated in said interrogations, during which illegitimate coercion was applied, consisting of electric shocks and punches, resulting in superficial abrasions accompanied by bruising in the left hip region, until the morning of November 8, when Álvarez Castillo appeared dead in his cell," the investigation details. The autopsy performed at the Legal Medical Institute of Concepción by doctors Francisco Behm and Guillermo Beddings determined that the cause of death of the former Intendant was acute anemia due to a left hemothorax. "From the scene reconstruction proceedings on pages 528 and 561, there are well-founded presumptions to consider that they bear the responsibility of perpetrators in the aforementioned crime, as they interrogated the detainee under illegitimate coercion while he was held captive in the former Fourth Police Station of Carabineros of Concepción," the resolution by Minister Aldana explains. After being apprehended by personnel from the Investigative Brigade of Crimes against Human Rights and the Homicide Brigade of the Concepción Investigative Police and being notified of the indictment against them, Arévalo Cid was sent to the Sixth Police Station of Carabineros, while Puga Pascua was sent to the facilities of the Reinforced Regiment No. 7 Chacabuco to serve their preventive detention.

Source: terra.cl, June 25, 2013

Supervised release for former Carabineros who tortured the former Intendant of Concepción to death in 1973

The Supreme Court confirmed the sentence that condemned former Carabineros Sergio Arévalo Cid and José Francisco Puga Pascua to 4 years of imprisonment, with the benefit of supervised release, for their responsibility in the illegitimate coercion that ended the life of the former Intendant of Concepción during the Unidad Popular, Fernando Álvarez Castillo (40 years old, a member of the Communist Party).

As reported by Resumen, the investigation by the Minister for Human Rights cases of Bío Bío and Ñuble, Carlos Aldana, determined that Álvarez Castillo died in his cell due to acute anemia caused by the torture involving electricity and beatings applied by the uniformed personnel.

However, despite the evidence gathered in the case and the horrific crime committed, the two former Carabineros were granted the benefit of supervised release, meaning they will not spend a single day in prison.

In this regard, according to Minister Aldana's investigation, it was determined that in the early hours of September 11, 1973, a group of Carabineros under the command of Major Mario Cáceres Riquelme proceeded to arrest the Intendant at his home, transferring him to the facilities of the Talcahuano Naval Base, and subsequently sending him to Isla Quiriquina, where he remained detained until November 5, 1973.

On that date, by order of the new Intendant appointed by the Dictatorship, Lieutenant General Washington Carrasco, Álvarez was transferred along with other people to the then-Fourth Police Station of Carabineros of Concepción, where he was placed at the disposal of the Carabineros Intelligence Service, commanded by Captain Sergio Arévalo Cid, in order to be interrogated about the alleged existence of hidden weapons in the province of Concepción.

Officials from the Carabineros Intelligence Service of Chile (SICAR) and the Military Intelligence Service of the III Army Division based in Concepción (E2) participated in said interrogations, brutalizing Álvarez Castillo by applying electric shocks and punches, resulting in the victim suffering superficial abrasions accompanied by bruising in the left hip region.

Due to these injuries, on the morning of November 8, Intendant Fernando Álvarez appeared dead in his cell, due to acute anemia caused by a left hemothorax, originating from the violent and illegal actions of the uniformed personnel.

Source: elciudadano.cl, June 7, 2018

Minister Yolanda Méndez prosecutes retired Carabineros colonel for kidnapping and torture of a steelworker

In the resolution (case file 12-2018), Minister Méndez Mardones prosecuted Sergio Arévalo Cid as the perpetrator of crimes against humanity against the worker, who was detained at the General Headquarters of the III Army Division, the public jail of Concepción, and Isla Quiriquina.

The Minister on extraordinary visit for human rights violation cases of the Concepción Court of Appeals, Yolanda Méndez Mardones, issued an indictment against the retired Carabineros colonel for his responsibility in the crimes of kidnapping with serious injury and the application of torture against Armando Eugenio Aburto Hermosilla, a worker at the Compañía de Acero del Pacífico SA, Huachipato plant.

These illicit acts were perpetrated starting on July 13, 1974. In the resolution (case file 12-2018), Minister Méndez Mardones prosecuted Sergio Arévalo Cid as the perpetrator of crimes against humanity against the worker, who was detained at the General Headquarters of the III Army Division, the public jail of Concepción, and Isla Quiriquina.

During the investigation phase of the case, the visiting minister gathered sufficient evidence to consider the following facts proven: "a) That around 03:15 in the morning on July 13, 1974, while Mr. Armando Eugenio Aburto Hermosilla—then 39 years of age—was in his home located at Bulnes No. 276 in the city of Concepción, together with his family, including his spouse, Mrs.

Gabriela Betancour Benavente, who was six months pregnant, and two of his three daughters, a group of CIRE (Regional Intelligence Center) agents commanded by José Francisco Puga Pascua, now deceased, who belonged to the Army, entered his home violently and armed with submachine guns, ordering him to hand over all documents of the Communist Party.

When the victim indicated that he did not possess such documents, they informed him that he was under arrest. b) That, at that time, the structure of CIRE was directed by the Chief of the Third Army Division and the Chief of the Second Naval Zone, and was also composed of various officials from military and law enforcement institutions, including members of SICAR (Carabineros Intelligence Service), whose Chief of Operations was Captain Sergio Arévalo Cid.

According to the evidence gathered in this investigation, he was the one who assigned the tasks to be carried out related to political investigations, and if such investigations resulted in the arrest of individuals, these were carried out by CIRE officials who received express instructions from Captain Arévalo Cid. c) That, under the noted circumstances, without any competent judicial or administrative order, the agents removed Mr.

Armando Eugenio Aburto Hermosilla from his home, immediately placed two hoods over his head, and put him into a vehicle parked on the street, transferring him to the Third Army Division, located at the corner of Castellón and O’Higgins streets in this city. d) That, once there, they left him in a gymnasium located inside that Army facility, where there were around 70 people sitting on the floor, and when the soldiers guarding them passed by, they would kick them and treat them with insults. e) That, to interrogate him, they took him to an office, where they stripped him and used an instrument—a type of crochet hook—to apply electricity to the most sensitive parts of his body, his ears, his nipples, and also his genital area, through an electrical conductor. These torture sessions occurred every two hours for five days; in the room, there was a radio turned on at full volume so that his screams could not be heard and, furthermore, to make him lose his sense of time. Likewise, they made him place his hands on the table, and when he began to doze off, one of the agents would come from behind and strike him forcefully with both hands on his ears, a torture method known as the 'telephone'. f) That, as stated in the authorized copy of case File No. 1116-74, initiated in the Third Military Court of Concepción, which was reviewed, Mr. Armando Aburto Hermosilla was arrested on July 13, 1974, along with nine other people, as recorded in C.G.III.D.E.E.2 (2) No. 2426/26, dated July 15, 1974, which reports on a clandestine organization of the Communist Party. After his investigative statement was taken and he had entered the public jail of this city, on July 19, 1974, the processing of said case was suspended, and the accused were released and placed at the disposal of the DINA. g) That according to evidence in this case, submitted by the Archive of the Archbishopric of Concepción, Mr. Armando Aburto Hermosilla was arrested by order of the Military Authority and by virtue of the State of Siege existing at the time, on July 13, 1974, remaining detained until April 8, 1975, in the following places: General Headquarters of the III Army Division, where he was kept blindfolded and subjected to torture and illegitimate coercion; later he was in the public jail of Concepción; subsequently, he was taken to the Isla Quiriquina Prisoner Camp in Talcahuano; and, finally, he was returned to the public jail of Concepción, from where he was released unconditionally on April 8, 1975, without charges." For the court: "(...) the facts referred to in the preceding consideration constitute the crimes of kidnapping with serious injury and the application of torture, provided for and sanctioned in articles 141, paragraph 3, and 150 No. 1 of the Penal Code, in its text in force at the time of the investigated events, in the consummated degree, committed against the person of Mr. Armando Eugenio Aburto Hermosilla, starting from July 13, 1974." Likewise, it states: "That the illicit acts described above are, furthermore, crimes against humanity, since the punishable acts were perpetrated in a context of serious, massive, and systematic human rights violations against detained persons, verified by State agents who had at their disposal all the material and economic means to carry out a state policy of exclusion, harassment, persecution, and/or extermination of citizens who, immediately after and following September 11, 1973, were identified as belonging to or sympathizing with the political regime deposed by the military government that assumed control of the country from the indicated date." As the accused is currently detained at the Punta Peuco Penitentiary Compliance Center, Minister Méndez Mardones ordered that Gendarmerie officers must notify him of the indictment issued against him, "(...) who must report to the Court on the fulfillment of this mandate, that is, the notification of the indictment, with an indication of whether the accused appeals this resolution at the time of notification or if he reserves the right to appeal."

Source: resumen.cl, November 4, 2022