The Electoral Qualifications Court confirmed the temporary suspension from his duties of Coihueco councilman Manuel Quintana González, who is being prosecuted in the first instance for the forced disappearance of agricultural worker José Cofré, which occurred in September 1973.

The highest court, presided over by the President of the Supreme Court, Mario Garrido Montt, dismissed the appeal filed by the councilman and ratified the resolution of the Regional Electoral Court, which applied the measure for the duration of the judicial process being carried out in the First Civil Court of Chillán.

Following the pronouncement of the highest authority, the municipal secretary of Coihueco was notified of the resolution, and the measure was implemented, which also includes the suspension of suffrage rights.

Quintana, who had been elected mayor of Coihueco in 1992 to serve a second term between 1994 and 1996, was subsequently elected as councilman for the two following terms, in 1996 and 2000. It was then that the judge of the First Civil Court of Chillán, Jorge Quintana, who is investigating the detention and forced disappearance of Coihueco councilman Carlos Montecinos and agricultural worker José Cofré, indicted the former councilman for his alleged participation in the latter's case.

COMPLYING WITH THE LAW Once the Electoral Court's ruling was known, councilman Manuel Quintana clarified that the resolution implies his temporary suspension, meaning he cannot attend Council sessions or receive remuneration in this capacity. "The law is made this way and I have no choice but to comply with the ruling," the councilman indicated.

Asked about the prosecution, Quintana indicated that the judicial investigation is in the summary stage, so he will wait for the appropriate occasion to present his defense, "since until now we have not been able to defend ourselves," he specified.

The councilman stated that his position remains in good hands, in reference to his replacement on the Council, Fernando Ferrada. For his part, the mayor of Coihueco, Fernando May, who reported Quintana's prosecution to the Regional Electoral Court, maintained that the suspension measure is transitory, until the justice system definitively resolves the procedural situation.

The municipal authority reserved his opinion regarding the councilman's participation in the events imputed in 1973, when, just as today, he was the municipal head, because the matter continues through the judicial channel.

Source: La Discusion.cl, April 10, 2003

Former mayor of Coihueco sentenced to five years

Former mayor and councilman of Coihueco, José Manuel Quintana González, was sentenced in the first instance to five years and one day in prison for the forced disappearance of agricultural worker José Lorenzo Cofré Obadilla, which occurred on September 28, 1973.

The ruling was decreed by the judge of the First Civil Court of Chillán, Gonzalo Garay Burnas, who sentenced the former official "in his capacity as perpetrator of the crimes of qualified kidnapping," applying a sentence of five years and one day of presidio mayor in its minimum degree, in addition to perpetual disqualification from holding public offices and positions, as well as disqualification from practicing "licensed professions" for the duration of the sentence.

The judge also sentenced former Carabineros officer Luis Fernando Romo to ten years and one day of presidio mayor in its medium degree for the disappearance of Cofré Obadilla, as well as the communist councilman of Coihueco, Carlos Roberto Montecinos Urra.

In parallel, the ruling orders the two defendants to pay ten million pesos as compensation for moral damages to the daughters of José Cofré, while Luis Romo is also ordered to pay the same amount to the family of Carlos Montecinos.

Satisfaction of plaintiffs. The conviction by the Chillán court caused satisfaction among the plaintiffs, who described the ruling as "historic." "It is the first conviction for human rights violations issued in Chillán and it is the first to accept the thesis of qualified kidnapping," explained Juan Pablo Lagos, the plaintiff's lawyer, representing the Montecinos Inzunza and Cofré Carrasco families.

Defense to appeal. As transpired in judicial circles, as of yesterday, the defense for both convicted men will appeal the resolution before the Chillán Court of Appeals.

Source: La Discusion.cl, June 3, 2005

Supreme Court convicts former Carabineros officer for disappearances in Coihueco

The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court confirmed a new conviction for human rights violations against a retired Carabineros officer for two cases of forcibly disappeared persons in September 1973 in the city of Chillán, in the Eighth Region.

In a unanimous decision, justices Alberto Chaigeneau, Nibaldo Segura, Jaime Rodríguez, Rubén Ballesteros, and Hugo Dolmestch dismissed the cassation appeal filed by the defense of Luis Fernando Romo Morales.

In this way, they ratified the sentence of five years and one day of imprisonment against the former officer, who is held responsible for the kidnapping of farmers Carlos Roberto Montecinos Urra and José Lorenzo Cofré Obadilla, detained on September 27 and 28, respectively, in Coihueco.

In addition, Romo Morales must pay compensation for moral damages of $10 million to three daughters of the second victim of the police repression, which occurred in the rural area of the Bío-Bío Region.

In December 2006, the Chillán Court of Appeals had reduced the initial sentence of the city's Court of Letters, which had sentenced Romo Morales to ten years and one day of imprisonment; it also acquitted former mayor and councilman of Coihueco Luis Manuel Quintana González, who was initially sentenced to five years and one day of imprisonment.

At the time of the events, Montecinos Urra was a councilman for Coihueco representing the Communist Party; while Obadilla was a union leader for the tractor drivers of the "Montaña Bustamante" Settlement.

Both were fathers of eleven and three children, respectively, and presented themselves voluntarily to the Carabineros station in Coihueco after being summoned in the decrees of the time. Judicial records state that Luis Fernando Romo Morales was in charge of the barracks and allegedly participated directly in the execution of the two rural leaders.

Source: El Mostrador.cl, May 27, 2007