Repressive Status: Union leader. No known political affiliation. Date of Detention: September 29, 1973

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Raúl Antonio Muñoz, married, an employee at the "Montero" hardware store, a union leader with no known political affiliation, was detained on September 29, 1973, at approximately 19:15 hours by heavily armed military personnel belonging to the Buin Regiment, who arrested him at his home in the presence of family members and numerous neighbors.

According to his daughter, Liliana Muñoz Vergara, in a complaint for the kidnapping of her father filed with the First Military Prosecutor's Office, five soldiers armed with submachine guns arrived at the family home. The man acting as the leader told her father that they were taking him to the Regiment to make a statement and that he would be able to return home afterward.

At the time of his detention, his wife, Teresa Vergara Orostegui, his daughters Liliana and Silvia, and his sons Enrique and Raúl were at the house. One of his daughters stated that her father left the house calmly because he believed he would return.

He was placed in a military jeep parked outside the house, which took him to the Buin Regiment. Almost the entire neighborhood witnessed the detention. The witness added: "My father, who had a noticeable physical disability, was the object of constant mockery and teasing by the Léppez Flores family who lived across from our house.

On the day of his detention, it was 16:00 hours and my father was returning home when the teasing and laughter began. When my father confronted them verbally, all the members of the family threw themselves upon him, assaulting him mercilessly until he was left lying on the ground.

The woman of the house, Hortensia, shouted at him: 'I’m going to report you, you old communist.' Two hours later, the military jeep arrived, and around 21:00 hours that same day, a Carabineros bus arrived at the Léppez Flores family home.

One of the uniformed officers was Luis Pedro Muñoz Escobar, the son-in-law of the Léppez family and a member of the Carabineros Special Services. That same bus proceeded to take my father from the Buin Regiment to the Fourth Special Services Precinct located on Calle San Isidro. From there, he disappeared."

Raúl Antonio Muñoz remained at the Buin Regiment for about two hours. From there, he was taken by Carabineros of the Special Services on that same day, September 29, 1973, to the Fourth Precinct on Calle San Isidro.

At that police unit, his daughter Liliana was shown a report, Official Letter 206, which stated that "Raúl Antonio Muñoz had indeed been detained there for assaulting the wife of a Carabinero and was transferred to the Estadio Nacional at 22:15 hours that same day." Raúl Muñoz never appeared on the lists of detainees at the Estadio Nacional.

At the Ministry of Defense, where she was making inquiries to locate her father, Liliana Muñoz met the Aviation Chaplain, Father Ortega. Father Ortega was informed through the Carabineros Liaison Office with the Ministry of Defense that "the detainee had indeed fallen off [the vehicle] on the way to the Estadio Nacional."

In a statement made before the Third Criminal Court of Santiago, which heard the complaint regarding the kidnapping of Muñoz, Corporal Pedro Muñoz Escobar stated: "Indeed, on September 29, 1973, while I was on duty with the special forces, I was notified that my wife, Leopolda Francisca Léppez Flores, had been assaulted by a neighbor, Raúl Muñoz.

For this reason, I went to my father-in-law's house where my wife was, injured. I took her to the emergency room of the José J. Aguirre Hospital, where she was diagnosed with minor injuries.

"This happened because Muñoz is a communist."

"By order of the command and in the company of Lieutenant Mancilla (Juan Mancilla Díaz), we transported Raúl Muñoz and handed him over to the military at the Estadio Nacional. I do not know what may have happened to the detainee, as we handed him over and left immediately.

Detainees were handed over with an Official Letter that had to be signed by the person receiving them. On that occasion, we handed over four or five people. Muñoz was among them." This version would be corroborated by the judicial statement of Carabinero Pedro Hormazábal Fuente, who declared judicially that he "was part of the group of Carabineros that took Muñoz to the Estadio Nacional, at night and during the curfew." However, in the course of the judicial investigations, the existence of an Official Letter from the Special Forces Prefecture was confirmed, which sent Muñoz to the Tacna Regiment. The detainee appears as having been received at that military facility.

Raúl Antonio Muñoz has remained forcibly disappeared since September 29, 1973, the date he was detained at his home by soldiers from the Buin Infantry Regiment No. 1 in the presence of his wife and children.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On July 27, 1978, Ms. Liliana Muñoz Vergara, the daughter of the victim, filed a complaint for the kidnapping of her father with the 3rd Criminal Court of Santiago. It was processed under case file 127.840.

The presiding judge of this court, Carmen Canales Lavín, ordered a broad investigation, which was carried out by the 3rd Judicial Precinct. The detectives limited themselves to exhaustively interrogating the relatives of the kidnapped man.

After questioning some neighbors and taking a brief telephone statement from Carabinero Luis Pedro Muñoz Escobar, who repeated his version of the transfer of the detainee to the Estadio Nacional, they considered their work finished.

The judge summoned Muñoz Escobar to the court, where he ratified his statements that Mr. Muñoz was detained by personnel from the Buin Regiment and then sent to the Carabineros Special Forces Prefecture, where he found him and transported him to the Estadio Nacional.

The complainant requested a confrontation with Muñoz Escobar. The judge did not grant this request. She then summoned Lieutenant Díaz, who had been promoted to Captain, to testify; he stated that he did not remember having transported Muñoz.

The magistrate proceeded to re-interrogate the neighbors and relatives of the victim and the relatives of Carabinero Muñoz Escobar.

On page 26 is the statement of Luis Pedro Muñoz Escobar, who claims to have transported Muñoz to the Estadio Nacional in a Carabineros bus along with four or five other detainees. The officer denied that the prisoner Muñoz—a term he attributed to him—had suffered physical duress at the Special Services Prefecture and added that a prisoner had never "fallen off" during their transfers.

Minister Servando Jordán was incorporated into the processing of this complaint, having been appointed by the Court to investigate the disappearance of 71 people. Since Mr. Raúl Antonio Muñoz was among them, the Minister decreed various proceedings within the same case being processed by the Third Criminal Court.

The Minister requested a copy of report No. 206, which accounts for the transfer of Raúl Muñoz to the Estadio Nacional on September 29, 1973. Carabineros Colonel Luis Zúñiga Ovalle responded that report No. 206 had been incinerated.

The Minister summoned Muñoz Escobar again and asked for complete reports on the Corporal surnamed Riquelme who had allegedly participated in the detention of Mr. Muñoz. The Commander of the Buin Regiment, René González Cordech, responded that Corporal Riquelme "requested his absolute retirement due to illness."

Later, Minister Jordán sent an official letter to the Legal Medical Institute, which responded negatively regarding the admission of the body of Raúl Antonio Muñoz, and requested that the Second Military Court send him case file 994-73, titled "Against N.N. for the disappearance of Raúl Muñoz." General Enrique Morel Donoso, in his capacity as Military Judge, refused to send the file "due to superior instructions."

The Minister on Extraordinary Visit sent an official letter to the Ministry of National Defense to report "whether the citizen Raúl Muñoz appears registered in the lists of persons detained in September 1973 who were transferred to the Estadio Nacional." He was told that "there is a lack of information in this regard."

When the Ministry of the Interior was consulted regarding the National List of Detainees (which included the prisoners of the Estadio Nacional), Minister of the Interior Sergio Fernández responded that "that list was prepared by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the National Defense in a single copy that is in the possession of the C.N.I., so the matter is outside the scope of his powers." Minister Jordán then sent another official letter to the Ministry of Defense, which responded that "the National List of Detainees does not exist in the possession of this High Office." It added that "in the first months of the current Government, some temporary lists were prepared containing rosters of detainees for purely logistical and administrative purposes, which were delivered to the C.N.I. and transferred to that agency's computer system, without them having an official character."

On December 6, 1979, Minister Jordán appeared at the Ministry of Defense, where he was allowed to examine case file 964-73 regarding the "Disappearance of Raúl Muñoz." On page 8 is the statement of Lieutenant Juan Mancilla Díaz, who declares "that by order of his Captain, Iván González, he handed over the detainee Muñoz to the Estadio Nacional." He adds "that this handover was carried out by means of an official letter and that the detainee was taken to the Estadio Nacional in a bus from the Prefecture (referring to the Special Services Prefecture) by Corporal Pedro Muñoz, the Carabinero Pedro Hormazábal Fuentes, and a driver whose name he does not remember."

However, Minister Jordán was able to verify that on page 10 of the same file, there is a guard log entry stamped in the Guard Book of the Special Forces Prefecture dated September 29, 1973, which certifies that Second Sergeant José Torres Riquelme brought Raúl Muñoz to the guard, who was accompanied by Corporal Carlos Moreira Donoso, the driver.

The detainee—the guard log entry states—had been sent to the Tacna Regiment. But Minister Jordán was able to verify that, in parentheses, it was added: (Estadio Nacional). The detainee had allegedly been sent by Official Letter No. 226.

On September 7, 1979, the victim's daughter, Liliana Muñoz Vergara, filed a criminal complaint with the Second Criminal Court for the crime of aggravated kidnapping of her father, Raúl Antonio Muñoz. In a secondary petition, the complainant requested that this new case be joined to the complaint under file 127.840, which was being processed before the Third Criminal Court.

Minister Jordán verified that, on the back of page 15 of the Military Prosecutor's file, there is the statement of Corporal Carlos Moreira Donoso, who says he transported the detainee Muñoz from the Buin Regiment to the Special Services Prefecture.

On page 20 is Official Letter 266 of September 29, 1973, which sends Muñoz to the Tacna Regiment. This Official Letter appears signed by Carabineros Lieutenant Emilio Zambrano Vilches. On that same page appears an Official Letter from the Commander of the Tacna Regiment, signed by Julio Fernández Alienza, who denies that that unit had personnel stationed at the Estadio Nacional.

On page 32, there is an illegible signature that would correspond to the military personnel who received Muñoz. It is not specified whether he was received at the Estadio Nacional or at the Tacna Regiment. The Military Prosecutor's case file 994-73 was dismissed on March 24, 1975.

Minister Jordán summoned Andrés Humberto Riquelme Hernández to testify on December 11, 1979. He said he did not remember having participated in the detention of Raúl Antonio Muñoz. He then sent an official letter to the Ministry of the Interior requesting that the National List of Detainees at the Estadio Nacional be sent to him.

The Minister at the time, Sergio Fernández, responded "that said list does not exist."

On December 28, 1979, the Minister on Extraordinary Visit declared himself incompetent to continue hearing the case for the disappearance of 71 people and sent the records to the Second Military Court. The plaintiff appealed this resolution, and the Minister declared this appeal inadmissible.

On January 30, 1980, the Second Military Court accepted to continue hearing the case that, under file 127.840, had until then been processed in the Third Criminal Court of Santiago. The case, now file 80-80, was assigned to the First Military Prosecutor's Office.

The Military Court summoned the six members of the Carabineros who took part in the detention of Muñoz. All six responded unanimously that they did not remember having participated in the detention of Muñoz.

The Prosecutor's Office requested that Official Letter 206 of September 1973, which accounts for the transfer of the detainee to the Estadio Nacional, be sent to them. Carabineros Colonel Ramón Arístides Otero Herrera, of the Special Forces Prefecture, responded "that the document is not registered in that Prefecture." The case returned to the knowledge of Minister Jordán, as the plaintiff had filed a writ of complaint against his refusal to grant an appeal against his resolution of incompetence.

The Court of Appeals, hearing this appeal, admitted that "the processing of a case before the Military Justice limits the rights of the complainants, causing irreparable harm."

Minister Jordán insisted on declaring himself incompetent. This resolution was confirmed by the Court of Appeals. Thus, the case passed to the jurisdiction of the Military Courts on July 31, 1980.

In March 1981, the Military Prosecutor's Office granted the complainant access to the summary proceedings. In the meantime, it had not decreed any measures to find the whereabouts of Raúl Antonio Muñoz.

The complainant requested that all the uniformed officers who had allegedly participated in the detention and subsequent transfer of the victim be summoned. In their statements, they all insisted that they did not remember having participated in these events.

She also requested that the names of the other people who had been taken along with Muñoz to the Estadio Nacional, per Official Letter 206 of the Special Forces Prefecture, be provided.

This Prefecture responded to the Prosecutor's Office's official letter that "having reviewed the archive of said unit, it was established that Official Letter 206 of September 29, 1974, refers to other matters." It should be noted that the response refers to an Official Letter from September 29, 1974, while the complainant's request mentions Official Letter 206 of September 1973, and at this point in the proceedings, it is an established fact in the case files that the detention, transfer, and disappearance of the victim occurred on September 29, 1973.

The complainant requested that a new statement be taken from the F.A.CH. (Air Force) Chaplain, Francisco Camilo Ortega Cerda, who stated that a Carabineros Officer whose identity he does not know, and with whom he spoke by telephone, informed him of the detention of Muñoz and his stay at the Special Services Prefecture.

He added that he remembered that the Officer told him that the detainee had been sent to the Estadio Nacional, to which he had replied that that was not possible since he had the List of Detainees in his office and that said person did not appear on it.

Chaplain Ortega stated that he had asked that Officer about the possibility that the detainee had "fallen off the truck" during the transfer. The Officer replied: "You have provided the answer yourself." To Mr. Ortega's question about whether Mr. Muñoz might be dead, the Carabinero replied: "Indeed."

The Military Prosecutor's Office proceeded to send official letters to the Legal Medical Institute and to the cemeteries of the Metropolitan Region to determine the destination of the victim's body. With the negative response from all those agencies, the summary was declared closed, and a total and temporary dismissal was ordered by virtue of Article 409 No. 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The complainant appealed that resolution dated July 28, 1982.

The relatives of Raúl Antonio Muñoz made presentations before the U.N. Human Rights Commission and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. They sent letters to the Commander of the Buin Regiment and the Military Judge of Santiago.

All judicial and administrative efforts to find the whereabouts of Mr. Muñoz proved useless.

The anthropometric data of Raúl Antonio Muñoz were annexed to case 4449-AF of the 22nd Criminal Court of Santiago, for the crime of illegal burial in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery of unidentified persons who died between September and December 1973.

The investigating judge of the case ordered the excavation of 108 graves in September 1991. From there, 125 bodies were exhumed and sent to the Legal Medical Institute. Currently (late 1992), the expert identification reports are pending.

Source: Corporation report

Raúl, my father, was born in Linares on October 12, 1922. In the countryside, he liked to hunt rabbits, ride horses, and work the land. As a child, he had an accident in a rabbit trap, which left him with a limp forever.

Together with his mother, who worked with her loom, and his sister, they moved to Buin due to the mistreatment by his father, Modesto Morales. They changed their last name and never spoke of Linares again; he was 15 years old.

Over the years, he met Teresa, whom he married, and they had 6 children. We lived in Conchalí, near the Recoleta Theater, where he liked to watch Mexican movies.

He was reserved; that was how he was raised, and he rarely talked about his life. He liked to play rayuela, dominoes, and brisca, like the men of those years; he also enjoyed listening to tango, which he danced with our mother at home.

He liked to go on vacation to the beach in Ventanas and live a neighborhood life. I remember seeing him preparing a punch bowl at the end of the year to welcome the neighbors. I also remember with affection a gift he gave me: a wind-up toy that played the piano.

He worked his whole life at the "Montero" hardware store; he was loved by his colleagues and bosses, who called him "Muñocito." He participated in the union, and for a time, he even became its president. At home, he didn't talk about politics, but I know he was an Allendista and a member of the Communist Party.

He was a hardworking, kind, and generous man. After the Coup, some neighbors reported him for being a communist. The military soon arrived; when they took him away, we thought he would return.

He was Raúl Antonio Muñoz Muñoz, forcibly disappeared on September 29, 1973. I am his son, Rodolfo Muñoz, and I remember him. Remember him yourself, remind others of him.

Technical sheet

To create this microbiography, Rodolfo Muñoz was interviewed. He recorded this radio capsule in October 2014 at the studios of Radio Universidad de Chile, where it was subsequently mixed and broadcast.

Source: loslatidosdelamemoria.cl

Minister Carroza issues conviction for homicide perpetrated at the General Cemetery.

The Minister on extraordinary visit of the Court of Appeals of Santiago, Mario Carroza, issued a first-instance sentence in the investigation he is conducting into the qualified homicide of Raúl Antonio Muñoz Muñoz.

The Minister on extraordinary visit of the Court of Appeals of Santiago, Mario Carroza, issued a first-instance sentence in the investigation he is conducting into the qualified homicide of Raúl Antonio Muñoz Muñoz, executed on October 7, 1973, and whose remains were illegally buried in "Patio 29" of the General Cemetery.

In the case, Magistrate Carroza sentenced former State agents Juan de Dios Mansilla, Luis Hernández Gutiérrez, and Pedro Hormazábal Fuentes to 5 years and one day in prison as authors of the crime. Likewise, he sentenced José Torres Riquelme and Andrés Riquelme Hernández to 3 years and one day in prison as accomplices, granting them the benefit of intensive supervised release.

In addition, he decreed the acquittal in the case of Iván González Jorquera and Carlos Moreira Donoso.

By virtue of the evidence gathered in the investigation, it was possible to prove that "On September 29, 1973, in the afternoon, on the occasion of a verbal and physical altercation between Raúl Antonio Muñoz Muñoz and his neighbors Hortensia del Carmen and Guacolda Francisca Leppe Flores, the wife of a Carabinero assigned to special services in the Población Einstein of Recoleta, where both women sustained injuries—one less serious and the other minor, respectively—an armed patrol from the Buin Regiment, under the command of Andrés Humberto Riquelme Hernández, appeared later that day at the home of Raúl Muñoz. After entering without authorization, they proceeded to detain him without showing any judicial order and then transported him in a jeep to the military unit. At said regiment, Raúl Antonio Muñoz Muñoz was kept as a detainee until, without any resolution, it was decided to transfer him in a Carabineros bus to the special services prefecture, a task that was carried out by Carabineros officials Pedro Muñoz Escobar and José Andrés Torres Riquelme, and their driver Carlos José Moreira Donoso, who placed him at the disposal of the police facility's guard."

Immediately, the resolution adds that "He remained at said guard post for a prolonged time, without being interrogated and remaining ignorant of what his destination would be, until the moment when instructions were received from an officer to take him out of the unit and transport him presumably to the Estadio Nacional, a detention center for political prisoners at the time, a mission assigned to Lieutenant Juan de Dios Mansilla Díaz and Carabineros officials Pedro Muñoz Escobar, Pedro Pablo Hormazábal Fuentes, and Luis Alfonso Hernández Gutiérrez, an action for which there was never any evidence of having been completed, except for what was stated by the defendants themselves, and which originated the disappearance of the victim until the year 1991, when his remains were found in the General Cemetery, Patio 29, with a date of death of October 7, 1973, and cause of death, craniofacial and thoracic trauma and upper extremity trauma inflicted by homicidal-type bullets."

In the civil aspect, the state was ordered to pay compensation of $100,000,000 (one hundred million pesos) to each of the victim's four children.

Source: pjud.cl, December 4, 2014

Date: 04-12-2014