Raúl Luis Jiménez Barrera, married, father of two, and a worker at Industria CALAF, was detained on October 4, 1973, at approximately 8:00 PM, at his home and in the presence of his spouse, Laura Latin Mella, by "Boinas Negras" (Black Berets) military personnel from the Special Services.

He was taken to the Carabineros station on Calle Cóndor, where his entry and subsequent release in the early hours of October 5 of the same year were reportedly recorded. According to records at the Legal Medical Institute—though judicial identification had not yet been obtained as of February 1992—the victim's body was received by that institution on October 5, having been found in the area of the Puente Purísima, in the Mapocho River.

The body was admitted as a "John Doe" (NN), autopsy No. 3096 was performed, and he was identified through fingerprint analysis based on information provided by the Civil Registry. He was buried in Section 29 (Patio 29) of the General Cemetery without the knowledge of his family, who only learned of the event in 1991.

According to Laura Latin, at the time of his arrest, Raúl Luis Jiménez was not interrogated by his captors, who merely asked for his name before proceeding with his detention. The following day, she went to the local Carabineros station—she does not recall which one—where she was informed that at 6:00 AM that day (October 5, 1973), the affected party had been taken by military personnel to be transferred to the Estadio Nacional.

She then went to that detention center, as well as to the Estadio Chile, the Penitentiary, the jail, and various clinics and hospitals, without success. In her efforts, the spouse was supported by her father, Carlos Latin, who at the time was a member of the Carabineros Corps.

Following these events, and given the difficult economic situation the family faced, Laura Latin sought work as a domestic employee, even having to travel to Osorno. The two children from her marriage to Raúl Luis Jiménez—who were one year and nine months old and 8 months old at the time—were placed in the Casa Nacional del Niño.

The family would not reunite until 1989, having had no contact during that entire period.

In March 1991, exhumations were carried out in Section 29 of the General Cemetery; however, by the end of 1992, these remains had still not been judicially identified.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On March 23, 1974, a mass writ of amparo (habeas corpus) was filed on behalf of 131 people before the Santiago Court of Appeals, registered under No. 289-74. The name of Raúl Luis Jiménez was included in the filing.

After the court consulted the various authorities of the time without being able to establish the specific situation of those listed, the writ was rejected on November 28, 1974. The decision was appealed, and the Plenary of the Supreme Court confirmed the ruling on January 31, 1975, agreeing at the same time to appoint a Minister in Extraordinary Visit to conduct the corresponding investigation.

The appointment fell to Minister Enrique Zurita Camps, who, on February 24, 1975, initiated case file No. 106.657 in the 1st Criminal Court of Santiago.

The process began with the summoning of the complaining family members, who appeared over the course of several months. Various official inquiries were sent—all receiving negative responses—and cases regarding reports of "presumed misfortune" were consolidated, including the files of 11 people detained in Isla de Maipo, some of whose bodies appeared in the Lonquén Kilns, as well as the cases of Enrique París Roa and Enrique Huerta Corvalán, both of whom disappeared at La Moneda on September 11, 1973.

On September 25, 1975—without having delved into any of the reported cases—the summary was closed on the grounds that "no further progress could be made in the investigation." On September 29 of the same year, Minister Zurita issued his ruling.

In the cases of the forcibly disappeared José Miguel Rivas Rachitoff, Luis Sergio Gutiérrez Silva, and the victims from Isla de Maipo, he declared himself incompetent and referred the records to the Military Justice system.

In the cases of the political executions of Santos Pascual Calderón Saldaño (detained in Paine on October 20, 1973, by troops from the San Bernardo Infantry School Regiment, whose body was found three days later with gunshot wounds) and Calixto Peralta Gajardo (detained on January 29, 1974, by armed civilians, whose remains entered the Legal Medical Institute a few hours later, also with gunshot wounds), Minister Zurita temporarily dismissed the proceedings.

Regarding 22 cases, it was determined that the individuals were at liberty, and the proceedings were partially and definitively dismissed. However, this list included the name of Gustavo Farías Vargas, who disappeared in October 1973 from the Tejas Verdes Military Engineers School Regiment and who remains in that status to this day.

Regarding the victim—and the remaining cases—case No. 106.657 was temporarily dismissed because the existence of a criminal act had not been fully established.

On May 10, 1976, the Santiago Court of Appeals approved the resolution of Minister Enrique Zurita Camps.

Years later, in February 1991, the children of the victim—by then young adults—filed a report of "presumed misfortune" regarding their father before the 20th Criminal Court of Santiago, registered under No. 25796-9.

In their filing, they recounted the circumstances surrounding the victim's disappearance, adding the information that the remains of Raúl Luis Jiménez Barrera had allegedly entered the Legal Medical Institute on October 5, 1973.

As a first step, they requested that the Civil Registry Directorate be ordered to send the court all identification information regarding the forcibly disappeared person and to state whether he was indeed among those admitted as "John Does" (NN) to the Legal Medical Institute.

They also requested that the latter institution be ordered to send autopsy protocol No. 3096-73, which corresponded to the victim.

Subsequently, on April 9, 1991, a criminal complaint for the crime of kidnapping committed against Raúl Jiménez Barrera was filed before the same court and was consolidated with the aforementioned case.

During the remainder of 1991, the actions and investigations requested by the plaintiff were initiated. As of February 1992, the case remained open with pending investigations, and the remains corresponding to the victim had not yet been fully and positively identified.

Furthermore, the anthropometric data of Raúl Luis Jiménez Barrera were attached to case 4449-AF of the 22nd Criminal Court of Santiago regarding the crime of illegal burial in Section 29 of the General Cemetery of unidentified persons who died between September and December 1973.

The judge presiding over the case ordered the excavation of 108 graves in September 1991. From there, 125 bodies were exhumed and sent to the Legal Medical Institute. Preliminary information indicates that one of the exhumed bodies corresponds to Jiménez Barrera. At the end of 1992, the court was still awaiting the judicial determination of said identity.

Source: Corporation report

Memoriaviva has accessed the death certificate of Mr. Raúl Luis Jiménez Barrera dated October 5, 1973. It does not coincide with the previously established information regarding his death; therefore, it is recorded with FOLIO: 500653198200, Verification Code: 22c4ef7a3d05, Civil Registry and Identification Service.

Source: registrocivil.cl

New identities released for persons buried in Section 29 of the General Cemetery in Santiago, Chile.

The Minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Alejandro Solís, confirmed the identities of three people whose remains were found in Section 29 of the General Cemetery and which had been sent to foreign laboratories for forensic analysis. The confirmed identities correspond to:

• Jaime Pablo Millanao Caniuhuan, whose report involved Dr. Francisco Etxeberría Gabilondo (specialist in legal and forensic medicine) and Dr. Rhonda Roby (specialist in forensic genetics).
• Raúl Luis Jiménez Barrera, whose report involved Dr. Francisco Etxeberría Gabilondo, Dr. Douglas Ubelaker (specialist in forensic anthropology), and Dr. Rhonda Roby.
• Raúl René Fuentes Vera, whose report involved Dr. Francisco Etxeberría Gabilondo and Dr. Rhonda Roby. Minister Solís met on Wednesday, January 27, 2009, with the families of the identified victims to inform them of the results of the forensic reports received.

Source: dhpedia.wikis.cc 1/27/2010

Section 29: Behind the Iron Cross (BOOK)

Section 29 was typically used for the burial of the indigent, psychiatric patients, and people who died without being identified (NN). However, between September 1973 and January 1974, its graves were used to hide victims of repression as "John Does" (NN).

Javiera Bustamante and Stephan Ruderer reconstruct the painful history of the site, utilizing testimonies from the families of the forcibly disappeared, letters, documents, and other sources. The book also accounts for the arduous process of identification and the return of the bodies, as well as the irregularities that characterized these proceedings.

The powerful photographs illustrating the volume were taken by visual artist Mara Daruich. Bustamante, Javiera; Ruderer, Stephan

Source: ocholibros.cl (no date)