Date of Birth: 01-10-32, 41 years of age at the time of his detention. Address: General Baquedano 868-A, Paine Marital Status: Married, two children Occupation: Merchant Repressive Status: Member of the Supply and Price Control Board (JAP) Date of Detention: October 16, 1973

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

René del Rosario Maureira Gajardo, 41 years old, married, father of two, a merchant and member of the Paine Supply and Price Control Board (JAP), was detained without a warrant from a competent authority on October 16, 1973, by soldiers from the San Bernardo Infantry School, under the command of Lieutenant Andrés Magaña Bau. From that moment until today, his whereabouts remain unknown.

Prior to the final events that affected Maureira Gajardo, his business premises had been violently raided in his absence on September 11, 1973. On that occasion, he was taken to his business by Carabineros officer Nelson Bravo, who physically mistreated him and released him during curfew hours.

The following night, Carabineros appeared at his home again, this time accompanied by civilians, including Rolando Martínez, a merchant from Paine, and he was taken to the Paine Sub-precinct. He was subsequently transferred to the Estadio Nacional, where he remained until October 12, 1973, when he returned home.

Maureira Gajardo’s final detention took place at his own home, in the presence of his wife and children, by a group of uniformed men wearing Chilean Army attire with their faces blackened, who identified themselves as soldiers.

Around one o'clock in the morning on October 16, 1973, Maureira Gajardo's home was subjected to a violent raid. When asked for identification, the individuals stated they were soldiers. They proceeded to cover both the front and back of the house, entering the property of a neighbor, the detainee's sister-in-law.

Lieutenant Magaña demanded the presence of Maureira Gajardo and ordered him to get up, stating he was required in Santiago for interrogation, but he never produced the corresponding arrest warrant. Maureira Gajardo was taken from his home and led away by the soldiers to an unknown destination. It should be noted that the detainee was never seen held in any facility.

That night and into the early morning, in a vast operation carried out by soldiers under the orders of Lieutenant Magaña, 22 people were detained in their homes; in none of these cases was there authorization to raid or detain.

These soldiers, dressed in field gear or gray uniforms with a cape of the same color, wore armbands and used black berets or helmets. Their faces were in some cases blackened, in others covered with balaclavas.

They moved in at least one red truck with side rails and a jeep. They were all heavily armed and illuminated the rooms with flashlights, preventing the residents from turning on the lights. The operation began in the early hours of October 16 and lasted until 04:00 in the morning.

The people who were detained, mostly settlers who had participated in the agrarian reform process, were listed on a document carried by the soldiers. Their homes were raided and the detainees were taken from their houses, with the families warned that they would return during the day after giving statements in San Bernardo.

They were all loaded onto a truck waiting on the main road. The operation was carried out silently, and the victims' families were forbidden from looking out of their houses. The operation began with the detention of Andrés Pereira Salsberg, an industrialist and owner of a machine shop; then René del Rosario Maureira Gajardo, a merchant, was detained; immediately after, the soldiers headed toward the sector corresponding to the 24 de Abril Settlement, where they detained Patricio Loreto Duque Orellana, the brothers Raúl Antonio, Silvestre René, and Jorge Hernán Muñoz Peñaloza, their brother-in-law Basilio Antonio Valenzuela Alvarez, Germán Fredes García, Carlos Enrique Gaete López, Carlos Alberto Nieto Duarte, Laureano Quiroz Pezoa, Rosalindo Delfín Hernán Muñoz, and Ramón Luis Silva Carreño. Next, they went to the El Tránsito Settlement, where they detained Pedro Antonio Cabezas Villegas and Roberto Servando Galaz. Finally, they went to the Nuevo Sendero Settlement, where they detained Enrique Lazo Quintero, his brother Samuel Altamiro Lazo Quinteros and his sons Luis Rodolfo and Samuel Lazo Maldonado, José Domingo Adasme Núñez, Luis Alberto Gaete Balmaceda, and José Ignacio Gaete Maldonado.

On October 10, Carabineros from the Paine Sub-precinct detained Samuel Altamiro Lazo Quinteros from his home in the El Tránsito Settlement; he was released after 24 hours of detention at said Sub-precinct.

This peasant was detained again in the early hours of October 16, 1973. Following his first detention, he told his fellow settlers that he had been warned by the Carabineros that in the following days, soldiers from the San Bernardo Infantry School would come to detain the settlers.

The peasants of that settlement who had approached the Sub-precinct and spoken with Sergeant Reyes about their situation had received identical information.

The whereabouts of all the people detained on October 16, 1973, remain unknown, and they have not been seen in any detention facility. To date, there are no witnesses regarding their fate. Judicial records indicate that they were taken that morning toward the hills of Codegua, near Melipilla, where they were executed. Their remains have not been found.

The detention and subsequent disappearance of these people are part of the repression that took place in Paine in 1973. (Further information can be found under José Domingo Adasme Núñez).

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

The detainee's family requested information on his whereabouts from various authorities. They made inquiries at the Paine Sub-precinct, the San Bernardo Infantry School, the Naval School, the Ministry of the Interior, the National Executive Secretariat for Detainees, the Legal Medical Institute, and the International Red Cross, without obtaining any information regarding Maureira Gajardo.

In particular, his spouse held several interviews with the Director of the San Bernardo Infantry School, Colonel Pedro Eduardo Montalva Calvo. This officer ordered the Head of Security of the Military Unit, Samuel Alexis Rojas, to investigate the case.

As a result, a response was sent to her home by mail detailing a long list of accusations against the detainee and warning her that if she continued to hold Lieutenant Magaña responsible for the detention, he would initiate legal action against her.

It should be made clear that the detainee's children, who witnessed the action, perfectly recognized Lieutenant Magaña from having participated in a social gathering at a neighbor's house in Paine prior to the coup d'état.

On May 2, 1974, a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) was filed on behalf of the detainee before the Santiago Court of Appeals, case file No. 412-74, which was rejected on May 31, 1974, based on the negative response regarding the detention of the affected party from both the Ministry of the Interior and the General Directorate of Investigations of Chile.

On March 21, 1975, a complaint for "presumed misfortune" (disappearance) was filed before the Maipo-Buin Court of Letters, following the detention and subsequent disappearance of 23 locals from Paine, the vast majority of whom were peasants detained in their homes by military personnel, except for one whose detention was carried out by Carabineros.

This included the case of René del Rosario Maureira Gajardo. This case was registered under file No. 24005-1, presided over by Judge Javier Torres. The first investigative steps were ordered by the judge three months later.

He requested information from the Commander of the San Bernardo Infantry School regarding the detentions, sent an official letter to the National Executive Secretariat for Detainees, requested information from the Legal Medical Institute, and issued a broad order for Carabineros and Investigations to investigate.

All responses were obtained within a month, except for that of the Infantry School, which was received after four months and only after being reiterated. All were to the following effect: "there is no record of the persons cited in that document." Both Carabineros and Investigations limited themselves to taking statements from the complaining families.

In its report, Investigations mentioned having made inquiries to "locate and identify the persons who apparently were dressed as soldiers on the day of the events," without further description of the actions taken to that end.

Under these circumstances, Judge Torres closed the summary proceedings and definitively dismissed the case in November 1975. The Rancagua Court of Appeals confirmed the previous resolution on January 20, 1976, decreeing that the dismissal be only temporary. The case was archived.

On October 19, 1977, Maureira Gajardo's wife filed a criminal complaint against Army Lieutenant Magaña Bau for the crime of kidnapping her spouse. The case was registered under file No. 25072-3 in the Maipo-Buin Court of Letters.

Eyewitnesses to the detention—the wife, children, and a sister-in-law of Maureira Gajardo—testified before the court. All of them agreed in pointing out the military characteristics of the apprehending group. The children gave a detailed description of the physical features of Lieutenant Magaña, who was in charge of the group.

Despite repeated requests, the lawyer for the plaintiffs did not have access to the summary proceedings until February 1978. At the request of the plaintiffs, the appearance of the accused was ordered, which only took place in September 1978, after he failed to appear before the court on two previous occasions, citing that he was on official duty outside of Santiago, according to the version provided by the Commander of the San Bernardo Infantry School.

In his judicial statement, Magaña denied having been on duty in the town of Paine—even declaring that he did not know it—on the date the events occurred. On the contrary, he claimed to have been in Santiago from September 11, 1973, until approximately October 28, 1973.

He was summoned for a confrontation with Maureira's relatives but failed to appear on two occasions (November 20, 1978, and February 6, 1979).

As of January 30, 1979, case file 25072-3 was consolidated with case file 24005-1, which had been reopened on March 23, 1977.

The reopening of case file 24005-1 was in response to a request from the plaintiffs, based on the fact that 10 cases of detention and subsequent disappearance included in case file 24005-1 appeared on a list of "63 presumed disappeared" that the Chilean government had included in its report on the Human Rights Situation in Chile, presented to the 30th session of the UN General Assembly in October 1975.

In that report, it was stated that those 63 people were dead, according to information provided by the Legal Medical Institute.

René del Rosario Maureira Gajardo did not appear on that list, but the reopening affected all 23 cases included in the initial complaint under file No. 24005-1.

The process sought to establish the fate of the forcibly disappeared.

The first official letters were addressed to the San Bernardo Infantry School. When requested for information regarding the operation carried out at the 24 de Abril Settlement and the possible participation of elements of that unit in the early hours of October 16, 1973, Colonel Jorge Dawling Santa María, in his capacity as Director of the San Bernardo Infantry School, replied: "there is no military personnel of the Institute under my command who proceeded to detain the persons indicated."

When again officially requesting Colonel Jorge Dawling Santa María to submit the list of the entire corps of officers of the unit as of October 16, 1973 (official letter of October 1977), the Colonel replied in January 1978: "it is not possible to send the names of the military personnel who may have participated in operations in the Paine sector and surroundings.

The information must be requested from the Ministry of the Interior... it is reiterated that it cannot be reported since it is unknown."

Faced with such responses, 5 criminal complaints were filed against Army Colonel Jorge Dawling Santa María, Director of the San Bernardo Infantry School, for covering up the crime of illegal arrest of Jorge Hernán Muñoz Peñaloza, Carlos Enrique Lazo Quinteros, Carlos Alberto Nieto Duarte, José Domingo Adasme Núñez, Samuel Altamiro Lazo Quintero, Samuel del Tránsito Lazo Maldonado, and Luis Rodolfo Lazo Maldonado.

The complaints were consolidated into case file 24005-1.

The accused, Jorge Dawling Santa María, was again officially requested (09-26-78) to inform the court regarding the following questions: 1) Whether there are personnel books in the military unit under his command that contain the names of the officers who make up the staff, 2) if so, what is the reason that has moved him to withhold said names, 3) if these names are not registered in the aforementioned military unit, which Army office can provide them.

After a month passed without receiving any response, the court reported this irregularity to the President of the Rancagua Court of Appeals. On November 14, 1978, this Court resolved in plenary session: "...regarding Colonel Jorge Dawling Santa María, that he comply with the provisions of Article 191 of the Code of Criminal Procedure" (meaning that depending on his rank, he must appear or report).

On November 8, 1978, the Colonel Director of the San Bernardo Infantry School, Carlos Meirelles Muller, replied: "1) indeed, there are documents at the San Bernardo Infantry School that contain the names of the officers who make up its staff; 2) the undersigned Colonel has never withheld the information requested by you; 3) it is reported that as of March 4, 1978, Colonel Dawling Santa María handed over command of the School to the undersigned, no longer belonging to it, so it would be appreciated if, in the future, any information you require be requested from the Director of the Infantry School, without mentioning specific persons, as by institutional procedure, commands change periodically."

In an official letter dated February 7, 1979, Colonel Meirelles, when requested by the court for the list of personnel of the San Bernardo Infantry School as of October 1973, replied: "as these are classified records that the undersigned Director does not have the authority to disclose, such a request must be processed through the Minister of National Defense."

On April 3, 1979, by instruction of the Supreme Court, the Rancagua Court of Appeals appointed Mr. Juan Rivas Larraín as a Visiting Minister (Special Judge) to oversee case file 24005-1. This appointment was a response by the high court to a presentation by the Episcopal Vicars and the Cardinal Archbishop of Santiago, in which they requested "the appointment of Visiting Ministers to investigate the cases of the forcibly disappeared."

Visiting Minister Juan Rivas Larraín began his visit by dispatching the following official letters in April 1979: a) to the Director of the Army General Staff, confidentially, to report on the assignment of Lieutenant Andrés Magaña Bau between January 1972 and December 1973.

The response stated that said Lieutenant had been assigned only to the Infantry School in San Bernardo during the period in question.

b) To the Director of the San Bernardo Infantry School to arrange for the appearance of Lieutenant Andrés Magaña Bau, who was to be confronted with the relatives of René del Rosario Maureira Gajardo. The confrontations took place on April 19, 1979, after two failed attempts due to Lieutenant Magaña's failure to appear.

He maintained his statements, denying having detained René del Rosario Maureira Gajardo on the early morning of October 16, 1973, and denying knowing the victim's children, who claimed to have socialized with him at gatherings held in the town of Paine prior to September 11, 1973.

c) To the Ministry of National Defense, so that the corresponding office of the Ministry could report on the names of the officers and non-commissioned officers who had patrols under their command that operated in Paine on the night of October 2 to 3 (the date of detentions at the El Escorial Settlement by personnel from the San Bernardo Infantry School) and October 15 to 16, 1973.

No response to this letter was received until 1985, when the cases were in the II Military Prosecutor's Office. Before the Military Judge, officers and non-commissioned officers of the San Bernardo Infantry School testified; all the uniformed men agreed that they had no knowledge of operations in the Paine area and had no information regarding the presence of detainees at the Cerro Chena Detention Camp.

d) To the personnel office of the Ministry of National Defense for the appearance of Colonel Jorge Dawling Santa María, and to learn of his current assignment. In its response, the Visiting Minister was informed that Colonel Jorge Dawling Santa María had been appointed as Military Attaché at the Chilean Embassy in Uruguay since August 1978, a position that would last for more than a year.

e) To the Minister of Foreign Affairs to report on the background and procedures that allowed for the compilation of the list of "Presumably disappeared persons," who had supposedly been located in records of the Legal Medical Institute of Santiago.

The response was received on October 30, 1979, by the recently appointed Visiting Minister, Mr. Humberto Espejo Zúñiga, as the President Aguirre Cerda Court of Appeals had been created, which, for jurisdictional reasons, was tasked with continuing the investigation, with the new file number 1-79.

The response letter, signed by the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated verbatim in one of its parts: "such information is requested by Your Honor in view of the fact that the L.M.I. (Legal Medical Institute), when asked about the same matter, has not found official letters from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Legal Medical Institute regarding said list.

In this regard, I inform Your Honor that the list contained on pages 381, 382, and 383 of the aforementioned volume 2 appears with an illegible signature and a stamp, which this Ministry understands corresponds to authorities of the Legal Medical Institute; otherwise, such a document would not have been circulated to international organizations.

Regarding how the list came into the possession of this Secretariat of State, it should be noted that there is no official documentation sent to the aforementioned Institute, so it must be concluded that it was requested verbally and delivered by hand to officials of this Ministry." Visiting Minister Juan Rivas Larraín, at the time he was leaving his visit in case 24005-1, established that said list was false and that the autopsy protocols assigned to the forcibly disappeared corresponded to "NN" (unidentified) deaths whose identification had been impossible due to the lack of skin on their hands.

f) To the Ministry of National Defense for the appearance of Colonel Pedro Montalva Calvo, Sub-director of the San Bernardo Infantry School in September 1973.

Colonel Pedro Montalva Calvo testified before Visiting Minister Humberto Espejo on December 10, 1979. In his statement, he affirmed verbatim: "indeed, there was a Detention Camp at Cerro Chena that functioned as such a few days after the military pronouncement, and that as of December 15 of the same year, the date on which I received the Directorship of the San Bernardo Infantry School..."

San Bernardo, and therefore, the appointment of Governor of the Departments of San Bernardo and Maipo, that camp no longer existed, and it was not possible to specify the exact date of its closure." "At the time of the military coup, I was serving as Deputy Director of the Infantry School, and regarding the detainees who were interned in the Chena Camp, it was done by written order of the then-Governor, Colonel Leonel Köening Alterman.

The aforementioned detainees were taken to the camp by order of the governor, and this person received the background information from the Security Services, who surely informed themselves about these people, who were disturbing public order or 'stirring things up,' and also due to reports from people who claimed they had weapons."

g) To the Montepíos and Retirement Fund to determine the current address of Colonel Leonel Köening Alterman. On June 21, 1979, the Court noted in the summary that Colonel Leonel Köening A. had committed suicide on June 12 of the same year, while he was at the Fundación Libertad, where he was working as an interventor.

h) To the Minister of National Defense to report to the corresponding department of the Ministry which unit the patrols belonged to that wore greenish uniforms and mottled berets, which operated in the town of Paine and its surroundings in the days following September 11, 1973, as well as the base from which they launched their missions.

In response to the Official Letter, the Minister of National Defense, Lieutenant General Raúl Benavides Escobar, stated verbatim: "unfortunately, it has not been possible to determine the military contingent that operated on the indicated date in the town of Paine and its surroundings, especially considering the fact that personnel from the different branches of the Armed Forces and the Carabineros possess similar combat uniforms."

i) To the General Directorate of Carabineros to indicate, with the utmost urgency, the current assignment of the personnel who were serving at the Paine Sub-prefecture in September 1973. Previously, a list containing 36 names corresponding to the staff of the Paine Sub-prefecture as of September 1973 had been sent to the Court, and in response to this same Official Letter, the General Directorate of Carabineros provided the current assignments of those consulted.

In May 1979, José Florencio Verdugo Espinoza, Raúl del Carmen Ortíz Maluenda, Lucas Humberto Pacheco Barrera, and Guillermo Oscar Fuentes Barrera testified; at the time of appearing before the Court, all of them were retired from the Carabineros institution.

Their statements were uniform in asserting that there were no detentions by Carabineros from the Paine Sub-prefecture. José Florencio Verdugo Espinoza declared: "I never saw detainees arrive led by Carabineros patrols, but sometimes I observed that there were drunks in the cells, and it occurs to me that they were detained when they were passing in front of the barracks.

I also often observed military patrols arriving in closed trucks, and their commanders usually stopped at the unit to talk with the superiors, but I did not verify if they were carrying detainees in those trucks."

For his part, Raúl del Carmen Ortíz Maluenda declared: "I never saw Carabineros take detainees to the barracks, not even when they started going out on patrol in October of that year; on one occasion, I cannot specify the date but it was in September 1973, I saw in broad daylight around 4:30 PM that a military truck with railings but no canvas covers stopped in front of the Sub-prefecture, and in it, besides the driver, two soldiers were traveling, and in the back went 2 or 3 civilians unknown to me, evidently detained, since one of the armed soldiers was constantly watching them; the other got out to ask for information and then they continued on their way. On the other hand, among my colleagues, I heard it commented that around the same time, military patrols used to pass by and stop in front of the Sub-prefecture to ask for information during the night, also getting out of trucks, but I do not remember if they told me they had verified that they were carrying detainees."

The Extraordinary Visiting Minister Juan Rivas L., in May 1979, sent an official letter to the 1st Military Prosecutor's Office to request case file 23643, in which the discovery of skeletal remains in the Cuesta de Chada was being investigated.

His interest was to have it available, given that the findings of human remains and clothing could correspond to any of the people whose disappearance was reported in his case. After a follow-up letter in June 1979, the Commander-in-Chief of the II Army Division, Brigadier General Enrique Morel Donoso, replied: "Taking into consideration that the aforementioned process has been handled in accordance with the Wartime Military Penal Procedure, you are informed that it is not possible to proceed with the request made.

Without prejudice to the above, I can state to Your Honor that on November 4, 1975, a temporary dismissal was issued in case file 23643."

The Extraordinary Visiting Minister also sent an official letter to the National Intelligence Center (CNI), so that he could be informed if the people whose disappearance was being investigated were registered as political extremists in September 1973 or became so after that month and year.

In an official response on June 27, 1979, Colonel Fernando Arancibia Reyes stated: "regarding this matter, it is reported that after reviewing the relevant documentation, it has been verified that none of the 24 people consulted had records as extremists or political activists."

By December 1979, nine criminal complaints had been accumulated in case 1-79 against the staff of the San Bernardo Infantry School for the crimes of kidnapping of Pedro Hernán Pinto Caroca, Ramón Lenis Silva Carreño, Laureano Quiroz Pezoa, Ramiro Antonio Muñoz Peñaloza, Silvestre René Muñoz Peñaloza, José Ignacio Castro Maldonado, Luis Alberto Gaete Balmaceda, José Germán Fredes García, and Carlos Gaete López.

Five complaints against Colonel Jorge Dawling Santa María for the cover-up of the crime of illegal arrest of: Jorge Hernán Muñoz Peñaloza, Carlos Enrique Lazo Quinteros, Carlos Alberto Nieto Duarte, José Domingo Adasme Núñez, Samuel Altamiro Lazo Quinteros, Samuel del Tránsito Lazo Maldonado, and Luis Rodolfo Lazo Maldonado.

A complaint for the kidnapping and qualified homicide of Juan Guillermo Cuadra Espinoza and Ignacio del Tránsito Albornoz Prado, perpetrated by members of the San Bernardo Infantry School.

A complaint against Lieutenant Andrés Magaña Bau for the crime of illegal arrest of René del Rosario Maureira Gajardo; a complaint for the kidnapping of Andrés Pereira Salsberg; and a complaint for the crime of kidnapping of Mario Enrique Muñoz Peñaloza against Carabineros Sergeant Manuel Reyes of the Paine Sub-prefecture.

On August 13, 1979, Minister Rivas declared himself incompetent to continue hearing case file 24005-1, as the Presidente Aguirre Cerda Court of Appeals had been created, to which, by territorial distribution, the knowledge of the Maipo-Buin cases corresponds. The investigation under the new file 1-79 fell, by designation of that Court, to the Visiting Minister Humberto Espejo.

A month earlier, on November 13, 1979, the Vicar General and Acting Vicar of the Vicariate of Solidarity, Monsignor Ignacio Ortúzar Rojas, brought to the attention of Minister Espejo information held by the Catholic Church regarding mass and irregular burials in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery.

Burials that would affect nearly 200 graves exclusively in Patio 29. In them were buried bodies recorded as N.N. (unidentified) and in other cases identified, which sometimes appeared buried alone and in other cases involved more than one burial per grave.

Among the bodies that appeared buried with their identification, several cases of detainees in Paine in the months of September and October 1973 appeared; in some of which the place of death had been recorded as the Cerro Chena Detention Camp, dependent on the San Bernardo Infantry School.

This allowed for the deduction that the forcibly disappeared from Paine could be in those graves. The Court constituted itself at the General Cemetery and verified the existence of graves in which more than one buried body was recorded, as well as the existence of more than 100 graves with N.N. notations.

The Court requested from the Cemetery authority a complete list of graves with N.N. in Patio 29 with their attached data.

On November 19, 1979, he sent an official letter to the Director of the General Cemetery to inform him that until further order from that Court, the remains of people buried as N.N. in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery could not be cremated, exhumed, or moved.

On December 12, 1979, Minister Espejo declared himself incompetent and sent the records to the Military Prosecutor's Office, given that all the complaints and lawsuits contained in case 1-79 attributed the authorship of the arrests to personnel of the Armed Forces and/or Carabineros, both from the Infantry School and the Paine Sub-prefecture.

The plaintiff appealed such resolution, arguing that the designation of the Visiting Minister had the purpose of determining the circumstances of the detention, the places to which they were taken, the place where the detainees still remained, and ultimately establishing the "fate of the forcibly disappeared," and in no case did it allude to the other problem of the "responsibility of the alleged perpetrators."

On the other hand, the appeal stated that there still remained to be investigated the irregularities denounced by the Catholic Church regarding Patio 29 of the General Cemetery. On March 6, 1980, the Presidente Aguirre Cerda Court of Appeals resolved to revoke the incompetence, ordering the Visiting Minister to resume the investigation in two directions: to interrogate the defendant Colonel Jorge Dawling Santa María and to establish if a summary investigation was carried out at the Legal Medical Institute due to the irregularities detected in the report of said Institute, which the Minister of Foreign Affairs presented to the UN. If appropriate, the Court had to bring these background facts to the attention of the Supreme Court Prosecutor in his capacity as a supervisory body. During the development of the process, it was established that the summary investigation was not carried out, and on May 12, 1980, the Court sent an official letter to the Supreme Court Prosecutor.

On April 2, 1980, the Minister of National Defense, Lieutenant General Raúl Benavides Escobar, reported regarding the appearance of Dawling Santa María verbatim: "...the cited Officer holds the rank of Brigadier General, and in accordance with the provisions of Art. 191 No. 1 and 192 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, it is requested that the cited court require from the Brigadier General Mr.

Jorge Dawling Santa María his statement in writing." The Court sent an official letter and attached a memorandum to the Brigadier General, which was erroneously formulated, which gave rise to him limiting his response to saying: "In relation to questions No. 2 to 13, I do not have any information to point out."

On June 5, 1980, for the second time, Minister Espejo declared himself incompetent, basing his resolution on exactly the same terms as the previous incompetence. The appealed resolution was revoked on July 25, 1980, with the Court of Appeals itself ordering the Visiting Minister to send another official letter to Brigadier General Dawling Santa María, attaching a memorandum prepared according to the terms of the citations made of him in the complaints accumulated in case 1-79, in which he was attributed participation in the cover-up of the events being investigated.

It also ordered precise measures aimed at studying the irregularities of Patio 29.

In July 1980, the Court received the official response to the one sent to the Brigadier General. In it, he reiterated his inability to provide the requested information because there were no written records in 1977 at the Infantry School of military or operational maneuvers that had been carried out in Paine or its surroundings; the same lack of information was referred to regarding the names of military personnel who might have participated in operations in Paine as of October 16, 1973.

His letter concluded by stating that he had brought the background of case 1-79 to the attention of the Army General Command, for the purposes of the jurisdiction that, in his opinion, would correspond to the military courts, since he was accused in the transcribed complaint of participation as a cover-up in "alleged crimes" that he would have committed in the line of duty.

On October 17, 1980, the records of the process were definitively sent to the II Military Prosecutor's Office by Minister Espejo, after declaring himself incompetent for the third time to continue hearing the case.

On that occasion, the lack of jurisdiction operated when the file was requested by the II Military Prosecutor's Office. At the time of leaving his visit, Minister Espejo had made significant progress in the investigation regarding irregularities in Patio 29; he had requested and obtained the autopsy protocols after October 16, 1973; he had carried out an ocular inspection of the graves in Patio 29 corresponding to said protocols; he had prepared anthropometric files of the forcibly disappeared; he had obtained dactyloscopic files from the investigated protocols; and he had carried out, based on this information, a comparative study of the various accumulated data. Minister Espejo finally concluded that 6 graves registered as N.N. could provide information regarding the forcibly disappeared from Paine. These were graves 2342, 2365, 2468, 2481, 2665, and 2526.

During the processing of this case in the II Military Prosecutor's Office, under file 952-80, between the years 1981 and 1987, the exhumation of these 6 graves was requested from the Military Court on five occasions, being denied on all occasions for being considered an inconclusive measure given the time elapsed.

After the plaintiff had filed a complaint, the Court of Appeals, on January 22, 1981, rejected the complaint for there being no fault or abuse susceptible to being considered through disciplinary channels (dissenting vote by Minister Bañados).

In the complaint, the refusal of the military court to accumulate the process for the discovery of skeletal remains in the Cuesta de Chada, file 23643, had also been raised, with the same result.

On May 24, 1982, the case was totally and temporarily dismissed by the military judge: "notwithstanding that the investigation is exhausted, the perpetration of the acts denounced on page 1, which imputes personnel of the Armed Forces and Order, subject to military jurisdiction, is not completely proven."

That resolution was appealed and was revoked in March 1984 by the Court Martial, which ordered the Court itself to take measures aimed at completing the investigation. As a result, during the year 1985, the appearance of Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers who made up the staff of the Infantry School in September-October 1973 was achieved.

At least 26 Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers testified. All of them claimed to be in absolute ignorance of the events investigated, not having participated, and not having known about operations in Paine; they likewise indicated not having had knowledge of the presence of detainees in the Cerro Chena Camp.

In January 1987, the case for the Presumed Disappearance of Francisco Baltazar Godoy Román, file 25245-3 (Prosecutor's file 46-80), in whose arrest Carabineros from the Paine Sub-prefecture participated, was accumulated.

On November 22, 1989, the Military Prosecutor of the II Military Prosecutor's Office, Enrique Ibarra Chamorro, became a party representing the Military Public Ministry, requesting the application of the Amnesty Decree Law 2191-78.

The Military Judge resolved to definitively and totally dismiss the case, as the criminal responsibility of the persons allegedly accused in the reported events was extinguished. Such resolution was revoked in February 1992 by the Court Martial; this Court instructed that the case return to the summary stage and ordered the exhumation of the six graves in Patio 29.

Said exhumation could not be carried out by order of this Court, since in September 1991, in case 4449-AF of the 22nd Criminal Court of Santiago, the exhumation of all the remains of unidentified persons buried between September and December 1973 in the aforementioned patio in the General Cemetery had been carried out. As of December 1992, the case continued in process.

In August 1990, case file 2-90-E was initiated in the Buin-Maipo Court of Letters with the designation of the Visiting Minister, Mr. Germán Hermosilla, by the Presidente Aguirre Cerda Court of Appeals.

Said designation was due to a request to that effect from the Vicariate of Solidarity of the Archbishopric of Santiago, given the existence of illegal burials of people in the town of Paine and which affected forcibly disappeared persons. The background information on René del Rosario Maureira Gajardo was delivered to the Court.

On March 15, 1991, Mrs. María del Tránsito Venegas Cortés testified before the Visiting Minister Mr. Germán Hermosilla, in her capacity as the mother of Jorge Reyes Cortés, who in 1973 had to perform his military service at the San Bernardo Infantry School.

Her words, which account for the fate of the 22 detainees on October 16, 1973, were recorded in the file. Verbatim, in one of its parts, she pointed out: "a few days after they took the husband of my cousin Luisa, Roberto Serrano, I went to visit the house of my aunt Rosa and I saw that she was very desperate and crying for the fate of her husband.

Then I said to her 'don't cry anymore Lucha, your husband was taken by the soldiers, Jorge was with them.' I was referring to the fact that my son had to carry out this detention. My son Jorge had told me about this a few months later, I don't remember exactly when; I knew about it a few days later as I said previously.

They had them for months without leaving after the Coup, so when he went to the house, he told me. He was not calm, he was like scared, desperate, and not only him but also his companions. My son did not know Roberto Serrano; when they went to their house, Jorge met Luisa.

He told me that these detentions were done at night... Yes, it is true that my son told me that it was his turn to shoot at Serrano, but that he asked a companion to change places with him. He also told me that if he said he wouldn't shoot, they would kill him.

It is true that I told Luisa this, since she was taking clothes to her husband at Cerro Chena and they received them there, when Serrano was dead." Jorge Reyes Cortés currently serves in the Los Andes Regiment, with his military rank unknown.

Although Mrs. María Venegas Cortez declared that she did not remember having indicated the hills near Codegua and Melipilla as the place of execution, the wife of Serrano Galaz did remember it, as recorded in her statements before the Visiting Minister Humberto Espejo.

On April 22, 1980, Jorge Reyes Cortés appeared before the Court in case file 1-79. In his statement, he denied any participation in the events; verbatim, in one of its parts, he said: "I never participated in any operation in Paine"; "I never knew there were detainees at Cerro Chena"; "I also did not recognize any of the detainees in the few times I had to be on guard when they arrived." The Visiting Minister has carried out various ocular inspections in rural sectors in the surroundings of Paine, without positive results for the case of the forcibly disappeared of October 16, 1973.

On August 22, 1991, case file 4449-AF was initiated in the 22nd Criminal Court of Santiago, upon initiating the judicial investigation of the crime of illegal burial regarding bodies that currently remain buried as N.N. in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery, background information contained in a criminal complaint presented by the Vicariate of Solidarity of the Archbishopric of Santiago.

The anthropometric information of René del Rosario Maureira Gajardo was delivered in that case. In the month of September 1991, the exhumation of 108 graves in Patio 29 proceeded; as of December 1992, the extracted skeletal remains are in the process of identification by the Legal Medical Institute.

Source: Corporation report

At least two survivors of the torture and executions committed by civilians and uniformed personnel during the dictatorship identify Michael Kast and his son Christian—father and brother of José Antonio Kast, respectively—as collaborators and participants in the repression against peasants.

Controversy has been sparked by a heated discussion that took place on the debate program Sin Filtros, where the Republican Party convention member, Teresa Marinovic, accused the leader of the Revolutionary Workers' Party (PTR), Dauno Tótoro, of having defamed José Antonio Kast's family by stating that they participated in the dictatorship's crimes that occurred in Paine.

The debate took place in the context of the Supreme Court's conviction of 11 retired members of the Army and Carabineros for the qualified homicides of 38 residents from various settlements in that commune of the Metropolitan Region, which took place in September and October 1973.

During the discussion, Tótoro invited Marinovic to read the book A la sombra de los cuervos (Ceibo Ediciones, 2015) by journalist Javier Rebolledo, which addresses the role of civilian accomplices of the civil-military dictatorship.

Indeed, after the section mentioning the role of the Matte Clan in the regime's crimes, practically half of the book, starting from page 199, is dedicated to the Kast Clan.

As general background provided in the journalistic investigation, it is mentioned, for example, that “in Paine, many knew that Michael Kast (father of José Antonio Kast) provided food to the Carabineros, as well as a red truck with a driver, in which peasants were possibly detained.

His son Christian shared barbecues with civilians and uniformed personnel who are currently prosecuted, in the same place where detainees were being tortured at that time and from where they later disappeared.”

One of the testimonies collected in the book is that of Alejandro Bustos, who on September 18, 1973, decided to report to the Carabineros station after being summoned along with other residents of the Paula Jaraquemada settlement.

Upon arriving at the facility and after being received with a blow from a police officer's rifle butt, “he saw a group of civilians who, drunk, were sharing a barbecue with the Carabineros. Among them, he recognized Christian Kast,” Rebolledo writes, later quoting Bustos: “Kast looked a bit more polished. Young, well-groomed, sort of blond.”

Bustos was interrogated by a group of uniformed personnel and armed civilians. “Kast was also asking questions,” Alejandro recalls in the book. “Suddenly, a blow to the head with a rifle butt, which left me stunned. They hit me in the brain,” he narrates.

In his police statement, Alejandro Bustos indicated that after the torture sessions, which involved the application of electric shocks, he was taken out to the street one night, where he observed several civilians and parked vehicles, among them Christian Kast. Along with other detainees, he was taken to an open field. There, they shot them to kill them.

In an interview with the media outlet Piensa Prensa, Bustos again mentioned Christian Kast as one of the civilians who participated in these “operations” against the peasants of Paine. Alejandro remained alive and played dead; his companions were dying, screaming in pain. “With a saber, one of them, still alive, had his eyes gouged out and his tongue cut off,” he recounted in A la sombra de los cuervos.

Thinking he was dead, the uniformed personnel and civilians took Bustos and threw him along with the rest of the bodies into the so-called Panamá River in Paine. He survived and lived to tell the tale.

Alejandro told journalist Javier Rebolledo that at the time of the mass execution “there were civilians, several, but with the lights, the fear, and the darkness, I did not identify them all. I don't remember seeing Kast, but he could have been there too.”

Christian Kast is also placed at the Paine police station where the militant of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), Pedro Vargas Barrientos, was taken; he worked at the main company of the clan of German origin, the Bavaria meat processing plant.

In his statement before the minister of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, Marianela Cifuentes, Kast acknowledged that on September 12, 1973—when Barrientos was already detained at the police facility—“a barbecue was held,” and added: “Every time I went, I saw the Carabineros and civilians sharing barbecues in the courtyard. On those occasions, I found out that there were detainees in the barracks.”

What happened to Pedro Vargas Barrientos, who was being tortured inside the police facility while Christian Kast was eating barbecue with the uniformed personnel and other civilians? Today, he is a forcibly disappeared person.

In his statement before Minister Cifuentes, José Antonio Kast's brother mentioned something else: “I only remember hearing about a person nicknamed ‘harina seca’ (dry flour).” He was referring to Luis Nelson Cádiz Molina, also a forcibly disappeared person, until 1994, when his remains were found in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery in Santiago.

“Michael Kast gave orders and hit people”

In 2013, the patriarch of the clan, Michael Kast, had to testify as an accused before the Justice system, and there he responded regarding his collaboration with the repression in Paine. “I lent (the Carabineros) my truck with the driver named Carlos Silva Silva, now deceased. The truck was requested from me on more than one occasion. It was returned to me later by the driver,” he stated.

In a CHV report produced by journalist Alejandro Vega, he interviewed another of the prisoners and torture victims of Paine, Luis Martínez, who recognized the father of the Kasts, Michael, among those who participated in the sessions of illegal coercion, because he knew him from before since he used to sell him animals for his company, Bavaria.

“When they opened the dungeon in the morning (...) and he entered, I recognized him right away. That old man was number one. He gave orders, he also hit people. He slapped them, and he treated everyone as communists, as Marxists: ‘We have to kill all these Marxists!’” Martínez recounted.

Until his death in May 2014, Michael Kast, father of José Antonio Kast, maintained the status of an accused in the investigation into the crimes of Paine.

Source: lavozdelosquesobran.cl 6/17/2022

Date: 06-17-2022

There was a party at the Liceo Mixto in Parral. Sonia was 15 years old and dying to go. That Saturday night, September 21, 1951, René Maureira asked her to dance. “He struck me immediately. We even kissed that same night, something very rarely seen at that time,” she remembers.

René studied in Talca and traveled to see her every weekend. For a year, they met in the park and walked hand in hand through the city streets, trying to keep their courtship a secret. But one day they ran into Sonia's father. “I wanted to die.

He took away my permission even to buy bread,” she says. But her mother, in secret, let her meet René in the plaza. “Talk to your father,” he told her, and convinced her. “I ended up doing what he asked me.

He was a good influence,” she says with a laugh. Her father listened to her attentively and sentenced: “That's fine, but you stay at the house. What I don't like is for you to be showing off on the street.”

Two years later, René graduated as a teacher and left for a town lost in the middle of the countryside. His visits to Parral became more complicated. “He told me he missed me, especially when he was alone and saw the sunsets,” Sonia says.

One of those afternoons he arrived determined: “Do you want to marry me?” Sonia answered: “Yes, I do.” They never separated again. She at 18 and he at 21 traveled together to the rural school and returned on horseback along a winding path.

In one part of the route, they had to cross by raft. Once, the raft simply didn't arrive. René told Sonia they had to go on the horse. “Don't worry, horses swim.” She was terrified: “Finally, I listened to him and we set off until we touched land. Truly, I always listened to him,” Sonia laughs.

Years later, René left his job as a rural teacher and invited his wife on a new adventure: settling in Paine with a supermarket, the first in the city. It worked. The Mapa was filled and soon they had to expand.

When the Allende Government arrived, René committed a sin that probably cost him his life: unlike his colleagues in commerce, he did not close his store. Without political militancy, he sympathized with the doctor's Government.

On September 13, they took him to the National Stadium. They returned him on October 14. The next day, a picket of soldiers went to look for him again. He returned that night. “He was always warm, but when I snuggled up next to him, I felt him cold and trembling.

He didn't want to tell me anything.” The next day, Sonia got up and on the back of his jacket saw the mark of a thick footprint. This time René told her that they threw him to the floor and that “one of the soldiers stepped on him while humiliating him,” she remembers.

Lifeless

At three in the morning on October 16, the soldiers returned. They needed René for “further interrogations.” They never saw him again. It is proven in the proceedings that the soldiers belonged to the Second Rifle Company of the Infantry School of San Bernardo and were commanded by the then-second lieutenant Osvaldo Andrés Magaña Bau.

It was also proven that the patrol mobilized in a Dodge brand truck and that that night they kidnapped 17 people in one pass and five more in a second trip, in the largest operation that shocked Paine. Days earlier, between October 2 and 3, the same group had taken 14 people from their homes, mostly peasants.

Their bodies were found by relatives on May 12, 1974, on the outskirts of Paine, at the Cuesta Chada, the same place where they were executed. On September 24, they had kidnapped and executed two peasants from the El Escorial sector of Paine.

Added to the kidnappings and executions carried out by Carabineros of the Paine Sub-station, between September and November of '73, the victims in this locality amount to 70, the highest number in Chile in relation to population density.

Some victims of Paine appeared dead in the days following their kidnapping next to the beds of rivers and canals. Others, on the side of a road, and others remain disappeared to this day. As a result of these crimes, seven former Carabineros of the Paine Sub-station are currently being prosecuted for kidnapping and homicide; two civilians, for homicide against a peasant, and two soldiers from the Infantry School of San Bernardo, Víctor Raúl Pinto Pérez and the aforementioned Osvaldo Andrés Magaña Bau, also for homicides and kidnappings.

Magaña, currently a retired colonel, kept a rigorous silence for years. In confrontations with relatives who had seen him in the operations, he flatly denied his participation.

In '78, Sonia remembers that she filed a complaint for the disappearance of her husband and that Magaña told her to her face that he had never set foot in Paine. “I asked him to confess, so as not to leave such a dark future for his children,” she says.

In 2003, thanks to the fact that numerous riflemen told the truth, an indictment fell on Magaña for the homicide and disappearance of 36 people, but he continued without speaking. At the end of 2005, he confessed his authorship in 31 crimes.

LND spoke with him, but he declined to make comments. However, in his statement of June 2006, for the “Caravan of Death” case, almost everything he did is there: “I was given the order to be accompanied by a prisoner condemned by a war council, who would indicate to me the addresses of different people I had to detain.

That is how on that occasion a total of 14 people were detained (at the beginning of October), who together with the condemned man were executed at the Cuesta Chada, being buried at the site.” Regarding the people kidnapped on October 16, among whom is René Maureira, Sonia's husband, and Andrés Pereira Salsberg, father of the lawyer Pamela Pereira, Magaña declared: “I was requested by the director and deputy director of the school [of Infantry of San Bernardo], who gave me the order to detain 17 people, who also had to be executed, who were executed in the vicinity of Lake Rapel, having to point out that the bodies of the first deceased [at the Cuesta Chada], after being buried, were handed over to their relatives and the latter were exhumed and thrown into the sea.” All in two weeks.

Without justice

The crimes of Paine, accumulated in a single case, had notable progress starting in 2001, when the judge of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, María Stella Elgarrista, initiated a recognized investigation that for the first time did not look for bodies, but for those responsible for the crimes.

The collaboration of relatives and the work that human rights lawyer Nelson Caucoto had been doing since 1980 were added. However, it subsequently experienced a series of setbacks. In 2004, Elgarrista disqualified herself after the San Miguel Court of Appeals revoked the amnesty she decreed against one of those responsible for Paine.

It is one of the paradoxes of the judge, who on one hand was rigorous in the search for truth and on the other was in favor of amnesty. Recently it reached the hands of judge Olga Meurer. According to information received by this media outlet, she will disqualify herself next week because she is a professor at the Carabineros School, which creates a conflict of interest.

Without hope

A much more dramatic swarm is being experienced in Paine. Many relatives no longer receive the press because to date there are no convictions in a case that is essentially solved. “It makes no sense to keep talking.

So much time and nothing happens,” protests a woman. “This is slow. The hopelessness of the people of Paine is understandable, but I think we are a little past the middle of the process. We managed to ensure it was not amnestied and then we filed all the complaints that are being investigated today.

But it is missing. Paine lived an internal holocaust and the people are not thirsty for revenge, but for justice. Higher responsibilities are missing. Although Magaña is fundamental, he has superiors,” explains Nelson Caucoto.

It is added that 11 of the victims of this locality are part of the erroneous identifications of Patio 29 carried out by the Legal Medical Service, the scandal that still shakes these women. Rosa Becerra is one of them.

On the fateful October 16, her husband, Luis Gaete, was also kidnapped by Magaña's group. They returned him in 1994, coming from Patio 29, and last year they exhumed him again. Until now, she does not know to whom she left flowers for more than 10 years.

For all that, she excuses herself from receiving us at her home, located in the Callejón de las Viudas, famous because from there they took 12 peasants. “Luis was gone for so long, more than 30 years, and now they take him away again.

I would have preferred that they had left us like that, with the ignorance, so as not to have to live his disappearance again,” Rosa gestures with a mixture of emotions that do not let her stop talking. “My daughter is depressed and has two little ones.

I don't want to imagine that they are left alone if she decides to stop living,” she says when remembering that María Amparo had her first strong fall when they gave her her father's body in '94. She had been born 24 days after his disappearance and grew up with Rosa's memories longing to see him with her own eyes.

Finally, Rosa invites us into her house. She wants to show us a mosaic that she has almost finished. It is part of 70 more, one for each victim, which will give life to the Memorial for the Victims of Paine, which will be inaugurated next Saturday, October 21. “They told us that it is very loaded to white, that it lacks contrast,” says Rosa with an artist's eye. “I like how it is turning out,” observes her husband of 25 years.

They work hand in hand organizing the painting. In the heart of a large guitar, her first husband, Luis, is seen plowing the land. To one side, a pregnant woman. “That's me, pregnant and always waiting,” says Rosa with bright eyes.

Without a path

Mr. José Castro Maldonado lived in a rural settlement, granted by the Government of Salvador Allende in 1972, a few kilometers from Paine. “There were no holidays and many times he spent the nights on the tractor plowing the land,” remembers his daughter Luz.

In the days after the coup, things turned black for the farmers in the area. Many were kidnapped by Carabineros in the area and they returned them in terrible conditions. Luz remembers that expropriated landowners accompanied the military in the operations. “The Tagles, Francisco Luzoro, Juan Balcázar, Claudio Oregón, and many more are known here because they pointed their fingers at people,” she says.

In fact, both Balcázar and Oregón are prosecuted as authors of the homicide of Ricardo Carrasco Barrios, in September 1973. They shot him in the back.

On October 15, Mr. José Castro, 52, went to visit Luz. They had seen each other for the last time a week ago and she feared the worst. “He arrived on his motorcycle and got off. We hugged, we cried, and he told me: ‘Nothing has happened to me yet,’” she remembers.

The next night, Magaña's group passed by there. She saw the shine of the military helmets pass by her room. Seven more people were kidnapped that night. From then on, the widows of Paine became known because they left every day in search of their husbands. “Entire families were destroyed.

I saw how the children were left alone, without upbringing, because the women went wherever they could to look for them. Tres Álamos, Isla Quiriquina, etc.,” says Luz. She herself was not convinced of the loss.

For a long time, she dreamed that her father was alive. “Also during the day, I saw him appear on the road,” the woman remembers. Among the most valuable teachings of her father, Luz highlights respect for life.

When, for example, they had to make insectariums for some subject, the man preferred that they fail rather than kill. “Everyone has the right to life,” she remembers him telling her. Today Luz is 60 years old and calculates that Mr.

Luis would be around 86. “One can be old, but one always needs one's parents,” she says moved. From a pocket, she takes out a handkerchief and dries the tears that appear behind her thick glasses. They slip out every time she tries to join the unfinished fragments of her story.

Source: October 15, 2006 La Nación

Date: 10-15-2006

I am René Maureira Gajardo, I was born in Parral, I studied at the Abelardo Núñez Normal School and worked for several years as a rural teacher. At a party, I fell in love with Shony, after twenty years we are still together and we have two children: Juan René and Juan Leonardo.

Several years ago, with my brother-in-law, we installed a supermarket in Paine, I changed fields to improve my family's conditions. Thanks to my work, I met many people: housewives, peasants, workers, merchants, businessmen, and others from the town. We always tried to have a good relationship with the community.

The night of September 11, my house and the supermarket were raided, I suspect in retaliation for participating in and supporting the Supply and Price Boards (JAP), which promoted the Popular Unity and President Allende; I was taken to the National Stadium, in October I was able to return to my family, I felt relieved to return home.

But, in the early hours of October 16, soldiers arrived at my home again. I was detained along with 23 other people from the town and taken very far from Paine to a ravine near Rapel. Since then, my family, who does not know what happened, has not stopped looking for me with the hope of finding me again.

He is René Maureira Gajardo, detained and disappeared since October 16, 1973. I am Juan René Maureira Carreño, and I remember my dad. Remember him, remind others.

Technical sheet

This micro-biography was made from the text provided by René Maureira's relatives and recorded by Juan René Maureira, in the months of January and July 2014, in the studios of Radio Universidad de Chile, where it was subsequently mixed and broadcast.

Source: latidosdelamemoria.cl no date

The Second Chamber of the Supreme Court sentenced retired Army members Jorge Romero Campos and Arturo Fernández Rodríguez to 20 years of imprisonment for their responsibility in 38 cases of qualified homicide.

The Supreme Court dismissed the application of the "half-prescription" (partial statute of limitations) and increased the sentences for the retired members of the Army and the Carabineros de Chile for their responsibility in the qualified homicides of José Cabezas Bueno, Francisco Calderón Nilo, Héctor Castro Sáez, Domingo Galaz Salas, José González Espinoza, Juan González Pérez, Aurelio Hidalgo Mella, Bernabé López López, Juan Núñez Vargas, Héctor Pinto Caroca, Hernán Pinto Caroca, Aliro Valdivia Valdivia, Hugo Alfredo Arenas, Víctor Zamorano González, José Adasme Núñez, Pedro Cabezas Villegas, Ramón Capetillo Mora, José Castro Maldonado, Patricio Duque Orellana, José Fredes García, Luis Gaete Balmaceda, Carlos Gaete López, Luis Lazo Maldonado, Samuel Lazo Maldonado, Carlos Lazo Quinteros, Samuel Lazo Quinteros, René Maureira Gajardo, Rosalindo Herrera Muñoz, Jorge Muñoz Peñaloza, Mario Muñoz Peñaloza, Ramiro Muñoz Peñaloza, Silvestre Muñoz Peñaloza, Carlos Nieto Duarte, Andrés Pereira Salsberg, Laureano Quiroz Pezoa, Roberto Serrano Galaz, Luis Silva Carreño, and Basilio Valenzuela Álvarez, which occurred between September 24 and October 16, 1973, in various settlements in the commune of Paine.

In the ruling (docket 149.250-2020), the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court—composed of ministers Jorge Dahm, Leopoldo Llanos, minister María Teresa Letelier, and acting lawyers Diego Munita and Leonor Etcheberry—sentenced retired Army members Jorge Romero Campos and Arturo Fernández Rodríguez to a penalty of 20 years of imprisonment for their responsibility in the 38 cases of qualified homicide, with the first 14 occurring between September 24 and October 3, 1973, in the "El Escorial" sector, and the latter 24 occurring between October 8 and October 16, 1973, in the "Campo Lindo" and "24 de abril" settlements.

Meanwhile, retired Army members José Vásquez Silva, Carlos Lazo Santibáñez, Juan Opazo Vera, Roberto Pinto Labordarie, Jorge Saavedra Meza, Víctor Sandoval Muñoz, and Carlos Durán Rodríguez were sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment for their responsibility in the 38 aforementioned crimes.

Raúl Francisco Areyte Valdenegro must serve a sentence of 7 years and 6 months of imprisonment for his responsibility in the 14 homicides in the "El Escorial" sector.

Finally, retired Carabineros officer Nelson Iván Bravo Espinoza was sentenced to ten years and one day of imprisonment for his responsibility in the qualified kidnappings of Ramón Capetillo Mora and Mario Muñoz Peñaloza, committed on October 8 and 10, 1973.

The Supreme Court accepted the cassation appeals filed by the plaintiffs against the ruling of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, which had applied the "half-prescription" figure, considering that this figure should not be accepted in cases of crimes against humanity.

"That the so-called 'half-prescription' is a 'species' of total prescription and not a mere special rule for determining the penalty, since both have the same foundation, that is, the need for the penalty diminishes over time until it disappears. In other words, both are the same thing, but at different stages.

The foregoing entails that all institutions and prohibitions that regulate total prescription are consequentially applicable to half-prescription and, in what concerns us here, in those crimes where total prescription cannot exist because the need for a penalty does not diminish with the passage of time, such as the crimes against humanity in these proceedings, half-prescription cannot operate either.

That from what has been reflected upon, it is undoubted that both complete prescription and half-prescription or gradual prescription share common characteristics; thus, both are located under the same Title of the Penal Code, that is, Title V of Book I, titled 'On the Extinction of Criminal Responsibility,' and both are likewise rooted in the succession or passage of time.

Finally, sharing the same nature as total prescription and gradual prescription, its recognition in the present case must be dismissed, since, being an imprescriptible crime, it is not possible to begin the computation of the period required by gradual prescription," the ruling states.

It adds: "That, in effect, the classification of crime against humanity that corresponds to the crimes subject to this process, as established in the 34th motive of the first-instance ruling, obliges the consideration of International Human Rights Law, which excludes the application of both total prescription and the so-called half-prescription, understanding such institutes as closely linked in their foundations and, consequently, contrary to the regulations of ius cogens originating from that sphere of International Criminal Law, which reject impunity and the imposition of penalties not proportional to the intrinsic gravity of the crimes, based on the passage of time."

Furthermore, it is considered: "That by resolving in the opposite sense, the challenged ruling has incurred in the invoked cause of Article 546 No. 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, because, although it classifies the crime in accordance with the law, it imposes on the defendants a less severe penalty than that designated by it, committing an error of law by granting a reduction that, according to international human rights precepts, is inappropriate, an error that, moreover, has had a substantial influence on the operative part of the ruling, because with respect to almost all of the accused—favored with only one mitigating factor—it enabled a reduction of the penalty that could not have been reached otherwise."

The investigation by the visiting minister of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, Marianela Cifuentes Alarcón, established the following regarding the events in "El Escorial":

"1st. That on the afternoon of September 24, 1973, soldiers from the Second Rifle Company of the San Bernardo Infantry School appeared at the 'El Escorial' settlement in the commune of Paine and illegally detained Héctor Guillermo Castro Sáez and Juan Bautista Núñez Vargas, among others.

2nd. That, after their detention, Héctor Castro Sáez and Juan Núñez Vargas were transferred to the Cerro Chena prisoner camp of the San Bernardo Infantry School, where they were kept illegally imprisoned.

3rd. That, on October 2, 1973, soldiers from the San Bernardo Infantry School appeared at the 'El Escorial' settlement in the commune of Paine and illegally detained José Ángel Cabezas Bueno, who was immediately transferred to the Cerro Chena prisoner camp.

4th. That, in the early hours of October 3, 1973, soldiers from the Second Rifle Company of the San Bernardo Infantry School, commanded by Captain Jorge Eduardo Romero Campos, left the Cerro Chena prisoner camp, under the charge of Lieutenant Osvaldo Andrés Alonso Magaña Bau and Sub-lieutenants Carlos Walter Kyling Schmidt and Arturo Guillermo Fernández Rodríguez, with the detainees José Ángel Cabezas Bueno, Héctor Guillermo Castro Sáez, and Juan Bautista Núñez Vargas, in a red Dodge truck driven by Juan Guillermo Quintanilla Jerez, headed to the 'El Escorial' settlement in the commune of Paine and illegally detained Francisco Javier Calderón Nilo, Domingo Octavio Galaz Salas, José Emilio González Espinoza, Juan Rosendo González Pérez, Aurelio Enrique Hidalgo Mella, Bernabé del Carmen López López, Héctor Santiago Pinto Caroca, Hernán Pinto Caroca, Aliro del Carmen Valdivia Valdivia, Hugo Alfredo Vidal Arenas, and Víctor Manuel Zamorano González.

5th. That, subsequently, in the same truck, they transported all the detainees to a ravine in the Cuesta de Chada and executed them, shooting them with the firearms they were carrying, their bodies being found abandoned in the aforementioned place some time later."

Meanwhile, regarding the illicit acts in the "Campo Lindo" and "24 de abril" settlements, it was proven that:

"1st. That, on October 8, 1973, officials from the Paine Carabineros Sub-station appeared at the 'Campo Lindo' settlement in the same commune and illegally detained Ramón Alfredo Capetillo Mora, who was immediately locked up in the aforementioned police unit.

2nd. That, in the following days, Ramón Alfredo Capetillo Mora was transferred to the Cerro Chena prisoner camp of the San Bernardo Infantry School.

3rd. That, on October 10, 1973, officials from the Paine Carabineros Sub-station appeared at the '24 de Abril' settlement in the same commune and illegally detained Mario Enrique Muñoz Peñaloza, who was immediately locked up in the aforementioned police unit.

4th. That, in the following days, Mario Muñoz Peñaloza was transferred to the Cerro Chena prisoner camp of the San Bernardo Infantry School.

5th. That, at the time of the events, the Paine Carabineros Sub-station was under the charge of Captain Nelson Iván Bravo Espinoza.

6th. That, in the early hours of October 16, 1973, soldiers from the Second Rifle Company of the San Bernardo Infantry School, commanded by Captain Jorge Eduardo Romero Campos, left the Cerro Chena prisoner camp, under the charge of Lieutenant Osvaldo Andrés Alonso Magaña Bau and Sub-lieutenants Carlos Walter Kyling Schmidt and Arturo Guillermo Fernández Rodríguez, with the detainees Ramón Alfredo Capetillo Mora and Mario Enrique Muñoz Peñaloza, in a red Dodge truck driven by Juan Guillermo Quintanilla Jerez, with the purpose of detaining twenty-two people in the town of Paine.

Thus, in their respective homes located in the urban area of the commune of Paine, they illegally detained René del Rosario Maureira Gajardo and Andrés Pereira Salsberg. In the '24 de Abril' settlement, they detained Patricio Loreto Duque Orellana, José Germán Fredes García, Carlos Enrique Gaete López, Rosalindo Delfín Herrera Muñoz, Jorge Hernán Muñoz Peñaloza, Ramiro Antonio Muñoz Peñaloza, Silvestre René Muñoz Peñaloza, Carlos Alberto Nieto Duarte, Laureano Quiroz Pezoa, Luis Ramón Silva Carreño, and Basilio Antonio Valenzuela Álvarez.

In the 'Nuevo Sendero' settlement, they detained José Domingo Adasme Núñez, José Ignacio Castro Maldonado, Luis Alberto Gaete Balmaceda, Luis Rodolfo Lazo Maldonado, Samuel del Tránsito Lazo Maldonado, Carlos Enrique Lazo Quinteros, and Samuel Altamiro Lazo Quinteros; and finally, in the 'El Tránsito' settlement, they detained Pedro Antonio Cabezas Villegas and Roberto Estevan Serrano Galaz.

7th. That, subsequently, the aforementioned detainees were transported to the Los Arrayanes ravine, in the Los Quillayes sector, in the vicinity of Lake Rapel, where they were executed by firing squad by the aforementioned soldiers and the civilian who accompanied them, who immediately buried their bodies at the same site.

Years later, only bone and dental fragments of eleven of the twenty-four victims were found, as their bodies had been removed and transported to a site unknown to this date."

In civil matters, the State was ordered to pay compensation to the victims' families.

Source: enestrado.com 6/15/2022

Date: 06-15-2022

TESTIMONY OF JUAN LEONARDO MAUREIRA G., son of René Maureira Gajardo

September 29, 2008. In the early hours of October 16, 1973, a patrol of soldiers from the San Bernardo Army, commanded by Sub-lieutenant Andrés Magaña Bau, broke into our home asking for the presence of the head of the house, in this case my father René Maureira Gajardo, who had been released only two days prior after being detained at the Paine police station, only to be later transferred to the Estadio Nacional where he remained for a month.

He was taken from our home in the presence of my mother, my brother, and me, and we were powerless to stop it. The same occurred with Andrés Pereira, a friend and neighbor. They then moved to the 24 de Abril and Nuevo Sendero settlements and detained 20 peasants who were transported to the Los Quillayes ravine, in the Litueche sector of the Melipilla commune, to be murdered by this same patrol.

It is important to highlight that it was not until October 2007, thanks to the investigation carried out by Minister Héctor Solís of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, that the location of the massacre could be determined, as different pieces of evidence were found that we were able to verify when we visited the site together with the other families.

Furthermore, in 1978, Pinochet ordered the operation called "Retiro de Televisores" (Removal of Televisions), which consisted of exhuming the bodies in all places in Chile where people had been executed; today, the Minister is investigating this situation.

Paine is the commune in Chile with the highest number of forcibly disappeared persons when measured against its population density in 1973; there are seventy victims.

The detention of Pinochet meant a great satisfaction for us as an association, and it also corroborated that justice in Chile has not functioned as it should, since it should have been in our country where he should have been detained and prosecuted for so much barbarity that he committed.

During the detention, we did not see any progress in our cases; only during the government of President Lagos, thanks to the appointment of special judges or judges with exclusive dedication, did we see how the processes were expedited and we had military personnel, Carabineros, and civilians detained and subsequently prosecuted.

In Paine, the detentions, torture, and murders were carried out jointly by civilians, Carabineros, and military personnel. Of all these, today there is a large number who have confessed to their murders and are being prosecuted; it is expected that in the coming months Mr. Solís will issue a sentence.

Juan Leonardo Maureira C. President A.F.D.D

Source: amnesty.org

Paine Case comes to an end: Supreme Court sentences 11 former uniformed officers for the murder of 38 peasants

49 years after the events occurred, the Supreme Court issued a final ruling in one of the most emblematic cases perpetrated by the military dictatorship. Through its Second Penal Chamber, it sentenced former uniformed officers for the qualified homicide of 36 agricultural workers and 2 businessmen, all from the town of Paine, who were executed at the Cuesta Chada and the Los Quillayes ravine on October 3 and 16, 1973, respectively, at the hands of officials from the San Bernardo Infantry School.

Ministers Jorge Dahm, Leopoldo Llanos, María Teresa Letelier, and acting lawyers Diego Munita and Leonor Etcheberry, in a historic ruling, sentenced Jorge Romero Campos and Arturo Fernández Rodríguez, Army captain and sub-lieutenant respectively, to 20 years of major imprisonment in its maximum degree as authors of the qualified kidnapping of the victims.

In this case, the Supreme Court increased their sentences in relation to the second-instance ruling issued by the San Miguel Court of Appeals, in which Romero had been sentenced to 15 years and Fernández to 10.

In the same way, the Court increased the sentences for Corporal José Vásquez Silva and conscripts Carlos Lazo Santibáñez, Juan Opazo Vera, and Carlos Durán Rodríguez from 5 to 10 years of major imprisonment in its minimum degree, also as authors of qualified homicide.

The same sentence was received by conscripts Roberto Pinto Labordarie, Jorge Saavedra Meza, and Víctor Sandoval Muñoz.

In the case of conscript Raúl Francisco Areyte Valdenegro, the Court increased his sentence from 5 to 6 years of major imprisonment in its minimum degree as the author of 14 qualified homicides.

It should be noted that for all the aforementioned convicts, the Supreme Court reclassified the crimes in relation to the second-instance ruling, from qualified kidnapping to qualified homicide. Likewise, the ministers recognized the collaboration provided by the conscripts through their statements, which contributed to the identifications, and applied the special mitigating factor of substantial collaboration and irreproachable prior conduct.

Meanwhile, Carabineros Captain Nelson Bravo Espinoza was sentenced to 10 years of major imprisonment in its medium degree, whose sentence was increased by 5 years and his crime was reclassified from simple kidnapping to qualified kidnapping of Ramón Capetillo Mora and Mario Muñoz Peñaloza, which occurred between October 8 and 10, 1973.

Meanwhile, Osvaldo Magaña Bau, Juan Guillermo Quintanilla, and Carlos Kylling Schmidt, who had been convicted during the process, were dismissed due to their deaths, as was Víctor Pinto Pérez.

Plaintiff lawyer Nelson Caucoto, who represents the families of 37 victims, was satisfied as the Court accepted all the cassation appeals they presented and celebrated the ruling, stating that "tomorrow will be a brighter day for the families of the victims of Paine, executed by soldiers from the San Bernardo Infantry School, a day filled with new sensations and hopes."

Caucoto, who has been handling the case since its inception, stated that "The highest court of the Republic has issued a final sentence in this case, which speaks of a massacre that occurred 49 years ago in that rural town. Impunity, indolence, and barbarity have been overcome. What the Supreme Court has done is an act of healing for those families and for Chilean society in general.

One of the unforgivable crimes of the civil-military dictatorship has been resolved by Chilean justice in a civilized manner. Despite the long time that has passed, Justice is possible."

It should be mentioned that the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior, the Association of Families of Political Executed Persons (AFEP), the Federation of Students of the Catholic University (FEUC), and lawyer Luciano Fouillioux, as representative of the father of lawyer Pamela Pereira, Andrés Pereira Salsberg, also acted as plaintiffs in the arguments.

In civil matters, the res judicata that had been decreed by the San Miguel Court of Appeals, which prevented some of the victims' families from accessing reparation, was set aside.

Source: radio.uchile.cl 6/15/2022

Letter from Sonia Carreño to her husband René Maureira

Dear René: I don't know if you will receive this letter, but the children have the certainty that you might be there; they have dreamed of you, just like I have, and we assume you are in the mines. My René, I love you very much, you know that, I love you and I need you, I am worried about you, we know nothing, we have gone here and there without obtaining any concrete information, but I am waiting for you, I am waiting for you with more love than before, the children and I have faith that everything will be fixed and this nightmare will pass, especially because I see in every uniform, whether it be a Carabinero or a soldier, a hope for understanding and fraternity toward human beings. I will tell you, my René, that I attended Juan Leonardo's graduation, I read a message for the Graduate, I wrote it the night before and I put all my heart into doing it. I find it very beautiful and of profound content; I have received congratulations for the message, I am attaching it so you can read it. My René, every day, morning and night, I pray that you return soon. God willing, you will not get sick so that you can withstand this hard test that the Almighty has imposed on us. I am fine, but I am waiting for you and I need you, my love... I love you and I respect you... I hope all the military personnel will calm down so they can give us the opportunity to show them that we are an honest, hardworking family and, therefore, collaborators to our homeland. My children, our children, help me a lot at home and in the business; your siblings are always attentive to any advice I ask of them regarding the business. God willing, all this will pass soon, because I, my love, have missed you so much, I miss you so much... I love you... I love you, I need you, you are mine, only mine... and mocking and evil destiny has separated us perhaps for how long... have patience my love... have faith... that just as God united us on a September 24, He will unite us again and hopefully forever... Ask for authorization to answer me even if it is just two words, but written in your own hand. Receive affectionate hugs from your children who wait for you with respect and love. Yours forever, kissed by your wife who needs you and waits for you. Your Shony.

(Letter written by Sonia Carreño with the objective of delivering it to her husband when she found him in some detention center.) Paine, January 20, 1974

Source: germina.cl 2014

Testimony of Sonia Carreño Saldías (excerpt)

My name is Sonia Carreño and I am the wife of René Maureira, a forcibly disappeared person since October 16, 1973. I was 36 years old, my son Juan René was 17 years old, and Juan Leonardo was 16 years old.

I met René when I was 15, when we both lived in Parral. We married very young; he was my first and only great love. We always worked together to get ahead with our two children. We came to live in Paine in 1965 and we set up the store and later the first supermarket in Paine, "MAPA." Our life was good, we had a harmonious relationship as a couple, the children were entering adolescence with complete tranquility, we were working hard and well.

Quite a few friends came to eat at our house and we also visited very often. During the Unidad Popular, René, unlike most merchants, never closed the business; despite the fact that he received pressure to join the protest against the government, he maintained prices and did not deny the sale of any basic item; everything that was in stock was sold to the people who stood in long lines.

We would not have had that line if it weren't for the right-wingers warning Rancagua by phone, for example, and from there many people came to take merchandise every time we received supplies for Paine.

This attitude caused several friends to distance themselves from us. My husband was detained three times; the first time was on September 11 itself, around eleven at night, during curfew, the Carabineros arrived to look for him.

They asked him to go and open the store we had two blocks from the house. We knew them, so we attended to them normally; even when René left, I went back to bed, very calm. He returned around one in the morning, got into bed, and I noticed his body was very cold.

That was when he told me that he had found the store broken into, that soldiers had raided everything looking for weapons and that obviously they had found nothing. He also told me that one of the soldiers was saying things to make him angry, for example, for 2 kilos of sugar that had remained from the sale, he said, "Look, you son of a bitch, how you have hoarding here," the same for the flour.

The treatment, according to what my husband told me, was to make him sulfurous and make him say, "What do you mean hoarding for 2 kilos of sugar!" But later, when he was taken to the sidewalk, to the street, he threw him face down and the soldier put his foot or boot on top of him, that is, the idea was to humiliate him in some way, that is what I believe.

In front of the store was the house of María Carrasco, who was one of the people who identified herself as far-right. So it seems to me that they put him there so she could see through the window that they were complying with something, because what happened to my husband, for me, for my whole family, there is no doubt that it was the work of civilians, not the military, because René had never had a problem with any Carabinero, with any soldier; he was a very responsible, very punctual, very gentlemanly person, so I don't think it was from another side, I think it was from the civilian side here in Paine.

The Carabineros captain of that time, Nelson Bravo, after a while, when the soldier had already left, told him, "Alright, Mr. Maureira, close your doors and go," so he tied the doors with string, with whatever he could, from the inside, and came to the house.

When René left the store there was no one, no Carabineros, no soldiers, no one, and with the curfew he had to come to the house. He thought in those two blocks—which felt eternal to him—that a bullet could hit him from anywhere, from behind, from the front; he didn't see anything, not even dogs were out, but there was a butcher shop, which belonged to Francisco Luzoro, which had an entrance door that they used for the truckers of that time, they were called SIPRODUCAM, so René was walking and saw light through the door, and he thought that at any moment they were going to shoot him from that door or from anywhere because it was 12 or 1 in the morning and he was walking home alone.

When he arrived at the house, he told me that his legs felt like wool from panic because he thought he was going to end up dead anywhere, however, nothing happened, he arrived at the house, got into bed, and I found him very cold; he was usually warm and that day his legs, his body, were all cold, cold, cold.

Later I realized that from fright, from fear because of everything that happened to him, he arrived very, very cold, and the next day I saw the shoe print on his jacket, and that was when he told me that they had laid him on the sidewalk, with a military boot on his back, crushing him.

On the night of September 12, the Carabineros returned and took him again. René went out with a small shawl that was to warm his back and that I had given him for a birthday; I followed him, I don't know why I followed him, I cannot say that I thought of doing something or saying something, but I followed him, it was something that was born in me and when I was halfway through the front garden, a voice shouted at me, "Go back, ma'am," and since I didn't pay attention and kept walking, he shouted at me again; there, reasoning, thinking of René, I said, "Damn, maybe I'm harming René," and I turned around and went into the house.

Where is my husband? Searching for the truth. The next day I went to the Paine police station to ask what was happening; outside it there were many civilian vehicles and many right-wing people who were waiting for I don't know what.

They didn't even let me enter the police station and, outside, a Carabinero told me he knew nothing about René. I asked and asked for several days, until they told me to go to the Buin police station. There, Captain Bravo told me he didn't know anything either.

While I was finding out, I continued working at the store across the street, because I started from the assumption that my husband was detained, that they were interrogating him, and that he would return at any moment.

I had no fear and it didn't even occur to me to contact a lawyer. I didn't fear for him even though people came to tell me horrible things, like that inside the hills they had burned some peasants alive, that bodies were appearing in the ditches.

I didn't believe it was true and I understood that my first task was to do everything necessary so that René would find us well, with the family normal and the business running. (EXCERPT)

Source: germina.cl 2014 (excerpt)