The 12 retired officers of the Navy and Carabineros who were prosecuted yesterday by Judge Eliana Quezada for the crimes of kidnapping and torture against former political prisoners following the 1973 coup d'état on the training ship Esmeralda, were arrested this morning by members of the Special Affairs and Human Rights Brigade, led by Commissioner Sandro Gaete.

The accused are Vice Admirals Juan Mackay Barriga and Sergio Barra von Kretschmann, Navy Captain Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, and Carabineros Colonel Nelson López Cofré. Also prosecuted were Navy non-commissioned officers Bertolino Castillo Soto, Jorge Leiva Cordero, Jaime Lazo Pérez, Reginaldo Rebolledo López, Manuel Leiva Valdivieso, Juan Reyes Bausar, Luis Cabezón Cattanzano, and Alejo Esparza Martínez.

All were taken to the PDI barracks in Viña del Mar, and later, at approximately 11:30, were transferred to the courts of Valparaíso to appear before the presiding judge. The judge must determine which naval or Carabineros facility the accused will be held in.

The resolution was issued due to the illegal arrest and torture of María Eliana Comeném, Alberto Neumann Lagos, Claudina Moreno Cortés, María and Rosa Huerta Sánchez, and María Isabel Vásquez Pezoa.

Source: La Nacion, December 1, 2009

Magistrate notifies fourteen former uniformed officers involved in the Woodward case of their prosecution

During the morning, the Human Rights Brigade of the Investigative Police (PDI) began the transfer to the Valparaíso Court of Appeals of the last 14 individuals prosecuted for the disappearance of the English priest Miguel Woodward, who was also tortured aboard the Chilean Navy training ship Esmeralda and subsequently disappeared.

It should be noted that on August 26, Judge María Eliana Quezada ordered the prosecution of these fourteen former uniformed officers. The events date back to the first days of the military dictatorship, when the Chilean Navy implemented "Plan Cochayuyo," designed to repress social organizations and control the area following the military coup.

After 11:00, the retired Carabineros and Navy officials involved in this human rights case began arriving at the Fifth Region Court of Appeals so that the magistrate could notify them of their prosecution and pretrial detention.

The prosecuted individuals are retired Carabineros Héctor Tapia Olivares, Ángel Lorca Fuenzalida, and Enrique Corrales Díaz, all colonels; as well as Major Luis Araya Maureira, Captain Nelson López Cofré, and Second Sergeant Jorge Leiva Cordero.

Also prosecuted were former Navy officers Pedro Abregó Diamanti, Navy Captain; and retired Marine Infantry non-commissioned officers Manuel Leiva Valdivieso, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Jaime Lazo Pérez, Bertalino Castillo Soto, Alejo Esparza Martínez, Carlos Líbano Riquelme, and Sergio Hevia Febres.

With this action, the number of those prosecuted in this case—an emblematic one regarding human rights in Valparaíso—reaches 33.

Source: radio.uchile.cl, August 30, 2010

4 former Navy members prosecuted for the aggravated kidnapping of Alberto Salazar Aguilera

The special judge, Alejandro Solís, who is substantiating the case regarding the detention and disappearance of this young MIR militant in Valparaíso, issued the prosecutions of four former Navy members for the crime of aggravated kidnapping.

Alberto's father passed away eight months ago, while his mother continues to live in Talcahuano and participates in the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared of Concepción. He never stopped searching for his son, Alberto, but in the end, death overcame him.

On May 7, 2010, the life of Juan Salazar, an active member of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared of Concepción, came to an end. Eight months later, special judge Alejandro Solís, who is investigating the disappearance of his son, which occurred on November 22, 1974, in Valparaíso, submitted four retired Navy members to prosecution for the aggravated kidnapping of Alberto Salazar Aguilera.

Juan Salazar did not live long enough to hear this news. But his wife, Julia Aguilera, who survives him, has continued the fight to know what happened to her son, who was detained when he was just 22 years old.

He was a militant of the MIR and had studied social work at the University of Chile, Temuco campus. José Alberto's detention took place in Valparaíso by agents of the Navy Intelligence Service. Following his second escape attempt, he was wounded by gunfire by his pursuers and was admitted to the Naval Hospital.

His father, Juan Salazar, arrived there to ask about him after receiving a phone call in Talcahuano, where he resided, informing him of Alberto's detention. However, he was denied a visit and never heard from him again.

All attempts to find out what had happened to his son bore no fruit, but that did not stop his parents, Juan and Julia, from continuing their search. Eventually, their case reached the hands of special judge Alejandro Solís, who on January 31 submitted retired Navy members Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, Juan Reyes Basaur, Manuel Leiva Valdivieso, and Valentín Riquelme Villalobos to prosecution for the crime of aggravated kidnapping.

Along with this, he granted them release on bail upon payment of $500,000 (five hundred thousand pesos), and for Leiva Valdivieso, given his advanced age, he granted the measure of house arrest. The Supreme Court has yet to rule. In any case, this is an important step toward justice, although the truth about what happened to Alberto Salazar is still pending.

Source: La Tribuna del BioBio, February 1, 2011

Case No. 21-2016: Kidnapping with serious injury and illegal detention of Marco Antonio Contardo Guerra

Thirty-fifth: Regarding the responsibility of Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur in these events, his investigative statement on page 92 is taken into account, in which he acknowledges that from October 1973 he performed interrogator duties at the Naval War Academy.

Additionally, he is one of the two accused who acknowledges having been in the United States receiving instructions on torture techniques for detainees. In that sense, we must refer to what is stated in the 28th consideration of this sentence in relation to this point.

Therefore, his statement is also not credible when he indicates that he did not apply any type of torture during the interrogations. The course mentioned also appears in his service record, with him reporting to the Chilean Naval Mission in Washington upon its completion.

Regarding his assignments in 1973 relevant to this process, it is established that starting in October of that year he provided services at the SIJACSI, with the evaluations appearing to be signed by the accused Ricardo Riesco Cornejo.

By virtue of all the above, it is concluded that the accused Reyes Basaur bears responsibility for the commission of the crime of kidnapping with serious injury against Marco Antonio Contardo Guerra. IV.- That JUAN ORLANDO JORQUERA TERRAZAS and

JUAN DE DIOS REYES BASAUR

, already identified in the case files, are sentenced as authors of the crime of kidnapping with serious injury against Marco Antonio Contardo Guerra, an event that occurred between the months of October and December 1973, in Valparaíso, to the penalty of FOUR YEARS of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree, with the accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for political rights and absolute disqualification for public offices and positions during the term of the sentence.

Source: Judiciary, April 30, 2019

The multiple faces of impunity in Chile: former Navy members prosecuted 21 years after the complaint was filed

Some media outlets have highlighted the recent resolution issued on August 2, 2021, by the Minister for Extraordinary Visits for Human Rights cases, Magistrate Max Cancino, where he rules: "that he submits to prosecution Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Gilda Mercedes Ulloa Valle, Valentín Evaristo Riquelme Villalobos, and Ricardo Alejandro Riesco Cornejo as authors of the crimes of Kidnapping with Serious Injury and Application of Torture, provided for and sanctioned in articles 141, paragraph 3, and 150 No. 1 of the Penal Code in force at the date of the events, illicit acts perpetrated in Valparaíso on November 14, 1974, and August 8, 1975," since there are "well-founded presumptions to estimate that they participated as authors in the crimes of Kidnapping with Serious Injury and Application of Torture against Aminie Susana Calderón Tapia, as stated in the second preceding consideration." In the final part, the Minister states that "Bearing in mind the health situation in the country due to Covid-19, and given that the accused are senior citizens, they shall remain under house arrest, under the custody of the Carabineros of the sector where they reside, while the resolution granting them provisional release—which will be issued next in the consultation process before the Valparaíso Court of Appeals—is approved." Silva Palma Barracks (detention and torture center) In this same document submitting the former members of the Chilean Navy to prosecution, Minister Max Antonio Cancino states: "That the reviewed background information (...) demonstrates that Aminie Susana Calderón Tapia was ordered to be detained by the authorities of the Intelligence Service of the Interior Security Jurisdictional Area Command (SICAJSI), due to her militancy in the Revolutionary Leftist Movement (MIR), which was carried out on two occasions. The first, on November 14, 1974, while she was attending high school at Liceo No. 1 in Valparaíso, and this deprivation of liberty, without a judicial order to justify it, lasted for two days. On that occasion, she was taken by Navy personnel to the Silva Palma Barracks, where a group of interrogators, organized and coordinated by military commanders, was present with the objective of having her provide information about alleged weapons hidden in the educational establishment and about her party comrades. She was hooded, and in that place, they proceeded to interrogate and torture her through beatings, particularly on her ankles, and the order to keep a beam held with her arms extended under the threat that if she lowered them, she would be beaten. On the second occasion, she was detained by order of the CIRE, the successor to the SICAJSI, which took place on August 8, 1975, at her home in Valparaíso, being again transferred to the Silva Palma Barracks (...), an occasion in which a group of subjects, organized and coordinated by military commanders, proceeded to keep her locked up without a judicial order to justify it, kept her hooded, interrogated her, and tortured her through beatings on her ribs and ankles, with an object, deprivation of food and water, and threats. After two weeks in that place, when she was apparently going to be released, she was transferred to detention centers in the city of Santiago, finally being expelled from the country in July 1976, thus configuring the crimes of Kidnapping with Serious Injury and Application of Torture, provided for and sanctioned in articles 141, paragraph 3, and 150 No. 1 of the Penal Code in force at the date of the events." The fact that state agents are being prosecuted for the kidnapping and torture of a high school student, a young 17-year-old girl, is undoubtedly news that must be highlighted, but one must also keep in mind its significance, as this is a very important stage of the judicial process, but it has not yet concluded, especially considering that this occurs 21 years after the complaint was filed. Impunity regarding Human Rights has different forms of manifestation, ranging from the lack of investigation of the facts, the slowness of judicial processes, partial statutes of limitations, and the application of sentences that are not consistent with the gravity of the investigated facts, which often mean, in concrete practice, the fulfillment of these sentences with precautionary measures such as supervised release or house arrest. When the fulfillment of the sentence in prison is defined, it is served in special facilities such as the Punta Peuco prison, with a series of benefits and comforts that other common, ordinary prison facilities do not have. The slowness and long judicial processes, as another form of Impunity, often translate into what is called "Biological Impunity," since those accused of serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity pass away even before being prosecuted. Bearing in mind the considerations set forth above, what has happened once again in this specific case related to our comrade Aminie Calderón Tapia, beyond the fact that those responsible have been prosecuted, is a form of Impunity due to the long time elapsed before reaching this judicial resolution. The "justice to the extent possible" established in Chile and promoted by post-dictatorship civilian governments continues to show its shameful face.

Source: elclarin.cl, August 10, 2021

Justice prosecutes retired Navy members for kidnapping and torture of Mauricio Redolés

These events were committed between December 1973 and April 1974, at the Naval War Academy, Silva Palma barracks, the ship Lebu, and the Colliguay prisoner camp, among others. Along with this, the magistrate specified that between December 19 and 30, he remained at the War Academy and the Silva Palma Barracks, an occasion in which he was again interrogated and beaten.

The minister for extraordinary visits for human rights violation cases of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Max Cancino, submitted six retired Navy personnel to prosecution for their responsibility in the crimes of aggravated kidnapping and application of torture against the singer-songwriter and poet Mauricio Redolés.

These events were committed between December 1973 and April 1974, at the Naval War Academy, Silva Palma barracks, the ship Lebu, and the Colliguay prisoner camp, among others. In the resolution, Minister Cancino prosecuted Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Valentín Riquelme Villalobos, Bertalino Castillo Soto, Héctor Santibáñez Obreque, and Sergio Hevia Fabres as authors of the illicit acts.

In his resolution, the visiting minister indicated that Mauricio Redolés, "who was a law student at the University of Chile, Valparaíso campus, and a militant of the Communist Party, was ordered to be detained by the authorities of the Intelligence Service of the Interior Security Jurisdictional Area Command (SICAJSI), given his political orientation.

The detention took place on December 10, 1973, at his home located in a university boarding house, and he was transferred to the detention center located at the Naval War Academy, located in Valparaíso, a place where a group of interrogators, also organized and coordinated by military commanders, was prepared with the objective of having him provide information about his political activities and alleged weaponry.

They proceeded to blindfold him, keep him locked up without a legitimate judicial order to justify it, interrogate him, and torture him through various techniques, among them, violent blows to the stomach and placing him in a situation of hearing the screams of other detainees who were also being tortured.

He was transferred between December 12 and 18 to the ship Lebu." Along with this, the magistrate specified that between December 19 and 30, he remained at the War Academy and the Silva Palma Barracks, an occasion in which he was again interrogated and beaten.

From December 30, 1973, to February 2, 1974, he remained detained in the prisoner camp called 'Isla Riesco,' located in Colliguay; between February 2 and March 2, 1974, he was admitted to the Naval Hospital due to surgery for peritonitis; between March 2 and 9, 1974, he returned to the Silva Palma Barracks; between March 9 and 16, 1974, he returned to the 'Isla Riesco' detention center; between March 16, 1974, and April 10, 1974, he returned to the Silva Palma Barracks; between April 10, 1974, and June 10, 1975, he was kept deprived of liberty in the Valparaíso Public Jail.

On January 7, 1975, he was subjected to a War Council and was finally deprived of liberty in an Investigative Police Barracks in Santiago, with a sentence of five years and one day of banishment to England being applied, which became effective in September 1975. "The victim was only placed at the disposal of the Naval Prosecutor's Office by the SICAJSI leadership at the beginning of March 1974, however, he only gave an investigative statement at the beginning of April of the same year," concluded Judge Cancino. by Cristián Meza

Source: eldinamo.cl, May 12, 2022

Minister Max Cancino sentences four retired Navy members for kidnapping with serious injury in Quillota

In the civil sphere, the court dismissed the statute of limitations plea filed by the state and ordered it to pay the victim 80,000,000 pesos in compensation for moral damages.

The minister for extraordinary causes for human rights violations at the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Max Cancino Cancino, sentenced four retired Chilean Navy officers for their responsibility in the crime of kidnapping with grave injury against Carlos Francisco Otazo Román. The illicit act was perpetrated in April 1974.

In the ruling (case file 258-2017), Judge Cancino Cancino sentenced Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Valentín Evaristo Riquelme Villalobos, Héctor Vicente Santibáñez Obreque, and Sergio Hevia Febres to 5 years and one day of effective imprisonment, along with the legal accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification from public office and political rights, and absolute disqualification from holding professional titles for the duration of the sentences, as authors of the crime.

He acquitted them of the charges identifying them as authors of illegal detention and the application of torture.

Likewise, the court decreed the acquittal of the accused Gilda Mercedes Ulloa Valle and Guillermo Tomás Morera Hierro, after ruling out their participation as authors in the kidnapping of Otazo Román.

In the civil sphere, the court dismissed the statute of limitations plea filed by the state and ordered it to pay the victim 80,000,000 pesos in compensation for moral damages.

In the resolution, the visiting judge established beyond any reasonable doubt that on April 23, 1974, “Carlos Francisco Otazo Román was detained on a public street in the town of Quillota and taken to the Silva Palma barracks, located in Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, where he was left in a common room next to the courtyard where other prisoners were held, a place where he was kept locked up without any justifying order.

The following day, he was taken to the interrogation room, where he was questioned by a group of organized interrogators, being beaten and tortured on more than one occasion through the application of electric shocks to his body, while also being blindfolded.

He remained in this place for several days, during which time he was interrogated on various occasions, being subsequently taken to the Valparaíso Public Jail and tried by a War Council, which ultimately ended with a sentence of banishment.”

“Indeed, on March 14, 1975, a War Council sentenced Carlos Otazo Román to four years of minor banishment in its maximum degree as author of the crime provided for in Article 4, letter d) of Law 12.297, and to five years of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree as author of the crime provided for and sanctioned in Articles 1 and 2 of Decree Law No. 77.

Later, on April 23, 1975, the aforementioned sentence was approved by the Military Chief of the Valparaíso Province Zone, with the declaration that Carlos Francisco Otazo Román was sentenced to three years and one day of minor banishment in its maximum degree as author of the crime provided for in Article 4 of Law 12.297, and to four years of minor banishment in its maximum degree as author of the crime provided for and sanctioned in Articles 1 and 2 of Decree Law No. 77, for which he left the country with his family to Oslo, Norway.

Up to the date of his banishment, it is established that Otazo Román was deprived of liberty in the Valparaíso Public Jail,” it adds.

Source: Judiciary, January 23, 2024

Retired Navy members sentenced for the kidnapping of a historian and university professor in Valparaíso

The minister for extraordinary causes for human rights violations at the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Max Cancino, issued a first-instance sentence in the case investigating the qualified kidnapping, illegal detention, and application of torture of Félix Francisco Figueras Ubach (30), a historian, university professor, and leader of the Communist Party, events that took place starting December 11, 1973, in the city of Valparaíso, Fifth Region.

The magistrate sentenced Erwin Conn Tesche (Rear Admiral), Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur (Sergeant Major), and Héctor Santibáñez Obreque (Marine Corps Frigate Captain), all retired officials of the Chilean Navy, to 5 years and one day of major imprisonment in its medium degree as authors of the crime of kidnapping with grave injury against the victim.

Meanwhile, the three former uniformed officers were acquitted of the charges formulated as authors of the application of torture against the victim. Reyes Basaur was acquitted of the crime of illegal detention.

Plaintiff attorney Carolina Vega, of the Caucoto Abogados firm, valued the sentence, noting that it is “a significant milestone for the families, as 50 years have passed and a sentence has only just been handed down.

The family has been waiting for decades for a little justice and reparation, and only today do they see significant progress. However, the sentence for the perpetrators is low, so we will analyze all the background information for a possible appeal.”

The participation of members of the Chilean Navy in crimes against humanity occurred, for the most part, immediately after the military coup, primarily involving crimes of torture and political imprisonment in port cities.

A significant number of its personnel were sent to be part of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), the Joint Command, and the National Intelligence Center (CNI) to carry out repressive activities.

The facts In his investigation, Judge Cancino was able to establish the following facts: "That there existed a hierarchical and disciplined military intelligence group called the Intelligence Service of the Jurisdictional Area of Internal Security, known as SICAJSI, which operated actively starting September 11, 1973, composed of agents belonging to the various branches of national defense, particularly officials of the Chilean Navy, whose main objective was the repression of people opposed to the military regime, for which they proceeded to search for and detain them, who were then deprived of liberty to obtain information through physical and psychological torture. After locating and detaining the people, armed patrols took them to the Naval War Academy or the adjacent building, the Silva Palma Barracks, both located in Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, where the people were locked up and interrogated.

That, in said context, according to the details provided above, it has been established that on December 11, 1973, at night, Félix Francisco Figueras Ubach, of Chilean nationality and Spanish parents, who worked as an adjunct professor at the Pedagogical Institute of the University of Chile in this city, given his political tendency contrary to the military regime of the time, was kidnapped from inside his private home located in Viña del Mar, in the presence of his mother and sister, by military personnel from the Coraceros Regiment of that same city, who took him to the aforementioned military facility. On December 13, 1973, his relatives received news that Figueras Ubach had been transferred to the Naval War Academy, located on Cerro Playa Ancha in Valparaíso, where his presence was denied to them, so from that moment they began searching for him in various places in the city, failing to find his whereabouts. A few days later, the Figueras Ubach family reported that a doctor friend was able to recognize the corpse of Félix Figueras Ubach at the Playa Ancha Naval Hospital.

It is also established that, after being kidnapped at the Naval War Academy facility in Valparaíso, where he had to remain locked up with other detainees, he was subjected to various interrogations with the application of torture in a room set up for that purpose, located on the fourth floor of the building, by the group of Marines designated to fulfill the role of interrogator.

The torture received during the interrogation was of such magnitude that both the victim and the other detainees who were subjected to it left in very poor physical and psychological condition; some even had to be carried out in blankets because they could not leave on their own.

This is the case of Félix Figueras Ubach, who, after finishing an interrogation, was taken to the bathroom on the same floor to wash up and recover from the mistreatment, along with other detainees, from where he threw himself into the void through an unprotected window that was inside and faced the front of the naval facility, falling into the area where vehicles were parked, which resulted in the death of the victim, which occurred on December 15, 1973.

That, likewise, it is established that Figueras Ubach was not placed at the disposal of the competent authority for the investigation of any eventual illicit act during his period of detention, with his case being brought to the attention of the naval justice system of the time only to investigate the consequences of his death."

Source: resumen.cl, March 6, 2025

Former Navy members sentenced for the kidnapping of a historian and professor during the dictatorship

The Valparaíso Court of Appeals ratified the sentences against three former members of the Navy for the qualified kidnapping of Félix Figueras in 1973. The sentence of 5 years and one day reaffirms the responsibility in one of the emblematic cases of human rights violations during the dictatorship.

The Fourth Chamber of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals confirmed the sentences against Erwin Conn Tesche, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, and Héctor Santibáñez Obreque, former members of the Navy, for the qualified kidnapping of Félix Francisco Figueras Ubach, a historian and communist leader, which occurred in December 1973 in Valparaíso.

The ruling ratified the sentence of 5 years and one day of major imprisonment for the three convicted men, declared authors of the crime of kidnapping with grave injury. However, they were acquitted of the charges of application of torture and illegal detention.

This ruling confirmed the initial sentence of the visiting minister Max Cancino, rejecting appeals from both the defense and the plaintiffs.

Figueras was kidnapped on December 11, 1973, at his home in Viña del Mar and taken to the Naval War Academy in Valparaíso, where he was subjected to physical and psychological torture. According to the ruling, the extreme mistreatment suffered during the interrogations led him to throw himself from a window of the naval facility on December 15, which resulted in his death.

During his detention, he was not placed at the disposal of any judicial authority, with the naval justice system being informed only after his death.

Carolina Vega, the plaintiff attorney, highlighted that, although late, the conviction represents significant progress for the Figueras family, who had been waiting for justice for decades. “That this crime does not go unpunished is an important step,” she declared.

This case highlights the role of the Navy in political repression during the dictatorship, participating in human rights violations in facilities such as the Naval War Academy and the Silva Palma Barracks. The ruling joins others issued by Chilean courts that continue to seek justice despite the time elapsed since the events.

Source: elmostrador.cl, June 27, 2025

Supreme Court sentences retired Navy members for kidnapping and torture of prisoners during the dictatorship

In all cases, the visiting minister, Max Cancino, established that “there existed a hierarchical and disciplined military intelligence group called SICAJSI (…) whose main objective was the repression of people opposed to the military regime.”

This Monday, the Supreme Court sentenced retired members of the Navy for kidnapping with grave injury of eight political prisoners subjected to torture at the institution's Silva Palma Barracks during the dictatorship.

Details of the ruling

The Second Chamber of the highest court analyzed eight appeals in cassation filed against rulings that sentenced various retired members of the Navy and issued the following sentences:

Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur and Héctor Santibáñez Obreque were sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment under house arrest for the kidnapping with grave injury of Eduardo Nelson Cabrera Vásquez.

Sergio Hevia Febres was sentenced to 5 years and 1 day of imprisonment under house arrest for the kidnapping with grave injury of Amador Amable Canelo Sánchez.

A sentence of 5 years and 1 day of imprisonment under house arrest was issued for the kidnapping with grave injury of Erwin Hugo Conn Tesche.

Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur and Héctor Santibáñez Obreque were sentenced to 5 years and 1 day of imprisonment under house arrest for the kidnapping with grave injury of Gilberto Alfonso Hernández Vera.

Laureano Hernández Araya was sentenced to 5 years and 1 day of imprisonment for the kidnapping with grave injury of Eduardo Enrique Ulloa Navarro.

Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur and Héctor Santibáñez Obreque were sentenced to 5 years and 1 day of imprisonment under house arrest for the kidnapping of Luis Alberto Álvarez Noziglia.

José Elías Villalón Palominos was sentenced to 61 days of imprisonment, with conditional remission, for the simple kidnapping of Arturo Madrid López.

Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur and Héctor Santibáñez Obreque were sentenced to 5 years and 1 day of imprisonment under house arrest for the kidnapping of Patricio Héctor Valdés Torres.

In all cases, the visiting minister, Max Cancino Cancino, established that “there existed a hierarchical and disciplined military intelligence group called the Intelligence Service of the Jurisdictional Area of Internal Security, known as SICAJSI.”

Detailing that this “operated actively starting September 11, 1973, composed of agents belonging to the various branches of national defense, particularly officials of the Chilean Navy, (…) whose main objective was the repression of people opposed to the military regime, for which they proceeded to search for and detain them, who were then deprived of liberty to obtain information through physical and psychological torture.”

Source: cnnchile.com, September 16, 2025

Supreme Court rejected the last appeal of dictatorship criminal Raúl Iturriaga Neumann, sentenced to 515 years in prison

Iturriaga Neumann is sentenced for 42 cases of human rights violations, which include Operation Condor, Operation Colombo, and his criminal participation in the torture centers of Villa Grimaldi and "La Venda Sexy." The Court also rejected the appeals filed by a group of former Navy personnel, of whom it was noted in the ruling that "they have not recognized nor expressed remorse for the tragic consequences derived from their criminal actions."

The Supreme Court rejected an amparo appeal filed by the defense of the retired Army officer and former DINA member, Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, who is sentenced to 515 years in prison for 42 cases, which include Operation Condor, Operation Colombo, and his criminal participation in the torture centers of Villa Grimaldi and "La Venda Sexy."

According to information from the Judiciary, the action sought to modify the effective fulfillment of Iturriaga's sentence due to his state of health and advanced age. Specifically, the convicted man suffers from cardiac and renal pathologies, among other ailments.

But, in a unanimous ruling (case file 38.841-2025), the Second Chamber of the highest court, composed of Minister Leopoldo Llanos, Ministers María Teresa Letelier and María Carolina Catepillán, and acting lawyers Juan Carlos Ferrada and Eduardo Gandulfo, ruled out that “a qualified situation exists that would authorize an alteration of the fulfillment regime that the retired Army officer Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann is currently serving at the Punta Peuco Penitentiary Fulfillment Center.”

“In short, it has been established that although the petitioner qualifies as an elderly person and also maintains pathologies that require special care, the guidelines set by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in its Advisory Opinion No. 29/22 to authorize a change in the mode of fulfillment of the various punishments imposed do not apply to him,” the resolution reads.

The above, the ruling adds, “is because, on the one hand, the Chilean Gendarmerie has systematically adopted a set of personalized measures to safeguard the petitioner's state of health, thereby seeking to reconcile prison conditions with the state of health and dignity of the petitioner as an elderly person, and, secondly, because the criteria associated with the validity and effectiveness of the rights of the victims and relatives of crimes against humanity have not been met.”

Likewise, the resolution adds that “only as a further point, it is necessary to indicate that, according to the medical records in this case in relation to the constant monitoring and differentiated and special care provided to the petitioner by the Punta Peuco Penitentiary Center, there is no powerful element to maintain that his confinement inside the aforementioned prison constitutes an affront to his personal dignity,” thus confirming Iturriaga's stay in Punta Peuco.

Appeals from other criminals were also rejected

Meanwhile, in another ruling—this time divided (case file 39.846-2025)—the Second Chamber of the highest court, composed of Minister Leopoldo Llanos, Ministers María Teresa Letelier and María Carolina Catepillán, and acting lawyers Juan Carlos Ferrada and Raúl Fuentes, ruled out arbitrary action in the resolution that rejected the precautionary action filed by retired Navy members Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Héctor Santibáñez Obreque, and Sergio Hevia Febres, convicted of various crimes committed at the Silva Palma barracks in Valparaíso.

Like Iturriaga, the former uniformed officers sought to modify the effective fulfillment of the sentences they are serving in prison due to their “advanced ages.” But, as in the previous case, this was dismissed by the Supreme Court. The decision was agreed upon with the dissenting votes of Minister Letelier and lawyer Fuentes.

In that sense, the ruling argues in one of its parts that the convicted men “have also not recognized nor expressed remorse for the tragic consequences derived from their judicially established criminal actions, a purpose that, had it been fulfilled, would emerge as a starting point in the legitimate aspiration of the victims and their relatives to obtain effective and comprehensive reparation regarding the damage suffered.”

Source: elciudadano.cl, October 13, 2025

Supreme Court confirms sentence for former Navy members for the kidnapping of a student in 1974

In a unanimous ruling, the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court confirmed this Tuesday the sentence for five former members of the Navy for the qualified kidnapping of university student Silvio Vicente Pardo Rojas, who was forcibly disappeared in Valparaíso in April 1974, during the military dictatorship.

The convicted men—Valentín Evaristo Riquelme Villalobos, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Héctor Vicente Santibáñez Obreque, Sergio Hevia Febres, and Guillermo Tomás Morera Hierro—must serve 15 years of effective imprisonment as authors of the crime.

The resolution, issued in case file 45.260-2024, was adopted by the Criminal Chamber composed of Minister Leopoldo Llanos, Ministers María Cristina Gajardo and Eliana Quezada, along with acting lawyers Juan Carlos Ferrada and Carlos Urquieta.

Arguments of the ruling

The court rejected the appeals in cassation filed by the defense, arguing that they lacked legal precision and actually sought to modify the way the sentences were served, which does not correspond to this procedural route.

In its ruling, the Court pointed out that the requests of the appellants were “vague and imprecise” and that they intended a “re-evaluation of evidence” that is forbidden in cassation proceedings. Likewise, it warned that the grounds invoked were contradictory to each other, which also led to the rejection of the appeal.

“In reality, the purpose of the appellant is a new weighing of the evidentiary record (…), which reveals that the defense attorney seeks for this Court to perform an exercise that does not correspond to it,” the resolution specified.

The case of Silvio Pardo

The base ruling, issued by the minister for extraordinary causes of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Max Cancino Cancino, established that Silvio Pardo, a Law student at the Catholic University of Valparaíso and a member of the MIR, was detained on April 4, 1974, by agents of the Navy Intelligence Service.

The victim was held at the Silva Palma barracks, where he was subjected to interrogations, torture, and practices known as “porotear”—being forced to identify other people who were then detained.

Subsequently, Pardo was transferred to the Puchuncaví prisoner camp and returned to Silva Palma at the beginning of May 1974. His last communication with his wife, María Elena Zamora, was a card dated May 1, 1974.

Since May 6, 1974, there has been no further news of him. Despite versions that indicated he would be released along with another detainee, his whereabouts were never known.

To this day, he remains a forcibly disappeared person.

Historical context

The case is part of the action of repressive organizations created after the 1973 coup, such as the SICAJSI (Intelligence Service of the Jurisdictional Area of Internal Security), dependent on the Navy, which operated in Valparaíso under a hierarchical structure intended to persecute political opponents.

The Supreme Court's conviction reaffirms the line of criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity committed by State agents during the dictatorship, crimes that are imprescriptible and whose judicial prosecution remains in force more than five decades after the events occurred.

Source: elclarin.cl, September 25, 2025