On October 18, 1973, Major Mario Lavanderos Lataste, head of the Foreigners Section of the "National Stadium Detention Camp," was murdered at the Army War Academy. His homicide at the hands of the then-head of the Psychological Operations Department of the National Defense General Staff is one of many unknown episodes surrounding that detention center, recounted in the book by journalist Pascale Bonnefoy, "Stadium Terrorism," which is being presented this Friday the 15th.

Sunday, April 10, 2005 "Do not report this incident," Lieutenant Colonel David Reyes Farías, head of the Psychological Operations Department of the National Defense General Staff, ordered Corporal Muñoz in the early hours of October 18.

In the War Academy's mess hall, Reyes had just killed Major Mario Lavanderos, who was in charge of the Foreigners Section of the National Stadium. Reyes was attempting to leave the crime scene when the corporal entered, followed by other officers and the sergeant major on duty that night, who had been alerted by the gunshot.

The shot rang out at 2:30 a.m. from the dining room, where both officers had remained after dinner. Lavanderos and Reyes knew each other well; they lived at 12 García Reyes Street in an officers' building adjacent to the War Academy, and since both were single, they often dined together, despite Reyes's well-known violent outbursts when he drank, which he did frequently.

They also argued a lot, and not infrequently, the arguments revolved around political matters. Reyes was an intelligence officer at the academy, where he was a professor of the subject, while Lavanderos was in the third year of the regular course for General Staff officers, alongside prominent coup supporters.

Reyes had been in the mess hall for hours and had a pisco sour and many glasses of wine in his system. That night, he had gone up to have dinner with Majors Moraga and Fernando Hormazábal Díaz when Major Lavanderos appeared in the dining room.

Lavanderos was coming from the National Stadium, where he had remained working with Colonel Espinoza in the Foreigners Archive until late at night. Before arriving at the academy, the major asked his driver, Julio Albornoz, to stop by the Military Club.

There, he called his mother. "I won't be able to come see you at the house tonight. I have to be at the Ministry of Defense very early tomorrow for a matter of extreme importance. I'll call you tomorrow," he told her.

Immediately, they headed toward the War Academy. Albornoz stopped the vehicle in front of the old mansion. "Until tomorrow, at 7:30, without fail," he said goodbye to his driver, and went up to the mess hall.

After dinner, Lavanderos was going down the stairs to head to his apartment when he encountered Major Hernán Araya Fuentes, a first-year student and a close friend of Reyes, who was coming up. They talked for a few minutes and Lavanderos went back into the mess hall with Araya.

Moraga and Hormazábal left shortly after. Araya did the same at 12:30 a.m. Reyes had already consumed more than three bottles of wine practically by himself and was completely drunk. "Leave, Rivera," Lavanderos ordered the corporal in charge of the mess hall. "I'll take care of closing." The two officers were left alone.

However, Corporal Pedro Rivera did not leave; instead, he lay down behind a counter and fell asleep. Thirty-five minutes later, the gunshot woke him up. Upon sitting up, he saw Reyes placing his weapon—with which he had murdered Lavanderos with a shot near the mouth—next to the inert officer's hand.

The soldier ran out to give notice, crossing paths with Corporal Muñoz and the sergeant major on duty that night, who were coming from the opposite direction. "My commander killed my major, and he was putting the pistol in his hand!" he announced agitatedly to the sergeant major.

When the sergeant major entered the mess hall, he found Major Lavanderos sitting, his head shattered, slumped over the table, his hands on top of a pool of blood that covered the tablecloth and part of the floor.

Beside him lay Reyes's weapon. At that moment, Major Hormazábal entered along with other officers. During the subsequent summary, Reyes claimed that at the moment of the shot, he had gone to the bathroom, and that at that instant, Lavanderos took his weapon and shot himself.

Major Lavanderos's body was removed from the scene and taken to the Military Hospital before the Prosecutor's Office could conduct an ocular inspection and without the presence of a doctor or military judge.

The next morning, Reyes called Major Arturo Aranda Forés from the War Academy. "I killed Lavanderos," he confessed. "You wretch! If I didn't have a wife and children, I wouldn't just put one bullet in you, but all the ones in my revolver!" Major Aranda replied indignantly.

Escape of criminals Hours after Lavanderos's death, the deputy consul of the Swedish Embassy, Bengt Oldenburg, was urgently summoned to the National Stadium command; he arrived accompanied by Guy Prim, an official from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

After making them wait for a long time, Colonel Espinoza let them in. He was very annoyed. "You have helped criminals escape," he reproached them. That morning, military personnel had gone to the Swedish diplomatic legation to demand two Uruguayans who were supposed to be turned over to Military Justice and who had been released two days earlier along with dozens of their compatriots, without succeeding in taking them.

Oldenburg tried to clarify to Espinoza that the release of the 54 Uruguayan detainees had been carried out in accordance with the protocol established for the admission of refugees, and since the colonel himself had not been present that day, he asked to call Major Lavanderos to the office to confirm that the handover on October 16 had been done correctly.

In a defiant tone, Espinoza then said: "Major Lavanderos died this morning." And he added, with a certain arrogance: "From a shot here," making a gesture with his index finger pointing under his chin. Oldenburg was stunned.

Shortly after, Ambassador Edelstam would go to visit the asylees at the headquarters on Alonso de Córdoba. Deeply affected, he told the Uruguayans that they had murdered the officer who signed their exit from the stadium.

A satisfactory handover It was Major Carlos Meirelles Müller who brought Lavanderos to the stadium on the morning of Saturday, October 13, to replace him as head of the Foreigners Section. During his first weekend at the stadium, Lavanderos stayed overnight at the facility.

On the first day of the week, Monday, October 15, Meirelles returned to the stadium to finalize a pending matter: the handover of nine Uruguayans who said they wanted to return to their country; however, with the agreement of diplomats from the Uruguayan Embassy—and not for the first time—this group was allowed to move to the embassies of Sweden and Panama, to subsequently travel to Cuba.

It was then that Lavanderos had his first contact with officials from the Uruguayan Embassy. That morning and the next, Tuesday, October 16, Lavanderos went to the Ministry of Defense. In those days, the departure of several groups of foreigners as asylees was being processed, including some cases that had been in the hands of Major Meirelles before he returned to the War Academy.

Among the officers assigned to the National Stadium, little was said about Lavanderos's death. It was a thorny, unclear, compromising subject. For the Uruguayans, Lavanderos had been murdered in retaliation for having released such a high number of Tupamaros to the Swedish Embassy, a decision they assumed was his personal initiative, as a humanitarian gesture, taking advantage of the camp commander's absence from the stadium that day.

However, it could hardly have been a spontaneous or unilateral action if the handover of the detainees was carried out with the participation of representatives from the Swedish and Uruguayan embassies and the UNHCR.

Everything was in order and the exit procedures were carried out according to the usual stadium procedures. Furthermore, the background of the Uruguayan detainees had been processed by Major Meirelles days before their handover to the Swedish Embassy.

Lavanderos was perhaps the one who had the least participation in the release of the Uruguayans, serving as a mere executor of a prior plan whose documentation passed through the hands of the Swedish and Uruguayan embassies, the Coordinating Center for Detainees, the Ministry of Defense, the Chilean Foreign Ministry, the UNHCR, and the National Stadium command.

As Lavanderos's parents stated at the time, "Major Meirelles must have prepared almost all of the release documents for those 54 Uruguayan detainees and had them well identified." They asserted that "Major Meirelles gave our son a list of 54 Uruguayan detainees to proceed to hand them over to the Swedish Embassy." But someone had to pay for allowing the departure of the "dangerous foreign extremists" who were supposed to be subjected to a court-martial.

It was an exemplary crime, framed as a supposed dispute with a drunkard, covered up from the highest levels and without the slightest intention of being investigated in depth or with transparency.

Source: La Nacion, September 4, 2005

For at least two years, journalist Pascale Bonnefoy was talking with retired military personnel about a single topic: the National Stadium Detention Camp. The result is the book Stadium Terrorism, a comprehensive investigation into the largest prison and place of torture established in Chile after the 1973 coup d'état, and which, although it takes up the already known angle of testimonies, also provides a complete description of the command structure that operated at the facility.

In operation from September 12, 1973, to November 11, the National Stadium came to house up to 40,000 prisoners. Although testimonies from people who passed through the center abound, until now the story had not been told from the perspective of those who were in charge.

In fact, only the name of the camp commander of the facility, Colonel Jorge Espinoza, has been clearly disseminated. Bonnefoy's book completes the command organizational chart. In that sense, the author posits that one of the most relevant points of Stadium Terrorism is that it traces "the military structure of the stadium and how it functioned.

Because from the testimonies that exist of a particular detainee, one sees only what they could see. I had help from military personnel who held positions there, from mid-level to high-level. I even went to the stadium with one." Some of the men in charge of the stadium during the months it was a detention center are Colonel Sergio Guarategua Peña, head of Logistics; Major Hernán Chacón Soto, head of Security; Major Rudy Alvarado, head of Administration; Lieutenant Colonel Julio Fuenzalida, head of Operations; and General Carlos Meirelles Müller, as head of the Foreigners Section, among others. All retired uniformed personnel. During the first year of research, Bonnefoy was basically in contact with retired military personnel. Her mission was more specific; hired to conduct a private investigation into the commands at the National Stadium, she was connecting the dots and locating uniformed personnel from the era. "I went from one military person to another, and to another and another and another. Now, not all the answers were the same or very satisfactory, but I started making my way among retired military personnel. Some who were very willing to collaborate and others who were not," she explains. Once the requested task was finished, the journalist found herself with information that could not be wasted. Supported by grants from the Ford Foundation and the Fund for Investigative Journalism, she broadened her spectrum of sources and contacted a series of people who passed through the center, describing a complete panorama of the situation of the National Stadium as a torture center. "Apart from the fact that I was left with a lot of information in my hands that should not be wasted, I wrote this book because in ten years, the witnesses, the protagonists, might not be alive. It is like leaving a record. Good, bad, complete or incomplete, at least the attempt to leave a record for the future. And also because so many things happened there and it was always seen as a massive detention camp, as a filter, as if it were something natural, and there were many crimes there," the journalist explains about her intention with the book. Borrowing narrative techniques, Stadium Terrorism tells details about the situation of the foreigners detained in the National Stadium; executions; the women imprisoned; the passage of American citizens Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi; the efforts of the Swedish ambassador to free dozens of people; the murder of Major Mario Lavanderos at the hands of Colonel David Reyes Farías; and the role and characteristics of the Red Cross at the facility until the stadium's closure. The book will be launched today at 7:00 p.m. at the publishers' headquarters, the Center for Social Studies, located at 650 Esmeralda.

Source: El Mostrador, April 15, 2005

Carroza indicts murderer of officer who in 1973 freed 68 foreigners

Judge Mario Carroza indicted an Army lieutenant colonel who, after the 1973 military coup, murdered another officer who had freed 68 Bolivian and Uruguayan prisoners who were being held at the National Stadium in Santiago, judicial sources reported this Friday.

The resolution was issued by the special judge of the Santiago Court of Appeals, who initiated proceedings against retired Lieutenant Colonel David Reyes Farías, who in October 1973 murdered Major Mario Lavanderos Lataste with a gunshot.

The latter was in charge of the "Foreigners" section of the National Stadium, which in the first months of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship was used to lock up thousands of supporters of the overthrown government of the socialist Salvador Allende.

In that context, on October 17, Lavanderos freed 55 Uruguayan citizens and thirteen Bolivians who were detained at the sports facility, whom he placed under the protection of the Swedish embassy as refugees.

The following night, Lavanderos was confronted at the Army War Academy by Reyes Farías, who, after an argument, shot the major, with the barrel of his pistol pressed against the left side of his upper lip, according to the resolution.

The 37-year-old wounded man was taken to the Military Hospital in Santiago, where he died during the following early morning. According to the report of the Rettig Report, which in 1991 certified the human rights violations committed during the dictatorship (1973-1990), Major Mario Lavanderos Lataste was a victim of human rights violations committed by State agents.

According to official figures, during the dictatorship, some 3,200 Chileans died at the hands of State agents, of whom 1,192 remain to this day as forcibly disappeared, while another 33,000 were tortured and imprisoned for political reasons.

Source: Cooperativa, November 8, 2013

CASE RESURFACES OF ARMY MAJOR WHO FREED 68 FOREIGNERS FROM THE NATIONAL STADIUM IN '73

Visiting Minister Mario Carroza initiated proceedings against retired Army Lieutenant Colonel David Reyes Farías for his responsibility in the execution of Major Mario Lavanderos Lataste, also an officer of that armed institution, which occurred on October 18, 1973.

According to the investigation's findings, Major Lavanderos, after September 11, 1973, performed duties in the "Foreigners" section of the National Stadium prison camp, where on October 16 he freed 55 Uruguayan citizens and 13 Bolivians, handing them over to the Swedish ambassador as refugees. "The following day, at night, the major arrived at the Army War Academy, the place where he lived, and went to the officers' mess hall, where he met with Lieutenant Colonel David Reyes Farías, with whom he stayed talking until the early hours of the next day, at which time all the officers had already retired and only the waiter's assistant remained, who was the last to leave, not without first noticing that the officers were having an argument. After a few minutes and with both officers alone, Reyes Farías proceeded with his service weapon to fire a shot at Mario Lavanderos, with the barrel pressed against the left side of his upper lip," the ruling states.

RECORDED IN THE RETTIG REPORT

According to what is stated in the Rettig Report, Mario Luis Iván Lavanderos Lataste, 37 years old at the time of his death on October 18, 1973, single, died that day at 3:15 a.m. at the Military Hospital from a facial-cranial gunshot wound, as certified by the Medical Death Certificate issued by the Legal Medical Institute.

The Autopsy Protocol concluded that "the shot was fired with the barrel pressed against the left side of the upper lip, with a trajectory going backward and upward, with a slight deviation from left to right." According to information from the process that began for his death in Military Justice, and information gathered in the Army's Administrative Summary Investigation, Mario Lavanderos died from a gunshot from a weapon that belonged to another high-ranking officer, while both were inside the Officers' Mess Hall of the War Academy.

Five days before his death, Major Lavanderos had been appointed to direct the Foreigners Section of the National Stadium Detention Facility. In that capacity, on October 16, he had signed a document by which he granted freedom to detainees of Uruguayan nationality who were in that prison camp, who were handed over to the Swedish Ambassador.

In March 1993, the Rettig Commission resolved that Major (R) Mario Luis Iván Lavanderos Lataste was a victim of human rights violations committed by State agents.

Source: La Nación, November 8, 2013

Murderer of officer who in 1973 freed 68 foreigners indicted

Mario Lavanderos Lataste was confronted at the Army War Academy by Reyes Farías, who, after an argument, fired a shot at the major, with the barrel of his pistol pressed against the left side of his upper lip, according to the resolution.

A judge indicted an Army lieutenant colonel who, after the 1973 military coup, murdered another officer who had freed 68 Bolivian and Uruguayan prisoners who were being held at the National Stadium, judicial sources reported.

The resolution was issued by special judge Mario Carroza, of the Santiago Court of Appeals, who initiated proceedings against retired Lieutenant Colonel David Reyes Farías, who in October 1973 murdered Major Mario Lavanderos Lataste with a gunshot.

The latter was in charge of the "Foreigners" section of the National Stadium, which in the first months of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship was used to lock up thousands of supporters of the overthrown government of Salvador Allende.

In that context, on October 17, Lavanderos freed 55 Uruguayan citizens and thirteen Bolivians who were detained at the sports facility, whom he placed under the protection of the Swedish embassy as refugees.

The following night, Lavanderos was confronted at the Army War Academy by Reyes Farías, who, after an argument, fired a shot at the major, with the barrel of his pistol pressed against the left side of his upper lip, according to the resolution.

The 37-year-old wounded man was taken to the Military Hospital in Santiago, where he died during the following early morning. According to the report of the Rettig Report, which in 1991 certified the human rights violations committed during the dictatorship, Major Mario Lavanderos Lataste was a victim of human rights violations committed by State agents.

Source: El Mostrador, November 8, 2013

Judge Carroza indicted the murderer of the officer who in 1973 freed 68 foreigners from the National Stadium

The Justice system indicted an Army lieutenant colonel who, after the 1973 military coup, murdered another officer who had freed 68 Bolivian and Uruguayan prisoners who were being held at the National Stadium in Santiago, judicial sources reported today.

The resolution was issued by special judge Mario Carroza, of the Santiago Court of Appeals, who initiated proceedings against retired Lieutenant Colonel David Reyes Farías, who in October 1973 murdered Major Mario Lavanderos Lataste with a gunshot.

The latter was in charge of the "Foreigners" section of the National Stadium, which in the first months of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) was used to lock up thousands of supporters of the overthrown government of the socialist Salvador Allende.

In that context, on October 17, Lavanderos freed 55 Uruguayan citizens and thirteen Bolivians who were detained at the sports facility, whom he placed under the protection of the Swedish embassy as refugees.

The following night, Lavanderos was confronted at the Army War Academy by Reyes Farías, who, after an argument, fired a shot at the major, with the barrel of his pistol pressed against the left side of his upper lip, according to the resolution.

The 37-year-old wounded man was taken to the Military Hospital in Santiago, where he died during the following early morning. According to the report of the Rettig Report, which in 1991 certified the human rights violations committed during the dictatorship (1973-1990), Major Mario Lavanderos Lataste was a victim of human rights violations committed by State agents.

According to official figures, during the dictatorship, some 3,200 Chileans died at the hands of State agents, of whom 1,192 remain to this day as forcibly disappeared, while another 33,000 were tortured and imprisoned for political reasons.

Source: The Clinic, November 8, 2013

The singular case of the Army major who freed 68 foreigners from the National Stadium in 1973. He was murdered by another military officer

Mario Carroza, visiting minister, initiated proceedings against retired Army commander David Reyes, who in October 1973 killed officer Mario Lavanderos Lataste with a gunshot, who was in charge of the Foreigners section of the National Stadium.

He handed over 55 Uruguayans and 13 Bolivians to the Swedish ambassador, who gave them asylum and they were saved from an almost certain death. Visiting Minister Mario Carroza initiated proceedings against retired Army Lieutenant Colonel David Reyes Farías for his responsibility in the execution of Major Mario Lavanderos Lataste, also an officer of that armed institution, which occurred on October 18, 1973.

According to the investigation's findings, Major Lavanderos, after September 11, 1973, performed duties in the "Foreigners" section of the National Stadium prison camp, where on October 16 he freed 55 Uruguayan citizens and 13 Bolivians, handing them over to the Swedish ambassador as refugees. "The following day, at night, the major arrived at the Army War Academy, the place where he lived, and went to the officers' mess hall, where he met with Lieutenant Colonel David Reyes Farías, with whom he stayed talking until the early hours of the next day, at which time all the officers had already retired and only the waiter's assistant remained, who was the last to leave, not without first noticing that the officers were having an argument. After a few minutes and with both officers alone, Reyes Farías proceeded with his service weapon to fire a shot at Mario Lavanderos, with the barrel pressed against the left side of his upper lip," the ruling states. Rettig Report Following what is stated in the Rettig Report, Mario Luis Iván Lavanderos Lataste, 37 years old at the time of his death on October 18, 1973, single, died that day at 3:15 a.m. at the Military Hospital from a facial-cranial gunshot wound, as certified by the Medical Death Certificate issued by the Legal Medical Institute. Meanwhile, the Autopsy Protocol concluded that "the shot was fired with the barrel pressed against the left side of the upper lip, with a trajectory going backward and upward, with a slight deviation from left to right." According to information from the process that began for his death in Military Justice, and information gathered in the Army's Administrative Summary Investigation, Mario Lavanderos died from a gunshot from a weapon that belonged to another high-ranking officer, while both were inside the Officers' Mess Hall of the War Academy. Furthermore, five days before his death, Major Lavanderos had been appointed to direct the Foreigners Section of the National Stadium Detention Facility. In that capacity, on October 16, he had signed a document by which he granted freedom to detainees of Uruguayan nationality who were in that prison camp, who were handed over to the Swedish Ambassador. In March 1993, the Rettig Commission resolved that Major (R) Mario Luis Iván Lavanderos Lataste was a victim of human rights violations committed by State agents.

Source: Cambio21, November 8, 2013

Court of Appeals increases sentence for the crime of the military officer who freed 68 prisoners from the National Stadium in 1973

Major Mario Lavanderos, after September 11, 1973, performed duties in the "Foreigners" section of the National Stadium prison camp, where on October 16 he freed 55 Uruguayan citizens and 13 Bolivians, handing them over to the Swedish ambassador as refugees.

The Santiago Court of Appeals increased the sentence against retired Army Colonel David Reyes Farías in the investigation into the qualified homicide of the then-Army Major Mario Lavanderos, which occurred on October 18, 1973, inside the Army War Academy.

In a unanimous ruling, the Fourth Chamber of the appellate court, composed of ministers Juan Manuel Muñoz Pardo, Dobra Lusic, and the member lawyer Patricio González, gave Reyes 5 years in prison for his responsibility in this qualified homicide case.

In the first instance, Minister Mario Carroza had decided on a sentence of 3 years and one day in prison. However, the convicted person will maintain the benefit of intensive supervised release. Major Lavanderos, after September 11, 1973, performed duties in the "Foreigners" section of the National Stadium prison camp, where on October 16 he freed 55 Uruguayan citizens and 13 Bolivians, handing them over to the Swedish ambassador as refugees.

The process states that "the following day, at night, the major arrived at the Army War Academy, the place where he lived, and went to the officers' mess hall, where he met with Lieutenant Colonel David Reyes Farías, with whom he stayed talking until the early hours of the next day, at which time all the officers had already retired and only the waiter's assistant remained, who was the last to leave, not without first noticing that the officers were having an argument." "After a few minutes and with both officers alone, Reyes Farías proceeded with his service weapon to fire a shot at Mario Lavanderos with the barrel pressed against the left side of his upper lip, with the projectile following its trajectory upward and backward, causing his death from a facial-cranial gunshot wound with an exit wound," the file states. According to the Court of Appeals, "the author's conduct corresponded to an irascible reaction, to a fit of anger motivated by the victim's intervention in the release of more than 30 foreign political prisoners." Lavanderos died on October 18, 1973, at 3:15 a.m. at the Military Hospital from a facial-cranial gunshot wound, as certified by the Medical Death Certificate issued by the Legal Medical Institute. He was 37 years old at the time of his death. In March 1993, the Rettig Commission resolved that the Major (R) was a victim of human rights violations committed by State agents.

Source: Cambio 21, February 12, 2015