Address: Pje. 2 Norte N°651, Pob. V. Pérez Rosales, Chillán Marital Status: Married, 3 children Occupation: Shoemaker Political Affiliation: Militant of the Communist Party Date of Detention: September 23, 1973

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Leopoldo López Rivas, married, with 3 children, a shoemaker and militant of the Communist Party, was detained on September 23, 1973, at his shoe repair shop located on Avda. Brasil, next to the Hotel Victoria in the city of Chillán.

At 1:00 PM, as he was leaving to have lunch at his home—unaware that hours earlier a Carabineros patrol had asked for him at his residence—he saw a jeep with police officers inside stop in front of him. The uniformed officers got out of the vehicle, grabbed him, and forcibly and quickly loaded him into the jeep, taking him to the city's 2nd Police Station.

His wife went to the aforementioned station, where a guard confirmed that Leopoldo López was indeed detained there; they even looked for him on a list of registered detainees. She was not allowed to see him, but they did allow her to leave warm clothing for him.

Two days after he had been held at that location, she was informed that Leopoldo López had been transferred to the city of Talcahuano. She could not find him at that facility. She conducted a similar search at the Bulnes prison with negative results. The fact is that since that noon on September 23, 1973, the victim has been forcibly disappeared after being detained by Carabineros.

Between September 23 and 26, 1973, Luis Antonio Ibarra Durán and Juan Poblete Tropa were detained by military and Carabineros patrols and subsequently taken to the 2nd Carabineros Station in Chillán. The latter was found along with 8 other bodies at the "El Ala" Bridge on the Ñuble River by the father of Patricio Weitzel.

The judge of the 1st Criminal Court of Chillán ordered the burial of the bodies in the local cemetery, as it was impossible to identify all of them.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

Rosario Peña Espinoza filed an Amparo (habeas corpus) appeal before the Court of Appeals of Chillán on March 3, 1975, which was registered under N° 94.656.

When consulted, the Ñuble Prefecture of Carabineros responded through the 2nd Chief Prefect, Lieutenant Colonel Leonidas Venegas Guzmán, who, via official letter N°325 dated March 6, reported that the detention of the person under protection was not recorded in the guard logs of the 2nd Station of Chillán.

On March 7, based on the police information, the Court denied the Amparo appeal, given that the detention of Leopoldo López had not been established. Regardless, it ordered the opening of a summary proceeding for alleged disappearance.

On March 10, 1975, case file 7.200 for the alleged disappearance of the victim was initiated in the 3rd Criminal Court of Chillán. The judge issued an order to the Investigations police to carry out the necessary inquiries.

Commissioner Ramón Lillo Inostroza entrusted detective Fanor Aguilera Pizarro to investigate the case. He took statements from the victim's partner, who confirmed the reported facts.

In official inquiries sent to the Carabineros, the Gendarmerie, the Regiment, and other competent bodies, the responses always indicated that the victim's entry was not recorded. The head of the Regional Intelligence Center, Army Colonel Florencio Guedelhoefer García, provided a similar response.

On May 28, a temporary dismissal of the case was issued, and the summary proceeding was closed. The Court of Appeals confirmed the ruling on June 12, 1975.

Source: (Corporation Report)

In the resolution (case file 6-2017 and accumulated cases), Minister Aldana Fuentes indicted retired Carabineros General Jeldres Rodríguez as the perpetrator of the qualified homicides of Patricio Lautaro Weizel Pérez and Gabriel Marcelo Cortez Luna; the qualified kidnappings of Ricardo Troncoso León, Arturo Lorenzo Prat Martí, José Gregorio Retamal Velásquez, Robinson Ramírez del Prado, Leopoldo López Rivas, and Mario Fernando Moreno Castro; and the aggravated kidnapping of Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa.

The minister on special assignment for human rights violation cases for the Courts of the jurisdictions of Concepción and Chillán, Carlos Aldana Fuentes, issued an indictment against retired Carabineros General Patricio Enrique Jeldres Rodríguez for his responsibility in two consummated crimes of qualified homicide, six consummated crimes of qualified kidnapping, and one consummated crime of aggravated kidnapping.

These crimes were perpetrated between September and December 1973 in the commune of Chillán.

In the resolution (case file 6-2017 and accumulated cases), Minister Aldana Fuentes indicted the individual who was a Carabineros lieutenant at the time of the events, Jeldres Rodríguez, as the perpetrator of the qualified homicides of Patricio Lautaro Weizel Pérez and Gabriel Marcelo Cortez Luna; the qualified kidnappings of Ricardo Troncoso León, Arturo Lorenzo Prat Martí, José Gregorio Retamal Velásquez, Robinson Ramírez del Prado, Leopoldo López Rivas, and Mario Fernando Moreno Castro; and the aggravated kidnapping of Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa.

Additionally, he indicted civilian Juan Antonio Sepúlveda Peña as an accomplice in the aggravated kidnapping of Troncoso León.

In the resolution, the visiting minister establishes the following facts:

a) Case file 7-2017: “On October 1, 1973, around 11:00 AM, while Ricardo Troncoso León, a photographer and theater director with the pseudonym ‘Gonzalo Román’, was at his home located in the El Tejar neighborhood, Pasaje Sur N° 387 in the city of Chillán, with his wife and young daughter, a Carabineros patrol from the Second Station of Chillán arrived, commanded by a Lieutenant, in a jeep with the Carabineros logo and accompanied by a civilian nicknamed ‘El vuela poco’, named Juan Antonio Sepúlveda Peña.

They proceeded to raid the home and detain him without a competent judicial or administrative order, transferring him to the facility of said institution, where he remained in that status. The family was informed on the 3rd of the same month and year that he had been transferred to the Regiment, where this fact was denied, and his whereabouts or destination have remained unknown from that date until now.” b) Case file 9-2017: “At 10:00 PM on October 1, 1973, a Carabineros patrol dedicated to detaining people opposed to the military regime arrived at the home of Patricio Lautaro Weitzel Pérez, located in Pabellones Pizarro, street six, house four, commune of Chillán. Without a competent judicial or administrative order, they entered said home and proceeded to detain him, along with his fellow students from the Escuela Normal de Chillán, Arturo Lorenzo Prat Martí and José Gregorio Retamal Velásquez, transferring them to the Second Carabineros Station of Chillán, where they were subjected to interrogations and torture by the aforementioned Carabineros operational group, led by Lieutenant Patricio Jeldres Rodríguez. Their bodies were found in the bed of the Ñuble River, near the El Ala Bridge.

Subsequently, on December 24, 1973, a young woman arrived at the watch repair shop owned by Mr. Mario Weitzel Trincado—father of Patricio Lautaro Weitzel Pérez—to repair a wristwatch. Upon realizing it belonged to his son Patricio Lautaro—who had been a forcibly disappeared detainee since September 1973—he followed her at a distance after assisting her, arriving at the El Ala Bridge sector over the Ñuble River, on whose bank he found the bodies of six people floating in the water, among them his son Patricio.

He left him half-buried in the same place while he fulfilled his duty to report it to the court on December 26, 1973. A criminal case was formed, and the judge visited the aforementioned site the following day, ordering the recovery of the body and its transfer to the morgue for the corresponding autopsy, and subsequently ordered its delivery to the relatives, who gave him a burial.

Regarding the victims Arturo Lorenzo Prat Martí and José Gregorio Retamal Velásquez, since the date of their detention—October 1, 1973—and their transfer to the Second Carabineros Station of Chillán, no certain news of their whereabouts or location is known.” c) Case file 11-2017: “Around 10:00 AM on September 25, 1973, Robinson Enrique Ramírez del Prado, President of the Central Única de Trabajadores (CUT) of Chillán, was detained by a group of Carabineros without a competent judicial or administrative order, in the presence of his boss (Juan León Bernier) and coworkers, at his workplace, the ‘El Cóndor’ tannery, located at Av. Collin N° 866, Chillán. He was seen entering the Second Station by his cousin Gerardo Pradenas del Prado, who at the time was a Carabineros officer at the same station, and they were personally confronted to determine their degree of kinship, after which the victim was placed in a cell; this was the last time he was seen.

At 1:00 PM on September 26, 1973, at his shoe repair shop located at Av. Brasil and Av. Libertad in the city of Chillán, Leopoldo López Rivas, a militant of the Communist Party, was detained by a group of Carabineros without a competent judicial or administrative order, in the presence of his assistant (Vicente Vidal Méndez).

He was transferred to the Second Station of Chillán, and his detention was acknowledged at said police facility by the Carabineros on duty when they checked the entry log for Mrs. Rosario Peña Espinoza, who arrived at that location at 3:00 PM that same day.

Likewise, it is proven that both detainees—Robinson Ramírez del Prado and Leopoldo López Rivas—were subjected to intense and cruel torture, remaining in poor physical condition. In that state, they were taken out of the aforementioned police unit and loaded into a vehicle by Carabineros personnel—along with the also-detained Luis Ibarra Durán and Juan Poblete Tropa—a date from which—September 25 and 26, 1973—no news regarding their whereabouts or location is known.” d) Case file 15-2017: “Around 11:45 PM on September 23, 1973, while Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa was sleeping at his parents' house, Carabineros led by Lieutenant Patricio Jeldres Rodríguez, supported by military personnel, arrived and violently removed him without a judicial or administrative order, taking him to the Second Carabineros Station of Chillán, where he was visited by his mother, María Sabina Poblete Tropa, who observed that he was very mistreated due to the duress he had received. On September 27, 1973, while his mother was going to the station to leave lunch for her son, she noticed him being loaded into a van. When she asked about his destination, she was informed that he would be taken to the Regiment, a place where they denied having received him.

From that day on, the family lost all news of his whereabouts until they received information from Mr. Mario Weitzel Trincado, who handed over items found on a headless corpse that was in the vicinity of the ‘El Ala’ Bridge on December 24, 1973, next to the body of his son Patricio Lautaro Weitzel Pérez.

After forensic genetics examinations, a GMI laboratory report, and an integrated expert report, incorporated on page 1767 and following of September 23, 2019, were conducted, it was established with an identification probability of at least 99.99997% that the left femur labeled 62 belongs to the aforementioned victim, that is, Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa, and the corresponding death registration was ordered on page 1992 at the Civil Registry Service, with the cause of death: indeterminate.” e) Case file 5-2018: “Around 12:00 midnight on October 1, 1973, Mario Fernando Moreno Castro, a leader of the Socialist Party, was at his home on Calle Cabildo N° 441, Chillán Viejo (a home he shared with his wife Rosa Elba Salinas Farías and their 3-year-old daughter, who were not at the location at that time). He realized his home was being raided by Carabineros officers and chose to flee through the back fence of the property, passing through the interior courtyards of his neighbors. When he was passing through the intersection of Juan Martínez de Rozas and Cabildo streets, he was assisted by Mrs. Mónica Muñoz Orellana, who saw him walking in the middle of the street carrying a white handkerchief on his shoulder. Mario told her he was escaping the raid on his home and was heading to turn himself in to the Carabineros of the 2nd Station. Given the circumstances of the time and the prevailing curfew, Mrs. Mónica had him enter the restaurant where she worked (‘Sociedad Mutualista Bernardo O’Higgins’), located on the corner of Juan Martínez de Rozas and Cabildo streets, half a block from Moreno Castro's home, where he remained hidden all night. Around 6:00 AM, Mario Moreno Castro left the restaurant, again expressing his intention to turn himself in at the 2nd Carabineros Station of Chillán, but not before leaving his belongings so they could be sent to his wife. At the moment Mrs. Mónica Muñoz Orellana opened the door, she encountered a Carabineros jeep and had a dialogue with the Carabinero Troncoso (deceased), whom she knew because the restaurant served as a boarding house for Carabineros in the area. She asked what they were doing there so early, and Carabinero Troncoso replied that ‘A little bird had escaped them, but it was nearby.’ After the Carabineros patrol left, Mario Moreno Castro left the place, from which moment he has never been seen alive again to this date.

On the morning of October 2, 1973, when Rosa Elba Salinas Farías returned home after her shift at the Chillán Hospital, she realized her home had been raided and was informed by neighbors that her partner had been detained that early morning by a Carabineros patrol near their home.

She went to search for him at the 2nd Carabineros Station of Chillán, where she was informed at first that Mario Moreno was detained at that police facility, but subsequently, the same Carabineros officers denied that information.” f) Case file 6-2017 and accumulated cases: “At 5:00 PM on September 18, 1973, a Carabineros patrol composed of Herminio Fernández Mercado (deceased), Juan Francisco Opazo Guerrero (deceased), Márquez Rodolfo Riquelme Echeverría (deceased), and Pedro Loyola Osorio (deceased) arrived at the home of Gabriel Marcelo Cortez Luna, located at Pabellón Manuel Rodríguez, N° 107, commune of Chillán. They entered without a competent judicial or administrative order, violently searching the home in search of Jorge Cortez Luna (the victim's older brother), who was not at the location, and proceeded to detain the brothers Gabriel Marcelo and Pedro Eduardo Cortez Luna, whom they transferred to the Second Carabineros Station of Chillán. There, Pedro Cortez Luna was released by order of Lieutenant Patricio Enrique Jeldres Rodríguez because they had been fellow students at the Liceo de Hombres de Chillán, while Gabriel Marcelo Cortez Luna remained detained at said police unit.

After much searching by his family, his mother learned on October 18, 1973, that there was a body at the Legal Medical Service of Chillán whose cause of death was ‘craniocerebral perforation, ballistic projectile, action of uniformed contingent,’ according to the medical death certificate issued on September 20, 1973, which was buried in the common grave of the Chillán cemetery.

Upon exhuming the body, it was verified that it corresponded to the victim Gabriel Marcelo Cortez Luna, who had died on September 19 of the same year at the level crossing of Maipón street, upon reaching the Chillán Railway Station.”

Finally, Minister Aldana resumed the processing of case file 8-2017 (accumulated with 6-2017), in which Jeldres Rodríguez is identified as the perpetrator of the crimes of qualified kidnapping of Gustavo Domínguez Jara, Wilson Becerra Cifuentes, and Tomás Domínguez Jara. These crimes were committed starting October 11, 1973, in the commune of Chillán.

Source: pjud.cl, May 18, 2022

Date: 18-05-2022

Heroes and heroines of the people: Ñuble Region was present

In a solemn and emotionally charged act, the Communist Party of Ñuble presented the Luis Emilio Recabarren medal last Friday, November 9—the highest distinction awarded by the Party's Central Committee—to 8 of our prominent militants whose lives were taken by the civic-military dictatorship and who remain disappeared to this day.

With the presence of comrade Jorge González, a member of the Party's central committee and leader of the Central Única de Trabajadores (CUT), the activity began in the Schäefer room of the Universidad del BioBío, accompanied by relatives of the honorees, communist militants of the new Ñuble region, Chillán councilors, a Deputy, and regional councilors, as well as friends and comrades from other progressive left-wing parties, who also symbolically received a plaque in tribute to those who fell in the struggle during the dark days of the civic-military dictatorship.

It was a meeting of high political content regarding the common past and the future that we must build together for a fairer and more democratic country. Prior to the act, a press conference was held on Friday morning inviting the entire community to attend the "Heroes and Heroines of the People" act and highlighting the importance of memory and the value of human life.

Relatives of Juan Félix Iturra Lillo, Leopoldo López Rivas, Cleofe del Carmen Urrutia Acevedo, and Carlos Alberto Sepúlveda Palavecino were present and received the posthumous medal.

Source: pcchile.cl, 13/11/2018

Date: 13-11-2018

Minister Carlos Aldana sentences retired Carabineros officer for qualified homicides and kidnappings in Ñuble

In the ruling (case file 6-2017 and accumulated cases), Minister Aldana Fuentes sentenced the individual who was a Carabineros lieutenant at the time of the events, Patricio Enrique Jeldres Rodríguez, to a penalty of 15 years and one day in prison as the perpetrator of the qualified kidnappings of Ricardo Troncoso León, Gustavo Efraín Domínguez Jara, Wilson Alfredo Becerra Cifuentes, Tomás Domínguez Jara, Arturo Prat Martí, José Gregorio Retamal Velásquez, Robinson Ramírez del Prado, Leopoldo López Rivas, and Mario Moreno Castro.

The minister on special assignment for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of Concepción and Chillán, Carlos Aldana Fuentes, sentenced the retired Carabineros general today—Wednesday, December 4—for his responsibility in nine crimes of qualified kidnapping and three qualified homicides.

These crimes were perpetrated between September and December 1973 in the communes of Chillán, San Nicolás, and Chillán Viejo.

In the ruling (case file 6-2017 and accumulated cases), Minister Aldana Fuentes sentenced the individual who was a Carabineros lieutenant at the time of the events, Patricio Enrique Jeldres Rodríguez, to a penalty of 15 years and one day in prison as the perpetrator of the qualified kidnappings of Ricardo Troncoso León, Gustavo Efraín Domínguez Jara, Wilson Alfredo Becerra Cifuentes, Tomás Rogelio Domínguez Jara, Arturo Lorenzo Prat Martí, José Gregorio Retamal Velásquez, Robinson Ramírez del Prado, Leopoldo López Rivas, and Mario Fernando Moreno Castro.

Likewise, the former officer must serve a second penalty of 15 years and one day in prison as the perpetrator of the qualified homicides of Gabriel Cortez Luna, Patricio Lautaro Weitzel Pérez, and Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa.

Meanwhile, civilian Juan Antonio Sepúlveda Peña was sentenced to 3 years in prison, with the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence, as an accomplice to the qualified kidnapping of Troncoso León.

In the resolution, Minister Aldana Fuentes established: “Following the military pronouncement in 1973, there existed in the Second Station of Chillán a Civil Commission composed of Carabineros from that police unit, in charge of and/or directed by the Carabineros lieutenant (Patricio Jeldres Rodríguez).

Starting September 11, 1973, this group dedicated itself to carrying out detentions of political adversaries of the military regime without a competent judicial or administrative order, some of whom were subjected to interrogations under torture and then executed or forcibly disappeared in an absolutely illegal manner,” which was linked by the investigation led by the visiting minister to the following facts, investigated in various cases:

“1).- Around 5:00 PM on September 18, 1973, a Carabineros patrol composed of Herminio Fernández Mercado (deceased), Juan Francisco Opazo Guerrero (deceased), Marqués Rodolfo Riquelme Echeverría (deceased), and Pedro Loyola Osorio (deceased) arrived at the home of Gabriel Marcelo Cortez Luna, located at Pabellón Manuel Rodríguez, N°107, commune of Chillán.

They entered without a competent judicial or administrative order, violently searching the home in search of Jorge Cortez Luna (the brother of the former), who was not at the location, and proceeded to detain his brothers Gabriel Marcelo and Pedro Eduardo Cortez Luna, transferring them to the Second Carabineros Station of Chillán, where they remained under the charge of the group of Carabineros whose chief was a lieutenant (Patricio Jeldres), who interrogated and tortured the political detainees.

While he was at said police facility, Pedro Cortez Luna was recognized by the aforementioned lieutenant because they had been fellow students at the Liceo de Hombres de Chillán, for which reason he ordered his immediate release, while Gabriel Marcelo Cortez Luna remained detained in another cell.

At 8:30 AM the following day, September 19, 1973, Carabineros from the Población Zañartu police post found an unidentified corpse on Lazareto street in front of the ‘Dinac’ warehouses in Chillán, which showed a projectile entry wound in the back, left lung, with an exit wound in the face, right cheekbone, according to the police report on page 582, which caused his death, according to the medical death certificate on page 643, which adds, ‘ballistic projectile, action of uniformed contingent.’ After the respective forensic examinations for his identification were carried out, it was established that it corresponded to GABRIEL MARCELO CORTEZ LUNA, and the respective registrations and sub-registrations were made in death registration N° 475, Register E, of the year 1973, of the Chillán District, by order of the Military Prosecutor's Office of said city, and he was buried in the common grave of the Chillán cemetery without any notice to his relatives, who had searched for him fruitlessly everywhere. Thus, after many inquiries, they went to the local cemetery, where the victim's brother and mother managed to find his body on October 18, 1973, and transfer it to a family grave.

2.- On October 1, 1973, around 11:00 AM, while Ricardo Troncoso León, pseudonym ‘Gonzalo Román’, was at his home located in the El Tejar neighborhood, Pasaje Sur N°387, in the city of Chillán, with his wife and young daughter, a Carabineros patrol from the Second Station of Chillán arrived, commanded by a lieutenant (Jeldres) of the Carabineros, in a jeep with the Carabineros logo and accompanied by a civilian, proceeding to raid the home and detain him without a competent judicial or administrative order, transferring him to the indicated police facility, where he was subjected to torture and held, with said situation being denied to his family, and his spouse being informed on October 3, 1973, that he had been transferred to the Regiment, which was not true, and his whereabouts or destination have remained unknown from that date.

3.- Around 4:00 PM on October 11, 1973, a Carabineros patrol from the Second Station of Chillán, commanded by a lieutenant, all armed with submachine guns and in combat gear, headed to the commune of San Nicolás, being coordinated and awaited by Carabineros from San Nicolás, and then all the aforementioned police officers, under the orders of the aforementioned Carabineros officer, continued to the ‘Ranquil’ Peasant Settlement—today the Victoria estate—which was managed by a committee of workers of the aforementioned property expropriated by the CORA.

There, they detained the workers who were at the location, interrogating several of them under torture for several hours—submerging them in a pool of water, applying electric current, and inflicting blows on their bodies of such magnitude that their bodies were bleeding—all in the presence of their families, including minors, only to take Gustavo Efraín Domínguez Jara, Wilson Alfredo Becerra Cifuentes, and Tomás Rogelio Domínguez Jara away as detainees, tied up inside a police vehicle, at dusk to the entrance of the El Ala bridge over the Ñuble River, where they were last seen alive, a date from which no news of their whereabouts or destination is known.

4.- At 10:00 PM on October 1, 1973, a Carabineros patrol arrived at the home located in Pabellones Pizarro, street six, house four, commune of Chillán, proceeding to detain Patricio Lautaro Weitzel Pérez, Arturo Lorenzo Prat Martí, and José Gregorio Retamal Velásquez without a competent judicial or administrative order, transferring them to the Second Carabineros Station of Chillán, where they were subjected to interrogations and torture by the aforementioned Carabineros operational group, led by a lieutenant of said police unit.

Subsequently, on December 24, 1973, a young woman arrived at the watch repair shop owned by Mr. Mario Weitzel Trincado—father of Patricio Lautaro Weitzel Pérez—to repair a wristwatch. Upon realizing that said item belonged to his son Patricio Lautaro—who had been a forcibly disappeared detainee since September 1973—he followed her at a distance to her house, located in the El Ala bridge sector over the Ñuble River, after assisting her.

After begging her to tell him where she had found it, her father took him to a nearby place, on whose bank of the Ñuble River he found the bodies of six people floating in the water, among them his son Patricio, which he rescued and left half-buried in the same area of land, to go and report it to the court, which he did on December 26, 1973.

A criminal case was formed, and the criminal judge visited the aforementioned site, ordering the recovery of the body and its transfer to the morgue for the corresponding autopsy, and subsequently ordered its delivery to the relatives, who gave him a burial.

Regarding the victims Arturo Lorenzo Prat Martí and José Gregorio Retamal Velásquez, since the date of their detention and their transfer to the Second Carabineros Station of Chillán, no certain news of their whereabouts or location is known.

5.- Around 10:00 AM on September 25, 1973, Robinson Enrique Ramírez del Prado, President of the Central Única de Trabajadores of Chillán, was detained by a group of Carabineros from the Second Station of Chillán, who were dedicated to detaining political adversaries of the military regime, without a competent judicial or administrative order, by going to the ‘El Cóndor’ tannery located at Av.

Collín N°866, Chillán, where they detained him in the presence of his boss (Juan León Bernier) and coworkers, transferring him to the aforementioned police unit, where he was seen entering by his cousin Gerardo Pradenas del Prado, who at the time was a Carabineros officer at the same station, and they were personally confronted to determine their degree of kinship, after which he was interrogated under torture.

At 1:00 PM on September 26, 1973, from his shoe repair shop located at Av. Brasil and Av. Libertad in the city of Chillán, Leopoldo López Rivas was detained by a group of Carabineros from a special group of the Second Station of Chillán without a competent judicial or administrative order, in the presence of his assistant Vicente Vidal Méndez.

He was transferred to the aforementioned police unit, where his detention was acknowledged by the Carabineros on duty when they checked the entry log for Mrs. Rosario Peña Espinoza, who arrived at that location at 3:00 PM that same day.

Likewise, it is proven that both detainees—Robinson Ramírez del Prado and Leopoldo López Rivas—were subjected to intense and cruel torture, remaining in poor physical condition. In that state, they were taken out of the aforementioned police unit by the Carabineros picket of the Second Station of Chillán, led by the aforementioned Lieutenant Jeldres, and loaded into a police vehicle, a date from which no news regarding their whereabouts or location is known.

6.- Around 11:45 PM on September 23, 1973, while Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa was sleeping at his parents' house, a group of Carabineros led by Lieutenant Patricio Jeldres Rodríguez arrived—who asked for support from military personnel passing through the area, in charge of an Army lieutenant—who proceeded to detain him violently without a judicial or administrative order and then take him to the Second Carabineros Station of Chillán, where he was visited by his mother, María Sabina Poblete Tropa, who observed that he was very mistreated due to the duress he had received.

On September 27, 1973, while his mother was going to the station to leave lunch for her son, she noticed him being loaded into a van. When she asked about his destination, she was informed that he would be taken to the Regiment, a place where he never arrived.

From that day on, the family lost all news of his whereabouts until they received information from Mr. Mario Weitzel Trincado, who on December 24, 1973, found the body of his son in the vicinity of the El Ala bridge, along with other skeletonized bodies, noting that one of them had no head, but did have a foot with a sock and shoe, which he kept; items that the mother of Juan Poblete Tropa later recognized as belonging to her son.

After forensic genetics examinations, a GMI laboratory report, and an integrated expert report, incorporated on page 1767 and following of September 23, 2019, were conducted, it was established with an identification probability of at least 99.99997% that the left femur—from the body that had the recovered sock and shoe—labeled 62, belongs to the aforementioned victim, that is, Juan Mauricio Poblete Tropa, and the corresponding death registration was ordered on page 1992 at the Civil Registry Service, with the cause of death: indeterminate.

7.- Around 12:00 midnight on October 1, 1973, Mario Fernando Moreno Castro, a leader of the Socialist Party, was at his home on Calle Cabildo N° 441, Chillán Viejo (a home he shared with his wife Rosa Elba Salinas Farías and their 3-year-old daughter, who were not at the location at that time).

He realized his home was being raided by Carabineros officers and chose to flee through the back fence of the property, passing through the interior courtyards of his neighbors. When he was walking through the intersection of Juan Martínez de Rozas and Cabildo streets, he was assisted by Mrs.

Mónica Muñoz Orellana, who saw him walking in the middle of the street carrying a white handkerchief on his shoulder. Mario told her he was escaping the raid on his home and was heading to turn himself in to the Carabineros of the 2nd Station.

Given the circumstances of the time and the prevailing curfew, Mrs. Mónica had him enter the restaurant where she worked (‘Sociedad Mutualista Bernardo O'Higgins’), located on the corner of Juan Martínez de Rozas and Cabildo streets, half a block from Moreno Castro's home, where he remained hidden all night.

Around 6:00 AM, Mario Moreno Castro left the restaurant, again expressing his intention to turn himself in at the 2nd Carabineros Station of Chillán, but not before leaving his belongings so they could be sent to his wife.

At the moment Mrs. Mónica Muñoz Orellana opened the door, she encountered a Carabineros jeep and had a dialogue with the Carabinero Troncoso (deceased), whom she knew because the restaurant served as a boarding house for Carabineros in the area.

She asked what they were doing there so early, and Carabinero Troncoso replied that ‘A little bird had escaped them, but it was nearby.’ After the Carabineros patrol left, Mario Moreno Castro left the place with the idea of turning himself in to the Carabineros.

On the morning of October 2, 1973, when Rosa Elba Salinas Farías returned home after her shift at the Chillán Hospital, she realized her home had been raided and was informed by neighbors that her partner had been detained that early morning by a Carabineros patrol near their home.

She went to search for him at the 2nd Carabineros Station of Chillán, where she was informed at first that Mario Moreno was detained at that police facility, but subsequently, the same Carabineros officers denied that information.

However, it is proven by witnesses that several people shared detention with Moreno Castro and noticed when he was interrogated by Carabineros of that police unit under torture and then taken out of the police unit by the interrogators, from which moment all news of his whereabouts or destination is lost.”

In the civil aspect, the visiting minister ordered the state to pay a total compensation of $1,970,000,000 for moral damages to the victims' relatives.

Photographs

Source: pjud.cl, 4/12/2024