Sergio Adrián Maureira Lillo, married, 11 children, agricultural worker, with no political affiliation, was detained on October 7, 1973, at approximately 10:00 PM at his home by a Carabineros patrol from the Isla de Maipo station, commanded by Sergeant Pablo Ñancupil Raquileo and composed of Carabineros Jacinto Torres, Manuel Muñoz, Héctor Vargas, and David Coliqueo.

He was violently removed from his home and loaded into a pickup truck belonging to the Fundo Naguayán, where he worked. His detention occurred in the presence of his spouse and nine of his children. Sergio Maureira Lillo was the first of eleven peasants who would be apprehended that night in the same operation, four of whom were his own sons.

Shortly thereafter, his sons Sergio Miguel Maureira Muñoz, 27, married, 1 child, agricultural worker, and Rodolfo Antonio, 22, married, 1 child, agricultural worker, were detained at their respective homes.

Finally, the same patrol returned to the family home where they arrested two other sons, Segundo Armando, 24, single, agricultural worker, and José Manuel, 26, single, agricultural worker. All the detentions were carried out with great violence, and the homes were raided by the arresting Carabineros.

The other six peasants arrested that night were: Enrique Astudillo Alvarez and his sons Ramón and Omar Astudillo Rojas, and the three Hernández Flores brothers: Carlos, Nelson, and Oscar. According to witnesses, the detainees were tied up and lying face down on the floor of the vehicle, with the Carabineros standing on them, constantly beating them and hurling insults and death threats.

The spouse of Sergio Maureira and mother of four of the detainees visited various locations inquiring about the whereabouts of her husband and her four sons: the Isla de Maipo station and other police stations, prisons, and facilities used as detention centers (Estadio Nacional, Estadio Chile), SENDET, the Legal Medical Institute, and the Ministry of Defense; she also sent letters to detention centers in other cities, without receiving a positive response.

On that same day, October 7, in the morning, four young men had been detained in the Plaza of Isla de Maipo by Carabineros from the local station; these young men were: Iván Ordóñez Lama, 17; Miguel Brant Bustamante, 19; José Herrera Villegas, 17; and Manuel Jesús Navarro Salinas, 20.

The fifteen detainees remained at the station during the day of October 7; this was the last place they were seen alive. On November 7, 1975, the Chilean delegate to the United Nations, Sergio Diez, stated in his presentation to the Third Committee of the General Assembly that "many of the alleged disappeared do not have a legal existence," while others "were located in the records of the Legal Medical Institute of Santiago." Of the fifteen detained in Isla de Maipo, eight appear on the lists: among them the 4 Maureira brothers; Sergio Maureira Muñoz, as having no legal existence, and the other seven as deceased: 1) Enrique Astudillo Alvarez, entry 3166, date of death: October 7, 1973, at 2:00 PM. 2) Nelson Hernández Flores, entry 3238, date of death: October 11, 1973, at 2:30 PM. 3) Oscar Humberto Hernández Flores, entry 3201, date of death: October 9, 1973, at 12:30 PM. 4) José Manuel Herrera Villegas, entry 3130, date of death: October 6, 1973, at 11:30 AM. 5) José Manuel Maureira Muñoz, entry 3263, date of death: October 11, 1973, at 8:30 PM. 6) Rodolfo Antonio Maureira Muñoz, entry 3332, date of death: October 15, 1973, at 1:00 PM. 7) Segundo Armando Maureira Muñoz, entry 3335, date of death: October 15, 1973, at 4:00 PM. The origin and those responsible for the creation of these lists could never be established; neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Legal Medical Institute acknowledged responsibility for them. During the month of November 1978, a Catholic priest received, under the seal of confession, information about a place where numerous human remains were located. Considering the gravity of the matter, a Commission was formed to verify the information before filing a formal judicial complaint. This Commission was composed of Monsignor Enrique Alvear, Auxiliary Bishop of Santiago; Monsignor Cristián Precht, Vicar of Solidarity; Jaime Martínez, Director of the weekly "Qué Pasa"; Abraham Santibáñez, Sub-Director of the magazine "Hoy"; and lawyers Alejandro González and Máximo Pacheco. The Commission met on November 30, 1978, at the site of the discovery, an abandoned lime kiln located in the town of Lonquén, a small village 14 kilometers from the city of Talagante and near the town of Isla de Maipo. There, they were able to confirm the existence of two kilns, approximately nine meters high, in one of which was a large number of human remains. Once the information was verified, Bishop Monsignor Alvear and lawyers Pacheco and González filed the respective complaint the following day, December 1, before the President of the Supreme Court, Mr. Israel Bórquez, requesting that he report it to the full bench of that Tribunal. This initiated the judicial investigation that determined that the remains found belonged to the fifteen locals from Isla de Maipo detained on October 7, 1973, who had been executed by Carabineros and their remains illegally buried in the kilns. The victims' families requested the release of the bodies to give them a proper burial. The Martial Court ordered the Military Prosecutor to hand over the remains to whoever could legally prove kinship. The Prosecutor ordered "strict compliance with that order," but later, on the very day of the funeral, he ordered that, due to the impossibility of identifying the remains—except for those of Sergio Maureira Lillo—they should be buried in the town of Isla de Maipo. On the same day this order was issued, the families had gathered at the Recoleta Franciscana Church awaiting the remains to hold a funeral mass, only to learn at that moment that the bodies had been buried by officials of the Legal Medical Service in the Municipal Cemetery of Isla de Maipo in a mass grave, with the exception of Sergio Maureira Lillo, who was buried in an individual grave. The Military Prosecutor also refused to authorize the registration of the deaths in the Civil Registry and Identification Service. Days later, a religious ceremony for the eternal rest of these victims was held at the Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral, without the presence of the remains. Years later, the Lonquén Kilns, which by that date had become a place of pilgrimage, were dynamited.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On March 29, 1974, the Committee for Cooperation for Peace in Chile filed a mass writ of amparo (habeas corpus), case file 289-74, before the Santiago Court of Appeals on behalf of 131 people who were disappeared at that date and whose information had been verified by said organization.

Among these 131 protected persons were Sergio Maureira Lillo, his four sons, and the other six peasants detained in the same operation. On November 28 of that same year, the 6th Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals dismissed the petition.

An appeal was filed with the Supreme Court, which confirmed the denial on January 31, 1975, ordering the initiation of a summary proceeding to investigate the commission of possible crimes. In the same resolution, it recommended that the Court of Appeals appoint a Visiting Minister (Ministro en Visita), an appointment that fell to Mr.

Enrique Zurita Camps. On February 24, 1975, the Investigating Minister appeared at the First Criminal Court of Santiago, initiating case file 106.657. During the investigation, the Maureira family members were summoned to testify by the Visiting Minister, thus documenting once again the circumstances of the detention.

On September 25, 1975, without any progress having been made in any of the cases of the forcibly disappeared, the summary proceeding was closed because "no further progress could be made in the investigation." On September 29 of the same year, the Visiting Minister declared himself incompetent, considering that the proceedings carried out allowed for the establishment that Sergio Maureira Lillo, his four sons, Enrique Astudillo Alvarez and his two sons, and the three Hernández Flores brothers had been detained on October 7, 1973, by Carabineros of Talagante and handed over the following day at the Estadio Nacional to the charge of SENDET, an organization that did not report back to either confirm or deny this information. The Minister's resolution states verbatim that "consequently, the Carabineros of Talagante or SENDET must answer for the disappearance of the named persons, as this Tribunal lacks jurisdiction in both cases." He added an order to remit the records to the Second Military Court of Santiago. On July 1, 1976, the Military Court designated the Third Military Prosecutor's Office to continue the investigation under case file 1382-76. On August 9, one month later, the summary proceeding was declared closed, and the following day a temporary dismissal was proposed, which was approved on September 14 by the Military Judge, who ordered the case to be archived. In parallel, on June 17, 1974, the spouse of Sergio Maureira and mother of the Maureira Muñoz brothers, Purísima Elena Muñoz Contreras, filed a writ of amparo, case file 613-74, before the Santiago Court of Appeals. In the filing, she also mentioned the detention and subsequent disappearance of six other peasants from the same area. A report issued by the Ministry of the Interior stated that the protected persons were not in detention and that the Ministry was unaware of their whereabouts. The Auditor of the Combat Command for Aviation Tribunals in Wartime reported that they were not detained or prosecuted by the Aviation Tribunals under that Command. The Military Court of Santiago and the Chief of the State of Siege Zone of the Province of Santiago, Brigadier General Sergio Arellano Stark, reported the same. Regarding the reports received from the Carabineros, the Acting Chief of the Isla de Maipo station, Luis Acevedo Vargas, sent two official letters; in the first, dated December 10, 1974, he states verbatim that "they were indeed detained in the month of October of last year by personnel of this Unit, and were sent with an unnumbered minute, dated the 8th of the same month, for the reasons indicated therein, to the Prisoner Camp of the Estadio Nacional where they were received in good order, as evidenced by the signature registered on the back of the copy of the minute which appears to say Sergeant 2nd Class González." The aforementioned minute contains the personal data (name, age, marital status, education, occupation, ID number, and address), political affiliation, and the charge against each of the eleven detained peasants. In the case of Sergio Maureira Lillo, it says: "47 years old, married, agricultural worker, basic education, ID No. 16.455 from the Talagante Office, residing at Calle La Ballica s/n; with the same charges and activities as detainee No. 5." "Detainee No. 5" is one of his sons who appears as César Manuel, and it refers to Sergio, of whom it indicates that "he participated, together with his father and brothers, in extremist activities in the area; all are of Mapucista affiliation. Yesterday, they arrived at the Lo Díaz plot, where the Carabinero Jacinto Torres González and his family live—this official is assigned to this station—and broke the padlock on the entrance gate to enter a field they work, insulting his spouse and threatening her, her children, and her husband with death." At the end of the text, it is requested that they be interrogated by specialized personnel at that facility, as it is presumed that the detainees are extremists who are gathering to reorganize, which has been verified by their own statements and by the initial inquiries made by the station personnel. This document is signed by Carabinero Lieutenant Lautaro Castro Mendoza, Chief of the station. In the second official letter, sent two days after the previous one, the Carabineros reiterated the detention of the protected persons carried out on October 7, 1973, by station personnel, on the grounds that they had been caught in a clandestine meeting at the home of Sergio Maureira Lillo. It adds that all of them "are of recognized extremist left-wing affiliation" and that they were planning to attack officials of that station and their families, one of which they had already threatened. It also points out that they were sent to the Estadio Nacional where "they were received in good order" and that it is unknown if they were subsequently placed at the disposal of any Tribunal. The Court repeatedly requested information from SENDET regarding this information provided by the Carabineros, without receiving a response. In March 1975, and nine months after the amparo was filed, the petitioner requested the Court to appoint a Visiting Minister. On March 10 of that year, the 1st Chamber of the Court of Appeals dismissed the amparo and ordered the records to be sent to the corresponding Criminal Court. On the other hand, on October 1, 1974, a complaint for the alleged disappearance of the eleven peasants of Isla de Maipo was filed, case file 22826-1, before the Talagante Court of Letters. In the filing, it is noted that, while carrying out some of the detentions, the Carabineros caused bodily harm to the relatives of the arrested; it adds that the police officers were in a manifest state of intoxication and that they stole items from some of the raided homes, such as wool, jugs of wine, and money. There is no further information on the processing of this complaint. On December 1, 1978, the Vicariate of Solidarity, represented by the Auxiliary Bishop of Santiago, Monsignor Enrique Alvear Urrutia, and the Episcopal Vicar, Monsignor Cristián Precht Bañados, filed a complaint before the Supreme Court regarding the discovery of human remains inside two old kilns used for mineral processing on the slopes of the Lonquén hills, in the Department of Talagante. This information had been provided days earlier by a person to a priest, under the seal of confession. Prior to the presentation to the Supreme Court, the ecclesiastical authorities formed a Commission that went to the indicated place, verifying the truthfulness of the information. In the filing, signed by Bishop Monsignor Enrique Alvear, Vicar Monsignor Cristián Precht, and lawyers Máximo Pacheco and Alejandro González, they requested the Supreme Court to "adopt measures to ensure a rapid and exhaustive investigation." The Supreme Court remitted the records to the Talagante Criminal Court to conduct the summary proceeding, initiating case file 27.123-3. As a first step, the magistrate went to the site on December 1, located about 3.5 km from the town of Lonquén, confirming the existence of a stone structure, approximately 9 meters high by 16 meters wide, in which there were two kilns, each with an entrance opening of 1 meter by 80 cm, and on the upper part of which were two pits that showed a large accumulation of earth and stones. Upon inspecting one of the entrances and removing some debris, remains, pieces of cloth, and hair were extracted; observation inside revealed the presence of other human remains. In successive excavations, human remains were extracted and also sent to the Legal Medical Institute for analysis. Some projectile casings were also found. On December 6, the full bench of the Supreme Court appointed the Minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mr. Adolfo Bañados Cuadra, as Extraordinary Visiting Minister to continue the investigation into the discovery of the Lonquén remains. Several peasants residing near the kilns were summoned to testify; they stated that a few days after September 11, 1973, Carabineros from the Isla de Maipo station informed them of an order prohibiting passage to the area where the kilns are located, as it was an "extremist hideout." Other peasants said they had seen military vehicles and heard gunshots. Regarding the construction of the kilns themselves, a report from the Investigations Department of Infrastructure indicated that a part of it was old, over 60 years, while inside one of the kilns there was an iron platform on which a slab or floor had been built based on stone and brick joined with lime or plaster, the age of which was no more than 8 years. The report concludes by indicating that "apparently, this work was executed by throwing the mixture first from the upper opening of the kiln and then the rest of the material, as there is no orderly placement of the elements, which suggests it was executed by non-specialized personnel." Regarding the ballistic analysis of three casings found, the Forensic Ballistics section of the Investigations Criminalistics Laboratory reported that the 7.62 NATO casings had been fired by a Swiss-made SIG automatic rifle, caliber 7.62 NATO SG 510-4; all were fired by the same weapon with the indicated characteristics. When the Tribunal appeared at the Isla de Maipo station, it was found that the 1973 record books had been sent to the Third Police Station of Talagante for incineration, and regarding the weaponry, three SIG SG.510-4 automatic rifles, cal. 7.62 mm, appear in the inventory. At the Third Police Station of Talagante, information was obtained regarding the personnel existing at the Isla de Maipo station and the Lonquén outpost, which amounted to 21 officials. The Lieutenant was Lautaro Castro Mendoza. During the process, the list of 63 "allegedly disappeared persons who were located in the records of the Legal Medical Institute of Santiago" was reviewed, which had been presented along with another list of "alleged disappeared persons with no legal existence" by the Chilean government to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1975. The Tribunal requested the autopsy protocols from the Legal Medical Institute that, according to the list, corresponded to Segundo, Rodolfo, and José Maureira Muñoz. In relation to this, Dr. Claudio Molina, Director of the Institute, declared that "the inaccuracy of the list of 'presumably disappeared persons' is evident, at least regarding protocol No. 3332, since the study of the body revealed that it was a woman." He added that he had seen this list in a 1975 publication and that, together with another doctor, he identified the signature as belonging to Dr. Vargas (former Director of the Institute), "but I do not know on what basis this professional endorsed said entry." The Judge of the 7th Criminal Court of Santiago appeared at the Legal Medical Institute at the request of Minister Bañados, and it was verified that none of the people on the list appeared in the Institute's Index Book; the only thing that coincided between both lists was the data that appeared in the "date of death" column with the date of entry in the Registry book. At the time of this proceeding, Dr. Vargas had passed away. In the processing of case 240005-1 of the Maipo-Buin Court, which investigates the disappearances in Paine, it was established that the signature of Dr. Vargas was not the known one. Regarding this, the Minister of the Interior, Sergio Fernández Fernández, reported that there was no record that the list of persons corresponded to any official communication issued or sent by that Ministry. Meanwhile, the Acting Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Army Colonel Roberto Soto Mackenney, reported that the aforementioned list appeared in Volume No. 2 of "The Current Situation of Human Rights in Chile," published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the month of October 1975. The source of the data contained in said list corresponds to information provided by the Legal Medical Institute of Santiago in the year 1975." Ultimately, it was not possible to establish responsibility for the creation of the list. In February 1979, as a result of finding evidence that the remains found belonged to the detainees from Isla de Maipo, the recognition proceedings for the clothing found in the kilns began, with the victims' relatives appearing; most of them were able to recognize the clothing their relatives were wearing at the time of their detention. Previously, the anthropomorphic data of these 15 victims had been submitted to the Tribunal. When the Carabineros who belonged to the Isla de Maipo station in September 1973 were summoned to testify, Carabinero Captain Lautaro Eugenio Castro Mendoza appeared and stated that he gave the order to detain "several subjects of the Maureira family" for being dangerous people linked to the interests of the previous government who were planning to attack the barracks; in addition, "other individuals from the sector with the surname Hernández and others I do not remember, until reaching eleven people" were detained. He himself led the picket and defined the detentions by following a list attached to a map found in the house of one of the sons of the Maureira family. Once the arrests were finished, they were taken to the barracks where they were interrogated, confirming his suspicions "regarding their dangerousness." Castro adds that, after the interrogation, he himself ordered their transfer to the Estadio Nacional, but before that, one of the detainees informed him in private that there were weapons hidden in an abandoned mine. For this reason, they went to the abandoned mines in Lonquén, in a municipal truck and a private pickup, with 8 to 10 Carabineros and the detainees; once they arrived at the sector, they were suddenly attacked with firearms from the hills, to which they responded by firing back, a situation that lasted ten to fifteen minutes. Upon proceeding to look for the detainees, they verified that all of them were dead. All the Carabineros were unharmed. Subsequently, he decided, after consulting with the personnel, to bury the bodies in the kilns to avoid reprisals against them and their families; that is how "the bodies were thrown inside and immediately after I ordered that earth and debris be thrown over them." When asked about the statements he gave in other proceedings, asserting that the detainees had been transferred to the Estadio Nacional, he points out that he lied out of fear, since "upon being arrested, all these subjects had a threatening attitude that seemed very serious to me, in the sense that they could take revenge in any way on our own persons and families." Regarding the minute, he declares that it was signed by him but he does not recognize the signature and handwriting at the bottom. He reiterates that the detainees were eleven and that he does not know the minors who supposedly also died that day. He was referring to Iván Ordóñez, Miguel Brant, José Herrera, and Manuel Navarro. All the Carabineros who participated in the events were armed with SIG rifles and NATO ammunition. Other Carabineros from the station also appeared; several of them confirmed Captain Castro's version, adding that the detainees were tied with trintrollas (a type of string), that they were lying on the platform of the truck, and that they used their hands and feet to throw stones and material from the hillsides into the kilns. On March 15, 1979, the relatives of the disappeared from the Maureira, Astudillo, and Hernández families filed a criminal complaint for kidnapping against the Carabineros who participated in the arrest, for forgery of a public document against Lieutenant Castro, and for qualified homicide against those who turned out to be responsible. The following day, Minister Bañados rejected the processing of the complaint, as there was insufficient evidence to state that they were indeed the people found in the kilns and that, in the event that the Carabineros were responsible, that Tribunal would lack the jurisdiction to substantiate the process. On April 4, 1979, the Visiting Minister declared himself incompetent. In the resolution, the Minister points out the following conclusions: -He establishes that the identity of the bodies found corresponds to the 15 detained on October 7, 1973, in Isla de Maipo. -He presumes that "multiple crimes of homicide were committed, apparently in the same act." -He considers it established that the information given by the Carabineros that the victims were taken as detainees to the Estadio Nacional is false. -Likewise, he considers the official information that the bodies entered the Legal Medical Institute during the years 1973 and 1974 to be false. -He establishes as "intrinsically implausible" the version of Captain Lautaro Castro, who explains the death of the detainees as the result of an armed attack caused by unknown persons at night, because it is impossible to imagine that the opposing projectiles would have impacted, under the conditions already expressed, only the prisoners and not their captors; that from the shootout that occurred there, no trace remained, in any respect; and that, in all cases, the injuries were of such a condition that they caused the instantaneous death of the victims." -He points out that, "in none of the fifteen skeletal remains studied by the Legal Medical Institute were signs of perforations, fractures, or other types of vestiges that could be related to firearm projectiles impacting a living organism found, so the death of the fifteen people must be attributed to other causes." -He considers that the Carabineros acted in the line of duty and that in the events "the Chief of the station had direct interference and responsibility, without prejudice to that which may affect those who acted under his command." The records were remitted to the Military Justice on April 10, and in the Second Military Prosecutor's Office, case file 200-79 was initiated, under the charge of Prosecutor Gonzalo Salazar Swett. From this stage of the process, it is worth highlighting the statement of a witness—a brother-in-law of the Hernández brothers—who was also arrested on October 7, 1973, together with them at their home; he maintains that he was with the eleven detainees during the trip to the station and, upon arriving at this facility, he only remained for about half an hour and was then taken to his home by a Carabinero. Also appearing was the former Carabinero official Pablo Ñancupil Raquileo, discharged in 1977, who served at the Isla de Maipo station between 1971 and 1975. He points out that he was in charge of the detention of the Maureiras and the Astudillos, ordered personally by Lieutenant Castro; he does not remember having apprehended the Hernández brothers. He adds that in the respective records...

They did not find weapons or documents in the homes that would allow them to be classified as "dangerous." In relation to this, Lieutenant Castro had previously stated that he had been guided by a list and a map of the barracks found at the home of one of Sergio Maureira's sons to carry out the other arrests.

The former Carabineros officer Ñancupil adds that about two days after the arrest, he saw, in a room at the police station used as a storage area, "more than 10 and fewer than 25 people," lying on the floor with their hands tied behind their backs, among whom he recognized those detained by him, as well as three of the young men apprehended in the plaza, whom he names by their surnames: Brant, Ordóñez, and Navarro.

He further states that he did not participate in the transfer of the detainees from the station and has no knowledge of their fate, although he says that, following comments from people to the effect that the detainees had not appeared, he heard a Carabineros officer say: "How are they going to appear... if we killed them." On July 2, 1979, the Military Prosecutor issued an indictment against Lautaro Castro Mendoza, Juan J.

Villegas Navarro, Félix Sagredo Aravena, Manuel Muñoz Rencoret, Jacinto R. Torres González, David Coliqueo Fuentealba, José Belmar Sepúlveda, and Justo Romo Peralta, as authors of the crime of unnecessary violence causing the death of all the detainees on October 7, 1973.

On August 16, a sentence was issued that dismissed the case totally and definitively in favor of the accused, by virtue of the 1978 Amnesty Decree Law; this resolution was appealed and confirmed by the Court Martial on October 22, 1979.

Furthermore, the Military Prosecutor's Office did not return the remains, and in 1980 they were buried for a second time without their families' knowledge. Despite the evidence existing in the case file, the deaths of Sergio Maureira Lillo and his four sons José Manuel, Rodolfo Antonio, Segundo Armando, and Sergio Miguel were not registered in the Civil Registry.

Source: Corporation Report

Dear Grandpa: I am not good at writing letters, so I hope you like it. I only have your memory in photos and what the family says about you, which are very good things, by the way—that you were a great man.

Oh, I remembered something "naughty" about you: that you were a tattletale to Mom. You would tell your mom everything your brothers and sisters did because you were her favorite. According to my sisters, they also say I am a tattletale, but it is not my fault; they don't tell me it's a secret until I tell someone else.

Maybe the same thing happened to you, but I don't know, maybe you were a little like that. Well, that was your only flaw. I was also told that you were very funny and entertaining; the truth is I have always wanted to be funnier, but I am not.

I hope one day to be as funny as you. They also told me that they called you "Coco," but I still don't know why. Lately, I have been in quarantine, so I am getting used to the rhythm: being locked up all day, going to classes, and online meetings.

Honestly, I don't like that at all. First of all, I get very distracted; let's say I see one of my puppies and I pet him, and then I forget what I was doing. Second, I don't like being locked up; I would like to go out to freer places like the countryside, where there are many trees and plants.

I would have liked for you to teach me how to take care of plants; maybe I would even have my own little vegetable garden. Lately, time has passed so fast I would even say it's flying. A little while ago I turned 15, and well, I set several goals for myself, like being vegan this year, being a better class president, helping more, growing taller, studying, going to workshops, etc.

It is also almost a year since the social uprising when Chile woke up to fight against the injustices of this country. It is a very memorable day for everyone and likewise for me, as I learned an important lesson: that you should never give up, despite everything, even if no one supports you.

You have to protect your ideals, and you will see how they start supporting you. I tell you, the day before the uprising, I was very angry and sad, since there were people protesting against the injustices of this country, but I couldn't believe there were people complaining, saying that those who were protesting were "making a mess," even though they were also fighting for them.

I was fed up that a few always had to do the fighting while the others did nothing. But honestly, what made me the angriest was that, despite the dictatorship that snatched your life away in the past, you lost the dreams you wanted to fulfill and being with your family—our family that suffered and still suffers these terrible moments, including my dad, who grew up without you, who couldn't have you by his side, couldn't get a hug from you, and doesn't even remember an "I love you" from you because he was very small when you left this world, only because you were fighting with your family for people's rights and helping them. But despite that, the majority stayed silent; they didn't care about others. But still, my dad motivated me, despite his sadness from the past, that I always had to fight for my ideals, that one day everyone would wake up. And who would have imagined that it was just the next day that they woke up? They got tired of the fear, and the sadness gave them the strength to fight and thus change Chile into a better country. So I learned that you should never give up, like you, your dad, your brothers, sisters, and your mom, my great-grandmother, who never got tired of looking for you; she was such a good person, an example to follow. During the uprising, it was very beautiful to see how they supported each other in the town halls, the community kitchens, the marches, how they defended each other. Even the Colo-Colo and U fans united; I wish you could have seen that. You, who loved soccer so much and were a very good player—sorry, Grandpa, but I don't play soccer that much, I've barely played it 6 times, but I promise you something: I will learn at least the rules of soccer. Although, despite the beauty, there was also sadness; unfortunately, people were killed again, and there were many. At one moment, I fell into sadness, but thanks to the support I had from my family, I managed to move forward. I also think it was thanks to you, because when looking at your photos, I couldn't just stay sad and do nothing about what was happening; I had to keep moving forward. Besides, you have a smile that gives great strength. I am also glad that my first name is your middle name, Antonio, which they gave me to remember you, and I hope to be like you once were. I hope to keep this name, just like from generation to generation, to remember our family; I also think that with my mom's name. A while ago I had written a poem for you, on your birthday, so I hope you can read it wherever you are, even now if you are by my side while I write this letter: The years have passed / Your memory still remains / The sadness has not been forgotten / Nor the memories by your side / The tears became memory / Your charisma a souvenir / Your face that brings a smile / To every person / You will live in the memory / Of this history without oblivion / With your presence by my side / We will keep fighting. Sincerely, Antonia Maureira Albornoz, (15 years old), granddaughter of Rodolfo Antonio Maureira Muñoz. Postscript: I still wonder why they called you that nickname.

Source: epistolariodelamemoria.cl 09/11/2020

Date: 09-11-2020

On October 7, 1973, at 9:45 PM, a group of eleven peasants from the town of Isla de Maipo was detained by Carabineros officers. The police did not carry arrest or search warrants for the homes of those people.

Numerous witnesses saw how they were beaten and loaded into a white pickup truck owned by the owner of the Fundo Naguayán—where the houses of the three families were located—and how they were tied up and laid face down on the floor of the vehicle.

They were the agricultural workers: Enrique Astudillo Álvarez (51 years old), Omar Astudillo Rojas (20), Ramón Astudillo Rojas (27), Carlos Hernández Flores (39), Nelson Hernández Flores (32), Oscar Hernández Flores (30), Sergio Maureira Lillo (46), José Maureira Muñoz (26), Rodolfo Maureira Muñoz (22), Segundo Maureira Muñoz (24), and Sergio Maureira Muñoz (27).

The Carabineros officers stood on their backs. They paraded through the streets of the town to intimidate the entire population. Finally, they were taken to the police station. The same fate befell four young men who had been detained that same day in the town square: Miguel Brant Bustamante (22 years old), Manuel Navarro Salinas (20), Iván Ordóñez Lama (17), and José Herrera Villegas (17).

The relatives were deceived by government authorities. They were informed that the detainees had been transferred to the National Stadium in the capital. The relatives filed a writ of amparo in 1974. When the local authorities were questioned by the courts, they merely stated that "all had been transferred on October 8, 1973, to the National Stadium." Which was completely false.

The SENDET (National Service for Detainees) stated contradictorily that it "did not have, and had never had, information about them." Sergio Diez—today a senator for Renovación Nacional—and at that time a delegate of the Augusto Pinochet Ugarte dictatorship to the OAS, lied in 1975 before the whole world, saying that: "these people had no legal existence," while other "Lonquén detainees had been admitted to the Legal Medical Institute in October 1973." On November 29, 1978, an informant provided the Catholic Church with the exact location where the ill-fated remains of the peasants and young men were: some lime kilns in the town of Lonquén, 14 kilometers from the town of Talagante. The Vicar of Solidarity, Cristián Precht, and the Bishop of Santiago, Enrique Alvear, decided to verify the information by going to the site along with journalists—Jaime Martínez (Qué Pasa) and Abraham Santibáñez (Revista Hoy)—and lawyers Máximo Pacheco (PDC) and Alejandro González. The press reported: "In an old stone construction, about twelve meters high, attached to the slope of a hill, inside which there are two silos of two and a half meters, were the corpses (...). In the other, covered with stones from above and with an exit in its lower part, also walled up, were human remains, a skull, torn clothes (...)." It was a precise and painful blow to the conscience of thousands of Chileans. An open wound to this day, unspeakable. An image of pain and human misery, of horror without limit and brutality that human history will remember forever. Nothing could Pinochet and his lackeys do to hide the horrendous crime. The bishop informed Israel Bórquez, president of the Supreme Court and collaborator of the regime, who sent the background information to the Talagante Court. Judge Juana Godoy was appointed to initiate the investigation. In December 1978, the remains were sent to the Legal Medical Institute. The plenary of the Supreme Court appointed Judge Adolfo Bañados as a visiting minister, who ordered autopsies and ballistic examinations to be carried out and gathered the cases in which the disappearance of persons or alleged misfortune had been reported. He interrogated the relatives of the "disappeared" peasants. The police officers involved: Lautaro Castro Mendoza—head of the Isla de Maipo police station—and Carabineros officers Juan Villegas Navarro, Félix Sagredo Aravena, Manuel Muñoz Rencoret, Jacinto Torres González, David Coliqueo Fuentealba, José Belmar Sepúlveda, and Justo Romo Peralta, gave the courts the version that they had "taken the detainees, who were highly dangerous, to the Lonquén kilns in order to unearth the weaponry they had hidden, and that later—at the site—they had suffered an armed attack by unknown persons, with the peasants being killed by the gunfire. Fearing reprisals, they had decided to hide the bodies in the abandoned kilns." In April 1979, Minister Bañados had to declare himself incompetent due to the prevailing legislation that grants immunity to uniformed personnel and hands over criminal cases in which they are involved to the Military Justice system. However, before leaving the case, he established the responsibility of these police officers in the events. His resolution states: "The version (...) to try to explain the death of their prisoners, not only contradicts the merits of the case file in multiple aspects and details, in particular, of course, regarding the number of victims, but is also intrinsically implausible (...) in none of the remains were signs of perforations, fractures, or other types of vestiges found that could be related to firearm projectiles impacting a living organism, so the death of the fifteen people must be attributed to other causes." The case then passed into the hands of the "Second Military Court," which indicted the Carabineros officers as "authors of the crime of unnecessary violence causing death." After a short procedure, the case was definitively dismissed by means of the Amnesty Law issued by Pinochet, legislation to which the eight Carabineros had requested to avail themselves. Subsequently, the "Court Martial" confirmed that resolution. The murderer Lautaro Castro was promoted to the rank of Captain. One year after the bodies of the peasants and young men were found, the remains were handed over to their relatives. The bodies were transported by officials of the Legal Medical Institute to Isla de Maipo and buried immediately—except for Sergio Maureira Lillo—to avoid the presence of their relatives, depositing them in a common grave. The relatives, aggrieved once again by the military authorities, filed a complaint with the Court Martial—which was obliged to accept it—against military prosecutor Gonzalo Salazar Sweet for "fault and abuse committed by not complying with the order to hand over the corpses." He was given a written censure. In January 1980, the Supreme Court decided to set it aside, considering that the prosecutor "did not commit any fault. It was the judges themselves who imposed it on him who indicated the procedure he employed." A complaint was filed again with the justice system for the death of the peasants of Isla de Maipo. This case was handled by visiting minister Héctor Solís, who could not continue his investigation. The minister of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, Marianela Cifuentes, continued the investigation, finalizing it on September 12, 2016, when she issued a first-instance sentence. The minister convicted the 7 Carabineros who detained the fifteen peasants; the former Carabineros were convicted of the crime of qualified kidnapping: Lautaro Castro Mendoza, head of the patrol, to a sentence of 20 years in prison for his responsibility as an author. David Coliqueo Fuentealba, Justo Ignacio Romo Peralta, Félix Héctor Sagredo Aravena, Jacinto Torres González, and Juan José Villegas Navarro were sentenced to 15 years in prison. Pablo Ñancupil Raguileo was sentenced to 900 days in prison. The case went to the second instance, the San Miguel Court of Appeals, which confirmed the sentence on May 16, 2017. On June 16, 2018, the Supreme Court confirmed the sentence that convicted 6 former Carabineros, given that the head of the Carabineros, Lautaro Castro, had died before the conviction. On February 18, 2010, the acting visiting minister of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, Héctor Solís, announced the identification of 13 of the 15 bodies, whose remains were found in 1978, finally allowing for the burial to take place, with the removal of the remains from the Legal Medical Service taking place on March 26. On March 27, a public wake was held in the Civic Courtyard of the Isla de Maipo Municipality, and on Sunday the 28th, the solemn burial of the victims in the Isla de Maipo Parish Cemetery. The Lonquén Kilns were demolished to erase all traces and footprints of memory, to impose oblivion definitively. By Arnaldo Pérez Guerra

Source: prensaopal.cl, October 7, 2020

Date: 10-07-2020

At 96 years old, Elena Muñoz, mother and wife of victims of the Lonquén Kilns case, has passed away

The woman lost her husband and four sons at the hands of Isla de Maipo Carabineros during 1978, in the middle of the dictatorship. At 96 years old, Elena Muñoz de Maureira died, the widow who is a symbol of the Lonquén Kilns case, who lost her husband and four sons at the hands of Isla de Maipo Carabineros and whose bodies appeared in 1978 in the kilns of that place along with other victims of the dictatorship.

The woman, known as "Purísima Lonquén," will be buried in the Isla de Maipo cemetery after a mass at the Virgen de las Mercedes Sanctuary parish. Previously, her coffin will leave from her home in the Villa O'Higgins.

All members of the Maureira clan and the other victims appeared on November 30, 1978, in the Lonquén kilns. The bodies were tied at their extremities with barbed wire, and despite the limitations on the press at the time, the discovery caused national commotion.

Subsequently, the autopsies showed signs of macabre torture of the victims, who were detained on October 7, 1973, by Carabineros from the Isla de Maipo station, where they were last seen alive. The victims are 15 peasants, all male between 17 and 51 years old, including Sergio Maureira Lillo and his four sons Rodolfo Antonio, Sergio Miguel, Segundo Armando, and José Manuel Maureira Muñoz.

In addition, there are Óscar Hernández Flores and his brothers Carlos and Nelson; Enrique Astudillo Álvarez and his two sons Omar and Ramón; and the young men Miguel Brant, Iván Ordóñez, José Herrera, and Manuel Navarro.

The investigation passed into the hands of visiting minister Marianela Cifuentes, who convicted seven former Carabineros for their responsibility in the crimes of qualified kidnapping and simple kidnapping of the 15 people.

The heaviest sentence fell on Marcelo Castro, who received 20 years in prison. Meanwhile, David Coliqueo, Justo Ignacio Romo, Félix Sagredo, Jacinto Torres, and Juan José Villegas were sentenced to 15 years in prison. Finally, Pablo Ñancupil received 15 sentences of 60 days in prison.

Source: puranoticia.cl 02/01/2019

Date: 02-01-2019

Memory "Women who have engendered truth and justice"

With this dedication, Hernán Bustos Valdivia begins his book "Purísima de Lonquén," a publication that covers the life of Purísima Elena Muñoz, who in 1973 lost her husband and four sons, whose bodies appeared five years later in the kilns of that town.

An episode that shocked the country and the world, and that revealed the atrocious human rights violations during the dictatorship. "Purísima—wife and mother of the Maureiras—became for a whole country, although she did not want it that way, the reflection of pain, injustice, barbarism, but also an example of profound dignity and the capacity to resist lies, disdain, and rejection.

How did she do it? I think many of us asked ourselves that during all these years. We find this answer in this beautiful testimonial book: it was love, the triumph of shared joy, and the conviction of having the truth on her side.

I think today it is essential to remember, as Purísima does, always remember and remember again, why we work and why we live." With these words, Ana Tironi, National Undersecretary of the National Council of Culture and the Arts (CNCA), opened the presentation, held at the National Archive on December 16, of the biography dedicated to Purísima Elena Muñoz, who lost her husband Sergio Maureira Lillo and four of her sons, Rodolfo Antonio, Sergio Miguel, Segundo Armando, and José Manuel; disappeared on October 7, 1973, and whose bodies were found in November 1978 in the Lonquén Kilns.

The story of Purísima, written by Hernán Bustos Valdivia, reveals an example of strength nourished by humanity, a story that the CNCA published in its work to contribute to the dignification of the victims of human rights violations during the civil-military dictatorship.

Emilio Astudillo, president of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared of Lonquén, spoke at the event, expressing that the book is a way of building memory. "With Lonquén, there was a before and after in the matter of human rights.

Until 1978, we hoped to find our relatives alive. But that year the truth was different; the lives of 15 people, five relatives of Mrs. Purísima, three of the Astudillo family, three of the Hernández family, and four young men from Isla de Maipo, were cut short," he stated.

The director of the National Archive, Emma de Ramón, also commented on the biography, reflecting on those lives that are not captured by grand history: "You are part of that history that often does not have the opportunity for a memory or narrative.

But now, we have here living memory, the person who has gone through all the things that the book reveals, and that for me is a great pride." For the author, it meant collecting the memories and experiences not only of the protagonist but also of her relatives, and "traversing her life before and after 1973." Bustos Valdivia (Melipilla, 1964) is a journalist and researcher; he has published "Historia de Talagante" (2008), "Historia de Melipilla" (2010), "La Charito" (2010), and "Alhué, entre la historia y el encanto" (2012), among other books.

Source: archivonacional.gob.cl 12/20/2016

Date: 12-20-2016

INVESTIGATION INTO VICTIMS OF LONQUÉN KILNS DURING THE DICTATORSHIP CLOSED

Authorities decreed the investigation of the case known as the "Lonquén Kilns" closed, following the identification of the last person, Manuel Navarro Salinas, one of the 15 victims who disappeared and were buried in that place during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

The information was provided to journalists by the director of the Legal Medical Service (SML), Patricio Bustos, who explained that the identification of the victims was achieved thanks to the support of foreign laboratories and described the end of this case as a milestone. "What we are delivering is an identity and a cause of death.

As is public knowledge, unfortunately in this case there was not even execution by projectiles; they were murdered by beatings," added Bustos. He commented that "we do not have certainty of the conditions in which they were dumped inside the kilns, but the fact that it was a lime kiln had the purpose of trying to hide the crimes that were being committed." The fifteen victims of the military regime were locals detained by Carabineros on October 7, 1973, in Isla de Maipo and subsequently executed by State agents and buried illegally in the Lonquén kilns, a small town located 14 kilometers from the town of Talagante. Among them were a peasant and his four sons, agricultural workers, and even a teenager detained for smoking marijuana in a plaza. The Chilean justice system prosecuted one former officer and seven former Carabineros from the Isla de Maipo Carabineros station for the homicide of these 15 people, whose remains appeared in these lime kilns after the report of a peasant to the Catholic Church. Vicar Cristian Precht Bañados was in charge of coordinating a commission that finally verified the crimes against these fifteen people.

THE VICTIMS OF THE LONQUÉN CASE

1. Enrique René Astudillo Álvarez 2. Omar Enrique Astudillo Rojas 3. Ramón Osvaldo Astudillo Rojas 4. Carlos Segundo Hernández Flores 5. Nelson Hernández Flores 6. Sergio Adrián Maureira Lillo 7. José Manuel Maureira Muñoz 8.

Rodolfo Antonio Maureira Muñoz 9. Segundo Armando Maureira Muñoz 10. Sergio Miguel Maureira Muñoz 11. Miguel Ángel Arturo Brant Bustamante 12. Iván Gerardo Ordoñez Lama 13. José Manuel Herrera Villegas 14. Oscar Nibaldo Hernández Flores 15. Manuel Jesús Navarro Salinas

Source: lanacion.cl 03/04/2016

Date: 03-04-2016

Identity of the remains of 13 forcibly disappeared persons from the "Lonquén Kilns" case delivered

The acting visiting minister of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, Héctor Solís Montiel, announced to the victims' relatives the identities of 13 political executions whose remains were found in a clandestine grave in the town of Lonquén in 1978.

On October 7, 1973, fifteen people from the town of Isla de Maipo were detained by Carabineros personnel and executed illegally; their bodies were thrown into lime kilns in Lonquén, where they were found 5 years later.

The magistrate met with the relatives of the victims of the "Lonquén Kilns" case whose remains were exhumed from the Isla de Maipo Parish Cemetery in 2006, and the samples were sent by the Legal Medical Service to a laboratory in the USA for identification expertise.

According to the results of the analyses, with 99.9% certainty, the remains correspond to: 1.- Enrique René Astudillo Alvarez 2.- Omar Enrique Astudillo Rojas 3.- Ramón Osvaldo Astudillo Rojas 4.- Miguel Angel Arturo Brant Bustamante 5.- Nelson Hernández Flores 6.- Carlos Segundo Hernández Flores 7.- José Manuel Herrera Villegas 8.- Sergio Adrian Maureira Lillo 9.- Sergio Miguel Maureira Muñoz 10.- José Manuel Maureira Muñoz 11.- Segundo Armando Maureira Muñoz 12.- Rodolfo Antonio Maureira Muñoz 13.- Iván Gerardo Ordoñez Lama The identification work was carried out by forensic doctor Francisco Extberria and geneticist Manuel Paredes, in addition to the team from the Identification Unit of the Legal Medical Service. Minister Solís ordered that genetic analyses continue to achieve the total identification of the remains exhumed from the clandestine grave of Lonquén.

Source: biobiochile.cl 02/18/2010

Date: 02-18-2010

Seven Carabineros convicted in Lonquén Kilns case

Seven retired Carabineros officers involved in the death of 15 peasants in the context of the so-called Lonquén Kilns case, events that occurred in October 1973, were sentenced to 15 to 20 years in prison for the crimes of qualified kidnapping and simple kidnapping.

The visiting minister of the Lonquén Kilns case, Marianela Cifuentes Alarcón, convicted seven retired Carabineros officers last Friday, September 9, for their responsibility in the crimes of qualified kidnapping and simple kidnapping of 15 people from the town of Isla de Maipo, who disappeared in October 1973, with their remains found in 1978 inside lime kilns in the commune of Lonquén.

In the resolution, the minister of the San Miguel Court of Appeals convicted Marcelo (Lautaro) Iván Castro Mendoza as an author of the crime of qualified kidnapping to a sentence of 20 years in prison.

David Coliqueo Fuentealba, Justo Ignacio Romo Peralta, Félix Héctor Sagredo Aravena, Jacinto Torres González, and Juan José Villegas Navarro were sentenced to 15 years in prison as authors of qualified kidnapping.

In addition, Pablo Ñancupil Raguileo was sentenced to 15 sentences of 60 days in prison as an author of simple kidnapping. According to Minister Cifuentes' investigation, on October 7, 1973, these 15 people were detained "without legal right by Carabineros officers and, subsequently, transferred to the Isla de Maipo station." Eleven of the murdered peasants were taken from inside the Naguayán estate in Isla de Maipo: the brothers Rodolfo Antonio, Sergio Miguel, José Manuel, and Segundo Armando Maureira Muñoz along with their father Sergio Maureira Lillo; Enrique Astudillo Álvarez and his sons Omar and Ramón Astudillo Rojas; the brothers Carlos Segundo, Nelson, and Oscar Nibaldo Hernández Flores. While the remaining four were detained in the plaza of the same town: Miguel Ángel Brant, José Manuel Herrera, Manuel Navarro, and Iván Ordoñez. Then, once inside the police unit, they were subjected to interrogations and physical duress, only to be tied by their hands and taken to the town of Lonquén, a few meters from the lime kilns, where they were executed by the Carabineros picket from the Isla de Maipo station under the command of Lieutenant Lautaro Castro Mendoza, and their bodies thrown inside the kilns in order to hide them. The president of the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared of Paine, Sonia Carreño, although she valued this conviction as a way to prevent these events from being repeated in the future, nevertheless expressed her disagreement with the delay of more than 40 years in achieving justice, which she described as a "shame." "It is a shame for Chile, a delay of more than 40 years, please, it only happens here in Chile. It is sad for one who carries this burden, it is discouraging, but one still continues in the fight, because as long as one lives, one has that responsibility and that burden that one has to know how to carry as a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother." The leader reiterated the call to the Armed Forces and Carabineros to break the so-called pacts of silence and provide the necessary information to resolve the cases of human rights violations, and thus avoid so-called "biological impunity," that is, that those involved in crimes against humanity die due to age, without receiving any conviction. Finally, the sentence also stipulates that the State must pay the sum of 5.54 billion pesos to the victims' relatives.

Source: radio.uchile.cl 09/12/2016