A priest, who in 1973 was an army chaplain, was indicted by the Antofagasta Court of Appeals, accused of being an accessory to the execution of 28 people, which took place in the city of Calama on October 19 of that year during the passage through that city of the "Caravan of Death" commanded by General Sergio Arellano Stark.

The individuals indicted, by unanimous decision of the Court, total 12 people, and among them are two former Army generals, a doctor, and several civilians. It is the first time in Chile that proceedings have been initiated against a Catholic priest for being implicated in serious human rights abuses.

Currently, the clergyman, Luis Exequiel Jorquera Molina , serves at the Santa Elena parish in Las Condes, in the most affluent sector of Santiago. When consulted by the newspaper La Segunda, the priest said " I have nothing to do with such events ", although he confirmed that he was at the scene.

Nevertheless, the court ordered his arrest and detention. Among the other indicted individuals, former military officer Armando Fernández Larios stands out, currently residing in the United States under FBI custody for having joined the witness protection program.

Fernández Larios, a former CNI agent, participated in the assassination of former general Carlos Prats in Buenos Aires. Another of those indicted is the current general (ret.) and former commander of the 15th Reinforced Motorized Infantry Regiment of Calama, Eugenio Rivera Desgroux ; as well as the then-second-in-command of that unit and non-lawyer Military Prosecutor, Oscar Figueroa Márquez.

The list of the indicted is completed with the names of Carlos Max George Langer Von Furstemberg, Carlos Humberto Minolleti Arriagada and Jerónimo Tomás Rojo Rojo, as perpetrators of the repeated crime of qualified homicide.

Also indicted are the doctor Luis Benito Rojas Delzo , Luis Mario Aracena Romo, Julio Fernando Salazar Lantery, Domingo Antonio Flores Figueroa and Miguel Eduardo Trincado Araneda . According to the unanimous ruling of the justices Enrique Álvarez, Oscar Clavería and the associate lawyer Nancy Mellado , the twelve accused participated in the execution of 28 people, including a minor under 18 years of age.

Three of the accused are outside the country, for which the judges ordered the initiation of procedures to request their extradition. The others must be arrested to enter into pretrial detention. The military personnel who carried out the execution of the victims, some of whom had already been sentenced by military justice to minor prison terms, left the site and ordered the remains to be buried.

The regiment's chaplain, priest Luis Jorquera, participated in this chapter, accused as an accessory to the repeated crime of qualified homicide. Between one and two years after the execution, the victims' remains were moved to another "safer" location, and days later they were loaded onto planes, both from the Chilean Air Force and the Army, with the objective of throwing them into the sea and making the evidence disappear.

Source: Diario Crítico, August 2007