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

Twenty-first: That in providing an investigative statement, the accused Héctor Vicente Santibáñez Obreque, on page 85, states that in November 1973 he entered the Silva Palma Barracks as a Marine Corps corporal; he does not remember the date very well.

His duties were those of an interrogator of the detainees who arrived at the barracks. They would begin the day with a meeting with Sub-officer Leiva, who assigned the tasks. His boss was Sergeant Ponce; he would receive the person's form (information on the detainee, personal background, and the reason why they were detained), then they would go to a room with a table and three chairs and begin to ask them questions and challenge their answers.

He only interrogated men, as there were female Carabineros officials who interrogated the women; he does not remember the names of those officials. With Sergeant Ponce, they never mistreated detained persons; they would make them aware that they were wrong in their actions.

If they did not have an answer within a reasonable time, they would tell the guard to take them away, but they were never with the detainee for a long time. He never had to interrogate a wounded or battered person; they were dressed normally, and he never saw a naked person.

Afterward, he went as a student to the Naval School, graduating in March 1976. Regarding the complaint in this process made by Marco Antonio Contardo Guerra, in September 1973 he was not in Valparaíso; he was on commission in the city of Santiago performing bodyguard duties until the end of September, and from there he was returned to the Marine Infantry School in Las Salinas.

From there he was sent to the War Academy, to Commander Soto Aguilar, who that same day commissioned him to the Naval Hospital for approximately two weeks.

Thirty-fourth: That regarding the responsibility that falls upon Héctor Vicente Santibáñez Obreque in the commission of the crime for which he was accused, he points out in his investigative statement on page 85 that, being a marine, his duties as an interrogator at the Silva Palma barracks were in November 1973.

Later, he points out that in September 1973 he was on a service commission in Santiago, performing bodyguard duties until the end of that month, and was returned to the Marine Infantry School in Las Salinas.

From there, he was sent to report to the War Academy, being commissioned at the Naval Hospital for two weeks. Regarding his service record, it is recorded that in 1963 he presented himself at the Chilean Naval Mission in Washington, at the end of a course taken at Camp Pendleton, California, USA, indicating the courses he attended.

Regarding his assignments in 1973, it is indicated that on September 11, 1973, he served as a security escort for the Prosecutor Commander Mr. Aldo Montagna and in special tasks for Dept. A-2 of the EMGA.

Later, he appears on September 12, 1973, during combat and search actions in the days following September 11, being assigned to Dept. A-2 of the EMGA. Finally, the entry of October 1, 1973, indicates that on that date he completed a transfer according to OT DGPA No. 1345/32.

The rest of the entries are from 1974 onwards, signed by the accused Riesco. That with the above, it is evident that in October, and not in November, he was already at the Naval War Academy and/or Silva Palma barracks, precisely at the time of the victim's detention.

And if we even consider a period of two weeks that he might have been at the Naval Hospital, which is not recorded in the service record because it is an intelligence matter, it is perfectly possible that, given his specialty and the courses in which he was trained, he participated in the interrogations of the victim Marco Antonio Contardo Guerra.

That, consequently, by virtue of these considerations, it is concluded that the accused Santibáñez Obreque bears responsibility for the crime for which he was accused.

V.- That ALEJO ESPARZA MARTINEZ, HÉCTOR VICENTE SANTIBÁÑEZ OBREQUE, and SERGIO HEVIA FEBRES are sentenced as authors of the crime of kidnapping with grave injury to the person of Marco Antonio Contardo Guerra, an event that occurred between the months of October and December 1973, in Valparaíso, to the penalty of FIVE YEARS AND ONE DAY of major imprisonment in its minimum degree, to the accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for public offices and positions and political rights, and absolute disqualification for professional titles while the sentence lasts.

Source: Judiciary, April 30, 2019

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Victim was made to listen to her sister's screams: the kidnappings with torture of five people evidenced by the prosecution of 12 former officials

Visiting Minister Jaime Arancibia indicted them for the crime of kidnapping with grave injury. They must remain under house arrest while their release is decided by the Valparaíso Court. Application of electricity, humiliation, beatings, and threats are some of the duress suffered by five victims of kidnapping by State agents, occurring from March 1974 in Valparaíso.

The visiting minister for human rights violation cases of the Court of Appeals of that region, Jaime Arancibia Pinto, submitted 12 former Navy officials to trial for their responsibility in the crime of kidnapping with grave injury.

In the resolution (case file 47-2016), Minister Arancibia submitted to trial Ricardo Alejandro Riesco Cornejo, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Valentín Evaristo Riquelme Villalobos, Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto, Jaime Segundo Lazo Pérez, Alejo Esparza Martínez, Héctor Vicente Santibáñez Obreque, Eduardo Mauricio Núñez Contreras, Sergio Hevia Febres, Gilda Mercedes Ulloa Valle, Guillermo Tomás Morera Hierro, and Reginaldo Rebolledo López, in the capacity of authors of the crimes.

However, all will remain under house arrest due to their advanced age and the Covid-19 pandemic, while the appellate court determines whether to grant them provisional release.

They asked him about the MIR

“C. was detained around noon on April 16, 1974, at his home in the city of Valparaíso, by 4 Chilean Navy officials in civilian clothes, who, without a written order, without stating a cause, and with great violence, took him out of the property and put him into a car, being transferred to the Silva Palma Barracks.

In said place, he was subjected to two long interrogations, in which he was asked about the MIR organization and was confronted with other detainees, such as Silvio Pardo Rojas, currently forcibly disappeared.

In these interrogations, he received physical and psychological mistreatment, such as kicks and punches, application of electric current, and the drowning tactic known as the ‘dry submarine.’ He remained detained in the Silva Palma barracks for about 15 days, being transferred on May 1, 1974, to the Puchuncaví prisoner camp, a place where he was subjected to forced labor.

After a month, he was transferred to the Valparaíso Public Jail, entering as a processed prisoner in open communication, remaining in that situation until May 1975, the date on which he was sentenced by a War Council as the author of the crimes of infringement of the State Internal Security Law and illicit association, to the penalty of Banishment, with his expulsion from the country being decreed, living in England until the year 2000.”

They made him listen to his sister while she was being tortured

“R. was detained in March 1974 at the home that his sister, A., and his then-brother-in-law, A., had in the flat area of the city of Valparaíso, since upon arriving and entering it with the key he carried, he realized that the house had been raided, finding other people inside, who took him prisoner and took him along with his brother-in-law to the Silva Palma Barracks, in the same city.

He was put into the pick-up bed of a truck, which was carrying Carabineros plus a Lieutenant. In said place, he was subjected to interrogations, in which he was asked about weapons and about people from the MIR.

In these interrogations, he received physical mistreatment, such as the application of electric current, and psychological mistreatment, such as threats and being made to listen to how his sister was also being subjected to torture.

He recognizes in this facility the former Chilean Navy official Ricardo Riesco Cornejo, who at that time held the rank of Lieutenant, and was in charge of raiding his parents' home in search of documents kept on microfilm, based on information obtained from his sister while under torture and information obtained from himself, an agent nicknamed ‘Telémaco,’ who would correspond to the former Chilean Navy official Juan Reyes Basaur, another agent nicknamed ‘Profesor,’ who would correspond to the former Chilean Navy official Manuel Leiva Valdivieso (currently deceased), and the former Chilean Navy official Guillermo Morera Hierro, who was in charge of the custody of the detainees. It was Morera Hierro who transferred him along with other companions to the Puchuncaví prisoner camp in the last days of April 1974, a place where he was subjected to forced labor. At the end of May 1974, he was transferred to the Valparaíso Public Jail, entering as a processed prisoner in open communication, remaining in that situation until May 1975, the date on which he was sentenced by a War Council as the author of the crimes of infringement of the State Internal Security Law and illicit association, to the penalty of Banishment, which was later commuted to one of internal exile, which he served in the city of Arica.”

They applied injections to her

“A. was detained in March 1974 at her home located in the flat area of the city of Valparaíso. She was transferred to the Silva Palma Barracks, remaining in said facility until mid-April 1974, being subjected to interrogations and physical and psychological mistreatment by her interrogators, mostly men, with a woman also being among them who also interrogated, who would correspond to the former Chilean Navy official Gilda Ulloa Valle.

Those mistreatments consisted of beatings, application of electricity, forced body posture, application of injections, isolation in a punishment cell, among others. She also recognizes the former Chilean Navy official Guillermo Morera Hierro, an officer who was in charge of the detainees at the Silva Palma Barracks, who allegedly took her out on two occasions to the facility's bathrooms, forcing her to undress and shower in front of him, and even ordering another lower-ranking official to touch her without her consent.

She also recognizes an agent nicknamed ‘Telémaco,’ who would correspond to the former Chilean Navy official Juan Reyes Basaur. After remaining for nearly a month detained in the Silva Palma barracks, she was transferred as a prisoner to the Buen Pastor women's jail, in the city of Valparaíso.

In May 1975, she was sentenced by a war council held in case file A-344 of the Naval Court of Valparaíso as the author of the crime of infringement of the State Internal Security Law and illicit association to the penalty of banishment, which was later commuted to that of internal exile, which she served in the city of Antofagasta, until 1978, when the Amnesty Decree Law was applied to her.”

Electric current

“A. was taken prisoner on March 27, 1974, at his home in the flat area of the city of Valparaíso. The detention and raid were carried out by civilian personnel of the Chilean Navy, belonging to the Intelligence Service; he was beaten at the scene and threatened with firearms, to then be transferred to the Silva Palma Barracks, in the same city.

In the aforementioned barracks, he was subjected to interrogations and severe torture that included the application of electric current, bodily beatings, and threats, which allegedly left him in poor physical condition, having to be transferred to the Naval Hospital on one occasion.

In said interrogations, he was asked about people and the location of weapons. He was also subjected to a confrontation with A., who at that time was his wife and was also detained. At the end of April 1974, Saieg was transferred along with other detainees to the Puchuncaví prisoner camp, where he remained for about a month, to then be transferred to the Valparaíso Public Jail.

In May 1975, he was sentenced by a war council held in case file A-344 of the Naval Court of Valparaíso as the author of the crime of infringement of the State Internal Security Law and illicit association, to the penalty of banishment, which was later commuted to that of internal exile, which he served in the city of Antofagasta, until 1978, when the Amnesty Decree Law was applied to him.”

50 days of interrogations “E. was detained at the end of March 1974 at the home of A. and A., in the flat area of Valparaíso. Inside the property were 4 or 5 armed subjects, who, without identifying themselves, took him prisoner and proceeded to interrogate him immediately, subjecting him to torture.

Then he was taken out of that place and transferred to the Silva Palma Barracks, a place where he remained for about 50 days and was subjected to constant interrogations that were accompanied by kicks and punches, and the application of electric current.

He was transferred to the Puchuncaví Prisoner Camp, a place where he was for about three weeks to then be passed to the Valparaíso Public Jail as a prisoner, until May 1975, when he was sentenced by a war council held in case file A-344 of the Naval Court of Valparaíso as the author of the crime of infringement of the State Internal Security Law and illicit association, to the penalty of 5 years and 1 day of imprisonment and 15 years of banishment.

Before being sentenced, he was again taken to the Silva Palma Barracks, remaining for about 5 days, being interrogated again and heavily tortured. Of the 5 years and 1 day of imprisonment, he only managed to serve a year and a half since Norway granted him asylum, leaving the country in November 1976.” by Andrés López Vergara

Source: enestrado.com, August 19, 2020

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Justice prosecutes (ret.) members of the Navy for kidnapping and torture of Mauricio Redolés

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

The visiting minister for human rights violation cases of the Court of Appeals of Valparaíso, Max Cancino, submitted six retired Navy personnel to trial for their responsibility in the crimes of qualified kidnapping and the application of torment to the singer-songwriter and poet Mauricio Redolés.

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

In his resolution, the visiting minister indicated that Mauricio Redolés, “who was a law student at the University of Chile based in Valparaíso and a militant of the Communist Party, was ordered to be detained by the authorities of the Intelligence Service of the Jurisdictional Area Command of Internal Security (SICAJSI), given his political orientation, a detention that was carried out on December 10, 1973, at his home located in a university boarding house, being transferred to the detention facility located at the Naval War Academy, located in Valparaíso, a place where a group of interrogators was arranged, also organized and coordinated by the military commands, with the object that he provide information about his political activities and alleged weaponry, who proceeded to blindfold him, keep him locked up without a legitimate judicial order to justify it, interrogate him, and torture him through various techniques, among them, violent blows to the stomach and putting him in the situation of listening to the screams of other detainees who were also being tortured. He was transferred between December 12 and 18 to the ship Lebu.” Along with this, the magistrate specified that between December 19 and 30 he remained at the War Academy and the Silva Palma Barracks, an opportunity in which he was again interrogated and beaten. From December 30, 1973, to February 2, 1974, he remained detained in the prisoner camp called ‘Isla Riesco,’ located in Colliguay; between February 2 and March 2, 1974, he was hospitalized in the Naval Hospital due to an intervention for peritonitis; between March 2 and 9, 1974, he returned to the Silva Palma Barracks; between March 9 and 16, 1974, he returned to the ‘Isla Riesco’ detention center; between March 16, 1974, and April 10, 1974, he returned to the Silva Palma Barracks; between April 10, 1974, and June 10, 1975, he was kept deprived of liberty in the Valparaíso Public Jail. On January 7, 1975, he was subjected to a War Council and was finally deprived of liberty in an Investigative Police Barracks in Santiago, with a penalty of five years and one day of banishment to England being applied to him, which became effective in September 1975. “The victim was only placed at the disposal of the Naval Prosecutor's Office by the leadership of SICAJSI at the beginning of March 1974, however, he only provided an investigative statement at the beginning of April of the same year,” concluded Judge Cancino.

by Cristián Meza

Source: eldinamo.cl, May 12, 2022

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Minister Max Cancino sentences four (ret.) marines for kidnapping with grave injury in Quillota

In the civil sphere, the court dismissed the statute of limitations opposed by the treasury and ordered it to pay compensation of $80,000,000 for moral damages to the victim. The visiting minister for human rights violation cases of the Court of Appeals of Valparaíso, Max Cancino Cancino, sentenced four retired Navy officials for their responsibility in the crime of kidnapping with grave injury of Carlos Francisco Otazo Román.

An illicit act perpetrated in April 1974. In the ruling (case file 258-2017), Minister Cancino Cancino sentenced Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Valentín Evaristo Riquelme Villalobos, Héctor Vicente Santibáñez Obreque, and Sergio Hevia Febres to penalties of 5 years and one day of effective imprisonment, plus the legal accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for public offices and positions and political rights, and absolute disqualification for professional titles while the sentences last, in the capacity of authors of the crime; and acquitted them of the charges that identified them as authors of illegal detention and the application of torment. Likewise, the acquittal of the accused Gilda Mercedes Ulloa Valle and Guillermo Tomás Morera Hierro was decreed, as their participation as authors in the kidnapping of Otazo Román was ruled out. In the civil sphere, the court dismissed the statute of limitations opposed by the treasury and ordered it to pay compensation of $80,000,000 for moral damages to the victim. In the resolution, the visiting minister gave as proven, beyond any reasonable doubt, that on April 23, 1974, “Carlos Francisco Otazo Román was detained on the public thoroughfare in the town of Quillota, being transferred to the Silva Palma barracks, located in Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, where they left him in a common room that was next to the field where there were other prisoners, a place where he was kept locked up without an order to justify it. The next day they took him to the interrogation room, a place where he was interrogated by a group of organized interrogators, on more than one occasion being beaten and tortured through the application of current to his body, also finding himself blindfolded, remaining several days in this place, a period in which he was interrogated on various occasions, being subsequently taken to the Valparaíso Public Jail, and judged by a War Council, which ultimately ended with a penalty of banishment.” “Indeed, on March 14, 1975, a War Council sentenced Carlos Otazo Román to the penalties of four years of minor banishment in its maximum degree as the author of the crime provided for in article 4 letter d) of Law 12.297 and to the penalty of five years of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree as the author of the crime provided for and sanctioned in articles 1 and 2 of Decree Law No. 77, and then, on April 23, 1975, the aforementioned sentence was approved by the Military Chief of the Zone of the Province of Valparaíso, with the declaration that Carlos Francisco Otazo Román is sentenced to the penalty of three years and one day of minor banishment in its maximum degree as the author of the crime provided for in article 4 of Law 12.297 and to the penalty of four years of minor banishment in its maximum degree as the author of the crime provided for and sanctioned in articles 1 and 2 of Decree Law No. 77, so he left the country together with his family to Oslo, Norway. Until the date of his banishment, it is recorded that Otazo Román was deprived of liberty in the Valparaíso Public Jail,” he adds.

Source: Judiciary, January 23, 2024

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(Ret.) Navy members sentenced for the kidnapping of a historian and university professor in Valparaíso

The visiting minister for human rights violation cases of the Court of Appeals of Valparaíso, Max Cancino, issued a first-instance sentence in the case investigating the qualified kidnapping, illegal detention, and application of torment of Félix Francisco Figueras Ubach (30), a historian, university professor, and leader of the Communist Party, events that occurred starting December 11, 1973, in the city of Valparaíso, Fifth region.

The magistrate sentenced Erwin Conn Tesche (rear admiral), Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur (sergeant major), and Héctor Santibáñez Obreque (marine frigate captain), all retired officials of the Chilean Navy, to the penalty of 5 years and one day of major imprisonment in its medium degree, as authors of the crime of kidnapping with grave injury against the victim.

Meanwhile, the three former uniformed officers were acquitted of the charges formulated as authors of the application of torment to the detriment of the victim. While Reyes Basaur was acquitted of the crime of illegal detention.

The plaintiff lawyer Carolina Vega, of the Caucoto Abogados firm, valued the sentence, pointing out that it is “a significant milestone for the relatives, since 50 years have passed and a sentence has only just been issued.

The family has been waiting for decades for a little justice and reparation, and only today do they see significant progress. However, the sentence for the perpetrators is low, so we will analyze all the background information for a possible challenge.” The participation of members of the Chilean Navy in crimes against humanity occurred, for the most part, immediately after the military coup, involved mainly in crimes of torture and political imprisonment in port cities.

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

The facts Minister Cancino in his investigation was able to establish the following facts: "That there existed a hierarchical and disciplined military intelligence group called the Intelligence Service of the Jurisdictional Area Command of Internal Security, known as SICAJSI, which operated actively starting September 11, 1973, made up of agents belonging to the various branches of national defense, particularly by officials of the Chilean Navy, whose main objective was the repression of people opposed to the military regime, for which they proceeded to search for and detain them, who were then deprived of liberty to obtain information through physical and psychological torture. After locating and detaining the people, the armed patrols would take them to the Naval War Academy, or the adjacent building, the Silva Palma Barracks, both located in Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, a place where people were locked up and interrogated. That, in said context, in accordance with the background information detailed above, it has been possible to establish that on December 11, 1973, in the night hours, Félix Francisco Figueras Ubach, of Chilean nationality and Spanish parents, who worked as an adjunct professor at the Pedagogical Institute of the University of Chile in this city, given his political tendency contrary to the military regime of the time, was kidnapped from inside his private home located in Viña del Mar, in the presence of his mother and sister, by military personnel of the Coraceros Regiment of that same city, who took him to the aforementioned military facility. On December 13, 1973, his relatives received the news that Figueras Ubach had been transferred to the Naval War Academy, located on Cerro Playa Ancha in Valparaíso, a place where his presence was denied to them, so from that moment they began their search through various places in the city, failing to find his whereabouts. After a few days, the Figueras Ubach family reported that a doctor friend was able to recognize the corpse of Félix Figueras Ubach at the Naval Hospital of Playa Ancha. It is also established that, after being kidnapped in the Naval War Academy facility of Valparaíso, where he had to remain locked up together with other detainees, he was subjected to various interrogations with the application of torment in a room enabled for it, located on the fourth floor of the building, by the group of Marines that was designated to fulfill the role of interrogator. The torments received during the interrogation were of such magnitude that both the victim and the other detainees who were subjected to them would come out in very poor physical and psychological condition; some even had to be taken out in blankets because they could not leave on their own. It is the case that Félix Figueras Ubach, after finishing an interrogation, was taken to the bathroom on the same floor to wash up and recover from the mistreatment, together with other detainees, a place from where he threw himself into the void through a window without protections, which was inside it and faced the front of the naval facility, to fall in the sector where vehicles were parked, which resulted in the death of the victim of the case, which occurred on December 15, 1973. That, likewise, it is recorded that Figueras Ubach was not placed at the disposal of the competent authority for the investigation of any eventual illicit act during his period of detention, with his case being brought to the knowledge of the naval justice of the time only to learn of the investigation as a consequence of his death."

Source: resumen.cl, March 6, 2025

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(Ret.) Navy members sentenced for the kidnapping of a historian and university professor during the dictatorship

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

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

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

This ruling confirmed the initial sentence of the visiting minister Max Cancino, rejecting appeals from both the defense and the plaintiffs. Figueras was kidnapped on December 11, 1973, at his home in Viña del Mar and transferred to the Naval War Academy in Valparaíso, a place where he was subjected to physical and psychological torture.

According to the ruling, the extreme mistreatment suffered during the interrogations led him to throw himself from a window of the naval facility on December 15, which resulted in his death. During his detention, he was not placed at the disposal of any judicial authority, with naval justice being informed only after his death.

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

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

Source: elmostrador.cl, June 27, 2025

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

In all cases, the visiting minister, Max Cancino, established that “there existed a hierarchical and disciplined military intelligence group called SICAJSI (…) whose main objective was the repression of people opposed to the military regime.” This Monday, the Supreme Court sentenced retired members of the Navy for kidnapping with grave injuries of eight political prisoners subjected to torture at the institution's Silva Palma Barracks during the dictatorship.

Details of the ruling

The Second Chamber of the highest court analyzed eight cassation appeals presented against rulings that sentenced the various retired members of the Navy and issued the following sentences: Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur and Héctor Santibáñez Obreque were sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment under house arrest for the kidnapping with grave injury of Eduardo Nelson Cabrera Vásquez.

Sergio Hevia Febres was sentenced to 5 years and 1 day of imprisonment under house arrest for the kidnapping with grave injury of Amador Amable Canelo Sánchez. A sentence of 5 years and 1 day of imprisonment under house arrest was issued for the kidnapping with grave injury of Erwin Hugo Conn Tesche.

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

Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur and Héctor Santibáñez Obreque were sentenced to 5 years and 1 day of imprisonment under house arrest for the kidnapping of Luis Alberto Álvarez Noziglia. José Elías Villalón Palominos was sentenced to 61 days of imprisonment, with conditional remission for the simple kidnapping of Arturo Madrid López.

Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur and Héctor Santibáñez Obreque were sentenced to 5 years and 1 day of imprisonment under house arrest for the kidnapping of Patricio Héctor Valdés Torres. In all cases, the visiting minister, Max Cancino Cancino, established that “there existed a hierarchical and disciplined military intelligence group called the Intelligence Service of the Jurisdictional Area Command of Internal Security, known as SICAJSI.” Detailing that this “operated actively starting September 11, 1973, made up of agents belonging to the various branches of national defense, particularly by officials of the Chilean Navy, (…) whose main objective was the repression of people opposed to the military regime, for which they proceeded to search for and detain them, who were then deprived of liberty to obtain information through physical and psychological torture.”

Source: cnnchile.com, September 16, 2025

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

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

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

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

Arguments of the ruling

The court rejected the cassation appeals presented by the defenses, arguing that they lacked legal precision and actually sought to modify the form of compliance with the sentences, which does not correspond to this procedural path.

In its ruling, the Court pointed out that the requests of the appellants were “vague and imprecise” and that they intended a “re-evaluation of evidence” that is forbidden in the cassation venue. Likewise, it warned that the grounds invoked were contradictory to each other, which also led to the rejection of the appeal. “In reality, the purpose of the appellant is a new weighing of the evidentiary record (…), which reveals that the defense lawyer seeks for this Court to perform an exercise that does not correspond to it,” the resolution specified.

The case of Silvio Pardo

The base ruling, issued by the visiting minister for human rights violation cases of the Court of Appeals of Valparaíso, Max Cancino Cancino, established that Silvio Pardo, a law student at the Catholic University of Valparaíso and a militant of the MIR, was detained on April 4, 1974, by agents of the Navy Intelligence Service.

The victim was held in the Silva Palma barracks, where he was subjected to interrogations, torture, and practices known as “porotear” — being forced to identify other people who were then detained. Subsequently, Pardo was transferred to the Puchuncaví prisoner camp and returned to Silva Palma at the beginning of May 1974.

His last communication with his wife, María Elena Zamora, was a card dated May 1, 1974. Since May 6, 1974, there has been no further news of him. Despite versions that indicated he would be released along with another detainee, his whereabouts were never known. To this day, he remains a forcibly disappeared person.

Historical context

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

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

Source: elclarin.cl, September 25, 2025