The Supreme Court took only hours to reject the parole requested by retired Carabineros Colonel Guillermo González Betancourt, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of José Manuel Parada, Manuel Guerrero, and Santiago Nattino, whose throats were slit in March 1985.

The ruling refers to a psychological report from the Gendarmerie regarding González: “he has not acquired an adequate awareness of the crime committed, of the damage and the harm caused…”. In his argument, lawyer Luciano Fouillioux stated that those convicted of crimes against humanity cannot be granted benefits that correspond to common crimes, and citing Fito Páez’s song Vengo a ofrecer mi corazón ("I come to offer my heart"), he explained why the former employees of the Vicaría de la Solidaridad were there.

The corvo (curved knife) used to slit their throats weighed 410 grams and measured 19 centimeters long by 3.6 centimeters wide. It belonged to Miguel Estay Reyno, known as “El Fanta.” It had been given to him the previous year by one of the dictatorship’s most feared torturers, Roberto Fuentes Morrison, known as “El Wally.” On that March 30, 1985, in Quilicura, the first to use the weapon was Second Sergeant José Fuentes, who grabbed Manuel Guerrero from behind and plunged the knife into his neck.

The corvo then passed into the hands of Corporal Alejandro Sáez Mardones, who repeated the procedure with Santiago Nattino. Then, Corporal Claudio Salazar grabbed the weapon and made a deep cut in the abdomen of José Manuel Parada, who fell to the floor in pain seconds before another agent took the weapon again and slit his throat as well.

The person who commanded the throat-slitting of the three communist professionals—one of the bloodiest and most shocking operations of the dictatorship—was the then-Colonel Guillermo González Betancourt, operational chief of the Department of Internal and External Affairs of Dicomcar, the Carabineros' Directorate of Communications.

This Monday the 21st, the five ministers of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court—composed of Carlos Künsemüller, Haroldo Brito, Lamberto Cisternas, and acting lawyers Jean Pierre Matus and Jaime Rodríguez—unanimously rejected the recurso de amparo (habeas corpus petition) with which González Betancourt sought to access parole and reverse the contrary decision of the Parole Commission of the Santiago Court of Appeals (see ruling).

González Betancourt is serving a life sentence as the perpetrator of the kidnapping and homicide of Parada, Guerrero, and Nattino, in addition to the kidnapping of Ramón Arriagada Escalante and the leaders of the Association of Educators of Chile (Agech) Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas.

He has an additional sentence of 5 years and one day as the perpetrator of illicit association, and another of 5 years and one day for the robbery with intimidation of the car belonging to Traverso, one of the surviving kidnapping victims.

Furthermore, he was given the accessory penalties of absolute and perpetual disqualification from public office and political rights for the duration of his life, and subjection to the surveillance of the authority for the maximum period established by the Penal Code.

In May 2012, González Betancourt completed 20 years of his sentence at the Punta Peuco prison, and in September he began to receive a series of controversial prison benefits. That month, the Gendarmerie’s Technical Council granted him Sunday leave.

Then, in January 2013, he managed to leave the prison for the entire weekend, and on June 24 of the same year, he obtained the benefit of “controlled free exit,” thanks to which he could leave Punta Peuco every day for up to 15 hours a day.

Now, González Betancourt was seeking parole, but the ministers of the high court who denied him the benefit based their decision on the latest psychological report provided by the Gendarmerie, which states that the retired Carabineros officer “has not acquired an adequate awareness of the crime committed, of the damage and the harm caused by it, and has not demonstrated a real disposition for change.”

The ruling considers that, according to Chilean law, parole must be “a means of proof” of the convict’s rehabilitation, which in this case would not be met.

The resolution of the Second Chamber includes a caveat from Minister Lamberto Cisternas, who estimated that González Betancourt did not meet the requirements to qualify for parole because his accumulated sentences would require him to serve 25 years in prison, not 20.

Furthermore, Cisternas pointed out that the convict’s defense did not refute the accusation that his prison conduct cannot be considered impeccable, as would be recorded in his Gendarmerie service file.

“I COME TO OFFER MY HEART”

Lawyer Luciano Fouillioux was the one who assumed the argument representing one of the victims of the command led by González Betancourt. Upon beginning his remarks, he described him as a “criminal who also has human rights,” which will never be denied to them in a Rule of Law, but from a different legal standing than that proposed by his defense.

He substantiated his statements by saying that by rejecting his parole, there is no violation of the guarantee of personal liberty and individual security of the type that allows for the invocation of a recurso de amparo (Article 21 of the Constitution); and that his petition was poorly founded because it invokes constitutional rights as violated that cannot be remedied via a recurso de amparo.

The state of confusion of his defense is such, he stated, that it led “the petitioner to confuse a recurso de protección with a recurso de amparo.”

Then, Fouillioux recalled the enormous shock caused in March 1985 by the murder of the three professionals, which even caused the fall of the then-chief of Carabineros and member of the Military Junta, General César Mendoza Durán. He also made mention of the obstacles that the judges in charge of the triple homicide investigation had to face, from Cánovas Robles to Milton Juica.

In front of the victims’ relatives and numerous former colleagues of José Manuel Parada at the Vicaría de la Solidaridad, lawyer Fouillioux drew a profile of the sociologist, recounting his characteristics as a father, husband, and a sensitive and committed young man who, when he saw in 1974—citing Fito Páez’s song “Vengo a ofrecer mi corazón”—“how much blood the river carried, he ran and enrolled in the Pro-Peace Committee and then continued his work at the Vicaría de la Solidaridad, a place where he worked until he was detained and his throat was slit, while for more than a decade he protected, sheltered, and accompanied the persecuted.”

Regarding the underlying criminal issue, Fouillioux proposed to the ministers of the Second Chamber that what was under discussion was of “singular relevance, since the matter is whether or not a person sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity has the right to prison benefits, who does not demonstrate repentance, according to what is stated in the Gendarmerie’s own reports, and who even so asks that a benefit be applied to him as a perpetrator of a common crime.”

Fouillioux also stated that the recurso de amparo was poorly formulated both in form and substance: it was inadmissible due to the subject matter it concerned, as well as the undoubted improper search for a forcing or invention of a procedure to reach the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court, which hears criminal matters.

If the petition is accepted—he stated—it seeks to generate a path for future releases for those convicted of crimes against humanity, bringing almost to zero every jurisdictional advance in these matters.

“And that is something no one can tolerate, not the victims, nor the Armed Forces themselves, and even less the Judiciary, which has been adjusting its actions since the deficiencies of the past. Therefore, the Supreme Court cannot be asked to erase with its elbow everything it has written with its hand, since no one would understand that having repeatedly convicted for crimes against humanity, understanding the non-statute of limitations for criminal and now civil matters—as with the recent ruling on the political prisoners of Isla Dawson—one can also grant prison benefits for crimes that are claimed as ‘common’ by the petitioner,” added the lawyer.

Upon finishing, Luciano Fouillioux demanded coherence in the Supreme Court’s rulings and said before the Court’s ministers that regarding these types of crimes, everything had already been said and known:

“This is how they planned the crime, this is how they kidnapped them, this is how they murdered them, this is how after due process they convicted them, this is how after 23 years of the conviction and 30 years since the events, he shows no repentance...

We are facing an unalterable situation, which joins two ends of the same bond, the man who offers his heart, just as Fito Páez sang, and which generated the enlistment of those of us who have wanted to protect the integrity of the victims and their families.

This forced a group of former colleagues of José Manuel Parada at the Vicaría de la Solidaridad (and he read a long list headed by María Luisa Sepúlveda and Roberto Garretón) to become a party to this petition to defend the position of the colleague whose throat was slit by these hired killers of evil.

With things closed in this way and the time elapsed and acted upon, they make us say: honorable ministers, you may have seen us cry many times but never on our knees, that is why we are here to invoke our position.”

THE CRIMES

Other convicts in the "Degollados" (Throat-Slitting) Case have had better luck than González Betancourt. On August 12 of this year, the Supreme Court ratified the ruling of the Court of Appeals that a month earlier approved the parole of Alejandro Sáez Mardones.

That time, the judicial efforts of the victims’ families and the government’s decision to become a party to the appeal through the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior were of no use. Sáez Mardones is walking free on the streets today (see box).

Guillermo Washington González Betancourt, also known as “Bototo,” was born in Curicó in 1943. At age 20, he entered the Carabineros School as an officer candidate. His rise was rapid: the following year he was already a second lieutenant at the Seventh Precinct of the North Santiago Prefecture, and in 1966 he was promoted to lieutenant in Graneros.

In 1968 he returned to Santiago, to the Sixth Precinct, and in 1970 he joined the Mobile Group at the First Special Services Precinct. After the Military Coup, he moved to the Department of Order and Security of the General Directorate of Carabineros and was promoted to captain.

Between 1974 and 1979, he was part of the Special Forces in several Santiago precincts, until in March 1980 he was promoted to major. In August of that year, in an obscure episode, he suffered an accident with explosives that caused the traumatic amputation of his right hand.

The episode did not inhibit him from continuing to carry out operations with explosives to hide his crimes. In 1985, after the kidnapping of the Agech teacher Alejandro Traverso, they hid his Fiat 600 in the courtyard of the Dicomcar barracks on Calle Dieciocho, in the same place where the newspaper Clarín operated until September 1973.

In his statement before Juica, the non-commissioned officer Luis Huaiquimilla said that some time after the murders and kidnappings, González Betancourt ordered the destruction of Traverso’s car. González himself drove his red Chevette with a load of explosives on the passenger seat on the way to Quinta Normal.

He was followed by the Fiat 600, driven by another agent. When they arrived at a lonely area, they loaded the explosives into Traverso’s car and blew it up.

González uses a prosthesis and was sent on several occasions on official duty to Germany to receive medical treatment at the Hamburg Military Hospital. He was there replacing his prosthesis a few days before ordering the murder of the three communist professionals, which allowed him to personally drive the Chevy Chevette vehicle—along with “El Fanta” and another Dicomcar agent—to the site in Quilicura where their throats were slit.

The events that triggered the murder of Guerrero, Parada, and Nattino began to take shape in 1984. In August of that year, anguished by guilt, the former member of the Joint Command, Andrés Valenzuela, alias “Papudo,” deserted.

The Joint Command was one of the most sinister and secret organizations of the dictatorship, in which the intelligence services of the Air Force, Navy, and Carabineros participated (initially, the Army also participated).

The group competed in the hunt for political dissidents with the DINA, led by Manuel Contreras, going so far as to dispute prisoners even in the streets. Some civilians from the former Patria y Libertad (such as the group that murdered Salvador Allende’s naval aide, Arturo Araya Peters, in July 1973) and later former prisoners who, after being brutally tortured, became agents, also joined the Joint Command.

Among the latter is Miguel Estay Reyno, “El Fanta,” a former communist militant who became a collaborator and years later a murderer of his own former comrades. Guillermo González Betancourt also participated in the activities of the Joint Command, acting under the orders of Captain Germán Esquivel, head of Counterintelligence for the Carabineros.

The existence of the Joint Command was kept in absolute secrecy until August 1984, when Andrés Valenzuela approached the offices of the magazine Cauce to recount the crimes he had witnessed to journalist Mónica González, now director of CIPER (see interview). He then gave testimony before officials of the Vicaría de la Solidaridad and was taken out of the country.

As narrated in “Los Casos de la Vicaría” (The Vicaría Cases), the accounts of the dictatorship’s crimes compiled by Andrea Insunza and Javier Ortega that inspired the series “Los Archivos del Cardenal” (The Cardinal’s Archives), two months after Valenzuela’s desertion, dictatorship intelligence agents raided the headquarters of the Popular Democratic Movement (MDP).

Among other documents, they took a notebook with notes and phone numbers that belonged to the architect Ramón Arriagada Escalante, a communist militant nicknamed “Vincenzo.” That notebook contained information on meetings of several militants and leaders, including the three murdered professionals.

In February 1985, Arriagada was kidnapped under the orders of González Betancourt, and in the following weeks, several Agech teachers were also kidnapped. Under torture, Arriagada was interrogated about the activities of Manuel Guerrero and José Manuel Parada, who in recent months had been working to confirm the data provided by Valenzuela about the Joint Command.

The entire story is detailed in the book “Los Secretos del Comando Conjunto” (The Secrets of the Joint Command), by Mónica González and Héctor Contreras, published in 1991 by Ediciones del Ornitorrinco.

CONVICTED

It did not take long for Judge José Cánovas Robles, appointed as a visiting minister to investigate the murders of Guerrero, Parada, and Nattino, to reach the conclusion that the crime had been ordered from the Department of External and Internal Affairs of Dicomcar, led by Guillermo González Betancourt, whom he declared a defendant.

But the judge’s decision was quickly annulled by the Court of Appeals, at that time subject to the orders emanating from the regime’s Ministry of the Interior. Judge Cánovas discovered that González Betancourt had left his place of detention without permission and that he had also housed “El Fanta” in his house on the coast to help him evade justice.

Despite the public commotion caused by the triple murder and the thorough investigation carried out by the then-minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Carlos Cerda (today a Supreme Court minister), who was ordered to close the process on the Joint Command and was punished for ordering the detention of some of its members, the trial reached that point.

There would be no justice. Until 1992, a new visiting minister, Milton Juica, declared González Betancourt and 15 other Carabineros defendants as perpetrators of illicit association.

Six months before being prosecuted, González Betancourt experienced a family tragedy. On October 3, 1991, his daughter Estrella González Jepsen was shot to death by her partner, Carabineros Lieutenant Félix Sazo.

They were parents of a child who at that time was 9 months old. According to police reports from the time, that day the 24-year-old woman was at her job at the Hotel Crowne Plaza, in downtown Santiago.

Around 10 in the morning, Sazo arrived at the office dressed in his uniform and Estrella went out with him to talk outside, in front of the Monument to the Martyrs of Carabineros, where they argued violently.

Estrella returned to her office very nervous. Minutes later, the officer entered again, approached the counter, shouted his girlfriend’s name, and fired four shots: two in the chest, one in the head, and another in the back. Seconds later, the uniformed man fired two shots into his own temple (see chronicle in La Cuarta).

DISTANCE FROM “EL FANTA”

As the book “Los Secretos del Comando Conjunto” narrates, Miguel Estay Reyno had joined the Communist Youth in 1969, while a student at the Liceo Gabriela Mistral. He became known among the youth of the “Jota” as a member of the Ramona Parra Brigades and was nicknamed Fanta, after “Fantomas,” a character from the comic magazine La Chiva, which circulated at that time.

When he was detained by members of the Joint Command, they threatened to murder his brother Jaime and his brother’s girlfriend (who later became his wife), and “El Fanta” opened up to collaborate. This is how he explained his decision to Minister Carlos Cerda, the judge who investigated the Joint Command:

-I offered, in exchange for the freedom of both, to compile a complete curriculum of my activity in the youth and in the PC intelligence apparatus, in which I would provide all the background information on the communist militants I have known. I compiled that document in my cell.

“El Fanta” not only turned in his comrades but became an active collaborator in the crimes of the dictatorship. “I made a choice, and the truth is that I have paid dearly for my decision,” Estay said in an interview with CIPER in 2007. And he added:

-Along the way, I started meeting other people, with other ideas, and I started to assume them. The truth is that, like an important part of Chileans, I believed in the stamp that the military government managed to impose, fundamentally in economic terms.

And since I also had a certain degree of specialization in the intelligence area, a relatively natural link was formed with people from the services, due to the interest they might have in that knowledge. I must admit that by 1984 or 1985, when I got into this section (Dicomcar), I had a significant degree of affinity with the vision of the military government.

“El Fanta” was a trusted man of González Betancourt. They shared an office at the Dicomcar barracks on Calle Dieciocho, the same one they adorned with the corvo with which they would slit the throats of Guerrero, Parada, and Nattino.

But the relationship between them was never the same after Estay accused his boss of being responsible for the kidnappings and murders. González took revenge on Estay Reyno by declaring that the decision to kill had been his own, saying that he had claimed more power than he actually had within the organization.

Disappointed in the man who had been his trusted agent, González Betancourt said: “If he was capable of betraying his communist comrades, why couldn’t he do it to me now,” as narrated in the book “La Noche de los Corvos” (The Night of the Curved Knives), by Nelson Caucoto and Héctor Salazar.

González Betancourt, imperturbable, did not acknowledge any of his crimes, accusing his subordinates of operating without his knowledge. Before Juica, he declared:

“The fact is that the next day, the most surprised ones were (Patricio) Zamora and I when we learned of the death of these detainees.”

By then, Minister Juica had already verified his role in the triple homicide, and the conviction was inevitable.

The crimes, sentences, and benefits of those involved in the "Degollados" Case

Guillermo Washington González Betancourt, retired Carabineros Colonel, was sentenced to life imprisonment as the perpetrator of the kidnapping of Ramón Arriagada Escalante, Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas; and the kidnapping and homicide of José Manuel Parada Maluenda, Santiago Nattino Allende, and Manuel Guerrero Ceballos; and to 5 years and one day as the perpetrator of illicit association and to 5 years and one day for the robbery with intimidation of Alejandro Traverso’s car.

In May 2012, González Betancourt completed 20 years of his sentence at Punta Peuco and, in September of the same year, obtained the benefit of Sunday leave. Then, in January 2013, he managed to leave the prison for the entire weekend, and on June 24 of the same year, he obtained the benefit of “controlled free exit,” thanks to which he could leave Punta Peuco every day for up to 15 hours a day.

Miguel Arturo Estay Reyno (El Fanta), former PC militant, later turned informant and torturer, was sentenced to life imprisonment as the perpetrator of the crimes of kidnapping of Ramón Arriagada Escalante, Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas; and the kidnapping and homicide of Santiago Nattino Allende, José Manuel Parada, and Manuel Guerrero Ceballos.

He was also sentenced in the same case to 5 years and one day as the perpetrator of illicit association and to two sentences of 541 days as the perpetrator of the repeated crimes of usurpation of name and malicious use of a false passport. He is currently imprisoned in Punta Peuco.

José Florentino Fuentes Castro, retired Carabineros First Sergeant, was sentenced to life imprisonment as the perpetrator of the kidnappings of Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas; and the kidnapping and homicide of José Manuel Parada Maluenda, Santiago Nattino Allende, and Manuel Guerrero Ceballos.

He was also sentenced to 541 days as the perpetrator of illicit association. In May 2012, Fuentes Castro completed 20 years of his sentence at Punta Peuco and, in September of the same year, obtained the benefit of Sunday leave.

Then, in January 2013, he managed to leave the prison for the entire weekend, and on June 24 of the same year, he obtained the benefit of “controlled free exit,” thanks to which he could leave Punta Peuco every day for up to 15 hours a day.

Alejandro Segundo Sáez Mardones, retired Carabineros First Corporal, was sentenced to life imprisonment as the perpetrator of the kidnappings of Ramón Arriagada Escalante, Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas, and the kidnapping and murder of José Manuel Parada Maluenda, Santiago Nattino Allende, and Manuel Guerrero Ceballos.

He was also sentenced to 541 days as the perpetrator of illicit association, and to 3 years and one day as the perpetrator of the homicide of Carlos Contreras Maluje in 1976. He served his sentence in Punta Peuco until August 12 of this year, when he was granted the benefit of parole.

Claudio Alberto Salazar Fuentes, retired Carabineros Corporal, sentenced to life imprisonment for the kidnapping of Ramón Arriagada Escalante, Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas, and for the kidnapping and murder of José Manuel Parada Maluenda, Santiago Nattino Allende, and Manuel Guerrero Ceballos.

Sentenced in the same case to 541 days as the perpetrator of the crime of illicit association. He is serving his sentence in Punta Peuco.

Patricio Augusto Zamora Rodríguez, retired Carabineros Captain, was sentenced to 15 years and one day for the kidnapping of Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, Mario Toloza Jara, Eduardo Osorio Venegas, Manuel Guerrero Ceballos, Santiago Nattino Allende, and José Manuel Parada Maluenda, and as an accomplice to the murder of the latter three.

He also has three other sentences of 5 years and one day for unnecessary violence resulting in the death of Percy Arana; 541 days for illicit association; and 541 days for injuries. In 2012, his sentence was reduced by 13 months, and he is free.

Luis Alfredo Canto Arriagada, retired Carabineros Second Sergeant, was sentenced to 541 days in prison as an accomplice to the kidnapping of five members of AGECh and for the homicides of Parada, Guerrero, and Nattino. He is free.

Juan Luis Huaiquimilla Coñoepan, the retired Carabineros non-commissioned officer, was sentenced to 5 years and one day as the perpetrator of the crimes of kidnapping of Ramón Arriagada Escalante, Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas; as the perpetrator of the crime of terrorist illicit association; for the crime of damage to the property of Alejandro Traverso; and as an accomplice to the kidnapping of Santiago Nattino Allende.

He completed his sentence and is free today.

Julio Enzo Hurtado Lazcano, retired Carabineros Corporal, was sentenced to 41 days in prison as an accomplice to the kidnapping of Ramón Arriagada Escalante. He completed his sentence and is free today. He worked intermittently between 2011 and 2013 as an administrative clerk at the General Cemetery.

Luis Ernesto Jofré Herrera, retired Carabineros Corporal, was sentenced to 5 years and one day as the perpetrator of the kidnapping of Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, Eduardo Osorio Venegas, Santiago Nattino Allende, José Manuel Parada, and Manuel Guerrero Ceballos, and as the perpetrator of illicit association.

In addition, he was sentenced to 541 days in prison as the perpetrator of the crime of injuries committed against Leopoldo Muñoz de la Parra. He has already completed his sentence and is free today.

Julio Luis Omar Michea Muñoz, the retired Carabineros Colonel, was sentenced to 5 years and one day as the perpetrator of the kidnapping of Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas, and terrorist illicit association. He completed his sentence and is free today.

Manuel Agustín Muñoz Gamboa, the retired Carabineros Major, was sentenced to 5 years and one day as the perpetrator of the crime of terrorist illicit association. In 2014, he was sentenced to 5 years and one day for the qualified kidnapping of Alfredo Salinas Vásquez, José Sagredo Pacheco, and Juan Gianelli Company, in addition to illicit association. He is serving his sentence in Punta Peuco.

Santiago Segundo San Martín Riquelme, in May 1992, was the first to confess before Milton Juica. The retired corporal was later sentenced to 61 days in prison as the perpetrator of the kidnapping of Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas. He is free today.

Sergio Enrique Saravia Henríquez, the retired Carabineros Colonel, was sentenced to two sentences of 41 days in prison each as an accomplice in the kidnapping of Ramón Arriagada Escalante, Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, Mario Toloza Jara, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas.

In 2002, it was learned that after completing his sentence, he remained active and at that time was serving as sub-prefect of the eastern area of Santiago. He retired after his status as an active-duty officer was made public.

Óscar Ramón Valdebenito Valdebenito, the retired Second Sergeant, was sentenced to 41 days in prison as an accomplice to the kidnapping of Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, Mario Toloza Jara, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas. He completed his sentence and is free today.

Ramón Eduardo Valenzuela Cuevas, sentenced to 541 days in prison as an accomplice to the robbery with intimidation and kidnapping of Alejandro Traverso Carvajal. He completed his sentence and is free.

Source: “La noche de los corvos: El caso degollados o un verde mando de impunidad” (The Night of the Curved Knives: The Throat-Slitting Case or a Green Command of Impunity), by Nelson Caucoto and Héctor Salazar, updated with press information.

Source: ciper.cl, September 21, 2015

Carabineros: the secrets of the millionaire fund that finances officers’ pensions

Based on the payroll of Carabineros officers who retired between 2005 and May 2017, provided by Dipreca, CIPER investigated and cross-referenced the data. There were surprises. $432 million annually is allocated to the payment of pensions for 15 of those formally charged in the mega-fraud case within that institution.

Billions more remain in the hands of former high-ranking officers who receive double pensions or disability pensions that no one can question. Officers convicted in human rights trials also appear. A succulent piece of the $586 billion annual pie is taken by 93 generals.

During 2016, the

Dirección de Previsión de Carabineros de Chile (Dipreca) disbursed $586 billion for the payment of pensions for its retired personnel—both civilian and uniformed—an amount that also includes personnel from the Policía de Investigaciones (PDI) and the Gendarmería. The figure is identical to the amount allocated in 2016 by the government to finance free higher education.

CIPER requested from Dipreca, via the Transparency Law, the payroll of pensioners, both uniformed and civilian, from the rank of Carabineros officers who retired between 2005 and May 2017. The list includes 1,383 former officers, with a monthly pension averaging $2.3 million .

The civilian payroll includes 1,056 former employees who retired between 1951 and 2017, with pensions averaging one million pesos . These amounts contrast with the average old-age pension provided by the AFP system, which barely reaches $198,000 pesos , according to figures from the Superintendence of Pensions as of June of this year (the calculation includes pensioners with varying years of contributions).

In the payrolls analyzed by CIPER, 15 of the 74 Carabineros formally charged in the mega-fraud uncovered last March within the institution appear, collecting pensions of up to $4.7 million . $432 million is the amount Dipreca allocates annually to pay the pensions of these fifteen former officers involved in the embezzlement, the total amount of which is estimated so far at $25.7 billion.

The same payroll also includes nearly a dozen former officers with pensions of up to $3.2 million who are involved in proceedings for human rights violations.

This is not the only thing that stands out from the official data provided by Dipreca, which CIPER cross-referenced and analyzed. It was also detected that 22 former Carabineros officers are receiving double pensions .

Since the list of pensioners begins in 2005, it includes at least two former general directors of the institution— Eduardo Gordon and Alberto Cienfuegos —nine generals, and ten colonels.

Three other former general directors— Rodolfo Stange, Fernando Cordero , and Manuel Ugarte —filed an appeal of illegality that is currently pending in the Santiago Court of Appeals to prevent the amount of their pensions from being made public.

Among the high-ranking officers benefiting from a double pension is the former general auditor of Carabineros, Ismael Verdugo Bravo , who receives the highest pension provided by Dipreca (and also Capredena, the social security system for the Armed Forces): $6,976,552 per month.

The lawyer Verdugo also receives a second pension of $938,000 (as a former "civilian" employee), which leaves him with a retirement income of nearly $8 million per month.

Ismael Verdugo, who underwent a heart transplant, retired from the Carabineros at the end of 2012 with a second-class disability , a classification that applies to members of the Armed Forces and Order who, due to accidents or illnesses, are rendered unable to continue in service and are in a state of physiological inferiority to perform in private occupations.

This allows them to increase their pension by 20% over their last salary received while on active duty.

The privilege enjoyed by those who qualify for second-class disability is counterbalanced by the regulation prohibiting the official from being subsequently hired in departments of the Army, Navy, Air Force (FACh), Carabineros, PDI, and Gendarmería.

However, the regulation is not always followed. CIPER detected cases of Carabineros officers who, having retired under that classification, were rehired or receive income from those institutions .

Second-class disability is one of the blind spots in the regulations. In conversation with CIPER, Deputy Leonardo Soto (PS), who chaired the Chamber of Deputies commission that investigated irregularities in the pensions of Capredena and Dipreca, confirmed that the medical reports that certify these disabilities cannot be audited by either Dipreca or the Comptroller General:

-Each institution has its own health commission that certifies a disability. There is no possibility of knowing the details of the medical grounds that justify that certification . The Comptroller General, for example, only receives a document stating that the person qualifies for the disability.

Of the list of 2,439 retired Carabineros officers,

have retired citing second-class disability. The payment of pensions for this group represents a burden of $2.776 billion annually for Dipreca.

In 2016, Dipreca allocated a total of $586 billion for the payment of pensions for nearly 260,000 beneficiaries from the Carabineros, Investigaciones (PDI), and Gendarmería. In that distribution, the Carabineros take by far the largest slice: $418 billion to finance the retirements of more than 185,000 beneficiaries of that institution.

According to Dipreca data, 95% of the amount the entity uses for pension payments comes from the public treasury. Only the remaining 5% is contributed by the participants. The same occurs with the funds managed by Capredena.

It is the money of all Chileans that finances a system that privileges a few and contrasts with the individual capitalization system that governs a large part of the population.

THE “PACOGATE” PENSIONS

Nearly five months after the revelation of the mega-fraud that bled the Carabineros' coffers, the Prosecutor's Office investigation now includes 74 formally charged individuals. So far, the amount stolen exceeds $25.7 billion.

CIPER detected that 15 of those charged for participating in this criminal association receive pensions paid by Dipreca. A total of $432 million annually is allocated to pay pensions for former officers accused of having been part of the embezzlement network.

The highest of these pensions is received by Colonel Carlos Cárcamo Bravo ($ 4.7 million per month ), who retired due to second-class disability. The Prosecutor's Office accused Cárcamo of having played a starring role in the mega-fraud: he was the head of the Accounting and Finance Department of the Metropolitan Zone Headquarters, from where at least $972.7 million was allegedly embezzled.

Colonel Cárcamo was the chief of staff for the then-director of Finance of the institution, General Iván Whipple. And when that directorate was assumed by General Flavio Echeverría, now imprisoned for the embezzlement, Cárcamo took over as head of Department III, Treasury and Remunerations.

According to the Prosecutor's Office in its formal charges, the colonel received payments from the Carabineros, unjustified to date, of $53.3 million .

Another of the officers charged for the embezzlement is Colonel Arnoldo Rivero Gerves , who receives a retirement of $2.8 million and has been mentioned as one of the main managers of the fraud. It was Flavio Echeverría, the only general imprisoned for the embezzlement, who declared that he had been recruited by Rivero to join the criminal network.

The Prosecutor's Office accuses Colonel Rivero of having received unjustified payments of at least $169 million , transferred from institutional accounts; in addition to $900 million in cash from people who facilitated their bank accounts for the deposit of funds stolen from the Carabineros.

Officers Robinson Carvajal Leiva (who collects a pension of $2 million ) and Nelson Valenzuela Aravena , with a retirement of $1.4 million , also played key roles in the illicit association. The Prosecutor's Office charges Commander Carvajal with having operated as a recruiter of the people who received the stolen funds in their checking accounts.

Furthermore, deposits of $199 million paid as extra salary were detected in his own account.

Major Nelson Valenzuela, who retired in 2011, is accused by the Prosecutor's Office of having coordinated the distribution of money among the conspirators and of having invested his illicit gains in businesses with Commander Héctor Nail , who was also formally charged. The Public Ministry has calculated that he received more than $ 121 million of illicit origin.

Also appearing among the mega-fraud pensioners is Commander Ramiro Martínez Chiang (who collects $2 million per month ). The Prosecutor's Office accuses him of having received at least $612.4 million as excess salary, money that was distributed among the members of the criminal association.

Martínez Chiang retired in 2012, after intervening in multi-million dollar purchases with price markups in the Department of Information and Communications Technologies (TIC). The Prosecutor's Office investigation is still ongoing.

In addition to Carmona, Rivero, Carvajal, Valenzuela, and Martínez, the list of the 15 pensioners from the embezzlement is completed by colonels Fernando Pérez Barría ($2.7 million pension), Francisco Reyes Momberg ($2.8 million), Arturo Rojas Henríquez ($2.8 million), Horacio San Martín Villegas ($2.8 million), and Patricio Bianchi Silva ($2.8 million); commanders Patricio Morales Díaz ($1.7 million), Claudio Venegas Godoy ($2 million), and Juan Moraga Gallegos ($2.4 million); and majors Fernando Bustos Ríos ($1.3 million) and David Vega Carmona ($1.1 million).

THE PRIVILEGE OF THE “DOUBLE PENSION”

More than twenty former Carabineros officers appear to have retired twice and in different years. Most of them were also part of the institution's teaching staff. Until 2006, regulations required personnel who taught at Carabineros schools to receive this latter remuneration through a separate channel, which was also taxable in Dipreca.

This is how they were able to retire as both officers and teachers, receiving two pensions in parallel.

There are 22 former Carabineros whose income represents an annual expenditure of more than $1.047 billion for Dipreca. The average retirement received by this privileged group of pensioners is close to $4 million .

The payroll of retired Carabineros officers includes two former directors of the institution: generals Alberto Cienfuegos and Eduardo Gordon . Cienfuegos, who was director between 2001 and 2005, receives a total of $4.3 million ($3.5 million and $784,000); while Gordon, who was in command between 2008 and 2011, receives an almost identical amount ($3.6 million and $706,000).

Due to the legal appeal filed by retired directors Stange, Cordero, and Ugarte to prevent their retirement amounts from being made public, it is unknown if they also obtained the double pension.

Former Carabineros General Héctor Jara , who retired with a pension of $3.2 million , also receives a retirement for his teaching work of $1.6 million . Also appearing among the retirees with a double pension is the former head of the Carabineros Metropolitan Zone, General René Moya Venegas , who retired in November 2004. His retirement currently amounts to nearly $4.8 million .

Among the retired colonels with a double retirement, notable figures include Luis Alberto Thibaut ($4.3 million and $282,000); Héctor Fuentealba ($2.9 million and $931,000); Sergio Gajardo ($2.8 million and $969,000); Arturo Bernal ($3.7 million and $1 million); and Bárbara Valladares ($2.5 million and $733,000).

A special mention goes to retired General Gonzalo Arias González , a protagonist in at least two rulings for kidnapping, disappearances, and homicides that occurred in Temuco in the first days after the coup d'état.

In both rulings, the Temuco Court of Appeals ratified the eight-year sentences. Since 2005, Arias González has received a double pension totaling $3.7 million ($3.4 million and $348,000).

DISABILITY UNDER SUSPICION

In the payrolls reviewed by CIPER with nearly 2,500 retired Carabineros officers, 131 appear to have retired with a second-class disability classification. The payment of pensions for this group represents an annual expenditure of more than $2.776 billion for Dipreca.

Their average pensions are around $1.8 million. This figure contrasts with the retirements received by those who retire due to disability—total or partial—in the individual capitalization system of the AFPs. Figures from the Superintendence of Pensions indicate that, as of June 2017, retirements for total or partial disability average $210,000.

Seven doctors with a second-class disability retirement classification appear on the payroll provided by Dipreca. Some are active and have practices in different regions of the country. Surgeon and Major (ret.) Enrique Sudy Márquez retired in 2004 with a second-class disability classification.

In 2008, his pension was $2.9 million and today, after some adjustments, it amounts to $3.6 million per month.

CIPER's inquiry found Dr. Sudy practicing at the Coihaique Regional Hospital (the regulations do not prevent this as it is a public hospital). Indeed, the Comptroller General ruled in November 2010 that the second-class disability condition is only incompatible with subsequent employment in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Carabineros, PDI, Undersecretariats of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The strange part emerged when CIPER contacted Dr. Sudy to ask him about his work at the Coihaique Hospital after his retirement. Enrique Sudy responded that he had never worked there. But a report from the Comptroller General indicates the opposite. Between 2010 and 2011, Dr. Sudy performed 25 procedures in the operating rooms of that hospital.

And what the oversight body challenged was that Sudy, as an employee of that hospital, did not have a contract or an updated agreement for the care of private patients at the time of performing those procedures ( see Comptroller General report ).

Between January and December 2010, Dr. Sudy also appears on a payroll of fee-based remuneration from the Army Health Command , with a monthly remuneration of $1,135,326 ( see here ). In 2011, he appears on another fee-based payroll, this time from the Military Geographic Institute , with a monthly remuneration of $ 1,582,653 ( see here ).

That same year, Sudy appears on a new fee-based hiring list for the Coihaique Military Clinical Center of the Army, with a monthly remuneration of just over $2 million . His name is repeated on the remuneration payroll of that same Army health unit until December 2016, with fees of $1.1 million ( see here ).

CIPER asked the doctor about his remuneration at the Coihaique Military Clinical Center: “I do not work at the Army hospital. I treat Army patients and give them the receipt when I can see them in my private practice,” he noted.

He insisted that there was no irregularity in the practice of his profession: “I am not hired in that place. People who are on second-class disability, so you know, cannot be hired by the same employer that discharged them. That is why I do not work for the public service.”

Asked about the origin of the second-class disability that affects him, Sudy did not want to specify it, limiting himself to stating: “it is absolutely legitimate.”

“MEGA PENSION”

The Carabineros general auditor, Ismael Verdugo Bravo , retired in December 2012. The lawyer retired with a second-class disability and currently receives nearly $7 million ($6,976,552) per month. As a former professor at the Carabineros School, he also receives a second pension of $938,000. Verdugo was also a member of the Court Martial, where he was the author of controversial votes in 2009.

After leaving the institution, Verdugo joined the law firm Hinzpeter y Compañía , where he remained until a couple of weeks ago, in addition to working as a professor of Civil Law at three universities.

CIPER spoke by phone with General (ret.) Ismael Verdugo, who pointed out that his disability was due to a heart transplant that he underwent shortly before retiring in 2012.

-Second-class disability, according to the legal definition, leaves you in a state of physiological inferiority to perform, therefore, the regulation does not prohibit me from practicing as a lawyer. Indeed, I work as I can, but I am not a lawyer with a massive practice.

You will understand that just because I retired for that reason does not mean I have to stay locked in my house. I also teach classes. Of course, it is a couple of courses. I have quite a long experience and I try to transmit it to my students -he noted.

HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD

The payroll of officers receiving a pension since 2005 includes at least nine former officials involved in investigations into human rights violations. One of them is General Iván Andrusco Aspe , who collects a pension of $3.2 million.

Andrusco was summoned to testify in the investigation of the "Caso Degollados" (1985). Although his direct intervention in the murders of José Manuel Parada, Manuel Guerrero, and Santiago Nattino was not proven, the justice system verified that on the same dates the triple homicide occurred, the then-lieutenant of Intelligence was part of the Carabineros Communications Directorate (Dicomcar), the agency that executed the operation that ended with the three professionals having their throats slit.

In 1998, Andrusco was the operational head of the Police Investigation Section (SIP) when four officials under his command were accused of having caused the death by torture of taxi driver Raúl Palma Salgado.

In 2004, Andrusco was promoted to general and appointed head of the Bío Bío Police Zone. In March 2010, after his retirement, he was appointed director of the Gendarmería by the newly inaugurated President Sebastián Piñera. Just 18 days later, he resigned, arguing that he had received “pressures” and “death threats” due to his past in Dicomcar.

Colonel Pedro Caballero Castillo receives a pension of $2.7 million. In 1985, he was part of Dicomcar, an agency that Supreme Court Minister Milton Juica described in his ruling as a “terrorist illicit association.” Caballero participated in the raid on the Association of Educators of Chile (Agech), which was part of the operation that ended with the triple murder of the "Caso Degollados."

Sergio Saravia Henríquez

was also part of Dicomcar. In 1985, he was a lieutenant and was the driver of the vehicle in which four teachers who had been kidnapped from Agech were transported. He was sentenced to two 41-day prison terms as an accomplice to those kidnappings.

In 2002, it was reported that he was still active as a sub-prefect of the eastern area of Santiago despite the sentence, so he was forced to leave the ranks. Saravia Henríquez retired as a lieutenant colonel and has a pension of $2.4 million.

Officers Pedro Ramírez Gálvez and Carlos Riederer Saldías were part of the crew of the police helicopter that flew over the Latin American Integration College when two of the victims of the "Caso Degollados"—Manuel Guerrero and José Manuel Parada—were kidnapped from that establishment. Ramírez and Riederer retired as colonels and both receive a pension of $2.8 million.

At midnight on June 30, 1986, personnel from the Group

The Special Police Operations Group (GOPE) entered the home of folklorist Benedicto “Piojo” Salinas and shot to death the artist’s wife, sister-in-law, and son: Margarita Martín Martínez, María Paz Martín Martínez, and Isidoro Salinas Martín.

Colonel Sergio Gajardo Giadach, who now collects a pension of $2.7 million, was a lieutenant at the time and a member of the patrol that broke into the folklorist’s home.

In October 1973, brothers Guido and Héctor Barría Bassay were kidnapped by a Carabineros patrol in the commune of Río Negro, Los Lagos Region. Both are listed as forcibly disappeared. The police group included the then-lieutenant José Hernán Godoy Barrientos.

In 2003, Judge Alejandro Solís prosecuted him along with five other Carabineros. Godoy Barrientos reached the rank of general and receives a pension of $3.3 million. He retired in 2000, while serving as Zone Chief precisely in the region where the kidnapping of the Barría Bassay brothers took place.

In 2005, the Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced him to 10 years and one day, but two years later the Supreme Court released him due to the statute of limitations. It was the last case in which the statute of limitations was applied in a trial for human rights violations.

Peruvian national Percy Arana was 22 years old and a singer. In the early hours of March 31, 1984, he died from gunshots and beatings at the hands of a police patrol that mistook him for a subversive militant.

Major Alberto Medina Cárdenas was prosecuted for the death of the young artist. He was acquitted of the crime of unnecessary violence resulting in death by the Second Military Court of Santiago. Medina Cárdenas ended his career as a colonel and collects a pension of $2.7 million.

Lieutenant Leandro Plaza Perellano was serving at the 13th Precinct of La Granja, and on September 11, 1983, he led the patrol that killed Cristián Garrido Queulo (22 years old) in the San Gregorio neighborhood.

In 2007, the Supreme Court ratified his five-year suspended prison sentence. Plaza Perellano left the service as a captain, and only four months after the conviction that forced him to leave the ranks, he began receiving his pension, which today reaches $1.9 million per month.

THE PENSIONS OF THE HIGH COMMAND

The list of retired officers that Dipreca provided to CIPER includes 93 generals who have retired from 2005 onwards. $317 million per month is paid in pensions to this group, which means an annual expenditure exceeding $3.8 billion.

The highest pension is received by the aforementioned former auditor Ismael Verdugo Bravo ($6.9 million per month). He is followed by two former generals with amounts over $4 million: Luis Ortiz Pietrantoni (former Director of Planning and Development, $4.2 million) and Jorge Cornejo Sangueza (former head of the Health Service, $4 million).

In the range of $3.5 million to $4 million, there are seven officers, including three former General Directors: Gustavo González Jure ($3.7 million), Eduardo Gordon Valcarcel ($3.6 million), and Alberto Cienfuegos Becerra ($3.5 million).

The bulk of the generals (81) collect pensions ranging from $3 million to $3.5 million. The list includes only one officer who collects less than $3 million: Miguel Puentes Lacamara (former Director of Health, $2.7 million).

Among the retired generals are several who, although they did not face disciplinary proceedings, were involved in irregular episodes before retiring. One of them is former General Director Eduardo Gordon, who left the ranks in 2011 after CIPER revealed that a traffic ticket issued to his son had been altered to protect him after he was involved in a traffic accident (see that report).

Gordon himself blamed the alteration of the ticket on the then-general Aquiles Blu Rodríguez, who at the end of that same year also left active service and now collects a pension of $3.5 million. In 2009, Blu signed a contract to provide biometric equipment with the Italian company Elsag Datamat, represented by the children of former General Director Fernando Cordero Rusque (see CIPER report "Million-dollar irregularities in purchases by a key Carabineros unit").

At the end of 2012, General Gerardo González Theodor retired following a series of CIPER reports on irregularities in purchases by the Department of Information and Communications Technologies (TIC). That unit was under the command of González Theodor, who was then serving as Director of Planning and Development.

In that capacity, he closed verbal agreements with Mellafe y Salas to equip the new Carabineros Communications Center and supervised by telephone the contracts that the TIC closed with a businessman very close to him: Héctor Alegría Melo, who had been accused of fraudulent check issuance and had a long history of legal cases (see CIPER reports "Carabineros: overpriced purchases hit the General Director" and "The overpricing and verbal contracts that caused the exit of the third man of Carabineros").

Following his retirement, González Theodor has worked in business ventures with Alegría Melo. General González left the service with a severance payment of $82 million and collects a pension of $3.5 million per month.

During the period when the irregular purchases at the TIC occurred, the Logistics Directorate was under the command of the aforementioned General Aquiles Blu and, subsequently, General Eduardo Muñoz Poblete.

The latter retired at the end of 2011, when the Comptroller's Office had opened an accounting trial against him for a $3 million reduction in a fine to a supplier and for the purchase of 60 LCD screens, valued at $51 million, for the Preventive Security Quadrant Plan, which were never used.

Shortly before leaving the service, Muñoz Poblete signed a purchase that involved an expenditure of US$3.5 million: 29 armored vehicles that had security flaws. The documents certifying the proper receipt of the vehicles, despite the existence of a report warning about the flaws, were signed by Generals Carlos Carrasco Hellwig and Jorge Rojas Langer.

Currently, Generals Muñoz Poblete, Carrasco Hellwig, and Rojas Langer collect pensions of $3.5 million per month.

Source: ciper.cl, July 28, 2017

36 years after the "Degollados" case: the three crimes that shook Chile, the assassination that led to the resignation of the General Director of Carabineros

Professionals Santiago Esteban Nattino Allende, a painter and member of the Association of Educators of Chile (AGECH); Manuel Leonidas Guerrero Ceballos, a teacher and leader of the AGECH; and José Manuel Parada Maluenda, a sociologist and official of the Catholic Church’s Vicariate of Solidarity, were kidnapped in late March 1985 by agents of the Carabineros Communications Directorate (DICOMCAR).

On March 30, the three were murdered by a group of Carabineros, in one of the cruelest and most chilling crimes committed by agents of the dictatorship.

Nattino was intercepted on March 28 at the corner of Apoquindo and Badajoz streets in Las Condes, while Guerrero and Parada were kidnapped on the 29th from the doors of the Colegio Latinoamericano, at the intersection of Avenida Los Leones and El Vergel in Providencia, while they were dropping off their children. The criminal kidnapping operation even had the support of a Carabineros helicopter.

They slit their throats in Quilicura: The chilling crime

After their kidnapping, the three professionals were taken to a secret barracks on Calle Dieciocho, next to where the newspaper El Clarín used to be, in downtown Santiago—the same one used by the Joint Command in the mid-70s, known as "La Firma." The three were handcuffed, blindfolded, and tortured throughout the day on March 29.

It was established that between the night of Friday the 29th and the early hours of Saturday the 30th, the three kidnapped men were loaded into a Chevrolet Opala, two lying in the trunk and one in the back seat.

At the wheel was Corporal Claudio Salazar, with 1st Corporal Alejandro Sáez in the passenger seat and 2nd Sergeant José Fuentes in the back. A second car, a Chevy Chevette, was driven by Colonel Guillermo González Betancourt (pictured below), known as "Bototo" among the Carabineros officer corps, who led the group of criminals that used the tools and weapons provided by the Chilean people to murder other Chileans.

In the passenger seat was Miguel Estay, "El Fanta," a civilian who had been on the left and switched sides to join the criminals, while one of the back seats was occupied by Captain Patricio Zamora.

All were members of Carabineros

The cars traveled to an area of Quilicura near the airport. They parked on the shoulder, near the El Retiro estate. "El Fanta," Zamora, and González Betancourt stayed in their vehicle.

Guerrero was the first to be taken out. On his knees, handcuffed and blindfolded in a small hollow next to the road, Sergeant Fuentes ("El Pegaso") grabbed his head from behind and cut his throat with a corvo (curved knife).

The vehicle moved about 30 meters to the north. They took out Nattino, also handcuffed and blindfolded. Using the same weapon, Corporal Sáez repeated the execution. The car moved forward a few more meters, where Parada was taken out.

Lying on his back, handcuffed and blindfolded, Corporal Salazar took the corvo and made a deep cut in his abdomen. The victim resisted and screamed in pain, which terrified his executioner. A third agent got out of the car and slit his throat.

The blindfolds and handcuffs were removed from the three bodies. Once the crimes were committed, the group of Carabineros returned to their barracks on Calle Dieciocho. There, they drank whiskey, ate, and laughed.

Exemplary judge discovers the criminals

The brutal triple homicide, which came to be known as the "Degollados Case" (Slit-Throat Case), evoked widespread indignation across the country and forced the Supreme Court to appoint an elderly judge on the verge of retirement, José Cánovas Robles, as a visiting minister to investigate the crime.

This judge began to unveil the criminal actions of the security agents, setting an example for other judges—many of whom had acted with absolute leniency—so that they could imprison other criminals.

Only four months later, the investigation carried out by Judge Cánovas led to the arrest of two colonels, one commander, two captains, and two Carabineros officers. On August 2, 1985, the case caused the resignation of General César Mendoza, General Director of Carabineros and member of the Government Junta since the military coup of September 11, 1973, as well as the dissolution of DICOMCAR.

The dictatorship, especially its then-spokesman and minister Francisco Javier Cuadra (who became a member of the RN party during democracy), denied that the crime was committed by government agents, but the infighting between Carabineros and the Army’s National Intelligence Center (CNI), Pinochet’s political police, led to the discovery of the killers, who belonged to the uniformed police.

The CNI gave the names of the killers to the justice system and the media, in revenge against the Carabineros who had blamed them for other crimes. It was a vendetta between a group of delinquents and criminals.

Finally, six members of the uniformed police were prosecuted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders. Three of them remain in Punta Peuco prison. One of the criminals, Claudio Salazar Fuentes, alias "El Pegaso," was released and lives in the commune of La Florida.

Crimes, sentences, and benefits of those involved in the "Degollados" Case

Guillermo Washington González Betancourt, retired Colonel of Carabineros, was sentenced to life imprisonment as the perpetrator of the kidnapping of Ramón Arriagada Escalante, Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas; and the kidnapping and homicide of José Manuel Parada Maluenda, Santiago Nattino Allende, and Manuel Guerrero Ceballos; and to 5 years and one day as the perpetrator of illicit association, and 5 years and one day for robbery with intimidation of Alejandro Traverso’s car.

In May 2012, González Betancourt completed 20 years of his sentence at Punta Peuco and, in September of the same year, obtained the benefit of Sunday leave. Later, in January 2013, he managed to leave the prison for the entire weekend, and on June 24 of the same year, he obtained the benefit of "controlled free exit," thanks to which he could leave Punta Peuco every day for up to 15 hours a day.

Miguel Arturo Estay Reyno ("El Fanta"), a former PC militant who later became an informant and torturer, was sentenced to life imprisonment as the perpetrator of the crimes of kidnapping of Ramón Arriagada Escalante, Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas; and the kidnapping and homicide of Santiago Nattino Allende, José Manuel Parada, and Manuel Guerrero Ceballos.

He was also sentenced in the same case to 5 years and one day as the perpetrator of illicit association and to two sentences of 541 days as the perpetrator of repeated crimes of identity theft and malicious use of a false passport. He is currently incarcerated at Punta Peuco.

José Florentino Fuentes Castro, retired First Sergeant of Carabineros, was sentenced to life imprisonment as the perpetrator of the kidnappings of Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas; and the kidnapping and homicide of José Manuel Parada Maluenda, Santiago Nattino Allende, and Manuel Guerrero Ceballos.

He was also sentenced to 541 days as the perpetrator of illicit association. In May 2012, Fuentes Castro completed 20 years of his sentence at Punta Peuco and, in September of the same year, obtained the benefit of Sunday leave.

Later, in January 2013, he managed to leave the prison for the entire weekend, and on June 24 of the same year, he obtained the benefit of "controlled free exit," thanks to which he could leave Punta Peuco every day for up to 15 hours a day.

Alejandro Segundo Sáez Mardones, retired First Corporal of Carabineros, was sentenced to life imprisonment as the perpetrator of the kidnappings of Ramón Arriagada Escalante, Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas, and the kidnapping and murder of José Manuel Parada Maluenda, Santiago Nattino Allende, and Manuel Guerrero Ceballos.

He was also sentenced to 541 days as the perpetrator of illicit association, and to 3 years and one day as the perpetrator of the homicide of Carlos Contreras Maluje in 1976. He served his sentence at Punta Peuco and was granted the benefit of parole.

Claudio Alberto Salazar Fuentes, retired Corporal of Carabineros, sentenced to life imprisonment for the kidnapping of Ramón Arriagada Escalante, Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas, and for the kidnapping and murder of José Manuel Parada Maluenda, Santiago Nattino Allende, and Manuel Guerrero Ceballos.

Sentenced in the same case to 541 days as the perpetrator of the crime of illicit association. He is serving his sentence at Punta Peuco.

Patricio Augusto Zamora Rodríguez, retired Captain of Carabineros, was sentenced to 15 years and one day for the kidnapping of Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, Mario Toloza Jara, Eduardo Osorio Venegas, Manuel Guerrero Ceballos, Santiago Nattino Allende, and José Manuel Parada Maluenda, and as an accomplice to the murder of the latter three.

He also has three other sentences of 5 years and one day for unnecessary violence resulting in death of Percy Arana; 541 days for illicit association; and 541 days for assault. In 2012, his sentence was reduced by 13 months and he is free.

Luis Alfredo Canto Arriagada, retired Second Sergeant of Carabineros, was sentenced to 541 days in prison as an accomplice to the kidnapping of five members of the AGECH and for the homicides of Parada, Guerrero, and Nattino. He is free.

Juan Luis Huaiquimilla Coñoepan, retired Carabineros sub-officer, was sentenced to 5 years and one day as the perpetrator of the crimes of kidnapping of Ramón Arriagada Escalante, Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas; as the perpetrator of the crime of terrorist illicit association; for the crime of damage to the property of Alejandro Traverso; and as an accomplice to the kidnapping of Santiago Nattino Allende.

He completed his sentence and is free today.

Julio Enzo Hurtado Lazcano, retired Corporal of Carabineros, was sentenced to 41 days in prison as an accomplice to the kidnapping of Ramón Arriagada Escalante. He completed his sentence and is free today. He worked intermittently between 2011 and 2013 as an administrative assistant at the General Cemetery.

Luis Ernesto Jofré Herrera, retired Corporal of Carabineros, was sentenced to 5 years and one day as the perpetrator of the kidnapping of Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, Eduardo Osorio Venegas, Santiago Nattino Allende, José Manuel Parada, and Manuel Guerrero Ceballos, and as the perpetrator of illicit association.

In addition, he was sentenced to 541 days in prison as the perpetrator of the crime of assault committed against Leopoldo Muñoz de la Parra. He has already completed his sentence and is free today.

Julio Luis Omar Michea Muñoz, retired Colonel of Carabineros, was sentenced to 5 years and one day as the perpetrator of the kidnapping of Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas, and terrorist illicit association. He completed his sentence and is free today.

Manuel Agustín Muñoz Gamboa, retired Major of Carabineros, was sentenced to 5 years and one day as the perpetrator of the crime of terrorist illicit association. In 2014, he was sentenced to 5 years and one day for the qualified kidnapping of Alfredo Salinas Vásquez, José Sagredo Pacheco, and Juan Gianelli Company, in addition to illicit association. He is serving his sentence at Punta Peuco.

Santiago Segundo San Martín Riquelme, in May 1992, was the first to confess before Milton Juica. The retired corporal was later sentenced to 61 days in prison as the perpetrator of the kidnapping of Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Mario Toloza Jara, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas. He is free today.

Sergio Enrique Saravia Henríquez, retired Colonel of Carabineros, was sentenced to two 41-day prison terms as an accomplice in the kidnapping of Ramón Arriagada Escalante, Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, Mario Toloza Jara, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas.

In 2002, it was revealed that after completing his sentence, he remained active and was serving as sub-prefect of the eastern area of Santiago. He retired after his active-duty status was made public.

Óscar Ramón Valdebenito Valdebenito, retired Second Sergeant, was sentenced to 41 days in prison as an accomplice to the kidnapping of Mónica Araya Flores, María Eliana Olivares Sepúlveda, Alejandro Traverso Carvajal, Mario Toloza Jara, and Eduardo Osorio Venegas. He completed his sentence and is free today.

Ramón Eduardo Valenzuela Cuevas, sentenced to 541 days in prison as an accomplice to the robbery with intimidation and kidnapping of Alejandro Traverso Carvajal. He completed his sentence and is free.

Source: cambio21.cl, March 30, 2021