General (ret.) Parera admitted that people were detained in Peldehue

General (ret.) Carlos Parera Silva acknowledged before Judge Sergio Muñoz that the Paratrooper School in Peldehue was a detention site and that forcibly disappeared persons passed through there. Parera also reportedly assumed his command responsibility in the case of the seven former Army "Black Berets" who were discharged in 1970 after being accused of having ties to the PS and the MIR.

It was after this statement that Judge Muñoz decided to release him on his own recognizance, contrary to what occurred with General (ret.) Patricio Acevedo, who was detained on Friday, and with Brigadier Rafael Sánchez Vera, Colonel Renato Alarcón Carrasco, Major Carlos Saravia Vera, Sergeant Major Domingo Rosario Cortés, and Sergeants Fidel Segovia Rojas and Hernán Arancibia Rosas.

All of them were held incommunicado. Parera Silva is being held at the Military Police Battalion (BPM) awaiting the judge's decision on his procedural status this week. In 1973, General (ret.) Parera was third in the unit's chain of command.

The second in command was General Rodrigo Sánchez Casillas, who was interrogated by Muñoz and released. The Paratrooper School was under the command of General Alejandro Medina Lois, who said he would testify on Wednesday or Thursday.

Yesterday, Alejandro Medina Lois went to the BPM and visited Carlos Parera to "give him moral support." The retired general told El Mercurio: "It is a duty as a friend, as his former superior, in a situation in which he is being treated unjustly." The general (ret.) claimed not to have discussed the statements made by Parera to the judge. -Why was he released on his own recognizance? "That is within the minister's powers: whether or not he needs to apply pressure.

But the pressure is quite sinister, because it is psychological, to see if they change their statements or provide something they did not give before. It may be that, seeing General Parera as he is, he knew he would get nothing.

But I am generalizing; I have no evidence." -Was the School a detention center? "Never. It was never a detention center, much less a torture center, which is what is in fashion. We were involved in something much more important: this unit was the reserve for the Commander-in-Chief of the Army; it depended on my General Pinochet.

Among other tasks that were permanent was the security of him and his family. Also participating in operations of the special anti-guerrilla brigade, developing counter-guerrilla unit commander courses, and the possibility of a border conflict."

Source: El Mercurio, November 28, 2004

Court releases those prosecuted in "Black Berets" case

The eight retired military officers are charged for their responsibility in the deaths of seven former members of the Army Paratrooper Command in 1973. The Third Chamber of the Court of Appeals, in a unanimous ruling, granted release today to the eight retired military officers prosecuted by the visiting judge Sergio Muñoz for the disappearance and death of seven former members of the Army Paratrooper Command in 1973, within the framework of the "Black Berets" case.

They are Generals (ret.) Carlos Parera and Patricio Acevedo, Brigadier (ret.) Rafael Sánchez Vera, Colonel (ret.) Renato Alarcón Carrasco, Sergeant Major (ret.) Domingo Cortés, Major (ret.) Carlos Sarabia Vera, and Sergeants (ret.) Fidel Segovia Rojas and Hernán Arancibia.

The former uniformed officers, who had been detained since November 26 after Judge Muñoz interrogated them at the military hotel facilities, will be able to regain their freedom after paying a bail of one million pesos.

Parera, Acevedo, Segovia, Arancibia, Sarabia, and Cortés were charged on November 30 as authors of kidnapping and qualified homicide, while Sánchez and Alarcón were charged as accomplices to the same crimes.

The former uniformed officers are being investigated for the alleged responsibility they had in the disappearance and subsequent execution of seven members of the Paratrooper Command, who in the early 70s were discharged from the Army for their alleged ties to the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR).

After their expulsion, the seven lived in the town of Esmeralda, near Colina, where after the 1973 military coup they were apprehended by those who remained in the Paratrooper Command. Following their detention, they were executed by firing squad; only the bodies of four of them were found, with three still remaining forcibly disappeared.

General (ret.) Parera, who was the second commander of the Paratrooper and Special Forces School, appealed the prosecution, which must be resolved in the coming days by the Court. The Chamber was composed of judges Juan Manuel Muñoz, Víctor Montiglio, and the member lawyer Sandra Pinto.

Source: El Mercurio, December 7, 2004

Judge Muñoz carries out proceedings in Peldehue

Judge Sergio Muñoz traveled this morning to the town of Peldehue to carry out proceedings regarding the disappearances that occurred in that area during the military government. It transpired that the magistrate was with all those who have been prosecuted in that case: Brigadier (ret.) Rafael Sánchez, Colonel (ret.) Renato Alarcón Carrasco, Sergeant Major (ret.) Domingo Cortés, Major (ret.) Carlos Saravia Vera, and Sergeants (ret.) Angel Segovia Rojas and Hernán Arancibia, in addition to General (ret.) Carlos Parera.

The former uniformed officers are prosecuted for the case of the kidnapping and homicide of seven paratroopers from the Peldehue School who were discharged in 1970 for their links to the FMR. At the beginning of January, the magistrate ordered the Investigative Police to carry out a planimetric and photographic survey of the place where seven of the former "Black Berets" met their deaths.

Subsequently, based on this information provided by his work team and on statements, Judge Muñoz established how and in what place the paratroopers were executed by firing squad. The magistrate's latest resolution According to the resolution, between September 12 and 15, 1973, in the early hours of the morning and under the "pretext that they would be transferred to the National Stadium in Santiago, the former Army officials Alberto Ampuero, Luis Barraza, Oscar Delgado, Daniel Estrada Bustos, David González, Julio Martínez, Javier Sobarzo, and Enrique Toledo were made to board a truck with their hands tied behind their backs," as they were being held at the Army's Paratrooper and Special Forces School. At kilometer 5 of the road to Santiago on the current General San Martín Highway, Portezuelo Overpass (Colina sector), "they were ordered to descend from the military vehicle, they were lined up with their backs to Cerro La Leona and facing the highway, and the military contingent guarding them proceeded to position themselves in front, proceeding to fire at them with their 7.62 caliber SIG rifles," the document states. Throughout the investigation, it was determined that the discharged personnel were deprived of their liberty after September 11, 1973, because "they were providing military instruction to militants of the Revolutionary Left Movement, Luciano Cruz Aguayo faction." To date, the whereabouts of the bodies of Luis Barraza and Vicente Piérola remain unknown. The rest of the bodies were found. The judge maintains that the deprivation of liberty of two of them, as well as the detention and death of the other seven, was perpetrated "outside of any judicial procedure in time of war or peace, as there is no record that courts-martial were held or that these persons were judged in any way, nor was any sentence issued condemning them to the death penalty."

Source: El Mercurio, January 17, 2005

Justice sentences 23 former military officers for kidnapping and homicide of political prisoners at the Peldehue Paratrooper School

The minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, issued an indictment against 23 retired Army officials for their responsibility in three crimes of qualified kidnapping and eight qualified homicides.

These crimes were perpetrated against military personnel and civilians inside the Peldehue Paratrooper School, in the commune of Colina, between September and October 1973. In the resolution (case file 38.483), the visiting judge prosecuted Rodrigo Sánchez Casilla, Arturo Bosch González, and Jaime Lepe Orellana as authors of the crimes of qualified kidnapping of Mario Melo Pradenas, Luis Barraza Ruhl, and Jorge Piérola Piérola, and of the qualified homicides of Julio Martínez Lara, Moisés Cossio Pérez, Enrique Toledo Garay, Alberto Ampuero Ángel, David González Venegas, Daniel Estrada Bustos, Ricardo Pardo Tobar, and Javier Sobarzo Sepúlveda. Meanwhile, Juan Manuel Cárcamos Vásquez, Pedro Montoya Roldán, Carlos Marín Castro, Miguel Silva Alarcón, José Riquelme Villagra, Jorge Barrientos Becerra, Juan Bautista Muñoz Olave, Luciano Mendoza Estay, Rodolfo Hidalgo Barahona, Aldo Villarroel Garay, Óscar Silva Abarca, Julio Fuentes Lagazzi, Juan Aranda Mendoza, and Carlos Arellano Lepe were charged as accomplices to the crimes. In the case of Fidel Segovia Rojas, Judge Carroza subjected him to prosecution as an accomplice to the three qualified kidnappings and the qualified homicides of Julio Martínez Lara, Moisés Cossio Pérez, Enrique Toledo Garay, Daniel Estrada Bustos, Ricardo Pardo Tobar, and Javier Sobarzo Sepúlveda. Renato Alarcón Carrasco was charged as an author of the three qualified kidnappings and the homicides of Julio Martínez Lara, Moisés Cossio Pérez, Enrique Toledo Garay, Alberto Ampuero Ángel, David González Venegas, Daniel Estrada Bustos, and Ricardo Pardo Tobar. Meanwhile, Hernán Arancibia Rozas was charged as an accomplice to the kidnapping of Mario Melo Pradenas and the qualified homicides of Moisés Cossio Pérez, Daniel Estrada Bustos, and Ricardo Pardo Tobar. Additionally, Rafael Sánchez Vera and Osvaldo Acevedo Trujillo were prosecuted as authors of the homicide of Moisés Cossio Pérez and Daniel Estrada Bustos. Finally, Carlos Saravia Vera was subjected to prosecution as an author of the qualified kidnappings of Mario Melo Pradenas and Jorge Piérola Piérola, and of the homicides of Julio Martínez Lara, Moisés Cossio Pérez, Enrique Toledo Garay, Alberto Ampuero Ángel, David González Venegas, Daniel Estrada Bustos, Ricardo Pardo Tobar, and Javier Sobarzo Sepúlveda. According to the information gathered during the investigation stage, Judge Carroza was able to establish that the victims—most of them former members of the Army, some expelled from the military institution at the beginning of the 70s due to their apparent ties to the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR)—were detained in the days following September 11, 1973, by personnel from the Paratrooper and Special Forces School and military personnel from Punta Arenas. They were taken to the Peldehue military unit, where eight of them were executed outside of any legal process. Likewise, all traces of Mario Melo Pradenas, Luis Barraza Ruhl, and Jorge Piérola Piérola were lost from Peldehue.

Source: observatoriolegislativoyparlamentario, October 19, 2016