Date of Birth: 02/02/51, 23 years of age at the time of detention. Address: La Capitanía 1086, Las Condes, Santiago. Marital Status: Single. Occupation: Philosophy student at the Universidad de Chile. Repressive Context: Militant of the Liga Comunista de Chile. Date of Detention: July 24, 1974.

Sergio Arturo Flores Ponce, a university student and militant of the P.C.R., was detained by DINA agents on a public street on July 24, 1974, at approximately 17:00 hrs. While he and another person were waiting for transportation at the corner of Diagonal Paraguay and Portugal in the city of Santiago, DINA agents approached them with the intent to apprehend them.

The victim's companion managed to escape, but the victim was detained.

According to the testimony of his mother, Lidia Ponce, Sergio Flores left their home that day at approximately 15:00 hours. She further reported that subsequently, on the 29th of the same month, an anonymous voice called their home asking for the victim.

When informed that he had not returned since July 24, the caller stated that he was being held in detention, without providing further information.

On February 22, 1977, at 06:00 hrs., two unidentified individuals arrived at the home of the victim's aunt, Inés Flores, in La Reina. They asked for the victim, and she replied that he had been missing since his detention in July 1974. One of the men took note of what Mrs. Inés had said, and they then departed.

Information provided by individuals detained by DINA who were later recognized as detainees and subsequently released has made it possible to learn details about the situation and places of confinement of a significant number of forcibly disappeared persons who did not meet the same fate.

Among these important testimonies is that of Cristián Van Yurik Altamirano, detained by DINA on July 12, 1974, and held in various detention centers of that organization. He recounts that Sergio Flores Ponce was held at the DINA barracks at Londres 38, where Jaime Buzzio Lorca, who had been detained prior to the victim on July 13, 1974, and was politically linked to him, was also taken.

Both were confronted with each other at the aforementioned facility; both remain in the status of forcibly disappeared. He adds that in mid-August of that same year, nearly 20 detainees were removed from the aforementioned facility and were never seen again.

The victim's family made numerous efforts before administrative and military authorities, such as the case of Army Colonel Orlando Ibáñez, Chief of Staff of the State of Siege Zone of the Province of Santiago, among other submissions; however, in all cases, it was impossible to obtain information or acknowledgment of his detention and disappearance.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On August 1, 1974, under case file number 830-74, a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) was filed before the Santiago Court of Appeals in favor of Sergio Flores, which, after being rejected, was sent on November 28, 1974, to the 6th Criminal Court with an order to investigate.

The case for alleged disappearance was filed under No. 90.878, and on April 17, 1975, the judge ordered the temporary dismissal of the case, a resolution that was approved by the Court of Appeals on July 4, 1975.

On February 7, 1977, a request was made to reopen the case for summary proceedings. On February 15, the court issued a ruling ordering some official inquiries to authorities and denying the reopening of the summary. These efforts did not yield positive results. In August 1977, the summary was closed, and on October 19, 1977, a temporary dismissal was decreed.

Subsequently, in 1978, a request was made to unarchive the case along with a series of investigative steps.

His mother sent a letter to the Minister of the Interior informing him of her son's situation, without obtaining positive results. On October 30, 1974, she made a submission to the Prosecutor of the Chilean Air Force for the same reasons. Another letter was sent to the Chief of the State of Siege Zone of the Province of Santiago, also without obtaining information regarding the victim's situation.

His brother has provided us with more information:

"My brother, Sergio Arturo Flores Ponce, was detained on July 24, 1974, by the now-known murderous torturer Osvaldo Romo M., on Diagonal Paraguay street. He was taken to Londres 38. A reliable clue in this regard is what the 'Guatón' Romo expressed to a person, as stated in declarations reproduced in the book by journalist Nancy Guzmán about Romo, in which this murderer allegedly said during torture that he had had to murder my brother and Jaime Buzio.

Sergio and Jaime knew Romo when, as militants of the MIR, they worked on the 'settlers' front' and were part of the organization of the then-called Elmo Catalán Camp, which was installed on land where the Villa U.

Católica is now located, on Los Olmos between R. Cruz and Vespucio. Later, this camp became part of the 'Nueva La Habana' camp, today the 'Nuevo Amanecer' settlement. During 1972, Sergio broke with the MIR and subsequently, in a convergence with other groups of the same origin and splinter groups from the PS, they went on to form in 1973 an organization called the 'Liga Comunista de Chile,' which, following the example of the PRT of Argentina, linked itself to Mandel's Fourth International, especially following the conclusions regarding Latin America and the support for revolutionary struggle strategies to bring the people to conditions that would allow for the construction of socialism based on workers' and popular democracy. Consequently, the detention of Sergio Flores P. and Jaime Buzio by DINA was primarily due to their links and activities developed within the MIR."

Source: Corporation report

Santiago Civil Court orders the Treasury to pay compensation to the siblings of a forcibly disappeared person.

The Court ordered the Treasury to pay a total compensation of $35,000,000 to the siblings of Sergio Arturo Flores Ponce, who was detained on a public street by DINA agents in July 1974.

The Twenty-Fifth Civil Court of Santiago ordered the Treasury to pay a total compensation of $35,000,000 to the siblings of Sergio Arturo Flores Ponce, who was detained on a public street by DINA agents in July 1974.

The Court ordered the compensatory payment after rejecting the statute of limitations for the civil action, as it concerns a crime against humanity.

The ruling maintains that, in accordance with the provisions of the previous motive, it is established that actions arising from public and notorious facts constituted by the violations and abuses against human rights committed in our country during the time of the military regime, in accordance with current national and international regulations, have the character of being imprescriptible as they are crimes against humanity, as they infringe upon the fundamental rights inherent to the human person.

Therefore, an illicit act of that nature, in accordance with International Human Rights Law, generates three imprescriptible obligations for the State that has incurred in such an infraction, which refer to investigating the reported violations, sanctioning those responsible, and providing full reparation to the victims.

It adds that by virtue of what was stated and reasoned in the preceding section, this Court considers that, in the case ventilated here, the norms of Internal Law that regulate civil prescription are not pertinent or applicable to the civil liability of the State for the facts that are the subject of the process, as said provisions are in open contradiction with the norms of International Human Rights Law that protect the right of victims to receive full reparation, as the latter is an international normative statute recognized by the State of Chile, which is why the exception of extinctive prescription in question will be dismissed, founded, as stated, on Article 2332 of the Civil Code, and, in the alternative, on Article 2515 of the same legal body.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl 13/2/2020 Date: 02-13-2020

U. de Chile inaugurated a memorial remembering the disappeared and executed of the North Campus

With the presence of family members, friends, representatives of professional associations, authorities, and members of the university community, this Thursday, December 21, the memorial that remembers all the people linked to the University's North Campus who are now missing or were murdered by the dictatorship was inaugurated.

In total, there are twenty-eight people, including students, academics, and staff from health units who lost their lives due to the actions of State agencies between 1973 and 1990, starting with Salvador Allende himself, who died at the La Moneda Palace during the coup d'état of September 11.

The memorial site consists of a sculpture made by artist Miguel Lecaros, as well as a plaque with the names of the victims, which was made possible thanks to joint work between the School of Public Health of the Faculty of Medicine, the Vice-Rectorate for Student and Community Affairs, the Human Rights and Public Health Days collective, the Center for Mental Health and Human Rights, and the Projects, Memorials, and Institutional Management Area of the Ministry of Justice's Human Rights Program.

The ceremony, which was conducted by actress Malucha Pinto and featured a performance by singer-songwriter Elizabeth Morris, began with the words that President Michelle Bachelet sent for this event. In them, she highlighted the tribute to the victims of our institution:

“I am honored to know that the Universidad de Chile, your house of studies, your refuge, your home, today honors their memory with this work and, through it, also honors the persistence and courage of their family members, their friends, and companions, because it is thanks to all of them that our executed and detained persons have never died, because they live as an example in the memory of each one of us who recognize in their life stories, testimonies of convictions and tenacity.”

Then, on behalf of the Undersecretary of Human Rights, Lorena Fríes, María Soledad Silva, coordinator of the Projects and Memorials Area, read a greeting in which the memorial was highlighted within the framework of promoting a society in which dialogue and peace prevail: “Projects like these contribute to integrating civil society and new generations, creating awareness about the importance that human rights have for each person and society as a whole.”

Also present at the activity were the Vice-Rector for Student and Community Affairs, Juan Cortés; the Vice-Rector for Research and Development, Flavio Salazar; the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Manuel Kukuljan; the Director of the School of Public Health, Patricia Frenz; the academic coordinator of the Human Rights Chair of the Vice-Rectorate for Extension and Communications, Claudio Nash; and the former directors of the School of Public Health, Giorgio Solimano and Óscar Arteaga, among other authorities and former authorities of our institution.

Rescuing the values of the public, truth, and justice

Rector Ennio Vivaldi spoke at the event, pointing out the need for a cultural change that prevents society from falling back into the abuses committed during the military regime, and he also highlighted everything that was lost along with the people who were victims:

“Each of these people represents the best that Chile had to offer, the transcendent values that our country had, and that we were able to know,” he indicated.

A sculpture and a plaque located at the Central SEMDA are the testimony of the students, academics, and staff of the health programs who were executed or made to disappear for political reasons during the civil-military dictatorship, led by Augusto Pinochet starting in 1973.

Those values, he noted, can be brought to the present to analyze how, for example, the educational situation is faced:

“Today we can see how distorted a concept as essential as ‘the public’ is in its sense of common good, of something that belongs to all of us and makes us feel in solidarity. It is impressive how those concepts are lost at the same time that the people who were persecuted were lost.”

Finally, on behalf of the victims' families, Jaime Lorca, brother of the disappeared physician Carlos Lorca Tobar, addressed the public. He highlighted the strength of those close to the victims, as well as the institutions and organizations that welcomed them, so as not to forget what happened and to raise the cause of Human Rights.

“That is how we have managed not to turn the page, and also a little bit of justice, which is still quite insufficient,” he noted.

“We do not demand truth and justice only because it is important in personal or family terms, but we do it thinking about the future, about the next generations, and about the Chile that we are building day by day, so that these events can never happen again,” concluded Lorca.

Source: uchile.cl 12/21/2017 Date: 12-21-2017

U. de Chile to award posthumous degrees to 104 executed and disappeared persons

Symbolic recognition will be directed to former students murdered during the military regime.

Through exempt decree number 0030766 of the Universidad de Chile, authorized by the Comptroller General of the Republic on September 4 of this year, said house of studies was enabled, for the first time in its history, to award posthumous and symbolic degrees to students who were political executions victims and those who became forcibly disappeared during the military regime.

The official ceremony, which will be led by Rector Ennio Vivaldi, will take place next Monday the 11th, in the Domeyko courtyard of the central house, starting at 12:30.

For Vivaldi, "this initiative has two very deep meanings. On one hand, it is a gesture of reparation for the victims themselves and for their family members, who also affectively associate their loved ones with this great institution that is the U. de Chile.

On the other hand, the U. de Chile feels that it is fulfilling its moral duty by not granting the dictatorship the terrible objective of, in addition to having cut their lives short, erasing their achievements as students and future professionals for Chile." The list includes 104 former students of the university who were murdered by State agents between 1973 and 1989.

Among the most remembered cases is that of history student Jécar Nehgme, who also appears as the last victim of Augusto Pinochet's regime. This former leader of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) appeared dead on September 4, 1989, on General Bulnes street, a few days before the elections that would mark the return to democracy.

After a long judicial process, which was resolved in 2008, it was possible to establish as authors of the murder the metropolitan chief of the CNI, Brigadier (r) Enrique Levy Araneda; Colonel (r) Pedro Guzmán Olivares; and Captain (r) Luis Sanhueza Ross.

Social organizations valued the gesture. The president of the Association of Political Executions Victims (AFEP), Alicia Lira, pointed out that "it is a great gesture, which we recognize enormously. With this, Rector Vivaldi fulfills a pending task that the Universidad de Chile had, since similar gestures had already been fulfilled by other universities such as the U. de Santiago and the Austral de Valdivia.

But it is a huge signal for democracy and for a true 'never again' to be fulfilled in Chile."

List of Universidad de Chile students who were victims of the civil-military dictatorship:

1. Almonacid Dumenez, Luis Jorge. Social Work student. Forcibly disappeared. 2. Aldoney Vargas, Jaime. Journalism student. Political execution victim. 3. Andreoli Bravo, María Angélica. Nutrition and Dietetics student.

Forcibly disappeared. 4. Aranda Schmied, Pablo Ramón. Medicine student. Forcibly disappeared. 5. Araneda Pizzini, Dignaldo Herminio. Economics student. Forcibly disappeared. 6. Arredondo Andrade, Gabriela Edelweiss.

Pedagogy student. Forcibly disappeared. 7. Avello Avello, Oscar Eduardo. Medicine student. Forcibly disappeared. 8. Barrios Duque, Álvaro Miguel. English Pedagogy student. Forcibly disappeared. 9. Beltrán Sánchez, María Isabel.

Music Pedagogy student. Forcibly disappeared. 10. Binfa Contreras, Jacquelina del Carmen. Social Work student. Forcibly disappeared. 11. Boettiger Vera, Octavio Julio. Graduate of the School of Political and Administrative Sciences.

Forcibly disappeared. 12. Boncompte Andreu, Juan José. Economics student. Political execution victim. 13. Bustillos Cereceda, María Teresa. Social Work student. Forcibly disappeared. 14. Caldes Contreras, Jaime Humberto.

Political Science student. Political execution victim. 15. Castro Salvadores, Cecilia Gabriela. Law student. Forcibly disappeared. 16. Chanfreau Oyarce, Alfonso René. Philosophy student. Forcibly disappeared. 17.

Cid Urrutia, Washington. Sociology student. Forcibly disappeared. 18. Cornejo Campos, Raúl Guillermo. Psychology student. Forcibly disappeared. 19. Cortés Castro, Bernardo del Tránsito. Pedagogy student.

Political execution victim. 20. Cuevas Moya, Carlos Alberto. Geology student. Political execution victim. 21. De la Jara Goyeneche, Felix Santiago. History Pedagogy student. Forcibly disappeared. 22. Díaz Darricarrere, Carmen Margarita.

Nursing student. Forcibly disappeared. 23. Donoso Palacios, Sara de Lourdes. Nursing student. Forcibly disappeared. 24. D'Orival Briceño, Jorge Humberto. Graduate of Veterinary Medicine. Forcibly disappeared. 25.

Drouilly Yurich, Jacqueline Paulette. Social Work and Theater student. Forcibly disappeared. 26. Duran Rivas, Luis Eduardo. Journalism student. Forcibly disappeared. 27. Elgueta Diaz, Luis Enrique. Music Pedagogy student.

Forcibly disappeared. 28. Elgueta Pinto, Martín. Economics student. Forcibly disappeared. 29. Escobar Salinas, Ruth María. Dance student. Forcibly disappeared. 30. Espinoza Henríquez, Mamerto Eulogio. Former Technical Drawing student.

Forcibly disappeared. 31. Espinosa Méndez, Jorge Enrique. Philosophy student. Forcibly disappeared. 32. Figueras Ubach, Félix Francisco. History, Geography, and Civic Education student at the Pedagogical Institute.

Political execution victim. 33. Flores Garrido, José Edilio. Public Administration student. Political execution victim. 34. Flores Ponce, Sergio Arturo. Philosophy student. Forcibly disappeared. 35. Fuentes Riquelme, Luis Fernando.

Biology student. Forcibly disappeared. 36. Gajardo Wolff, Carlos Alfredo. Architecture graduate. Forcibly disappeared. 37. García Vega, Alfredo Gabriel. Social Work graduate. Forcibly disappeared. 38. Guajardo Zamorano, Luis Julio.

Engineering student. Forcibly disappeared. 39. Guendelman Wisniak, Luis Alberto. Architecture graduate. Forcibly disappeared. 40. Guerrero Gutiérrez, Carlos Eduardo. History Pedagogy student. Forcibly disappeared. 41.

Herrera Manríquez, Guillermo Hernán. Social Sciences student. Political execution victim. 42. Ibarra Echeverria, Carlos Leonardo. Pedagogy student. Political execution victim. 43. Ibarra Toledo, Juan Ernesto.

Social Work student. Forcibly disappeared. 44. Jorquera Encina, Mauricio Edmundo. Sociology student. Forcibly disappeared. 45. Joui Petersen, María Isabel. Economics student. Forcibly disappeared. 46. Juantock Guzmán, Yactong Orlando.

Architecture graduate. Forcibly disappeared. 47. Lagos Salinas, Carlos Eduardo. Pedagogy student. Political execution victim. 48. Lazo Rojas, Alonso. Spanish Pedagogy student. Forcibly disappeared.

Source: latercera.cl 09/08/2017 Date: 09-08-2017

76 former DINA agents convicted for kidnapping as part of "Operation Colombo"

The sentence refers specifically to the case of Sergio Flores Ponce, a MIR militant who was transferred to the "Londres 38" center in the capital, the place where his trail was lost.

The visiting judge, Hernán Crisosto, sentenced 76 former members of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for their responsibility in the crime of qualified kidnapping of Sergio Arturo Flores Ponce, within the framework of "Operation Colombo."

Additionally, as part of the resolution, the State of Chile must compensate the victim's father with $100,000,000.

The sentence, issued by the Court of Appeals, is based on the investigation that managed to prove that on the afternoon of July 24, 1974, the militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) was detained at the corner of Diagonal Paraguay and Portugal by agents belonging to DINA.

These subjects transferred him to the clandestine detention center "Londres 38," a place where he was kept without contact with the outside world, blindfolded, and tied up.

Sergio Arturo Flores Ponce was last seen in August 1974, along with other detainees.

CONVICTIONS

Sentenced to 13 years in prison

Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Marcelo Moren Brito, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, and Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann.

Received a sentence of 10 years in prison:

Gerardo Ernesto Urrich González, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Sergio Hernán Castillo González, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, José Enrique Fuentes Torres, José Mario Friz Esparza, Julio José Hoyos Zegarra, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, Claudio Orlando Orellana de la Pinta, Enrique Tránsito Gutiérrez Rubilar, Gustavo Galvarino Caruman Soto, Hiro Álvarez Vega, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Olegario Enrique González Moreno, Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, Alfredo Orlando Moya Tejeda, Carlos Alfonso Sáez Sanhueza, Fernando Enrique Guerra Guajardo, Hernán Patricio Valenzuela Salas, Hugo Rubén Delgado Carrasco, Juan Alfredo Villanueva Alvear, Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos, Lautaro Eugenio Díaz Espinoza, Leónidas Emiliano Méndez Moreno, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, Víctor Manuel Molina Astete, Manuel Rivas Díaz, Juan Ángel Urbina Cáceres, Risiere del Prado Altez España, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Hermon Helec Alfaro Mundaca, and Hugo del Tránsito Hernández Valle.

Meanwhile, a sentence of four years in prison was issued for Luis Eduardo Mora Cerda, José Jaime Mora Diocares, Camilo Torres Negrier, Carlos Justo Bermúdez Méndez, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Gerardo Meza Acuña, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Jaime Humberto Paris Ramos, Jorge Laureano Sagardia Monje, José Dorohi Hormazábal Rodríguez, José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo, José Stalin Muñoz Leal, Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, Manuel Antonio Montre Méndez, Máximo Ramón Aliaga Soto, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Nelson Eduardo Iturriaga Cortés, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Reinaldo Alfonso Concha Orellana, Sergio Hernán Castro Andrade, Víctor Manuel de la Cruz San Martin Jiménez, Gustavo Humberto Apablaza Meneses, Héctor Carlos Díaz Cabezas, Jorge Antonio Lepileo Barrios, Óscar Belarmino la Flor Flores, Rufino Espinoza Espinoza, Héctor Manuel Lira Aravena, Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Juan Miguel Troncoso Soto, and Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel.

Source: 24horas.cl 7/23/2015 Date: 07-23-2015