Before the death of President Allende and prior to the departure of Minister Flores and his two companions from the La Moneda Palace, the suicide of Augusto OLIVARES BECERRA occurred. He was a journalist, a member of the Partido Socialista, Press Director of the National Television channel, and an advisor to President Allende.

He was on the first floor of the building, together with some civilians. According to the information gathered by the Commission, it is possible to establish that he withdrew to a bathroom located under a staircase, after which a gunshot was heard.

The bullet entered through his temple, leaving him in an agonizing state. One of the doctors who was inside the Palace recounted to this Commission the moment he placed Olivares's head on his lap, confirming his death moments later.

The situation of the siege on La Moneda during which Augusto Olivares took his own life leads the Commission to consider him a victim of the situation of political violence.

The group that left the Palace via Calle Morandé was detained by military forces, who forced them to lie face down on the ground. This group was composed of presidential advisors, members of the GAP, doctors who provided services at La Moneda, and officials from the Investigaciones Service.

Most of the doctors who were present (with the exception of some who served as advisors to the President and who will be mentioned later) were released at that time. The rest of the detainees were then moved to the sidewalk, where they remained lying down.

At 18:00 hours, this group was taken to the Tacna Regiment in two military vehicles. They remained in that facility lying on the ground, face down, with their hands behind their necks, from the afternoon of September 11 until midday on September 13.

On September 12, the members of the Investigaciones Service were released, except for one who also remained in this facility until midday on the 13th, at which time he was released.

According to the information gathered, the Commission can affirm that the group that remained at the Tacna Regiment until midday on the 13th was composed, on one hand, of nine advisors and members of the Presidency of the Republic and, on the other, of fifteen members of the GAP.

As indicated above, the information gathered allows for the affirmation that the former Director of Investigaciones, Eduardo Paredes, was also detained at the Tacna Regiment until September 13. For this Commission, the version published in the press at that time, which maintained that Paredes had died in a confrontation, is implausible.

From this group, the advisors and members of the Presidency of the Republic were: Jaime BARRIOS MEZA […] Daniel ESCOBAR CRUZ […] Egidio Enrique HUERTA CORVALAN […] Claudio JIMENO GRENDI […] Georges KLEIN PIPPER […] Eduardo PAREDES BARRIENTOS […] Egidio Enrique PARIS ROA […] Héctor PINCHEIRA NUÑEZ […] Arsenio POUPIN OSSIEL […]

In the same group were the following members of the President's Security Detail (GAP): Manuel CASTRO ZAMORANO […] Sergio CONTRERAS, 40 years old, journalist, Head of Public Relations for the Intendencia; José FREIRE MEDINA […] Daniel GUTIERREZ AYALA […] Oscar LAGOS RIOS […] Oscar MARAMBIO ARAYA […] Juan MONTIGLIO MURUA […] Julio MORENO PULGAR […] Jorge ORREGO GONZALEZ […] Oscar RAMIREZ BARRIA […] Luis RODRIGUEZ RIQUELME […] Jaime SOTELO OJEDA […] Julio TAPIA MARTINEZ […] Oscar VALLADARES CAROCA […] Juan VARGAS CONTRERAS […] All of them were, in addition, members of the Partido Socialista.

The members of the group composed of the President's advisors and members of the GAP, with their hands and feet tied, were loaded onto military trucks and taken from the Regiment to an unknown destination.

Consistent testimonies indicate that the military vehicle headed to Peldehue, to the property assigned to the Tacna Regiment, where they were allegedly executed and buried. Since that date, they have all remained in the status of forcibly disappeared.

The Commission learned that one of the members of the GAP managed to evade his captors, switching from his group to another, and was later released. It is highly improbable that he is one of those recently mentioned.

Considering that this group of the President's collaborators left the La Moneda Palace via Calle Morandé at approximately 14:00 hours, where they were detained by State agents, held in a military facility, and from there taken by them to an uncertain destination, this Commission is convinced of their status as victims, as their disappearance is the responsibility of the State agents who held them in detention.

Another situation, linked to the previous one, is that of a group of people who were detained outside the La Moneda Palace around 08:45 in the morning. All of them were members of the GAP and arrived at that time in a pickup truck, being detained by Carabineros personnel.

The information gathered allows for the affirmation that at least the following people were detained under these circumstances: Domingo BLANCO TARRES […] Carlos Alfonso CRUZ ZAVALLA […] Gonzalo JORQUERA LEYTON […]; all of them members of the Partido Socialista. The same situation occurred with Enrique ROPERT CONTRERAS […]

All these detainees were taken to the Intendencia de Santiago and from there removed at approximately 11:00 hours that same day to be taken to the Sixth Precinct of Carabineros.

Their lifeless bodies were found on the banks of the Mapocho River, under the Bulnes Bridge, at the end of September 1973, with the exception of Domingo Blanco Tarrés. The latter was taken by Investigaciones personnel to the Santiago Preventive Detention Center, from where he was released on September 19, 1973, by order of the Second Military Prosecutor's Office of Santiago.

Since then, he has been in the status of disappeared.

Considering that there is sufficient evidence to affirm that all these people were detained by State agents and that subsequently, three of them were found dead from gunshot wounds at the Bulnes Bridge on the Mapocho River, and one of them disappeared after having been removed from the Santiago Preventive Detention Center, also by State agents, this Commission is convinced of their status as victims of human rights violations attributable to those agents, in the persons of Domingo Blanco Tarrés, Carlos Cruz Zavalla, Gonzalo Jorquera Leyton, and Enrique Ropert Contreras.

On the other hand, on the same day, the 11th, while they were attempting to travel from Talca to Santiago to join the President's Security Detail group, two members of said group were detained by a military patrol on the Pan-American Highway, near Curicó: Francisco LARA RUIZ […] Wagner Herid SALINAS MUÑOZ […] both members of the Partido Socialista.

Both were in Talca and, upon learning of what had happened, decided to head to Santiago. On the outskirts of Curicó, they were intercepted by a military patrol, who, upon seeing documents that proved their membership in the GAP, proceeded to detain them and transport them to the Curicó Jail.

The Gendarmerie Service reported that on September 30, 1973, they were released from that penal facility, but that they were handed over to State agents "with a short shackle and a padlock, both prisoners shackled." The remains were handed over to their families at the Santiago Morgue, with death having been certified on October 5, 1973, and gunshot wounds cited as the cause.

According to this information, the Commission is convinced of the responsibility that lies with the State agents in the deaths of Francisco Lara Ruiz and Wagner Herid Salinas Muñoz.