Silvio Vicente Pardo Rojas, married, 1 child, a law student at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso and a member of the MIR, was detained by officials of the Navy Intelligence Service. The events took place on April 4, 1974, on a public street, between 19:00 and 22:00 hours, in the city of Valparaíso.

Around 22:30 hours that same day, three civilians who identified themselves as members of the Navy Intelligence Service raided his home, taking a box of books, a sleeping bag, and a blanket. They informed María Elena Zamora Lobos—the victim's spouse—that her husband was being held in detention, without specifying the location.

In the days following the arrest, María Elena Zamora contacted the International Red Cross in order to obtain news regarding her husband's whereabouts. Through this organization, she learned that Silvio Vicente Pardo was being held at a Navy facility known as "Order and Security," located at the Silva Palma Barracks.

From that moment on, María Elena Zamora managed to make contact with the victim through cards that they exchanged via the International Red Cross. This situation continued until April 29, 1974, the date on which the aforementioned organization informed Silvio Vicente's wife that he had been transferred to the Melinka Detention Camp (Puchuncaví); he was reportedly held there only until May 3.

In mid-May, the Red Cross delivered the last card from her husband to María Elena Zamora, which was dated May 1.

It was also in mid-May 1974 that María Elena Zamora went to the First Naval Zone, where she was told that he was "giving a statement" and that after finishing it, he would appear on lists again and his whereabouts could be determined.

In mid-June of the same year, the International Red Cross gave María Elena Zamora a belt belonging to the victim and informed her that they had lost contact with Silvio Vicente Pardo as of May 3, 1974, when he was removed from the Melinka Camp.

They did not know where he might have been taken, adding that if he had been released, the Red Cross would have been notified. Since then, Silvio Vicente Pardo Rojas has remained in the status of forcibly disappeared.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On October 21, 1974, a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) was filed on behalf of the victim before the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, which was rejected on November 5 of the same year. An appeal was filed before the Supreme Court, which confirmed the previous ruling.

On November 6, 1974, a complaint for alleged disappearance was filed with the Third Criminal Court of Valparaíso, case file No. 92.164, which was temporarily dismissed on December 31, apparently of that same year, 1974. Only the most relevant resolutions of these two judicial actions are known.

As she obtained no results in finding her husband's whereabouts, María Elena Zamora wrote to the authorities of the time requesting information. On June 18, 1975, General Benavides Escobar, the Minister of the Interior at the time, replied, informing her that Silvio Vicente Pardo had indeed been detained on April 4, 1974, "and subsequently released in Category Two on May 1, 1974, and currently appears on the list of persons sought for failing to comply with his commitment to sign in periodically."

The official information regarding the victim's release was confirmed by Navy Captain Jorge Baeza Concha, Chief of Staff of the First Naval Zone, who wrote to the spouse on July 26, 1974, stating that the victim had been released "on May 2 of the current year, and was required to present himself every Sunday to sign in at the 6th Almendral Police Station in Valparaíso, which he did not do, and he is therefore presumed to be a fugitive." Luis Eberhard Escobar, Vice Admiral and Intendant of Valparaíso, corroborated this information on August 21, 1974.

In late July 1974, María Elena Zamora had received a visit from an official from the Investigations police, to whom she recounted what had happened. He summoned her to the Investigations Barracks, where the official told her that he had inquired with the Carabineros and that the victim had gone to sign in on two occasions.

The spouse then went to the 6th Carabineros Police Station, confirming that her husband's signature did not appear in the corresponding logbook.

To this day, she has not heard from Silvio Vicente Pardo Rojas again. She keeps the last card she received from him, in which he told her to take care of their child and that they would see each other again someday.

Source: Corporation report

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

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

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

Arguments of the ruling

The court rejected the cassation appeals filed by the defense, arguing that they lacked legal precision and were actually seeking to modify the manner in which the sentences were to be served, which is not appropriate for this procedural path.

In its ruling, the Court noted that the requests of the appellants were "vague and imprecise" and that they sought a "re-evaluation of evidence," which is prohibited in cassation proceedings. Furthermore, it warned that the grounds invoked were contradictory, which also led to the rejection of the appeal.

"In reality, the purpose of the appellant is a new weighing of the evidentiary record (...), which reveals that the defense attorney is seeking for this Court to perform an exercise that does not correspond to it," the resolution specified.

The case of Silvio Pardo

The base ruling, issued by the extraordinary visiting minister of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Max Cancino Cancino, established that Silvio Pardo, a law student at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso and a member of the MIR, was detained on April 4, 1974, by agents of the Navy Intelligence Service.

The victim was held at the Silva Palma barracks, where he was subjected to interrogations, torture, and practices known as "porotear"—being forced to identify other people who were subsequently detained.

Subsequently, Pardo was transferred to the Puchuncaví prisoner camp and returned to Silva Palma at the beginning of May 1974. His last communication with his wife, María Elena Zamora, was a card dated May 1, 1974.

Since May 6, 1974, there has been no further news of him. Despite versions suggesting he would be released along with another detainee, his whereabouts were never known.

To this day, he remains a forcibly disappeared person.

Historical context

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

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

Source: elclarin.cl, September 25, 2025

Date: 25-09-2025

PUCV Law School holds 2022 Graduation Ceremonies

During the event, the best graduate, the licentiate, and the alumni award were distinguished, in addition to the presentation of two posthumous degrees.

On May 22 and 29, the graduation ceremonies for the 2022 graduates of the Faculty and School of Law of the university were held in the Main Hall of the PUCV Central House.

The activity was attended by the university's academic vice-rector, Claudia Mejías Alonzo; the dean of the Faculty of Law, María Graciela Brantt Zumarán; the director of the School of Law, Eduardo Aldunate Lizana; and the PUCV chaplains, Father Mauricio González and Father José Pablo Valencia, who were also accompanied by the School's academic staff.

Regarding the occasion, Dean Brantt noted that "this is a valuable opportunity to thank the graduates for having trusted our institution to receive the training that enables them to be legal professionals.

The professors of this School of Law at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso assume as an enormous responsibility and a great honor the task of transmitting knowledge, transferring experiences, and promoting in our students the formation of the competencies necessary for the practice of this beautiful and challenging discipline (...) I reiterate the joy that fills us to be able to celebrate this act, congratulating the graduates and also their families and loved ones, who accompanied them in this process.

Receive our wishes for a successful professional performance and a full life. This will continue to be your home; we hope you do not stop returning to it."

For his part, Director Aldunate added that "with this group of graduates, we give substance to our responsibility, as a Faculty and School, to deliver to society a group of people capable of fully assuming and developing their professional functions, uniting, with the necessary tools for successful individual development, the potential to make a valuable contribution to the community."

At the ceremony, the person who obtained the best grades throughout the entire degree program was awarded as "Best Graduate." On this occasion, the student who received the diploma was Joaquín Torres Oyaneder, who was also recognized as the "Best Licentiate in Legal Sciences" not only by his peers and the University, but by the legal community in general, in what is already a tradition of the Valparaíso Bar Association.

In the same vein, Constanza Belén Cienfuegos Ibacache received the PUCV Alumni award, a recognition that seeks to distinguish a student who, during their studies, demonstrated commitment to their school and the university community in general, faithfully representing the values of the PUCV.

Likewise, and by agreement of the Superior Council of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, the University recognizes and honors the memory of those who, having been part of its university community as students, did not manage to complete their studies or, having finished them, did not manage to graduate or receive their degree, granting them posthumous Titles, Degrees, and Post-degrees.

In this context, María Ignacia Candia Zamora and SILVIO VICENTE PARDO ROJAS received the degree of Licentiate in Legal Sciences.

Source: pucv.cl, 31/5/2023

Date: 31-05-2023

Minister Arancibia indicts 9 retired Navy members for the kidnapping and disappearance of a student in 1974

Silvio Vicente Pardo Rojas was detained on April 4, 1974, on a public street in Valparaíso by officials of the Navy Intelligence Service. His trail was lost at the Silva Palma Barracks in Playa Ancha.

The extraordinary visiting minister for human rights violation cases of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Jaime Arancibia Pinto, issued an indictment against 9 retired members of the Navy for their responsibility in the crime of kidnapping with grave injury of Silvio Vicente Pardo Rojas (pictured), an illicit act perpetrated in April 1974 at the Silva Palma Barracks in Playa Ancha.

In the resolution (case file 51-2016), Minister Arancibia identified as authors of the crime Ricardo Alejandro Riesco Cornejo, Juan de Dios Reyes Basaur, Valentín Evaristo Riquelme Villalobos, Bertalino Segundo Castillo Soto, Alejo Esparza Martínez, Héctor Vicente Santibáñez Obreque, Sergio Hevia Febres, Gilda Mercedes Ulloa Valle, and Guillermo Tomás Morera Hierro.

During the investigation stage of the case, the visiting minister managed to establish that the university student "Silvio Vicente Pardo Rojas was taken into detention on April 4, 1974, on a public street by officials of the Navy Intelligence Service. 3 agents of said service raided his home, taking some things, and notified his wife that Pardo had been detained.

Pardo Rojas was a law student at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso and a member of the MIR, a member of the Quillota local committee of the aforementioned organization.

In the days following the arrest, his wife, María Elena Zamora, contacted the International Red Cross in order to obtain news regarding her husband's whereabouts, learning that Pardo Rojas was being held at the Silva Palma Barracks.

There, the victim was constantly interrogated and subjected to torture. During interrogation sessions, Pardo Rojas was taken out by State agents to 'porotear'; that is, he was taken out to the street to identify other people who were then detained; he was also subjected to confrontations with other detainees and to facial recognition of colleagues who were being interrogated.

The victim showed signs of physical abuse and psychological exhaustion, constantly repeating to his fellow detainees that he was afraid they would kill him.

Pardo Rojas maintained contact with his wife through cards they exchanged via the International Red Cross. On April 29, 1974, the international organization informed María Elena Zamora that Pardo Rojas had been transferred to the Puchuncaví camp, where he reportedly remained until approximately May 3 of the same year, the date on which he was returned to the Silva Palma Barracks along with another detainee.

The last card Zamora received from the victim is dated May 1, 1974. In mid-May 1974, Zamora went to the First Naval Zone, where she was told that Pardo Rojas was 'giving a statement' and that after finishing it, he would appear on the lists and his whereabouts could be determined.

In mid-June 1974, the International Red Cross informed María Elena Zamora that contact with Silvio Pardo Rojas had been lost since May 3, 1974, when he was taken out of the Puchuncaví camp, with it being unknown where he had been taken, adding that if Pardo had been released, the organization would have been informed.

The last news regarding the victim is that he was reportedly released along with detainee Eduardo Cabrera Vásquez on May 6, 1974, but that he did not leave the facility with Cabrera Vásquez, so his trail was lost from that moment on.

Since then, Silvio Pardo Rojas has remained in the status of forcibly disappeared."

Source: elciudadano.com, 2020

Date: 01-06-2020

Supreme Court grants Posthumous Law Degree to two former UdeC Law students who were victims of the Coup d'état

The families of former students Jaime Eltit Spielmann and Fernando Álvarez Castillo received the posthumous degrees after the UdeC approved the respective licentiate degrees in 2022, as an act of reparation at the request of the Bar Association, the Association of Relatives of Political Executions, and the Supreme Court.

"My uncle Jaime, together with his sister—my aunt Maritza—went to live in Concepción from Temuco. He was the first generation to go to university from a very hardworking family (...) Concepción welcomed them in a very special way, precisely because the University of Concepción had a community vocation and a very special university spirit.

My aunt Maritza survived the Coup, but both of them were welcomed (by the university) into political life, community life, religious life, and university life, so it was something very important for them (...) Now, in this symbolic recognition, each of these things is always super important, especially in the symbolic sense, in the family sense, in what has united us over these last 50 years, but the bitter taste remains that to this day we do not know where they are."

Verónica Eltit Neumann represents the third generation of her family, which for 50 years has searched for Jaime Eltit Spielmann, a former student of the UdeC Law program whom they never saw again after the Coup d'état.

She and her brother were present at the public hearing in which the Plenary Court of the Supreme Court granted the Posthumous Law Degree to eight people who were victims of the military dictatorship. "We represent first our grandparents, who died after 30 years of struggle without knowing where their son was, and his siblings, who could not be here today," Verónica noted with emotion after the ceremony led by the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, Juan Eduardo Fuentes Belmar.

The activity was attended by various authorities, such as the Minister of the Interior and Public Security; the Minister of Justice and Human Rights; the National Prosecutor; the president of the Bar Association; and the president of the Association of Relatives of Political Executions; while, on behalf of the UdeC, the Rector, Dr.

Carlos Saavedra Rubilar, and the Dean of the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences, Rodolfo Walter Díaz, attended.

Along with the relatives of Jaime Eltit Spielmann, the daughters of Fernando Álvarez Castillo, former Intendant of Concepción and former UdeC student, were present. "At the time of being executed, he was on a service commission as Intendant, but he was part of the University of Concepción; he was his whole life.

He studied at the University of Concepción, he was a student leader, then he was a university official because he was an announcer for the University of Concepción Radio, he was also a workers' leader. So he was a man who was linked to the University his entire life," noted his daughter Marcela Álvarez Ramírez, who is also a UdeC alumna, like her sister and mother.

Rector Saavedra indicated that the initiative to grant these posthumous degrees has been in the works since 2020, promoted by the Bar Association and the Association of Political Executions, whose request was channeled through the Supreme Court. "At the end of 2020, this request arrived from the Supreme Court for universities to evaluate the possibility of granting the certificates of the licentiate degree in law in the two cases of those who had been students of the University of Concepción," the Rector noted, considering that according to UdeC records, both former students had the status of graduates and had not taken the licentiate exam. The review of files and the analysis by the Council of the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences "allowed us in November 2022 to be able, by special decree, to grant these law degree certificates to the two former students who had been victims of disappearance, in one case, and execution, in another, whose cases are proven in the Rettig Report," the Rector noted.

The value of reparation

The Main Hall of the Palace of Courts was full. Each family of the eight people who were to be invested with the Posthumous Law Degree waited in silence and nervousness, which after a few minutes was broken by thunderous applause when the Supreme Court Minister and lawyer in human rights cases, Mario Carroza Espinosa, presented each of the Degrees in a moment charged with emotion, memory, and symbolism.

After this, the President of the Supreme Court reflected that said act "is a concrete step to fully fulfill the objectives of a reparatory nature, both for the people directly affected and for their families and society as a whole." In that sense, he noted that reparation is not satisfied only with the determination of criminal responsibilities; "concrete steps of another order are also required, which, deployed within the legally established competencies, make it possible to highlight the importance of respecting and guaranteeing the rights and essential values for every person and society, of which those we invest today as lawyers were deprived," so these acts strengthen democracy, the rule of law, and respect for fundamental rights, he concluded.

Likewise, the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Luis Cordero Vega, highlighted that the granting of these Degrees "is a minimal way of understanding reparation, in terms of full reparation, but above all, it is a way of understanding justice in broad terms as the President of the Supreme Court himself referred to."

After the ceremony, Rector Saavedra and the Dean of the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences presented the diplomas with the Licentiate in Legal and Social Sciences to both families, an instance in which the highest authority of the UdeC highlighted that in commemorating the 50 years of the Coup d'état in our country, it is relevant that "this reparatory act can be developed, which, in part, also allows families to begin closing wounds, closing processes.

I think it is a milestone, a tremendously symbolic, tremendously emotional act for our University." Likewise, Dean Rodolfo Walter indicated that "it is an honor and a duty to have granted the degrees of Licentiate in Legal and Social Sciences posthumously to these two former students.

The board of directors approved it unanimously at the time, and we made it known to the university authority that finally processed these recognitions."

"Each of these things provides a little piece of peace within all the struggle that this has meant for the family," reflected Verónica Eltit, niece of former student Jaime Eltit Spielmann; while, also with emotion, the daughter of Fernando Álvarez Castillo thanked the recognition made by the Supreme Court, "especially in these times when we talk so much about denialism.

Here, degrees have been granted to 8 people who died or who are forcibly disappeared, and the Supreme Court is recognizing them as lawyers, as professionals, as good people, who if they were alive, could be working for the justice of the country," which is why "we have to take charge of our history, to be able to learn for the future, and above all, the new generations."

Along with the UdeC former students, those who also received the Posthumous Law Degree were: Silvio Vicente Pardo Rojas; Litré Quiroga Carvajal; Héctor Mario Silva Hiriarte; Fernando Abraham Valenzuela Rivera; Guillermo Osvaldo Vallejo Ferdinand; and José Tohá González, father of the Minister of the Interior and Public Security, Carolina Tohá Morales.

Source: jur.udec.cl, 2020

Date: 01-01-2020