Simón Eladio Sánchez Pérez, 17 years of age at the time of the events, a primary school student, was detained on September 20, 1973, around 10:00 a.m., on a public street in the Población La Bandera, where he had gone to deliver an iron to his uncle, Moisés Sánchez.

At that time, members of the Air Force, the Army, and the Carabineros were carrying out an intense operation that had begun at 6:00 a.m., detaining numerous residents of said neighborhood.

As witnesses to the events pointed out, the uniformed personnel proceeded to raid homes and detain people, whom they led to a sports field, where they were beaten and trampled. Blindfolded, they were forced to lie face down on the ground.

Graciela Páez Córdova, a neighbor of the area whose spouse was detained on that occasion, stated that, starting at 5:00 p.m., the uniformed personnel began a selection process of those arrested. Those who had or had previously had problems with the Ordinary Justice system were marked on their backs with red paint and separated from the rest, to be taken later to the Investigations police or other police facilities.

Those who were not in that situation were forced, under beatings, onto various trucks and taken, for the most part, to the El Bosque Air Base and the 25th Carabineros Precinct on Avenida Santa Rosa.

That September 20, Simón Eladio had left his home around 8:00 a.m. to go deliver an iron to the Población La Bandera. He had been sent by his mother, Mrs. Leonor Pérez Osses. The victim left Villa O'Higgins with his aunt, Rosa Sánchez, and both took the same bus.

Simón Eladio Sánchez—who was not carrying documents—got off at the 22nd stop on Santa Rosa and went into La Bandera. Since his uncle was not there, he left the iron at a neighbor's house. From that moment on, he was never seen again.

As a result of the military operation carried out in the Población La Bandera, the victim, 15-year-old Ricardo Octavio López Elgueda, and Héctor Orlando Vicencio González disappeared under similar circumstances for not having an identity card.

In addition, Luis Osvaldo Silva, 38 years old and an itinerant merchant, was detained in that operation at his home and in the presence of witnesses. His body was found on Cerro San Cristóbal with multiple gunshot wounds. According to the death certificate, his death occurred on September 21, 1973. (For more information, see the file for Ricardo López Elgueda).

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On September 17, 1974, a complaint for the alleged disappearance of the victim was filed before the 4th Criminal Court of San Miguel, which was registered under No. 8866-3.

During the short processing of this case, a judicial order to investigate was issued—which yielded no results—the Legal Medical Institute was consulted—also without results—and a report was requested from the Ministry of the Interior.

On January 29, 1975, the Division General and Minister of the Interior, Raúl Benavides Escobar, notified the Court stating that the victim was not being held by order of that Secretariat of State.

On February 19, 1975, the summary was closed and the case was temporarily dismissed because the perpetration of a crime was not fully justified.

Years later, on April 1, 1991, the relatives of Simón Eladio Sánchez Pérez, Ricardo Octavio López Elgueda, and Héctor Orlando Vicencio González filed a complaint for alleged disappearance before the 22nd Criminal Court of Santiago, which was registered under No. 3447-5.

In the filing, they recounted the circumstances in which they disappeared and requested various investigative steps. Among them were certified copies of the files of the bodies admitted to the Legal Medical Institute of Santiago as "NN" (unidentified) on September 20, 21, and 22, 1973, whose deaths appeared to have occurred on Cerro San Cristóbal.

The file containing the information regarding the discovery of Luis Osvaldo Silva's body on Cerro San Cristóbal was also requested.

At the end of 1992, this case was in the summary stage with pending investigative steps.

The anthropometric data of Simón Eladio Sánchez Pérez were attached to case 4449-AF of the 22nd Criminal Court of Santiago for the crime of illegal burial, in Patio 29 of the General Cemetery, of unidentified persons who died between September and December 1973.

The investigating judge of the case ordered the excavation of 108 graves in September 1991. From there, 125 bodies were exhumed and sent to the Legal Medical Institute. Currently (late 1992), the forensic identification reports are pending.

Source: Corporation report

The Legal Medical Service (SML), together with the minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Alejandro Solís, delivered seven identity confirmations from the Patio 29 case to the victims' families. Simón Eladio Sánchez Pérez, Juan José Valdevenito Miranda, José Carlos Ruz Zúñiga, Abraham José Romero Jeldres, Edmundo Enrique Montero Salazar, and Luis Alfredo Gamboa Pizarro.

The latter two were members of the Group of Friends of the President (GAP) detained outside La Moneda. The remains of Donato Quispe Choque, a worker of Bolivian nationality, were also identified; his identification was carried out by a multidisciplinary team from the SML that traveled to his country in 2008 to take blood samples from his relatives.

The victims are part of the group of forcibly disappeared persons for whom the SML was questioned due to inconsistencies in the identifications of the Patio 29 case, which were made public in 2006. In this regard, Patricio Bustos, director of the Legal Medical Service, indicated that "Starting from this tragedy that we wish had never happened, which are the victims of human rights violations during the dictatorship, the service was modernized and developed a forensic identification system that allows it to adequately fulfill its duties in cases of mass catastrophes, such as the earthquake of February 27, or in cases of accidents that involve a number of deceased persons who must be identified. The SML does its job, amidst difficulties like all organizations, but it does it." However, these confirmations carried out by the laboratory of the University of North Texas demonstrate that these seven analyses, carried out in the past using traditional Anthropology and Odontology techniques, were correctly performed by the forensic agency. Bustos added that they are "happy not only because today we confirm the work previously carried out by our agency, but because with this we have contributed, at least in part, to the peace of mind of the families who have waited so long to know the truth." Luis Ruz Zúñiga, brother of one of the victims, called on other relatives to have the necessary hope but also asserted that it is important to clarify judicial responsibilities. "You have to have faith and the will to move forward and achieve full justice. If the remains that were found correspond to other relatives, it would be very hard, but we hope that everything that must be done is done to achieve justice," he maintained. These identifications correspond to the shipment made by the SML's Center for Sample Collection from Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared Persons in 2008, consisting of 123 bone remains from Patio 29 and more than 500 blood samples from relatives, on which DNA tests were performed to make the genetic comparison.

Source: dario.uchile.cl 8/12/2010

Date: 08-12-2010

Patio 29 Behind the Iron Cross (BOOK)

Patio 29 was usually intended for the burial of the indigent, psychiatric patients, and people who died without being identified (NN). However, between September 1973 and January 1974, its graves were used to hide victims of the repression as NN.

Javiera Bustamante and Stephan Ruderer reconstruct the painful history of the place, using testimonies from the relatives of the forcibly disappeared, letters, documents, and other sources. The book also gives an account of the arduous process of identification and delivery of the bodies, as well as the irregularities that characterized these proceedings.

The powerful photographs that illustrate the volume were taken by visual artist Mara Daruich. Bustamante, Javiera; Ruderer, Stephan

Source: ocholibros.cl no date