The judge of the Fifth Criminal Court of Santiago, Juan Carlos Urrutia, indicted eight former members of the Army for the cases of the twelve forcibly disappeared persons from the La Moneda Palace, an event that occurred in September 1973.

General (ret.) Luis Joaquín Ramírez Pineda, who has been detained in Argentina since September awaiting extradition to France for the disappearance of the physician and former presidential advisor Georges Klein Pipper—who was apprehended at La Moneda in 1973—was indicted for the crime of aggravated kidnapping.

Likewise, Colonel Servando Maureira Roa, Major Jorge Herrera López, and non-commissioned officers Teobaldo Mendoza Vicencio, Eliseo Cornejo Escobedo, Bernardo Soto Segura, Juan de la Cruz Riquelme Silva, and Jorge Ismael Gamboa Alvarez were prosecuted; all are retired and have confessed to the executions.

It should be mentioned that in the coming days, Magistrate Juan Carlos Urrutia will request the extradition of General Luis Ramírez from Argentina.

Source: latercera.cl, January 13, 2003

CDE joins the La Moneda disappeared case

The progress of the investigation being conducted in the Fifth Criminal Court of Santiago and the new evidence provided by the lawyers in the case regarding the disappearance of 14 people from the La Moneda Palace on September 11, 1973, were the main reasons for the general council of the State Defense Council (CDE) to decide that the entity should become a party to the proceedings.

Sources from the entity explained that the resolution was adopted unanimously and “was a report of more than an hour, with all the pieces of the process, and it did not move from something that is said to be black to something that is now white, but rather, simply, as things stand, there is now sufficient merit.” This explains why this idea had been rejected on August 11 of last year.

Thus, it was also determined that the lawyer who will join the case being handled by the exclusive judge, Juan Carlos Urrutia, will be Helmut Griott, who is expected to argue the criteria of President Ricardo Lagos's proposal on human rights in criminal matters.

This means distinguishing between the material and intellectual authors of the case. In this case, Brigadier (ret.) Pedro Espinoza, Colonel (ret.) Servando Maureira, and Major (ret.) Jorge Herrera have already been prosecuted.

Also, retired non-commissioned officers Teobaldo Mendoza, Eliseo Cornejo, Bernardo Soto, Juan de la Cruz Riquelme, and Jorge Gamboa. Among them is also General (ret.) Hernán Ramírez Pineda, who has been detained in Buenos Aires since last September.

Regarding this case, for which the Chilean justice system has already requested extradition, the CDE is studying the possibility of becoming a party in Buenos Aires, which, in the opinion of the councilors, is possible because he is being prosecuted in Chile for this case.

Among the victims of La Moneda, taken from the Tacna Regiment to the Justo Arteaga Cuevas fort in Peldehue, where they were executed and subsequently their bodies thrown into the sea, are Jaime Barrios Meza, Daniel Escobar Cruz, Enrique Huerta Corvalán, Claudio Jimeno Grendi, Oscar Lagos Ríos, Juan Montiglio Murúa, Julio Moreno Pulgar, Arsenio Poupin Oissel, Julio Tapia Martínez, Oscar Valladares Caroca, Juan Vargas Contreras, and George Klein Pipper.

It is for the case of the latter that the French justice system requested the arrest of Ramírez Pineda from its Argentine counterpart.

Source: lanacion.cl, August 22, 2008

Court prosecutes ten former uniformed officers for the crime against former GAP member

The Fourth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals prosecuted ten former uniformed officers, including General (ret.) Herman Brady, for the crime of aggravated kidnapping committed against former GAP member Luis Fernando Rodríguez Riquelme.

The resolution states that Luis Joaquín Ramírez Pineda, Servando Elías Maureira Roa, Jorge Iván Herrera López, Teobaldo Segundo Mendoza Vivencio, Eliseo Antonio Cornejo Escobedo, Bernardo Eusebio Soto Segura, Juan de la Cruz Riquelme Silva, Jorge Ismael Gamboa Alvarez, General (ret.) Herman Julio Brady Roche, and Brigadier (ret.) Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo participated in the crime.

The ruling states that “there are well-founded presumptions to consider that each one participated as an author in the described crime (...) since the first named (Ramírez Pineda), in his capacity as Commander of the Tacna Regiment, with the rank of colonel, ordered the transfer of the prisoners to Peldehue and presumably also gave the orders for their execution, while the second through the eighth named executed said orders, without there being any evidence to suggest that said subordinates were in a situation where another course of action was required.” The ruling adds that the tenth (Espinoza Bravo) also arrived at the place where the prisoners were taken off and, with command authority, arranged what was pertinent so that they would presumably be executed, and the ninth (Brady Roche), holding a superior position in the command of the first named (Ramírez Pineda), arranged or allowed the transfer of the victim to Peldehue, where he disappeared.” Luis Fernando Rodríguez Riquelme was part of the Group of Friends of the President (GAP) and was detained on September 11 at La Moneda. On September 13, around noon, by order of the Commander of the Tacna Regiment (Ramírez Pineda), they were tied with wire at their hands and feet and transported aboard a Pegaso truck, covered with a tarp, toward Peldehue. At this location, information about the detainee is lost, with the presumption that he was riddled with bullets.

Source: lanacion.cl, May 8, 2008

Nine officers (ret.) prosecuted for La Moneda disappeared

The former director of Investigations, Eduardo “Coco” Paredes, and Allende’s personal physician, Enrique Paris, are two of the eight victims for whom the Army officers (ret.) were prosecuted. The visiting judge Juan Fuentes Belmar yesterday prosecuted General (ret.) Herman Julio Brady and eight other retired Army officers for the forcibly disappeared persons from La Moneda, among them Dr.

Enrique Paris and the former director of Investigations, Eduardo "Coco" Paredes. This is the second prosecution affecting Brady and the other officers for the detentions carried out at the government palace on September 11, 1973, which later became disappearances.

For this reason, they were classified as aggravated kidnappings of political prisoners. Along with Brady, Brigadier (ret.) Pedro Espinoza Bravo (who would later be second in command of the DINA) and former officers Servando Maureira Roa, Jorge Herrera López, Teobaldo Mendoza Vicencio, Eliseo Cornejo Escobedo, Bernardo Soto Segura, Juan Riquelme Silva, and Jorge Gamboa Álvarez were prosecuted.

On the day of the coup d'état, military troops entered La Moneda, where they detained nearly 50 people, including direct advisors, members of President Allende’s Group of Personal Friends (GAP), doctors, and Investigations officials, who were taken to the Tacna Regiment and subsequently executed.

To date, their bodies have not been located. In addition to Dr. Paris and "Coco" Paredes, Jaime Sotelo Ojeda (GAP), Sergio Contreras Contreras (Press Chief of the Intendencia), Héctor Pincheira Núñez (advisor to President Allende), José Freire Medina (GAP), Manuel Castro Zamora (GAP), and Daniel Gutiérrez Ayala (GAP) were detained at La Moneda.

The plaintiff lawyer in the case, Nelson Caucoto, said that "it is the first time, after 35 years, that these advisors to President Allende are beginning to glimpse justice. With this ruling, it has been shown that justice is slow but it arrives." Regarding General (ret.) Luis Ramírez Pineda, former commander of the Tacna Regiment—whom the magistrate decided not to prosecute for the moment—lawyer Caucoto explained that his situation will be decided when the Supreme Court requests the expansion of his extradition from the Argentine justice system.

Generals (ret.) Pineda and Brady, along with the other officers, were already prosecuted last May for the disappearance (aggravated kidnapping) of former GAP member Luis Rodríguez Riquelme, who was also arrested at La Moneda.

However, on that occasion, the Court of Appeals acted ex officio, given the refusal of Judge Fuentes Belmar in this case. Brady was the commander of the Santiago garrison, and the then-Colonel Ramírez Pineda was the commander of the Tacna Regiment, where the detainees from La Moneda were taken.

From that place, they were taken out in a truck, tied hand and foot with wire, bound for Peldehue, where they were executed. The entire operation was supervised by Pedro Espinoza, who was dressed in civilian clothes.

Enrique Paris and “Coco” Paredes Juan Antonio Eduardo “Coco” Paredes Barrientos was married, had two children, and was a surgeon. He was a member of the PS and, during the Allende government, was the director of the Investigations Service.

Enrique París Roa, also a doctor, was married, had 3 children, and was a member of the central committee of the PC. He advised President Allende on health matters. Both were arrested while leaving the La Moneda Palace while it was being bombed. Along with the rest of the detainees, they were taken to the Tacna Regiment, where they remained until September 13.

Source: lanacion.cl, August 7, 2008

Court of Appeals issues ruling in La Moneda case

The Second Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced seven members of the Army as co-authors of the crimes of homicide and aggravated kidnapping of 23 victims, all direct collaborators of President Salvador Allende.

The Santiago Court of Appeals issued a sentence against seven Army personnel who participated as co-authors of the homicide and kidnapping of 23 collaborators of President Salvador Allende who were detained on September 11, 1973, from the La Moneda Palace after the military coup and taken to the Tacna Regiment and the “Fuerte Arteaga” in Peldehue, where they were executed and blown up with grenades.

Among the victims were political advisors, members of President Allende’s security detail (GAP), doctors, economists, and officials of the Chilean Investigative Police, among others. The Chamber, which was composed of ministers María Soledad Melo, Gloria Maria Solis, and Inelie Durán, confirmed the resolution of May 2018 by the instructing minister Miguel Vázquez Plaza and sentenced the then-Army soldier Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo to twenty years of major imprisonment in its maximum degree, as a co-author of the crimes of aggravated homicide of 15 of the 23 victims.

These are Jaime Antonio Barrios Meza, an economist who served as general manager of the Central Bank; Egidio Enrique Paris Roa, former secretary general of the University of Chile; Georges Klein Pipper, a doctor and advisor to the General Secretariat of Government; Claudio Raúl Jimeno Grendi and Héctor Ricardo Pincheira Núñez, also presidential advisors; and Luis Avilés Jofré, Manuel Ramón Castro Zamorano, Oscar Reinaldo Lagos Ríos, Julio Hernán Moreno Pulgar, Luis Fernando Rodríguez Riquelme, Jaime Gilson Sotelo Ojeda, Luis Fernando Tapia Martínez, Héctor Daniel Urrutia Molina, Juan Alejandro Vargas Contreras, and Juan José Montiglio Murúa, all members of the GAP. The ruling sentenced Teobaldo Segundo Mendoza Vicencio, Eliseo Antonio Cornejo Escobedo, Bernardo Eusebio Soto Segura, and Jorge Ismael Gamboa Álvarez to seven years of major imprisonment in its minimum degree, as co-authors of the crimes of aggravated homicide of the same people. Meanwhile, Servando Elías Maureira Roa and Jorge Iván Herrera López, currently deceased, were sentenced to nine years of major imprisonment for the same crime. Maureira Roa and Herrera López were also sentenced as authors of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree, as co-authors of the crimes of aggravated kidnapping of eight of the 23 victims. These are Juan Eduardo Paredes Barrientos, former head of the Investigative Police; Arsenio Poupin Oissel, former secretary general of Government; Sergio Contreras; Enrique Huerta Corvalán, former Palace intendant; Daniel Escobar Cruz, chief of staff to the Undersecretary of the Interior; and former GAP members José Freire Medina, Daniel Gutiérrez Ayala, and Oscar Enrique Valladares Caroca. “Bittersweet,” is how plaintiff lawyer Nelson Caucoto described the sentence handed down in this case. “Sweet because 48 years later, a trial of historical roots is coming to an end. These are the events that occurred in the La Moneda Palace, that is, in the heart of the political and republican institutionalism of Chile, which was razed by blood and fire by the coup-plotting military.” The lawyer added that “there are 23 victims, collaborators of President Allende who were with him until the last moment on that crucial day. Taken to the Tacna Regiment, tortured, and finally executed in Peldehue by their captors. Of those 23 victims, whose remains were removed five years later, 15 were identified, which led to the legal classification of aggravated homicides. The remaining eight led to aggravated kidnappings.” The bitter side of the judicial decision lies, in Caucoto’s opinion, “because it is in these last eight crimes where we disagree with the penalty and the determined participation, both in the first and second instance. We trust that the Honorable Supreme Court can rectify this part of the sentence so that we have full justice.” According to the investigation conducted by Minister Miguel Vázquez, it was established that the victims were inside La Moneda on September 11, 1973, and that they left through the Morandé No. 80 door, were detained, and taken to the Tacna Regiment, where they remained until September 13 of the same year, the date on which they were taken out of the facility tied hand and foot with wire, in a Pegaso truck. They were then taken to the “Fuerte Arteaga” military facility in Peldehue, a town where the victims were executed and blown up with grenades. Five years after being executed, their bodies were exhumed and disappeared again. However, bone splinters and other skeletal remains were left at the site, which allowed for the identification of 15 of the 23 victims. The remaining eight were not found, and the whereabouts of Sergio Contreras, Daniel Escobar Cruz, José Freire Medina, Daniel Gutiérrez Ayala, Enrique Huerta Corvalán, Juan Eduardo Paredes Barrientos, Arsenio Poupin Oissel, and Oscar Enrique Valladares Caroca remain unknown to this day.

Source: radio.uchile.cl, November 4, 2021

Supreme Court increases sentences for those convicted of the disappearance of Allende collaborators detained at La Moneda

In the ruling, the highest court revokes the acquittal of former DINA agent Pedro Espinoza for the disappearance of 8 of the 23 detainees. Likewise, it increases the sentences of two other former military personnel convicted in the case after finding them guilty, as well, of the aggravated kidnapping of these 8 people.

After reviewing a series of cassation appeals, the Supreme Court increased the sentences of a group of retired Army members for their responsibility in the disappearance and death of 23 collaborators of former President Salvador Allende who were detained at La Moneda on September 11, 1973.

It should be remembered that, in November 2021, the Second Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals ratified the sentence against seven retired Army members as co-authors of the crimes of homicide and aggravated kidnapping of the 23 detainees at the presidential palace in the context of the coup d'état.

After confirming the first-instance ruling, the appellate court sentenced the then-soldier and DINA agent Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo to 20 years of major imprisonment in its maximum degree, as a co-author of the crimes of aggravated homicide of 15 of the 23 victims.

Meanwhile, Teobaldo Segundo Mendoza Vicencio, Eliseo Antonio Cornejo Escobedo, Bernardo Eusebio Soto Segura, and Jorge Ismael Gamboa Álvarez were sentenced to 7 years of major imprisonment in its minimum degree, as co-authors of the crimes of aggravated homicide.

Finally, Servando Elías Maureira Roa and Jorge Iván Herrera López (deceased) were sentenced to 9 years of major imprisonment for the case. Maureira Roa and Herrera López were also sentenced as authors of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree, as co-authors of the crimes of aggravated kidnapping of 8 of the 23 victims.

Thus, regarding the original sentence, issued in 2018 by the extraordinary visiting minister Miguel Vásquez, and which the appellate court backed in 2021, the Supreme Court issued a replacement ruling today, in which, among other measures, Espinoza’s acquittal is revoked in the 8 cases in which—initially—he was not found guilty of the disappearances.

The text indicates that “the aforementioned sentence is revoked insofar as it acquitted Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, Eliseo Antonio Cornejo Escobedo, and Jorge Ismael Gamboa Álvarez of the charges formulated as authors of the repeated crimes of aggravated kidnapping of Sergio Contreras, Daniel Francisco Escobar Cruz, José Freire Medina, Daniel Antonio Gutiérrez Ayala, Enrique Lelio Huerta Corvalán, Juan Antonio Eduardo Paredes Barrientos, Arsenio Poupin Oissel, and Oscar Enrique Valladares Caroca.” Instead, “Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo is sentenced to a penalty of twenty years of major imprisonment in its maximum degree, with the legal accessories of absolute perpetual disqualification for public offices and positions and political rights, and absolute disqualification for professional titles for the duration of the sentence, plus the payment of the costs of the case, for his participation as an author in the repeated crimes of aggravated kidnapping” of the people indicated in the previous paragraph. Likewise, Eliseo Antonio Cornejo Escobedo and Jorge Ismael Gamboa Álvarez are sentenced to a penalty of fifteen years and one day of major imprisonment in its maximum degree, for their participation as authors in the repeated crimes of aggravated kidnapping of these 8 disappeared persons. It also confirms that Servando Elías Maureira Roa is sanctioned with the penalty of fifteen years and one day of major imprisonment in its maximum degree, as an author of the aforementioned aggravated kidnappings. But furthermore, they are sanctioned with fifteen years and one day of major imprisonment in its maximum degree, as authors of the crimes of aggravated homicide of Oscar Luis Avilés Jofré, Jaime Antonio Barrios Meza, Manuel Ramón Castro Zamorano, Claudio Raúl Jimeno Grendi, Georges Klein Pipper, Oscar Reinaldo Lagos Ríos, Julio Hernán Moreno Pulgar, Egidio Enrique Paris Roa, Héctor Ricardo Pincheira Núñez, Luis Fernando Rodríguez Riquelme, Jaime Gilson Sotelo Ojeda, Julio Fernando Tapia Martínez, Héctor Daniel Urrutia Molina, Juan Alejandro Vargas Contreras, and Juan José Montiglio Murúa.

Source: latercera.cl, December 16, 2023