During the early hours of this Wednesday, following an incident between farmers René Urban and Jorge Temer San Martín—farmers known within the framework of the so-called "Mapuche conflict"—Carabineros conducted a raid on the latter's home, which uncovered a true arsenal of war weaponry.

Among other weapons found were automatic weapons, ammunition, tear gas canisters, a rifle with a telescopic sight, and a Low anti-tank rocket launcher.

The farmer Temer San Martín had participated in right-wing movements before and during the military dictatorship, belonging to Patria y Libertad, an ultra-right movement known for its actions against the government of Salvador Allende.

In 2009, he was identified as a member of the anti-Mapuche paramilitary group ‘Comando Hernán Trizano,’ identified as the “anonymous spokesperson” who that year had made serious statements against communities claiming territorial rights, stating that he was going to “make the Mapuche disappear from the land,” for which they had drawn up a “blacklist” of Mapuche leaders to be eliminated.

This incident raises doubts about the origin of the acts of violence that have occurred in the Ercilla area and the link that has been tendentiously made—with great support from the media—to the claims being carried out by Mapuche communities.

Although Jorge Temer had expressed solidarity with René Urban in 2009 regarding the territorial claims of the Temucuicui community, today he reproached him for having an attitude that was too soft toward the Mapuche and labeled him “a coward,” assaulting him and threatening him with death.

This had already been maintained by the werken (spokesperson) Jorge Huenchullan, of the Temucuicui Autonomous Community, who, regarding the acts of violence that—with extensive media coverage—had been occurring during the months of July and August of this year, in parallel with the claims for ancestral lands on properties currently in the hands of private individuals (among them René Urban), pointed out that “in the area there are groups that are not Mapuche, that are paramilitaries, children of farmers, retired police officers, who are clearly intimidating us and are carrying out these types of situations to blame the Mapuche communities.”

In the same vein, the werken of the Wente Winkul Mapu community, Luis Melinao, affirmed this, deeply repudiating the events and pointing out that “there could be an action that seeks to blame them, which could be the responsibility of Intelligence agents.” For his part, the werken of the Traditional Temucuicui Community, Mijael Carbone, referring to the attacks against landowners, said, “we want to make it clear today that we are not committing arson or attacks.”

This was also stated by the Lonko (chief) José Cariqueo, of the José Guiñón community, who denounced that “private companies” are behind the arson attacks in La Araucanía and are responding to “intelligence work done to blame the Mapuche.” In the same sense, Lonko Víctor Queipul, of the Temucuicui Autonomous Community, asserted that “Practically everything that is happening are self-inflicted attacks,” carried out by groups “like the Hernán Trizano command.”

Although Temer was formally charged in the Victoria Guarantee Court for death threats and illegal possession of a firearm, he was released and only required to sign in monthly. In this case, the courts and the Public Prosecutor's Office have not applied the Anti-Terrorist Law, as they have done with Mapuche community members without reliable evidence, applying long periods of imprisonment in judicial processes from which they were later acquitted.

The Chilean “media,” despite having images of the arsenal found and the background of the threats previously made to the Mapuche and now to the farmers of the area themselves, have not linked the farmer to acts of violence or terrorist attacks either.

Regional and national authorities, for their part, have not yet made any statement repudiating the violence, the same violence that they so easily attribute to Mapuche leaders and link to the territorial claims of the Mapuche communities of Ercilla.

Source: elciudadano.cl, September 6, 2012

More than two years after being prosecuted, a former member of the far-right movement “Patria y Libertad” and 15 retired military personnel were accused in La Araucanía of the aggravated homicide of the Area Chief of the Institute of Agricultural Development (INDAP) of Victoria and a 21-year-old youth, which occurred during the dictatorship.

The indictment was submitted to the Plenary of the Temuco Court of Appeals by the minister on extraordinary mission for human rights violations cases of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre.

In December 2016, the magistrate prosecuted the civilian Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín along with 4 retired Army officials as authors of the aggravated homicide of Pedro Mario Alonso Muñoz Apablaza and Eliseo Segundo Jara Ríos, perpetrated in the commune of Victoria on October 27, 1973.

In the same case, the investigating minister accused 11 other retired military personnel, 9 of them as accomplices and two as accessories to the murders.

According to the investigation, the murders occurred after the group of military personnel met at Temer San Martín's home, where they planned them, and subsequently, always together with the civilian, executed the two people who were taken from a military unit in Victoria.

After the event, and according to witnesses, they boasted of having granted false freedom to some people and having shot them in the back.

Source: biobio.cl, March 25, 2019

In the civil sphere, the court accepted the lawsuit filed and ordered the state to pay a total compensation of $100,000,000 for moral damages to a relative of one of the victims.

The minister on extraordinary mission for human rights violations cases for the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, sentenced the Army captain at the time of the events, Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González, and the then-soldiers Exequiel Eugenio Trullenque Sepúlveda, Eduardo Urrutia Ronda, and Ariel Valdemar Reyes Figueroa to effective prison sentences of 20 years; and Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín to 19 years of effective imprisonment, as authors of the consummated crimes of simple homicide of the INDAP official Eliseo Jara Ríos and the student Pedro Muñoz Apablaza. These crimes against humanity were perpetrated in October 1973 in the commune of Victoria.

In the ruling (case file 57.067), the visiting minister also sentenced retired officers Hernán Augusto Salazar Schifferli and Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez, and former soldiers Carlos Enrique Molina Cabrera, Jacinto Mansilla Villarroel, and Juan Bautista Santibañez Hermosilla to 15 years in prison as accomplices to the crimes.

Meanwhile, the officers at the time of the events, Darío Alejandro Reyes Núñez and Alfredo Hernán Parra Uslar, must serve 5 years of imprisonment as accessories to the crimes.

In the civil sphere, the court accepted the lawsuit filed and ordered the state to pay a total compensation of $100,000,000 for moral damages to a relative of one of the victims.

Executions

In the sentence, Minister Mesa Latorre considered the following facts proven:

“A. That after September 11, 1973, the commander of the Transport Battalion No. 4 of Victoria, Lieutenant Colonel Luis René Vega Fonseca (deceased as recorded on page 3,857, Volume XI), had to assume the functions of governor of the city, exercising both tasks in parallel, but leaving the second commander of the Battalion, Major Humberto Julián Torres Torres (deceased as recorded on page 4,432, Volume XII), in charge of the military duties of the Regiment, who was also the unit's Intelligence officer.

The Battalion commander also took Major Hernán Augusto Salazar Schifferli (prosecuted on page 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an accomplice on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI) to the Governorate as his assistant to collaborate in the tasks of that office, and who also worked daily at the Victoria Hospital as a dentist.

B. That during the second half of October 1973, a group of approximately 120 military personnel belonging to the Third Army Division arrived in the Ninth Region of the country, under the orders of Army General Nilo Floody Buxton (deceased as recorded on page 3,875, Volume XI), who were to carry out different missions in the area aimed at developing the so-called ‘Operation Peineta,’ which aimed to neutralize anti-subversive activities in the area.

One of the patrols deployed for the aforementioned purposes went to the city of Victoria, where it was received by the second commander of the Transport Battalion of that city, Major Torres (deceased as recorded on page 4,432, Volume XII), who provided them with lodging, weapons, and transportation to carry out the missions.

Said patrol was under the orders of Army Captain Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González (prosecuted on page 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an author on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), from the Divisional Unit of the ‘Buin’ Regiment, and was also composed of at least two officers of the rank of lieutenant who came from the Railway Engineer Regiment of Puente Alto, one of them Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz (deceased, as recorded on page 3,876, Volume XI), and the other Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), plus a group of non-commissioned officers numbering more than 20 from both military units. This group operated in the area for approximately one week, entering and leaving the Victoria military unit with full access.

C. That Eliseo Segundo Jara Ríos, Area Chief of the Institute of Agricultural Development (INDAP) of Victoria and a member of the Socialist Party, was arrested and transferred to the jail of that city on September 16, 1973, by order of the Military Prosecutor's Office of Victoria, which was in charge of Army Captain René Castro Lobos (deceased as recorded on page 3,859, Volume XI), of the Transport Battalion No. 4 of that commune.

During the following days, Jara Ríos was subjected to interrogations at the Military Prosecutor's Office, was released, and was re-arrested at least three times, the last apprehension being on October 16, 1973.

Throughout this process, there were other detainees in the Victoria jail who were separated in Patio No. 5, all for political reasons, who noticed the deteriorated state of health of Jara Ríos. During that period, they also received a visit from the second commander of the Victoria Battalion, Major Humberto Julián Torres Torres (deceased as recorded on page 4,432, Volume XII), who told them that they were being held under the custody of the Governorate.

D. That while he was deprived of liberty in the Victoria jail, Eliseo Jara Ríos was taken to the home of his sister-in-law, Mrs. María Eugenia Gándara Pellet, and subsequently this home was raided by a military patrol from the Victoria Transport Battalion, commanded by a lieutenant nicknamed ‘Parrita,’ whose name was Alfredo Hernán Parra Uslar (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accessory on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI).

After searching the home, the patrol withdrew.

E. That, during the stay of the military personnel from Santiago in the Victoria area, Captain Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González (prosecuted on page 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an author on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI) and the two Army lieutenants from the Railway Engineer Regiment of Puente Alto, Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz (deceased, as recorded on page 3,876, Volume XI) and Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), attended a social gathering at the Victoria Hospital.

In that place, they were approached by a civilian named Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an author on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), an active member of the Patria y Libertad movement, who recognized Captain Valenzuela, since both had shared time years ago in Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales, when Valenzuela was assigned to the Pudeto Regiment and the civilian was based in Puerto Natales, the place where he married.

After a while, Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín invited the officers to his home to continue the conversation more privately.

F. That at the home of Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an author on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), the officers Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González (prosecuted on page 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an author on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz (deceased, as recorded on page 3,876, Volume XI), and Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI) began a conversation that was overheard by the rest of the occupants of the property, whose identities and testimony are kept in the Secret File. Said witnesses indicated that Temer San Martín maintained a room adjacent to the main bedroom, which he used as a living room where he received his visitors. There, he had a large number of weapons on the walls and kept a small bar. The witnesses pointed out that one night he arrived with some Black Beret military officers and settled into the living room with them, a situation that caused surprise to the declarants because Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín did not maintain friendships with uniformed personnel. One of the witnesses added that all the officers wore black berets, which they left on the bar floor. The owner of the house, Temer, offered them beer and food. One of them was short and was the one who gave the impression of being in charge of the rest (Captain Sergio Valenzuela González). They began to talk about killing some people; the witness could not hear the names of the potential victims, but clearly heard that they planned to assassinate one or more people. One of the witnesses added that the military personnel Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González, Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz, and Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez, plus Jorge Temer San Martín, left the house at dawn, not returning until nightfall, also accompanied by the same military personnel with whom he had been the night before. They arrived euphoric and were laughing a lot, with one of the witnesses remembering that, among many swear words, they pointed out that they had granted false freedom to some people and had shot them in the back. They also indicated in their conversations that the event had occurred near Victoria on the road to Curacautín. After a long time of drinking and sharing, the officers said goodbye because they were returning to an unspecified location and had to take a helicopter.

G. That on the morning of October 27, 1973, Captain Sergio Valenzuela González (prosecuted on page 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an author on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI) organized two groups with the majority of the military personnel under his command, consisting of instructors and conscript soldiers, providing a truck and a jeep for each of them.

He led the first group, appearing moments later at the Victoria jail guard post, where he requested that the detainee Eliseo Jara Ríos be handed over to him to carry out proceedings in the case being held against him, with it being recorded in the logbook that by verbal order of the Military Prosecutor of Victoria, the detainee was handed over to the requesting officer.

According to a witness, Jara Ríos was handcuffed. Subsequently, the entourage headed toward the Transport Battalion No. 4 of Victoria, where Valenzuela (prosecuted on page 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an author on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI) ordered the lieutenant of the Railway Engineer Regiment, Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), to get into the jeep in which he was traveling, which was driven by Corporal Luis Alberto Cortés Beltrán (dismissed on page 5,578, Volume XV).

Both the truck transporting the detainee and the jeep headed toward the rural sector of the city. The second group of military personnel remained under the command of Lieutenant Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz (deceased, as recorded on page 3,876, Volume XI), of the Railway Engineer Regiment of Puente Alto.

This group included, in addition to conscript soldiers and non-commissioned officers, Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín, who the night before had invited Valenzuela and his companions to his home. The latter was provided with camouflage clothing and military attire.

H. That Pedro Mario Alonso Muñoz Apablaza, a 21-year-old youth with no political affiliation, was arrested in the morning hours of October 27, 1973, outside his home by a military patrol commanded by Lieutenant Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz (deceased, as recorded on page 3,876, Volume XI), of the Railway Engineer Regiment of Puente Alto.

Muñoz Apablaza was put into a military truck in the presence of his parents, with the officer telling them that they were taking him to ask him a few questions.

I. That both military patrols coincided with the two detainees in the vicinity of the California estate, which was owned by the Army and was located toward the road to Curacautín. In that place, they made Eliseo Jara Ríos and Pedro Muñoz Apablaza get out of the vehicles, with Captain Valenzuela taking Jara Ríos and Lieutenant Barriga taking Muñoz Apablaza, taking them to places distant from each other where they executed them by firing bursts of rifle fire.

Said executions received the active collaboration of the non-commissioned soldiers who made up each patrol, namely: Exequiel Eugenio Trullenque Sepúlveda (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an author on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), Eduardo Urrutia Ronda (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an author on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), Ariel Waldemar Reyes Figueroa (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an author on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), Carlos Enrique Molina Cabrera (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), Jacinto Mansilla Villarroel (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), Juan Bautista Santibáñez Hermosilla (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), Luis Alberto Cortés Beltrán (dismissed on page 5,578, Volume XV), José Mercedes Videla Gallardo (deceased as recorded on page 4,556, Volume XII), Jorge Humberto Bravo Campos (dismissed on page 5,550, Volume XV, whose consultation was approved by the Illustrious Court of Appeals of Temuco on page 5,562, Volume XV), as well as that of the civilian, Jorge Temer San Martín (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an author on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), who was integrated into one of these, with this action being witnessed by the other lieutenant of the Railway Engineer Regiment, Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI) and some conscript soldiers. Subsequently, Captain Valenzuela (prosecuted on page 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an author on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI) gathered his entire group and ordered silence regarding what had happened there.

J. That once the second commander of the Transport Battalion No. 4 of Victoria, Major Humberto Julián Torres Torres (deceased as recorded on page 4,432, Volume XII), learned of the events, he went to the scene of the incident and subsequently informed the commander and governor Luis René Vega Fonseca (deceased, as recorded on page 3,857, Volume XI) of what had happened, who gave instructions for the removal of the bodies and their subsequent delivery to the families.

Likewise, he ordered the lieutenant nicknamed ‘Parrita,’ namely Alfredo Hernán Parra Uslar (prosecuted on page 2,367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accessory on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), to go and offer condolences to the families of Eliseo Jara Ríos and Pedro Muñoz Apablaza.

K. That the bodies were taken to the Victoria hospital morgue by the same patrol that killed them, where they were received, in the first instance, by the pathologist's assistant, Mrs. Isidora María Angélica Morales Morales (page 140 et seq., Volume I).

Subsequently, the Health Officer of the Victoria Battalion, Captain Darío Alejandro Reyes Núñez (prosecuted on page 629 et seq., Volume II and accused as an accessory on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), performed the autopsies on the bodies to later deliver the bodies to the respective families in sealed coffins.

L. That the non-commissioned officer of the Victoria Battalion, Sergio Sigifredo Agüero Vásquez (statements on page 82, Volume I; 134 to 136, Volume I; 394 to 395, Volume II; 552 to 553, Volume II; 558, Volume II; 559, Volume II; 560, Volume II; 561, Volume II and from page 904 to 905, Volume III), father of Muñoz Apablaza's girlfriend, was able to see the bodies of both victims in the morgue and also spoke with the authors of their deaths and with the second commander, Major Humberto Julián Torres Torres (deceased as recorded on page 4,432, Volume XII), asking for explanations about what had happened. Likewise, Muñoz Apablaza's father was able to confront Captain Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González (prosecuted on page 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an author on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), who was in command of the patrol that arrested and killed his son.

M. That in the days that followed, a proclamation was issued from the Governorate that was published in the local and regional press, which stated that the detainees Jara Ríos and Muñoz Apablaza were dangerous extremists who had been discharged for attempting to escape while being interrogated by a patrol of the Army's Special Forces.

N. That there is no information to ensure that the required legal autopsies were performed on the bodies, although there is information in the case file that establishes that the bodies were examined by the Health doctor of the Transport Battalion No. 4 of Victoria, Darío Alejandro Reyes Núñez (prosecuted on page 629 et seq., Volume II and accused as an accessory on page 3,878 et seq., Volume XI), who, despite the statements of those who saw the bodies of Muñoz Apablaza and Jara Ríos, who pointed out that they had multiple bullet impacts, only reported that the cause of death for both people was due to acute anemia, omitting any mention of the prior and concurrent actions that caused this situation.

Ñ. That despite the knowledge of the crime by the military contingent of the Transport Battalion No. 4 of Victoria, in their capacity as public officials, they have permanently concealed all information about the events that occurred, in addition to not having reported or informed their military superiors or any other authority of the illicit act, nor is there any record that an investigation was carried out or any record created as a consequence of the commission of this illicit act.”

Source: Judiciary, January 17, 2024