In Santiago, on the fourth day of the month of April of nineteen hundred and seventy-eight, Army Captain PEDRO TICHAUER SALCEDO appears, married, Identity Card 5.166.731-K of Santiago, with domicile for these purposes at the Army Intendance Directorate, never detained or prosecuted, and who, interrogated under promise to tell the truth, states: In relation to what I am being questioned about, I joined the DINA in December of nineteen hundred and seventy-three, where I remained until the month of December of nineteen hundred and seventy-seven.

My duties were exclusively of a financial nature.

Source: Judiciary, April 12, 1978

Judge prosecuted 25 former uniformed personnel and civilians for crimes committed in Temuco in 1973

The visiting minister of the Temuco Court of Appeals ordered pretrial detention for those accused of various crimes of qualified homicide and unlawful coercion. The visiting minister of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa, issued indictments against 25 people for various crimes of qualified homicide and unlawful coercion, which occurred in November 1973 on the premises of the No. 8 "Tucapel" Regiment in Temuco.

The magistrate indicted retired Army members, retired Carabineros, and civilians for their responsibility in the crimes against Florentino Molina Ruiz, Juan Chávez Rivas, Víctor Valenzuela Velásquez, Juan Carlos Ruiz Mancilla, Amador Montero Mosquera, Pedro Mardones Jofré, and Carlos Ailañir Huenchual.

The indictment affects Jaime García Covarrubias, Raimundo García Covarrubias, Pablo Gran López, and Mario Arias Díaz on both charges. Carlos Oviedo Arriagada, Norberto Uribe Moroni, Pedro Tichauer Salcedo, Romilio Lavín Muñoz, and Juan Labraña Luvecce remain as authors of qualified homicide and accomplices to unlawful coercion.

Furthermore, Orlando Moreno Vásquez, Aquiles Poblete Müller, Raúl Schonherr Frías, Daniel San Juan Clavería, Omar Burgos Dejean, Alfonso Podlech Michaud, and Hernán Quiroz Barra were prosecuted as accomplices to the qualified homicides of the 7 individuals and as authors of unlawful coercion.

Meanwhile, Manuel Campos Ceballos, Juan Carlos Concha Belmar, Sergio Vallejos Garcés, Gabriel Dittus Marín, and Héctor Villablanca Huenulao were prosecuted as authors of qualified homicides, while Juan Carrillo Rebolledo, Libardo Schwartenski Rubio, and José Insunza Reyes were prosecuted as authors of unlawful coercion, and Hernan Ramirez Ramirez as an accomplice to the same crime.

In the cases of the accused Juan and Raimundo García Covarrubias, Gran López, Arias Díaz, Oviedo Arriagada, Uribe Moroni, Tichauer Salcedo, Lavín Muñoz, Labraña Luvecce, Moreno Vásquez, Schonherr Frías, Podlech Michaud, Schwartenski Rubio, and Ramirez Ramírez, their entry into pretrial detention at the No. 8 "Tucapel" Regiment of Temuco was ordered.

The accused Burgos Dejean must serve pretrial detention at the 2nd Carabineros Precinct of Temuco. Likewise, the accused Poblete Müller, San Juan Clavería, Quiroz Barra, Campos Ceballos, Concha Belmar, Vallejos Garcés, Dittus Marín, Insunza Reyes, Villablanca Huenulao, and Carrillo Rebolledo must serve pretrial detention at the Temuco Public Jail.

Source: ADN radio, November 13, 2013

Former military prosecutor Alfonso Podlech placed in pretrial detention for human rights case

In total, 24 people—including former Carabineros and Army officials—were prosecuted for the disappearance of seven young men in the case of the assault on the Tucapel Regiment's ammunition dump, which occurred in November 1973 in Temuco.

The former military prosecutor of Temuco, Alfonso Podlech, was detained along with 24 other former uniformed personnel and civilians after being prosecuted by Minister Alvaro Mesa, who is investigating the disappearance of seven young men in the so-called assault on the Tucapel Regiment's ammunition dump, an event that occurred in November 1973.

The accused are former members of the Army, the Investigations Police, and the Carabineros, for their alleged responsibility in the crimes of qualified homicide and torture of Alberto Molina Ruiz, Amador Montero Mosquera, Pedro Mardones Jofré, Juan Ruiz Mancilla, Juan Chávez Rivas, Carlos Aillañir Huenchual, and Víctor Valenzuela Velásquez, all militants of the Communist Party and Communist Youth.

The accused are Jaime García Covarrubias, Raimundo García Covarrubias, Pablo Gran López, Mario Arias Díaz, Carlos Oviedo Arriagada, Norberto Uribe Moroni, Pedro Tichauer Salcedo, Romilio Lavín Muñoz, Juan Labraña Luvecce, Orlando Moreno Vásquez, Aquiles Poblete Müller, Raúl Schonherr Frías, Daniel San Juan Clavería, Omar Burgos Dejean, Hernán Quiroz Barra, Manuel Campos Ceballos, Juan Carlos Concha Belmar, Sergio Vallejos Garcés, Gabriel Dittus Marín, Héctor Villablanca Huenulao, Juan Carrillo Rebolledo, Libardo Schwartenski Rubio, José Insunza Reyes, and Hernán Ramírez Ramírez.

The former military prosecutor of the Cautín province, Alfonso Podlech Michaud, is being prosecuted as an accomplice to the qualified homicides of the 7 individuals and as an author of the crimes of unlawful coercion.

Podlech was previously tried and acquitted in Italy for the disappearance and death of the Italian-Chilean citizen Omar Venturelli during the military regime in 1973. The accused will serve pretrial detention at the Tucapel Infantry Regiment, the Temuco Jail, and the Second Precinct.

Source: soychile.cl, November 13, 2013

The pressures unleashed by the imprisonment of the Army chief's brother for human rights crimes

Early last Friday, March 7, the former minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Alejandro Solís, learned that he could no longer continue collaborating with the seven ministers designated in Santiago to work full-time on the hundreds of pending cases regarding crimes and torture committed during the dictatorship.

He lasted only one month in his position. A period that illustrates the strength that the military still maintains to impose its interests. Because, in strict terms, what happened with Solís is only a fringe of the pressure that began from within the Army itself when, last November, a retired general was prosecuted and charged—the brother of General Humberto Oviedo Arriagada, who has just assumed the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

The ruling issued by the minister of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa, fell like a bomb within the Army. There were 25 military personnel and civilians whom Mesa prosecuted and charged for the murder of five university students, one laborer, and one farmer—all communists—on the night of November 10, 1973.

And among them was retired General Carlos Eduardo Oviedo Arriagada, accused of being the material author of the seven qualified homicides and an accomplice to the torture to which the "prisoners" were subjected.

By then, it was already a fact that his brother, Humberto Oviedo, would be appointed by President Piñera as the new head of the Army, which was made official only ten days later: on November 19. A first glimpse of military pressure fell upon Supreme Court Minister Hugo Dolmestch, national coordinator of human rights cases since June 2012.

Consulted by CIPER, Dolmestch denied having been pressured, but acknowledged that he called Minister Álvaro Mesa, as the latter "refused to receive the military side to coordinate, as has always been done, through the CAE (Army Administrative Command) and the military police, the transfer of the prosecuted uniformed personnel to the respective court." From Temuco, Minister Álvaro Mesa acknowledged having received that call, but pointed out: "It is not true that I refused to receive the military side.

In fact, they never requested an audience with me. I had asked the three police officers who work here on these cases to coordinate that transfer. When Minister Dolmestch called me, I agreed to what he requested because the essential part had already been done: the indictments and the charges." Minister Mesa says he did not find out until days after issuing his ruling that one of the main defendants was the brother of the new Commander-in-Chief.

And Minister Dolmestch did not want to reveal how he found out that the brother of the new Army chief had been prosecuted and refused to identify to whom he expressed the complaint. Nor did he explain why he called Minister Mesa, since it is not within his powers to intervene in the measures adopted by each of the 32 judges throughout the country who are dedicated to this function with full authority over their acts.

What is a fact is that in the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, where Minister Hugo Dolmestch has his seat, the Army auditor, Waldo Martínez, also has his place, integrating it only when cases arriving from the Court Martial are seen in that chamber. A proximity that facilitates communication.

AN UNEXPLAINED DELAY

After the intervention of Minister Dolmestch, the military personnel prosecuted by Minister Álvaro Mesa in Temuco were transferred with all the care required by the Army to the Temuco Court. Once notified that the minister's ruling ruled out granting them provisional release—considering them "a danger to society"—the defendants were taken to the Tucapel Regiment, awaiting the result of the appeal.

As was foreseeable, all were released a few days later by resolution of the Temuco Court. But no one explains why murders that were disguised as extremist attacks, where there was premeditation, torture, and summary executions, devoid of all legality even in a period of war, took 40 years to obtain a ruling that would bring justice.

Furthermore, if that ruling had been issued three years earlier, one of the defendants, former military prosecutor Alfonso Podlech, would have had to face more severe situations in the Italian justice system.

One of the reasons that could explain that delay is that several of the accused military personnel came to occupy positions of generalship and high command in the Army. And also, that opening that floodgate implies submerging oneself in the complicity that Judicial Branch officials in that area who made careers had with impunity.

Another piece of data illustrates the anomalous nature of this situation in the Temuco jurisdiction: Minister Álvaro Mesa, with exclusive dedication to human rights violation cases in the Temuco Court of Appeals, holds the record for cases filed in 2013 in the entire country: 50.

The person who follows him is Minister Mario Carroza, of the Santiago Court of Appeals, with 49. The murder of the seven people was carried out shortly before midnight on November 10. The next day, their families would learn through a military communiqué published in the press that the seven men were part of an extremist group and died when they were attempting to assault the ammunition dump located in the "Isla Cautín" sector.

The version was false from beginning to end, but ratified to the press and the families of the seven victims by the regiment commander, Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse. And expanded in the following days with details of how, in a heroic action, the contingent of the Tucapel Regiment managed to repel the attack to subsequently go out in search of the "extremists" who managed to flee.

The message was clear: extremists were roaming the city. And there would later be other deaths, also coldly executed during the night, which were again passed off as deaths in an "attempted escape" or "extremist attack." There was nothing heroic in the action deployed by the Tucapel Regiment contingent in 1973.

Killing men who were tied up, mutilated, and at the limit of their strength due to the application of electricity and beatings is not worthy of appearing in any logbook of courage and bravery. But that was the version that was profusely disseminated by the press and that traveled the streets of Temuco.

The testimonies of those who were also prisoners in the Tucapel Regiment, who managed to get out alive and claimed to have seen the "ammunition dump extremists" in very poor physical condition prior to the date of the alleged assault, were of no use.

No one listened to them. Neither in the courts, where judicial personnel on special assignment in the military prosecutor's office, in charge of the interrogations, exercised their influence for the denial of justice.

What no one can explain is how the murderers and their accomplices kept the threads of power and managed to let 40 years pass so that, finally, a judge in Temuco would do justice and clarify step by step how that false attack on the "Isla Cautín" ammunition dump occurred.

TORTURE AT THE TUCAPEL REGIMENT

The military took control of Temuco on September 11, 1973, with the commander of the Tucapel Infantry Regiment, Colonel Pablo Iturriaga, being appointed governor of the city. That same day, the regional Military Prosecutor's Office was put into operation, headed by Major Luis Jofré Soto, reinforced by clerks and a rapporteur from the Court of Appeals of said city, who appointed them to that function on "special assignment." The primary role in the trials and proceedings that began was held by lawyer Alfonso Podlech Michaud, who was later the military prosecutor of Temuco.

Podlech was detained in 2008 by the Italian justice system, accused of serious human rights violations. After remaining detained and held in that country, he was released in 2011 and was able to return to Chile.

Until the last minute, he denied having participated in the torture and murder of opponents of the military regime. Minister Álvaro Mesa's ruling indicates that he failed to tell the truth. Returning to November 1973, Podlech was one of the protagonists of the new military power in Temuco, in which the Intelligence Section of the Tucapel Regiment, headed by Captain Nelson Ubilla Toledo, played a key role, to which personnel from the Carabineros and the Investigations Police were added.

Its members conducted interrogations of the large number of prisoners who very soon overflowed the local jail and the facilities of the regiment itself. For those interrogations, two special sites were set up inside the Tucapel Regiment: a site located between the Headquarters and Mortar companies; and a gymnasium located to the side of the place designated for the conscripts' mess hall.

The investigation carried out by Minister Álvaro Mesa was able to determine that torture took place in both facilities. The testimonies coincide: the prisoners were tied up and electricity was applied to different parts of their bodies, "in addition to applying other types of torment with kicks and punches." Most of the regiment's officers and some regular soldiers participated in the interrogations.

Some soldiers and conscripts of the Second Hunters Company of the Tucapel Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Manuel Vásquez Chahuán, played an important role in the custody and torture applied to the prisoners.

The group was named the "Chacal Patrol" and was placed under the command of Second Lieutenant Manuel Espinoza Ponce. Vásquez Chahuán continued to rise in the Army, carrying with him the fame he acquired as one of the important members of the DINA, an organization in which he integrated two of its most brutal brigades: the Mulchén and the Purén.

In those months of late 1973 and early 1974, an undetermined number of people were murdered inside the Tucapel Regiment, among whom is the group that motivated the prosecution and indictment of the brother of the current Army Commander-in-Chief and 24 other military personnel and civilians.

The seven men murdered on November 10, 1973, are: Florentino Molina Ruiz, who was missing an arm due to a work accident and who was taken from his home and brought to the Tucapel Regiment on November 6, 1973; Juan Antonio Chávez Rivas, a student at the then-State Technical University (UTE, today Usach), who was also taken to the regiment on the same date; Víctor Hugo Valenzuela Velásquez, detained at his workplace at the Real Estate Registrar of Temuco and taken as a prisoner to the regiment on November 7; Juan Carlos Ruiz Mancilla, a Civil Construction student at the UTE, who was detained at his family home in Punta Arenas and taken by plane to Temuco, entering the regiment on November 7; Amador Montero Mosquera, an Electrical Engineering student at the UTE, detained at his home and taken to the regiment on November 7; Pedro Mardones Jofré, a UTE student, detained at his home and also transferred to the regiment; and Carlos Aillañir Huenchual, a farmer, detained by a military patrol at his brother's house in the town of Quepe. Minister Mesa's investigation, in which even Bishop Bernardino Piñera testified, established the sequence of what actually happened that night. The unusual movement began around 11:00 PM on November 10, 1973. The seven "prisoners" mentioned above were huddled in a small gymnasium inside the Tucapel Regiment. They were guarded by members of the "Chacal Patrol." Everyone was in terrible physical condition. To the point that the student Pedro Mardones, one of whose hands was severely damaged, was unable to hold the glass of water that a conscript from the Hunters Company offered him (testimony of the conscript himself). Suddenly, the company commander, Vásquez Chahuán, and his second-in-command of the Hunters, surrounded by other uniformed personnel from the regiment, burst into the facility. The engine of a truck drowned out the voices of command as it parked at the entrance to the small gymnasium. Vásquez Chahuán's order was peremptory. One by one, the "prisoners" were loaded onto the truck. Their guards also boarded. Their bosses would do so in a jeep. Everyone would leave in a caravan heading for the entrance of the Tucapel Regiment.

SHOTS DIRECTLY TO THE HEAD

Shortly after, the entourage arrived at the sector called "Isla Cautín." And at the shooting range, they would be executed by the members of the patrol. Without wasting time, they collected the bodies, which were taken to the morgue, where an autopsy was performed on them.

That of Florentino Molina, the worker who had lost an arm in a work accident, concluded that he died from a "cranial-encephalic explosion" resulting from multiple projectiles. The others are similar. Forty years later, with only two days left until the anniversary of that massacre, Minister Álvaro Mesa accused 25 military personnel and civilians as authors and accomplices to the murder of the seven alleged attackers of the ammunition dump and the torture to which they were subjected.

Among the authors of the seven qualified homicides is retired General Carlos Eduardo Oviedo Arriagada, brother of the general who assumed the position of new Commander-in-Chief of the Army on Sunday, March 9.

As authors of the crimes and also of the torture, the following military personnel were charged: Jaime García Covarrubias (he was head of DINA Counterintelligence; in 1988 he was appointed Undersecretary General of Government by Pinochet, and between 1995 and 1997 he was director of the War Academy; he was also a student at the School of the Americas in 1970); Raimundo García Covarrubias; Pablo Gran López (he rose to the rank of general and became the second-in-command of the Army and director of the Military Geographic Institute in 2003; he registered a course at the School of the Americas in 1971; together with Lieutenant Manuel Espinoza Ponce, he led the operation that culminated in the throwing of 18 corpses into the Allipén River; he was part of the DINA staff and was in charge of the security of the general headquarters); and Mario Hernán Arias Díaz (Army non-commissioned officer, he was a member of the DINA). Charged as authors of the seven homicides and accomplices to the torture to which the deceased were subjected, Minister Mesa charged: Carlos Eduardo Oviedo; Norberto Uribe Moroni; Pedro Tichauer Salcedo (he worked in the finance area of the DINA; he even had the power to sign, along with Manuel Contreras, on the account that that organization opened at the Banco de Crédito e Inversiones; he appears receiving extra payments with DINA checks; he was a member of the company called "Pedro Diet Lobos," a front for that secret organization; he has commercial companies and businesses in the gastronomy sector); Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz (Army second lieutenant; in 1973 he registered a course at the School of the Americas and was a member of the CNI); and Juan Bautista Labraña Luvecce. As accomplices to the seven qualified homicides and authors of torture, the following were prosecuted: Orlando Moreno Vásquez (already convicted a year earlier as an author of torture in the same court), Aquiles Alfonso Poblete Muller, Raúl Binaldo Schonherr Frías, Daniel San Juan Clavería, Omar Burgos Dejean (Carabineros non-commissioned officer, already prosecuted and convicted for his participation in various crimes, from the application of torture to disappearances, such as that of the Ecuadorian student José Félix García Franco, for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, being granted the benefit of supervised release; a year ago, in another trial for the application of torture, he was sentenced to two 80-day prison terms); Alfonso Podlech Michaud (lawyer and former military prosecutor of Temuco); and Hernán Quiroz Barra. As authors of the homicides, though not of the torture, the following were prosecuted: Manuel Campos Ceballos (conscript), Juan Carlos Concha Belmar (conscript), Sergio Vallejos Garcés, Gabriel Alfonso Dittus Marín (he belonged to the DINA and the CNI, just like his sister María), and Héctor Villablanca Huenulao. And as authors of the torture: Juan Carrillo Rebolledo; Libardo Hernán Schwartenski Rubio (member of the DINA); and José Raúl Insunza Rubio. Finally, retired Colonel Hernán Ramírez Ramírez, who was commander of the La Concepción Regiment and administrative and military chief of the Cautín province, was charged as an accomplice to the seven summary executions, as well as the respective torture. Given the gravity of the crimes, Minister Mesa Latorre did not grant them provisional release. But thanks to the immediate ruling of the Temuco Court, today they all enjoy freedom.

HUMAN RIGHTS CASES: SLOW DEATH

When former minister Alejandro Solís began his collaboration work on human rights trials last February, none of the seven ministers of the Santiago Court of Appeals who have that responsibility expressed their objection: Mario Carroza, Leopoldo Llanos, Alejandro Madrid, Jorge Zepeda, Miguel Vásquez, Patricia González, and Hernán Crisosto.

And it is understandable; in the plenary stage alone, there are 80 cases registered, not counting the hundreds waiting in the summary stage, totaling 1,022 cases in progress, according to the report delivered by the president of the Supreme Court, Sergio Muñoz, on March 1.

The seven appointed ministers know that finishing that list of horror is an impossible task. Given Alejandro Solís's experience in the area, and his capacity for work and seriousness, his help would be important.

It was Minister Sergio Muñoz himself who alerted the plenary of the Supreme Court in 2012, when he was the national coordinator of the Human Rights area, about the enormous workload that the pending task represented.

And also about the urgent need to adopt measures to expedite the processes. Hence the agreement with which the incorporation of Solís was received, who was a minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals until December 2012 and who led to the end the trial for the murder of General Carlos Prats and his wife (1974), among others.

The first task that the new president of the Supreme Court entrusted to Alejandro Solís was the creation of a database that would allow the 32 ministers with exclusive dedication in the country on the matter to have the key information to be able to advance in their investigations.

This was published by the newspaper El Mercurio on March 7. In the same note, the lawyer for the prosecuted military personnel, Jorge Balmaceda, expressed his rejection of Solís's appointment: "It is improper, unless it is for administrative tasks, but performing the work of a judge, he cannot do it.

I believe that the ministers have the capacity, or if not, I ask myself: could the high magistrates have been mistaken in appointing them?" "Improper." That was exactly the argument that some Supreme Court ministers who have always advocated for amnesty and the statute of limitations argued in court.

What was surprising is that it was also the reason that Minister Hugo Dolmestch, national coordinator of the area, would argue to challenge the hiring of Alejandro Solís. And this is because who better than Dolmestch, who led the Operation Albania case, to know the seriousness of Solís's work.

CIPER asked Hugo Dolmestch about the real reasons that led him to say that that hiring was improper. And he replied that it was because it is not appropriate for a former minister of the Court of Appeals to return to do that work. -But Minister Dolmestch, isn't that what court rapporteurs and clerks do every day in all the courts of the country, who draft rulings that they deliver to the respective judges so that they can deepen, modify, or redo them in the full exercise of their functions? -Yes, but I repeat, it is improper, because it is not appropriate for a former minister of the court to do that work. It is not appropriate. -So, what you are questioning is a problem of form and not of substance. -Call it what you want, but it is improper. What should have been done is to hire him under my dependency to organize the database and other support. And that is what I was going to propose at the plenary session on Friday (March 7). But he already resigned. It is not my responsibility. Beyond the fact that the military achieved their objective and as of March 11 Alejandro Solís no longer collaborates in human rights trials, this story will have new chapters in the courts. The pressure exerted after Minister Álvaro Mesa's ruling and the abrupt departure of Alejandro Solís have caused annoyance and discomfort in several ministers of the Courts of Appeals and also of the Supreme Court. Both episodes are added to others that reveal the strategy used by the Army and the Navy to obstruct justice: delaying the processes so that important witnesses are no longer here to recount the facts or the convicted are exempted from going to jail due to age. Hence the urgency for the Supreme Court to adopt substantive measures that allow for the true acceleration of Human Rights processes.

Source: ciperchile.cl, March 12, 2014

Justice Prosecuted 25 Former Military Personnel for the Murder of Seven Political Prisoners in 1973

The judge of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Meza, indicted 25 retired members of the Army for the crimes of torture and qualified homicide of seven political prisoners in said city in November 1973, judicial sources reported.

Among the accused are former Brigadier Jaime García Covarrubias, who served as Deputy Secretary General of Government during the dictatorship, and former prosecutor Alfonso Podlech Michaud.

The magistrate ordered the arrest of the accused, the principal of whom is former Brigadier Jaime García Covarrubias, who in the 1980s became Deputy Secretary General of Government for the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. For several years, García Covarrubias has worked as a professor of security topics at a U.S. institute under the Pentagon.

The former officer, who was an instructor for agents of the dictatorship's secret police, traveled to Chile to testify in the trial. Along with indicting him and ordering his arrest, Judge Meza issued a travel ban against him, preventing him from leaving the country, the sources indicated.

Among the 25 indicted, of whom fifteen are officers and the remaining ten are retired non-commissioned officers, is also former Colonel Manuel García Covarrubias, brother of the aforementioned.

Also appearing on the list is Alfonso Podlech Michaud, a former military prosecutor of Temuco, who in 2011 was acquitted in Italy, where he was tried for the disappearance of the Italian-Chilean priest Omar Venturelli, after remaining in preventive detention in that country since August 2008.

The same sources indicated that the accused are being held at the Peñalolén military police battalion, from where they will be transferred to the southern city of Temuco to be interrogated by Judge Meza.

Assault on the shooting range

The case that gave rise to this trial is known in Temuco as "the assault on the shooting range" and consisted of a setup to cover up the murders of Juan Chávez Rivas, Víctor Valenzuela Velásquez, Pedro Mardones Jofré, Carlos Aillanir Huenchuan, Amador Montero Mosquera, Alberto Molina Ruiz, and Juan Ruiz Mancilla.

The seven were among several dozen political prisoners who remained detained at the "Tucapel" regiment in the city, and who on November 10, 1973, were taken from the military facility, brought to a nearby deserted area, and riddled with gunfire.

The military subsequently threw the bodies into a river, and only some were found by locals.

The official version that local military authorities propagated at the time was that seven Marxist terrorists who assaulted the regiment's shooting range had been killed by the sentries at the site.

Former prosecutor Podlech placed in preventive detention

The former military prosecutor of Temuco, Alfonso Podlech, was arrested along with 24 other former uniformed personnel and civilians after being indicted by Minister Álvaro Mesa, who is investigating the disappearance of seven young men in the so-called case of the assault on the Tucapel Regiment's ammunition dump, an event that occurred in November 1973.

The indicted are Jaime García Covarrubias, Raimundo García Covarrubias, Pablo Gran López, Mario Arias Díaz, Carlos Oviedo Arriagada, Norberto Uribe Moroni, Pedro Tichauer Salcedo, Romilio Lavín Muñoz, Juan Labraña Luvecce, Orlando Moreno Vásquez, Aquiles Poblete Müller, Raúl Schonherr Frías, Daniel San Juan Clavería, Omar Burgos Dejean, Hernán Quiroz Barra, Manuel Campos Ceballos, Juan Carlos Concha Belmar, Sergio Vallejos Garcés, Gabriel Dittus Marín, Héctor Villablanca Huenulao, Juan Carrillo Rebolledo, Libardo Schwartenski Rubio, José Insunza Reyes, and Hernán Ramírez Ramírez.

The former military prosecutor of the Cautín province, Alfonso Podlech Michaud, is being prosecuted as an accomplice to the qualified homicides of the 7 individuals and as the perpetrator of the crimes of unlawful coercion. Podlech was previously tried and acquitted in Italy for the disappearance and death of Italian-Chilean citizen Omar Venturelli during the military regime in 1973.

The accused will serve preventive detention at the Tucapel Infantry Regiment, the Temuco Prison, and the Second Police Station.

Source: reddigital.cl, October 22, 2015

Four former officers and one civilian indicted for crimes against humanity during the dictatorship

The visiting minister issued an indictment against the then-Army Lieutenant Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Herman, in his capacity as the perpetrator of the consummated crime of qualified homicide of the Agrarian Reform Corporation worker Samuel Alfonso Catalán Lincoleo.

The minister on special assignment for human rights violation cases in Temuco, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, issued an indictment against four former Army officers and one civilian who held the position of military prosecutor, for crimes against humanity committed during the military dictatorship.

Specifically, the accused committed human rights violations against eight workers who were victims of repressive episodes in Cautín between September 1973 and August 1974.

The victims are: Hugo Arner González Ortega, Elías Dagoberto González Ortega, Carlos Schmidt Arriagada, Ricardo Augusto Schmidt Arriagada, Juan de Dios Cabrera Figueroa, Héctor Domingo Aguayo Olavarría, Alejandro Escobar Vásquez, and Raúl Marcial Figueroa Burckhardt.

The visiting minister charged the civilian, then ad hoc military prosecutor Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, and former Army officers Pedro Guillermo Manuel Tichauer Salcedo, Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias, and Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz, as accomplices to the crime of kidnapping with serious injury, committed starting September 13, 1973, at the No. 8 "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment of Temuco, as a crime against humanity, reports Resumen.

The victims, consisting of four workers and four students, were members of the Socialist Party and followers of Salvador Allende.

After the coup d'état perpetrated by Augusto Pinochet, these eight people were arrested while attempting to leave the country to escape the persecution launched against Allende's followers and leftist movements.

What do the investigations say?

According to the investigations, the homes of some of the victims had already been raided by the Carabineros of Villarrica, who were searching for them intensely.

However, while attempting to flee to Argentina through a border crossing, one of the young men changed his mind, so they all got off the bus. They then began their march toward Caburgua, taking care not to encounter military or Carabinero patrols to avoid detection.

During their return, they were detained by Carabineros; however, the officers were in a civilian truck, so they suspected nothing.

The eight detainees were taken to that police facility and from there transferred to the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, where they remained detained as political prisoners, reports Resumen.

In that military facility, they were placed at the disposal of the then-Military Prosecutor, lawyer Alfonso Podlech Michaud, and subjected to torture by officers and uniformed personnel belonging to the contingent of that Regiment.

The eight young men were allegedly executed during the military dictatorship by personnel from the Tucapel Regiment, and their bodies were subsequently disappeared.

Agrarian Reform Corporation worker murdered

Furthermore, the visiting minister issued an indictment against the then-Army Lieutenant Ludovico Eduardo Aldunate Herman, in his capacity as the perpetrator of the consummated crime of qualified homicide of the Agrarian Reform Corporation worker Samuel Alfonso Catalán Lincoleo.

The event occurred on August 27, 1974, in the commune of Lautaro. The now-former Army general was indicted for a crime against humanity.

Lincoleo was a member of the Communist Party and was arrested in the early morning and sent to the La Concepción regiment.

The arresting group included Second Lieutenant Sergio Fernando Alcayaga Barraza, Sergeant Héctor Salazar, several enlisted personnel, conscript soldiers, and detective Jorge Eusebio Barriga Soto of the Lautaro Investigative Police.

It is known that Samuel was sent to a forest in that area, they made him kneel, covered his face with a black garment he was wearing, and then the former officer Aldunate Herman rested his SIG rifle on a shrub to aim at the detainee's head, firing and causing his immediate death.

Source: elciudadano.cl, July 12, 2022

Former Army officials indicted for crimes against humanity in Traiguén and Pucón during the dictatorship

The minister on special assignment for human rights violation cases, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, indicted a former "Black Beret" for unlawful coercion against six victims in Traiguén and a former military prosecutor along with six former Army officers for the disappearance of eight victims in Pucón.

Minister Mesa Latorre filed charges against former Army non-commissioned officer and former "Black Beret" Gabriel Humberto Díaz Morales for his responsibility in the crime of unlawful coercion against six plaintiff victims. The crimes were perpetrated after the military coup in the commune of Traiguén.

In the resolution (case file 24.428), he identified the former paratrooper of the Black Beret Command as the perpetrator of the crime against humanity committed against victims Antonio Inostroza Segura, Omar Enrique Cuevas Gajardo, Luis Alberto Collao Montalva, Rinaldo Torres Zapata, Carlos Silva Riffo, and Jaime Pablo Sperberg Cristia.

Meanwhile, in the case being processed for the disappearance of eight victims in the commune of Pucón, Minister Mesa Latorre filed charges against the civilian repressive agent and former military prosecutor at the time of the events, Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, and former Army officers Pedro Guillermo Manuel Tichauer Salcedo, Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias, and Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz, for their responsibility as accomplices to the crime against humanity of kidnapping with serious injury of Hugo Arner González Ortega, Elías Dagoberto González Ortega, Carlos Schmidt Arriagada, Ricardo Schmidt Arriagada, Juan de Dios Cabrera Figueroa, Alejandro Escobar Vásquez, Héctor Domingo Aguayo Olavarría, and Raúl Marcial Figueroa Burckhardt.

In the resolution (case file 4.473), Minister Mesa Latorre also identified the former Carabinero officer, Luis Robinson Bustos Letelier, as the perpetrator of the crime of illegal detention of the González Ortega brothers, Schmidt Arriagada, Cabrera Figueroa, Escobar Vásquez, Aguayo Olavarría, and Figueroa Burckhardt.

The kidnappings and detentions were perpetrated between late September and early October 1973 in the commune of Pucón, and the 8 young men have been disappeared since that time.

By Darío Núñez

Source: resumen.cl, November 11, 2022

El Polvorín Case: Minister Álvaro Mesa sentences retired military personnel and Army collaborators for homicides and unlawful coercion of seven victims

In the civil aspect, the visiting minister accepted the filed claim and ordered the state to pay a total compensation of $2,780,000,000 (two billion seven hundred eighty million pesos) for moral damages to the victims' families.

The minister on special assignment for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of the Courts of Appeals of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, issued sentence number 78 on the matter and sentenced 23 retired military personnel and Army collaborators for their responsibility in the qualified homicides and unlawful coercion against Florentino Alberto Molina Ruiz, Juan Antonio Chávez Rivas, Víctor Hugo Valenzuela Velásquez, Juan Carlos Ruiz Mancilla, Amador Francisco Montero Mosquera, Pedro Juan Mardones Jofré, and Carlos Aillañir Huenchual, perpetrated in the commune of Temuco in November 1973.

In the sentence (file 113.089), Minister Mesa Latorre sentenced Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud to life imprisonment for his responsibility as the perpetrator of the 7 qualified homicides and 10 years of imprisonment for his responsibility as the perpetrator of 7 crimes of unlawful coercion against the seven victims.

Meanwhile, Daniel San Juan Clavería, Omar Burgos Dejean, Hernán Raúl Quiroz Barra, Raúl Binaldo Schonherr Frías, and Orlando Moreno Vásquez must serve a life sentence as accomplices to the 7 qualified homicides and a 10-year prison sentence as perpetrators of unlawful coercion.

The accused Juan Guillermo García Covarrubias, Pablo Domingo Gran López, Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz, Carlos Eduardo Oviedo Arriagada, Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias, Norberto Francisco Uribe Moroni, Pedro Guillermo Manuel Tichahuer Salcedo, and Juan Bautistas Labraña Luvecce will serve life sentences as accomplices to the 7 qualified homicides and 427 days in prison as accomplices to the 7 acts of unlawful coercion.

Manuel Abraham Vásquez Chahuán will serve a life sentence as the perpetrator of the 7 qualified homicides.

Additionally, Gabriel Alfonso Dittus Marín, Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao, Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés, Juan Carlos Concha Belmar, and Manuel Rafael Campos Ceballos will serve life sentences as accomplices to the 7 qualified homicides.

Arnoldo Aedo Matus will serve a 20-year prison sentence as an accomplice to the 7 homicides.

Libardo Hernán Schwartenski Rubio will serve a 10-year prison sentence as the perpetrator of 7 crimes of unlawful coercion.

Finally, José Raúl Inzunza Reyes was sentenced to 427 days in prison as the perpetrator of 7 crimes of unlawful coercion.

In the sentence, Minister Mesa Latorre established the following facts:

A.- That immediately after the military pronouncement of September 11, 1973, the armed forces and security forces took control of the city of Temuco, with the Colonel Commander of the "La Concepción" Regiment of Lautaro, Hernán Jerónimo Ramírez Ramírez (deceased as recorded on page 6,060 of volume XVII), becoming Intendant; and the Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased as recorded on page 1,298, volume IV), Commander of the No. 8 "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment of this city, becoming Governor of Temuco, who also remained as Chief of the Temuco Garrison.

B.- That on the same day, September 11, 1973, Temuco lawyer Oscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, who was also an Army Reserve Lieutenant, was called to collaborate with the new regime to support the work of the Military Prosecutor's Office that operated inside the unit and was in charge of the Second Commander, Major Luis Jofré Soto (deceased as recorded on page 1,295, volume IV).

This officer, however, had to assume greater functions as Second Commander of the Tucapel regiment shortly thereafter. From that day forward, civilians began to arrive at the regiment who were called to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office through edicts published in the written press and on the radio, or who were brought in as detainees from different points in the region by Carabinero and military patrols.

Due to the high number of detainees and people called to provide statements, the Military Prosecutor's Office was reinforced to carry out its work with Judiciary officials who were requested from the Temuco Court of Appeals by the aforementioned lawyer Podlech Michaud, who, acting as Ad-Hoc Prosecutor, made a presentation to the Plenary of the Appellate Court (Minutes on pages 3010 to 3011, volume IX), after which some clerks from different courts and a Court Reporter were assigned on commission.

Due to the lack of knowledge in criminal procedural matters, added to the weak character he had and his work as Second Commander of the regiment, Major Luis Jofré Soto began delegating functions as Military Prosecutor to the lawyer Oscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, advisor to the Prosecutor's Office, who began to hold the position of de facto Prosecutor, to the point that he conducted jail visits and that lawyers, family members, and even ecclesiastical dignitaries consulted him regarding the fate of the detainees.

However, Major Jofré Soto continued to sign administrative documents most of the time and participated in some interrogations of detainees.

C.- That the people called to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office and those brought in as detainees were kept in facilities located next to the guardhouse and in the large gymnasium. Once interrogated by personnel of the Military Prosecutor's Office, by detectives Aquiles Alfonso Poblete Müller (deceased as recorded on page 3,800, volume XI), Daniel San Juan Clavería, and Hernán Raúl Quiroz Barra of the Investigative Police attached to the regiment, or by the officers themselves who participated in these activities, among whom were Jaime Guillermo García Covarrubias, Raimundo Ignacio García Covarrubias, Pablo Domingo Gran López, Mario Hernán Arias Díaz (deceased as recorded on page 7,531, volume XXI), Carlos Eduardo Oviedo Arriagada, Norberto Francisco Uribe Moroni, Pedro Guillermo Manuel Tichahuer Salcedo, Romilio Osvaldo Lavín Muñoz, and non-commissioned officers, among whom were Juan Bautista Labraña Luvecce, Orlando Moreno Vásquez, Raúl Binaldo Schonherr Frías, some of them were released, others were sent to their homes under house arrest, and others were taken to the public jail where they remained while their procedural situation was resolved.

D.- That also by September 1973, in the No. 8 "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment of Temuco, there existed the Second Section of Information and Intelligence, which was in charge of Captain Nelson Manuel Uldaricio Ubilla Toledo (deceased as recorded on page 1,296, volume IV), under whose dependency some non-commissioned officers of that institution also performed functions, among whom were Juan Bautista Labraña Luvecce, Orlando Moreno Vásquez, Raúl Binaldo Schonherr Frías, work that was reinforced after September 11, 1973, with the addition of Investigative officials Aquiles Alfonso Poblete Müller (deceased as recorded on page 3,800, volume XI), Daniel San Juan Clavería, and Hernán Raúl Quiroz Barra, mentioned above, and Carabineros, among whom was Omar Burgos Dejean, who provided political information to the aforementioned officer regarding all those people subject to an investigation by the Military Prosecutor's Office. Likewise, some officers joined the intelligence tasks, among whom was Manuel Abraham Vásquez Chahuán, as well as enlisted personnel and conscripts of the regiment. As the days went by, the Military Prosecutor's Office and the Second Intelligence Section began to work jointly to interrogate the detainees, as in this case, who remained held in the jail or in some facility of the Tucapel regiment. To articulate this work, two locations were enabled in the military unit, one located between the Headquarters Company and the Mortar Company, and another in an old, disused gymnasium located to the side of the conscript soldiers' "mess hall." In this way, the detainees were taken to and from the jail to the regiment by military personnel of the Second Section, being interrogated at the Military Prosecutor's Office and physically coerced in one of the facilities indicated above to "soften them up" before or after these interrogations, as in this case. In both interrogation and torture rooms, there were implements to tie up the detainees and apply electricity to different parts of their bodies, in addition to applying other types of torment such as kicks and punches, as in this case. Participating in this task were conscript soldiers, among whom were Manuel Rafael Campos Ceballos, Juan Carlos Concha Belmar, Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés, Gabriel Alfonso Dittus Marín, Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao, Juan Humberto Carrillo Rebolledo, Libardo Schwartenski Rubio, and José Raúl Inzunza Reyes, and a Carabinero, Omar Burgos Dejean, who collaborated with Captain Nelson Ubilla Toledo and with the Investigative Police detectives who were there, Aquiles Alfonso Poblete Müller (deceased as recorded on page 3,800, volume XI), Daniel San Juan Clavería, and Hernán Raúl Quiroz Barra. Also participating in the interrogation and/or torture sessions of detainees in those places were most of the officers of the "Tucapel" regiment and some enlisted soldiers from the Headquarters and Services Companies, among whom was José Raúl Inzunza Reyes, from the Mortar, Hunter, and Second Section companies, all of whom entered these facilities at different times.

E.- That within the aforementioned military unit, a special group called "Patrulla Brava" (Brave Patrol) or "Patrulla Chacal" (Jackal Patrol) was formed, integrated by enlisted soldiers and conscripts of the 2nd Hunter Company, among whom were Manuel Rafael Campos Ceballos, Juan Carlos Concha Belmar, Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés, Gabriel Alfonso Dittus Marín, Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao, Juan Humberto Carrillo Rebolledo, and Libardo Schwartenski Rubio, under the orders of Second Lieutenant Manuel Espinoza Ponce (deceased as recorded on page 1,299, volume IV), who in turn received orders from Lieutenant Manuel Abraham Vásquez Chahuán, who was in command of the Company. This group was in charge, among other functions, of guarding the detainees who were kept in the facilities of the "Tucapel" regiment of Temuco.

F.- That during the days following September 11, 1973, a significant number of people were killed or disappeared in the IX region, with several of these deaths being explained by regional military authorities through the publication of edicts issued either from the Intendancy or the Temuco Military Garrison.

The edict that explained the events subject to this investigation, in light of the evidence gathered in this process, provides an unbelievable version of how the events of the night of November 10, 1973, unfolded, taking into consideration what was stated by Manuel Ángel Fernández Carranza (page 222), who, after the events of November 10, 1973, and once he arrived from a mission he was entrusted with toward the Pucón sector in search of guerrillas, was summoned by the then-commander of the No. 8 Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased as recorded on page 1,298, volume IV), to inform him that the assault on the ammunition dump had not been such, but rather an execution carried out at the shooting range, information he gave him personally so that he would not find out through rumors.

G.- That Florentino Alberto Molina Ruiz, member of the Central Committee and Regional Secretary of the Communist Party, was arrested and taken from his home on Monday, November 5, 1973, by two Carabineros members of the Civil Commission, who transported him in a red truck to the Second Police Station of Temuco, where he spent the night in a cell.

In the early hours of the following day, he was transferred to the "Tucapel" Regiment of Temuco by order of the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco, remaining held in that place until the night of November 10, 1973.

During that period, his wife went daily to leave him clothes and food, which were channeled through the guards at the entrance of the military facility. In turn, Molina Ruiz would send her his used clothes as a sign that he was still detained in that place.

Molina Ruiz, who was missing an arm due to a work accident, was seen as a detainee inside the aforementioned military facility by Hermán Carrasco Paúl, who was also in the same condition, who pointed out that both were victims of unlawful coercion. He was also recognized due to his disability by some conscripts who guarded them.

H.- That Juan Antonio Chávez Rivas, student at the State Technical University, Regional Secretary, and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth, was arrested on November 6, 1973, by two Carabineros members of the Civil Commission, who transported him in a red truck to the Second Police Station of Temuco, where he spent the night.

The following day he was transferred to the "Tucapel" Regiment of Temuco. Family members of the detainee approached the military unit to ask about him, where they were told that he was not there, despite the fact that he was seen in the courtyard of the military facility heavily guarded and in very poor physical condition.

I.- That Víctor Hugo Valenzuela Velásquez, public employee and propaganda Secretary of the Communist Youth of Cautín, was arrested on November 7, 1973, around 10:00 a.m., at the Real Estate Registrar's Office of Temuco, where he worked.

The arresting personnel, who were dressed in civilian clothes, belonged to the Army Intelligence Service, one of them being a Sergeant of the "Tucapel" Regiment of Temuco. Family members of the detainee went to the "Tucapel" Regiment, where they confirmed the fact of the detention and for three days delivered clothes and blankets for him at the guardhouse.

J.- That Juan Carlos Ruiz Mancilla, student of Civil Construction at the State Technical University and member of the Communist Youth, after September 11, 1973, traveled to the city of Punta Arenas where his parents lived. In that place, he was arrested on November 7 of that same year and transported by plane to Temuco, where he was taken to the "Tucapel" Regiment.

K.- That Amador Francisco Montero Mosquera, student of Electrical Engineering at the State Technical University and member of the Communist Youth, was arrested at his home on November 7, 1973, by personnel of the Carabineros Civil Commission and transported to the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco. Family members went to that place to find out about his situation and to deliver food and clothes.

L.- That Pedro Juan Mardones Jofré, student at the State Technical University, was arrested at his home and transported to the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco. The conscript soldier of the 2nd Section of the 2nd Hunter Company, Luis Humberto Llamunao Huaiquinao (pages 1234 to 1235 and 1323 to 1324), asserted that it was his turn to bring water to Mardones Jofré, who was held in a warehouse located inside a mechanical workshop.

At that moment, he noticed that the detainee had a hand very badly wounded, making it impossible for him to take the glass that was offered to him.

M.- That Carlos Aillañir Huenchual, farmer and sympathizer of the Popular Unity government, was arrested on November 6, 1973, by a military patrol moving in an institutional 3/4 truck. The arrest was carried out in the rural sector of Pelales, in the town of Quepe, where the house of a brother of the detainee was located.

The military officer in charge of the patrol indicated that the detainee was going to be taken to the Tucapel regiment of Temuco.

N.- That at the end of the day on November 10, 1973, in circumstances where the aforementioned detainees were held in the "small" gymnasium of the Tucapel regiment of Temuco, guarded by conscript soldiers of the 2nd Hunter Company belonging to the "Jackal patrol," Lieutenant Manuel Abraham Vásquez Chahuán, Commander of the indicated company, and Second Lieutenant Espinoza (deceased as recorded on page 1,299, volume IV) appeared, accompanied by other military personnel from the regiment.

In addition, an institutional truck parked at the site and backed up in front of the entrance to the facility where the victims were detained. Said vehicle, due to its characteristics, was recognized as the one usually used to transport meat and bread, and on some occasions, it was used to transport conscripts to perform guard duty rotations.

Immediately thereafter, Lieutenant Manuel Abraham Vásquez Chahuán instructed the subordinate personnel to make the detainees board the truck along with them. Immediately, the truck with the detainees plus the officers and their companions left the place.

Regarding this same truck, the following day its cleaning was ordered, among others, to conscript soldier Héctor Florentino Navarrete Leiva, who indicated that it was full of human flesh and brain remains (page 2150).

Ñ.- That minutes later, sentries at the surveillance post located in the entrance sector to the military facility called "Isla Cautín" saw a caravan of institutional vehicles enter the place, composed of at least one Toyota jeep and the truck indicated in the previous paragraph.

O.- That in the final hours of November 10, 1973, the previously identified detainees were taken from the Tucapel regiment of Temuco, loaded onto the aforementioned military vehicle, and transported to the shooting range sector of the "Isla Cautín" military facility by the officers and their companions.

In that place, the victims of the case were tied to stakes that had been arranged there in a row. A short time later, the group of military personnel present in that sector was joined by Captain Rodolfo Vargas Campos (deceased as recorded on page 1,297, volume IV), Sergeant Hernán Rodrigo Santiesteban Domínguez (deceased as recorded on page 4,953, volume XV), Sergeant Anacleto Aguirre Rivera (deceased as recorded on page 10,240, volume XXIX), all from the 1st Hunter Company, plus Sergeant José Gajardo Gajardo (deceased as recorded on page 4,954, volume XV) of the 2nd Hunter Company.

Also part of this entourage was 2nd Sergeant of the First Hunter Company Arnoldo Aedo Matus.

P.- That once the patrol commanded by Captain Vargas arrived at the place, he ordered its members to position themselves behind the detainees who were tied to the stakes, with the exception of 2nd Sergeant Arnoldo Aedo Matus of the 1st Hunter Company, whom he told to position himself in another, distant place and to proceed to fire shots toward the trees located in a specific sector of Isla Cautín.

This Sergeant Aedo Matus was able to see that the regiment Commander, Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased as recorded on page 1,298, volume IV), was present at the site, accompanied by an officer of medium-tall stature, and that two civilians were also witnessing the maneuvers in the same sector, recognizing one of them as the advisor lawyer to the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco, Oscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud.

Q.- That subsequently, the detainees in those conditions were executed at the site one by one and finished off with bursts of gunfire, after which their bodies were sent to the morgue of the regional hospital of Temuco, where the required autopsy was performed, determining the causes of their deaths as indicated: Molina Ruiz, cranial-encephalic explosion, multiple blunt force gunshot wounds; Chávez Rivas, cranial-encephalic explosion, multiple blunt force wounds from firearm; Valenzuela Velásquez, cranial-encephalic attrition, multiple blunt force wounds from firearm; Ruiz Mancilla, shock, comminuted fracture of the pelvis and right femur, multiple gunshot wounds; Montero Mosquera, cranial-encephalic attrition, multiple blunt force wounds from firearm; Mardones Jofré, cranial-encephalic attrition, multiple blunt force wounds from firearm; Aillañir Huenchual, primary shock, multiple blunt force transfixing gunshot wounds to the thorax, abdomen, and limbs. Finally, a military edict was drafted to be published in the press the following day, which reported an attempted assault on the Isla Cautín ammunition dump by a group of extremists.

R.- That the day after these events occurred, the news appeared in the local written press indicating that an assault had occurred on the Isla Cautín ammunition dump of the Tucapel Regiment, in which an undetermined number of extremists had participated, news that was ratified by Colonel Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased as recorded on page 1,298, volume IV), which must be contrasted with what was stated by Manuel Fernández Carranza, who, after the events of November 10, 1973, and once he arrived from a mission he was entrusted with toward the Pucón sector in search of guerrillas, was summoned by the then-commander of the No. 8 Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, Pablo Iturriaga Marchesse (deceased as recorded on page 1,298, volume IV), to inform him that the assault on the ammunition dump had not been such, but rather an execution carried out at the shooting range, information he gave him personally so that he would not find out through rumors. During the following days, details continued to appear in the press about how these events had occurred and the way in which military personnel had repelled said attack and subsequently gone out in search of the supposed extremists who were not killed in the confrontation and who managed to flee the place.

In the civil aspect, the visiting minister accepted the filed claim and ordered the state to pay a total compensation of $2,780,000,000 (two billion seven hundred eighty million pesos) for moral damages to the victims' families.

Source: pjud.cl, September 21, 2023