The former director of the agency, General (ret.) Hugo Salas Wenzel, is identified as the mastermind behind the execution of twelve young members of the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez. Visiting Judge Hugo Dolmestch indicted 18 former agents of the dissolved Central Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI) for their participation in the murder of 12 young people on June 15 and 16, 1987, a case known as "Operation Albania." The magistrate determined that the former director of the intelligence agency, General (ret.) Hugo Salas Wenzel, is the mastermind responsible for the homicide of the opponents of the military regime. In this way, Dolmestch concludes fifteen years of investigation and begins the stage prior to the issuance of first-instance sentences. Accused as co-perpetrators of the crime of homicide are: General (ret.) Hugo Salas Wenzel, Major (ret.) Alvaro Corbalán, Commander (ret.) Iván Quiroz, Commander (ret.) Krantz Power Donoso, Major Rodrigo Pérez Martínez, and Army officer Jorge Vargas Bories. These accusations against the aforementioned uniformed personnel refer to the deaths of Recaredo Valenzuela, Patricio Acosta, Julio Guerra, Juan Henríquez, and Wilson Henríquez. Other implicated individuals Furthermore, they are accused of the crime of kidnapping followed by homicide in the cases of Ester Cabrera, Manuel Valencia, Ricardo Rivera, Elizabeth Escobar, Patricia Quiroz, José Valenzuela Levi, and Ricardo Silva, who were executed at the property at Pedro Donoso 582, in the commune of Conchalí. In the capacity of accomplice, the magistrate accused Army Captain (ret.) Arturo Sanhueza Ross for the homicide of Julio Guerra and the kidnapping followed by homicide of Ester Cabrera. Meanwhile, former detective Hugo Guzmán is accused as an accomplice for the crime of kidnapping with homicide of Patricia Quiroz. His colleague Gonzalo Maass del Valle is accused as a perpetrator of the crime of kidnapping followed by homicide of Ricardo Rivera. Officers (ret.) René Valdovinos Morales, César Luis Acuña Luengo, and Manuel Morales Acevedo were accused as perpetrators of the homicide of Ignacio Valenzuela Pohorezcky and as accomplices to the kidnapping followed by homicide of the victims at Pedro Donoso 582. The Corpus Christi massacre In the so-called Operation Albania, which took place between June 15 and 16, 1987, during the Corpus Christi holiday, twelve people belonging to the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez were murdered in different parts of Santiago. According to the official versions of the military government, the young people died in "clashes with security forces," but autopsies showed that the shots were fired while the victims were lying on the floor. The action took place just four days after the Eighth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals declared the FPMR an "illicit terrorist association," whose members were to be imprisoned and repressed, a resolution that legitimized all types of violent action against the leftist group. It should be remembered that the ruling was decided by the appellate court at the request of the military regime's Ministry of the Interior, following a petition presented by a group of FPMR members accused of various crimes. CNI operation To carry out the operation, the Central Nacional de Informaciones conducted a massive intelligence operation, which involved mobilizing dozens of agents and carrying out numerous arrests and raids, with the ultimate goal of repressing the FPMR members. The CNI's action was accompanied by a large deployment of pro-government publicity, which reproduced the official version of a "clash" without doubt or questioning. The first victim, Ignacio Valenzuela Pohrecky, one of the founders of the FPMR, was shot to death on Calle Alhué, in the commune of Las Condes, on June 15, 1987, at 12:00 PM. At 6:00 PM, CNI agents killed Ricardo Acosta Castro on Calle Varas Mena, in front of number 630. A few hours later, near midnight, on the same Calle Varas Mena, at the property marked with number 417, Juan Henríquez Araya and Wilson Henríquez Gallegos were killed. At the same time these deaths occurred, the death of Julio Guerra Olivares took place in the Villa Olímpica. Subsequently, around 5:00 AM on June 16, 1987, at the house at Pedro Donoso 582, in the commune of Recoleta, seven FPMR members were riddled with bullets. They were Ricardo Silva Soto, José Valenzuela Levy, Elizabeth Escobar Mondaca, Patricio Quiroz Nilo, Manuel Valencia Calderón, Ester Cabrera Hinojosa, and Ricardo Rivera Silva.

Source: latercera.cl, April 5, 2002

Court confirms sentences for those responsible for Operation Albania

The Ninth Chamber of the Court of Appeals, in a unanimous vote, confirmed the sentences issued last January by visiting Judge Hugo Dolmestch against 15 members of the former CNI, in the framework of the so-called Operation Albania, in which 12 members of the Frente Manuel Rodríguez died.

Thus, its former director Hugo Salas Wenzel will remain sentenced to life imprisonment as the perpetrator of the simple homicide of five of the deceased and the qualified homicide of the other seven. Salas is identified as directly responsible for the event, as he was the one who gave the order to carry out the operation, which is also known as the "Corpus Christi massacre." However, the court revoked the acquittal that the judge had issued for three individuals, to whom an effective sentence of five years and one day in prison was applied.

These are César Acuña Luengo, René Valdovinos Morales, and Fernando Burgos Díaz, who held responsibility for the death of Ignacio Valenzuela Pohorecky. Thus, of the 26 prosecuted in this case, eight were released, given that they had no direct responsibility for the events.

The court, composed of judges Raúl Rocha, Juan Araya, and Mauricio Silva, also resolved to increase to 500 million pesos the 250 million pesos in damages compensation that Judge Dolmestch had set for the victims' families.

Operation Albania took place in three different locations in Santiago on June 15 and 16, 1987, and in it, FPMR militants Recaredo Valenzuela Pohorecky, Patricio Acosta Castro, Juan Henríquez Araya, Wilson Henríquez Gallegos, Julio Guerra Olivares, Esther Cabrera Hinojosa, Elizabeth Escobar Mondaca, Patricia Quiroz Nilo, Hernán Rivera Silva, Ricardo Silva Soto, Manuel Calderón, and José Valenzuela lost their lives.

Source: emol.cl, December 28, 2005

Legal certainty of what was known: CNI avenged the attack on Pinochet with 4 deaths

Visiting Judge Hugo Dolmetsch yesterday granted legal certainty to what had been known since 1986: that the crimes of José Carrasco, Felipe Rivera, Gastón Vidaurrázaga, and Abraham Muskablit at the hands of the CNI were a revenge by the dictatorship for the attack on Augusto Pinochet on Sunday, September 7, 1986.

In a rather "procedural" resolution in which he prosecuted seven new former agents, maintained seven others who were already under indictment by Judge Dobra Lusic since 2000, and exonerated three of those already prosecuted by the magistrate, Judge Dolmetsch provided some details of the operation that were not public until now.

The three former agents dismissed by the magistrate are Hernán Vásquez Villegas, Egon Barra Barra, and Arturo Sanhueza Ros. The judge stated in his ruling that moments after the attack on Pinochet in the Cajón del Maipo—an act carried out by the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez (FPMR) in which five bodyguards died—the member of the Military Junta, Admiral José Toribio Merino, summoned the head of the CNI, General Humberto Gordon, to an emergency meeting at La Moneda.

After the meeting, Gordon summoned the commander of the Anti-Subversive Division of that agency, Major Álvaro Corbalán, and the commander of the Metropolitan Political Division "in charge of the control of political parties at the time," Major Manuel Provis Carrasco, to the CNI headquarters on Calle República. "These two divisions represented at that moment of emergency the basic organs of the CNI in its operational aspect," the judge says.

In that meeting, "the general, deeply agitated, ordered them that agents from their respective departments should go out and avenge the five bodyguards who died in the attack, a revenge that had to be in a proportion of two to one in relation to the victims (bodyguards)," the ruling states.

In this way, Dolmetsch was able to determine that the groups of agents who operated in the arrests and executions were different, except in the cases of Carrasco and Muskablit, where some overlap. The judge's document does not clarify, in any case, why the CNI only murdered four opponents and not ten, as was the order issued by Gordon and which likely emanated from La Moneda.

At least a fifth victim was supposed to be the Vicaría de la Solidaridad lawyer Luis Toro, who saved himself by reinforcing the doors and windows of his house to hinder the agents' entry and by alerting his neighbors.

The point is relevant when incorporating into the puzzle the intervention, almost in parallel, of the Investigations police (Investigaciones) on the same dawn that the CNI kidnappings began. This police force arrested some opposition leaders, such as the current President Ricardo Lagos, former minister Germán Correa, current deputy (PPD) Patricio Hales, and former undersecretary of Labor Eduardo Loyola.

According to the former spokesperson for the military regime, Francisco Javier Cuadra, the Investigations police acted on the orders of its director, General (ret.) Fernando Paredes, to prevent more deaths at the hands of the CNI.

However, it is not clear why the CNI, with the power it had over the Investigations police, did not continue with the executions to "meet the quota" ordered by General Gordon. Nor is it known with certainty if the action of the Investigations police was indeed for the purpose that Cuadra maintains.

Although, at least one fact is certain: that those detained by that police force survived. What is not credible is Cuadra's assertion that, when Operation Albania occurred a year later—in which the CNI murdered 12 FPMR militants it linked to the attack—the regime "did not support that operation nor did it provide it with media support." Upon consulting the press of the time and Cuadra's own statements, the opposite is confirmed.

Felipe Rivera Gajardo Communist militant Employee of the Treasury of the Republic Detained at 2:00 AM on Monday, September 8, 1986, at his home at Diagonal Las Torres No. 6678, Población Sara Gajardo, Cerro Navia.

Prosecuted as perpetrators of the crime of kidnapping and homicide: Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, Pedro Guzmán Olivares, Gonzalo Maass del Valle, Víctor Lara Cataldo, and René Valdovinos Morales. (Lara and Valdovinos are newly prosecuted; the rest were already prosecuted by the resolution of Judge Dobra Lusic in 2000).

Executed on Américo Vespucio, in front of the Toyota plant, with six gunshot wounds. Gastón Vidaurrázaga Manríquez MIR militant Teacher Detained at 4:00 AM on Monday, September 8, 1986, at his home on Calle Maestranza, across from No. 627.

Prosecuted as perpetrators of the crime of kidnapping and homicide: Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, Krantz Bauer Donoso, Víctor Muñoz Orellana, Jorge Jofré Rojas, Eduardo Chávez Baeza, and Juan Jorquera Abarzúa. (Jofré, Chávez, and Jorquera are newly prosecuted; the others were already prosecuted since 2000).

Executed on Ruta 5 Sur at kilometer 16, with twelve gunshot wounds. José Carrasco Tapia MIR militant Journalist Detained at 5:00 AM on Monday, September 8, 1986, at his home at Calle Santa Filomena No. 111, apartment 209, commune of Santiago.

Prosecuted as perpetrators of kidnapping and homicide: Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, Iván Quiroz Ruiz, Jorge Vargas Bories, and Guillermo Fachinetti López. (Fachinetti is newly prosecuted, while Quiroz and Vargas were already prosecuted since 2000).

Executed on Américo Vespucio, on the south side of the Parque del Recuerdo Cemetery, with fourteen gunshot wounds. Abraham Muskablit Eidelstein Communist militant Sales Manager of Editorial Cono Sur Detained at 2:15 AM on Tuesday, September 9, 1986, at Calle 27 de Septiembre No. 0423, Población Casas Viejas, commune of Puente Alto.

Prosecuted as perpetrators of kidnapping and homicide: Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, Iván Quiroz Ruiz, Jorge Vargas Bories, and José Meneses Arcauz. (Arcauz is newly prosecuted; the others were already prosecuted since 2000). Executed on Camino a Lonquén at No. 2360, with nine gunshot wounds.

Source: lanacion.cl, October 27, 2005

CNI leadership prosecuted for the disappearance of five FPMR members in 1987

Visiting Judge Haroldo Brito yesterday established for the first time the crime of qualified kidnapping (also known as permanent kidnapping) in the process he is following against former CNI agents for the disappearance of five members of the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez (FPMR) in 1987.

For this crime, he indicted former agents Víctor Ruiz Montoya, Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ros, and Luis Santibáñez Aguilera. In the resolution issued by Brito, it is stipulated that it can be proven that as a result of the kidnapping of the Army commander, Mr.

Carlos Carreño Barrera, which occurred in this city (Santiago) on September 1, 1987, CNI officials decided to kidnap Manuel Sepúlveda Sánchez, Gonzalo Fuenzalida Navarrete, Julio Muñoz Otárola, Julián Peña Maltés, and Alejandro Pinochet Arenas.

For the same events, the magistrate, who took over the investigation from his colleague Hugo Dolmestch—now a Supreme Court justice—indicted former CNI director General (ret.) Hugo Salas Wenzel and his two collaborators, Álvaro Corbalán and Krantz Bauer, as co-perpetrators of the kidnapping.

They are followed for the same crime by Manuel Morales, César Acuña, and René Valdovinos. Meanwhile, as accessories after the fact to the crimes are Army officers (ret.) Gonzalo Asenjo Zegers and Rodrigo Pérez.

The selection of the FPMR members was carried out between September 8 and 9 with the purpose of exchanging them for the kidnapped commander, so the detainees were immediately transferred to the Borgoño Barracks of the intelligence service.

Helicopter According to the resolution, upon the release of the military officer, five corpses were removed by CNI officials from the security facility to be thrown into the sea from an Army helicopter.

From the same evidence, it is also proven that the participation of the military helicopter and its pilots was arranged by the people who were in command of the investigation operations for the kidnapping of Carlos Carreño, the resolution points out.

These conclusions were reached because on July 20, Judge Dolmestch recreated, together with Army personnel, the throwing of the FPMR members at the port of San Antonio. In the proceeding, it was determined with certainty that the bodies were thrown in sacks with pieces of rails tied to their feet, so that they would not float.

An article published by La Nación last July revealed that Augusto Pinochet's former pilot, nicknamed "El Chino Campos," declared to the magistrate how in September 1987, his boss, Colonel Mario Navarrete, ordered him to use one of the institutional helicopters to travel to the Peldehue area to pick up some packages, which contained the bodies. "El Chino Campos" recounted that for said operation he traveled with his co-pilot, an officer who retired recently and who until a few months ago was the head of a military attaché office in Europe.

Even the head of the Special Affairs and Human Rights Brigade, Rafael Castillo, and his colleague Mario Zelada, traveled through the old continent looking for a key witness for this process. Stages Judge Dolmestch accredited that the operation was separated into three stages.

The first of these was the arrest of the FPMR members to pressure the FPMR and recover the kidnapped military officer. Once detained, they were interrogated by the CNI. After this, the order arrived that the military regime did not negotiate with terrorists, so the five FPMR members were murdered.

After the execution, Francisco "Gurka" Zúñiga was designated to coordinate with the Army to obtain the necessary elements to carry out the dumping of the bodies off the coast of San Antonio.

Source: lanacion.cl, September 22, 2006

El Mostrador: Sentences confirmed against CNI agents for the murder of José Carrasco

The highest sentence is for the former operational head of the repressive agency, Major (ret.) Alvaro Corbalán Castilla, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Another of those sentenced, to 13 years, is the fugitive officer (ret.) of the Carabineros, Iván Quiroz.

The ruling, however, rejected compensating the relatives of the journalist and three other professionals murdered in 1986. The Ninth Chamber of the Court of Appeals confirmed this Friday, unanimously, the sentences against 14 former agents of the dissolved Central Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI) for the murder of journalist José Carrasco Tapia and three other professionals, which took place a few hours after the failed attack against General (ret.) Augusto Pinochet, which occurred on September 7, 1986.

The court, composed of judges Jorge Dahm, Víctor Montiglio, and the participating lawyer Jorge Lagos, thus confirmed the ruling issued on December 29, 2006, by visiting Judge Haroldo Brito, also for the murders of the MIR militant and visual artist Gastón Vidaurrázaga, and the Communist Party (PC) militants Felipe Rivera Fajardo and publicist Abraham Mufkatblit Eidelstein.

The highest sentence, of 18 years and one day in prison, is against the Army Major (ret.) and former operational head of the CNI, Alvaro Corbalán Castilla, while Army Captain (ret.) Jorge Vargas Bories and Carabineros Major (ret.) Iván Quiroz, who has been a fugitive for three months after failing to appear to serve another sentence for his responsibility in the case known as Operation Albania, were sentenced to 13 years and one day.

In their capacity as co-perpetrators, Pedro Javier Guzmán Olivares, Gonzalo Fernando Mass del Valle, Kranz Bauer, Jorge Enrique Jofré Rojas, and Juan Alejandro Jonquera were sentenced to eight years and one day.

Meanwhile, former agents Víctor Hugo Lara Cataldo, René Armando Valdovinos Morales, Víctor Manuel Muñoz Orellana, Eduardo Martín Chávez Baeza, Guillermo Fascinetti López, and José Ramón Meneses Arcauz must spend five years and one day in prison.

Meanwhile, the appellate court, also unanimously, rejected providing compensation of $250 million for each of the mothers, widows, and children of the professionals, in addition to $75 million for each of the siblings.

Source: elmostrador.cl, December 28, 2007

Highest sentence against a retired general for crimes during the dictatorship: Operation Albania: Supreme Court confirms life imprisonment for Hugo Salas Wenzel

The Supreme Court confirmed this Tuesday the life sentence against retired General Hugo Salas Wenzel, former director of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI), for his responsibility in the crime of twelve frentistas in June 1987, within the framework of Operation Albania.

Salas Wenzel was sentenced as the mastermind of the murders, which were planned as one of the acts of revenge for the attack on Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, which occurred in September 1986. With this resolution, the former head of the repressive agency became the retired general who has received the longest sentence for human rights violations committed during the military dictatorship.

The decision was adopted by the Second Chamber (Criminal) which also ruled on the sentences that Judge Hugo Dolmestch handed down against fourteen other former uniformed officers who participated in the operation, also known as the Corpus Christi Massacre.

In court, it was explained that since Salas Wenzel began to be tried before the law was modified, a simple life sentence will be applied to him, which allows for the possibility of accessing some type of benefit after 20 years of imprisonment.

The highest court also decided to increase from 15 to 20 years of imprisonment the sentence against the former operational chief of the repressive agency, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, who is already serving time for other human rights violations perpetrated during the military dictatorship.

Meanwhile, it maintained the 10-year prison sentence against retired Carabineros Commander Iván Quiroz Ruiz, while it increased the punishment for former CNI agent Enrique Neira Donoso from 7 years and one day to 8 years of imprisonment.

These four former members must serve their punishment in prison along with former agent Manuel Morales Acevedo, who had initially been sentenced to three years in prison, but the Supreme Court increased his punishment to five years and one day.

Meanwhile, former agents Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross, Rodrigo Pérez Martínez, César Acuña Luengo, Patricio Miquel Carmona, and Fernando Burgos Díaz were sentenced to five years and one day in prison, while Eric Silva Reichart received a five-year prison sentence.

Gonzalo Maas del Valle, José Miguel Morales Morales, and René Valdovinos Morales were sentenced to three years in prison, while Hugo Guzmán Rojas received a punishment of 541 days in jail. The Supreme Court also confirmed the acquittal of 11 agents who participated in the operations and who had already been exonerated by Dolmestch and the Santiago Court of Appeals, among whom are former agents Kranstz Bauer and Jorge Vargas Bories, as well as the former Carabineros prosecutor Luis Acevedo.

Last June, the State Defense Council (CDE) and the victims' relatives reached a reparation agreement in which the State committed to paying an indemnity of $300 million to each family group. Plaintiffs celebrate decision Lawyer Nelson Caucuto, representative of the victims, highlighted that this is the first life sentence for a military officer with the rank of general, which in his opinion reveals "the gravity of the judged facts and the importance of this case." "We have managed to establish the truth of what happened and high criminal sanctions, where there is a life sentence and also finally there is reparation. In a single sentence, we have managed to bring together the three aspects that comprise a complex concept such as justice, which are truth, criminal sanction, and reparation,” he maintained. “It seems extraordinary to me to have closed this chapter with these sentences that the highest court has handed down,” he pointed out.

Source: elmostrador.cl, August 29, 2007

Court confirms sentence in “Pepe Carrasco” case

In a unanimous decision, the Ninth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced 14 former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for the murders of Gastón Vidaurrázaga, Felipe Rivera, Abraham Muskatblit, and José Carrasco Tapia, which occurred between September 7 and 8, 1986.

Magistrates Jorge Dahm Oyarzún, Víctor Montiglio Rezzio, and the member lawyer Jorge Lagos Gatica ratified the sentence handed down on September 29, 2006, by the visiting judge Haroldo Brito. A sentence of 18 years and one day in prison is against the retired Army Major and former operational chief of the CNI, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, while retired Army Captain Jorge Vargas Bories and retired Carabineros Major Iván Quiroz, who has been a fugitive for three months after failing to appear to serve another sentence for his responsibility in the case known as Operation Albania, are sentenced to thirteen years and one day. Meanwhile, Kranz Bauer, Jorge Enrique Jofré Rojas, Pedro Javier Guzmán Olivares, Gonzalo Fernando Mass del Valle, and Juan Alejandro Jonquera were sentenced to eight years and one day as co-perpetrators. Meanwhile, former agents Víctor Hugo Lara Cataldo, René Armando Valdovinos Morales, Víctor Manuel Muñoz Orellana, Eduardo Martín Chávez Baeza, Guillermo Fascinetti López, and José Ramón Meneses Arcauz must spend five years and one day in prison. Unanimously as well, the Court rejected the civil lawsuit filed by the victims' relatives, which corresponded to an indemnity of $250 million for each of the professionals' mothers, widows, and children, in addition to $75 million for each of the siblings. Reaction FASIC lawyer and plaintiff in the case, Nelson Caucoto, valued the resolution and was satisfied with regard to the criminal part: “The sentence applies penalties that are proportional to the gravity of the crime, and that is important in an era in which benign sentences are handed down for human rights violators,” the professional indicated. On the contrary, Caucoto indicated that “it is inappropriate, an error, and an abuse against the victims' relatives that the indemnities were rejected. It is a mockery that after 21 years they are told (the relatives) that they must initiate a new civil trial which could have an approximate duration of 8 years.”

Detail of the sentences

Álvaro Corbalán Castilla: 18 years in prison. Jorge Vargas Bories: 13 years in prison. Iván Quiroz Ruiz: 13 years in prison. Pedro Guzmán Olivares: 8 years in prison. Gonzalo Maas del Valle: 8 years in prison.

Krantz Bauer Donoso: 8 years in prison. Jorge Jofré Rojas: 8 years in prison. Juan Jonquera Abarzúa: 8 years in prison. Víctor Lara Cataldo: 5 years and one day in prison. René Valdovinos Morales: 5 years and one day in prison.

Víctor Muñoz Orellana: 5 years and one day in prison. Eduardo Chávez Baeza: 5 years and one day in prison. Carlos Fachinetti López: 5 years and one day in prison. José Meneses Arcauz: 5 years and one day in prison.

Source: impunidad.com, December 28, 2007

New indictments issued for the last disappeared of the dictatorship

Judge Mario Carroza indicted seven former CNI agents for the disappearance of five frentistas, kidnapped in retaliation for the kidnapping of Colonel Carlos Carreño. Visiting judge Mario Carroza indicted seven former agents of the Central Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI) for the qualified kidnapping of five young militants of the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez (FPMR) in September 1987.

The magistrate indicted them for different degrees of participation in the kidnappings of José Julián Peña Maltés, Alejandro Pinochet Arenas, Manuel Sepúlveda Sánchez, Gonzalo Fuenzalida Navarrete, and Julio Muñoz Otárola, which occurred starting September 1, 1987.

The resolution affects Juan Carlos Orellana Morales, Hernán Antonio Vásquez Villegas, Raúl del Carmen Durán Martínez, José Guillermo Salas Fuentes, Marco Antonio Pincheira Ubilla, and Jorge Raimundo Ahumada Molina.

The list also includes Iván Quiroz Ruiz, who remained a fugitive for the Operation Albania case and was arrested on Wednesday night. According to the ruling, the first six former agents face charges as authors of the qualified kidnapping of Peña Maltés, while Quiroz was indicted for the same case, as well as for Pinochet Arenas, Sepúlveda Sánchez, Fuenzalida Navarrete, and Muñoz Otárola.

The investigation proves that the five frentistas were kidnapped in retaliation for the kidnapping of Colonel Carlos Carreño Barrera, then an official of the Fábricas y Maestranzas del Ejército (Famae), perpetrated on September 1, 1987.

According to the investigations, the bodies of the five victims were thrown into the sea, for which Army helicopters were used. Other indicted individuals Before leaving the case and ascending to the Supreme Court in May 2007, Judge Haroldo Brito had indicted retired General Julio Cerda Carrasco, former head of the Army Intelligence Battalion (BIE), and retired officer Fernando Rafael Rojas Tapia, also a member of the aforementioned military body.

Meanwhile, he indicted Aquiles Navarrete Izarnotegui, Víctor Campos Valladares, and Hugo Barría Rogers as accessories to the disappearances. And in September 2006, Brito indicted twelve former CNI agents, among whom are retired General Hugo Salas Wenzel and his subordinates, retired Brigadier Álvaro Corbalán Castilla and Krantz Bauer Donoso, as co-perpetrators of the kidnapping of Sepúlveda Sánchez, Fuenzalida Navarrete, and Muñoz Otárola.

On that occasion, the judge also indicted former agents Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, César Acuña Luengo, and René Valdovinos Morales as co-perpetrators of the kidnappings of Peña Maltés, Sepúlveda Sánchez, Fuenzalida Navarrete, and Muñoz Otárola.

They were joined by former CNI members Víctor Ruiz Godoy, Manuel Ramírez Montoya, Luis Sanhueza Ross, and Luis Santibáñez Aguilera, who were indicted as co-perpetrators of the kidnappings of Pinochet Arenas, Sepúlveda Sánchez, Fuenzalida Navarrete, and Muñoz Otárola.

Source: elmostrador.cl, January 24, 2008

11 former agents freed for the crime of Pepe Carrasco

The punishment for the former operational chief of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI), Álvaro Corbalán, and members of the 11 de Septiembre command, Jorge Vargas and Iván Quiroz, was also reduced.

Eleven former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) will not go to jail. Yesterday, the Supreme Court resolved that they will be able to serve the sentences imposed on them for their participation in the cruel murders of journalist and editor of Análisis magazine José Carrasco Tapia, electronic technician Felipe Rivera Gajardo, professor Gastón Vidaurrázaga Manríquez, and manager of the Cono Sur publishing house Abraham Muskatblit Eidelstein, under supervised release.

All were killed between September 8 and 9, 1986, as revenge for the frustrated attack against dictator Augusto Pinochet. The highest court accepted the mitigating factor of partial prescription, which grants benefits to those who have been detained after half the time expected for a criminal action to be extinguished has passed.

In this way, the ministers gradually reduced the sentences handed down by the appellate court. Thus, the former operational chief of the CNI, Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, obtaining a six-year reduction.

The same fate befell the members of the 11 de Septiembre brigade: Jorge Vargas Bories and Iván Quiroz Ruiz, whose sentences were reduced from 13 to seven years. But, without a doubt, those who received the greatest prerogative were the operational agents of the repressive agency and those who executed the four professionals.

They are Pedro Guzmán Olivares, Gonzalo Maas del Valle, Kranz Bauer Donoso, Jorge Jofré Rojas, Juan Jorquera Abarzúa, Víctor Lara Cataldo, René Valdovinos Morales, Víctor Muñoz Orellana, Eduardo Chávez Baeza, Carlos Alberto Fachinetti López, and José Ramón Meneses Arcauz.

The 11 agents were sentenced to 5 years; however, they will not spend a single day behind bars, as they were placed under the supervision of the Gendarmerie. Regarding economic reparations to the families, the state had already agreed to pay $210 million to the relatives of José Carrasco and the same sum to the relatives of Gastón Vidaurrázaga, $270 million to those of Abraham Muskablit, and another $90 million to those of Felipe Rivera Gajardo.

Plaintiff lawyer Nelson Caucoto called for viewing the resolution from a positive perspective, as it is a trial in which the truth was reached and there was reparation. "We have the issue of the criminal sanction pending; we believe that for horrific crimes there must be more substantive and much higher penalties," he said.

He added that "we are getting used to very little" in the face of the scenario that the victims experienced "on a night when the CNI and the police went crazy in this country." Finally, he said that this case will be enshrined in history with a conviction, with a respectable penalty for the leaders. "It must be highlighted that the leaders are being sentenced more than the subordinates, which seems to me a correct criterion," pointed out Caucoto, who defined this crime as "one of those unforgivable ones."

Source: lanacion.cl, August 14, 2009

Judge Carroza indicts five former dictatorship agents for the murder of communist militants

In the case, the magistrate indicted former members of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI): Manuel Morales Acevedo, Héctor Obal Labrín, Pedro Guzmán Olivares, René Valdovinos Morales, and Carlos Kramm Soto, as authors of the homicide of the Communist Party militant.

According to the background information collected in the investigation, Judge Carroza has managed to establish the following facts: "Marcelino Carol Marchandón Valenzuela was allegedly detained between December 5 and 6, 1986, by agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) at the intersection of Salomón Sack and Av.

Santa María streets, in the commune of Santiago, after having been turned in, according to the background information in the case, by a former Communist Party militant and friend of the victim, who was a CNI informant, being taken to the Borgoño Barracks where he was allegedly executed by members of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI), with said agents carrying out maneuvers at the scene of the event with the purpose of making it appear that a confrontation had occurred between the agents of the security agency and the victim, a scenario that was intended to be supported by the statements of the participants when they testified under operational names before the Military Prosecutor's Office that heard the facts at the time, providing the official version that the victim in question had been shot down in an armed confrontation; That the Central Nacional de Informaciones, CNI, was an organized, hierarchical structure that had the status of a 'military agency, member of National Defense,' divided into brigades that were organized at the top around an officer in command, who established the guidelines, objectives, and priorities of the work, being also seconded by a general staff, composed of officers who provided him with advice and who were in charge of the operation of the barracks. The operations of the Brigades were carried out by Groups or work teams, composed of members of the Army, Carabineros, the Chilean Investigative Police, and civilian personnel, and in the case sub lite it corresponded to the Green Group, which was in charge of repressing the Communist Party." The ruling adds: "From the background information detailed in the first and second foundations, which precede, plus the investigative statements provided by the accused 1) MANUEL ÁNGEL MORALES ACEVEDO, who testifies under the operational name of Carlos Fuentes Contreras on page 143, ratified on page 223; 2) HÉCTOR OSVALDO OBAL LABRÍN, on page 303; 3) PEDRO JAVIER GUZMÁN OLIVARES, who testifies under the operational name of Rodrigo García Norambuena on page 142, ratified on page 416; 4) RENÉ ARMANDO VALDOVINOS MORALES, who testifies under the operational name of Gustavo Ruiz Cornejo on page 143 vta., ratified on page 483; and 5) CARLOS ADRIÁN KRAMM SOTO, whose police interview is on page 552, ratified judicially on page 566, sufficient charges emerge against them to hold them responsible as authors of the crime of Qualified Homicide against the person of MARCELINO CAROL MARCHANDÓN VALENZUELA, an event that occurred on December 8, 1986, provided for and sanctioned in article 391 N°1 of the Penal Code."

Source: elclarin.cl, October 25, 2014

Three former CNI agents sentenced to 10 years in prison for the qualified homicide of a PC militant in 1986

"According to the ruling of the highest court, the convicted individuals, Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, Pedro Javier Guzmán Olivares, and René Armando Valdovinos Morales, were the authors of the murder of Marcelino Carol Marchandon Valenzuela and it considered that it is 'a crime against humanity.'" The Supreme Court sentenced three former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI), Augusto Pinochet's secret police, to 10 years and one day in prison today as authors of the qualified homicide of a Communist Party militant in 1986 in Santiago.

According to the ruling of the highest court, the convicted individuals, Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, Pedro Javier Guzmán Olivares, and René Armando Valdovinos Morales, were the authors of the murder of Marcelino Carol Marchandon Valenzuela and it considered that it is "a crime against humanity." Marchandon, according to the investigation of the case, was allegedly detained between December 5 and 6, 1986, by CNI agents "after having been turned in, according to the background information in the case, by a former Communist Party militant, a friend of the victim, who was a CNI informant." He was taken to the Borgoño Barracks, in the center of Santiago, "being executed in the vicinity of said place by members of said intelligence apparatus." The Justice system detailed that the CNI members tried to make it appear at the scene that there was a presumed attempt to assault the barracks by Marchandon prior to his death, "a scenario that was intended to be supported by the statements of the participants," added the Supreme Court. The autopsy report of the deceased states that the cause of death is craniofacial trauma due to a bullet and that he had 10 bullet impacts and as many from pellets. The sentence was resolved in a split decision in the second chamber of the Supreme Court after accepting a cassation appeal filed against the ruling of the Santiago Court of Appeals, according to which it was appropriate to apply partial prescription, which was dismissed by the highest court. The sentence also acquitted two other former agents of the dictatorship, Héctor Osvaldo Obal Labrín and Carlos Adrián Kramm Soto, as their participation in the events had not been proven. During Pinochet's dictatorship (1973-1990), according to official figures, some 3,200 Chileans died at the hands of State agents, of whom 1,192 are still listed as forcibly disappeared, while another 33,000 were tortured and imprisoned for political reasons.

Source: theclinic.cl, December 7, 2018

Former CNI agent sentenced for homicide in a fake confrontation

The Supreme Court sentenced three former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) as authors of the qualified homicide of Marcelino Carol Marchandon Valenzuela, which occurred on December 8, 1986.

The country's highest court sentenced Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, Pedro Javier Guzmán Olivares, and René Armando Valdovinos Morales to a penalty of 10 years and one day in prison. In a split decision, the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court accepted the cassation appeal presented against the ruling of the Santiago Court of Appeals, which established the prescription of the case and rendered the sentences of the convicted individuals ineffective.

The investigation established that Marcelino Marchandon was detained by CNI agents between December 5 and 6, 1986, at the intersection of Salomón Sack and Avenida Santa María, in the commune of Santiago, after a CNI informant infiltrated the Communist Party and betrayed him.

After that, Marchandon was taken to the Borgoño Barracks, being executed in the vicinity of the place by CNI agents, who intervened at the site to make it appear that they had had a confrontation with the victim, which never occurred.

Thus, because it is a crime against humanity, the case cannot prescribe, so the three convicted former CNI agents must serve the penalty of 10 years and one day in prison. In addition, the Supreme Court's ruling determined to acquit former agents Héctor Osvaldo Obal Labrín and Carlos Adrián Kramm Soto.

Source: lanacion.cl, December 7, 2018

Pinochet's former agents sentenced for murders during the dictatorship

The Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced former intelligence agents of Augusto Pinochet's government this Tuesday in separate rulings for two murders committed in 1973 and 1990. The first sentence was issued by Judge Leopoldo Llanos, who sentenced former members of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA), Raúl Iturriaga Neumann and Gerardo Urrich González, to 15 years and one day in prison for murdering journalism student at the University of Concepción José Hernán Carrasco Vásquez, a crime committed in the city of Santiago in the month of December 1975.

The second ruling was issued by Judge Mario Carroza, who sentenced Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) agents Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, Pedro Javier Guzmán Olivares, and René Armando Valdovinos Morales to 5 years and one day in prison for the homicide of Marcelino Carol Marchandón Valenzuela, murdered on December 8, 1986, also in the Metropolitan Region.

Source: telam.com.ar, February 2, 2018