Sergio Valenzuela González, former head of a "Boina Negra" (Black Beret) commando, who remains detained at the Tucapel Regiment in Temuco, is under investigation for the deaths of Pedro Muñoz Apablaza and Eliseo Jara Ríos, both militants of the Partido Socialista who were murdered at the California estate in Victoria in the month of October 1973.

The Temuco Court of Appeals rejected the appeal filed by the defense of Sergio Valenzuela González, former head of a "Boina Negra" commando, who remains detained at the Tucapel Regiment in Temuco, under investigation for crimes against humanity during the Dictatorship.

The decision of the special minister, Álvaro Meza, was confirmed by the appellate court, which is investigating the deaths of Pedro Muñoz Apablaza and Eliseo Jara Ríos, both militants of the Partido Socialista who were murdered at the California estate in Victoria in the month of October 1973.

In this case, Hernán Salazar Chiferlli; the second-in-command Humberto Torres Torres; the former military governor Luis René Vega Fonseca; and Jorge Castro Lobos, who constituted the high command of the Fourth Battalion of Victoria that year, are also being investigated for their participation in the events.

Minister Mesa also indicted the physician Alejandro Reyes, the battalion’s health authority in 1973. For the president of the Association of Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared and Politically Executed Persons of La Araucanía, Carlos Oliva, the confirmation of Valenzuela González’s detention was not a surprise, given the evidence they held at the time of filing the complaint. “In this case, the presumptions held regarding the case were corroborated: that it was a group of 'Boinas Negras' who came from Santiago, arrived in Victoria, and executed these two left-wing militants,” said Oliva.

It must be remembered that in the month of February 2012, the remains of Muñoz Apablaza, who was 21 years old at the time of his death, were exhumed from the Victoria cemetery. In the case of Jara Ríos, he was 38 years old at the time of his murder.

He was an area chief at the Instituto de Desarrollo Agropecuario (INDAP) and a militant of the Partido Socialista. He was detained and taken to the Victoria Jail on four occasions, re-entering for the last time on October 16, 1973.

Source: soychile.cl, December 31, 2012

Indictment issued against retired military personnel and civilian for homicides in the so-called “Operation Peineta” in Victoria

The minister visiting for human rights violation cases in the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, issued an indictment against 15 retired members of the Army and one civilian, a militant of the Patria y Libertad movement, for their responsibility in two counts of qualified homicide.

These crimes were perpetrated in Victoria on October 27, 1973. In the resolution, the visiting minister indicted the civilian Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín and the former military personnel Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González, Exequiel Eugenio Trullenque Sepúlveda, Eduardo Urrutia Ronda, and Ariel Waldemar Reyes Figueroa as authors of the qualified homicide of Pedro Mario Alonso Muñoz Apablaza and Eliseo Segundo Jara Ríos.

Meanwhile, the former uniformed personnel Hernán Augusto Salazar Schifferli, Humberto Julián Torres Torres, Carlos Enrique Molina Cabrera, Jacinto Mansilla Villarroel, Juan Bautista Santibáñez Hermosilla, Luis Alberto Cortés Beltrán, José Mercedes Videla Gallardo, Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez, and Jorge Humberto Bravo Campos face charges as accomplices; and Darío Alejandro Reyes Núñez and Alfredo Hernán Parra Uslar as accessories after the fact.

During the investigation stage of the case, Minister Mesa Latorre managed to establish the following facts: “A.- That subsequent to September 11, 1973, the commander of the Fourth Transport Battalion of Victoria, Lieutenant Colonel Luis René Vega Fonseca (deceased), had to assume the functions of governor of the city, exercising both tasks in parallel, while the second-in-command of the battalion, Major Humberto Julián Torres Torres, who was also the unit’s intelligence officer, remained in charge of the regiment’s military duties.

The battalion commander also brought Major Hernán Augusto Salazar Schifferli to the Governorate as his aide to collaborate in the tasks proper to that office, and who also worked daily at the Victoria Hospital as a dentist.

B.- That during the second fortnight of October 1973, a group of approximately 120 military personnel belonging to the Third Army Division arrived in the country’s Ninth Region, under the orders of Army General Nilo Floody Buxton (deceased), to carry out various missions in the area aimed at developing the so-called “Operation Peineta,” which had the goal of neutralizing anti-subversive activities in the zone.

One of the patrols deployed for the aforementioned purposes headed to the city of Victoria, where it was received by the second-in-command of the Transport Battalion of that city, Major Torres, who provided them with lodging, weapons, and transportation to carry out the missions.

Said patrol was under the orders of Army Captain Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González, coming from the Divisional Unit of the “Buin” Regiment, and was also composed of at least two officers of the rank of lieutenant who came from the Railway Engineer Regiment of Puente Alto, one of them Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz (deceased), and the other Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez, plus a group of non-commissioned officers numbering more than 20 personnel from both military units.

This group operated in the area for approximately one week, entering and leaving the Victoria military unit with full access. C.- That Eliseo Segundo Jara Ríos, area chief of the Instituto de Desarrollo Agropecuario (INDAP) of Victoria and a militant of the Partido Socialista, was detained and transferred to the jail of that city on September 16, 1973, by order issued by the Military Prosecutor’s Office of Victoria, which was in charge of Army Captain René Castro Lobos (deceased), of the Fourth Transport Battalion of that commune.

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

Throughout this process, there were other detainees in the Victoria jail who were separated in patio No. 5, all for political reasons, who noticed Jara Ríos’s deteriorated state of health. During that period, they also received a visit from the second-in-command of the Victoria Battalion, Major Humberto Julián Torres Torres, who told them that they were detained under the guardianship of the Governorate.

D.- That while he was deprived of liberty in the Victoria jail, Eliseo Jara Ríos was taken to the home of his sister-in-law, Mrs. María Eugenia Gandara Pellet, and subsequently this home was raided by a patrol of military personnel from the Victoria Transport Battalion, which was under the command of a lieutenant nicknamed ‘Parrita,’ whose name was Alfredo Hernán Parra Uslar.

After searching the home, the patrol withdrew. E.- That during the stay of the military personnel from Santiago in the Victoria area, Captain Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González and the two Army lieutenants from the Railway Engineer Regiment of Puente Alto, Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz and Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez, attended a social gathering at the Victoria Hospital.

In that place, they were approached by a civilian named Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín, an active militant of the Patria y Libertad movement, who recognized Captain Valenzuela, since both had spent time years earlier in Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales, when Valenzuela was assigned to the Pudeto Regiment and the civilian was based in Puerto Natales, the place where he married.

After a while, Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín invited the officers to his home to continue the conversation more privately. F.- That at the home of Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín, the officers Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González, Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz, and Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez began a conversation that was overheard by the rest of the inhabitants of the property, whose identities and testimony are kept in the Secret File.

Said witnesses indicated that Temer San Martín maintained a room adjacent to the main bedroom, which he used as a living room where he received his visitors. There, he had a large number of weapons on the walls and kept a small bar.

The witnesses pointed out that one night he arrived with some military officers, 'Boinas Negras,' and settled into the living room with them, a situation that caused surprise to the declarants because Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín did not maintain friendships with uniformed personnel.

One of the witnesses added that all the officers wore black berets, which they left on the bar floor. The owner of the house, Temer, offered them beers and food. One of them was of short stature and was the one who gave the impression of commanding the rest (Captain Sergio Valenzuela González).

They began to talk about killing some people; the witness could not hear the names of the possible victims, but clearly heard that they planned to murder one or more people. A witness indicated that the military personnel Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González, Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz, and Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez, plus Jorge Temer San Martín, left the house at dawn, not returning until nightfall, also accompanied by the same military personnel with whom he had been the night before.

They arrived euphoric and laughed a lot, with one of the witnesses remembering that, among many swear words, they indicated that they had given false freedom to some people and had shot them in the back.

They also indicated in their conversations that the event had occurred near Victoria on the road toward Curacautín. After a long time of drinking and sharing, the officers said goodbye because they were returning to an unspecified place and had to take a helicopter.

G.- That on the morning of October 27, 1973, Captain Sergio Valenzuela González organized two groups with the majority of the military personnel under his command, composed of instructors and conscript soldiers, arranging a truck and a jeep for each of them.

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

According to a witness, Jara Ríos was handcuffed. Subsequently, the entourage headed toward the Fourth Transport Battalion of Victoria, where Valenzuela ordered the lieutenant of the Railway Engineer Regiment, Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez, to get into the jeep in which he was traveling, which was driven by Corporal Luis Alberto Cortés Beltrán.

Both the truck transporting the detainee and the jeep headed toward the rural sector of the city. The second group of military personnel remained under the command of Lieutenant Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz, of the Railway Engineer Regiment of Puente Alto, with this group including, in addition to conscript soldiers and non-commissioned officers, Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín, who the night before had invited Valenzuela and his companions to his home.

The latter was provided with camouflage clothing and military gear. H.- That Pedro Mario Alonso Muñoz Apablaza, a 21-year-old young man with no political affiliation, was detained in the morning hours of October 27, 1973, outside his house by a military patrol under the command of Lieutenant Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz, of the Railway Engineer Regiment of Puente Alto.

Muñoz Apablaza was put into a military truck in the presence of his parents, with the officer telling them that they were taking him to ask him a few questions. I.- That both military patrols coincided with the two detainees in the vicinity of the California estate, which was owned by the Army and was located toward the road to Curacautín.

In that place, they made Eliseo Jara Ríos and Pedro Muñoz Apablaza get out of the vehicles, with Captain Valenzuela taking Jara Ríos and Lieutenant Barriga taking Muñoz Apablaza, taking them to places distant from each other where they executed them by firing bursts of rifle fire.

Said executions received the active collaboration of the non-commissioned soldiers who composed each patrol, namely: Exequiel Eugenio Trullenque Sepúlveda, Eduardo Urrutia Ronda, Ariel Waldemar Reyes Figueroa, Carlos Enrique Molina Cabrera, Jacinto Mansilla Villarroel, Juan Bautista Santibáñez Hermosilla, Luis Alberto Cortés Beltrán, José Mercedes Videla Gallardo, Jorge Humberto Bravo Campos, as well as that of the civilian, Jorge Temer San Martín, integrated into one of these, with this action being witnessed by the other lieutenant of the Railway Engineer Regiment, Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez, and some conscript soldiers. Subsequently, Captain Valenzuela gathered his entire group and ordered silence regarding what had happened there. J.- That once the second-in-command of the Fourth Transport Battalion of Victoria, Major Humberto Julián Torres Torres, learned of the events, he went to the site of the incident and subsequently informed the commander and Governor Luis René Vega Fonseca of what had happened, who gave instructions for the removal of the bodies and their subsequent delivery to the families. Likewise, he ordered the lieutenant nicknamed ‘Parrita,’ namely Alfredo Hernán Parra Uslar, to go and offer condolences to the families of Eliseo Jara Ríos and Pedro Muñoz Apablaza. K.- That the bodies were taken to the Victoria hospital morgue by the same patrol that killed them, where they were received, in the first instance, by the pathologist’s assistant, Mrs. Isidora María Angélica Morales Morales. Subsequently, the Health officer of the Victoria Battalion, Captain Darío Alejandro Reyes Núñez, performed the autopsies on the bodies to then deliver the bodies to the respective families in sealed coffins. L.- That the non-commissioned officer of the Victoria Battalion, Sergio Sigifredo Agüero Vásquez, father of Muñoz Apablaza’s girlfriend, was able to see the bodies of both victims in the morgue and also spoke with the authors of their deaths and with the second-in-command, Major Humberto Julián Torres Torres, asking for explanations about what had happened. Likewise, Muñoz Apablaza’s father was able to confront Captain Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González, who was in command of the patrol that detained and killed his son. M.- That in the following days, a Communiqué was issued from the Governorate that was published in the local and regional press, which indicated that the detainees Jara Ríos and Muñoz Apablaza were dangerous extremists who had been discharged for attempting to escape while being interrogated by a patrol of Army Special Forces. N.- That there is no evidence to ensure that the required legal autopsies were performed on the bodies, although there is evidence in the process that allows establishing that the bodies were examined by the Health physician of the Fourth Transport Battalion of Victoria, Darío Alejandro Reyes Núñez, who, despite the statements of those who saw the bodies of Muñoz Apablaza and Jara Ríos, who pointed out that they presented multiple bullet impacts, only reported that the cause of death for both people was due to acute anemia, omitting to comment on the previous and concurrent actions that caused this situation. Ñ.- That despite the knowledge of the crime by the military contingent of the Fourth Transport Battalion of Victoria, in their capacity as public officials, they have permanently hidden all evidence regarding the events that occurred, in addition to not having denounced or informed military superiors or any other authority of the illicit act, nor is there any record that an investigation was carried out or any record raised as a consequence of the commission of this illicit act.”

Source: temucotelevision.cl, March 20, 2019

Minister Álvaro Mesa sentences retired Army officers and soldiers for homicides in Victoria

In the civil sphere, the court accepted the filed lawsuit and ordered the state to pay a total compensation of $100,000,000 for moral damages to a relative of one of the victims. The minister visiting for human rights violation cases in the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, sentenced the Army captain at the time of the events, Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González, and the then-soldiers Exequiel Eugenio Trullenque Sepúlveda, Eduardo Urrutia Ronda, and Ariel Valdemar Reyes Figueroa to effective prison terms of 20 years; and Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín to 19 years of effective prison, as authors of the consummated crimes of simple homicide of the INDAP official Eliseo Jara Ríos and the student Pedro Muñoz Apablaza. These crimes, in the nature of crimes against humanity, were perpetrated in October 1973 in the commune of Victoria. In the ruling (case file 57.067), the visiting minister also sentenced the retired officers Hernán Augusto Salazar Schifferli and Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez; and the former soldiers Carlos Enrique Molina Cabrera, Jacinto Mansilla Villarroel, and Juan Bautista Santibáñez Hermosilla to 15 years in prison as accomplices to the crimes. Meanwhile, the officers at the time of the events, Darío Alejandro Reyes Núñez and Alfredo Hernán Parra Uslar, must serve 5 years of imprisonment as accessories after the fact to the illicit acts. In the civil sphere, the court accepted the filed lawsuit and ordered the state to pay a total compensation of $100,000,000 for moral damages to a relative of one of the victims. Executions In the sentence, Minister Mesa Latorre considered the following facts proven: “A. That subsequent to September 11, 1973, the commander of the Fourth Transport Battalion of Victoria, Lieutenant Colonel Luis René Vega Fonseca (deceased as recorded at fs. 3.857, Volume XI), had to assume the functions of governor of the city, exercising both tasks in parallel, but the second-in-command of the Battalion, Major Humberto Julián Torres Torres (deceased as recorded at fs. 4.432, Volume XII), who was also the unit’s Intelligence officer, remained in charge of the regiment’s military duties. The Battalion commander also brought Major Hernán Augusto Salazar Schifferli (indicted at fs. 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an accomplice at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI) to the Governorate as his aide to collaborate in the tasks proper to that office, and who also worked daily at the Victoria Hospital as a dentist. B. That during the second fortnight of October 1973, a group of approximately 120 military personnel belonging to the Third Army Division arrived in the country’s Ninth Region, under the orders of Army General Nilo Floody Buxton (deceased as recorded at fs. 3.875, Volume XI), to carry out various missions in the area aimed at developing the so-called ‘Operation Peineta,’ which had the goal of neutralizing anti-subversive activities in the zone. One of the patrols deployed for the aforementioned purposes headed to the city of Victoria, where it was received by the second-in-command of the Transport Battalion of that city, Major Torres (deceased as recorded at fs. 4.432, Volume XII), who provided them with lodging, weapons, and transportation to carry out the missions. Said patrol was under the orders of Army Captain Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González (indicted at fs. 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an author at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), coming from the Divisional Unit of the ‘Buin’ Regiment, and was also composed of at least two officers of the rank of lieutenant who came from the Railway Engineer Regiment of Puente Alto, one of them Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz (deceased, as recorded at fs. 3.876, Volume XI), and the other Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), plus a group of non-commissioned officers numbering more than 20 personnel from both military units. This group operated in the area for approximately one week, entering and leaving the Victoria military unit with full access. C. That Eliseo Segundo Jara Ríos, Area Chief of the Instituto de Desarrollo Agropecuario (INDAP) of Victoria and a militant of the Partido Socialista, was detained and transferred to the jail of that city on September 16, 1973, by order issued by the Military Prosecutor’s Office of Victoria, which was in charge of Army Captain René Castro Lobos (deceased as recorded at fs. 3.859, Volume XI), of the Fourth Transport Battalion of that commune. During the following days, Jara Ríos was subjected to interrogations at the Military Prosecutor’s Office, was released, and was re-detained at least three times, the last apprehension being on October 16, 1973. Throughout this process, there were other detainees in the Victoria jail who were separated in patio No. 5, all for political reasons, who noticed Jara Ríos’s deteriorated state of health. During that period, they also received a visit from the second-in-command of the Victoria Battalion, Major Humberto Julián Torres Torres (deceased as recorded at fs. 4.432, Volume XII), who told them that they were detained under the guardianship of the Governorate. D. That while he was deprived of liberty in the Victoria jail, Eliseo Jara Ríos was taken to the home of his sister-in-law, Mrs. María Eugenia Gándara Pellet, and subsequently this home was raided by a patrol of military personnel from the Victoria Transport Battalion, which was under the command of a lieutenant nicknamed ‘Parrita,’ whose name was Alfredo Hernán Parra Uslar (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accessory after the fact at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI). After searching the home, the patrol withdrew. E. That during the stay of the military personnel from Santiago in the Victoria area, Captain Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González (indicted at fs. 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an author at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI) and the two Army lieutenants from the Railway Engineer Regiment of Puente Alto, Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz (deceased, as recorded at fs. 3.876, Volume XI) and Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), attended a social gathering at the Victoria Hospital. In that place, they were approached by a civilian named Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an author at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), an active militant of the Patria y Libertad movement, who recognized Captain Valenzuela, since both had spent time years earlier in Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales, when Valenzuela was assigned to the Pudeto Regiment and the civilian was based in Puerto Natales, the place where he married. After a while, Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín invited the officers to his home to continue the conversation more privately. F. That at the home of Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an author at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), the officers Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González (indicted at fs. 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an author at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz (deceased, as recorded at fs. 3.876, Volume XI), and Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI) began a conversation that was overheard by the rest of the inhabitants of the property, whose identities and testimony are kept in the Secret File. Said witnesses indicated that Temer San Martín maintained a room adjacent to the main bedroom, which he used as a living room where he received his visitors. There, he had a large number of weapons on the walls and kept a small bar. The witnesses pointed out that one night he arrived with some military officers, 'Boinas Negras,' and settled into the living room with them, a situation that caused surprise to the declarants because Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín did not maintain friendships with uniformed personnel. One of the witnesses added that all the officers wore black berets, which they left on the bar floor. The owner of the house, Temer, offered them beers and food. One of them was of short stature and was the one who gave the impression of commanding the rest (Captain Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González). They began to talk about killing some people; the witness could not hear the names of the possible victims, but clearly heard that they planned to murder one or more people. One of the witnesses added that the military personnel Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González, Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz, and Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez, plus Jorge Temer San Martín, left the house at dawn, not returning until nightfall, also accompanied by the same military personnel with whom he had been the night before. They arrived euphoric and laughed a lot, with one of the witnesses remembering that, among many swear words, they indicated that they had given false freedom to some people and had shot them in the back. They also indicated in their conversations that the event had occurred near Victoria on the road toward Curacautín. After a long time of drinking and sharing, the officers said goodbye because they were returning to an unspecified place and had to take a helicopter. G. That on the morning of October 27, 1973, Captain Sergio Valenzuela González (indicted at fs. 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an author at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI) organized two groups with the majority of the military personnel under his command, composed of instructors and conscript soldiers, arranging a truck and a jeep for each of them. He headed the first group, appearing moments later at the Victoria jail guard post, where he requested that the detainee Eliseo Jara Ríos be handed over to him to carry out proceedings in the case being held against him, with it being recorded in the logbook that by verbal order of the Military Prosecutor of Victoria, the detainee was handed over to the requesting officer. According to a witness, Jara Ríos was handcuffed. Subsequently, the entourage headed toward the Fourth Transport Battalion of Victoria, where Valenzuela (indicted at fs. 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an author at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI) ordered the lieutenant of the Railway Engineer Regiment, Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), to get into the jeep in which he was traveling, which was driven by Corporal Luis Alberto Cortés Beltrán (dismissed at fs. 5.578, Volume XV). Both the truck transporting the detainee and the jeep headed toward the rural sector of the city. The second group of military personnel remained under the command of Lieutenant Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz (deceased, as recorded at fs. 3.876, Volume XI), of the Railway Engineer Regiment of Puente Alto, with this group including, in addition to conscript soldiers and non-commissioned officers, Jorge Octavio Temer San Martín, who the night before had invited Valenzuela and his companions to his home. The latter was provided with camouflage clothing and military gear. H. That Pedro Mario Alonso Muñoz Apablaza, a 21-year-old young man with no political affiliation, was detained in the morning hours of October 27, 1973, outside his house by a military patrol under the command of Lieutenant Germán Jorge Barriga Muñoz (deceased, as recorded at fs. 3.876, Volume XI), of the Railway Engineer Regiment of Puente Alto. Muñoz Apablaza was put into a military truck in the presence of his parents, with the officer telling them that they were taking him to ask him a few questions. I. That both military patrols coincided with the two detainees in the vicinity of the California estate, which was owned by the Army and was located toward the road to Curacautín. In that place, they made Eliseo Jara Ríos and Pedro Muñoz Apablaza get out of the vehicles, with Captain Valenzuela taking Jara Ríos and Lieutenant Barriga taking Muñoz Apablaza, taking them to places distant from each other where they executed them by firing bursts of rifle fire. Said executions received the active collaboration of the non-commissioned soldiers who composed each patrol, namely: Exequiel Eugenio Trullenque Sepúlveda (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an author at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), Eduardo Urrutia Ronda (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an author at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), Ariel Waldemar Reyes Figueroa (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an author at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), Carlos Enrique Molina Cabrera (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), Jacinto Mansilla Villarroel (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), Juan Bautista Santibáñez Hermosilla (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), Luis Alberto Cortés Beltrán (dismissed at fs. 5.578, Volume XV), José Mercedes Videla Gallardo (deceased as recorded at fs. 4.556, Volume XII), Jorge Humberto Bravo Campos (dismissed at fs. 5.550, Volume XV, whose consultation was approved by the Court of Appeals of Temuco at fs. 5.562, Volume XV), as well as that of the civilian, Jorge Temer San Martín (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an author at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), integrated into one of these, with this action being witnessed by the other lieutenant of the Railway Engineer Regiment, Manuel Alfonso Fernández Domínguez (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accomplice at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), and some conscript soldiers. Subsequently, Captain Valenzuela (indicted at fs. 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an author at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI) gathered his entire group and ordered silence regarding what had happened there. J. That once the second-in-command of the Fourth Transport Battalion of Victoria, Major Humberto Julián Torres Torres (deceased as recorded at fs. 4.432, Volume XII), learned of the events, he went to the site of the incident and subsequently informed the commander and governor Luis René Vega Fonseca (deceased, as recorded at fs. 3.857, Volume XI) of what had happened, who gave instructions for the removal of the bodies and their subsequent delivery to the families. Likewise, he ordered the lieutenant nicknamed ‘Parrita,’ namely Alfredo Hernán Parra Uslar (indicted at fs. 2.367 et seq., Volume VII and accused as an accessory after the fact at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), to go and offer condolences to the families of Eliseo Jara Ríos and Pedro Muñoz Apablaza. K. That the bodies were taken to the Victoria hospital morgue by the same patrol that killed them, where they were received, in the first instance, by the pathologist’s assistant, Mrs. Isidora María Angélica Morales Morales (fs. 140 et seq., Volume I). Subsequently, the Health officer of the Victoria Battalion, Captain Darío Alejandro Reyes Núñez (indicted at fs. 629 et seq., Volume II and accused as an accessory after the fact at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), performed the autopsies on the bodies to then deliver the bodies to the respective families in sealed coffins. L. That the non-commissioned officer of the Victoria Battalion, Sergio Sigifredo Agüero Vásquez (statements at fs. 82, Volume I; 134 to 136, Volume I; 394 to 395, Volume II; 552 to 553, Volume II; 558, Volume II; 559, Volume II; 560, Volume II; 561, Volume II and from fs. 904 to 905, Volume III), father of Muñoz Apablaza’s girlfriend, was able to see the bodies of both victims in the morgue and also spoke with the authors of their deaths and with the second-in-command, Major Humberto Julián Torres Torres (deceased as recorded at fs. 4.432, Volume XII), asking for explanations about what had happened. Likewise, Muñoz Apablaza’s father was able to confront Captain Sergio Hernán Valenzuela González (indicted at fs. 573 et seq., Volume II and accused as an author at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), who was in command of the patrol that detained and killed his son. M. That in the following days, a Communiqué was issued from the Governorate that was published in the local and regional press, which indicated that the detainees Jara Ríos and Muñoz Apablaza were dangerous extremists who had been discharged for attempting to escape while being interrogated by a patrol of Army Special Forces. N. That there is no evidence to ensure that the required legal autopsies were performed on the bodies, although there is evidence in the process that allows establishing that the bodies were examined by the Health physician of the Fourth Transport Battalion of Victoria, Darío Alejandro Reyes Núñez (indicted at fs. 629 et seq., Volume II and accused as an accessory after the fact at fs. 3.878 et seq., Volume XI), who, despite the statements of those who saw the bodies of Muñoz Apablaza and Jara Ríos, who pointed out that they presented multiple bullet impacts, only reported that the cause of death for both people was due to acute anemia, omitting to comment on the previous and concurrent actions that caused this situation. Ñ. That despite the knowledge of the crime by the military contingent of the Fourth Transport Battalion of Victoria, in their capacity as public officials, they have permanently hidden all evidence regarding the events that occurred, in addition to not having denounced or informed military superiors or any other authority of the illicit act, nor is there any record that an investigation was carried out or any record raised as a consequence of the commission of this illicit act.”

Source: Judiciary, January 17, 2024