The minister for extraordinary causes regarding human rights violations at the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza Espinoza, issued a sentence against 20 former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) for their responsibility in the qualified homicides of former militants and leaders of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) Lucía Orfilia Vergara Valenzuela, Arturo Vilavella Araujo, and Sergio Peña Díaz.

These crimes were committed on September 7, 1983, on Calle Fuenteovejuna in the commune of Las Condes.

The event was a staged "confrontation" through which the CNI and the dictatorship attempted to cover up crimes and murders, with the active complicity of the corporate press. In the ruling (case file 539-2011), Minister Carroza sentenced former Army Brigadier Roberto Urbano Schmied Zanzi, former head of the CNI’s Metropolitan Division, to 15 years and one day in prison as the perpetrator of the qualified homicides.

Meanwhile, former Army officers Aquiles Mauricio González Cortés, alias "Caracha," former head of the Brigada Azul at the time of the crimes; Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla, former head of the CNI’s anti-subversive division; Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, alias "Gorilón," former member of the Brigada Especial; and former Army civilian employee Manuel Mariano Ventura Laureada Núñez, alias "Piolín," also an agent of the Brigada Especial, were each sentenced to 10 years and one day as perpetrators of the crimes.

In the same case, former Army officer and second-in-command to Schmied Zanzi in the Metropolitan Division, Sergio María Canals Baldwin, and former agents Juan José Pastene Osses, Patricio Leonidas González Cortez, Luis René Torres Méndez, Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, Luis Hernán Gálvez Navarro, Sergio Daniel Valenzuela Morales, Juan Modesto Olivares Carrizo, Raúl Hernán Escobar Díaz, Eduardo Martín Chávez Baeza, Luis Eduardo Burgos Cofré, Raúl Horacio González Fernández, Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, and Juan Alejandro Jorquera Abarzúa were sentenced to 3 years and one day in prison, with the benefit of intensive supervised release, as accomplices.

Meanwhile, former Brigada Especial agent Egon Antonio Barra Barra, alias "Siete Fachas," was acquitted of participation in this episode (the group he was part of was simultaneously committing other crimes on Calle Janequeo).

Brigada Azul

During the investigation phase of the case, Minister Mario Carroza established that, following the assassination of the Intendant of the Metropolitan Region, Carol Urzúa Ibañez, committed on August 30, 1983, the director of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI), Humberto Gordon Rubio (deceased), ordered the Metropolitan Anti-Subversive Division, under the command of Roberto Schmied Zanzi, to form a new group: the Brigada Azul, to investigate the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR).

In this context, on the morning of September 7, 1983, the arrest of MIR members located at the property at Fuenteovejuna 1330, which had been previously identified, was ordered. In the afternoon, a considerable number of agents under the command of Álvaro Corbalán Castilla (commander of the Metropolitan Anti-Subversive Brigade) and Aquiles González Cortés (head of the Brigada Azul) were sent to the location.

"In the initial actions, the agents installed a firing base in front of the property, consisting of a 7.62 mm Rheinmetal machine gun mounted on the roof of a jeep, which was driven on that occasion by Manuel Ventura Laureada Núñez, and the weapon operated by at least two people: one firing, Norman Antonio Jeldes Aguilar, and the other in charge of feeding the ammunition belt, with a firing capacity of 10 rounds per short burst and a full firing rate of 500 per minute, with tracer rounds," the ruling states.

The resolution adds that

"once the firing base was in position, the officer in command ordered it to be aimed and fired at the property for about a minute, that is, about 500 rounds; they then stopped their action and, using loudspeakers, ordered the occupants of the property to surrender."

"One of them," it continues, "Sergio Peña Díaz, decided to surrender and came out with his hands behind his neck, but as he walked toward the agents, they shot him, and his wounds caused his death. This incited the reaction of the only woman in the group, who confronted them with a weapon; faced with this reaction, Álvaro Corbalán again gave the order to fire the firing base in the direction of the property, which caused not only the death of Lucía Orfilia Vergara Valenzuela from gunshot wounds but also the burning of the house and the incineration of the third member of the movement, Arturo Vilavella Araujo."

On the same day, September 7, 1983, the CNI carried out a simultaneous operation on Calle Janequeo, in Quinta Normal, where two other MIR militants were executed.

This episode, however, is being processed in a separate case and by a different visiting minister.

Source: resumen.cl, January 18, 2018

Santiago Court sentences 29 agents of the Comando Conjunto for kidnappings and homicides in 1975 and 1976.

The appellate court confirmed the challenged sentence issued by the minister for extraordinary causes, Miguel Vásquez Plaza.

The Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced 29 agents of the so-called Comando Conjunto for their responsibility in the crimes of simple kidnapping and qualified homicide of Ignacio Orlando González Espinoza and Juan René Orellana Catalán; and in the qualified kidnappings of Ricardo Manuel Weibel Navarrete, Luis Desiderio Moraga Cruz, and Luis Emilio Gerardo Maturana García.

These crimes were perpetrated between November 1975 and June 1976 in the Metropolitan Region.

The appellate court thus confirmed the challenged sentence issued by the minister for extraordinary causes, Miguel Vásquez Plaza, which sentenced Juan Francisco Saavedra Loyola and Manuel Agustín Muñoz Gamboa to 18 years in prison as co-perpetrators of the qualified homicide of González Espinoza and Orellana Catalán; 13 years in prison as co-perpetrators of the qualified kidnapping of Moraga Cruz, Weibel Navarrete, and Maturana González; plus 3 years of imprisonment as co-perpetrators of the crimes of simple kidnapping of González Espinoza and Orellana Catalán.

Meanwhile, former agent Daniel Luis Enrique Guimpert Corvalán was sentenced to 18 years in prison as a co-perpetrator of the qualified homicide of González Espinoza and Orellana Catalán; 12 years in prison as a co-perpetrator of the qualified kidnapping of Moraga Cruz and Maturana González; and 3 years in prison as a co-perpetrator of the crimes of simple kidnapping of González Espinoza and Orellana Catalán.

Likewise, the Fifth Chamber ratified the sentences to be served by:

• Jorge Aníbal Osses Novoa, Sergio Antonio Díaz López, and Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla: 12 years in prison as co-perpetrators of the qualified homicide of González Espinoza; 10 years and one day in prison as co-perpetrators of the qualified kidnapping of Moraga Cruz and Weibel Navarrete; and 400 days in prison as co-perpetrators of the kidnapping of González Espinoza.

• Roberto Alfonso Flores Cisterna and Carlos Hernán Rodrigo Villarreal must serve 10 years and one day in prison as co-perpetrators of the qualified homicide of Orellana Catalán; 5 years and one day in prison as co-perpetrators of the qualified kidnapping of Maturana González; and 400 days in prison as co-perpetrators of the kidnapping of Orellana Catalán.

• Raúl Horacio González Fernández: two sentences of 10 years and one day in prison as co-perpetrator of the qualified homicide of Orellana Catalán and the qualified kidnapping of Moraga Cruz and Maturana González; plus 400 days in prison as co-perpetrator of the simple kidnapping of Orellana Catalán.

• Alejandro Segundo Sáez Mardones must serve two sentences of 10 years and one day in prison as co-perpetrator of the qualified homicide of Orellana Catalán and co-perpetrator of the qualified kidnapping of Maturana González, plus 400 days in prison as co-perpetrator of the kidnapping of Orellana Catalán.

• Otto Silvio Trujillo Miranda: 10 years and one day in prison as co-perpetrator of the qualified kidnapping of Weibel Navarrete and as an accomplice to the qualified kidnapping of Moraga Cruz.

• Lenin Figueroa Sánchez: 5 years and one day in prison as an accomplice to the qualified homicide of Orellana Catalán; 5 years and one day in prison as co-perpetrator of the qualified kidnapping of Maturana González; and 400 days as co-perpetrator of the kidnapping of Orellana Catalán.

• Sergio Daniel Valenzuela Morales and Juan Atilio Aravena Hurtuvia: 5 years in prison as accessories to the qualified homicide of Orellana Catalán; 5 years and one day as co-perpetrators of the qualified kidnapping of Maturana González; and 400 days in prison as co-perpetrators of the kidnapping of Orellana Catalán.

• Ernesto Arturo Lobos Gálvez: 5 years and one day in prison as an accomplice to the kidnappings of Weibel Navarrete and Maturana González, and 60 days in prison as an accomplice to the simple kidnapping of Orellana Catalán.

• Alejandro Jorge Forero Álvarez: 5 years and one day in prison as an accomplice to the qualified kidnappings of Moraga Cruz and Weibel Navarrete; 60 days in prison as an accomplice to the simple kidnapping of González Espinoza.

• Viviana Lucinda Ugarte Sandoval, Andrés Pablo Potin Lailhacar, Emilio Mahias del Río, Juan Luis Fernando López López, José Evaristo Rojas Alruiz, and Francisco Segundo Illanes Miranda: 5 years and one day in prison as co-perpetrators of the qualified kidnapping of Maturana González; 400 days in prison as co-perpetrators of the simple kidnapping of Orellana Catalán.

• Roberto Francisco Serón Cárdenas: 5 years and one day in prison as co-perpetrator of the qualified kidnapping of Moraga Cruz.

• Robinson Alfonso Suazo Jaque, Pedro Ernesto Caamaño Medina, Pedro Juan Zambrano Uribe, and José Hernando Alvarado Alvarado: 4 years in prison as accomplices to the qualified kidnapping of Maturana González; and 60 days in prison as accomplices to the simple kidnapping of Orellana Catalán.

The confirming ruling states that this Court agrees with the assessment of the sentencing judge and the Judicial Prosecutor, for the reasons expressed in the ruling and stated above, that the facts, held as certain in the appealed sentence, are punishable by virtue of the predominance of International Human Rights Law over the provisions of internal or national law.

This recognition is of vital importance because it grants crimes against humanity the relevance they deserve, since their perpetration affects all of humanity and the legal interests concerning international peace, security, and well-being that International Criminal Law seeks to protect.

The resolution adds that this was an attack, detailed in a succession of acts, such as the identification of members of the Communist Youth—labeled as enemies of the fatherland—the formation of teams in charge of raiding their homes, arresting the investigated individuals, and interrogating them under torture, leading to death and disappearance.

These behaviors were not reproached or prosecuted by state authorities, but rather appreciated as part of a security policy implemented by members of the armed forces and civilians, which generates responsibilities of all kinds.

It adds that, for the same reason, it is inappropriate to apply the statute of limitations for criminal action, gradual prescription, or amnesty as grounds for extinguishing criminal liability that would justify acquittal or reduction under internal law.

Therefore, this Court adopts the analysis carried out by the Minister for Extraordinary Causes and makes his conclusions its own, which will serve as the basis for the analysis of the respective appeals.

Regarding the reclassification carried out by the sentencing judge for the kidnappings of Juan Orellana Catalán and Ignacio Orlando González Espinoza, the ruling says it is necessary to take into account that Article 141, in its wording at the time the events occurred, indicated: "Whoever, without legal right, locks up or detains another, depriving them of their liberty, shall be punished..." Subsection 2: "The same penalty shall be incurred by anyone who provides a place for the execution of the crime." And subsection 3: "If the confinement or detention lasts for more than ninety days, or if it results in serious harm to the person or interests of the confined or detained person, the penalty shall be..."

The sentencing judge explains that, given the fact that the victims were deprived of liberty and illegally locked up without any order for a period of less than ninety days, and because the requirement of "serious harm" cannot be equated to that which ends a life, the case must be framed under the hypothesis of simple kidnapping.

Regarding the discovery of the body of Ricardo Manuel Wiebel Navarrete, which the Judicial Prosecutor notes, the sentencing judge says that this has indeed been the case. However, given the limits of this Court's jurisdiction, determined by the margins offered by both the court's accusation and that of the private plaintiffs, who did not contemplate the crime of homicide regarding this victim—which is why they did not appeal—it is not permissible to depart now from the legal classifications provided, as the principle of congruence prevents it.

Although this principle is not expressly stated in the applicable procedure, it emanates from the essential right to defense, and the ruling cannot be reformed to the detriment of the convicted.

In the civil aspect, the sentence ordering the state to pay a total compensation of $1,810,000,000 for moral damages to the victims' families was ratified.

Chain arrests

In the first-instance ruling, Minister Miguel Vázquez Plaza established the following facts:

a) There existed a de facto group that operated clandestinely between 1975 and 1976, composed mainly of agents who belonged to the Air Force Intelligence Directorate, as well as Carabineros de Chile, the Navy, and the Army, with the collaboration of civilians, whose main objective was the repression of the Communist Party Youth, for which they proceeded to arrest several of them.

b) The aforementioned group used the following for arrests and torture: the Cerrillos hangar; Nido 20, a secret detention and torture center located at Calle Santa Teresa No. 037, at the 20th stop of Gran Avenida; Nido 18, a secret center located at Calle Perú No. 9053, La Florida, Santiago, which was used exclusively for torture; La Prevención or Remo Cero, which were dungeons located inside the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment in Colina, all during 1975; La Firma, at the beginning of 1976, when said group moved its operations to the back of the property managed by Carabineros de Chile, located on Calle Dieciocho, across from No. 229, which belonged to the former newspaper Clarín, calling it La Firma.

c) The operational conduct of the group, regarding people illegally deprived of their liberty and kept in secret centers, was to obtain information from them under psychological and physical torture, achieving the collaboration of some of them to the point that some were assimilated as operational agents of the group, which provided greater effectiveness in the chain arrest of communist militants, who were then made to disappear.

In the course of the years, parts of the remains of some of them were found.

d) On November 7, 1975, at approximately 10:00 PM, Ricardo Manuel Weibel Navarrete was arrested at his home at Río Maule No. 1893, Recoleta commune, by subjects wearing civilian clothes; he was kept deprived of liberty at the center called La Prevención or Remo Cero, located inside the Anti-Aircraft Regiment in Colina, the last place he was seen alive.

Subsequently, his skeletal remains were found on the grounds of Fuerte Arteaga, Peldehue.

e) On June 8, 1976, in the Estación Central sector, Juan René Orellana Catalán met with Luis Emilio Gerardo Maturana González, both militants of the Communist Youth in hiding due to the political persecution they were subjected to, for the purpose of receiving money from the party from Maturana González, the latter being in charge of distributing it.

At that moment, he was arrested by agents of the group described in letter a), kept in the center called La Firma, and was subsequently executed at Cuesta Barriga, where remains of his person, consisting of dental pieces and a removable prosthesis, were found.

f) On October 20, 1975, in the early morning hours, Luis Desiderio Moraga Cruz was arrested at his home at Pasaje Tokio No. 5862 by subjects wearing civilian clothes; he was kept in the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment in Colina, inside which was the center called La Prevención or Remo Cero, where he gave the statement that appears on page 5532, this being the last place he was seen alive.

g) On December 4, 1975, in the early morning hours, Ignacio Orlando González Espinoza was arrested at his home on Calle Soberanía No. 1220, Santiago, by subjects wearing civilian clothes; he was kept deprived of liberty at the center called La Prevención or Remo Cero, located inside the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment in Colina, the last place he was seen alive.

Subsequently, he was executed on the grounds of Fuerte Arteaga, Peldehue, where his skeletal remains were found.

h) On June 8, 1976, in the Estación Central sector, Luis Emilio Gerardo Maturana González met with Juan René Orellana Catalán, both militants of the Communist Youth in hiding due to the political persecution they were subjected to, for the purpose of giving party money to Orellana Catalán for himself and for him to distribute to other party militants, as Maturana González was in charge of distributing it.

At that moment, he was arrested by operational agents of the group described in letter a), and kept in the center called La Firma, from where his trail was lost.

Source: pjud.cl, April 11, 2022

The Supreme Court rejected the appeals in cassation filed by the defense teams of the former agents of the so-called Comando Conjunto against the sentence that convicted 27 of them for their responsibility in the crimes of simple kidnapping and qualified homicide of Ignacio Orlando González Espinoza and Juan René Orellana Catalán; and in the qualified kidnappings of Ricardo Manuel Weibel Navarrete, Luis Desiderio Moraga Cruz, and Luis Emilio Gerardo Maturana González, all militants of the Communist Party.

The crimes were perpetrated between October 1975 and June 1976 in the city of Santiago.

The so-called Comando Conjunto was a repressive apparatus created by the dictatorship under the tutelage of the Air Force (Fach) and the participation of agents from the Army, the Navy, the Carabineros, and civilian collaborators, which operated mainly between 1975 and 1977.

Its reason for being was to compete in repressive and criminal tasks with the absolute power held by the DINA under the tutelage of the Army and the direction of Pinochet and Contreras.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 32.012-2022), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, Leopoldo Llanos, minister María Teresa Letelier, and minister Jean Pierre Matus—confirmed the challenged sentence issued by the Santiago Court of Appeals, which sentenced former Fach officer Juan Francisco Saavedra Loyola and former Carabineros officer Manuel Agustín Muñoz Gamboa to 18 years in prison, plus 13 years, plus 3 years in prison each.

Former Navy officer Daniel Luis Enrique Guimpert Corvalán was sentenced to 18 years, plus 12, plus 3 years in prison.

Former Army officers Álvaro Julio Federico Corbalán Castilla and Sergio Antonio Díaz López, and former Navy officer Jorge Aníbal Osses Novoa, were each sentenced to 12 years in prison, plus 10 years and one day, plus 400 days in prison.

Agents Raúl Horacio González Fernández and Alejandro Julio Segundo Sáez Mardones were each sentenced to two terms of 10 years and one day in prison, plus 400 days in prison.

Agents Roberto Alfonso Flores Cisterna and Juan Carlos Hernán Rodrigo Villarreal were each sentenced to 10 years and one day, plus 5 years and one day, plus 400 days in prison.

Civilian collaborator Otto Silvio Trujillo Miranda was sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison. Agent Lenin Figueroa Sánchez was sentenced to two terms of 5 years and one day, plus 400 days in prison.

Agents Sergio Daniel Valenzuela Morales and Juan Atilio Aravena Hurtuvia were sentenced to 5 years and one day in prison, plus 5 years, plus 400 days in prison.

Civilian collaborators Andrés Pablo Potín Lailhacar, Viviana Lucinda Ugarte Sandoval, and Emilio Mahias del Río, and agents Juan Luis Fernando López López, José Evaristo Rojas Alruiz, and Francisco Segundo Illanes Miranda were sentenced to 5 years and one day in prison, plus 400 days in prison.

Ernesto Arturo Lobos Gálvez and Alejandro Jorge Forero Álvarez were sentenced to 5 years and one day in prison, plus 60 days in prison.

Roberto Francisco Serón Cárdenas was sentenced to 5 years and one day in prison. Robinson Alfonso Suazo Jaque, Pedro Ernesto Caamaño Medina, Pedro Juan Zambrano Uribe, and José Hernando Alvarado Alvarado were each sentenced to 4 years, plus 60 days in prison.

Antonio Benedicto Quiros Reyes and Miguel Arturo Estay Reyno, who were also convicted, died during the course of the proceedings.

In the judicial investigation and first-instance ruling, Minister Miguel Vásquez Plaza established that there existed a de facto group that operated clandestinely between 1975 and 1976, composed mainly of agents who belonged to the Air Force Intelligence Directorate, as well as Carabineros de Chile, the Navy, and the Army, with the collaboration of civilians, whose main objective was the repression of the Communist Party Youth, for which they proceeded to arrest several of them.

This group, called Comando Conjunto, used various facilities for arrests and torture: the Cerrillos Hangar; Nido 20, a secret detention and torture center located at Calle Santa Teresa No. 037, at the 20th stop of Gran Avenida; Nido 18, a secret center located at Calle Perú No. 9053, La Florida, Santiago, which was used exclusively for torture; La Prevención or Remo Cero, which were dungeons located inside the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment in Colina, all during 1975; La Firma, at the beginning of 1976, when said group moved its operations to the back of the property managed by Carabineros de Chile, located on Calle Dieciocho, across from No. 229, which belonged to the former newspaper Clarín, calling it La Firma.

The operational conduct of the group consisted of arresting people using the kidnapping method, keeping them captive in secret centers, and subjecting them to physical and psychological interrogation and torture to obtain information and break their will, achieving the collaboration of some of them to the point that some were assimilated as operational agents of the group, which provided greater effectiveness in the chain arrest of communist militants, who were then made to disappear; in the course of the years, parts of the remains of some of them were found.

On November 7, 1975, at approximately 10:00 PM, Ricardo Manuel Weibel Navarrete was arrested at his home on Calle Río Maule in the Recoleta commune by subjects wearing civilian clothes; he was kept deprived of liberty at the center called La Prevención or Remo Cero, located inside the Anti-Aircraft Regiment in Colina, the last place he was seen alive.

Subsequently, his skeletal remains were found on the grounds of Fuerte Arteaga, Peldehue.

On October 20, 1975, in the early morning hours, Luis Desiderio Moraga Cruz was arrested at his home on Pasaje Tokio in the Juanita Aguirre neighborhood, Conchalí commune, Santiago, by subjects wearing civilian clothes; he was kept in the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment in Colina, inside which was the center called La Prevención or Remo Cero, this being the last place he was seen alive.

On December 4, 1975, in the early morning hours, Ignacio Orlando González Espinoza was arrested at his home on Calle Soberanía in the Santiago commune by subjects wearing civilian clothes; he was kept deprived of liberty at the center called La Prevención or Remo Cero, located inside the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment in Colina, the last place he was seen alive.

Subsequently, he was executed on the grounds of Fuerte Arteaga, Peldehue, where his skeletal remains were found.

On June 8, 1976, in the Estación Central sector, Luis Emilio Gerardo Maturana González met with Juan René Orellana Catalán, both militants of the Communist Youth in hiding due to the political persecution they were subjected to, for the purpose of giving party money to Orellana Catalán for himself and for him to distribute to other party militants, as Maturana González was in charge of distributing it.

At that moment, they were arrested by operational agents of the aforementioned Comando Conjunto and kept in the center called La Firma, from where their trail was lost. Subsequently, Orellana Catalán was executed at Cuesta Barriga, where remains of his person were found.

Source: resumen.cl, April 26, 2024