We have included this person, responsible for the deaths and injuries of three students, even though the events occurred after 1990. It is the opinion of Memoriaviva that the systemic impunity of the political system and the governments after the dictatorship facilitates not only the occurrence of these acts of excessive violence by state agents, but also that if they are judged, they receive light sentences that are not proportional to the crimes.

Source: Memoriaviva

The Court Martial sentenced Carabineros Major Norman Vargas to three years and one day in prison for the death of university student Daniel Menco. By four votes to one, the Court Martial sentenced Carabineros Major Norman Vargas Aragón to three years of imprisonment.

During a university protest in Arica on May 19, 1999, he fired lead pellets at protesters, causing the death of student Daniel Menco Prieto. The young victim, 23 years old and an Accounting student, passed away days later, on May 21, after one of the projectiles became lodged in his head.

Four years after the events occurred, the military appellate court reviewed the file and agreed to increase the sentence against the Carabineros officer responsible for the shots, Major Norman Vargas Aragón, who at the time of the incidents was the commissioner of the First Carabineros Precinct.

In essence, the Court Martial's ruling states that "Vargas Aragón (...) loaded the shotgun and fired a shot in conditions of poor visibility, without aiming at a specific person, but in the direction of the interior of the university center, at an approximate distance of 61 meters (...) with the weapon held at waist level, feeling a detonation and recoil of the weapon of greater magnitude than usual, for which reason he did not fire any other shots and continued with the police procedure." As a result of that shot, Menco died and two other university students were injured: Fernando Rodríguez and Alejandro Martínez. The Court Martial reviewed the background of the file and concluded that there was no criminal intent and that the officer acted only with "reckless imprudence." For that reason, it agreed to sentence Vargas to three years of imprisonment as the perpetrator of the crime of manslaughter, a sentence that he will serve in a remitted form, that is, without being interned in a penitentiary center. The ruling was agreed upon by judge Juan González and representatives of the Army, Juan Arab; the Air Force, Juan Hargous; and the Carabineros, Alvaro Sobarzo. The dissenting vote was from judge Sonia Araneda, who considered that the sentence should have been five years and one day for the death of Menco; 541 days for the serious injuries caused to the second student, Fernando Rodríguez; and 61 days for the damages caused to the third student, Alejandro Martínez. In the ruling, the court established that at 8:00 PM on May 19, 1999, a group of about 60 individuals staged disturbances, including burning tires and throwing Molotov cocktails, in front of the Saucache campus of the Universidad de Tarapacá.

MENCO'S MOTHER

As soon as she heard the news, Lidia Prieto, Daniel Menco's mother, stated that she felt "bitter, because the sentence given to Norman Vargas is very light." Although she stated that she will refer to this ruling in greater detail once she has familiarized herself with the document, she asserted that "I am not satisfied at all.

I believe the sentence should be longer and I hope we can appeal." Likewise, the president of the Federation of Students of the Universidad de Tarapacá (Feut), Gary Tapia, asserted that this is a "cover-up" ruling, because the Court Martial, as he said, dedicated itself to covering up the crime committed by Vargas.

He also called upon those who made political commitments to fight for justice in this case "to refute that ruling and join the voices calling for a harsher sentence."

LAWYER

Meanwhile, Mabel Valdés, lawyer for the Menco family, stated that this ruling constitutes an achievement, since it increased the previous verdict that granted Vargas 541 days of imprisonment. However, the professional maintained that they aspire to toughen the sentence, because she argued that nothing will repair the loss this family suffered, for which reason they are waiting for the full ruling to arrive in order to analyze the steps to follow with the other members of the law firm Pontino, Valdés y Villalobos. "We are talking about the death of a student, which caused the destruction of the family," she said. The lawyer made special mention of the dissenting vote of Court Martial member Sonia Araneda, who was the only one who voted to sentence Norman Vargas to five years and one day, in addition to the 541 days for the serious injuries to Fernando Rodríguez and the 61 days for Alejandro Martínez.

Source: Estrella de Arica, January 10, 2003