Political Representation: Councilman for the Communist Party for the commune of Río Negro. Date of Detention: September 17, 1973

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Mario Sandoval Vásquez, married, father of 3, Councilman of the Commune of Río Negro and a communist militant, was detained on September 17, 1973, around 1:30 PM, at the home of his in-laws located on Calle Aníbal Pinto s/n, Río Negro.

A group of Carabineros led by Major Hans Schemberger Valdivia and Lieutenant José Hernán Godoy Barrientos arrived at this location, proceeded to raid the house, and forcibly removed Mario Sandoval. They then shoved and struck him, forced him into a green van belonging to the Agricultural and Livestock Service (S.A.G.), and departed in the direction of the Río Negro Police Station.

Eyewitnesses to these events included the homeowners, Eufemio Veloso and Carlina Vásquez, the detainee's spouse, María Isabel Lobos Lobos, and several neighbors.

Mario Sandoval's wife went to the police station a short time later, but she was prevented from approaching the facility, and a sentry informed her that her husband had been taken in a Carabineros van to the Osorno Regiment.

One week later, she received a note written by her husband asking her to bring clothing to the Osorno Prison, where he was being held. Upon arriving at the facility, they refused to accept the clothing, explaining that he was a political prisoner and was therefore being held incommunicado.

She returned two more times; on the last occasion, accompanied by the detainee's mother, Ana Vásquez, they managed to enter the prison and speak with him for a few minutes. The following day, September 28, he was transferred to the Estadio Español.

His family members went there as well, but they were not allowed to see him; they were only permitted to send him food, and his father-in-law was able to speak with him on one occasion.

He remained in that detention center until October 7. According to witnesses, he was taken to testify before the Military Prosecutor's Office that morning. Upon returning, he commented that he would have to go back to Río Negro and appeared worried.

Around 1:00 PM, he was notified that the Carabineros were coming to pick him up to take him to Río Negro. He packed his belongings and left the facility under the guard of the same Carabineros who had participated in his initial detention.

When his wife went to the aforementioned stadium, they handed her a bed, a food container, and some dishes.

Subsequently, she began a search through various locations, seeking information about her husband. At the Río Negro Police Station, they denied having taken him from the stadium. At the 1st Police Station of Osorno, she was informed that he had been handed over to the Military Intelligence Service (S.I.M.), so she went to the Military Prosecutor's Office to verify this information.

However, she was told there that he had been released from the Regiment and taken away by the Carabineros of Río Negro. In other words, none of her search efforts yielded new information; therefore, since October 7, 1973, the fate of Mario Sandoval remains unknown.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

During 1974, the spouse of the forcibly disappeared man, Mrs. María Isabel Lobos, sent letters to the Chief of the State of Siege Zone and Intendant of Osorno, Lizardo Abarca Maggi, requesting information about her husband.

In his response, the Intendant stated that inquiries had been made to the competent police agencies, which had carried out investigations in the province without positive results, and therefore his whereabouts remained unknown.

He added in the letter: "Furthermore, I can inform you that Mr. Mario Sandoval Vásquez, after having remained detained and subsequently released, has not been sought by police agencies."

She also wrote to SENDET (National Executive Secretariat for Detainees) requesting an inquiry at the Military Headquarters of the zone, but the response was negative. On April 16, 1979, the Judge of the First Court of Letters of Osorno, by order of the Valdivia Court of Appeals, initiated a summary proceeding in case file No. 22.749 regarding the alleged disappearance of Mario Sandoval Vásquez.

A complaint for the crimes of kidnapping, serious injury, and potentially qualified homicide of Mario Sandoval, filed by his spouse on May 30, 1979, against Carabineros officers Pedro Soto, Raúl Alarcón, Hans Schemberger Valdivia, and José Hernán Godoy Barrientos, was added to this case.

The investigation confirmed that Mario Sandoval was admitted as a detainee to the Osorno Prison on September 17, 1973, by order of the Military Prosecutor's Office, accused of violating Law 17.798. The case against him, file 1.436-73, was dismissed, and his release was ordered on September 28.

The crime he was accused of—illegal possession of explosives—related to the fact that two boxes of dynamite had been found in his possession which, according to his wife, belonged to the Calvo construction company and were work materials that had been entrusted to Mario Sandoval.

Regarding his time at the Río Negro Police Station, it could not be determined, as the Guard Books and reports sent to the Courts corresponding to the year 1973 had been incinerated.

The statements of the witnesses summoned to the Tribunal corroborate the circumstances of the detention and his subsequent time in the Osorno Prison and Estadio Español. One of the witnesses, who was also detained at the stadium, stated that "Mario Sandoval, who had known me since I was a child, said goodbye to me around October 5, telling me that the Carabineros of Río Negro were taking him to that sector."

When summons were sent to Major Schemberger and Lieutenant Godoy through the Third Police Station of Osorno, the station responded that "it is currently unknown in which units of the country they are located" and returned the summons order.

In October 1979, the Judge, Mr. Hugo Sandoval Poblete, closed the summary and ordered the temporary dismissal of the case. Upon appeal of this resolution, the Court of Appeals revoked the dismissal, ordered new proceedings, and appointed Mrs. Juana González Inzunza as Visiting Minister in December 1979.

Once the investigation was reopened, the four Carabineros officers accused appeared and confirmed having held various positions at the 2nd Police Station of Río Negro at the time of the military coup. The now-Lieutenant Colonel Hans Schemberger stated that he was the Governor of the Department of Río Negro from September 11, 1973, until March 1, 1976, and also held the positions of Military Prosecutor for six months and Commissioner of the 2nd Police Station of Río Negro.

From his statements, it is clear that he remembers the detention of Mario Sandoval due to the discovery of dynamite in his possession, and that he was transferred to Osorno and prosecuted by the Military Prosecutor's Office, but he claims "he has no knowledge" that he was taken from the detention center, Estadio Español, by Carabineros or subsequently taken to Río Negro; he only saw him at the police station before his transfer to Osorno.

For his part, Lieutenant José Godoy indicated that they did indeed "requisition a green S.A.G. van that was used for about a year"; however, he does not remember knowing or detaining Mario Sandoval. This is also affirmed by Carabineros Raúl Alarcón and Pedro Soto.

A new witness, also detained at the aforementioned stadium on the same date, declared having seen Mario Sandoval there "physically mistreated."

Upon requesting the submission of case 1436-73 against Mario Sandoval, the IV Military Court of Valdivia indicated that this case, for the crime of illegal possession of explosives and others, was totally and temporarily dismissed on October 15, 1973, and added that "the file could not be found despite an extensive search."

After carrying out these and other proceedings, on April 17, 1980, the Visiting Minister declared herself incompetent to continue hearing the case because "members of the Carabineros have had participation in the investigated facts" and requested that the records be sent to the Military Prosecutor's Office of Osorno.

Upon appeal of this resolution, the Valdivia Court of Appeals confirmed it on July 4, 1980.

Source: Corporation report

In the investigation into the disappearance of a communist militant, Felipe Cossio Urrutia was accused of torture at the Arauco Regiment. Furthermore, this Army colonel was trained at the School of the Americas in Panama; he was later evaluated for his promotions by Manuel "Mamo" Contreras and Odlanier Mena, both directors of Augusto Pinochet's political police, and served as an escort for Verónica Pinochet, the dictator's daughter.

"As a family, we have the principle of always helping friends, in good times and in difficult ones," declared the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Gloria Hutt Hesse, after La Tercera revealed that she had donated 12,000 pesos to a prisoner at Punta Peuco, convicted of human rights violations.

The recipient of the money was a "lifelong companion of my husband," according to the minister, who married military engineer Felipe Cossio Urrutia in 1976. The fact is that Cossio Urrutia himself—a retired Army colonel who died on August 5 of this year due to pancreatic cancer, and who received a tribute in Congress after his death on August 6 of this year—may have been more than just a simple donor to his friends deprived of liberty for crimes against humanity.

INTERFERENCIA gained access to the investigative file of the kidnapping and disappearance case of the councilman of the commune of Río Negro, Mario Sandoval Vásquez (PC), where Cossio is identified by three witnesses as a torturer.

Two political prisoners accuse him of being involved in the torture, while a prison guard—responsible for transporting political prisoners handed over by the military within the Osorno prison—identifies him as one of the officers who operated at the torture center.

Sandoval was forcibly removed from his home in September 1973 by personnel from the Carabineros de Chile. His wife went to the Río Negro Police Station to learn more about his whereabouts and was informed that he had been transferred to the Osorno Regiment, also known as "Arauco," a place where the then-Lieutenant Cossio was on duty between 1971 and 1974, serving—among other roles—as secretary of the Wartime Military Prosecutor's Office of the zone.

"The tortures applied by an Army Lieutenant named COSSIO consisted of the application of electricity to different parts of the body and degrading treatment with punches and kicks while they kept us tied to a kind of bed frame as if we were crucified." These are the words of F.V.A.—whose identity will be kept confidential for security reasons—who spoke on October 23, 2003, during a police interrogation that is part of the investigation into the disappearance of Mario Sandoval.

According to his testimony, F.V.A. was detained on September 15, 1973, and taken to the Military Prosecutor's Office on the 17th of the same month, where he was tortured.

Months later, on March 3, 2004, R.T.T.—whose identity will also be protected—gave his testimony as a political prisoner tortured during the dictatorship. "On September 20 or 21, 1973, I was transferred to the new Hospital, where I remained all day; they interrogated and tortured me.

The Military Prosecutor's Office operated in the hospital and was in charge of [Antonio] Ramírez [Parga, Felipe Cossio's superior and the zone's military prosecutor] and Cossio," he indicated.

Within the file, various testimonies indicate that the Military Prosecutor's Office operated both at the Arauco Regiment and at the "new hospital." The fact is that Cossio's name was repeated, regardless of the location.

On June 30, 2005, it was F.C.F.'s turn to testify. Unlike the other two testimonies, this was not a former political prisoner. F.C.F. served as a prison guard during 1973, stationed at the Osorno penitentiary.

According to his police statement, his duties included receiving political detainees brought by Army officials; "who were subsequently removed by these same individuals and by intelligence officials. On some occasions, Army officials gave us a list with the names of political detainees, whom we had to transport to the Osorno base hospital, which was under construction at the time and was used as an operations center for intelligence agencies," he indicates.

According to the guard, that facility "was in charge of the Chief of the Plaza, Major RAMÍREZ, and I remember, among others, a Lieutenant named COSSIO who carried out patrols, detentions, and took statements from the detainees; both officers were from intelligence.

In that place, the detainees were interrogated and tortured with electric current, situations that I witnessed on several occasions." F.C.F. also adds that everyone who participated in these practices came from the "Arauco Regiment."

Cossio speaks After the various accusations and testimonies that place the late husband of Gloria Hutt as a torturer, it was Felipe Cossio's turn to testify. On December 5, 2006, he was interrogated about his role in the 4th Engineer Regiment, Arauco, in the city of Osorno.

Specifically, he was asked about the disappearance of the communist councilman, to which he replied, "regarding the case I am being asked about, that is, Mario Sandoval Vásquez, I remember absolutely nothing." After being shown a document related to Sandoval's apprehension that contained his signature as secretary of the Military Prosecutor's Office, Cossio indicated that "to the tribunal's question, I reiterate, I do not remember the name Mario Sandoval Vásquez at all.

There is no doubt that he passed through the Prosecutor's Office because the signature as secretary is mine, but the truth is that I do not remember it at all."

Furthermore, Cossio Urrutia asserted that the interrogations were not carried out by him, but by the military prosecutor, Major Antonio Ramírez Parga. "I never knew about illegal coercion or torture of detainees in the city of Osorno.

I, as I said, was a second lieutenant, I was a little over 20 years old, and my work in the Prosecutor's Office was to act only as Secretary. I reiterate that I knew nothing about torture, neither at that time nor later," he declared.

As a minor detail, it should be noted that prior to the military coup and while already installed in the Arauco Regiment, Cossio ceased to be a second lieutenant and became a lieutenant. According to his service record—to which this media outlet had access—the Minister of Transport's husband was promoted on August 1, 1973.

Finally, Cossio was acquitted of any charges, since what was being investigated in Mario Sandoval's case was his forced disappearance, a crime that was not related to the allegations of torture that arose during the investigation against Gloria Hutt's husband.

Even so, the military officer's service record includes information that links him directly to human rights violators, being rated by important figures linked to the dictatorship's repression, having even worked for Augusto Pinochet's daughter.

High military spheres

On January 1, 1971, when Cossio was still an Army second lieutenant, he was designated on a service commission for the "Orientation and Training" course at the School of the Americas, in the Panama Canal Zone, remaining in the Central American country from January 5 to February 14, 1971.

The School of the Americas is recognized as a training center for military personnel and torturers by the United States in the context of the Cold War. Several declassified torture manuals created and taught at said establishment belong to this School.

The manual called Kubrak, dated July 1963, taught "coercive counterintelligence interrogation of resistant sources," including techniques related to the use of electric shocks; the same technique that Cossio is accused of having employed at the Arauco Regiment.

After his time in Panama, Cossio returned to Santiago and was evaluated on October 13 of the same year by Lieutenant Colonel Juan Germán Hutt Gunther, the current Minister Hutt's father and future father-in-law.

After the coup, Hutt the father was appointed as Chilean ambassador to Switzerland, from 1976—the same year his daughter married Cossio—until 1982, when he was replaced by Carlos Forestier.

The following year, shortly before the Coup, Cossio was rated by the then-Lieutenant Colonel and regiment commander, Manuel "Mamo" Contreras Sepúlveda, who, once the dictatorship began, went on to lead the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), one of Pinochet's political police forces responsible for sustained human rights violations and disappearances of people.

Contreras himself died with sentences totaling more than 500 years in prison for his participation in crimes against humanity.

Later—after the Military Coup had occurred—it was the turn of two other military human rights violators to rate the performance of the now-Lieutenant Cossio. This occurred on August 3, 1974, by Colonel Odlanier Mena Salinas and Division General Carlos Forestier Haensgen—who would later replace him as ambassador to Switzerland.

Mena was director of the National Information Center (CNI), the political police that operated between 1977 and 1990, carrying out persecutions, kidnappings, torture, and disappearances of opponents of the dictatorship.

Mena himself was sentenced to serve six years in prison at the Cordillera prison, a special facility for dictatorship criminals, which was closed in 2013. Two days after the closure of said facility was announced, Mena committed suicide with a gunshot to the head while at his home after having received a furlough.

Carlos Forestier, meanwhile, was a general during the dictatorship and also Minister of Defense between 1980 and 1982. He was prosecuted for the homicide of at least seven prisoners of war, whom Forestier ordered to be executed by firing squad.

Receiving good ratings throughout his military career, Felipe Cossio Urrutia was entrusted with sensitive work: escorting Verónica Pinochet Hiriart, daughter of dictator Augusto Pinochet. This work was also well evaluated, receiving congratulations in his service record on February 15, 1975, "for his excellent performance as Liaison and Escort officer for Mrs. Verónica Pinochet Hiriart."

Source: interferencia.cl 9/10/2020 Date: 09-10-2020

Commemorative act "Infrastructure for memory: Conserve, Restore, Build"

A ceremony of recognition, reflection, and memory was held, which, 50 years after the Coup d'État, the Ministry of Public Works dedicated to the forcibly disappeared and politically executed officials, and to all members of that community who suffered human rights violations.

During the act, a memorial plaque was installed and an exhibition was set up at the front of the Ministry of Public Works. Additionally, in this symbolic reparation activity, a donation of unpublished interviews with former officials was presented to the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, and a tour was conducted of the facilities that were the scene of relevant events on the day of the coup d'état, September 11, 1973.

You can watch a video developed by audiovisual producer Sebastián Brito with testimonies from eight direct and indirect witnesses of the coup d'état in the same Morandé building where the MOP is located.

Source: 50.cultura.gob.cl 2023