While the vast majority of those who acted in the most violent, brutal, and terrifying episodes of the dictatorship were men, there were also women who participated in the military regime as torturers or "aides" to torture.

A very significant number were in administrative roles that allowed the repressive apparatus to function, but there were also those in direct operational roles, involved in kidnappings, torture, executions, and the forced disappearance of prisoners.

One of them is Zinaida Vicencio González, prosecuted for the murder of two young MIR militants in 1983, who is currently detained at the Army's Battalion Number 1, awaiting her transfer to a prison within the penitentiary system.

As of today, Punta Peuco has 70 inmates, following the incarceration of 16 former CNI agents who murdered two young people in cold blood in 1983. However, there are still 34 military personnel waiting to enter the facility for murdering five young people in 1987.

Although, as a result of these new admissions, new questions arise regarding military prisoners and accomplices of the dictatorship and human rights violations: the women who have been prosecuted.

Alongside the seasoned torturers, among the cruelest agents in the torture chambers were the women who placed themselves at the service of terror. A very significant number were in administrative roles that allowed the repressive apparatus to function, but in Chile, there were also those in direct operational roles, involved in kidnappings, torture, executions, and the forced disappearance of prisoners.

This is a sample.

Ingrid Felicitas Olderock Benhard. She was in charge of training the German Shepherd dog Volodia, which was used to rape several female prisoners at the Venda Sexy.

Simultaneously with the operation of the Cuartel Ollagüe, the DINA also put into operation this torture center known among detainees as the "Venda Sexy" (Sexy Blindfold), alluding to the fact that a significant portion of the torture carried out there involved rape and sexual aberrations, among which was the training of a German Shepherd dog—which the agents named Volodia, in reference to a writer who was then a high-ranking leader of the Communist Party—to rape female detainees who were forced to assume a position that facilitated penetration by the animal.

The Venda Sexy, like the Cuartel Ollagüe, was previously a private residence in a middle-class neighborhood. This torture center operated continuously and systematically between the months of August and December 1974, although it continued to be used occasionally on later dates.

During the period in question, about thirty people were killed as a result of the torture applied to them, or were simply murdered.

Rosa Humilde Ramos. The important case of the kidnapping of Miguel Angel Sandoval is joined to the one known as "the 119," due to the number of those they attempted to make appear as having died in internal fights in Argentina in the so-called "Operation Colombo."

Witnesses to Sandoval's kidnapping report having seen him at Villa Grimaldi until February 10, 1975, the day he was taken out along with María Isabel Joui Petersen, María Teresa Eltit Contreras, Renato Sepúlveda Guajardo, Jorge Herrera Jofré, and Claudio Silva Peralta, all of whom were forcibly disappeared.

The testimony of María Isabel Matamala provides another detail: she was detained by Osvaldo Romo and taken to Villa Grimaldi, tortured for 15 days by Romo and Basclay Zapata, and interrogated by Moren, Krassnoff, Laureani, Ricardo Lawrence, Ferrer, and a woman nicknamed "the commander," whose name was Rosa Humilde Ramos.

The survivor María Salinas Farfán points out that she saw many detainees who are now forcibly disappeared and that, among the agents, she can recognize Romo, Laureani, Krassnoff, Moren Brito, Luz Arce, Marcia Merino, and Alicia Gómez (María Alicia Uribe Gómez), alias "La Carola" (left).

Osvaldo Romo acknowledges that among the torturers at Villa Grimaldi were César Manríquez, Wenderot, and Palmira Almuna. Basclay Zapata, alias "el Troglo," declares that "in 1975 he married Teresa Osorio Navarro, also an official of the organization" and that he would go out with Luz Arce to "scout" in a vehicle through the streets of Santiago.

Teresa Osorio says she "entered as a civilian employee of the Navy in 1974, being assigned to work at the DINA, in the Villa Grimaldi barracks, as Krassnoff's secretary. She knew that the DINA agents were divided into groups, called ‘Halcón’, ‘Purén’, ‘Aguila’, and others, with the set of these being called ‘Caupolicán’.

She reiterates her statements in a confrontation with Eugenio Fieldhouse (also an agent), insisting that she did not go out to detain people."

Fieldhouse, coming from the Investigations police, admits that among the agents at Villa Grimaldi were Teresa Osorio, Rosa Humilde Ramos, and Palmira Almuna. Meanwhile, survivor Raúl Flores Castillo reports that he was detained "by armed subjects, one of whom identified himself as Osvaldo Romo; they put him into a vehicle in which there were more people, a woman they called ‘la negra’ (Teresa Osorio), and a subject they called ‘el Troglo’."

While many of the women who belonged to the DINA performed administrative tasks, there is a team that has been categorized by survivors as "the most sadistic and cruel." Among them stood out Carabineros Sub-lieutenant Ingrid Felicitas Olderock Oelckers, who was an instructor of torturers as early as the initial school at Tejas Verdes.

As a member of the Purén Brigade, she was the trainer of the dogs used in the sexual abuse committed against men and women at the secret "Venda Sexy" barracks.

Palmira Isabel Almuna Guzmán, alias La Pepa, also a Carabineros Sub-lieutenant, was a member of the Purén Brigade and a torturer at José Domingo Cañas under the orders of Ciro Torré Sáez; she later worked under the orders of Pedro Espinoza Bravo.

She was in charge of selecting and instructing future agents, who were infiltrated as frivolous and pretty women in various spheres of national political relevance. She moved to the CNI and in 1985 returned to the Carabineros, serving in a juvenile correctional center in Iquique with the rank of commander of the female staff.

She was denounced at her home at Luis Beltrán 1000, in Pudahuel, on May 31, 2003, after which she has not been seen in the neighborhood again; she likely lives in Iquique.

Nélida Gutiérrez Rivera was the private secretary and mistress of Manuel Contreras. After her boss's arrest, she continued as his part-time secretary at the offices he had on Calle Ricardo Lyon; she dedicated the rest of her time to her boutique "Mané" (Manuel and Nélida) in the Lyon and Providencia shopping arcade.

Although the role played by Viviana Pincetti Barra is not known with certainty—who appears receiving salaries from the DINA and is the daughter of Osvaldo Pincetti Gac, alias "charla"—her father took her on "visits" to Villa Grimaldi and other barracks of the repressive organization.

Various testimonies speak of the terrible role played by Marcia Alejandra Evelyn Merino Vega, alias "la flaca Alejandra," as an agent after being a MIR militant. These days she lives in an insular area of Chile, from where she travels to Santiago to provide statements in the various trials against the DINA.

Luz Arce Sandoval, having become an agent, went from being a PS militant to the DINA. Survivors remember her present at torture sessions at Villa Grimaldi, Londres 38, and Cuatro Alamos. She continued her work at the CNI and in 1990 made herself available to the courts to testify in cases of the forcibly disappeared.

Today she lives outside of Chile and returns circumstantially to provide data in judicial proceedings.

María Alicia Uribe Gómez, alias "Carola," went from being a MIR militant to a DINA agent, then to the CNI, and after 1990 she was integrated into the DINE. Along with other collaborators, they carried out true "fashion shows" with the clothing of female prisoners murdered in the DINA barracks. She was seen at Villa Grimaldi, Cuatro Alamos, and José Domingo Cañas.

Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández was known as "the commander," a torturer at José Domingo Cañas and Villa Grimaldi and a member of the Aguila Group of the Caupolicán Brigade. Her memory is indelible among survivors due to her masculine appearance and the sadism she applied in torture. Also cruel is María Teresa Osorio, alias "Soledad" or "la negra," wife of Basclay Zapata.

In the Purén Brigade, dedicated to the repression of the PS, the PC, and the DC, the detective Ximena San Juan, Elsa del Tránsito Lagos Salazar, Francisca del Carmen Cerda Galleguillos, and Nancy Edulia Vásquez Torrejón, alias "Pelusa," appear with functions.

In the Halcón II Group of the Caupolicán Brigade, a group that participated in the confrontation with Miguel Enríquez, was María Gabriela Ordenes, alias "Marisol," who was seen present at torture sessions.

Agents in administrative functions were:

– Mirtha Espinoza Caamaño, DINA secretary, who worked under the command of Augusto Deitchler in the Sub-directorate of Internal Intelligence. – María Gabriela Coll Webar, secretary of the General Headquarters staff. – Marta Smock Teixido, secretary of the General Headquarters staff in the Sub-directorate of Economic Intelligence. – Sandra Montecinos Sepúlveda, secretary of the General Headquarters staff. – Eliana Quilodrán, alias "Ely," agent of the Directorate of Operations who acted under the command of Pedro Espinoza Bravo in the Education and Informatics section. – Teresa Aburto, secretary of Section C-2, who continued working at the CNI and later at the DINE. – Enriqueta Salazar Contreras, secretary of the Sub-directorate of Internal Intelligence with direct duties with Rolf Wenderoth, who would later be integrated into the Carabineros. – Maribel Maringue Moya, secretary to the Sub-director after Wenderoth's departure, who subsequently continued to perform functions in the CNI directorate.

Also appearing are

– Ana María Rubio de la Cruz, alias "Carmen Gutiérrez," Army non-commissioned officer and secretary of the Sub-directorate of External Intelligence, implicated in the assassination of General Carlos Prats and his wife. – María Eliana Moncada Prieto, secretary of the Sub-directorate of External Intelligence, who later joined the Counterintelligence Department. – Sara Aguila Márquez, social worker of the Personnel Sub-directorate. – Carmen Avila Ferrada, secretary to Arturo Ureta Siré in the Sub-directorate of External Intelligence, subsequently moving to hold the same position in the CNI, under the command of Colonel Suau. – Alejandra Damián Serrano, who used the alias "Roxana," was Michel Townley's secretary.

The nurse María Eliana Bolumburú Taboada (Bolumburó according to the list by "Elissalde and Poblete") was part of the DINA Health Brigade, working in clandestine clinics alongside several doctors who advised on torture. The last information on her whereabouts placed her working at a pharmaceutical company on Calle Ejército and living in a villa in Maipú.

The girl from the Comando Conjunto

It seems that the only woman in the Comando Conjunto is the famous Pochi, who was seen dressed in a school uniform asking about people who would later be kidnapped. She was also active in the torture inflicted on dozens of prisoners in the clandestine torture centers known as Nido 20 and Nido 18.

Viviana Lucinda Ugarte Sandoval was a soldier (r) of the FACH, with an assignment to the DIFA and the Comando Conjunto. Spouse of General Patricio Campos Montecinos, director general of Civil Aeronautics until the denunciation made by the newspaper La Nación.

Prosecuted during the dictatorship by Judge Cerda as the author of criminal illicit association and an accomplice in the disappearance of Reinalda Pereira and Edrás Pinto, she was amnestied by Judge Manuel Silva Ibáñez. These days she continues to be involved in the proceedings being carried out against the Comando Conjunto.

Source: reddigital.cl, October 22, 2015

Alongside the seasoned torturers, among the cruelest agents in the torture chambers were the women who placed themselves at the service of terror. A very significant number were in administrative roles that allowed the repressive apparatus to function, but in Chile, there were also those in direct operational roles, involved in kidnappings, torture, executions, and the forced disappearance of prisoners.

This is a sample.

Ingrid Felicitas Olderock Benhard. She was in charge of training the German Shepherd dog Volodia, which was used to rape several female prisoners at the Venda Sexy.

Simultaneously with the operation of the Cuartel Ollagüe, the DINA also put into operation this torture center known among detainees as the "Venda Sexy," alluding to the fact that a significant portion of the torture carried out there involved rape and sexual aberrations, among which was the training of a German Shepherd dog—which the agents named Volodia, in reference to a writer who was then a high-ranking leader of the Communist Party—to rape female detainees who were forced to assume a position that facilitated penetration by the animal.

The Venda Sexy, like the Cuartel Ollagüe, was previously a private residence in a middle-class neighborhood. This torture center operated continuously and systematically between the months of August and December 1974, although it continued to be used occasionally on later dates.

During the period in question, about thirty people were killed as a result of the torture applied to them, or were simply murdered.

Rosa Humilde Ramos. The important case of the kidnapping of Miguel Angel Sandoval is joined to the one known as "the 119," due to the number of those they attempted to make appear as having died in internal fights in Argentina in the so-called "Operation Colombo."

Witnesses to Sandoval's kidnapping report having seen him at Villa Grimaldi until February 10, 1975, the day he was taken out along with María Isabel Joui Petersen, María Teresa Eltit Contreras, Renato Sepúlveda Guajardo, Jorge Herrera Jofré, and Claudio Silva Peralta, all of whom were forcibly disappeared.

The testimony of María Isabel Matamala provides another detail: she was detained by Osvaldo Romo and taken to Villa Grimaldi, tortured for 15 days by Romo and Basclay Zapata, and interrogated by Moren, Krassnoff, Laureani, Ricardo Lawrence, Ferrer, and a woman nicknamed "the commander," whose name was Rosa Humilde Ramos.

The survivor María Salinas Farfán points out that she saw many detainees who are now forcibly disappeared and that, among the agents, she can recognize Romo, Laureani, Krassnoff, Moren Brito, Luz Arce, Marcia Merino, and Alicia Gómez (María Alicia Uribe Gómez), alias "La Carola" (left).

Osvaldo Romo acknowledges that among the torturers at Villa Grimaldi were César Manríquez, Wenderot, and Palmira Almuna. Basclay Zapata, alias "el Troglo," declares that "in 1975 he married Teresa Osorio Navarro, also an official of the organization" and that he would go out with Luz Arce to "scout" in a vehicle through the streets of Santiago.

Teresa Osorio says she "entered as a civilian employee of the Navy in 1974, being assigned to work at the DINA, in the Villa Grimaldi barracks, as Krassnoff's secretary. She knew that the DINA agents were divided into groups, called ‘Halcón’, ‘Purén’, ‘Aguila’, and others, with the set of these being called ‘Caupolicán’.

She reiterates her statements in a confrontation with Eugenio Fieldhouse (also an agent), insisting that she did not go out to detain people."

Fieldhouse, coming from the Investigations police, admits that among the agents at Villa Grimaldi were Teresa Osorio, Rosa Humilde Ramos, and Palmira Almuna. Meanwhile, survivor Raúl Flores Castillo reports that he was detained "by armed subjects, one of whom identified himself as Osvaldo Romo; they put him into a vehicle in which there were more people, a woman they called ‘la negra’ (Teresa Osorio), and a subject they called ‘el Troglo’."

While many of the women who belonged to the DINA performed administrative tasks, there is a team that has been categorized by survivors as "the most sadistic and cruel." Among them stood out Carabineros Sub-lieutenant Ingrid Felicitas Olderock Oelckers, who was an instructor of torturers as early as the initial school at Tejas Verdes.

As a member of the Purén Brigade, she was the trainer of the dogs used in the sexual abuse committed against men and women at the secret "Venda Sexy" barracks.

Palmira Isabel Almuna Guzmán, alias La Pepa, also a Carabineros Sub-lieutenant, was a member of the Purén Brigade and a torturer at José Domingo Cañas under the orders of Ciro Torré Sáez; she later worked under the orders of Pedro Espinoza Bravo.

She was in charge of selecting and instructing future agents, who were infiltrated as frivolous and pretty women in various spheres of national political relevance. She moved to the CNI and in 1985 returned to the Carabineros, serving in a juvenile correctional center in Iquique with the rank of commander of the female staff.

She was denounced at her home at Luis Beltrán 1000, in Pudahuel, on May 31, 2003, after which she has not been seen in the neighborhood again; she likely lives in Iquique.

Nélida Gutiérrez Rivera was the private secretary and mistress of Manuel Contreras. After her boss's arrest, she continued as his part-time secretary at the offices he had on Calle Ricardo Lyon; she dedicated the rest of her time to her boutique "Mané" (Manuel and Nélida) in the Lyon and Providencia shopping arcade.

Although the role played by Viviana Pincetti Barra is not known with certainty—who appears receiving salaries from the DINA and is the daughter of Osvaldo Pincetti Gac, alias "charla"—her father took her on "visits" to Villa Grimaldi and other barracks of the repressive organization.

Various testimonies speak of the terrible role played by Marcia Alejandra Evelyn Merino Vega, alias "la flaca Alejandra," as an agent after being a MIR militant. These days she lives in an insular area of Chile, from where she travels to Santiago to provide statements in the various trials against the DINA.

Luz Arce Sandoval, having become an agent, went from being a PS militant to the DINA. Survivors remember her present at torture sessions at Villa Grimaldi, Londres 38, and Cuatro Alamos. She continued her work at the CNI and in 1990 made herself available to the courts to testify in cases of the forcibly disappeared.

Today she lives outside of Chile and returns circumstantially to provide data in judicial proceedings.

María Alicia Uribe Gómez, alias "Carola," went from being a MIR militant to a DINA agent, then to the CNI, and after 1990 she was integrated into the DINE. Along with other collaborators, they carried out true "fashion shows" with the clothing of female prisoners murdered in the DINA barracks. She was seen at Villa Grimaldi, Cuatro Alamos, and José Domingo Cañas.

Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández was known as "the commander," a torturer at José Domingo Cañas and Villa Grimaldi and a member of the Aguila Group of the Caupolicán Brigade. Her memory is indelible among survivors due to her masculine appearance and the sadism she applied in torture. Also cruel is María Teresa Osorio, alias "Soledad" or "la negra," wife of Basclay Zapata.

In the Purén Brigade, dedicated to the repression of the PS, the PC, and the DC, the detective Ximena San Juan, Elsa del Tránsito Lagos Salazar, Francisca del Carmen Cerda Galleguillos, and Nancy Edulia Vásquez Torrejón, alias "Pelusa," appear with functions.

In the Halcón II Group of the Caupolicán Brigade, a group that participated in the confrontation with Miguel Enríquez, was María Gabriela Ordenes, alias "Marisol," who was seen present at torture sessions.

Agents in administrative functions were:

– Mirtha Espinoza Caamaño, DINA secretary, who worked under the command of Augusto Deitchler in the Sub-directorate of Internal Intelligence. – María Gabriela Coll Webar, secretary of the General Headquarters staff. – Marta Smock Teixido, secretary of the General Headquarters staff in the Sub-directorate of Economic Intelligence. – Sandra Montecinos Sepúlveda, secretary of the General Headquarters staff. – Eliana Quilodrán, alias "Ely," agent of the Directorate of Operations who acted under the command of Pedro Espinoza Bravo in the Education and Informatics section. – Teresa Aburto, secretary of Section C-2, who continued working at the CNI and later at the DINE. – Enriqueta Salazar Contreras, secretary of the Sub-directorate of Internal Intelligence with direct duties with Rolf Wenderoth, who would later be integrated into the Carabineros. – Maribel Maringue Moya, secretary to the Sub-director after Wenderoth's departure, who subsequently continued to perform functions in the CNI directorate.

Also appearing are

– Ana María Rubio de la Cruz, alias "Carmen Gutiérrez," Army non-commissioned officer and secretary of the Sub-directorate of External Intelligence, implicated in the assassination of General Carlos Prats and his wife. – María Eliana Moncada Prieto, secretary of the Sub-directorate of External Intelligence, who later joined the Counterintelligence Department. – Sara Aguila Márquez, social worker of the Personnel Sub-directorate. – Carmen Avila Ferrada, secretary to Arturo Ureta Siré in the Sub-directorate of External Intelligence, subsequently moving to hold the same position in the CNI, under the command of Colonel Suau. – Alejandra Damián Serrano, who used the alias "Roxana," was Michel Townley's secretary.

The nurse María Eliana Bolumburú Taboada (Bolumburó according to the list by "Elissalde and Poblete") was part of the DINA Health Brigade, working in clandestine clinics alongside several doctors who advised on torture. The last information on her whereabouts placed her working at a pharmaceutical company on Calle Ejército and living in a villa in Maipú.

The girl from the Comando Conjunto

It seems that the only woman in the Comando Conjunto is the famous Pochi, who was seen dressed in a school uniform asking about people who would later be kidnapped. She was also active in the torture inflicted on dozens of prisoners in the clandestine torture centers known as Nido 20 and Nido 18.

Viviana Lucinda Ugarte Sandoval was a soldier (r) of the FACH, with an assignment to the DIFA and the Comando Conjunto. Spouse of General Patricio Campos Montecinos, director general of Civil Aeronautics until the denunciation made by the newspaper La Nación.

Prosecuted during the dictatorship by Judge Cerda as the author of criminal illicit association and an accomplice in the disappearance of Reinalda Pereira and Edrás Pinto, she was amnestied by Judge Manuel Silva Ibáñez. These days she continues to be involved in the proceedings being carried out against the Comando Conjunto.

Source: elsiglo.cl, December 12, 2005

Case No. 2182-98, "Villa Grimaldi" episode, "Jose Carrasco Vásquez" file

44) Deposition of Nancy Edulia Vásquez Torrejón, on page 2288, indicates that she was part of the DINA, assigned to Villa Grimaldi. The head of that barracks was Marcelo Moren or Gerardo Urrich, she does not remember well.

Her direct boss was Gerardo Urrich. She speaks of Alicia de Fátima Muñoz Gatica, saying that she did the training in Rocas Santo Domingo with her; she was lame, and apparently belonged to the ranks of the Carabineros. She also speaks of Adelina Ortega Sáez, with whom she also did the course in Rocas Santo Domingo and who was from the Carabineros.

Source: Judiciary, February 12, 2016

The arrest of Adriana Rivas in Australia, after Chilean courts had been demanding her extradition for years, has brought back the topic of the women who made up the DINA and the CNI. If she decided to collaborate from her experience as Manuel Contreras's secretary between '73 and '76, there would be many significant questions.

What happened to the pregnant prisoners?

Were children born in captivity? Or who were the business investors of the DINA's secret fund?

We know her image and words from the documentary "El pacto de Adriana" (Adriana's Pact), made by director Lissette Orozco, a niece who knew her as her aunt "Chany."

In the film, she responds to Lissette

“Why do I tell you that they are the best days of my life? Because that part [...] of the life of the rich was forbidden to me. Do you think I could have, if I had been an executive secretary, gone to have lunch at the Palacio Cousiño?”

With calm and conviction, Adriana opines on the application of torture: “it was the only way to break people,” while also affirming that she has “fond memories” of Contreras as a person and boss.

Only one woman imprisoned. Among the hundreds prosecuted and convicted for human rights violations, there is only one female agent imprisoned at the Vicuña Mackenna Women's Orientation Center. She is Ema Ceballos Núñez, known as "Flaca Cecilia," who is serving a sentence for the kidnapping of five members of the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (FPMR) in 1987.

At the same time, she was part of the CNI's Blue Brigade in Valdivia, where she was the author of the death of Juan José Boncompte in August 1984.

Women doing evil.

Could the condition of being women have inhibited the investigating judges or the auxiliary police? The researcher on women's issues and memory, Tamara Vidaurrázaga, responds: “essentialism says that we are naturally good; perhaps that is why it is difficult to see them as women who chose to do evil.”

Ingrid Olderock Bernhard is a prominent figure in this Bestiary. She had leadership responsibility and stood out as an instructor of dogs that raped imprisoned women and men.

The December 2004 edition of El Siglo referred to the "female roster" of torture. The doctor and survivor María Isabel Matamala has testified that she was detained and tortured by Osvaldo Romo and that among the male interrogators was a woman nicknamed "the commander," whose name was Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández.

In October 1991, the journalist Gladys Díaz, a survivor of Villa Grimaldi, wrote a chronicle for the magazine Análisis titled: "Where are the Dinos of yesterday today?" In it, she referred to the female leftist militants whom the DINA turned into collaborators "under atrocious duress": Marcia Merino, the "flaca Alejandra," and Luz Arce.

Gladys established that those two had begun to collaborate with the procedural investigations, unlike "Carola"—María Alicia Uribe Gómez—who until that moment remained a DINE official.

Nurses causing death.

In the cross-referencing of lists of female agents, there are easily a hundred names. But there are some that stand out and repeat. María Teresa Osorio Navarro, alias "Soledad" or "negra," who served as Miguel Krassnoff's secretary.

In the Purén Brigade, the detective Ximena San Juan, Elsa del Transito Lagos Salazar, and Nancy Edulia Vásquez Torrejón, alias "Pelusa," appear with functions. In the Halcón II Group of the Caupolicán Brigade was María Gabriela Órdenes, alias "Marisol." In that extensive list are Nélida Gutiérrez Rivera, who was Contreras's secretary and mistress, and Viviana Pincetti Gaca, daughter of Osvaldo the hypnotist.

There were female agents who officiated or were nurses. For example, María Eliana Bolumburú Taboada, who joined the DINA health brigade, and Gladis Calderón, who injected lethal drugs into prisoners. Both were prosecuted, and despite the gravity of their crimes, today neither is serving a sentence.

Prostitutes and companions.

For journalist Manuel Salazar, the topic of the DINA-CNI women is still pending a thorough investigation. “For example, there was a FACH intelligence brigade headed by 'Pochi'—Viviana Lucinda Ugarte Sandoval—formed to infiltrate and obtain information in exchange for sexual favors.

Furthermore, many of them later paired up with uniformed officers.” Another case is that of agent Palmira Isabel Almuna Guzmán, alias "la Pepa," whose task at the José Domingo Cañas torture house was to select and instruct female agents who were to seduce in order to obtain information.

Protection networks.

In the concealment of these dozens of female agents, not only have family networks functioned, but others are also operating with multiplied means and capabilities. This is confirmed by investigative journalist Manuel Salazar. “I believe that several of the most important torturers have had very good protection networks, and in that, naval intelligence has stood out.

The Navy has made its personnel involved in abuses and human rights violations invisible.”

When there is no justice, there is a funa (public protest).

Julio Oliva of the Funa Commission points out: “next October we will celebrate 20 years of activism against impunity; of the nearly 300 funas, four have been against female torturers: Italia Vaccarella Gilio, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, and Ema Ceballos. In addition to Luz Arce. And in Australia, coordinated with the community there, against Adriana Rivas.”

With an average age lower than their male colleagues, surely with greater ease in altering their appearance, today they are simply "slipping through" among so many male agents. It is even very possible that they collect their pensions as former officials of the uniformed institutions and are even doting grandmothers, as is the case of agent Luisa Mónica Lagos, or "Liliana Walker," who enjoys her golden years in the United States.

Now, it only remains to be seen how the extradition request for Adriana Rivas will be resolved; at least her niece is now clear about who her aunt "Chany" really was.

Source: cooperativa.cl, February 25, 2019