Retired Carabineros General Jorge Veloso is being held in the Chaitén prison, in the Tenth Region, for his responsibility in the disappearance of a leftist leader during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Jorge Veloso also served as Minister of National Assets during the military regime. The body of the former minister's alleged victim was reportedly thrown into the sea, according to the background information available on the case.

Source: Primeralinea.cl, January 30, 2001

Former Pinochet minister prosecuted in disappearance case

In a landmark ruling for human rights investigations, the Puerto Montt Court of Appeals has initiated proceedings against retired Carabineros General Jorge Veloso Bastías, former Minister of National Assets during the military regime, for the crime of kidnapping against a forcibly disappeared person from the area.

The judicial resolution from the appellate court accepts the filing by the plaintiffs in the case regarding the disappearance of Nelson Nolberto Llanquilef Velásquez, who was forcibly disappeared on October 8, 1973, and whose body, according to witnesses, was thrown into the waters of Lake Yelcho.

In the case being processed by the Chaitén Criminal Court, under the charge of magistrate with preferential dedication Natalia Rencoret, the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior has been a plaintiff since 1999, even though the case dates back to 1990 when the family filed a complaint for alleged disappearance that survived the passage of time, albeit without positive results.

In fact, since the government agency entered the case, investigative efforts have increased to the point that it has been possible to determine who participated in the operation in which the Ministry of Public Works employee was detained.

In compliance with the ruling of the Puerto Montt Court, the Fifth Department of the Investigative Police is taking steps to arrest retired General Veloso, who has not yet been notified of the judicial resolution and is presumably in Santiago.

Veloso served from 1987 to 1988 as Minister of National Assets, was a member of the Third Legislative Commission, and Director of Instruction for the Carabineros. His curriculum highlights that he was a specialist in general administration with a focus on personnel and police operations, a graduate of the High Command and National Security course at the Academy of Political and Strategic Studies, and fulfilled missions in Uruguay, Paraguay, and the United States.

In the first instance, the Chaitén magistrate rejected the request made by a local lawyer representing the Program; however, the jurist appealed the ruling to the second instance, and this time the Court of Appeals accepted the petition and ordered the retired general to be detained so that he may appear "as soon as possible" before the court.

Supporting the prosecution was the testimony of two witnesses who claim they saw Llanquilef being separated from a group of detainees, beaten, and tortured, and shortly thereafter, a gunshot was heard. Hours later, other witnesses claim to have seen his body floating in the waters of Lake Yelcho.

Judicial progress

The Rettig Report states that "on October 8, 1973, Nelson Nolberto Llanquilef Velásquez, 25, a worker for the Emergency Plan of the Ministry of Public Works in Puerto Ramírez and a leader of the Socialist Party, was detained by Carabineros officials from Futaleufú.

Upon being transported to the Futaleufú police station, he was executed by his captors, and his body was abandoned in the waters of Lake Yelcho." It adds that "the commission formed the conviction that the death of Nelson Llanquilef constitutes a human rights violation for which State agents are responsible, based on testimonies received that confirm the victim's detention, as well as the fact that his death occurred in the manner indicated." The Program's complaint adds further details, such as that "Llanquilef held the position at the time of exceptional secretary of the Socialist Youth of Chaitén and president of the Central Workers' Union of the province. On October 8, 1973, he was illegally detained by Carabineros officials acting under the command of Captain Hernán Escobar Inostroza, sub-commissary of the Chaitén station, carrying out a patrol ordered by Commissary Jorge Hernán Veloso Bastías. The action was carried out without prior process or an arrest warrant issued by a competent authority, under the sole discretion and decision of the accused." The document notes that "Llanquilef Velásquez was detained at his workplace and transported along with two other detainees from Puerto Ramírez to Puerto Cárdenas. During this journey, the detainee was separated from the rest and interrogated by his captors about his political activities and alleged explosives, being beaten and tortured repeatedly according to two witnesses; since then, he has been disappeared, and his whereabouts remain unknown to this day." The confirmation of this information led Judge Rencoret to prosecute retired sub-commissary Hernán Escobar Inostroza and retired Carabineros officers Víctor Retamal and Joel Osorio Morales in the middle of last year, as authors of the crime of kidnapping against Llanquilef, the same charge now being pursued against General Veloso. Although case file 4246 has been open since 1990, it had a slow preliminary phase. Only once lawyer Ingrid Domke of the Human Rights Program filed the complaint did the investigation take a more significant turn, resulting in investigative steps that have allowed for the certain identification of those who participated in the illegal detention of Llanquilef, those who beat him, and those who killed him. Retired General Veloso has already testified in the proceedings before Judge Rencoret, and in his testimony, he absolutely denies having ordered the operation and maintains that he knew nothing of this case or others in the area. The other former officers charged have stated that Llanquilef fled from the troops and, in his flight, lost his footing and fell into the lake, where he died. Despite the denials, the strength of the arguments from Llanquilef's family—plaintiffs in the case—and the testimonies of other victims of the team of former Carabineros officers who participated in the detention have allowed the case to be clarified.

Source: Primeralinea.cl, January 25, 2001

4 Carabineros sentenced to prison for murder of union leader

The Chilean justice system has sentenced four retired Carabineros to prison for their responsibility in the disappearance of union leader Nelson Llanquilef in 1973, a few days after the coup d'état, judicial sources reported today.

The Chaitén Court of Justice, 1,300 kilometers south of Santiago, determined that retired sub-commissary Hernán Escobar Inostroza and officers Víctor Retamal, Joel Osorio Morales, and José Barría Vargas must serve a sentence of ten years and one day in prison.

The convicted must also pay compensation of 60 million pesos to the victim's family. The court acquitted Belarmino Sánchez, Jorge Veloso Bastidas, and businessman Raúl Becker. According to the sources, the Llanquilef family announced that they will appeal these acquittals to the Puerto Montt Court of Appeals.

The Rettig Report, which in 1991 documented human rights violations during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), states that Llanquilef, 25, was detained on October 8, 1973, by Carabineros officials from Futaleufú.

The detainee, who worked in the Emergency Plan of the Ministry of Public Works in Puerto Ramírez, was transported to the local station, after which he "was executed by his captors, and his body was abandoned in the waters of Lake Yelcho." At the time of his detention, Llanquilef was secretary of the Socialist Youth of Chaitén and president of the Central Workers' Union of the province.

For this case, the Chilean justice system prosecuted the former minister of the Pinochet regime, retired Carabineros General Jorge Veloso Bastías, in 2002, who held the National Assets portfolio in 1987 and 1988.

Source: emol.com, October 15, 2005

Four Carabineros sentenced for "permanent kidnapping" since 1973

The Supreme Court confirmed the sentences against four retired Carabineros who were convicted of the crime of permanent kidnapping of Nelson Llanquilef Velásquez, who has remained in the status of disappeared since October 8, 1973, in the town of Puerto Ramírez, Los Lagos Region.

In a split decision, the Criminal Chamber sentenced Hernán Escobar Inostroza, Víctor del Carmen Retamal Carrasco, Joel de Jesús Osorio Morales, and José Desiderio Barría Vargas to a penalty of three years and one day of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree for the aforementioned crime, granting the convicted the benefit of supervised release.

Justices Alberto Chaigneau, Nibaldo Segura, Jaime Rodríguez, and member lawyer Domingo Hernández were in favor of applying the sentence; while magistrate Rubén Ballesteros was in favor of applying the principle of statute of limitations.

The magistrates also confirmed the first-instance ruling that acquitted Jorge Hernán Veloso Bastías, Belarmino Sánchez Triviño, and Raúl Becker Álvarez of the same crime.

Source: Extranoticias.cl, October 11, 2007