Case File No. 4-2002 F, PAINE, “CANAL VILUCO” EPISODE

HAVING SEEN

That this case, File No. 4-2002 F, PAINE, “CANAL VILUCO” EPISODE, was initiated to investigate the crimes of kidnapping and qualified homicide, in the consummated degree, against the person of José Gumercindo González Sepúlveda, and to determine the responsibility held in such acts by, among others,

NELSON IVÁN BRAVO ESPINOZA,

National Identity Card 3.259.835-8, Chilean, native of Temuco, born on July 3, 1935, 82 years old, married, retired Colonel of the Carabineros of Chile, residing at Ricardo Lyon No. 1.962, apartment 504, in the commune of Providencia, and

JOSÉ OSVALDO RETAMAL BURGOS,

National Identity Card 4.129.790-5, Chilean, native of Talca, born on September 21, 1938, 79 years old, married, retired 1st Sergeant of the Carabineros of Chile, residing at Arrecife No. 904, Villa Nacimiento, in the commune of Paine.

On page 33, Luciano Fouillioux Fernández, lawyer and Executive Secretary of the Program for the Continuation of Law 19.123 of the Ministry of the Interior, enters as a party. On page 140, Nelson Iván Bravo Espinoza, José Floriano Verdugo Espinoza, Víctor Manuel Sagredo Aravena, and José Osvaldo Retamal Burgos were indicted as perpetrators of the crime of kidnapping, provided for and sanctioned under Article 141 of the Penal Code, and the crime of qualified homicide, provided for and sanctioned under Article 391 No. 1 of the same legal body, both in the consummated degree, committed against José Gumercindo González Sepúlveda on October 10, 1973, in the commune of Paine. On page 206, a criminal complaint was added, filed by Raquel Ester González Sepúlveda, in her capacity as sister of José Gumercindo González Sepúlveda, for war crimes, torture, aggravated kidnapping, and homicide committed against him starting on October 10, 1973, by Nelson Iván Bravo Espinoza, José Floriano Verdugo Espinoza, Víctor Manuel Sagredo Aravena, and José Osvaldo Retamal Burgos, indicating that José Gumercindo González Sepúlveda was detained on October 10, 1973, at his workplace by Carabineros officers stationed at the Paine Sub-prefecture and, immediately thereafter, transferred to the aforementioned police unit, being handed over the following day to military personnel, in whose custody he was executed.

Source: Judiciary, November 10, 2017

The town of Paine holds the sad record of having the highest number of political executions and forcibly disappeared persons in proportion to its inhabitants. After the military coup, gangs of civilians, police, and military personnel operated there, leaving a trail of blood and pain, murdering peasants from "settlements" created by the Agrarian Reform.

In Paine, victims and perpetrators still live side-by-side under the mantle of impunity and oblivion. In 1979, the Military Justice system took charge of dismissing the cases opened regarding the events in Paine by virtue of the 1978 Amnesty Law, approved by General Pinochet himself to cover up his crimes.

After 29 years, Judge María Estela Elgarrista is approaching the truth. The Agrarian Reform, initiated in the 1960s and intensified under the government of Salvador Allende and the Unidad Popular, allowed many peasant families to benefit from the allocation of lands that, until then, belonged to a handful of large landowners.

Thus, the peasants gave life to the "settlements," but in Paine, as in the rest of the Chilean countryside, everything was reversed on September 11, 1973. Gangs of far-right civilians, police, and military personnel exacted "revenge," murdering union leaders and "settled" peasants.

The crimes, impunity, and fear spread through the small towns of Paine, Hospital, Huelquén, Culitrín, Chada, Rangue, El Vínculo, Pintué, and Laguna de Aculeo. Many peasants and their families witnessed how local civilians guided the uniformed men through the "settlements," providing names and, more often than not, participating directly in the repression and crimes.

Two weeks ago, and after 29 years, the judge of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, María Estela Elgarrista, summoned family members and perpetrators to various confrontations. Holanda Vidal, wife of the forcibly disappeared person Cristian Cartagena Pérez, states: "I was summoned for the purpose of the complaint regarding the kidnapping and murder of my husband, who disappeared on September 18, 1973.

Our goal is for the guilty to be prosecuted: Carabineros from the Paine sub-prefecture and civilians who acted together. I identified several of them: Sergeant Retamal, Corporal Ortiz, Albornoz, and Víctor Sagredo; and civilians: Darío González Carrasco, now a merchant and member of Patria y Libertad, who admitted that he detained my husband at the Chada School House where we lived, taking him to the sub-prefecture at six in the morning." The former Carabineros have denied their participation in the crimes during the confrontations, arguing that they "were on guard duty." "That gave me a shock that paralyzed my arms, a crisis of crying and anguish. It is terrible to relive everything that happened, to see them so close, their cynicism, their audacity to deny the truth. To see them so arrogant, without accepting that what they did was atrocious. These are the first confrontations after 29 years of complaints, searches, and knocking on doors. This step was possible because of all our effort and work as an Association. We have not compromised on the trial and punishment of the guilty, and that they pay for their crimes with prison." After the confrontations, indictments should follow. The judge has a long list of civilians, Carabineros, and military personnel from the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment. "One of the murderers is Lieutenant Magaña Baum, and among the Carabineros, Sergeant Verdugo, a torturer who now presents himself as an old man who has done nothing," adds Holanda Vidal. "Everyone saw them" Juan Maureira is the son of René Maureira Gajardo, who was forcibly disappeared on October 16, 1973, along with 22 other peasants from the Campo Lindo, 24 de Abril, and Nuevo Sendero settlements. As president of the Paine AFDD (Association of Families of the Detained-Disappeared), he recalls that military personnel from the San Bernardo Infantry School also participated in the repression and murders: "The judge is investigating nearly 40 complaints filed before Judge Guzmán. In Paine, there are more than 70 victims, of whom about 40 are still missing. These are the cases compiled in the Rettig Report, but others were never reported. We presume that there are around 100 murdered in Paine, mostly peasants from the settlements. The minister will eventually have to prosecute the Carabineros, civilians, and military personnel involved. That is what we expect and what we have asked for, that true justice be done and that we can find our relatives... We know that Lieutenant Magaña has information about what happened to my father and 22 other peasants, among other cases. He killed our relatives... The Carabineros have denied their participation, but they are the same ones who still live in the town. How can they deny it if everyone saw them? The same thing happens with the civilians who acted. Paine is a small town." According to the family members, the judge has acted with rigor, caution, and intelligence. They trust the testimonies and statements she has managed to collect. For them, everything points to the fact that some of those involved will be prosecuted. "Many were even seen entering the houses. There is a countless amount of evidence collected since that time." So far, they are satisfied with the investigation and the proceedings carried out by the judge. For them, it is the first investigation after 29 years without achieving justice. Up to this minute, civilians and Carabineros have been summoned, and some confrontations have taken place: "Which gives us a little satisfaction because it had never been achieved before. For the moment there are no convictions, but the minister continues to work. And we have been able to verify that," says Juan Maureira. Meanwhile, the majority of the civilians and Carabineros who murdered the peasants of Paine continue to live in the small rural town in complete impunity. "As far as we have been able to see, for the first time there is an investigation as it should be. The criminals will have to provide information about what happened. They are the same Carabineros, civilians, and military personnel who appear mentioned in most of the cases," he concludes.

Murderers of Paine

Carabineros Nelson Bravo Espinoza, Captain; Raúl Ortiz Maluenda, 2nd Sergeant; Carlos Aburto Jaramillo, 1st Corporal; José Retamal Burgos, 1st Corporal; Víctor Sagredo Aravena, 1st Corporal; Reyes, Sergeant; Luis Jara, Lieutenant of Pintué; and Carabineros Samuel Ahumada Cabello; Raúl Donoso Figueroa; Alamiro Garrido Ubal; Jorge González Quezada; Víctor Labarca Díaz; Eduardo Molina Armijo; José Piñaleo Pérez and Jose Verdugo, among others.

Civilians Hugo Aguilera, Fernando Aguilera, Francisco Luzoro, Jorge Sepúlveda, Tito Carrasco, Claudio Oregón, Darío González Carrasco, Luis Guerrero, Mario Tagle, Ricardo Tagle, Yule Tagle, Jorge Aguirre.

Military – San Bernardo Infantry School Leonel Köening Alternatt, Director; Samuel Rojas Pérez, Lieutenant Colonel; Mario Morales Durán, Conscript; Andrés Magaña Baum, Lieutenant; Pedro Montalvo Calvo, Colonel; Iván de la Fuente Sáez, Major; Hernán Pizarro Collarte, Major; Ciro Ahumada Miranda, Major; Juan Carlos Nielsen Stambuck, Captain; Sergio Rodríguez Rautcher, Captain; Luis Cortés Villa, Captain; Víctor Pinto Pérez, Captain; Marcial Cobos Farías, Captain; Jorge Romero Campos, Captain; Luis Villarroel Contreras, Captain; Héctor Maturana Zúñiga, Captain; Luis Garfias Cabrera, Captain; Eduardo Silva Bravo, Captain; Sergio Valdivia M., Captain; and Julio Cerda Carrasco, Captain, among others.

Source: El Siglo, February 25, 2003

Prosecution for 45 victims of Paine (October 1973)

On July 1, 2003, the special judge of the San Miguel Court of Appeals, María Stella Elgarrista, issued six indictments in the case she is handling regarding the executed and disappeared persons of Paine.

Those indicted are

Carabineros officer Nelson Iván Bravo Espinoza as perpetrator of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Cristián Víctor Cartagena Pérez. Retired Carabineros Sergeant Major José Floriano Verdugo Espinoza as perpetrator of the crime of qualified homicide of Carlos Chávez Reyes, Raúl del Carmen Lazo Quintero, Orlando Enrique Pereira Cancino, Pedro Luis Ramírez Torres, and as perpetrator of the crime of frustrated homicide of Alejandro del Carmen Bustos González.

Retired Carabineros Sergeant Aníbal Fernando Olguín Maturana, as perpetrator of the crime of qualified homicide of Carlos Chávez Reyes, Raúl del Carmen Lazo Quintero, Orlando Enrique Pereira Cancino, Pedro Luis Ramírez Torres; and as perpetrator of the crime of frustrated qualified homicide of Alejandro del Carmen Bustos González.

Retired Carabineros Sergeant José Osvaldo Retamal Burgos as perpetrator of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Cristián Víctor Cartagena Pérez. Retired Carabineros Sergeant Víctor Manuel Sagredo Aravena as perpetrator of the crime of qualified homicide of Carlos Chávez Reyes, Raúl del Carmen Lazo Quintero, Orlando Enrique Pereira Cancino, Pedro Luis Ramírez Torres; as perpetrator of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Cristián Víctor Cartagena Pérez, and as perpetrator of the crime of frustrated qualified homicide of Alejandro del Carmen Bustos González.

Retired Carabineros Sergeant Rogelio Lelan Villarroel Venegas as perpetrator of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Cristián Víctor Cartagena Pérez. On September 9, the special judge María Stella Elgarrista indicted retired Army Brigadier Víctor Raúl Pinto Pérez as perpetrator of the crime of kidnapping followed by qualified homicide of Juan Guillermo Cuadra Espinoza, Carlos Manuel Ortiz Ortiz, and Ignacio del Tránsito Santander Albornoz.

The retired Brigadier was placed in preventive detention for the crimes of kidnapping followed by qualified homicide. In the same ruling, retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Osvaldo Andrés Alonso Magaña Bau was placed in the status of a defendant; indicted in May of this year as perpetrator of the crimes of qualified homicide and aggravated kidnapping as applicable in the case, he was indicted as perpetrator of the crimes of qualified homicide and aggravated kidnapping, with the exception of those of: Cristián Víctor Cartagena Pérez, Carlos Chávez Reyes, Raúl del Carmen Lazo Quintero, Orlando Enrique Pereira Cancino, Pedro Luis Ramírez Torres; as perpetrator of the crimes of kidnapping followed by qualified homicide of: Juan Guillermo Cuadra Espinoza and Ignacio del Tránsito Santander Albornoz; and as perpetrator of frustrated qualified homicide of Alejandro del Carmen Bustos González.

Source: Vicariadelasolidaridad.cl, July 1, 2003

San Miguel Court of Appeals confirms 15-year prison sentences for former Carabineros for the disappeared of Paine in 1973

The First Chamber of the San Miguel Court of Appeals issued a second-instance sentence in the case known as the Paine Sub-prefecture Episode and sentenced two former Carabineros to 15 years in prison for the qualified kidnapping of merchant Luis Nelson Cádiz Molina and teacher Alberto Leiva Vargas, events that occurred starting September 14, 1973, in the commune of Paine.

Judges Patricio Esteban Martínez and Marcelo Ignacio Ovalle (acting), along with member lawyer Ignacio Castillo Val, confirmed the ruling made by Judge Marianela Cifuentes in July 2021 in her first-instance judgment, and finalized the sentences of 15 years and one day of major imprisonment in its maximum degree, as perpetrators of the qualified kidnapping of both victims, for Carabineros José Retamal Burgos and former Colonel Nelson Bravo Espinoza, who served as head of the Paine Carabineros station at that time and who is currently serving a sentence in the Punta Peuco prison for being linked to other crimes against humanity cases. It should be noted that there were four accused in this case for the aforementioned crimes. Two of them died before being sentenced, while Retamal Burgos died in October 2021, months after being sentenced in the first instance by Judge Cifuentes. For lawyer Nelson Caucoto, a plaintiff in this case, it is "good news for the families of these victims, who have waited 49 years for the State of Chile to bring justice to their loved ones," he noted. In that sense, Caucoto emphasizes that "the trial is ending, but the most important thing remains pending: apart from punishing those responsible, locating the bodies of these two disappeared Chileans. That is and remains a pending task that we must assume as a society." Luis Nelson Cádiz Molina and Alberto Leiva Vargas are two of the more than 70 victims who were executed and disappeared by the dictatorship in Paine, mostly peasants from the area, which experienced its own holocaust, becoming, in proportion to the national level, one of the places most struck by the repression. The facts According to the investigation substantiated by Judge Marianela Cifuentes, it was established that "on September 14, 1973, after becoming aware of a warrant against him, Luis Nelson Cádiz Molina voluntarily presented himself at the Paine Carabineros Sub-prefecture, a place where he was kept locked up without rights and, instead of being placed at the disposal of the judicial authority, his whereabouts remain unknown to this date." "That, on the same day, in the afternoon, Alberto Leiva Vargas, an auxiliary employee of Fundamental Education at the Rural Education Institute and a philosophy student at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, was detained at his home on Calle Baquedano 806, in the commune of Paine and, immediately thereafter, transferred to the aforementioned police unit, where he was kept locked up and his whereabouts remain unknown to this date." "That at the time of the events, the Paine Carabineros Sub-prefecture was under the command of Captain Nelson Iván Bravo Espinoza, seconded by Sergeant Majors José Floriano Verdugo Espinoza and Manuel Antonio Reyes Álvarez, currently deceased, who took turns in their duties every 24 hours." "That at that time, the guard of the aforementioned police unit was in charge of Carabineros José Retamal Burgos and Víctor Manuel Sagredo Aravena, who also took turns in their duties every 24 hours."

Source: resumen.cl, June 10, 2022