Political Affiliation : Socialist Party; Political Commission; former dockworker leader; former leader of the CUT. Date of Detention : June 25, 1975

REPRESSIVE SITUATION

Exequiel Ponce Vicencio, married, one daughter, dockworker, and member of the Political Commission of the Socialist Party, was detained on June 25, 1975, around 01:30 in the morning, together with Mireya Rodríguez, in the room they were renting on Calle Tocornal in the capital.

To this day, both remain forcibly disappeared. The action was carried out by 4 armed agents in civilian clothes from the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), who entered the house violently, displayed badges, and identified themselves as "special agents" to the owner of the boarding house, Joaquín Palacios.

The events—according to the witness—took place amidst a commotion and the raiding of the residence. What struck him most was that the DINA officials knew exactly that Exequiel Ponce and Mireya Rodríguez occupied the last room.

Upon leaving, along with detaining the couple, they took all the personal belongings they possessed. There were at least three vehicles on the street that participated in the apprehension. One of the agents was short, with thick, wide mustaches.

When the individuals left, Joaquín Palacios noticed that the boarding house telephone was not working. Apparently, they had removed a piece to prevent calls from being made.

Although there are no direct testimonies of Exequiel Ponce's presence in any specific detention center, his name was heard by witnesses at Villa Grimaldi. Héctor Riffo Ramos, a socialist militant detained at the time in this secret DINA facility, was taken out on one occasion by agents and brought to identify "Gino" (a contact of Ponce).

The attempt failed, and Riffo was accused by DINA officials of "having given them a false lead." When the witness pointed out to them that he was not the one who had provided the information, the agents commented, "the Old Man was the one who played us." Riffo had the clear impression that they were referring to the victim.

Lautaro Videla—also detained at Villa Grimaldi—also learned of Ponce's detention. For his part, when Edwin Patricio Bustos, who was detained at the Villa, was interrogated by Osvaldo Romo Mena, the latter told him, "so you were doing the same work (foreign relations) that the little old man Exequiel Ponce was doing." Riffo had been detained on June 24, 1975, when he went to a meeting with Ricardo Lagos, who was already in the custody of the DINA.

At Villa Grimaldi, he had been interrogated regarding Ponce's whereabouts.

Subsequently, Luz Arce, who had been a socialist militant and became a DINA collaborator following the torture and threats suffered during her detention, declared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in October 1990, stating that when she spoke with Ricardo Lagos Salinas at Villa Grimaldi, he told her that Exequiel Ponce and Carlos Lorca were also detained.

Later, in 1976, the witness asked General Manuel Contreras about Lagos, Lorca, and Ponce, and he told her that they were at liberty. Furthermore, Mireya Rodríguez—detained along with the victim—was seen at Villa Grimaldi in July 1975 by Gladys Díaz.

Juan Carlos Ruiz Villarroel, who in March 1975 served as secretary and liaison for Exequiel Ponce—who at that time was the top leader of the Socialist Party and had been in hiding since September 11, 1973—noted that the victim was nicknamed "The Old Man" and that he used to go to the home that Ricardo Lagos and Michelle Peña had in Villa Japón.

On June 23, 1975—after the detention of the latter two—Juan Carlos Ruiz fortuitously encountered Exequiel Ponce on the street. There, the declarant realized that the victim knew about the detention of Lagos and Michelle, as he asked Juan Carlos Ruiz to "go underground" and said that he would take care of contacting him by phone.

Ponce was carrying a shoebox containing documents. On June 24, 1975, Ponce did indeed call the witness twice, but could not reach him.

The detention and disappearance of Exequiel Ponce Vicencio is part of a DINA operation against leaders of the Socialist Party, members of the Political Commission, their liaisons, and couriers, carried out in the months of June and July 1975.

In this operation, the detentions of Ricardo Lagos Salinas, Michelle Peña, Mireya Rodríguez Diaz, Carlos Lorca, and Modesta Carolina Wiff were carried out, among others, in addition to that of the victim. Later, in the month of July, Rosa Elvira Soliz Poveda and Sara Donoso Palacios were detained. All of them remain in the status of forcibly disappeared to this day.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On August 19, 1975, a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) was filed for the victim before the Santiago Court of Appeals, case file 982-75. This was rejected on September 4 of the same year. In March 1977, Italian labor organizations filed for amparo on behalf of Exequiel Ponce and other detainees (Case No. 107-77).

During the processing of this, the Division General and Minister of the Interior, Raúl Benavides Escobar, informed the Court that, regarding Exequiel Ponce, he was wanted for "alleged participation in the importation of arms" and that there was a "presumption of him being a fugitive abroad" (March 31, 1977).

This appeal was rejected on June 29, 1977, on the grounds that there were other amparos previously filed on behalf of the subjects.

On February 17, 1976, a complaint for illegal arrest and improper incommunicado detention of Exequiel Ponce was filed in the 4th Criminal Court of Santiago. Summary proceedings, case file No. 108.636, were initiated.

On this occasion, the Acting Minister of the Interior, Enrique Montero Marx, reported that the victim was not being held by order of that Ministry (February 1976). After Joaquín Palacios—the owner of the boarding house—gave his statement recounting the events, the summary was closed and the case was temporarily dismissed on May 3, 1976.

The Court of Appeals confirmed the ruling on June 26 of the same year.

Fourteen years later, on July 26, 1990, the reopening of the summary was requested, which was granted on July 27 of the same year. Without having achieved a single advance in the investigation, the summary was closed again in August 1990, and the case was temporarily dismissed on September 6, 1990.

The Prosecutor's ruling stated: "The study of this process, which had been archived and was revived, shows that Exequiel Ponce Vicencio passes into the list of the forcibly disappeared. His relatives will continue to look for him, and the police and the Courts, today as yesterday, will not provide them with an adequate answer." On October 15, 1990, the Court of Appeals confirmed the ruling.

On February 6, 1991, the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation sent the statement of Luz Arce Sandoval to the 4th Criminal Court of Santiago, noting that the information mentioned therein could be useful in the investigation regarding the disappearance of Exequiel Ponce.

The case was reopened on February 13, 1991, under case file No. 108.636. As of December 1992, the case remained in the summary stage.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity

In a ruling that had already been anticipated, the plenary of ministers of the Supreme Court determined that only four of the eight judges with exclusive dedication will continue in this status, and the remaining ones will move to form a court with preferential dedication.

Based on the information gathered by the highest court, it was determined that the First Civil Court of San Bernardo, headed by Judge Cecilia Flores; the Eighth Criminal Court of Santiago, with María Ines Collins; the Ninth Criminal Court of Santiago, with Raquel Lermanda; and the Tenth Criminal Court, with Juan Antonio Poblete, will remain as exclusive judges.

In addition, the Fourth Criminal Court of San Miguel, headed by María Teresa Díaz, will maintain the same status, although only for a period of one month.

In the case of the First Criminal Court of Santiago, the Fifth Criminal Court of Santiago, the First Criminal Court of Arica, the Court of Letters of María Elena, the First and Second Criminal Courts of Valparaíso, the First Civil Court of Chillán, the First Criminal Court of Chillán, the First Criminal Court of Talcahuano, the Court of Letters of Pucón, and the Second Criminal Court of Valdivia, they will join the existing group of preferential judges.

The most difficult situation is faced by the judges of the Third Criminal Court of Santiago, Mario Carroza; the Third Criminal Court of San Miguel, María Teresa Díaz; and the Court of Letters of Santa Bárbara, Loreto Jara, who will henceforth become preferential judges.

But the Supreme Court also ordered the Tenth Criminal Court to annex the processes that correspond to the cases it is handling in order to advance the investigation; however, it does not provide further details in this regard.

All exclusive and preferential judges must report on their management after one month and will be evaluated again by the superior court.

In the details of the cases, the process for the death of Juan Luis Rivera Matus, case file 107.716-9, will begin to be handled on a preferential basis by the incumbent of the First Criminal Court of Santiago, Joaquín Billard, who will also process case file 107.254.

In the case of the Fifth Criminal Court, it will handle case file 167.716-16, titled as the disappeared of La Moneda, which was already in preferential status.

In the First of Arica and the Fourth of that same city, case files 51925 and 13.322-A will be handled, respectively.

In María Elena, process 31-91 will be investigated on a preferential basis, while in the First Criminal Court of Valparaíso, the case of the British priest Michael Woodward, case file 140.454, will be heard.

In the Second Criminal Court of Valparaíso, case file 127.298-1 will be heard.

In Chillán, meanwhile, the First Civil Court will hear case 11.599, which according to FASIC does not correspond to a human rights process, whereas in the First Criminal Court of that same city, the disappearance of Ernesto Torres Guzmán, case file 70.927-6, will be investigated.

In the case of Talcahuano, case file 24.776 is annexed as preferential; in Pucón, case file 4.473; and in Valdivia, case file 75.858.

Conversely, the cases regarding the disappearance of Daniel Reyes Piña, Leopoldo Muñoz Andrade, Víctor Morales Mazuela, and Víctor Cárdenas Valderrama, which were being handled by the Third Criminal Court of San Miguel, will be negatively affected by the Supreme Court's ruling, as they will now have preferential status.

In any case, it works in their favor that indictments have already been issued in the cases of Morales and Cárdenas.

In the Third Criminal Court of Santiago, the disappearance at the hands of the DINA of Iván Carreño Aguilero, and the deaths of Luis Moraga Cruz, Juan Orellana Catalán, and Ricardo Weibel Navarrete, who perished at the hands of the Joint Command, will now be preferential cases. This court also handles the process for the disappearance of former GAP member Domingo Blanco Tarres.

In the case of Santa Bárbara, the investigation into the cases of Luis Bastias Sandoval, Luis Cid Cid, Cristino Cid Fuentealba, José Molina Quezada, José Pinto, Raimundo Salaza, Segundo Soto, and Gabriel Viveros, who disappeared in the first days of the Military Coup, is affected.

In the Tenth Criminal Court of Santiago, four cases reported to the Dialogue Table by the Armed Forces are being investigated; these concern the 1975 disappearance of Ricardo Lagos Salinas, Carlos Lorca Tobar, Michelle Peña Herreros, and Exequiel Ponce Vicencio.

Source: PRIMERA LÍNEA - April 23, 2002

Date: 04-23-2002

Exequiel Ponce was born in the small town of Las Palmas de Quebrada Alvarado, 30 kilometers from the city of Limache, into a family of very humble origins. He was the second child of his parents.

In that small town, he learned firsthand the difficulties and hardships of poor peasants, which led him to develop a deep social consciousness from an early age. Although he left school to work with his father, he improved himself through self-study, reading and studying at night, while revealing himself to be an uncompromising man in the defense of workers' rights.

As his brother Renán—a prominent poet of the Fifth Region—recalls, Exequiel was a child who was:

"rather introverted, distant, obsessed with some reason that we, his siblings, were unaware of. Perhaps he matured before his time, prematurely conscious of the social fragility of his environment, and of those infinite daily needs that always prove more severe among the dispossessed.

Part of our daily duties was to draw water from the well, to go in search of the best firewood, whether to the nearest hill or to the creek, 'that wide world' not foreign to my ancestral fears. Once in possession of the scene, Exequiel always chose the creek; the routine always began in the same way, as if it were a fatally repeated act.

There was a stone in the place at least two meters high, and one could climb it with relative ease. I would throw my rope to the ground and begin to select the remains of dry wood, which abounded there as if by miracle.

Standing in that privileged spot, we could see all the houses, in their dignified transparency, of Quebrada Alvarado. Exequiel would breathe deeply and deliver his customary speech: 'People of Quebrada Alvarado, the one who speaks to you, Exequiel Ponce Vicencio, tomorrow, in the nearest future, will guide you in the conquest of your most cherished rights.

He will open your eyes, he will teach you to defend yourselves, he will help you to ensure that this beloved homeland is more just for all.'

Immediately afterward, with the rope he already had in his hands, he would brandish it over my head and exclaim with deep conviction: 'Work, slave, gather firewood for me!' The tacit pact of honor signed between us—that I was in charge in the house and Exequiel was outside of it—had been fully fulfilled."

Worker at Polpaico

At a very young age, he joined the Polpaico cement factory as a worker, where he worked for a few years until he was fired for forming a union and demanding better working conditions. While at the cement plant, he met and married Margarita Luque, a young woman of even humbler origins who worked as a seamstress.

After his dismissal, the couple moved to Valparaíso. There, Ponce worked in multiple trades until 1962, when he managed to join the Empresa Portuaria de Chile (EMPORCHI). It was there that he would develop his main political and union work.

Indeed, during the period he was employed at EMPORCHI, he actively supported the strengthening of port unionism, becoming a national leader of that traditionally combative guild. Representing the Mariano Valenzuela Maritime-Port Workers Confederation, he was elected to the National Executive Council of the Central Única de Trabajadores (CUT) and later assumed the position of Provincial Undersecretary of the CUT in Valparaíso.

Andrés Sepúlveda, former PS deputy for Valparaíso and a historic leader of municipal employees—who passed away in March 2007—frequently recalled that Ponce, upon assuming his new leadership responsibilities, noted the obvious limitations of his scarce schooling and that, far from being daunted by that situation, he decided to face them without hesitation or complexes, enrolling in a night school.

From that moment on, according to his friend: "his life began to spin like a whirlwind that enveloped him, demanding more effort, sacrifice, and self-denial every day, for he had to fulfill the daily workday, then the work at the union, and later at the CUT, without neglecting the party work itself or failing to respond adequately at school."

In the Party Ponce's connection with the PS (which he joined in 1954, in the Limache Section) was, probably, the most significant moment in his life as a leader and social fighter. For years he held various party responsibilities, being elected in 1969 as regional secretary of the PS in Valparaíso.

With the notoriety he acquired in the political and social life of the port city, Exequiel managed to mend, at least partially, the distant relationship he always maintained with his father. Despite that greater visibility, he was always characterized by cultivating a rather discreet and reserved profile.

Francisco “Pancho” Mouat, who would work very closely with him during the Unidad Popular (UP) and immediately after the military coup, recalled that: "the old man was absolutely reserved and had a high sense of discipline and seriousness in party work: he was one of those who arrived first and left last from the Party office.

He did not like to be in the spotlight, to the point that, during the period of the dictatorship, when the DINA arrested him, we spent a long time without being able to carry out the international solidarity campaign for his freedom, simply because there were no photos of him."

Around 1970, the house that the couple rented on the current Subida Ecuador caught fire. The couple then moved to the old premises of the party's regional office. His brother Renán, a man fond of literature and averse to the rigidities of militancy, remembers to this day that when he went to visit Exequiel: "I would unfailingly end up participating in the political meetings.

And how could I not, if his house, at that time, was literally the same house as the party."

In the Party Leadership

After finishing his term at the Valparaíso Regional, within the framework of the XXIII Congress of the PS—held in January 1971 in La Serena—Ponce was elected to its Central Committee and the Political Commission, taking charge of the Undersecretariat of the Internal Front, a position he would hold until September 11, 1973.

On the day of the coup, he was present at the INDUMET and SUMAR factories, as well as in the nearby Población La Legua, places where battles were fought in defense of the constitutional government. The militants who acted that day remember with affection that "Cheque"—the name by which he was familiarly known in the party—participated with enthusiasm in the heat of the confrontation, haranguing them and sharing their risks, "despite his high position, his slight limp, and his excess weight, which hindered his running and agility."

In Clandestinity

It was at the first official meeting of the Central Committee after the coup, held on September 17 in the southern area of Santiago, that Ponce assumed the position of maximum leader of the PS, going on to serve as General Undersecretary in clandestinity.

In 1974, amidst the repressive stalking of the DINA, Ponce—accompanied by leader Carlos Lorca—gave an interview to a West German journalistic team, led by reporter Rolf Plufcke. The meeting was at a safe house in Ñuñoa and in the apartment of an old militant in Santiago.

These were some of the socialist leader's responses:

Comrade acting general secretary, what tasks are posed to the Chilean people in their struggle against the dictatorship? "The tasks that the people are setting for themselves at this moment, and the tasks that the PS is setting for itself to face the dictatorship, are the most important part of the political development we are experiencing.

The Party and the Unidad Popular must seek in this stage, fundamentally, a great organic coincidence and unity of struggle.

We believe that the fundamental struggle of the working class and the people involves recovering for the workers the democratic rights, public freedoms, the right to organize, the right to petition, the right to strike—things that have been curtailed by the dictatorship.

That is why we believe that the fundamental task of the proletarian parties, of the Socialist Party and the Communist Party, is to seek a coincidence on these points of view, to materialize it, to lead it, and to direct it, together with the parties of the Unidad Popular and, beyond the UP, all the democratic and patriotic sectors that are for facing the fascist dictatorship.

We believe that one of the fundamental tasks is also to adapt the organization of the UP and the organization of the Party to the new objectives that are posed at this moment. Therefore, the task of the revolutionaries, the task of the patriots, is to organize themselves in the neighborhoods, the factories, in the student sectors, so that from there, according to the new characteristics and the new needs that are being posed as a consequence of this struggle, we can successfully face these fundamental tasks (...) That is why we state that the fundamental thing is, we repeat, to fight for public freedoms, democratic freedoms, the right to organize, and the strengthening and adaptation of the organization of the working class and the parties to the new political moment we are living.

We are sure that in the combat for democratic freedoms and the rights of the people, the immense majority of the bases of the Christian Democracy will join the ranks and, together with them, all the leaders consistent with the libertarian and pluralist vocation of that party.

Let us not forget that the Freista leadership of the PDC itself, which participated in the conspiracy, which supported it from the first moment, recognized in its declaration of September 27 that 'it is evident that sectors of the economic and political right hover around the military, partially covered under the guise of unionists, as well as groups of recognized totalitarian mentality, which seek to orient government action toward repressive models of a capitalist nature and toward the permanent consolidation of a dictatorial system of government.'"

What role does the Socialist Party propose to play in this struggle?

"We would like, before answering the question, to express that the Party, throughout the length and breadth of our homeland, has been brutally beaten by the fascist dictatorship. We believe, without being wrong, not having yet made an exact evaluation, that at least half of our leadership, from Arica to Magallanes, has been tortured, murdered, or is in prison.

We believe that comrades of international solidarity should be concerned about comrades Alejandro Jiliberto, Erick Schnake, Uldaricio Figueroa, Héctor Martínez, and so many other comrades, such as Carlos Lazo, whose fate we truly do not know (...) We raise this concern to international solidarity, to international organizations: this must be a concern of the International Red Cross, it must be a concern of the United Nations organizations; in short, it must be a concern of all revolutionaries and all progressives."

A year later, in a letter dated May 7, 1975, addressed to his wife—a refugee in the GDR—Ponce made a complete assessment of the political, social, and economic situation nearly two years after the implementation of the military regime, while reiterating the relevance of the broad anti-fascist unity line: "The problems our people are living through are more difficult every day.

The policy executed by the dictatorship, of economic 'recovery,' does not rectify anything; it is nothing more than the continuation and deepening of the reactionary and pro-imperialist social market policy.

The effect it produces on the popular masses is more brutal every day. This means prohibitive prices for clothing and food, starvation wages, unemployment; the new rent law hits the tenant and protects the landlord.

The state agencies, CORVI, CONHABIT, do not build; therefore, the housing deficit is more serious every day. This is a small sample of what the economic and social situation of the country is. To this framework, one must add a new repressive action, both in a massive form, raids on popular neighborhoods, and at an individual level or directed at the popular organizations working in the country.

The crisis and the cabinet reorganization made by the dictatorship in April have no other character than to reaffirm what I said previously. We think that within the Junta and the Armed Forces, liberal positions in economics and Portalian positions in politics will triumph, displacing the fascist or neo-fascist sector.

In other words, there is a tactical agreement between the great national bourgeoisie and Pinochet, who manages to gather an important sector of the Armed Forces around him. This also has the support of a reactionary sector of the DC, who add their ingredients to this project.

We believe that in the case of the Armed Forces, the problems are not defined; three sectors will play within them: a bourgeois democratic sector, another reactionary nationalist and Portalian one, and a third fascist one.

The situation can be maintained until the end of the year if this new political and ministerial arrangement does not manage to control inflation (1975, over 200%). The situation is unpredictable within the Armed Forces.

The great national bourgeoisie and imperialism are not presented with clear alternatives, as in 1973, to find administrators of the State and their interests. Hence the importance of strengthening and developing our work, to hasten the constitution of the anti-fascist front, to strike them, weaken them, and wear them down at the precise moment.

The problems within the Party, as time goes by, become clearer and the prestige and respect for the internal leadership are greater and stronger. This does not mean that there are no problems; the factions of all stripes continue to move, endorsed, unfortunately, by the apathy and indecision, on one hand, of those who are outside and, on the other, by the lack of means that allow for a great impulse to organic and mass work, which would allow for the development of bolder policies and tactics to strike the dictatorship and at the same time give a strong impulse, from the base, to the anti-fascist front.

As you can see, this strengthens much more the decision to fight from within, whatever our particular fate may be; what matters in the end is our contribution to the liberating struggle of our people. We do not expect anything in particular for it, only that it be understood that the policy we elaborate and will promote tends to find the broadest support of the workers and the people.

This policy goes through the parties of the UP and the sectors that were not in it (the MIR, despite how beaten it is today), we also see the DC in this front... We understand that this agreement with the DC depends on the progressive sector dominating in that party, but an elementary tactical sense indicates that we have to call on the DC as a whole, so that the progressive sectors are not accused from the outside of being disruptors, and that party is not won over by the reactionary sectors, read Frei, for reactionary positions, whether it be support for the Junta, or a liberal democratic exit with some populist sectors (by the way, we have quite a bit of information about a house arrest for Bonilla, to be confirmed). That is the meaning and content that we give to the front that will overthrow the current usurpers of power. For these purposes, we will adapt the forms and methods of struggle to the objective and subjective conditions that occur in the process; therefore, we will train the Party, the workers, and the people in these principles.

It is correct to recognize that the conditions and difficulties of work and struggle are very hard, and if we also add to the internal difficulties the external problems, where deformations and misunderstandings of leaders and militants prevail, many of them ill-intentioned and opportunistic."

In the same letter, Ponce gives an account, "in the heat of the moment," of the precarious situation the PS is living through due to the stalking of the DINA: "(...) The repression continues to hit us at the regional and sectional levels.

In Santiago, especially in the Cordillera Regional Committee (he refers to the arrests of leaders Claudio Thauby and Jaime Robotham, which occurred on December 31, 1974, and to the capture of Alfredo Rojas Castañeda, arrested on March 4 of that year.)

At the level of the central leadership, two very regrettable arrests have occurred, comrade Fidelia H and comrade 'Gabriel' (he refers to Fidelia Herrera and Ariel Mancilla), a matter that, from the point of view of security and organization, we have overcome, but we fear for their lives; international solidarity continues to be a work of the first order."

In the months prior to his capture, Ponce reached the conviction that the dictatorship (given its foundational and regressive character regarding the advances achieved during the three years of the Popular Government) would be prolonged in time.

At that point, according to Francisco Mouat, "his only aspiration, in case of arriving alive at the moment of the end of the regime, was to take charge of the qualification of the reentry to the PS of its militants.

It did not cross his mind to claim a relevant role for himself." This was evident in the last part of the extensive letter sent to his wife in the GDR: "I have wanted to raise these political problems with you because you are not foreign to the problems that exist in Berlin, to the internal situation of the Party; it is for this reason that it is good that you know what I think and, furthermore, that I am informed that some 'notables' of the Party, in a disloyal and paternalistic way, have wanted to interpret my thought to their own liking and petty interests.

I do not have to resort to any personal or sentimental argument for you to know the truth regarding my political position, honesty, decision to fight; the most solid argument is the truth. But the honest militants and leaders abroad have to fight with the same firmness inside and outside the Party, for the correct and proletarian positions.

There is no other alternative to win. That is our decision in the interior. The opportunity will come to face some of the interpreters of other people's thoughts, who cynically also engage in paternalism.

Let them also know that it is not honest or fair to use comrades in their dirty dealings; that is not how I understand the ideological struggle within the Party. Let them have the absolute certainty that I am not going to use it, but let them know that these methods are not easily forgotten. That I will not lose the opportunity to ask for accounts from the detractors and the interpreters."

The Capture In the early hours of June 25, 1975, three DINA vehicles arrived during curfew hours at Tocornal Street No. 557, in Santiago. The door was opened by the owner of the boarding house, Joaquín Palacios Izquierdo, who was asked about the tenant "who works at the Railways and lives in the last room." Indeed, the "legend" that Ponce had indicated to the owner of the place was that he worked at the State Railways Company.

The subjects, who introduced themselves as "special agents," arrested Exequiel and his liaison, the young secretary Mireya Rodríguez, while searching the room for documents and money.

With the capture of Ponce, the DINA dealt a severe blow to the reorganization of the Socialist Party in Chile. The dictatorship always denied his arrest, but various witnesses detained by the security services knew of his time at Villa Grimaldi.

Héctor Riffo Zamorano, held in that secret DINA facility, was taken out on one occasion by the agents and taken to identify "Gino," a liaison of Ponce. The operation did not work, and Riffo was accused by the agents of having given them "a false point." When he pointed out to them that he was not the one who had given the information, the agents commented: "The Old Man played us dirty"....

Riffo realized they were talking about Ponce. They had already interrogated him about the socialist leader.

For his part, when the young doctor Edwin Patricio Bustos—a militant of the MIR detained in that same clandestine center—was interrogated by Osvaldo Romo, the latter told him: "so you were doing the same job that the little old man Ponce was doing," alluding to his task of organizing clandestine clinics for the resistance and contact with foreign embassies.

Emilio Iribarren, also a militant of the MIR, was arrested on January 4, 1975. After spending some time at Villa Grimaldi, he became a collaborator of the DINA. Before his death in New York, he provided his testimony in various investigations being conducted regarding the actions of the DINA.

Thus, he pointed out that in mid-1975 he observed something he never forgot: "A man was tortured for a long time for 24 or 48 hours. He was hung with a rope that tied his hands behind his back. The rope passed over a beam.

Some agents pulled the rope toward a pulley, lifting the detainee, while they beat him brutally. The prisoner was naked and they wet his body to increase the effect of the electricity. That time they beat him until dawn. He screamed. Every time I looked, I could see Germán Barriga personally directing the torture. The Old Man Exequiel Ponce was tortured brutally."

At the time of his kidnapping, "The Old Man" was 41 years old.

Source: pschile.cl (undated)

"I was studying economics at the University of Chile and had been a militant in the MAPU since I entered the university in 1971. Through a comrade from the school, I was asked to help set up a meeting; I was not told who it was for, but that they were important, and that for that reason, all security measures should be considered, since they were people highly sought after by the regime.

I had to transport a person to the meeting site, wait, and return him to the place of origin. I was warned of the risk. I had to act with extreme caution, diligence, and care. They gave me practical instructions: car well-washed, me well-dressed, with a tie; it had to be noticeable that I was from the upper-class neighborhood.

I had to go down Bellavista to the traffic light following the Patronato San José School; there the person was going to be next to the kiosk, reading and with the previous day's La Segunda under his arm. I had to ask him: 'Do you know which bus to take to go to Vicuña Mackenna?' And he would say: 'Yes, I'll accompany you.'

I arrived punctually, I saw the person exactly as described, we got into my car, and I took him where I had been instructed. On the way, I didn't speak at all, and neither did he. I think he realized my nerves and my extreme concentration on what I was doing, and he didn't want to add more tension: I had to respect all the rules, not expose myself to being arrested for a traffic violation.

It must have been one in the afternoon. I arrived at the meeting house, I entered through the gate with the car. In the house, I recognized Jaime Gazmuri, whom I hadn't seen for a long time; we gave each other a big hug. Jaime was friendly as always, charismatic, nice, and extroverted. He thanked me. I stayed in the house while they met. It was long, more than three hours.

We left on the way back in the car. I was more relaxed, everything was going well. After a while, the man told me he wanted to ask me a very personal favor: to accompany him to have a beer. I think he felt safe because he didn't know the neighborhood and wasn't known there. 'I would be happy,' I told him, 'but I have been asked to be very careful.

It is very difficult for me, I am risking your safety, this goes against everything I have been asked.'

He insisted: 'Don't worry, it's under my responsibility.'

We were going down Kennedy Avenue, at the height of Américo Vespucio. I knew the area and knew that there was a soda fountain around there. We got off.

He didn't tell me who he was, nor did I ask him. Already at the table, with the beers, which he paid for, alone, in the semi-darkness (it was a place frequented by construction workers), he told me: 'Comrade, I wanted to invite you for this beer, first because it brings me joy to see that there are young people like you who are helping.

I think that we, as a generation, made many mistakes, and as a generation of leaders, the struggle we are waging only makes sense because there are people like you who are going to replace us, because we are all dead men.

We are not going to survive this. And I wanted to invite you for this beer because the only thing that justifies our struggle is that there is a generation like yours that gives it meaning.'

It was no more than ten minutes; it left a deep mark on me, it was very emotional. Obviously, I saw that he was a man of a high level. Very affectionate, direct, perhaps a little depressed, but above all, lucid: he knew he was cornered, with the water up to his neck.

I remained silent. Afterward, I told him that I was studying economics at the University of Chile and that in the school there were many people like me.

I left him at the Law School, as I had been instructed, and I called my contact by phone to let them know that everything had gone well.

The next day, at school, I commented on it with the MAPU OC comrade who had made the request: 'Only one problem, I couldn't convince him not to break the rules': the beer. Then I found out who he was.

A short time later, weeks or days perhaps, he was arrested with the rest of the PS Leadership and disappeared. When I found out, I couldn't stop thinking that we could have fallen together."

Source: pschile.cl (undated)

"He is the synthesis of a political leader and social leader of firm convictions who does not seek visibility or personal benefit, but to contribute to the achievement of the aspirations of the majority," noted Jaime Lorca, of the Memoria y Futuro Training Center.

Various organizations remembered this April 10 the 86th anniversary of the birth of Exequiel Ponce Vicencio, a member of the clandestine leadership of the Socialist Party who was kidnapped by the DINA in 1975. According to what has been investigated, Ponce was held clandestinely until the end of 1977, when he was murdered in Colonia Dignidad.

Exequiel Ponce was the son of a peasant family from the interior of Valparaíso, worked in various trades as a laborer, and was a leader of the port workers and the provincial CUT. At the same time, he became a high-ranking socialist leader in support of the process led by Salvador Allende.

After the military coup of 1973, he assumed the position of head of the Socialist Party in clandestinity, leaving behind his wife, daughter, and home to commit himself to an unequal task against the forces of repression.

Jaime Lorca, of the Memoria y Futuro Training Center, an organization that brings together relatives and friends of the Clandestine leadership of the Socialist Party kidnapped in 1975, noted that Ponce "represents the synthesis of a political leader and social leader of firm convictions who does not seek visibility or personal benefit, but to contribute to the achievement of the aspirations of the majority in favor of a Dignified Life where human rights are fully respected.

And, in that endeavor, they give their lives."

A day earlier, Ricardo Lagos Salinas had also been vindicated on his birthday, so Memoria y Futuro referred to them as "two socialist heroes who never deserted." From both, Lorca deduces "consistency, modesty, firmness, integrity, clarity of ideas, loyalty to the people and the workers, attributes that are missed in current politics."

As the Memoria Viva site points out, "Exequiel Ponce Vicencio, married, one daughter, port worker, member of the Political Commission of the Socialist Party, was arrested on June 25, 1975, around 01:30 in the morning, together with Mireya Rodríguez, in the room they were renting on Tocornal Street in the capital.

To this day, both remain forcibly disappeared. The action was carried out by 4 agents, armed and in civilian clothes, of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), who entered the house violently, showed badges, and identified themselves as 'special agents' to the owner of the boarding house, Joaquín Palacios."

The arrest and disappearance of Exequiel Ponce Vicencio is part of a DINA action against the leaders of the Socialist Party, members of the Political Commission, their liaisons, and couriers, carried out in the months of June and July 1975.

In this operation, the arrests of Ricardo Lagos Salinas, Michelle Peña, Mireya Rodríguez Diaz, Carlos Lorca, and Modesta Carolina Wiff were carried out—among others—in addition to that of the affected party. Later, in the month of July, Rosa Elvira Soliz Poveda and Sara Donoso Palacios were arrested. All of them remain in the status of forcibly disappeared to this day.

Source: radio.uchile.cl 10/4/2022

Convictions of former DINA agents for crimes against Socialist Party leaders in 1975 confirmed

The Supreme Court sentenced five former agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for their responsibility in the qualified kidnappings of members of the Central Committee of the Socialist Party (PS) Exequiel Ponce Vicencio, Ricardo Ernesto Lagos Salinas, Jaime Eugenio López Arellano, Carlos Enrique Lorca Tobar, Alfredo Rojas Castañeda, Adolfo Ariel Mancilla Ramírez, and the militants Michelle Marguerite Peña Herreros, Mireya Herminia Rodríguez Díaz, Modesta Carolina Wiff Sepúlveda, Sara de Lourdes Donoso Palacios, and Rosa Elvira Soliz Poveda, perpetrated between March and December 1975.

In the sentence (roll 14.486-2021), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Haroldo Brito, Jorge Dahm, minister Eliana Quezada, and lawyers (i) Pía Tavolari and Carolina Coppo—rejected the cassation appeals filed by the defenses of the convicted and accepted the cassation appeals filed by some civil plaintiffs.

The sentence sentenced former DINA hierarchs and former Army officers Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Rolf Gonzalo Wenderoth Pozo, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, and agent Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido to the penalty of 15 years and one day in prison for their responsibility as authors of the crimes of qualified kidnapping of the victims.

In the first instance, Gerardo Ernesto Urrich González had also been sentenced to a penalty of 16 years, but he died during the course of the process.

The judicial investigation by the visiting minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Miguel Vázquez Plaza, established that at the end of 1973, the armed and police forces structured the DINA, made up mostly of members of the Army and Carabineros, although it also included members of the Air Force, Investigations, and civilian individuals.

The DINA was dedicated to the selective repression of leftist political groups, supporters of the deposed Allende government, and opponents of the dictatorship established by the military coup. In Santiago, the repressive units of the DINA were classified into the Metropolitan Intelligence Brigade, counting on a hierarchical structure, a general staff, and operational groups such as Caupolicán, Lautaro, and Purén, the latter being the main one in charge of the repression against the Socialist Party, without prejudice to the fact that they could operate together or exchange members with the other groups, for which they also had clandestine detention centers.

With that repressive framework, the offensive against the clandestine leadership of the Socialist Party (PS) was developed in 1975. On March 4, 1975, the 34-year-old civil engineer Alfredo Rojas Castañeda was arrested by DINA agents while leaving his work on his way to his home; he was seen by surviving witnesses at the clandestine detention center Villa Grimaldi, and his whereabouts have been unknown since that date.

On March 14, 1975, DINA agents arrested the civil constructor Adolfo Ariel Mancilla Ramírez, 26, at the address of Ricardo Cumming Street No. 732 in Santiago; he was a member of the Central Committee of the PS and was seen at the illegal facility of Villa Grimaldi.

Between June 20 and 25, 1975, Ricardo Ernesto Lagos Salinas, 24, accountant, member of the Central Committee of the PS, and Michelle Marguerite Peña Herreros, 27, of Spanish nationality, university student, militant of the PS, were arrested by DINA agents in the Villa Las Rejas sector and taken to the Villa Grimaldi facility.

On June 25, 1975, around 01:00 hours, Exequiel Ponce Vicencio, 39, port worker and member of the Central Committee of the PS, was arrested by DINA agents at Tocornal Street No. 557, in the company of his liaison Mireya Herminia Rodríguez Díaz, 33, secretary, taking them to the clandestine detention center of Villa Grimaldi.

Around 16:00 hours on June 25, 1975, Carlos Enrique Lorca Tobar, 30, doctor, member of the Central Committee of the PS, was arrested by DINA agents when he arrived at the address of Maule No. 130, Santiago commune, in circumstances where the house had been occupied and turned into a "mousetrap" hours earlier by DINA agents.

In the same house, the owner of the house, Modesta Carolina Wiff Sepúlveda, 34, social worker and militant of the PS who performed liaison tasks, was arrested. Both detainees were taken to Villa Grimaldi, being seen by other surviving prisoners.

On July 7, 1975, Rosa Elvira Soliz Poveda, 24, university student, socialist militant, who worked as a liaison, was arrested by DINA agents, being seen later in the power of her captors inside a vehicle.

On July 15, 1975, at 08:30 hours, arriving at the clinic where she worked, located at Independencia No. 1345, Independencia commune, university student Sara de Lourdes Donoso Palacios, 25, who worked as a PS liaison, was arrested by DINA agents, being seen later inside a vehicle in the power of her captors.

At the end of December 1975, PS militant and member of its Political Commission, Jaime Eugenio López Arellano, 25, was arrested by DINA agents and taken to Villa Grimaldi, where he was seen by surviving detainees until approximately the month of March 1976.

All the mentioned detainees suffered physical duress during the time they were seen detained, and from that time on, they were made to disappear.

The sentence ruled out error in the criminal aspect by considering that the crimes committed are crimes against humanity, therefore imprescriptible, in accordance with international human rights legislation.

Regarding this, the Criminal Chamber reflects: "That on the other hand, given the nature of the investigated facts, which represent an outrage to human dignity and a grave and manifest violation of the rights and freedoms proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, reaffirmed and developed in various international instruments, they constitute crimes against humanity.

The illicit acts occurred in a context of grave, massive, and systematic human rights violations, verified by State agents, constituting the victims of this case and many others an instrument within a policy on a general scale of exclusion, harassment, persecution, or extermination of a group of numerous compatriots who, in the immediate period and after September 11, 1973, were identified as belonging ideologically to the deposed political regime or who, for any circumstance, were considered suspicious of opposing or hindering the realization of the social and political construction devised by those holding power, guaranteeing impunity to the executors of said program through non-interference in their methods, both with the concealment of reality before the request of the ordinary courts of justice for relevant reports, and through the use of state power to persuade local and foreign public opinion that the complaints made to that effect were false and responded to a campaign tending to discredit the authoritarian military regime."

Source: resumen.cl 3/10/2023