On April 30, 1977, the young Partido Socialista militant Vicente Israel GARCIA RAMIREZ was detained. He had been married the day before and, while on his honeymoon at a relative's apartment in the city of San Fernando, he was detained around 08:00 in the morning by a group of DINA agents.

They broke into the residence armed. The detainee and his spouse were immediately transported, blindfolded, to Santiago, and Vicente GARCIA has been forcibly disappeared ever since.

At the time of his arrest, Vicente García was carrying out clandestine activities for the PS. As a result of this operation, the victim's spouse and several members of his family were initially detained; they were even able to see and hear him inside the detention facility.

Although those responsible for the DINA and the government authorities consulted by the Courts of Justice denied this detention, this Commission was able to reach the conviction that the disappearance of Vicente García was a forced act that occurred while the detainee was in the power of DINA agents, constituting a human rights violation for which state agents are responsible.

Vicente Israel García Ramírez, married, 19 years old at the time of his detention, a student and socialist militant, was detained along with his spouse, Karin Reimer Carrasco, by DINA agents on April 30, 1977, at approximately 08:30 hours.

The detention took place at a residence located in the Rucahue neighborhood of the city of San Fernando, where he was staying after having married on April 29 under the assumed name of Jorge Luis Aldana Contreras.

Following the arrest, both spouses were blindfolded and transported to Santiago, where they were held in a secret facility whose characteristics correspond to the former DINA barracks on Borgoño Street.

In this location, Vicente García was violently interrogated and tortured, as was his spouse, who was released on May 3, 1977. That same day, April 30, at 01:10 in the morning, his spouse's home in the capital was raided, and her mother, Viola Carrasco Rodríguez, and sister, Kathia Reimer Carrasco, were detained and also taken to the same detention center.

At 21:00 hours that day, his bachelor residence, where he lived with his mother and sister at Santa Alicia 2887, was raided by 4 civilians who were in possession of his identity card. Two days later, on May 2, his political contact, Mr. Jaime Troncoso Valdés, was detained at the corner of Diez de Julio and Arturo Prat streets.

On April 28, the victim had noticed the theft from his car of a magazine containing internal documents of the Socialist Party. Subsequently, while being held at the DINA facility, both he and Jaime Troncoso were interrogated regarding these documents.

Regarding the circumstances of his arrest, Mrs. Karin Reimer stated in multiple testimonies, several of them judicial, that at the indicated day and time, while in San Fernando, 4 men in civilian clothes arrived at the house where they were staying.

They claimed to be from the Investigations police and stated they had an order to arrest her and her husband. Vicente was blindfolded with adhesive tape and put in dark glasses; they were then taken to a light blue Chevy car in impeccable condition and driven toward Santiago.

After the first toll booth, she was also blindfolded, and they continued until they reached a facility where they were led through a courtyard to some rooms, leaving her in one and her spouse in another.

Later, she heard her husband being interrogated and violently punished; they then interrogated her in the same manner, mistreating her. That same afternoon on the 30th, she realized that her mother and sister were also detained there.

The room where she was held was 2 by 3 meters and contained a white glass-doored cabinet full of various medicines; there was also a typewriter identical to the one in her home that had been taken by those who arrested her mother.

The edges of the plates and tea cups they were given to eat from bore the inscription "Ejército de Chile" (Chilean Army). During one of the interrogations, they confronted her with her spouse, whom they were forcing to say his name was Vicente García Ramírez. She was released on May 3 under the threat of not telling what had happened.

Mrs. Kathia Reimer Carrasco stated in her testimony that in the facility where she was held with her mother, she heard her brother-in-law, Vicente García, speaking and shouting on several occasions. On the night of April 30, in the cell next to hers, she heard moans and labored breathing.

The person there noticed her presence and asked who she was, while saying "Mom," "Karin." She recognized Vicente García's voice and told him she was Kathia; he became alarmed upon learning that they had also been detained.

Finally, he told her he did not think they would see each other again. On the morning of May 1, they took her to another room and gave her a cup of coffee. She then heard a cell door open and heard them offer Vicente García breakfast on the condition that he "talk." As he said he knew nothing, they closed the door, warning him that he would eat when he decided to "talk." The witness was also released on May 3.

For her part, Mrs. Viola Olivia Carrasco Rodríguez stated that on April 30, 1977, at approximately 03:30 hours, while she was at her home with her daughter Kathia Reimer and two boarders—one of whom, Luis Segundo León Guevara, was a 2nd Corporal in the Army at the time—she was detained by about 8 to 10 people who claimed to be from Investigations and asked about the composition of the family group.

After a raid, they blindfolded her and her daughter Kathia and put them into one of the vehicles the agents were using; there were 4 vehicles, 3 of which were police cars with lights on top and one a Volkswagen van.

They were taken in the latter to an unknown location, from where she was released on May 6. In the facility where she was kept separated from her daughter, she was interrogated and mistreated. After 10:30 hours on the 30th, she felt that her daughter Karin and her son-in-law had arrived at the place, and they were interrogated in the same way, noting that her son-in-law was treated the most harshly.

During the interrogations, they played radios at full volume.

Mr. Jaime Troncoso Valdés, in his final testimony given on January 30, 1991, stated that on May 2, 1977—while on his way to meet Vicente García Ramírez—he was kidnapped by 5 civilians who put him into a silver-blue vehicle and hooded him.

After a trip of about 20 minutes, the vehicle stopped at a place where a gate was opened, and they entered along a gravel path. He was taken down to an underground area where he remained blindfolded for 21 days, subjected to all kinds of physical and psychological duress and systematically interrogated about his political activities and those of Vicente García.

At the time of the kidnapping, two individuals grabbed his arms almost as soon as he got out of the taxi at the location (Diez de Julio and Arturo Prat). He fell to the ground, dropped his crutches, and shouted his name, but was quickly grabbed by one of his kidnappers and put into the vehicle.

Regarding Vicente García Ramírez, the witness noted that he had known him since January 1977, when they began working together politically in the International Secretariat of the Socialist Party. A week before Vicente García's detention, he had given him a magazine containing two communications from the clandestine leadership of the Socialist Party, which were to be sent abroad.

On April 28, 1977, Vicente told him that the aforementioned magazine with the documents had been lost or stolen by someone, which worried them greatly. They agreed to meet on May 2 at 12:00 hours at the corner of Diez de Julio and Arturo Prat to clarify what had happened to the document.

He went to the agreed meeting and was immediately detained. During his captivity, his torturers interrogated him about Vicente García and the documents he had lost; they even read them to him.

In the respective testimonies of Mrs. Rita Ramírez Ramírez and Marlin García Ramírez, the victim's mother and sister, respectively, it is stated that on April 30, 1977, at 21:00 hours, the residence at Santa Alicia 2887—where the victim lived—was raided by 4 civilians who claimed to be from Investigations and interrogated them about Vicente García Ramírez and his activities.

One of the subjects was a young man, 25 to 27 years old, 1.70 to 1.75 meters tall, white complexion, thin mustache, athletic build, wearing blue jeans, a denim jacket, and a denim hat of the type used for the beach.

Another subject was about 22 to 24 years old, medium height, thin, brown wavy hair, and carried a man's bag containing Vicente García's identity card. The first one described appeared very confident in his speech and ironic gestures; he seemed to be the leader.

His family carried out multiple efforts and inquiries to find his whereabouts, but all were fruitless, and they still do not know his fate at the hands of the DINA.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On May 5, 1977, Mrs. Rita Ramírez Ramírez filed a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) on behalf of her son before the Santiago Court of Appeals, case file 205-77, in which she described the raid on her home and the insistent questions the agents asked about the victim.

Subsequently, on May 16, Mrs. Karin Reimer Carrasco filed another writ of amparo on behalf of Vicente García, while he himself filed a preventive amparo on behalf of the petitioner, her sister Kathia, and her mother, Viola Olivia Carrasco R.

This last amparo, originally assigned case file 241-77, was consolidated with the first one as they concerned the same facts. During the processing of the appeal, negative responses were received from the Ministry of the Interior, the Director General of Investigations, and the Second Military Court.

On June 17, 1977, the Court of Appeals declared itself incompetent and forwarded the records to the Rancagua Court of Appeals. The latter court, after taking statements from the petitioners and receiving negative reports from the authorities and police services in the area, did not accept jurisdiction on August 5, 1977, and returned the files to the Santiago Court of Appeals.

On August 16, the capital's court accepted jurisdiction and issued a ruling rejecting the amparo, resolving to send the records to the 2nd Criminal Court of La Granja to initiate proceedings regarding the disappearance of the victim.

On September 6, 1977, the 2nd Criminal Court of La Granja acknowledged receipt of the records sent by the Court and consolidated them with case N° 21.485, initiated on May 24, 1977, following a complaint of kidnapping and other crimes ranging from illegal arrest, home invasion, injuries, theft, and others.

As of the date of consolidation, case 21.485 contained the statements of Mrs. Viola Olivia Carrasco Rodríguez and Karin Reimer Carrasco, who detailed to the Court the circumstances of their respective arrests, confinement in a secret facility, and the torture they were subjected to along with Vicente García Ramírez.

The case file also contains a report from the Legal Medical Institute detailing the injuries of Mrs. Viola Carrasco R., who was examined by that service on May 24, 1977, 18 days after being released. In the respective investigation order carried out by the Investigations police, the complainants and the boarders at their home were interviewed, and they ratified the facts.

On May 17, 1977, Judge Javier Torres Vera, by virtue of the recently promulgated amnesty decree-law, dismissed the case totally and definitively. This resolution was revoked by the Santiago Court of Appeals on July 4, 1978, ordering the case to be returned to the summary stage.

On September 25, 1978, the Court accepted a request from the complainant to summon witness Luis León Guevara, a 2nd Corporal in the Army, to be interrogated on whether it was true that Vicente García owned an "Austin-Mini" car, 1964 model, dark green, 2 doors, in which he frequently traveled with him (it is noted to the Court that the car was seized by the DINA); to indicate the name and address of the family they both visited on April 27, 1977—that day Luis León had invited the victim and his girlfriend to a party at the house of Carlos Gabler, also an Army officer.

The next day García Ramírez noticed the absence of the Socialist Party documents—and what he knew about the existence of certain documents that Vicente García allegedly had in his possession the week prior to his detention.

Ten months later, on July 20, 1979, Luis Segundo León Guevara appeared before the Court and stated that the victim did indeed have the vehicle mentioned; however, he did not remember which family they visited on April 27 and said he could say nothing regarding the mentioned documents.

After receiving negative reports from the CNI and police agencies from different cities in the country, the case was temporarily dismissed on November 29, 1979, as the existence of any crime in the disappearance of Vicente García had not been proven in the case file. On June 4, 1980, the Court of Appeals revoked the dismissal order, returning the case to the summary stage.

On June 23, 1980, the offended party informed the Court that a car with the same characteristics as the one belonging to the victim was seen parked on Borgoño Street, near the corner of Independencia, in front of one of the CNI facilities, with license plate "A.S.599, Conchalí of 1979." Despite the efforts ordered by the Court, it was not possible to establish the actual ownership of said vehicle.

On August 28, 1980, a criminal complaint for the crime of kidnapping was added to the case. Following this, Luis Segundo León Guevara appeared again, stating this time that he had indeed invited the victim to the house of a friend named Carlos Gabler, who lived at the corner of Santa Julia and Américo Vespucio streets and was a colleague in the Army.

In May 1981, the case was dismissed again; this time, the Court also returned the process to the summary stage so that efforts could be made to establish the transfers of the identified vehicle. These efforts yielded no results.

Finally, in May 1982, the case was temporarily dismissed because the existence of the investigated crime had not been justified in the case file. This time, the resolution was approved by the Santiago Court of Appeals.

Despite the countless efforts made by his family, the fate of Vicente Israel García Ramírez remains unknown following his detention by DINA agents on April 30, 1977.

Source: Corporation report