Roberto Santiago Wehbi Chala
Victim of the military dictatorship.
Background
Roberto Santiago Wehbi Chala
Victim of the military dictatorship.
Case summary
Roberto Santiago Wehbi Chala was an Army major and head of the CNI barracks in Valdivia, prosecuted for his responsibility in acts of illegal coercion against students from Temuco. During the dictatorship, he participated in repressive operations carried out in 1986 that resulted in the detention and interrogation of young people in the Lautaro area.
MemoriaViva[1]
Case 113.075: case of unlawful coercion against students from Temuco
24.- Statement by Juan Julio Caro Baeza, at fs. 260 and fs. 477, a CNI agent in January 1986 in Temuco whose operational name was "Víctor Mancilla," who stated that he served in the Interior Government unit within the barracks.
Regarding the arrests that took place in Lautaro, he indicated that Major Acuña Morelli, head of the unit at that time, gathered them the day before to inform them of the operation, which was carried out the following day, with his role being to drive a Patrol jeep.
He recalls heading toward the rural area of Lautaro, in the "El Roció" sector, where young people participating in a guerrilla school were arrested. However, they did not find weapons at that location, although later, in another operation in which he did not participate, an arsenal was found at the home of one of the detainees.
He added that in Lautaro he was able to see Major Acuña Morelli and the head of the CNI in Valdivia, surnamed Wehbi, who arrived to provide assistance. He concluded by indicating that he does not recall personnel from Santiago coming to provide assistance in the interrogations of the detainees, which were left in the hands of the unit's operational personnel, among whom were Servando Voisier and Erasmo Bravo Huaiquiñir, and they were subsequently transferred to the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco, without him recalling that any of them had been taken to Santiago.
Later, he recognized in photographs shown to him Pedro Guzmán Olivares as one of the agents who came from Santiago.
30.- Statement by Roberto Santiago Wehbi Chala, at fs. 320 and fs. 328, Major (ret.) of the Chilean Army, who asserted that he served in the CNI in Valdivia starting in May 1986, being unaware of any information regarding what occurred before that period in the area, especially concerning the guerrilla school in Lautaro.
His operational name was "Sergio Droguett." He stated that he replaced Major Moraga as the CNI zonal head in Valdivia.
Source: Judiciary, October 30, 2009
References
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