The minister for extraordinary cases of the Concepción Court of Appeals, Carlos Aldana, issued an indictment against three former Carabineros officers for their responsibility in two homicides committed in the province of Arauco in 1973 and 1988, respectively.

According to the findings of the investigation conducted by Minister Aldana, the first case occurred in Contulmo on the night of October 5, 1973—with a curfew in effect—when a bus from the Boitano company was being towed by a tractor through the downtown streets of that commune after suffering a mechanical failure.

It was under these circumstances that, upon passing one block from the Carabineros station, the officers heard engine backfiring and interpreted that they were being attacked. The officer in charge, Lieutenant Julio Tutt Fuentes, ordered the personnel to go out into the street to confront the attack with their weapons, firing at the bus and ordering its occupants to get out of the vehicle, only to take them to the police unit after searching them. “In that place, after placing them against the wall, Mario Alberto Pilgrin Roa, who was already wounded by gunfire, fell to the ground, where the Carabinero Vicente Zapata Curinao shot him, 'causing an abdominal wound that resulted in his death, leaving him lying on the floor without providing him with immediate aid,'” the resolution details. In the resolution, Minister Aldana indicted Zapata Curinao as a co-author of the crime of simple homicide of Pilgrin Roa and issued an arrest warrant against him to the Homicide Brigade (BH) of the Investigative Police. Protest The other investigated event occurred around midnight on March 8, 1988, in the midst of a protest with barricades and bonfires that was taking place in the Javiera Carrera neighborhood of the Curanilahue commune. Roberto Eliecer Valdebenito Vira was at the scene “when personnel from the Fourth Precinct of that commune began to disperse the demonstration, a process in which Sergeant Reinaldo Enrique Fuentes Fuentes and the Carabinero Jorge Ulises Cid Maldonado used their weapons, firing several shots (...) one of which struck Valdebenito Vira, causing a blunt head injury, likely fired from a distance greater than 50 centimeters, which penetrated the postero-lateral region of the skull (...) As a result of the above, the wounded man was taken to the Curanilahue Hospital and subsequently transferred to the Concepción Hospital, where he died on March 10 of that same year,” the resolution maintains. In this case, Minister Aldana indicted Fuentes Fuentes and Cid Maldonado as co-authors of the crime of simple homicide of Roberto Eliecer Valdebenito Vira and issued arrest warrants against them to the BH of the Investigative Police.

Source: cronicadigital.cl, May 6, 2014

Minister Aldana issues indictment against two Carabineros for the homicide of Mario Pilgrin Roa in Contulmo

The minister for extraordinary cases for human rights violations of the Concepción Court of Appeals, Carlos Aldana Fuentes, presented an indictment against retired Carabineros officers, former officer Julio Alfonso Tutt Fuentes and non-commissioned officer Vicente Zapata Curinao, as co-authors of the crime of simple homicide of 22-year-old Mario Alberto Pilgrin Roa, an illicit act committed in October 1973 in the town of Contulmo in the province of Arauco.

Pilgrin Roa was married, a bus driver, and had no known political affiliation or activity. In the judicial resolution, issued this Wednesday, May 3, it is noted that according to the information gathered during the investigative stage, Minister Aldana established the following facts: That on the night of October 4, 1973, in the city of Contulmo, during the hours of the curfew in effect, a bus from the "Boitano" company, which had mechanical problems causing it to emit loud explosions, was being taken to a friend's house to be towed by a tractor through the town's streets.

The victim was in the driver's seat, trying to start the vehicle. As they approached approximately one block from the Carabineros station, the Carabineros Lieutenant in charge of the police unit interpreted those noises as the result of shots fired by "extremists" against the station itself.

Consequently, the aforementioned officer, Lieutenant Julio Tutt Fuentes, ordered his personnel to go out and confront them with their weapons, approaching while firing at the bus, which was parked on one of the streets surrounding the Plaza de Armas of Contulmo, ordering its occupants to get out, which they did immediately without offering resistance.

The occupants of the bus were a group of local residents, consisting of the driver and three to four friends who were returning from celebrating the birthday of one of them; they were well-known people in the area and were unarmed.

While still inside the bus, Mario Pilgrin Roa received a gunshot wound, at which moment the group was ordered to get out. The victim exited on his own, heading to one end of the Plaza de Armas, and they were ordered to put their hands up and lean against the wall of the building located at the corner of Millaray and Los Notros streets.

They were searched while police officers, including Vicente Zapata Curinao, remained behind them at all times under the direct command of their superior, Tutt Fuentes. At that moment, one of the Carabineros fired at Mario Pilgrin, causing an abdominal wound that resulted in his death.

He was left lying on the floor without being provided with immediate aid, and was taken to the Contulmo Hospital only after he had passed away. The rest of the group was taken to the Carabineros station.

Source: resumen.cl, June 5, 2015

2 former Carabineros convicted for the fatal shooting of a driver in Contulmo in 1973

The Supreme Court confirmed the conviction of 2 former Carabineros for the homicide of Mario Pilgrin Roa, a public transport bus driver in the city of Contulmo. The country's highest court sentenced former Carabineros officers Julio Tutt Fuentes and Víctor Zapata Curinao to 5 years and one day in prison.

The investigation by Minister Aldana, which had initially resulted in very low sentences for the former Carabineros, was appealed to the Court of Appeals, which, after examining the case, increased the sentences for the convicted, which was finally confirmed by the Supreme Court.

According to Aldana's investigation, “On the night of October 4, 1973, while a bus from the Boitano company, driven by Mario Pilgrim Roa and with three or four companions inside, was traveling through the streets of Contulmo being towed by a tractor because it had mechanical engine problems that caused it to emit loud noises, it was intercepted approximately one block from the Carabineros station by several armed police officers under the command of Lieutenant Julio Tutt Fuentes, who ordered the occupants to get out, which they did immediately, without offering resistance.” While this was happening, Pilgrim was shot in the driver's seat. After that, "all the occupants were forced to get out of the vehicle with their hands up and were led to a wall of the building located at the corner of Millaray and Los Notros streets, where they were searched by the Carabineros commanded by Tutt and Vicente Zapata Curinao, one of whom fired at Mario Pilgrim Roa, causing an abdominal wound, leaving him lying on the floor without being provided with immediate aid, and he was taken to the Contulmo medical post, where he arrived deceased. Subsequently, the body was transferred to the Cañete Hospital.” According to testimonies, Mario Pilgrim Roa collapsed while trying to get out of the vehicle while seriously wounded, and while lying on the ground, he was murdered by former Carabinero Vicente Zapata Curinao.

Source: resumen.cl, June 2, 2017