Among those indicted, all of whom are retired, are eight colonels and 23 non-commissioned officers from the Army, 40 officers and non-commissioned officers from the Carabineros, two former agents from the FACH (Air Force), one former agent from the Navy, and seven former agents from the Investigative Police.

The biggest blow to the repression of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship was dealt yesterday by Minister Víctor Montiglio, who indicted 98 former agents from different branches of the Armed Forces, Carabineros, and the Investigative Police for 42 victims of Operation Colombo.

This is the largest resolution issued among the nearly 400 human rights violation cases currently being investigated in the country. It even surpassed the 67 former agents indicted by the same Judge Montiglio in 2007 for the crimes of the Brigada Lautaro and its Grupo Delfín at the Simón Bolívar barracks.

Among those indicted for Colombo are eight Army colonels (R), six of whom had not been indicted before in any case. Also declared defendants were 23 Army non-commissioned officers (R), of whom at least 50 percent appear for the first time in these types of cases.

Among these non-commissioned officers is Juvenal Piña, alias "El Elefante," a former agent of the Brigada Lautaro, who was the one who suffocated the communist leader in hiding (1976) Víctor Díaz with a plastic bag over his head, before injecting him with cyanide.

In addition, the magistrate indicted 40 former officers and non-commissioned officers of the Carabineros, among whom are Ricardo Lawrence, Heriberto Acevedo, Claudio Pacheco, and José Mora, all former members of the same Brigade.

Among those indicted are also former agents who belonged to the Investigative Police. The only civilian (Army) is Juan Suárez. Of the total list, at least thirteen are already serving sentences for other cases (see list).

As of the closing of this edition, those indicted were still being detained to be interned in different locations, such as the Peñalolén Military Police Battalion. Among the 42 victims for whom the minister issued his resolution are María Angélica Andreolli, Miguel Acuña Castillo, Juan Carlos Perelmann Ide, Juan Chacón Olivares, Jorge Müller Silva, Luis Guendelmann Wisniak, Mario Calderón Tapia, and Carmen Bueno Cifuentes.

Operation Colombo and the media

The list of the 119 was published in the magazine Lea (Buenos Aires) and the newspaper O Dia (Brazil) in 1975, information that was also false. Both publications were created by DINA agents. Operation Colombo was part of Operation Condor and consisted of a setup by the dictatorship to make the population believe that 119 forcibly disappeared detainees had clandestinely left for Argentina and died there in confrontations with police and Army forces during the phase prior to the 1976 military coup in Argentina.

Some of those names appeared as militants "murdered" in Buenos Aires and its surroundings, with signs on their bodies stating that they had been executed by their own comrades in a settling of scores due to internal disputes.

However, this also turned out to be a setup. The list of the 119 was published in the magazine Lea (Buenos Aires) and the newspaper O Dia (Brazil) in 1975, information that was also false. Both publications were created by DINA agents abroad and had only one edition.

In Chile, the pro-dictatorship press, such as the newspapers El Mercurio, La Tercera, Las Ultimas Noticias, and La Segunda, reproduced the intelligence services' setup. The headline of the evening paper remains in memory, which reported: "Exterminated like rats: 59 Chilean MIR members fall in military operation in Argentina." They were part of the list of the 119 disappeared of Colombo.

The former fugitive Raúl Iturriaga, who was one of those in charge of the DINA's foreign department, was the one who first shed light on this operation in Buenos Aires. According to the former civilian agent Enrique Arancibia Clavel, convicted in Buenos Aires for the crime of General Carlos Prats and his wife, it was Iturriaga who met with him at the beginning of 1975 to ask him to prepare what was necessary because "we have to make some dead people from Operation Colombo appear." It was about preparing the appearance of the supposed bodies of Jaime Robotham and Luis Guendelmann as part of the setup.

List of those indicted

Army (all retired)

Víctor Molina Astete (colonel); Sergio Castillo González (col); Eduardo Guerra Guajardo (col); Víctor San Martín Jiménez (col); José Fuentes Torres (col); Manuel Carevic Cubillos (col); Jaime Paris Ramos (col); César Manríquez Bravo (col); Raúl Toro Montes (non-commissioned officer); Eduardo Reyes Lagos (nco); Orlando Torrejón Gatica (nco); Osvaldo Tapia Alvarez (nco.

Committed suicide); Juvenal Piña Garrido (nco. “El Elefante”); Juan Suárez Delgado (civilian); Nelson Paz Bustamante (nco); José Aravena Ruiz (nco); Luis Torres Méndez (nco); Raúl Soto Pérez (nco); Jorge Andrade Gómez (nco); Juan Escobar Valenzuela (nco); Rolando Concha Rodríguez (nco); Gustavo Apablaza Meneses (nco); Hiro Alvarez Vega (nco); Víctor Alvarez Droguett (nco); Jorge Venegas Silva (nco); Carlos Rinaldi Suazo (nco); Carlos Letelier Verdugo (nco); Reinaldo Concha Orellana (nco); Máximo Aliaga Soto (nco); Hugo Clavería Leiva (nco); Samuel Fuenzalida Devia (nco);

Investigative Police

Juan Urbina Cáceres; Hugo Hernández; Manuel Rivas Díaz; Herman Alfaro; Eugenio Fieldhouse; Osvaldo Castillo;

Carabineros (officers and non-commissioned officers, all retired):

Gerardo Godoy García; Ciro Torres Sáez; Alejandro Molina Cisternas; Camilo Torres Negrier; Héctor Lira Aravena; José Fritz Esparza; Claudio Pacheco Fernández; Jorge Sagardia Monge; Sergio Castro Andrade; Luis Villarroel Gutiérrez; Armando Cofré Gómez; Fernando Roa Montaña; Gerardo Meza Acuña; Enrique Gutiérrez Rubilar; Luis Mora Cerda; José Muñoz Leal; Juan Duarte Gallegos; Carlos Miranda Meza; Rufino Jaime Astorga; Luis Urrutia Acuña; Luis Zúñiga Ovalle; Pedro Alfaro Hernández; Orlando Inostroza Lagos; Rosa Ramos Hernández; Gustavo Caruvan Soto; Héctor Valdebenito Araya; Manuel Avendaño González; José Mora Diocares; Guido Jara Brevis; Nelson Ortiz Vignolo; Ruderlindo Urrutia Jorquera; Héctor Flores Vergara; Jerónimo Neira Méndez; Manuel Montré Méndez; Heriberto del Carmen Acevedo; Claudio Orellana de la Pinta; Nelson Iturriaga Cortés; Luis Gutiérrez Uribe; José Ojeda Obando;

Air Force

Delia Gajardo Cortés; Hernán Avalos Muñoz

Navy

Teresa Navarro Osorio;

Indicted individuals already serving sentences:

Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda; Pedro Espinoza Bravo; Raúl Iturriaga Neumann; Marcelo Moren Brito; Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko; Ricardo Lawrence Mires; Basclay Zapata Reyes; Conrado Pacheco; Francisco Ferrer Lima; Gerardo Urrich; Orlando Manzo Durán; Rizier Altez España; Fernando Lauriani Maturana

Source: La Nación, May 27, 2008

Justice in drops for the 119 fallen in Operation Colombo

July 24 marks 33 years since the publication of the so-called List of the 119, the psychological warfare maneuver that the DINA christened "Operation Colombo," but only in six of the 119 cases of disappearance are the criminals serving a sentence already confirmed by the Supreme Court.

In these processes, the justice system has only issued definitive sentences in the cases of kidnapping and disappearance of the social worker María Teresa Bustillos Cereceda; the former members of the GAP Manuel Cortez Joo and Miguel Angel Sandoval Rodríguez; the brothers from Chillán Hernán and María Elena González Inostroza; the philosophy student Jorge Espinosa Méndez (all of them militants of the MIR), and the high school student Mario Carrasco Díaz, a socialist.

In the case of Espinosa, the only one sentenced is the agent Osvaldo Romo, who died in prison; in the other cases cited, the rulings also implicate the former director of the DINA, General (R) Manuel Contreras, and his senior staff.

There are three other cases of Operation Colombo in which the sentences have already been confirmed by the Court of Appeals, and in five of the remaining kidnappings, a first-instance ruling has been issued.

The Supreme Court must soon rule on the case of the engineering student Luis Guajardo Zamorano. More than 68 of the indictments issued since 2005 are for Manuel Contreras. The dictator himself, Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, stripped of his immunity in 2006, was indicted for Operation Colombo by resolutions adopted by the presiding ministers Alejandro Solís and Víctor Montiglio, the same judge who recently indicted 98 agents.

But indictments do not always culminate in a sentence. Death arrived sooner for the former dictator, frustrating the expectations of justice of the Chileans who fight against impunity. According to sources of retired military personnel ("Crusade for National Reconciliation") cited in the newspaper El Mercurio on June 22 to call for an end to the trials, the total number of executed sentences in human rights cases reaches twenty-two.

According to them, in the more than 300 cases affecting uniformed personnel, 1,165 indictments have been issued. 269 of these are in the investigation stage; and in the accusation and evidence phase, 6. 14 defendants have appealed the first-instance ruling, and 16 cases are reportedly in cassation (a petition for annulment of a sentence).

Amnesty and strategies

The judicial strategy of the criminals—who use all available judicial resources in the old penal system—combined with the lack of will of the Supreme Court to return exclusivity in the task to the judges who process human rights cases, has functioned in several cases as a guarantee of impunity.

The old criminal system is in force for crimes committed before the promulgation of the Criminal Procedure Reform. During 2007, as denounced in the annual balance of the Christian Churches' Social Assistance Foundation (FASIC), the six criminal courts operating in Santiago refused to receive new cases, did not accept the reopening of summaries, nor did they grant the unarchiving of cases, because they had an expiration date as courts (due to the reform) and could not assume new tasks, the fact constituting a denial of justice.

It is appropriate to highlight that 17 of the kidnappings of the so-called "Operation Colombo" do not currently have active proceedings, which ensures absolute impunity for those responsible (cases of the student María Inés Alvarado, the bricklayer Eduardo Alarcón, the fruit seller Víctor Arévalo, the mechanic Bladimir Arias, the investigative official Sonia Bustos, the biology student Luis Fuentes, the accountant Néstor Gallardo, the student Jorge Herrera, the peasant activist Ramón Labrador, the student Sergio Lagos H, the secretary of the Society of Theatrical Authors Violeta López, the merchant Juan Maturana, the union leader Agustín Morales, the health official Germán Moreno, the student of the Technical University Ramón Núñez, the merchant from the La Bandera neighborhood Gary Olmos, and the student Carlos Salcedo). Another mechanism that delays the processing of cases has been the application by a minority of judges of amnesty, "res judicata," due obedience, and/or the statute of limitations. Thus, for example, in the cases linked to Operation Colombo, even the first indictments had to be confirmed by the Supreme Court. In Chile, not all court ministers respect and know international human rights law, and there have been contradictory resolutions from the highest court that prove this. Only after the arrest of Pinochet in London did the Chilean courts begin to investigate the cases of the forcibly disappeared. The debt of justice to Chilean society is still far from being settled, and impunity continues to be the rule in the vast majority of human rights violation cases, despite the constant mobilization of human rights organizations. The 119 Collective, which brings together relatives of the fallen, commemorates this year the anniversary of the publication of the list that lied about the final destination of 100 men and 19 Chilean women, with "Video Encounters" that will be held at the former torture house on Calle Londres 38, between 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM, on Wednesday, July 23 ("Evidence: media and journalists at the service of repression"), Thursday 24 ("Resisting with the truth and the courage of those who do not remain silent"), and Friday 25 ("Justice makes its way: ethical and social condemnation of accomplices and cover-ups"). On Sunday the 27th, the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared will hold a pilgrimage in the coastal town of Quintero, where it is believed some of the disappeared were thrown into the sea from helicopters. A memorial will be erected there.

Ethics and forgiveness

The College of Journalists of Chile apologized this year to the relatives of the fallen in two advertising setups of the dictatorship, Operation Colombo and Rinconada de Maipú. For Colombo, the former media directors Fernando Díaz Palma, of Las Últimas Noticias, of the El Mercurio chain; Alberto Guerrero Espinoza, of La Tercera; and the journalist Beatriz Undurraga Gómez, of El Mercurio, had already been sanctioned with public censure and temporary suspension of their membership for the serious breaches of ethics and truth committed in 1975.

The Ethics Tribunal that carried out the investigation of these events in 2006 considered the directors of El Mercurio, René Silva Espejo, and of the evening paper La Segunda—also of El Mercurio—Mario Carneyro, not imputable due to death.

All of them collaborated with the setups devised by the DINA to "inform" in large headlines that 100 Chilean men and 19 Chilean women had died abroad, thus covering up their disappearance and sowing a terror that still leaves traces in the collective unconscious of the Chileans who lived through that era of chilling headlines: "Exterminated like rats," was the headline of the newspaper La Segunda on July 24, 1975.

According to the journalists, the setup was the work of Álvaro Puga, director of Civil Affairs of the dictatorship and head of Psychological Operations of the DINA. In La Segunda, he signed with the pseudonym "Alexis," but he was not a journalist, so he was not included in the sanctions.

His name has not appeared until now in any indictment of the case. The two lists of the dead reproduced in the Chilean press were taken from the single-edition newspapers O Dia, of Curitiba, Brazil, and Lea, of Argentina, which attributed the deaths to clashes with Argentine security forces or internal quarrels.

It was the "white march" of Operation Condor, the mutual aid pact between the police of Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil that had already begun. In September 1974, the former commander-in-chief of the Army, Carlos Prats, and his wife Sofía Cuthbert had been murdered in Buenos Aires by DINA agents in complicity with the Argentine police.

Minister Alejandro Solís—the magistrate who issued the first sentence against the former director of the DINA Manuel Contreras for the qualified kidnapping of one of the 119, Miguel Angel Sandoval—recently pronounced the ruling that sentences Contreras to life imprisonment for the treacherous crime of the constitutionalist military officer.

At the event where the College of Journalists asked for forgiveness from the relatives, they valued the fact, criticizing that the implicated media had not offered public apologies. They also deplored that in democracy the practice of presenting uniform police setups through the press and television has been resumed to discredit the struggles of students, workers, and the Mapuche people, and to condemn through the media those who have no voice to present their demands and denounce current human rights violations.

Subsequently, on the anniversary of the professional association, during a ceremony that took place last Friday, July 18, the guest speaker, government spokesperson Minister Francisco Vidal, was confronted by young protesters who stood up from their seats to demand the freedom of the documentary filmmaker Elena Varela, who has been the subject of a setup of this type and remains imprisoned in the High Security Prison of Rancagua, prosecuted under the norms of the anti-terrorist legislation of the dictatorship era.

Dressed in shirts with allusive messages, after listening to speeches about ethics and freedom of expression, they shouted out loud: "How long will you set up setups to punish those who fight!"

Sentences by Minister Solís for the 119

Two sentences imposed by Judge Alejandro Solís in Operation Colombo cases were confirmed this year by the Court of Appeals, but the step through the Supreme Court still remains. This is the case of the student of mining engineering from the north, Julio Flores Pérez, where the ruling was 15 years for Manuel Contreras, and 10 years and one day for Pedro Espinoza (former head of Villa Grimaldi), Maximiliano Ferrer Lima (DINA's Brigada Caupolicán), Miguel Krassnoff (former head of the Halcón group), and Marcelo Moren Brito (former deputy head of Villa Grimaldi).

The other sentence confirmed for the DINA criminals was for the kidnapping of the social worker Jacqueline Binfa Contreras. As reported by the judiciary, this is the seventh conviction at the Court of Appeals level for human rights violation cases, out of a total of 58 sentences at that court level from June 2003 to date.

Also this year, Minister Solís issued two new rulings. One is for the engineering graduate Osvaldo Radrigán, sentencing Contreras to 15 years in prison. His henchmen, the brigadiers (R) Espinoza and Krassnoff, as well as the colonels (R) Moren Brito and Rolf Wenderoth (of the management staff of Villa Grimaldi and DINA), together with the sergeant major (R) Basclay Zapata (of the Halcón group), received a sentence of ten years and one day each.

Wenderoth was already serving a sentence for Manuel Cortez Joo. The other former officers were also serving sentences for other cases in the Cordillera Prison, called "VIP" by the most informed Chileans, because it was built exclusively for officers and has comforts and perks absent from the rest of the penal facilities.

The other ruling prepared by Solís refers to the case of the kidnapping of the electronic technician and member of the MIR's information structure, Marcelo Salinas Eytel, sentencing Manuel Contreras to another 15 years and one day, and the rest of the DINA executives to ten years and one day.

Similarly, Solís indicted this year for the kidnapping of the sociology student Jaime Robotham the entire senior staff of the DINA, Wenderoth, Colonel (R) Eduardo Lauriani Maturana, Krassnoff, and for the first time, the detective Valentin Cancino Varas as authors of the crime.

There are also first-instance rulings for Jorge D’Orival and Julio Flores Pérez. For the kidnapping of the student Claudio Silva, this judge, who is the one who has issued the most sentences against human rights violators, indicted Pedro Espinoza, Basclay Zapata, and the agent Palmira Almuna Guzmán.

Unlike some of his peers, this minister supports his resolutions not only on national legislation but on human rights doctrine and current international treaties. He has never applied the statute of limitations or amnesty.

Minister Fuentes has issued first-instance sentences in the cases of Félix de la Jara, Ofelia Lazo, and Sergio Montecinos, in which he has enforced the half-statute of limitations.

Completing the picture

Also this year, the visiting minister Víctor Montiglio, who inherited cases initially investigated by the former Judge Juan Guzmán, indicted Manuel Contreras together with the senior staff of the DINA and prosecuted a total of 98 repressors, most of them retired non-commissioned officers, who participated in the operational groups or in the clandestine detention and torture centers.

Among the Army officers (R) indicted are Raúl Iturriaga Neumann (general, head of the DINA's Foreign Department, who in 2007 fled for 55 days when his sentence for the kidnapping of Dagoberto San Martín was confirmed.

Minister Solís recently sentenced him to 15 years for the murder of General Prats and his wife). Also indicted were Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko (head of the Brigada Halcón), Fernando Lauriani Maturana, Marcelo Moren Brito (colonel, head of Villa Grimaldi), Pedro Espinoza Bravo (colonel, former DINA head), César Manríquez Bravo (General, head of the DINA's Metropolitan Brigade and Contreras's second-in-command), Manuel Carevic Cubillos (brigadier, deputy head of the Brigada Purén, implicated in another process for the death of Corporal Rodolfo González); Maximiliano Ferrer Lima (colonel, Brigada Caupolicán), Gerardo Urrich González (major, head of Brigada Purén, serving a sentence for the kidnapping of Dagoberto San Martín), and the officer Sergio Castillo González. The indictment of Jorge Andrade Gómez (colonel, Grimaldi's Grupo Aguila and CNI's Brigada Azul, already sentenced to five years and one day for the murder of Paulina Aguirre) was revoked because his assignment to the DINA would have been after 1976. The group of those indicted includes Eduardo Guerra Guajardo and Raúl Toro Montes (conscripts and DINA civilian employees), and the non-commissioned officers Carlos Bermúdez Méndez, José Fuentes Torres, Jaime Paris Ramos, and Víctor San Martín Jiménez. In addition, there are seven non-commissioned officers who were members of the Brigada Lautaro: Hiro Alvarez Vega, Víctor Manuel Alvarez Droguett, Alfonso "Elefante" Piña Garrido, Eduardo Reyes Lagos, Carlos Rinaldi Suazo, Orlando Torrejón Gatica, and Jorge Venegas Silva. Also indicted were Gustavo Apablaza Meneses (DINA/CNI Foreign Intelligence), Máximo Aliaga Soto, Pedro Bitterlich Jaramillo, Reinaldo Concha Orellana, Rodolfo Concha Rodríguez, Hugo Clavería Leiva, Juan Escobar Valenzuela, and Carlos Letelier Verdugo (the last three, conscripts and DINA/CNI civilian employees), Carlos Miranda Meza, Víctor Manuel Molina Astete, Luis Mora Cerda, Nelson Paz Bustamante, Alfonso Quiroz Quintana (conscript, DINA civilian employee), Raúl Soto Pérez, Juan Suárez Delgado (all non-commissioned officers), Rosa Ramos Hernández (DINA Villa Grimaldi agent), Luis Torres Méndez, and Basclay Zapata. The indictment of the former conscript Samuel Fuenzalida Devia constituted a worrying sign for sectors of the human rights movement, as he is a former guard who deserted early, left the country to save his life, and in Germany provided important information about the functioning of the DINA in the process against Colonia Dignidad to organizations such as Amnesty International and in the respective trial that was held there. Later he returned to Chile and has testified in many cases of the disappeared. The amparo appeal filed on his behalf by the Lutheran pastor Helmut Frenz was denied. The indicted members of the Investigative Police, all from the DINA, are Eugenio Fieldhouse Chávez (Sub-prefect, Deputy head of the clandestine detention center Villa Grimaldi), Daniel Cancino Varas (Sub-prefect), Risiere del Prado Altez España and Hugo Hernández (inspectors, the latter operated in the clandestine detention and torture center Venda Sexy), Herman Alfaro Mundaca (Commissioner), Juan Urbina Cáceres (prefect), Manuel Rivas Díaz (sub-commissioner), and Osvaldo Castillo Arellano.

The indicted Carabineros

The following are the Carabineros officers and non-commissioned officers (R) indicted: Gerardo Godoy García (colonel, head of Grupo Tucán), Ciro Torré Sáez (colonel, head of the Domingo Cañas 1367 torture house), Ricardo Lawrence Mires (colonel, "Cachete," of Brigada Halcón; Londres 38, already indicted for Calle Conferencia), Luis Zúñiga Ovalle (colonel); the non-commissioned officer Alejandro Molina Cisternas ("El Choco," already sentenced in the first instance for the kidnapping of Mario Carrasco, one of the 119, later he was a member of the CNI's Brigada Verde and is involved in the murders of Lisandro Sandoval Torres (1981) and of Patricio Sobarzo, Enzo Muñoz Arévalo, Juan Manuel Varas Silva, and Ana Alicia Delgado Tapia (in 1984)); José Aravena Ruiz (sergeant, Brigada Caupolicán); Heriberto del Carmen Acevedo, Sergio Castro Andrade, José Fritz Esparza, Héctor Lira Aravena, Manuel Montré Méndez, Claudio Orellana de la Pinta, José Ojeda Obando, Claudio Pacheco Fernández, Jorge Sagardia Monge, Camilo Torres Negrier, Luis Urrutia Acuña, Héctor Valdebenito Araya (all of them from the Brigada Lautaro); Pedro Alfaro Fernández, Manuel Avendaño González, Armando Cofré Correa, Gustavo Caruman Soto, Juan Duarte Gallegos, Héctor Flores Vergara, Enrique Gutiérrez Rubilar, Luis Gutiérrez Uribe, Julio Hoyos Zegarra (non-commissioned officers), Guillermo Inostroza Lagos, Nelson Iturriaga Cortés, Eduardo Jaime Astorga, Arnoldo Jara Brevis, Gerardo Meza Acuña, José Mora Diocares, José Muñoz Leal, and Jerónimo Neira Méndez (sergeants), Nelson Ortiz Vignolo, Sylvia Oyarce Pinto (non-commissioned officer), Claudio Pacheco Fernández (non-commissioned officer), Fernando Roa Montaña (second sergeant), José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, Luis Villarroel Gutiérrez. And the civilian Luis Eduardo Ortiz Farías. The members of the Air Force indicted are Delia Gajardo Cortés and Germán Avalos Muñoz (DINA civilian employees). From the Navy, the DINA agent Teresa Navarro Osorio (non-commissioned officer) was indicted. For the Gendarmerie, the major (R) Orlando Manzo Durán (former head of the Cuatro Alamos concentration camp) is indicted. However, all those indicted—the majority—who were not in prison for previous cases are already on conditional release (since June), which generated frustration among relatives and human rights defenders. The number of indictments by Minister Montiglio broke the communication barrier that normally exists on human rights issues. The 119 Collective, which brings together relatives of the fallen in this dictatorship setup, valued this progress at the time, but the organization maintained: "It is appropriate to pursue the responsibility of those civilians who planned the communication setup of the lists of the 119 or who assisted in its implementation. The hitman cannot be punished and not his associate in the crime. We vindicate the commitment and the project embodied by these 119 comrades, our relatives, and by all those who were repressed by the Dictatorship. To refound this country under the principles and the neoliberal model, the Military Dictatorship implemented these brutal repressive methods against our relatives and created structures that today violate the human rights of our people. To restore popular sovereignty and rebuild the hope of another Chile, we will continue seeking more justice in the courts and in the streets." For his part, the former judge Juan Guzmán on September 2, 2004, had charged Contreras, the members of the DINA, and the agents Basclay Zapata and Osvaldo Romo (who died in prison) with the qualified kidnapping of 16 fallen in Operation Colombo. He indicted Conrado Pacheco, Manuel Carevic, Francisco Ferrer Lima, and the lieutenants Ricardo Lawrence and Gerardo Godoy, as well as Gerardo Urrich, the brigadier (R) Fernando Lauriani, and the general (R) Raúl Iturriaga.

The "penguins" of yesterday

Many of the 119 were students or teachers or had left their work to dedicate themselves to the tasks of organizing the resistance. But before their detention, they had been (or were) teachers, like Arturo Barría, who taught at the Liceo Darío Salas, where now studies Música Sepúlveda, the student who cleaned with pure water the face of the Chilean Minister of Education, demanding that the youth be heard.

María Elena González had been the director of a rural school. Six of those who fell in 1974 were former students of the Liceo Experimental Manuel de Salas—María Inés Alvarado, Martín Elgueta, Luis Fuentes, Jaime Robotham, Jaime Buzio, and Edwin van Yurick—and there was a student from the Instituto Nacional (Mauricio Jorquera) and a former student of the Liceo 7 (Bárbara Uribe).

Four of the 119 were detained when they were still high school students, two of them at the Instituto Comercial Nº 2 (Alejandro Espejo and Mario Carrasco) and Jorge Antonio Herrera at the Liceo 6 of San Miguel, which in the time of President Salvador Allende was called Liceo Che Guevara.

There were two tailors, Miguel Angel Sandoval and Pedro Merino, and two concert performers: Patricia Peña (piano) and Luis Jaime Palominos (French horn). Others were mechanics, veterinarians, engineers, topographers, bricklayers.

Eugenia Martínez was a textile worker and lived in La Legua. Several were journalists, mechanics, secretaries, saleswomen, public employees, architects, agricultural technicians, or gardeners. The list included a former detective, Teobaldo Tello, a Civil Registry employee, Mónica Llanca, and one from the Investigative Police, Sonia Bustos, who worked in the resistance network providing information and materials to make identity cards in clandestine workshops.

In the group, 102 detainees were between 18 and 30 years old, and 13 of them were between 30 and 40. The majority were militants in the MIR, but there were also socialists, communists, MAPU members, and independents.

Between them, they had 84 children at the time of their detention, and another 13 children were on the way. Many had been student, union, or neighborhood leaders before 1973. Forty-three of them were students/teachers or graduates of the University of Chile, among them Francisco Aedo, a prominent socialist/MIR architect and academic of that university, who was already retired.

Ten were graduates of the current University of Santiago, which was previously called the State Technical University, and nine were from Concepción. Only three were from the Catholic University, among them the actress Carmen Bueno ("A la Sombra del Sol" and "La Tierra Prometida"), who studied at the School of Art and Communication and was the partner of Jorge Müller, a cameraman for La Batalla de Chile, who disappeared like her.

Mario Calderón, a journalist, was from Valparaíso. Violeta López acted in the Railway Theater group and after the coup worked at Cecinas Loewer as a laborer. Jacqueline Drouilly was pregnant and it was never known what happened to her child.

Several were from Santiago, from neighborhoods located in Ñuñoa/Peñalolén, in Villa Francia, in the José María Caro neighborhood. But others had arrived in the capital evading repression from Temuco, Valdivia, or Concepción.

Some were from the north, like the Andrónicos Antequera brothers, in whose home the first experiments in manufacturing a clandestine radio station were carried out. Two of the disappeared—Miguel Angel Pizarro Meniconi and Rodrigo Ugas—had posthumous twin children.

The children of Manuel Cortez Joo, Luis Guajardo, and Washington Cid were born in prison. Their mothers survived. The indictments of Minister Montiglio refer to the kidnappings of Francisco Aedo Carrasco, the brothers Jorge and Juan Carlos Andrónicos Antequera, Jaime Buzio Lorca, Cecilia Castro Salvadores, Alejandro Espejo Gómez, Agustín Fioraso Chau, Gregorio Gaete Farías, Mauricio Jorquera Encina, Mario Calderón Tapia, Isidro Pizarro Meniconi, Marcos Quiñones Lembach, Sergio Reyes Navarrete, Gilberto Urbina Chamorro, Miguel Ángel Acuña Castillo, María Angélica Andreoli Bravo, Rubén Arroyo Padilla, Arturo Barría Araneda, Francisco Bravo Núñez, Carmen Bueno Cifuentes, Juan Chacón Olivares, Darío Chávez Lobos, Washington Cid Urrutia, Bernardo de Castro López, Luis Durán Rivas, Héctor Garay Hermosilla, María Cristina López Stewart, Zacarías Machuca Muñoz, Jorge Olivares Graindorge, Vicente Palominos Benítez, Juan Carlos Perelman Ide, Carlos Pérez Vargas, Asrael Retamales Briceño, Ariel Salinas Argomedo, Teobaldo Tello Garrido, Enrique Toro Romero, Rodrigo Ugas Morales, Eduardo Ziede Gómez, and Héctor Cayetano Zúñiga Tapia.

The voice of a daughter

In April 2008, at a tribute event held at the Faculty of Philosophy of the U of Chile, Natalia, daughter of Alfonso Chanfreau, expressed (in edited paragraphs of her speech): "to this day we must face a society that functions as if this had not happened.

The places identified as sites of memory can be counted on the fingers of one hand. How many torture houses have been officially handed over, perhaps simply with a little plaque that says: here torture took place? where not only the horror is made visible but also its victims, in all their dimensions...

One manages to move through the world with a certain normality until the real weight of the disappearance falls again on our bodies and tears us to pieces, and we ask ourselves again how to handle so much pain, how to handle so much daily impunity.

But finally, we manage to surface again... I can tell you that my dad was beautiful... with a particular voice, tall, studious militant, pampered son, comrade... The whole of Chile has been and will continue to be marked by what the dictatorship was and these years of impunity, in the life of my children and in that of all those who will grow up in this country.

The trial we are waiting for in France is a tremendous wake-up call regarding what is happening here in Chile. It cannot be that the sentences are so low, that the trials drag on for years and years without significant progress for the majority, it cannot be that this country plays deaf and blind to it.

This is a wake-up call to each one of us not to lower our guard, not to forget. Truth and Justice now, not halfway, not in parts, but all of it, nothing more and nothing less!"

Source: El Clarín, July 23, 2008

Justice system indicts 128 DINA agents for 16 kidnappings in “Operation Colombo”

The minister for extraordinary causes regarding human rights violations at the Santiago Court of Appeals, Hernán Crisosto Greisse, has issued indictments in the investigation he is conducting into the aggravated kidnappings of 16 victims of the so-called “Operation Colombo,” who were forcibly disappeared between July 17, 1974, and January 6, 1975, and whose names appeared on lists published as part of “disinformation maneuvers orchestrated by the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) abroad.”

In the resolution (case file 2182-98), the presiding judge indicted 128 DINA agents as co-perpetrators in the aggravated kidnappings of Francisco Aedo Carrasco, Albano Fioraso Chau, Jaime Buzio Lorca, Marcos Esteban Quiñones Lembach, Mauricio Jorquera Escina, Rodolfo Alejandro Espejo Gómez, Gregorio Gaete Farias, Mario Calderón Tapia, Jorge Andrónicos Antequera, Juan Carlos Andrónicos Antequera, Sergio Reyes Navarrete, Cecilia Castro Salvadores, Ida Vera Almarza, Isidro Pizarro Meniconi, Jilberto Urbina Chamorro, and Juan Rodríguez Araya.

This investigation corresponds to the final episode of the 36 cases derived from the so-called “Operation Colombo”; the other 35 have already been adjudicated in the first instance.

In the indictment, Minister Crisosto charged the following as responsible for the kidnappings of:

– Francisco Aedo Carrasco: DINA agents César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Orlando Manzo Durán, Fernando Lauriani Maturana, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Hermon Helec Alfaro Mundaca, José Jaime Mora Diocares, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, Armando Segundo Cofré Correa, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Gerardo Meza Acuña, Manuel Heriberto Avendaño González, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Óscar Belarmino la Flor Flores, Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel, Alejandro Francisco Astudillo Adonis, Demóstenes Eugenio Cárdenas Saavedra, José Avelino Yévenes Vergara, Carlos Eduardo Correa Habert, and Daniel Alberto Galaz Orellana.

– Juan Carlos and Jorge Elías Andrónicos Antequera: César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Francisco Maximiliano Ferrer Lima, Orlando Manzo Durán, Fernando Lauriani Maturana, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Hermon Helec Alfaro Mundaca, José Jaime Mora Diocares, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, Armando Segundo Cofré Correa, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Gerardo Meza Acuña, Manuel Heriberto Avendaño González, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Leoncio Enrique Velásquez Guala, Óscar Belarmino la Flor Flores, Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel, Alejandro Francisco Astudillo Adonis, Demóstenes Eugenio Cárdenas Saavedra, José Avelino Yévenes Vergara, Carlos Correa Habert, and Daniel Galaz Orellana.

– Jaime Buzio Lorca: César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Francisco Maximiliano Ferrer Lima, Orlando Manzo Durán, Fernando Lauriani Maturana, Gerardo Godoy García, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, Gerardo Ernesto Urrich González, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Sergio Hernán Castillo González, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Alejandro Francisco Molina Cisterna, Eugenio Jesús Fieldhouse Chávez, Luis Eduardo Mora Cerda, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Teresa del Carmen Osorio Navarro, Hermon Helec Alfaro Mundaca, José Enrique Fuentes Torres, José Jaime Mora Diocares, José Mario Friz Esparza, Julio José Hoyos Zegarra, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, Pedro René Alfaro Fernández, Samuel Enrique Fuenzalida Devia, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, Alfonso Humberto Quiroz Quintana, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Jaime Humberto Paris Ramos, Jorge Laureano Sagardia Monje, José Stalin Muñoz Leal, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, Víctor San Martín Jiménez, Máximo Ramón Aliaga Soto, Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, Camilo Torres Negrier, Manuel Antonio Montre Méndez, Sergio Hernán Castro Andrade, Claudio Orlando Orellana de la Pinta, Hiro Álvarez Vega, Nelson Eduardo Iturriaga Cortés, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Carlos Justo Bermúdez Méndez, Gustavo Galvarino Caruman Soto, Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica, José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo, Fernando Adrián Roa Montaña, Gerardo Meza Acuña, Luis René Torres Méndez, Reinaldo Concha Orellana, Rodolfo Valentino Concha Rodríguez, Enrique Tránsito Gutiérrez Rubilar, Hugo del Tránsito Hernández Valle, Juan Ángel Urbina Cáceres, Manuel Rivas Díaz, Osvaldo Octavio Castillo Arellano, Risiere del Prado Altez España, Daniel Valentín Cancino Varas, Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos, Víctor Manuel Molina Astete, Fernando Enrique Guerra Guajardo, Guido Arnoldo Jara Brevis, Gustavo Humberto Apablaza Meneses, Hugo Hernán Clavería Leiva, Jerónimo del Carmen Neira Méndez, Juan Carlos Escobar Valenzuela, Carlos Enrique Miranda Mesa, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Juan Ignacio Suárez Delgado, Raúl Alberto Soto Pérez, Carlos Enrique Letelier Verdugo, Herman Eduardo Ávalos Muñoz, Raúl Bernardo Toro Montes, Armando Segundo Cofré Correa, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Olegario Enrique González Moreno, Juan Miguel Troncoso Soto, José Dorohi Hormazábal Rodríguez, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Jorge Antonio Lepileo Barrios, Lautaro Eugenio Díaz Espinoza, Óscar Belarmino la Flor Flores, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Rufino Espinoza Espinoza, Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, Carlos Alfonso Sáez Sanhueza, Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel, Juan Alfredo Villanueva Alvear, Alfredo Orlando Moya Tejeda, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, Leonidas Emiliano Méndez Moreno, Héctor Carlos Díaz Cabezas, Silvio Antonio Concha González, Víctor Abraham González Salazar, Jorge Segundo Madariaga Acevedo, Luis Fernando Espinace Contreras, Miguel Ángel Yáñez Ugalde, Hernán Patricio Valenzuela Salas, José Avelino Yévenes Vergara, Carlos Correa Habert, and Daniel Galaz Orellana.

– Mario Eduardo Calderón Tapia: César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Francisco Maximiliano Ferrer Lima, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, Orlando Manzo Durán, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, Fernando Eduardo Lauriani Maturana, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Gerardo Ernesto Urrich González, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Alejandro Francisco Molina Cisterna, Eugenio Jesús Fieldhouse Chávez, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Teresa del Carmen Osorio Navarro, Luis Eduardo Mora Cerda, Hermon Helec Alfaro Mundaca, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, José Jaime Mora Diocares, José Mario Friz Esparza, Julio José Hoyos Zegarra, Pedro René Alfaro Fernández, Samuel Enrique Fuenzalida Devia, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, Alfonso Humberto Quiroz Quintana, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Jaime Humberto Paris Ramos, José Stalin Muñoz Leal, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Víctor San Martín Jiménez, Máximo Ramón Aliaga Soto, Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, Gustavo Galvarino Caruman Soto, Luis René Torres Méndez, Reinaldo Concha Orellana, Rodolfo Valentino Concha Rodríguez, Armando Segundo Cofré Correa, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Gerardo Meza Acuña, Juan Ángel Urbina Cáceres, Osvaldo Octavio Castillo Arellano, Daniel Valentín Cancino Varas, Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos, Víctor Manuel Molina Astete, Fernando Enrique Guerra Guajardo, Guido Arnoldo Jara Brevis, Hugo Hernán Clavería Leiva, Jerónimo del Carmen Neira Méndez, Juan Carlos Escobar Valenzuela, Carlos Enrique Miranda Mesa, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Juan Ignacio Suárez Delgado, Raúl Alberto Soto Pérez, Manuel Heriberto Avendaño González, Carlos Enrique Letelier Verdugo, Herman Eduardo Ávalos Muñoz, Raúl Bernardo Toro Montes, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Óscar Belarmino la Flor Flores, Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel, Silvio Antonio Concha González, Olegario Enrique González Moreno, Luis Rigoberto Videla Inzunza, Jorge Segundo Madariaga Acevedo, Luis Fernando Espinace Contreras, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Palmira Isabel Almuna Guzmán, Miguel Ángel Yáñez Ugalde, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, Leonidas Emiliano Méndez Moreno, Héctor Carlos Díaz Cabezas, Alejandro Francisco Astudillo Adonis, Demóstenes Eugenio Cárdenas Saavedra, José Avelino Yévenes Vergara, Carlos Correa Habert, and Daniel Galaz Orellana.

– Cecilia Gabriela Castro Salvadores: César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Francisco Maximiliano Ferrer Lima, Fernando Lauriani Maturana, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Alejandro Francisco Molina Cisterna, Eugenio Jesús Fieldhouse Chávez, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Teresa del Carmen Osorio Navarro, Sylvia Teresa Oyarce Pinto, Luis Eduardo Mora Cerda, Hermon Helec Alfaro Mundaca, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, José Jaime Mora Diocares, José Mario Friz Esparza, Julio José Hoyos Zegarra, Pedro René Alfaro Fernández, Samuel Enrique Fuenzalida Devia, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, Alfonso Humberto Quiroz Quintana, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Jaime Humberto Paris Ramos, José Stalin Muñoz Leal, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Víctor San Martín Jiménez, Máximo Ramón Aliaga Soto, Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, Gustavo Galvarino Caruman Soto, Luis René Torres Méndez, Reinaldo Concha Orellana, Rodolfo Valentino Concha Rodríguez, Armando Segundo Cofré Correa, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Gerardo Meza Acuña, Juan Ángel Urbina Cáceres, Osvaldo Octavio Castillo Arellano, Daniel Valentín Cancino Varas, Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos, Víctor Manuel Molina Astete, Fernando Enrique Guerra Guajardo, Guido Arnoldo Jara Brevis, Hugo Hernán Clavería Leiva, Jerónimo del Carmen Neira Méndez, Juan Carlos Escobar Valenzuela, Carlos Enrique Miranda Mesa, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Juan Ignacio Suárez Delgado, Raúl Alberto Soto Pérez, Carlos Enrique Letelier Verdugo, Herman Eduardo Ávalos Muñoz, Raúl Bernardo Toro Montes, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Leoncio Enrique Velásquez Guala, Óscar Belarmino la Flor Flores, Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel, Silvio Antonio Concha González, Carlos López Inostroza, Olegario Enrique González Moreno, Luis Rigoberto Videla Inzunza, Jorge Segundo Madariaga Acevedo, Luis Fernando Espinace Contreras, Jorge Antonio Lepileo Barrios, Lautaro Eugenio Díaz Espinoza, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Palmira Isabel Almuna Guzmán, Miguel Ángel Yáñez Ugalde, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, Leonidas Emiliano Méndez Moreno, Héctor Carlos Díaz Cabezas, José Avelino Yévenes Vergara, Carlos Correa Habert, and Daniel Galaz Orellana.

– Rodolfo Alejandro Espejo Gómez: César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Orlando Manzo Durán, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, Miguel Krassnoff Marchenko, Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Gerardo Ernesto Urrich González, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Sergio Hernán Castillo González, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Luis Eduardo Mora Cerda, Hermon Helec Alfaro Mundaca, José Enrique Fuentes Torres, José Jaime Mora Diocares, José Mario Friz Esparza, Julio José Hoyos Zegarra, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, Armando Segundo Cofré Correa, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Jaime Humberto Paris Ramos, Jorge Laureano Sagardia Monje, José Stalin Muñoz Leal, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, Víctor San Martín Jiménez, Máximo Ramón Aliaga Soto, Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, Camilo Torres Negrier, Manuel Antonio Montre Méndez, Sergio Hernán Castro Andrade, Claudio Orlando Orellana de la Pinta, Hiro Álvarez Vega, Nelson Eduardo Iturriaga Cortés, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Carlos Justo Bermúdez Méndez, Gustavo Galvarino Caruman Soto, Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica, José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo, Fernando Adrián Roa Montaña, Gerardo Meza Acuña, Luis René Torres Méndez, Reinaldo Concha Orellana, Rodolfo Valentino Concha Rodríguez, Enrique Tránsito Gutiérrez Rubilar, Hugo del Tránsito Hernández Valle, Juan Ángel Urbina Cáceres, Manuel Rivas Díaz, Risiere del Prado Altez España, Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos, Víctor Manuel Molina Astete, Fernando Enrique Guerra Guajardo, Gustavo Humberto Apablaza Meneses, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Manuel Heriberto Avendaño González, Carlos López Inostroza, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Olegario Enrique González Moreno, José Dorohi Hormazábal Rodríguez, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Jorge Antonio Lepileo Barrios, Lautaro Eugenio Díaz Espinoza, Óscar Belarmino la Flor Flores, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Rufino Espinoza Espinoza, Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, Carlos Alfonso Sáez Sanhueza, Osvaldo Pulgar Gallardo, Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel, Juan Alfredo Villanueva Alvear, Alfredo Orlando Moya Tejeda, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, Alejandro Francisco Astudillo Adonis, Demóstenes Eugenio Cárdenas Saavedra, José Avelino Yévenes Vergara, Carlos Correa Habert, and Daniel Galaz Orellana.

– Albano Agustín Fioraso Chau: César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Luis Ignacio Zúñiga Ovalle, Miguel Krassnoff Marchenko, Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Gerardo Ernesto Urrich González, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Sergio Hernán Castillo González, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Luis Eduardo Mora Cerda, Hermon Helec Alfaro Mundaca, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, José Enrique Fuentes Torres, José Jaime Mora Diocares, José Mario Friz Esparza, Julio José Hoyos Zegarra, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Jaime Humberto Paris Ramos, Jorge Laureano Sagardia Monje, José Stalin Muñoz Leal, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, Víctor San Martín Jiménez, Máximo Ramón Aliaga Soto, Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, Camilo Torres Negrier, Manuel Antonio Montre Méndez, Sergio Hernán Castro Andrade, Claudio Orlando Orellana de la Pinta, Hiro Álvarez Vega, Nelson Eduardo Iturriaga Cortés, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Carlos Justo Bermúdez Méndez, Gustavo Galvarino Caruman Soto, Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica, José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo, Fernando Adrián Roa Montaña, Gerardo Meza Acuña, Luis René Torres Méndez, Reinaldo Concha Orellana, Rodolfo Valentino Concha Rodríguez, Enrique Tránsito Gutiérrez Rubilar, Hugo del Tránsito Hernández Valle, Juan Ángel Urbina Cáceres, Manuel Rivas Díaz, Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos, Víctor Manuel Molina Astete, Fernando Enrique Guerra Guajardo, Gustavo Humberto Apablaza Meneses, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Armando Segundo Cofré Correa, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Olegario Enrique González Moreno, Juan Miguel Troncoso Soto, José Dorohi Hormazábal Rodríguez, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Luis Fernando Espinace Contreras, Jorge Antonio Lepileo Barrios, Lautaro Eugenio Díaz Espinoza, Óscar Belarmino la Flor Flores, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Rufino Espinoza Espinoza, Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, Carlos Alfonso Sáez Sanhueza, Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel, Juan Alfredo Villanueva Alvear, Alfredo Orlando Moya Tejeda, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, Leonidas Emiliano Méndez Moreno, Héctor Carlos Díaz Cabezas, Hernán Patricio Valenzuela Salas, José Avelino Yévenes Vergara, Carlos Correa Habert, and Daniel Galaz Orellana.

– Gregorio Antonio Gaete Farias: César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Orlando Manzo Durán, Miguel Krassnoff Marchenko, Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Gerardo Ernesto Urrich González, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Sergio Hernán Castillo González, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Luis Eduardo Mora Cerda, Hermon Helec Alfaro Mundaca, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, José Enrique Fuentes Torres, José Jaime Mora Diocares, José Mario Friz Esparza, Julio José Hoyos Zegarra, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, Armando Segundo Cofré Correa, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Jaime Humberto Paris Ramos, Jorge Laureano Sagardia Monje, José Stalin Muñoz Leal, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, Víctor San Martín Jiménez, Máximo Ramón Aliaga Soto, Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, Camilo Torres Negrier, Manuel Antonio Montre Méndez, Sergio Hernán Castro Andrade, Claudio Orlando Orellana de la Pinta, Hiro Álvarez Vega, Nelson Eduardo Iturriaga Cortés, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Carlos Justo Bermúdez Méndez, Gustavo Galvarino Caruman Soto, Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica, José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo, Fernando Adrián Roa Montaña, Gerardo Meza Acuña, Luis René Torres Méndez, Reinaldo Concha Orellana, Rodolfo Valentino Concha Rodríguez, Enrique Tránsito Gutiérrez Rubilar, Hugo del Tránsito Hernández Valle, Juan Ángel Urbina Cáceres, Manuel Rivas Díaz, Risiere del Prado Altez España, Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos, Víctor Manuel Molina Astete, Fernando Enrique Guerra Guajardo, Gustavo Humberto Apablaza Meneses, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Manuel Heriberto Avendaño González, Carlos López Inostroza, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Olegario Enrique González Moreno, José Dorohi Hormazábal Rodríguez, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Jorge Antonio Lepileo Barrios, Lautaro Eugenio Díaz Espinoza, Óscar Belarmino la Flor Flores, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Rufino Espinoza Espinoza, Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, Carlos Alfonso Sáez Sanhueza, Osvaldo Pulgar Gallardo, Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel, Juan Alfredo Villanueva Alvear, Alfredo Orlando Moya Tejeda, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, Alejandro Francisco Astudillo Adonis, Demóstenes Eugenio Cárdenas Saavedra, José Avelino Yévenes Vergara, Carlos Correa Habert, and Daniel Galaz Orellana.

– Mauricio Edmundo Jorquera Encina: César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Miguel Krassnoff Marchenko, Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Gerardo Ernesto Urrich González, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Sergio Hernán Castillo González, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Luis Eduardo Mora Cerda, Hermon Helec Alfaro Mundaca, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, José Enrique Fuentes Torres, José Jaime Mora Diocares, José Mario Friz Esparza, Julio José Hoyos Zegarra, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Jaime Humberto Paris Ramos, Jorge Laureano Sagardia Monje, José Stalin Muñoz Leal, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, Víctor San Martín Jiménez, Máximo Ramón Aliaga Soto, Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, Camilo Torres Negrier, Manuel Antonio Montre Méndez, Sergio Hernán Castro Andrade, Claudio Orlando Orellana de la Pinta, Hiro Álvarez Vega, Nelson Eduardo Iturriaga Cortés, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Carlos Justo Bermúdez Méndez, Gustavo Galvarino Caruman Soto, Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica, José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo, Fernando Adrián Roa Montaña, Gerardo Meza Acuña, Luis René Torres Méndez, Reinaldo Concha Orellana, Rodolfo Valentino Concha Rodríguez, Enrique Tránsito Gutiérrez Rubilar, Hugo del Tránsito Hernández Valle, Juan Ángel Urbina Cáceres, Manuel Rivas Díaz, Risiere del Prado Altez España, Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos, Víctor Manuel Molina Astete, Fernando Enrique Guerra Guajardo, Gustavo Humberto Apablaza Meneses, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Carlos López Inostroza, Armando Segundo Cofré Correa, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Olegario Enrique González Moreno, José Dorohi Hormazábal Rodríguez, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Jorge Antonio Lepileo Barrios, Lautaro Eugenio Díaz Espinoza, Óscar Belarmino la Flor Flores, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Rufino Espinoza Espinoza, Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, Osvaldo Pulgar Gallardo, Carlos Alfonso Sáez Sanhueza, Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel, Juan Alfredo Villanueva Alvear, Alfredo Orlando Moya Tejeda, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, Leonidas Emiliano Méndez Moreno, Héctor Carlos Díaz Cabezas, José Avelino Yévenes Vergara, Carlos Correa Habert, and Daniel Galaz Orellana.

– Isidro Miguel Pizarro Meniconi: César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Orlando Manzo Durán, Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, Miguel Krassnoff Marchenko, Francisco Maximiliano Ferrer Lima, Fernando Eduardo Lauríani Maturana, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Alejandro Francisco Molina Cisterna, Eugenio Jesús Fieldhouse Chávez, Luis Eduardo Mora Cerda, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Teresa del Carmen Osorio Navarro, Sylvia Teresa Oyarce Pinto, José Jaime Mora Diocares, José Mario Friz Esparza, Julio José Hoyos Zegarra, Pedro René Alfaro Fernández, Samuel Enrique Fuenzalida Devia, Alfonso Humberto Quiroz Quintana, Armando Segundo Cofré Correa, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Héctor Alfredo Flores Vergara, Jaime Humberto Paris Ramos, José Stalin Muñoz Leal, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Víctor San Martín Jiménez, Máximo Ramón Aliaga Soto, Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, Nelson Eduardo Iturriaga Cortés, Gustavo Galvarino Caruman Soto, Luis René Torres Méndez, Reinaldo Concha Orellana, Rodolfo Valentino Concha Rodríguez, Enrique Tránsito Gutiérrez Rubilar, Hugo del Tránsito Hernández Valle, Juan Ángel Urbina Cáceres, Manuel Rivas Díaz, Osvaldo Octavio Castillo Arellano, Risiere del Prado Altez España, Daniel Valentín Cancino Varas, Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos, Víctor Manuel Molina Astete, Fernando Enrique Guerra Guajardo, Guido Arnoldo Jara Brevis, Hugo Hernán Clavería Leiva, Jerónimo del Carmen Neira Méndez, Juan Carlos Escobar Valenzuela, Carlos Enrique Miranda Mesa, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Juan Ignacio Suárez Delgado, Raúl Alberto Soto Pérez, Carlos Enrique Letelier Verdugo, Herman Eduardo Ávalos Muñoz, Raúl Bernardo Toro Montes, José Dorohi Hormazábal Rodríguez, Alfredo Orlando Moya Tejeda, Carlos Alfonso Sáez Sanhueza, Silvio Antonio Concha González, Olegario Enrique González Moreno, Carlos López Inostroza, Luis Rigoberto Videla Inzunza, Jorge Segundo Madariaga Acevedo, Luis Fernando Espinace Contreras, Jorge Antonio Lepileo Barrios, Lautaro Eugenio Díaz Espinoza, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Palmira Isabel Almuna Guzmán, Miguel Ángel Yáñez Ugalde, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, Leonidas Emiliano Méndez Moreno, Héctor Carlos Díaz Cabezas, Hernán Patricio Valenzuela Salas, José Avelino Yévenes Vergara, Carlos Correa Habert, Daniel Galaz Orellana, and Werner Enrique Zanghellini Martínez.

– Marcos Esteban Quiñones Lembach: César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Fernando Lauriani Maturana, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, Miguel Krassnoff Marchenko, Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Gerardo Ernesto Urrich González, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Sergio Hernán Castillo González, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Luis Eduardo Mora Cerda, Hermon Helec Alfaro Mundaca, José Enrique Fuentes Torres, José Jaime Mora Diocares, José Mario Friz Esparza, Julio José Hoyos Zegarra, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Jaime Humberto Paris Ramos, Jorge Laureano Sagardia Monje, José Stalin Muñoz Leal, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, Víctor San Martín Jiménez, Máximo Ramón Aliaga Soto, Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, Camilo Torres Negrier, Manuel Antonio Montre Méndez, Sergio Hernán Castro Andrade, Claudio Orlando Orellana, Hiro Álvarez Vega, Nelson Eduardo Iturriaga Cortés, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Carlos Justo Bermúdez Méndez, Gustavo Galvarino Caruman Soto, Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica, José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo, Fernando Adrián Roa Montaña, Gerardo Meza Acuña, Luis René Torres Méndez, Reinaldo Concha Orellana, Rodolfo Valentino Concha Rodríguez, Enrique Tránsito Gutiérrez Rubilar, Hugo del Tránsito Hernández Valle, Juan Ángel Urbina Cáceres, Manuel Rivas Díaz, Risiere del Prado Altez España, Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos, Víctor Manuel Molina Astete, Fernando Enrique Guerra Guajardo, Gustavo Humberto Apablaza Meneses, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Carlos López Inostroza, Armando Segundo Cofré Correa, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Olegario Enrique González Moreno, Juan Miguel Troncoso Soto, José Dorohi Hormazábal Rodríguez, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Jorge Antonio Lepileo Barrios, Lautaro Eugenio Díaz Espinoza, Óscar Belarmino la Flor Flores, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Rufino Espinoza Espinoza, Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, Carlos Alfonso Sáez Sanhueza, Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel, Juan Alfredo Villanueva Alvear, Alfredo Orlando Moya Tejeda, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, Leonidas Emiliano Méndez Moreno, Héctor Carlos Díaz Cabezas, Hernán Patricio Valenzuela Salas, José Avelino Yévenes Vergara, Carlos Correa Habert, and Daniel Galaz Orellana.

– Sergio Alfonso Reyes Navarrete: César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Orlando José Manzo Durán, Francisco Maximiliano Ferrer Lima, Fernando Eduardo Lauriani Maturana, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Hermon Helec Alfaro Mundaca, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, José Jaime Mora Diocares, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, Armando Segundo Cofre Correa, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Gerardo Meza Acuña, Manuel Heriberto Avendaño González, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Leoncio Enrique Velásquez Guala, Óscar Belarmino la Flor Flores, Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel, Alejandro Francisco Astudillo Adonis, Demóstenes Eugenio Cárdenas Saavedra, José Avelino Yévenes Vergara, Carlos Correa Habert, and Daniel Galaz Orellana.

– Jilberto Patricio Urbina Chamorro: César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Orlando Manzo Durán, Fernando Lauriani Maturana, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Francisco Maximiliano Ferrer Lima, Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Alejandro Francisco Molina Cisterna, Eugenio Jesús Fieldhouse Chávez, Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, Teresa del Carmen Osorio Navarro, Sylvia Teresa Oyarce Pinto, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, José Jaime Mora Diocares, José Mario Friz Esparza, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, Pedro René Alfaro Fernández, Samuel Enrique Fuenzalida Devia, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, José Stalin Muñoz Leal, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Gustavo Galvarino Caruman Soto, Heriberto del Carmen Acevedo, Luis René Torres Méndez, Reinaldo Concha Orellana, Rodolfo Valentino Concha Rodríguez, Hugo del Tránsito Hernández Valle, Juan Ángel Urbina Cáceres, Manuel Rivas Díaz, Osvaldo Octavio Castillo Arellano, Víctor Manuel Molina Astete, Fernando Enrique Guerra Guajardo, Guido Arnoldo Jara Brevis, Hugo Hernán Clavería Leiva, Jerónimo del Carmen Neira Méndez, Jorge Luis Venegas Silva, Juan Carlos Escobar Valenzuela, Carlos Enrique Miranda Mesa, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Raúl Alberto Soto Pérez, Carlos Enrique Letelier Verdugo, Herman Eduardo Ávalos Muñoz, Raúl Bernardo Toro Montes, Silvio Antonio Concha González, Pedro Mora Villanueva, Carlos López Inostroza, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Ricardo Orlando Zamorano Vergara, Luis Rigoberto Videla Inzunza, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Luis Fernando Espinace Contreras, Jorge Antonio Lepileo Barrios, Lautaro Eugenio Díaz Espinoza, Óscar Belarmino la Flor Flores, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, Palmira Isabel Almuna Guzmán, Osvaldo Pulgar Gallardo, Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel, Miguel Ángel Yáñez Ugalde, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, Leonidas Emiliano Méndez Moreno, Héctor Carlos Díaz Cabezas, José Avelino Yévenes Vergara, Carlos Correa Habert, and Daniel Galaz Orellana.

– Ida Vera Almarza: César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, Gerardo Ernesto Urrich González, Armando Segundo Cofré Correa, Héctor Alfredo Flores Vergara, Nelson Eduardo Iturriaga Cortés, José Dorohi Hormazábal Rodríguez, Enrique Tránsito Gutiérrez Rubilar, Hugo del Tránsito Hernández Valle, Manuel Rivas Díaz, Risiere del Prado Altez España, Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos, Alfredo Orlando Moya Tejeda, Carlos Alfonso Sáez Sanhueza, Hernán Patricio Valenzuela Salas, Raúl Iturriaga Neumann, Edinson Antonio Fernández Sanhueza, Jaime Alfonso Fernández Garrido, Manuel Carevic Cubillos, and Werner Enrique Zanghellini Martínez.

– Juan Carlos Rodríguez Araya: Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, César Manríquez Bravo, Francisco Maximiliano Ferrer Lima, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, Teresa Osorio Navarro, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, Luis René Torres Méndez, José Avelino Yévenes Vergara, Rodolfo Valentino Concha Rodríguez, José Enrique Fuentes Torres, Carlos Correa Habert, and Daniel Galaz Orellana.

Operation Colombo

Operation Colombo, or the "Case of the 119," was an operation mounted by the Chilean National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) in 1975, intended to cover up the forced disappearance of 119 opponents of the military regime—mostly members of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR)—and to make the national and international public believe that they had died in clashes with foreign security forces or as victims of internal purges.

The name "Operation Colombo" was given by the DINA itself; it was part of Operation Condor, a cooperation effort between South American intelligence services. Criminal responsibility for these events is attributed to the DINA high command, and indirectly to Augusto Pinochet; the matter is currently in the hands of the Chilean justice system.

The DINA is accused of having devised, together with Argentine intelligence and with the help of Chilean media outlets (such as El Mercurio, La Segunda, and La Tercera), a way to convince public opinion of the non-existence or minimization of the forcibly disappeared, attributing some of their deaths to internal political disputes within the Left, and specifically the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR).

In that context, the Chilean press reproduced information published by the magazines Lea in Argentina and Novo O’Día in Brazil, according to which the whereabouts of 119 people had been clarified. The first of these publications reported on the fate of 60 disappeared persons, while the other reported on the remaining 59.

The reproduction of these news items in the Chilean press was intended to support the government's position: that there were no forcibly disappeared persons, but rather that the people sought by their families had fled the country.

The evening newspaper La Segunda reported the event with the headline “MIR members exterminated like rats,” and the headline of La Tercera (July 23, 1975) stated, “The MIR has murdered 60 of its own men.”

On August 1, 1975, the Committee for Peace (Comité Pro Paz) submitted a request to the Supreme Court to appoint a special judge (Ministro en Visita) for the people who had been detained and disappeared during their arrest.

They insisted on learning the whereabouts of these people due to new information that had emerged regarding the alleged death of 119 Chileans in Argentina. However, this request was denied by the highest court.

Sergio Diez Urzúa, who was then serving as Chile's ambassador to the UN, declared before the United Nations General Assembly that many of the reported disappearances were false, explaining that some of them corresponded to internal purges of the MIR, that other people simply had no legal existence, or that they were people who had died or were in exile.

Source: elciudadano.cl, April 19, 2016