PART THREE
Chapter One (A.2)

September through December 1973 (continued)

1. HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS COMMITTED BY GOVERNMENT AGENTS OR PERSONS WORKING FOR THEM (continued)
   
   
   2. CASES (continued)
      
      
      9. Eighth Region-Bío Bío
         
         
         1. Overview
            
            This section deals with 212 cases of human rights violations in the Bío Bío Region from September 11 to the end of 1973. All of them resulted in death or disappearance, and the Commission came to the conviction that the government was responsible for the acts of its agents or persons in their service.
            
            In the Eighth Region, which encompasses what are today the provinces of ñuble, Concepción, Bío Bío, and Arauco, the army, the navy, and the police controlled public order. In the province of Concepción the army and the navy took charge, and it was their members who were guilty of human rights violations. The police controlled public order in the smaller and more remote areas of the province. In the provinces of ñuble and Bío Bío the army and the police exercised military and political control. It was the activity of the police, especially throughout ñuble and in the rural areas of Bío Bío, that produced most of the cases the Commission considered.
            
            It is important to note that in some municipalities or areas, such as Santa Bárbara, Quilaco, Quilleco, and Mulchén, organized civilians were actively involved in the actions that violated human rights. The social conflicts prompted by the agrarian reform process had led to the formation of far right groups and groups of farmers who became involved in repressive actions after the Popular Unity was overthrown. This Commission received a great deal of consistent testimony that these people generally worked together with the armed forces and were directly involved in repression. On other occasions, they made accusations against people who were then arrested or killed, they acted on their own with the knowledge of the authorities in seizing people who later disappeared, and they were involved in interrogating and torturing prisoners in military facilities.
            
            The characteristics of those who suffered human rights violations varied from one part of the region to another. In the province of Concepción they were generally people who were clearly politically involved, namely cadres of the Communist party, MIR, and the Socialist party. Many of them were professional people, university students, or mid-level or high ranking public officials. Some victims in the area of Concepción do not seem to have been politically involved.
            
            The situation was different in the provinces of ñuble and Bío Bío. Due to conflicts over land ownership, most of the victims were small farmers or farm workers, many of whom were not known to be politically involved. Other victims included political leaders connected to government agricultural agencies such as INDAP (National Institute for Agricultural Development), the Agriculture and Livestock Service, and CORFO (Corporation to Stimulate Production), as well as employees of those agencies.
            
            Procedures varied by geographical sector and by the forces involved: cases included deaths officially explained as applications of the so-called "law of escape"; the application of the maximum penalty by war tribunals which did not operate in accordance with the law; people who died as the result of torture; executions that took place without any due process of law; deaths due to the use of unnecessary force; and disappearances of people after they were arrested by government agents and civilians acting under their protection.
            
            In the province of Concepción the Commission determined that torture was often used by members of the navy, and especially the marines, and by the police who were serving at the Fourth station in Concepción (now the Second station). In four instances torture led to death. In the province of Bío Bío, especially at the regiment in Los Angeles (now Mountain Infantry Regiment No. 17) prisoners were subjected to the systematic application of torture. At police facilities in places like Santa Juana, Autuco, Chillán, Coihueco, Niblinto and elsewhere prisoners were often mistreated.
            
            So as to better describe the varied events in this region, the cases investigated will be presented according to province and in chronological order. Preceding the case accounts will be a description of the specific features of what happened in each province.
            
            
         2. Cases of grave human rights violations in the Bío Bío Region
            
            Province of Concepción
            

            The navy and the army played the primary role in asserting political and military control over this province. The police were in charge of public order in those areas that were distant from the main cities of the province.
            
            In Situation Report No. 7 of the Ministry of Defense, dated September 15, 1973, Concepción was described as follows: "People are generally going about their normal business. Institutions, organizations, and private citizens are cooperating of their own free will. In Talcahuano, casualties: none."
            
            In the provinces, the army, navy, police and prison service operated many detention sites. The main ones included:
            
            

            • The Regional Stadium in Concepción. In October 1983, according to a report by the International Red Cross Committee, 589 prisoners were being held here, including 44 women. They were living in seven dressing rooms, some of them 12 by 18 meters and others 12 by 6 meters. The floors were of tile and were covered with a layer of sawdust or straw.
              
              
            • Seaman's School on Quiriquina Island. The same source indicates that in October 1973 this site held 552 prisoners, including 33 women and 19 foreigners (eight Brazilians, four Uruguayans, three Bolivians, two Venezuelans, one Panamanian and one Pole). The men were housed in the gymnasium, which measured 50 by 25 meters and was surrounded with barbed wire and heavily guarded. The women were in a room that measured 30 by 15 meters.
              
              
            • The jail in Concepción (now the prison in Concepción). In November there were 43 prisoners in the hands of the army, 17 in the hands of the navy, and 13 who had been sentenced by war tribunals. The army's 43 were housed in the prison theater, which measured 16 by 10 meters. The navy's 17 were held in a different wing of the building. Those sentenced by the war tribunals were housed together with common criminals in dormitories that measured 10 by 5 meters, and they slept in niches in the concrete wall.
              
              
            • Talcahuano Naval Base. In November 1973 there were 158 prisoners at this facility, including two women. The men were held in the gymnasium, which measured 50 by 25 meters, and the women were a kilometer away at the Rodríguez garrison in a room that measured 20 by 5 meters. The prison at Tomé and the Fourth police station in Concepción (now the Second police station) were also used as detention sites.
              
              

            On September 12, 1973, Oscar SALAS PARRA, 20, died at the hospital in Lota of bullet wounds received from police. According to a police report prepared that same day, the shooting occurred during "a sniper attack on the Lota Alta substation," in which the other attackers are said to have run away, and there is no mention of any police being killed or wounded. This Commission has not been able to determine how Oscar Salas died. In view of the circumstances of the time and since it is established that he was shot to death by police, the Commission came to the conviction that he died as a result of the political violence in the country at that time, whether or not he was involved in an armed clash with police.
            
            On September 14, 1973, José Eugenio CASTRO ALVAREZ, 22, a shoe repairer, and Ernesto MARDONES SOTO, a university student who was a MIR activist, were arrested by police from Hualpencillo at Castro's house and taken to the police station. The families made countless efforts to find them but were unable to obtain any information on their whereabouts. Two months later the body of Ernesto Mardones Soto, with signs of bullet wounds, was found on the banks of the Bío Bío River. José Castro Alvarez remains disappeared to this day. The Commission has come to the conviction that Ernesto Mardones and José Castro suffered a human rights violation at the hands of government agents. The basis for that conviction is that the evidence gathered indicates that both of them were arrested, that Mardones was found dead, with signs of bullet wounds, in the Bío Bío River, and that since that time there has been no word on Castro Alvarez, who was presumably killed by government agents.
            
            On September 18, 1973, Arturo Segundo VILLEGAS VILLAGRAN, 45, a taxi driver who was active in the Socialist party, was arrested at his home by police who took him to their headquarters in Penco. Since his arrest there has been no further information on his whereabouts nor any official notification of his death. This Commission holds the conviction that government agents were involved in the forced disappearance of Arturo Villegas, since it is established that he was arrested, his family has never received any further information about him, and he has not conducted any business with the Chilean government.
            
            On September 19, 1973, Héctor Roberto RODRIGUEZ CARCAMO, 25, a philosophy student at the University of Concepción, was arrested at his home by police from the Fourth station in Concepción. In a letter to the family dated November 12, 1973, the army's Third Division recognized that he had been apprehended along with other MIR prisoners and released the day after his arrest. His family's efforts to use the legal system to find him brought no results. He remains disappeared to the present and his fate remains unknown. The Commission came to the conviction that government agents were involved in the disappearance of Héctor Rodríguez for these reasons: it is established and acknowledged that he was arrested; in view of the kind of political activity the authorities attributed to him, their claim that he was released is hardly credible; disappearance was commonly used during that period and that area against those active in that political group; and there has been no word about his fate or his whereabouts to this day.
            
            On September 20, 1973, two Ecuadorians, Felipe Porfirio CAMPOS CARILLO, 23, who was studying massage therapy, and Freddy Jimmy TORRES VILLALBA, 19, an engineering student, were found dead on the banks of the Bío Bío River. Their bodies bore numerous bullet wounds. The headline in the local newspaper was, "Two subversives found shot to death." On September 28, 1973, however, a national newspaper said that these young men were not themselves "subversives, but lived with people who were, and that they had been victims of political revenge." Through credible witness accounts, this Commission has been able to determine that both were held at the Fourth police station in Concepción. Thus this Commission holds the conviction that Felipe Campos and Freddy Torres were executed by government agents who violated their right to life. The grounds for that conviction are that it is certain that they were killed by numerous bullet wounds; they were imprisoned by police; throughout the country similar procedures were employed against foreign citizens residing in Chile; and a number of similar events took place in this area.
            
            On September 21, 1973, José Alfonso CONSTANZO VERA, 26 a maintenance mechanic at the Compañía de Acero del Pacífico who was also an engineering student at the State Technical University, was killed at the Fort Borgoño marine base. He was arrested September 13 at work by navy troops and taken to Fort Borgoño. Witnesses say, and the navy confirms, that he was shot to death by a member of the navy. The official account, provided by the navy, states that "...while he was being held prisoner at that base (DIM No. 3 Aldea) by virtue of the regulations for a state of siege, he attempted to seize a guard's weapon." His body bore bullet wounds in the torso. After his death navy personnel took his remains to the Talcahuano cemetery for burial in a common grave. His relatives retrieved them some days later.
            
            The official account does not seem credible since an unarmed prisoner would be unlikely to attack a guard in a military base that was under heavy protection; even if he did so, it does not seem possible that trained personnel would have no other way to halt his action than shooting to kill. Bearing in mind the story presented, this Commission has come to the conviction that José Alfonso Constanzo was executed by government agents and that the action was a human rights violation.
            
            On September 28, 1973, Ricardo Antonio BARRA MARTINEZ, 24, a worker at the Fiap textile factory in Tomé who was a MIR activist, died at Fort Borgoño. He was arrested the previous day along with Miguel Angel Catalán Febrero, Tránsito del Carmen Cabrera Ortiz and Héctor Lepe Moraga, who were later brought before a war tribunal and then executed, supposedly for attempting to escape. They were arrested by police from the Tomé station. Witnesses state that Barra was interrogated and tortured there before being taken in poor condition to Fort Borgoño, where he died September 28 as a result of the torture he had received.
            
            His body was buried at the cemetery in Talcahuano. His family later had the body exhumed and said that his back and ears were bruised purple and that his entire body was covered with blood. The death certificate, however states that the cause of death was "sudden death, cardiac arrest." The place is said to be Aldea 3, that is, the marine base located at Fort Borgoño. By order of the military authorities there was no autopsy, and hence it is impossible to establish that he died a "sudden death" since such a diagnosis can be made only if it has been established that no organ has been damaged enough to cause death, nor can the cause of death be "cardiac arrest," which can be presumed to be true of any victim but would likewise require that an autopsy be carried out. In view of the testimony received, because there was no autopsy, because the press at that time called him a "dangerous subversive," because of what happened to those who were arrested with him, and because of the indications on his body, the Commission has come to the conviction that Antonio Barra died of torture inflicted on him by government agents in an action that violated human rights.
            
            On October 4, 1973, José Abraham VIDAL IBAÑEZ, 22, an agricultural worker who was active in the Young Communists was arrested in Hualpencillo by police who took him to the substation in Arenal de Talcahuano. On October 8, police told his relatives that he had been released but his whereabouts and his fate remain unknown to this day. The Commission has come to the conviction that the disappearance of José Vidal Ibáñez constitutes a human rights violation at the hands of government agents. The reasons for this conclusion are that it is established that he was arrested; it is not likely that he would have been released since the local press was reporting that official accounts pointed to him as one of the most "dangerous subversives in the area"; and there has been no trace of him since his disappearance while in the hands of his captors.
            
            On October 6, 1973, police gathered the following prisoners at the boarding house in Schwager:
            
            Fransk MARDONES GARCES, 22, a teacher and active Socialist, who voluntarily reported to the police checkpoint in Villa Mora on October 2 and was taken to the Lo Rojas checkpoint in Coronel;
            
            Zenón FUENTES SAEZ, 42, a driver, mechanic, an employee at the hospital in Coronel, a delegate to the hospital board of directors and an active Socialist who on October 3 was arrested there along with 25 other employees;
            
            Hernán QUILAGAIZA OXA, a radio operator and topographer who was active in the Communist party and arrested at the offices of the Schwager machine shop.
            
            That day, according to testimony received, after interrogation they were taken to Concepción. The police later claimed that Fuentes and Quilagaiza had been released from the Fourth station in Concepción at 2:00 p.m. October 6. This is the last available information about them. The official account states that when the vehicle halted on the way to Concepción, Mardones tried to escape and was killed by police. His body was buried in the cemetery in Coronel by order of the police. Employees at the cemetery in Coronel say that at about 8:30 a.m. October 7, a group of men in uniform ordered them to bury three bodies. One was the body of Fransk Mardones, but they did not know who the other two were. Only that of Mardones was in a coffin. The other two bore bullet wounds. They were buried in Lot No. 13 of the cemetery.
            
            The Commission has come to the conviction that the death of Fransk Mardones and the disappearance of Hernán Quilagaiza and Zenón Fuentes constituted grave human rights violations by government agents. The Commission does not believe it is likely that Mardones would have tried to escape, since he was unarmed and heavily guarded, and the area itself was under strict military control.It is likewise implausible that the other two prisoners would have been released that day, since they would have been the only witnesses who could confirm the police account of Mardones's escape attempt, and indeed they never subsequently contacted their relatives. Finally, statements by witnesses provide reasonable grounds for assuming that Zenón Fuentes and Hernán Quilagaiza were also killed by those same government agents.
            
            On October 9, 1973, three MIR activists were killed in the area known as Paso Hondo near the town of Tomé:
            
            Tránsito del Carmen CABRERA ORTIZ, 28, a textile worker at Fiap Tomé,
            
            Miguel Angel CATALAN FEBRERO, 22, a university student, and
            
            Héctor Manuel LEPE MORAGA, 29, a student at the State Technical University in Concepción.
            
            They were arrested by police September 27, 1973, together with Ricardo Barra Martínez, who was tortured to death, and were turned over to the navy intelligence service. Brought before a war tribunal October 6, 1973 (Record-1), Cabrera was sentenced to fifteen years and a day with no parole, and five years with possible parole; Catalán to fifteen years and a day with no parole, ten years and a day with no parole, twenty years with no parole, and ten years of exile with no parole; and Lepe was given fifteen years with no parole, five years and a day with no parole, and three years and a day with possible parole.
            
            According to the official account, two or three individuals with shotguns and homemade devices attacked the navy patrol assigned to guard the prisoners, and the prisoners tried to take advantage of the moment to escape. A member of the patrol shot and killed them immediately. This Commission rejects the official account for the following reasons: they were under guard and were unarmed; had there been an attack on the patrol it is not likely that none of the official forces would be wounded and that none of the attackers would be wounded, arrested or killed; and testimony from other prisoners who were also being moved indicates that the prisoners were shot without any previous attack at all. The Commission has come to the conviction that the execution of these three persons was a violation of human rights committed by government agents, and specifically by members of the navy.
            
            On October 11, Hugo del Rosario CANDIA NUÑEZ, 19, a worker at Sigdo Koppers and Máximo Segundo NEIRA SALAS, 34, a worker at Sigdo Koppers who was a union leader and MIR activist, were shot to death without any due process of law at the Fort Borgoño Marine Base. They were arrested at work by members of the navy who took them to Fort Borgoño where they were shot. Since their bodies were turned over in sealed coffins, their families were prevented from identifying them. The Commission came to the conviction that the killing of Hugo Canida and Máximo Neira was a human rights violation for which the government was responsible, since these were executions that took place without any due legal process.
            
            On October 18, 1973, Robustiano CARRASCO TOLOZA, 46, a farmer, died in the hospital in Concepción. He had been arrested October 14 at his home in Curamávida by police from Santa Juana who took him to their headquarters. He was held there and tortured until the 16th. When he came home after being released, his body was bruised, his genitals were swollen, and he was suffering intense pain, especially in the head. That head pain increased the following day, and he gradually sank into a coma. In that condition he was taken to the hospital in Santa Juana on October 17. The diagnosis was trauma to the brain and a cerebral hemorrhage. He died at the hospital. The autopsy report states that his shoulder, right elbow and the back of the right hand were all raw, and that the there was bloody mucous in the stomach. The conclusion states that, "these injuries-fractured cranium with a cerebral contusion, and hemorrhaging of the meninges-in the foregoing conclusions were caused by being hit many times with or against a hard object and raise the strong suspicion that they were caused by third parties." The Commission came to the conviction that Robustiano Carrasco died as the result of actions by government agents since the injuries that caused his death could only be inflicted by those who held him prisoner and tortured him for two days.
            
            On October 22, 1973, four people, all active in the Communist party, were shot to death on land belonging to the police along the highway between Concepción and Talcahuano:
            
            Vladimir Daniel ARANEDA CONTRERAS, 33, a teacher in Lota and a leader of the teachers' organization;
            
            Bernabé CABRERA NEIRA, 39, a worker at Celuosa Arauco and president of the cellulose workers union in Concepción;
            
            Isidoro del Carmen CARRILLO TORNERIA, 46, a government administrator and general manager of ENACAR (Empresa Nacional del Carbón-National Coal Company); and
            
            Danilo Jesús GONZALEZ MARDONES, 39, a professor at the teacher training school and mayor of Lota.
            
            After being arrested they were brought to trial and given the maximum sentence by a war tribunal (case 1645-73, October 18, 1973) for allegedly violating Law 17798 (Weapons Control) and for being guilty of the crimes of organizing groups to engage in armed combat with explosive bombs; making, storing and illegally transporting explosives and explosive devices; and illegally possessing explosives and weapons, all of these crimes committed during wartime. On October 21, the commander of the army Third Division approved the sentence and fixed the date of execution by firing squad for October 24. However, it took place on the 22nd at the location noted above. The bodies were not turned over to the families and, by order of the authorities, they were buried in the cemetery in Concepción without their relatives being informed. Only in July 1990 could they be located and exhumed by order of the Second Criminal Court in Concepción.
            
            The Commission has come to the conviction that these judicial proceedings and the sentences they issued were improper on the basis of the information already provided concerning all war tribunals as well as the following considerations:
            
            

            • It is unacceptable that the motion to have the war tribunal in wartime ruled incompetent should be rejected since those accused were being tried for crimes alleged to have been committed prior to the beginning of the state of war, that is, during peacetime. Nevertheless, the tribunal did not accept the motion to dismiss.
              
              
            • Retroactive application of the law is another grounds for questioning the propriety of the process, since the war tribunal increased the punishment by applying Decree Law No. 5 to crimes alleged to have been committed before that law went into effect.
              
              
            • Likewise, in dividing the crime into parts and identifying and sanctioning each separately, and then adding up the punishment that would be due to each of the actions if they were independent criminal actions, the tribunal ignored the rules for properly construing crimes;
              
              
            • The tribunal rejected the claim that the prisoners' previous conduct had been blameless, by morally categorizing the antecedents of the accused and holding that it is not enough that conduct be "merely good, for the law requires that it be utterly spotless," and also "that a summary written report from two favorable witnesses is not enough." In this fashion the tribunal was setting standards for extenuating factors that go beyond what the law itself establishes.
              
              
            • Without providing any grounds for doing so, the court rejected whatever the accused raised to extenuate, diminish, or modify their supposed responsibility. Hence it is the conviction of this Commission that these firing squad executions were a grave violation of human rights, and particularly of the right to life and to a just trial.
              
              

            On October 22, 1973, María Edith VASQUEZ FREDES, 24, a merchant who was active in the Communist party, voluntarily reported to the police station in Curanilahue and was told to return the 23rd. Since that date her fate and whereabouts remain unknown. On October 24, police from that station raided her house and told her relatives that she had run away when she was taken out of the police station, supposedly to assist in a search for weapons. However, witnesses who testified before the Commission assert that she did not run away, but that soldiers and police took her to the area of Colico. There has been no word on her whereabouts since her arrest and disappearance. It is the Commission's conviction that government agents were responsible for the disappearance of María Vásquez since it is unlikely that she would try to run away from her captors, who were armed and trained. In addition she proved her willingness to report to the authorities on two consecutive days; in addition testimony by witnesses contradicts the official account, and since when witnesses from that police unit were called to give testimony in a court proceeding they stated that they were unaware of any escape attempt.
            
            On November 8, 1973, Fernando ALVAREZ CASTILLO, 40, a law school graduate who was governor of the province of Concepción and active in the Communist party, died at the Fourth police station in Concepción. Police arrested him September 11, 1973, and took him to the navy base at Talcahuano and then to Quiriquina Island. Police took Alvarez and three other prisoners from the island to the Fourth station on November 5 There is proof that they were tortured there. He died on November 8, with a perforated lung, as a doctor who aided him at the police station has confirmed. The death certificate says the cause of death was "bleeding from the left side of the chest." Official information provided by the public relations department of the army Third Division indicates that he died very suddenly as the result of a cardiovascular crisis. This Commission holds the conviction that the death of Fernando Alvarez was a violation of his right to life committed by government agents. The grounds for that conviction are that he had been arrested for a month, that the autopsy report revealed that he was suffering from wounds that cannot be explained except as the result of torture, and that reliable witnesses have testified that they had learned that he had been killed while under interrogation.
            
            On November 8, 1973, Héctor Fernando VELASQUEZ MOLINA, 37, an elementary school teacher who was active in the Radical party, died in the prison in Tomé. On November 6, 1973, he was arrested while at work by investigative police under orders from the naval prosecutor's office at Talcahuano, and was taken to the prison in Tomé. Numerous credible and consistent witnesses have testified that he was subjected to torture by navy personnel. The death certificate says the cause of death was "shock, acute pancreatitis, hemorrhage." The Commission came to the conviction that the death of Héctor Velásquez due to mistreatment was a human rights violation committed by government agents. The reasons for that conviction are the fact that he was in the hands of navy authorities and in a prison when he received the wounds that killed him, and the plausible testimony it received from witnesses to the events.
            
            On November 27, 1973, the body of Mario Alberto AVILA MALDONADO, 27, who worked at the Department of Social Development in Tomé and was active in the Young Socialists, was found in the area of Quebrada Honda. He had voluntarily reported to the police station in Penco on September 18. After being held for three days he was released. On October 9 police from the Penco police station and civilians arrested him at his workplace. There was no further information on his whereabouts until November 27 when his body appeared at the site mentioned above. The death certificate states that the cause of death could not be determined. Having established that he was arrested, this Commission holds the conviction that Mario Avila died as a result of the action of government agents who gravely violated his right to life.
            
            On December 20, 1973, two active Communists were shot to death by order of a war tribunal:
            
            Irán del Tránsito CALZADILLA ROMERO, 22, a worker at Fiap in Tomé, and
            
            Fernando Humberto MOSCOSO MOENA, 20, a student of civil engineering in lumber at the State Technical University at Concepción.
            
            Both were given the maximum sentence by a war tribunal prepared by the navy (Record-5, December 16, 1973). On this occasion fifty-two people were put on trial. The next day the commander of the Second Naval Zone approved the sentence, and the execution by firing squad took place December 20. Their bodies were not turned over to their relatives, but were buried in Cemetery No. 2 in Talcahuano. Their relatives were later allowed to transfer their remains to the cemetery in Tomé. Irán Calzadilla Romero was found guilty of the crimes defined in Article 6c of Law 12927, and of illegally possessing arms and explosives as defined in Law 17798. Fernando Moscoso Moena was found guilty of the crime of distributing, transporting, and storing explosives, according to Article 10 of Law 17798.
            
            The Commission has come to the conclusion that the tribunal's decisions did not respect the rules for a due process, because of the indications already noted with regard to all war tribunals and especially in view of the following points:
            
            

            • The war tribunal did not accept the defendants' argument that it was incompetent on the grounds that the crimes of which they were accused should be tried by a military tribunal in peacetime, since they had been committed before the state of siege went into effect.
              
              
            • The tribunal retroactively issued a sentence since the heavier punishment mandated in Decree Law 5 could not be regarded as applicable to crimes committed before the change in the law, as was the case here. The tribunal regarded the crime as ongoing and believed that although it began while the earlier version of the law was in effect, it extended into the time when Decree Law 5 was promulgated.
              
              
            • The tribunal ignored the rules for how crimes should be construed and divided all the acts that made up the crime, identifying and sanctioning them separately, and adding the punishments for each one as though they were separate criminal activities.
              
              
            • The tribunal rejected all the considerations that the accused put forward to extenuate, lessen or modify their presumed responsibility.
              
              
            • The extenuating factor of Calzadilla's blameless conduct was rejected because the court argued that he had acted as the head of an organization that intended to carry out "violent activities" sanctioned by law. The rejection of this extenuating factor was obviously a manifestation of prejudice by the court since what was at issue in the trial was precisely whether or not he was guilty of violent behavior, and hence the accusation could not serve as grounds for rejecting the extenuating factors presented by the defense.
              
              

            Therefore it is the conviction of this Commission that these firing squad executions involved a grave violation of human rights, especially the rights to live and to a fair trial.
            
            On December 24, 1973, Heriberto ROJAS PEÑA, 23, was arrested by police near his home in the town of Coronel. His relatives searched for him in vain, and he has been disappeared since that day. Since it is established that he was arrested, and that he has had no further contact with his family all this time, nor has he conducted any business with government agencies or left the country, this Commission holds the conviction that the disappearance of Heriberto Rojas was a grave human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
            

            Province of Ñuble
            

            In the province of ñuble the army and the police were responsible for maintaining public order. Members of the police were those who were most often involved, with varying degrees of responsibility, in the human rights violations that were brought to the attention of the Commission. The most common kinds of human rights violations brought before the Commission were disappearance of prisoners and executions without trial. The difference between these two situations is based only on whether or not the remains of victims subsequently appeared. The Commission has therefore been led to the moral conviction that those who are numbered as disappeared must have met the same fate as those who were executed. This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that many of the disappeared had been arrested along with other people whose bodies were found later, and that a number of those bodies had been buried without having been identified.
            
            Torture was often employed, although the Commission did not encounter cases of people who had died as a result of it. Nevertheless, testimony received and signs on the remains of the victims (many had their hands bound with wires) indicate that they were tortured before being killed.
            
            The main detention sites in the province of ñuble were the following:
            
            

            • Prison of Yungay (currently a site for preventive detention). In November 1973, according to the International Red Cross, "there were 90 prisoners under the control of military authorities, in 41 cells measuring two meters square and two and a half meters high; the floors were tiled, and the windows were barred. The prisoners did not have enough beds nor enough clothing." At this site electricity was applied to prisoners during interrogation.
              
              
            • Prison at Chillán. In November 1973 there were 247 prisoners under the control of military authorities. The prisoners were treated in an acceptable manner.
              
              
            • Prison at San Carlos (now a center for preventive detention). During that same period there were six prisoners in the hands of military authorities. As a rule prisoners were treated properly, and there are no complaints of torture.
              
              
            • Prison at Bulnes (now a rehabilitation center). In November 1973 there were fifteen prisoners in the hands of military authorities. The cells measured three by two and a half meters. Prisoners were generally treated properly. Mountain Infantry Regiment No. 9 in Chillán and the Second police station in Chillán also served as detention sites.
              
              

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Posted by USIP Library on: October 4 2002
Source: Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation
(Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1993), vol. I/II, Part Three, Chapter One (A.2.i), 341-353.
Note: Digitized and posted by permission of the University of Notre Dame Press, February 22, 2000.