PART THREE
Chapter Two (A.2.b.1.4)

1974 through August 1977 (continued)

1. HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS COMMITTED BY GOVERNMENT AGENTS OR PERSONS WORKING FOR THEM (continued)
   
   
   2. CASES (continued)
      
      
      2. Victims from the MIR (continued)
         
         
         1. Cases in which the DINA was responsible (continued)
            
            b.1.4) Late 1974 and early 1975: Villa Grimaldi
            
            

            In late November 1974 the secret facility at Villa Grimaldi, which was the general headquarters of the Metropolitan Intelligence Brigade (BIM), began functioning as the main center for imprisonment, interrogation, and torture. The prisoners still at José Domingo Cañas were transferred there, and in the following months a large number of prisoners were brought in as the result of repressive actions against the MIR. In early 1975 the DINA made its last major assault against the MIR, which by this time was very much in decline as a result of the repression it had undergone in 1974. During these months the capture of important groups of leaders and activists brought down most of the organization's underground structure.
            
            In December 1974 and January and February 1975, a large number of the members of the MIR's so-called "Central Force," as well as some members of the central committee, most of its structure in the Valparaíso area, and most of he political-military groups and other structures still functioning in Santiago were arrested. It can be said that over that summer [December-March] the DINA finished he dismantling of the MIR underground structure that had been created when most of the activists went underground shortly after September 11, 1973.
            
            One of the events that clearly signaled the MIR's defeat was the televised statement from Villa Grimaldi made by four of its important leaders. In a subsequent press conference those leaders spoke with reporters from various news media. In their statement they acknowledged that the MIR had been defeated by the security agencies, and they provided a detailed report on the disastrous state of the party's various internal groups. They urged the members to accept defeat, and to stop mounting anti-government actions.
            
            Those making this statement were indeed leaders of the organization, and it seems to have arisen out of the realistic view of matters at which they had arrived. Nevertheless, it must be kept in mind that they were being held prisoner in miserable conditions and had previously been subjected to intense torture. Moreover, they could have no assurance or even any clear idea of the consequences of their actions. That much was made clear when two of them were later killed, as is reported below. It should also be noted that in speaking about the situation of their movement and some of its members these prisoners were using a document they themselves had written with the information they had at hand. Even so, DINA agents forced them to include some false items of information, and thus they said that certain persons had fled or were living outside the country when in fact they had disappeared at the hands of the DINA.
            
            On November 26, 1974, DINA agents arrested the MIR activist Claudio Guillermo SILVA PERALTA on the street in the Ñuñoa district. The following day the same agents arrested his father, Fernando Guillermo SILVA CAMUS, at his home. Witnesses have testified that the father and son were held at the DINA compound at Villa Grimaldi and disappeared from that site. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On November 29, 1974, the MIR activists Jorge Hernán MÜLLER SILVA and his colleague at Chile Films, Carmen Cecilia BUENO CIFUENTES, were arrested on the streets of Santiago as they were on their way to work. Witnesses have testified that both of them were taken to the Villa Grimaldi facility and then transferred to Cuatro Alamos. They then disappeared while under the control of the DINA. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            Also on November 29, DINA agents arrested the MIR activist Sergio Alejandro RIFFO RAMOS on the street in the Providencia district. Witnesses saw Sergio Riffo at the Villa Grimaldi DINA facility. He disappeared from that site. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On November 30, 1974 Juan Rodrigo MacLEOD TREVER, who apparently had MIR ties, and his mother-in-law, María Julieta RAMIREZ GALLEGO, went to the Tres Alamos detention site to visit Maria Antonieta Castro Ramírez, who was MacLeod's wife and Ramirez's daughter. She was being held prisoner with her brother, Oscar Castro Ramírez. Both of them were MIR activists. Witnesses have said that as they were visiting the guards found certain suspicious objects among the things that they were bringing to their relatives, and hence they were arrested. These two prisoners disappeared while under DINA control. There is no evidence about what happened to Juan Rodrigo MacLeod after his arrest. Witnesses have testified that María Julieta Ramírez was held at Villa Grimaldi and was last seen there. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On December 3, 1974, unidentified plainclothes agents arrested two MIR activists, Gregorio PALMA DONOSO, who was arrested on the street in Santiago, and Edgardo Orlando LOYOLA CID, who was arrested at his home in Maipú. Both disappeared, and there is no evidence on the detention sites to which they might have been taken by their captors. The Commission regards the evidence of their arrests as sufficient to come to the conviction that Gregorio Palma and Edgardo Loyola disappeared at the hands of government agents who violated their human rights.
            
            On December 3, 1974, a married couple, Alejandro DE LA BARRA VILLARROEL, a political scientist, and Ana Maria PUGA ROJAS, a teacher and actress, were killed. Both were active in the MIR; he was one of its leaders. They were ambushed as they were en route to pick up their son as he was leaving the nursery school he attended at the corner of Pedro de Valdivia and Andacollo. DINA agents had previously visited the nursery school, and that is how they located their victims. The Commission came to the conviction that when Alejandro de la Barra and Ana María Puga came to that intersection in their car they were shot; there was no order to halt and they did not offer any resistance. Hence the Commission holds the conviction that they were executed by government agents in violation of their human rights.
            
            On December 7, 1974, DINA agents arrested the MIR activist Luis Jaime PALOMINOS ROJAS in Santiago. His sister and his common-law wife had previously been arrested and then released. The next day DINA agents arrested Washington CID URRUTIA, who had political ties to Palominos, at his home in the Cervecerfas Unidas shantytown. Palominos's wife was also arrested and taken to Villa Grimaldi together with Washington Cid but was later released. Many witnesses have testified that these men were held prisoner at the Villa Grimaldi site until December 24. At that point they and other prisoners were taken out to an unknown destination. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On December 12, 1974, DINA agents arrested the MIR activist Anselmo Osvaldo RADRIGAN PLAZA on the street. Witnesses have testified that he was also among the group taken from Villa Grimaldi and toward an unknown destination on December 24; there has been no further word about him. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On December 9, 1974, the MIR activist María Teresa BUSTILLOS CERECEDA, was arrested by DINA agents. The arrest took place in the downtown area of Santiago at the apartment of a couple who also had MIR ties. The couple was also arrested but was eventually released. María Teresa Bustillos was taken to the Villa Grimaldi facility where many witnesses saw her. She then disappeared while in the hands of the DINA. The Commission is convinced that her disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated her human rights.
            
            On December 12, 1974, two friends and MIR activists, Carlos Alberto TERAN DE LA JARA and Rafael Eduardo ARANEDA YEVENES, were arrested, one at home and the other at the Technical University where both were studying and working. The same day, the MIR activist María Teresa ELTIT CONTRERAS was also arrested on the street in Santiago. These three prisoners disappeared while they were in the hands of the DINA. Witnesses saw them at Villa Grimaldi. The Commission is convinced that the disappearance of these three people was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On December 31, 1974, the MIR activist Carlos Eduardo GUERRERO GUTIERREZ was arrested by DINA agents who were occupying the home of one of his friends in the Ñuñoa district. The owner of the house was also caught in this trap. He was held in Villa Grimaldi with Carlos Guerrero until he was later released. This same group of DINA agents arrested Jaime Robotham and Claudio Thauby, who were active Socialists, that same day. A number of witnesses have testified that Guerrero was held at Villa Grimaldi and that he disappeared from there while in the hands of the DINA. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On January 1, 1975, the MIR activist Agustin Alamiro MARTINEZ MEZA was arrested on the street in Santiago along with his younger brother, who was taken back to his home. On January 3, 1975, his friend and fellow MIR activist Herbit Guillermo RIOS SOTO went to Martínez's home in the Vivaceta neighborhood and was arrested by DINA agents. On January 6 and 7, the MIR activists Jilberto Patricio URBINA CHAMORRO and Claudio Enrique CONTRERAS HERNANDEZ, who had political connections with Meza and Rios, were also arrested on the street. Witnesses saw these four men at the Villa Grimaldi compound; they then disappeared while they were under DINA control. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On January 7, 1975, the MIR activist Miguel Angel SANDOVAL RODRIGUEZ was arrested in Santiago. A few days later armed civilian agents searched his house. He disappeared while in the hands of the DINA. Witnesses have testified that he was held at Villa Grimaldi. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On February 7, 1975, [sic] DINA members arrested Rodrigo Eduardo UGAS at the Central Railroad Station. He was taken to Villa Grimaldi and disappeared along with the other people who were taken out on February 28, as noted below. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On January 10, 1975, DINA agents arrested the MIR activist Julio Fidel FLORES PEREZ at his home in Santiago. Witnesses have testified that he was held prisoner at Villa Grimaldi. He disappeared from that site while under DINA control. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On January 13, 1975, DINA agents killed Ramón Hugo MARTINEZ GONZALEZ, a student who was a member of the MIR central committee. He had been arrested January 6 on Calle Bascuñán Guerrero in Santiago. Ramón Martínez was shot as he was being arrested, and he was taken in that condition to the Villa Grimaldi compound. On January 13 a military prosecutor's office sent his body to the Medical Legal Institute where it was noted that he had died of two recent bullet wounds to the chest. These are not the same as the bullet wounds he received while being arrested. On the basis of this evidence the Commission is in a position to state that he was executed by DINA agents in violation of his human rights.
            
            On January 16, 1975, the teacher and MIR activist José Patricio Del Carmen LEON GALVEZ was arrested on the street in the downtown area of Santiago. The next day a civilian went to see his brother at work and informed him of the arrest. He disappeared while in the hands of the DINA in violation of his human rights. Witnesses have testified that he was held prisoner at the Villa Grimaldi facility.
            
            On January 20, 1975, the MIR activist Luis Gregorio MUÑOZ RODRIGUEZ was arrested on the street in Santiago. Subsequently it was determined that those arresting him were DINA agents and that they took him to the Villa Grimaldi facility. He then disappeared while under DINA control. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On January 29, 1975, DINA agents arrested the MIR activist Juan Enrique MOLINA MOGOLLONES in Santiago. His wife was also arrested and later released. Many witnesses have testified that Juan Molina was taken to Villa Grimaldi. At some point while he was being held there he was taken to what was called "the tower." On February 20 he was taken from that location toward an unknown destination along with a group who had disappeared from Valparaíso. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On February 7, 1975, the MIR activist Sergio Humberto LAGOS MARIN was arrested on the street in Santiago. Witnesses have testified that he was held at the Villa Grimaldi and disappeared while there. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On February 8, 1975, Pedro Claudio LABRA SAURE, a student who apparently had MIR ties, was killed in Santiago. The government told the OAS (Organization of American States) Interamerican Human Rights Commission that his death, like that of others, was the result of "various clashes with the police or security agents when they were involved in criminal or subversive activities or sabotage," but it did not spell out the specific situation in which he was involved, who else took part, or how his death occurred. The truth of the matter, however, was quite different. It has been established that neighbors saw security agents arresting him at his home. He was shot while being arrested, but he was still alive when his captors took him away. Pedro Labra's body, bearing three bullet wounds and many cuts, was later found at the Medical Legal Institute. In view of these facts, the Commission is convinced that he was executed by DINA agents in violation of his human rights.
            
            On February 10, 1975, the MIR activist Humberto Patricio CERDA APARICIO was arrested on the street in Santiago. Witnesses have testified that he was held at Villa Grimaldi. The Commission is convinced that he disappeared while in the hands of the DINA, and that therefore his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On February 13, 1975, DINA agents occupied the home of the MIR activist Eugenio Iván MONTTI CORDERO in the Las Condes district. They arrested him and other activists who came there to meet with him. In this fashion Carmen Margarita DIAZ DARRICARRERE, Alan Roberto BRUCE CATALAN, and Jaime Enrique VASQUEZ SAENZ were arrested. Three more MIR activists associated with them were arrested on February 14, 1975. René Roberto ACUÑA REYES was arrested at his house in the downtown area of Santiago. During the arrest he was shot and wounded while trying to escape. Manuel Edgardo Del Carmen CORTEZ JOO and Hugo Daniel RIOS VIDELA were arrested in the street. The Commission is convinced that the disappearance of all these people was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On February 17, 1975, José CALDERON OVALLE, a MIR activist, was arrested in Santiago by DINA agents. On February 19, 1975, Luis Fidel ARIAS PINO, a machinist and MIR activist, was killed in a gun battle with the DINA. The shootout took place in connection with a raid on a building at Principe de Gales No. 6445 in which Luis Arias was wounded. He was taken to the military hospital. According to the Medical Legal Institute his body was later found on a public thoroughfare. Despite the very serious impropriety entailed in the disposal of his body, the Commission does not have any basis for regarding Luis Fidel Arias's death as a human rights violation in the strict sense. However, it does believe that he died as a result of the situation of political violence. On February 20, another MIR activist Juan Carlos PERELMAN IDE, was also arrested together with his common-law wife who was later released and was able to testify that he had been held at Villa Grimaldi. According to witnesses whose testimony the Commission received, he was among those who were taken out from that location on February 28. The Commission is convinced that the disappearance of these two people was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On February 21, 1975, Eulogio del Carmen FRITZ MONSALVEZ, a miner and MIR activist, was killed in the exchange of fire that occurred when he was caught by DINA agents while walking along Calle Bascuñán Guerrero with other MIR members. The Commission believes that, like the previous case, the death of Eulogio Fritz was the result of the situation of political violence.
            
            

            b.1.5) November-December 1974: La Venda Sexy
            
            

            From mid-November until mid-December 1974, a DINA team, apparently not the one operating at Villa Grimaldi, arrested a large number of MIR activists. They were held and interrogated at the site known as La Venda Sexy, which operated throughout the early months of 1975. Most of those held prisoner at La Venda Sexy were very young and most of them had political and personal ties to other prisoners. A high percentage of those who were held prisoner there disappeared.
            
            On November 19, 1974, two friends and MIR activists, Ida Vera ALMARZA and Isidro Miguel Angel PIZARRO MENICONI, were arrested in Santiago. They disappeared while in the hands of the DINA. They were seen at La Venda Sexy; Pizarro was also seen at Villa Grimaldi. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On November 20, 1974, the MIR activist Luis Omar MAHUIDA EQUIVEL was arrested on the street in Santiago. Two days later two other activists with political ties to Luis Mahuida were arrested at their homes in the La Cisterna district: Antonio Patricio SOTO CERNA and Luis Genaro GONZALEZ MELLA. The three prisoners were transferred to the DINA facility La Venda Sexy, where they were seen by witnesses and from which they disappeared. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On November 27, 1974, DINA agents arrested the MIR activist Félix Santiago DE LA JARA GOYENECHE on the street in the northern area of Santiago. Witnesses saw him at La Venda Sexy. He disappeared while in the hands of the DINA. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On December 9, 1974, DINA agents arrested Marta Silvia Adela NEIRA MUÑOZ, who had MIR ties, in the street in Santiago. Several hours later the agents occupied her apartment in the San Borja Towers, where they arrested her commonlaw husband, César Arturo Emiliano NEGRETE PEÑA, who also had MIR ties, and two other persons who were later released. Negrete and Neira disappeared while in the hands of the DINA. Witnesses have testified that both were held at La Venda Sexy. The Commission is convinced that the disappearance of this couple was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On December 9 and 10, 1975 [sic], Mario Fernando PEÑA SOLARI and Nilda Patricia PEÑA SOLARI, who were brother and sister and were both MIR activists, were arrested in Santiago. On the 11th, DINA agents went to their house to get medication for Nilda Peña who was in poor health. Mario and Nilda Peña disappeared while in the hands of the DINA. Witnesses have testified that they were both held at the site known as La Venda Sexy. Nilda Peña was also said to have been taken to the Santa Lucía Clinic at one point. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On December 10, 1974, DINA agents arrested the MIR activist Gerardo Ernesto SILVA SALDIVAR in the library of the statistics department at the University of Chile, where he was studying. Later his parents' house was raided. That night his common-law wife was arrested and taken to the site known as La Venda Sexy, where she learned that Gerardo Silva was being held. A number of witnesses have testified that he was held by the DINA at La Venda Sexy and was last seen there. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On December 12, 1974, the student and MIR activist Renato Alejandro SEPULVEDA GUAJARDO was arrested at the University of Chile medical school. On December 20, 1974, his wife, María Isabel JOUI PETERSEN, and Javier Alejandro ROSAS CONTADOR, both of whom were MIR activists, were arrested in an apartment in the downtown area of Santiago along with another person who was later released. Witnesses saw these three people at the DINA facilities La Venda Sexy and Villa Grimaldi. They disappeared from the latter. The Commission is convinced that the disappearance of these three persons was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            Also on December 12, 1974, the MIR activist Jorge Eduardo ORTIZ MORAGA was arrested in the street in Santiago. The agents searched his parents' house looking for his wife. Witnesses have testified that he was in the hands of the DINA at the detention site known as La Venda Sexy, and that he disappeared from that facility. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On December 13, 1974, the high school student and MIR activist Jorge Antonio HERRERA COFRE was arrested. The arrest apparently took place on a public thoroughfare shortly after Herrera left his house. That same night agents who were identified as DINA members raided and searched the family home, and took items that belonged to the prisoner. He disappeared at the hands of the DINA while being held at the facility known as La Venda Sexy, where witnesses saw him. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On December 14, 1974, DINA agents arrested the MIR activist Ramón Isidro LABRADOR URRUTIA in Santiago. Witnesses say that he was held at the facility known as La Venda Sexy, from which he disappeared. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On December 17, 1974, Luis Dagoberto SAN MARTIN VERGARA, who apparently had MIR ties, was arrested in Santiago. He disappeared while in the hands of the DINA, according to witnesses who have testified that he was held at the facility known as La Venda Sexy. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            

            b.1.6) Other cases in 1975 and cases in 1976
            
            

            The DINA operation against the MIR in Valparaíso
            
            In January 1975 a group of DINA agents went to the area of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar intending to suppress the activities of the regional MIR organization. The group operated out of the Maipo Regiment base in Playa Ancha, and could draw on regiment troops for its work. There is also evidence that some members of the navy also provided assistance. During the second half of January a large number of people with MIR ties or who were suspected of having them, as well as relatives and friends of activists, were arrested.
            
            On January 17, 1975, a couple, Sonia del Tránsito RIOS PACHECO and Fabián Enrique IBARRA CORDOBA, was arrested in Viña del Mar. On January 18, 1975, Carlos Ramón RIOSECO ESPINOZA and Alfredo Gabriel GARCIA VEGA were also arrested in Viña del Mar. On January 21, 1975 Horacio Neftalí CARABANTES OLIVARES was arrested in Viña del Mar. On January 24, 1975, María Isabel GUTIERREZ MARTINEZ was arrested in Quilupe. The next day Abel Alfredo VILCHES FIGUEROA was arrested. On January 27, 1975, Elías Ricardo VILLAR QUIJON was arrested in Valparaíso. His was the last arrest in this series.
            
            All these prisoners, and others who were later released, were taken to the Maipo Regiment where they were tortured in the usual DINA manner. On January 28, 1975 a group of twenty persons of those still remaining at the Maipo Regiment, including these eight, was transferred to Villa Grimaldi. Many witnesses saw them there.
            
            In keeping with the usual procedure, officials initially denied that they had been arrested. However, faced with the many contradictions and the mass of evidence presented to the courts, the DINA Director responded to an inquiry from the Santiago appeals court in July 1977 by acknowledging that an operation had taken place in the area of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar and that these eight people had been held prisoner. However, he said that all had been set free immediately, except for Horacio Carabantes who was released in Santiago at his own request.
            
            Later officials were to claim that the prisoners were immediately released and never held at Villa Grimaldi. Thus in February 1978 in response to queries from the courts, the undersecretary of the interior stated that there was no evidence that a place called Villa Grimaldi had been either a military base or a detention camp. In March of that year the former DINA director stated that the eight disappeared people had not been arrested but merely held so that they could testify, and that none of them was in any DINA base "including Villa Grimaldi." That same month the chief of staff of the CNI said that Villa Grimaldi was a military facility and that it had never been a prison camp.
            
            The Commission regards the account provided by the DINA about these eight disappeared people as false: the official responses are inconsistent; many witnesses saw these people in Villa Grimaldi; the DINA's replies on these and other arrests have been proven to be false; none of the victims has been heard from again.
            
            The prisoners disappeared at the hands of the DINA. Witnesses agree that the group of eight from Valparaíso were transferred within Villa Grimaldi to a place called "the tower," and that on February 20 all or most of them were taken out of the Villa and have never been heard from again. The Commission is convinced that the disappearance of these eight people was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On January 19, 1975, Alejandro Delfín VILLALOBOS DIAZ, an electrician and MIR activist, was killed in an operation aimed at arresting people in Viña del Mar. He was shot when he arrived at a house where he was to meet with other MIR members, and encountered DINA agents waiting for him. In late 1975 in the court procedure for locating a person presumed to be disappeared, there appeared a death certificate indicating that he had been killed by a bullet wound to the face, mouth, and neck on a public thoroughfare in Santiago on January 20, 1975. The body was never turned over to his relatives. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            Cases after the summer [early months] of 1975
            
            After the summer of 1975 the pace of the DINA's persecution of the MIR was considerably reduced. However during the rest of the year and into 1976 such persecution continued and claimed a number of victims. DINA methods and MIR actions both began major shifts. The DINA became much more selective, and tended to leave fewer traces of its involvement. The MIR meanwhile no longer had a mass membership, and it moved to relying on small groups that could hide more effectively and used weapons and violent methods much more. Consequently, most of the cases have something of an armed clash about them, although there are also instances of false shootouts.
            
            During this period we should single out the events surrounding the DINA's locating the main MIR leaders Andrés Pascal Allende and Nelson Gutiérrez in October 1975. The DINA's repressive activities intensified before and after the shootout with these leaders, who managed to escape.
            
            In April 1975, Cedomil Lucas LAUSIC GLASINOVIC, an agronomist and MIR activist, who had been arrested by DINA agents on April 3 or 4, was killed. He was taken to the Villa Grimaldi DINA facility where many witnesses saw him. There he was hit, kicked, and beaten with chains and rifle butts. The beating was especially violent, apparently because he had tried to attack a guard and escape. The beating he was given left Cedomil Lucas Lausic dying. A prisoner who saw him said he was half conscious, and his back and buttocks were swollen and bruised, and that he had fierce headaches. He remained in this condition for three days until he was finally taken from his cell in a wheelbarrow. His body was brought into the Medical Legal Institute on April 9. He was recorded as having multiple contusions and loss of blood. The Commission came to the conviction that Cedomil Lucas Lausic died of the torture he underwent at the hands of his captors, DINA agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On September 12, 1975, the MIR activist Guillermo GONZALEZ DE ASIS, was arrested on a public thoroughfare and taken to Villa Grimaldi. According to several witnesses, he was kept blindfolded, tied up, and isolated from the other prisoners. All trace of him was lost around September 20. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On September 28, 1975, Oscar Segundo ARROS YAÑEZ, a machinist and MIR activist, was killed. He had been arrested September 26 in Lota and was taken by DINA members to the El Morro stadium in Talcahuano. The next day his captors took him to his house to change clothes. His wife was able to see that he was in very poor condition and covered with bruises. On September 28 the word went out that his body was at the morgue in the hospital in Lota Bajo, where it had been brought by five DINA employees. A doctor told the family that Arros had been whipped and that his body bore two bullet wounds. Hence the Commission regards him as executed by DINA members who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On October 16, 1975, the DINA succeeded in locating the underground leadership group of the MIR at a location in Malloco. In the ensuing gun battle Dagoberto PEREZ VARGAS, a sociologist and MIR leader, was killed. The Commission considers Dagoberto Pérez as having been killed as a result of political violence.
            
            Nelson Gutiérrez, the number two MIR leader, was wounded, but managed to escape from the shootout in Malloco. Some days later Sheila Cassidy, a British doctor, gave medical treatment to him as he was on the run. Security agents accordingly began searching for her in order to arrest her. On November 1, 1975, they arrested her while she was visiting a sick woman at the Colomban Fathers residence. In the process of arresting her, DINA agents shot a number of times, and as a result the housekeeper, Enriqueta del Carmen REYES VALERIO, who had no history of political involvement and had nothing to do with these events, was killed.
            
            Officials said that Doctor Cassidy had taken refuge there with an unidentified individual, and that when the agents arrived they were met with gunfire leaving one agent wounded. Enriqueta Reyes was said to have put herself in the line of fire of Dr. Cassidy's companion. No evidence and no testimony from agents was ever offered to support that account, nor was the wounded agent or the alleged companion of Dr. Cassidy ever identified.
            
            The testimony and other evidence that the Commission gathered indicates that no shootout took place, since no one in the house was armed; the DINA agents did all the shooting. For the reasons here summarized, the Commission has come to the conviction that Enriqueta Reyes was killed by government agents in violation of her human rights.
            
            On October 21, 1975, DINA members killed Iván Nelson OLIVARES CORONEL, a student and member of the MIR. That day DINA agents came to his house during curfew looking for him. Ivan Olivares ran away and hid in the yard of a nearby house. The agents found him, shot him, wrapped him in a sheet, and drove him away in a pickup. The next day his body was sent to the Medical Legal Institute by government security services. The autopsy report notes that he had two bullet wounds. The Commission came to the conviction that Iván Olivares was executed by government agents in violation of his human rights.
            
            On October 25, 1975, Jaime Ignacio OSSA GALDAMES, a teacher and MIR militant, was killed. He had been arrested in Santiago on October 20 at his parents' house. He was taken to Villa Grimaldi where witnesses saw him. According to the accounts the Commission has gathered, he was tortured there. Agents who were overwhelmed with nervousness were heard to say that he had died of a stroke after being given water. At Sendet [Executive National Secretariat of Prisoners] his parents were told that he was being held at Cuatro Alamos. Officials at that site, however, denied that he was there, and when his parents pressed the matter at Sendet they were told he was not under arrest. On December 10, in the process of looking for another victim, representatives of the Committee for Peace found Ossa's body at the Medical Legal Institute. Records there indicate that his body was brought in on October 25 by "the government security service." The cause of death was an injured abdomen and backbone. In the legal action for unlawful arrest, the undersecretary of the interior at that time replied that the prisoner had been taken from his detention site and had suicidally thrown himself in front of a vehicle and thus been killed. Enclosed with that response was a document signed by the head of the DINA authorizing him to be taken from his prison site. The official account goes completely against the evidence this Commission has gathered indicating that he died inside the DINA compound as a result of the mistreatment he underwent. The Commission is convinced that Jaime Ignacio Ossa died as a result of torture by government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            Cases of the Gallardo and Ganga families
            
            On November 17, 1975, MIR members attacked a group of soldiers on Calle Bío Bío in Santiago. In the ensuing gun battle, Hernán Salinas Calderón, a soldier, and Roberto Gallardo Moreno, a MIR activist, were killed. The following day Roberto Gallardo's parents, three of his brothers and sisters, his wife, and two young nephews were arrested. They were all taken to the investigative police office on Calle General Mackenna, where they were interrogated and beaten. At 5 a.m. on November 19, Ofelia Moreno, Isabel Gallardo, Guillermo Gallardo, and two children, Viviana Gallardo and Alberto Rodríguez, who was only nine months old, were released. At that moment Ofelia Moreno was told that her son Roberto was dead and that all the other members of her family were going to be turned over to the DINA "because they would know what to do."
            
            Early that same morning DINA agents arrested Ester Torres at her home along with her sons, Renato Mauricio and Francisco Javier. They were looking for her son Luis Andrés Ganga, who was not there. The three prisoners were taken to the Villa Grimaldi facility. By interrogating and torturing them, the agents learned that Luis Andrés Ganga was at his grandfather's house. They took his mother there and arrested him. After being brought back to Villa Grimaldi, Ester Torres was separated from her son, Luis Andrés. The following morning she was taken to Cuatro Alamos with her other two sons. There she was told that Luis Andrés Ganga had escaped, and she was released. Her other two sons were released later after a long period of confinement.
            
            A number of people who were at Villa Grimaldi the night of November 18 say that it was the worst night they experienced there. They describe a great deal of movement of vehicles and people after an interrogation session in the yard. During the interrogation guards could be heard shouting and asking for water and hot oil, followed by the frightful shrieks of those being tortured. Witnesses say that the next morning they saw two women in very poor condition, and bodies on the ground, including one of an old man.
            
            On the afternoon of November 19, the National Directorate for the Mass Media issued a statement on the events on Calle Bío Bio indicating that after considerable investigation the DINA and the investigative police had traced the group of attackers to the hills of Rinconada de Maipú. A midnight gun battle at that location had lasted more than a half hour. That shootout led to the death of Catalina Ester GALLARDO MORENO, a sister of Roberto Gallardo, an office worker who was a MIR activist; Alberto Recaredo GALLARDO PACHECO, a machinist who was the father of Roberto Gallardo and an active member of the Communist party; Mónica del Carmen PACHECO SANCHEZ, a teacher who was three months pregnant; Luis Andrés GANGA TORRES, a merchant and MIR activist; Manuel Lautaro REYES GARRIDO, a worker; and Pedro BLAS CORTES JELVES, a worker who was an active member of the Communist party. The statement also noted that one of the subversives had run away, and that two security agents had been wounded.
            
            In accordance with what has been stated above, there is enough evidence to reject the official account of a shootout, since there is proof that these people had been arrested and taken to Villa Grimaldi. It should also be noted that a witness has said that on that day he saw a number of large automobiles arrive at Rinconada de Maipú. Plainclothes and uniformed armed men took prisoners out, forced them to run, and shot them. A part of the estate on which these events took place, which belongs to the University of Chile, was used first by the DINA and then by the CNI from 1973 until 1989. The local farmers say that agents routinely roamed all over the estate. Finally it should be added that it is not plausible that at that period a leftist group would be composed of both Communist party and MIR members or that a pregnant woman (Mónica Pacheco) and a 65-year-old person (Alberto Gallardo) would have taken part in this kind of armed action. For all these reasons, the Commission came to the conviction that all the people listed above were executed by DINA agents in violation of their human rights.
            
            On December 1, 1975, José Hernán CARRASCO VASQUEZ and Humberto Juan Carlos MENANTEAU ACEITUNO were killed. Both were MIR leaders who had been arrested by the DINA in late 1974. While in prison they joined two other leaders in a televised public statement and a press conference in which they called on their fellow MIR members to give up armed struggle. They were held at Villa Grimaldi for a number of months and kept separate from the other prisoners, and were then released in September 1975.
            
            Armed men in plainclothes arrested Humberto Menanteau on November 19 at his parents' home. The next day they arrested Jos?é Carrasco at the house of some friends. On December 10 their families identified their bodies at the Medical Legal Institute. They had been found near Buin, and showed signs that they had been tortured before being killed.
            
            Even while they were imprisoned, the press reported that the MIR had issued a death sentence for those who had written the statement and participated in the press conference. After they had been killed, their relatives received elaborate letters stating that they had been executed by the MIR for having betrayed the working class.
            
            The Commission came to the conviction that that account is not true, since it has statements indicating that their abductors were DINA agents who had periodically been visiting them since their release, and that they killed them when they heard that they had tried to reestablish their relationship with the MIR. That position is supported by the fact that they were seen at the Villa Grimaldi DINA facility while imprisoned this second time. Hence the Commission has come to the conviction that these people were executed by DINA agents in violation of their human rights.
            
            On February 24, 1976, there was a shootout between MIR and DINA members at Pasaje Juan Ramón Jiménez in Santiago. The MIR activists Iván Renato PEREZ VARGAS, a student and Amador Roberto DEL FIERRO SANTIBAÑEZ, an engineer, were killed in that action, as was a DINA agent named Tulio Pereira. According to the criteria proposed in Part One, Chapter Two of this report, the Commission cannot classify the death of Iván Pérez and Amador Del Fierro as a human rights violation in the strict sense. Rather it holds that they died as a result of political violence, since they were defending themselves against an organization that they reasonably feared would torture and kill them if they were apprehended.
            
            A neighbor child only seven years old, Susana Elizabeth SANHUEZA SALINAS, was also killed. She was playing in her yard when the shooting took place. The Commission regards her as an innocent victim of political violence. An official report claimed that Mireya PEREZ VARGAS, a student and MIR activist, was also killed in this shootout. However, it has been determined that Mireya Pérez was only wounded, and that the DINA agents captured her alive, and killed her while holding her in prison at Villa Grimaldi. Hence the Commission came to the conviction that she was executed by government agents in violation of her human rights.
            
            On May 7, 1976, Rodrigo Alejandro MEDINA HERNANDEZ, a philosophy student and MIR activist, was arrested on a public thoroughfare. He was last seen in August of that year at Villa Grimaldi. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            In late May 1976, three other MIR activists were likewise arrested and subsequently disappeared. On May 25, 1976, Angel Gabriel GUERRERO CARRILLO was arrested at the corner of Antonio Varas and Providencia by DINA agents who were driving a white Peugeot. He was then taken to Villa Grimaldi where several witnesses saw him. There has been no further word about him. On May 26, Oscar Dante VALDIVIA GONZALEZ was arrested. That night the homes of several of his relatives were searched for weapons. Since that day there has been no further word on his whereabouts. Also on May 26, Luis Hernán NUÑEZ ROJAS, a philosophy student and MIR activist, was arrested. He has been disappeared since that day. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On June 15, 1976, a large number of people tried to take asylum in the Bulgarian embassy, but the police arrested all those involved and had them taken to the Cuatro Alamos prison camp. Those arrested were released the next day near O'Higgins Park with a good deal of media attention.
            
            One of those who had been arrested, Raúl Guillermo CORNEJO CAMPOS, a MIR activist, and some of the others who had just been released stepped into a bus. When he saw that they were being followed by security agents, Raúl Cornejo got off and tried to escape on foot. However, the Commission received evidence that he was apprehended again by a group of armed agents who put him into an automobile and drove away to an unknown destination. In that same operation, another MIR activist involved in that frustrated asylum attempt, Sergio Raúl PARDO PEDEMONTE, was likewise apprehended. A DINA agent had threatened him for being responsible for instigating the asylum attempt. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On July 22, 1976, DINA agents arrested María GALINDO RAMIREZ, a MIR activist, although the circumstances of her arrest are not known. She was held at Villa Grimaldi, and in August all trace of her vanished. She shared a cell with Marta Ugarte whose body later washed up on the beach at Los Molles. The Commission is convinced that her disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated her human rights.
            
            On August 8, 1976, Mario Osvaldo MAUREIRA VASQUEZ, a former member of the group responsible for President Allende's security who was active in the MIR, was arrested on the Gran Avenida. Santiago Araya, who is now among the disappeared, and Juan Manuel Carrasco witnessed the arrest, which was made by an off-duty policeman who took Maureira to the Nueva España police station. There he was turned over to agents of the police intelligence bureau, who in turn handed him over to DINA agents, without any formal procedure whatsoever.
            
            It should be noted that the deputy director of the investigative police, the national director of information, and the interior minister sent official documents to the court that was dealing with the matter, asserting that Maureira had been arrested for the crime of attempting to kill the arresting policeman with a firearm. He had been turned over to the DINA, however, because the Second Military Prosecutor's Office had issued a warrant for his arrest for the crime of treason (dated October 5, 1974). The DINA in turn said that it had regarded the incident as a matter for the police and not one of internal security, and hence had released Maureira after questioning, but it said nothing about the place or the circumstances of his release. Maureira is still disappeared however, and hence the Commission holds the conviction that he was subjected to the violation of his human rights, namely his disappearance at the hands of government agents.
            
            On October 20, 1976, an official report stated that there had been a shootout between the police from a radio patrol car and two suspicious individuals. As they were being questioned they drew their weapons and a gun battle broke out. One of them was wounded, while the other managed to escape to a nearby factory, where he died of a wound he had received in the gun battle. The report also said two passers-by were wounded.
            
            The two victims of this incident were Juan Rolando RODRIGUEZ CORDERO, an office worker and the widower of Catalina Gallardo, whose case was described above and who was planning to leave the country because he had been pursued since the death of his wife, and Mauricio Jean CARRASCO VALDIVIA, a student and MIR activist. Carrasco was also connected to the events of the previous year, since DINA agents had questioned the mothers of the Gallardo and Ganga families concerning his whereabouts. They thought that he must be the leader of the group to which their sons belonged.
            
            Shortly after Mauricio Carrasco was killed investigative police searched his house. They arrested one of his brothers and also told him that Mauricio Carrasco was the leader of the political group to which the Gallardo family belonged. After this alleged shootout the agents involved told Carrasco's brother that they had killed him.
            
            This Commission had access to an eyewitness who says that what happened was different from the account presented in the official report. That day a number of vehicles came driving up and screeched to a halt. Straight ahead were Juan Rodríguez and Mauricio Carrasco sitting on a bench on the sidewalk. A man got out of the first car and without saying a word opened fire on them. One of them was killed instantly, and the other was left wounded and died later. The agents continued to shoot in the air without aiming, and they hit and wounded a man who came out of a factory. From that testimony and the antecedents of repression against relatives and other people with ties to the victims, the Commission has drawn enough evidence to come to the conviction that these two men were executed by government agents in violation of their human rights.
            
            

         2. Repression against the MIR by other agencies or by undetermined agencies
            
            On September 30, 1974, Claudio RODRIGUEZ, a MIR activist, was killed. That day there was a gun battle between MIR members and soldiers near the intersection of Jorge Matte and Bilbao in Santiago, and Rodríguez was killed as a result. The Commission holds the conviction that Claudio Rodríguez was a victim of the political violence that was widespread in Chile at that time.
            
            On November 27, 1974, Rudy CARCAMO RUIZ, a MIR activist, was arrested at his home in Talcahuano by plainclothes agents who identified themselves as members of the investigative police. He was held a prisoner at the Talcahuano naval base. His whereabouts remain unknown to this day. The Commission therefore believes that Rudy Cárcamo underwent a forced disappearance at the hands of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On March 27, 1975, police and soldiers arrested the MIR activist Pedro Gabriel ACEVEDO GALLARDO in the area of Tierra Amarilla near Copiapó. The commander of Regiment 23 in Copiapó acknowledged that Pedro Acevedo had been arrested and was held prisoner on the grounds of that unit. He said, however, that on May 1 he had escaped from the regiment through a hole he had dug from his room. From the evidence it has in hand, the Commission has been able to conclude that that account is not true. Hence it has arrived at the conviction that Pedro Gabriel Acevedo disappeared at the hands of army members in violation of his human rights.
            
            On April 6, 1975, Isidro ARIAS MATAMALA, a musician and MIR activist, died after being arrested by investigative police. He was accused of having been involved in a gun battle in which a detective was killed. The official account stated that he cut his veins as he was being captured and then attacked those arresting him with a pistol, and was killed on the spot when they shot back. Officials changed their initial story at the trial of Isidro Arias' accomplices, when they said his death was caused only by his cut veins. They said that after he had cut them he had been captured and bandaged, but that back in his cell he removed the bandages and thus bled to death. The contradictions between these two accounts lead the Commission to doubt the official account and to come to the conviction that if Isidro Arias actually took his own life, he must have been impelled to do so by his situation in the hands of his captors, and that hence his human rights were violated.
            
            On September 3, 1975, Marcos Hernán MONTECINOS SAN MARTIN, a university student and MIR activist, died in Concepción. The Commission cannot come to a conviction on whether the shootout in which he is said to have been killed really took place or not. On September 3, Marcos Montecinos was stopped by a police patrol in the university neighborhood. The newspaper reported that he took out a revolver and aimed at the police, who are said to have ordered him to drop it. However, he fired and went running into some bushes. The police shot into the air, but when he fired again, they shot back at him and killed him.
            
            His family questions that account. They find it strange that none of the police were wounded since he had been a member of the Chilean Air Force pistol team. They also point out that he was shot down in the street-firefighters later had to wash away the blood-and not in some bushes as was claimed. The Commission is convinced that Marcos Montecinos should be regarded as a victim, but cannot specify whether he was executed by government agents or was killed in a shootout.
            
            On November 14, 1975, in Copiapó police and soldiers searched the house of Alonso LAZO ROJAS, a student at the University of La Serena and a MIR activist. They arrested him and his wife and took them to the regiment in the city. He then disappeared. His wife was subsequently released. On November 21, 1975 the intendant and head of the zone in a state of emergency of the province of Copiapó reported to the press that Alonso Lazo had been arrested. On January 20, 1976, however, the Interior Ministry told the appeals court in Santiago that he had been arrested on the basis of Exempt Decree^b No. 1793 dated December 9, 1975, and had been taken to the Cuatro Alamos prison camp and later to Tres Alamos on the basis of Exempt Decree No. 1802, dated December 18, 1975. On February 26, 1976 the Interior Ministry told the family that he had escaped on November 15, 1975, while he was being transferred to the Copiapó Regiment. Finally, the commander of that regiment told the court that he had escaped from the military prison by taking advantage of a permission to use the latrine. Such discrepancies between the accounts and dates given by officials prove that they are false, and when taken in conjunction with the testimony it has at hand, enable the Commission to come to the conviction that Lazo underwent forced disappearance at the hands of government agents in violation of his human rights.
            
            On November 14, 1975, the MIR activist Oscar Armando LEIVA JIMENEZ was killed in Antofagasta. That day armed civilians searched the house in which he was living and waited to shoot him down as he arrived at midnight. Witnesses observed these events. These agents, who had previously identified themselves as members of SICAR, removed his body. The Commission holds the conviction that Oscar Leiva was executed by government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On December 5, 1975, José Francisco BORDAS PAZ, a civil engineer and MIR leader, was killed. He had managed to survive the operation in which Miguel Enríquez was killed, but on December 5, he was killed in a gun battle with SIFA agents in the wealthy part of Santiago after a long automobile chase. The Commission holds the conviction that José Bordas was killed as a result of political violence.
            
            In the early morning hours of June 24, 1976, Oscar Eduardo AVELLO AVELLO, a medical student at the University of Chile and a MIR activist, was arrested at his home. There has been no further information about him.
            
            On June 25, 1976, Orlando Patricio GUARATEGUA QUINTEROS, a MIR activist who was studying industrial technology at the Technical University, was arrested on a public thoroughfare. In the early morning hours of the 26th, several armed agents with red and white armbands searched his house and claimed they were looking for weapons. There has been no further information on him.
            
            On June 27, 1976, Miguel Hernán OVALLE NARVAEZ, who was also a MIR activist, was arrested in the street by agents who were driving a car without a license. They handcuffed him, put him in the car, and took him to an unknown destination. His house was also later searched for weapons. To this day nothing is known of his whereabouts.
            
            On June 28, 1976, Héctor Manuel CONTRERAS ROJAS, a radio operator who was a neighbor of Miguel Ovalle, was arrested in the street as well. His house was likewise searched during the days following his arrest. Since that date there has been no further information on him.
            
            On June 28, 1976, another MIR activist, Sergio Manuel FUENZALIDA LOYOLA, was arrested by agents who took him toward an unknown destination. He has remained disappeared since then.
            
            Taking into account testimony by witnesses of the arrests of these five people, noting that they were a MIR cell, and that there has been no further information on them, the Commission came to the conviction that they suffered the violation of their human rights, namely that they were apprehended and subjected to forced disappearance by government agents. The Commission cannot specify with assurance the agency responsible for their arrest.
            
            

b)Exempt Decree: Chilean law requires that most decrees be subjected to review by the General Comptroller's Office before legally going into effect. The exempt decree, however, is, by law, exempted from that scrutiny.

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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. II/II, Part Three, Chapter Two (A.2.b.1.4), 541-559.
Note: Digitized and posted by permission of the University of Notre Dame Press, February 22, 2000.