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)
      
      
      3. Second Region-Antofagasta
         
         
         1. Overview
            
            The Second Region of the country now consists of the provinces of Tocopilla, El Loa, and Antofagasta, and its main cities are Antofagasta, Calama and Tocopilla. The Commission came to the conviction that in 72 of the cases presented to it that had occurred in this region between September 11 and the end of 1973 there were grave human rights violations which resulted in death or disappearance and in which government agents were involved.
            
            The new authorities did not encounter a posture of resistance in this region after September 11. The Commission was not able to verify, the rumors of acts of sabotage or theft of explosives from ENAEX (National Explosives Company) or of sabotage of the mining installations. Other indicators of the lack of resistance and indeed of deference to the new people in charge were the fact that in only one instance was a person killed for violating curfew, and the fact that many of those who were imprisoned had voluntarily presented themselves to the military authorities. Indeed that was true of many of those who ended up being killed or disappeared. Furthermore, the only instance of a violent act that ended in the death of two police officers was an isolated event inside police headquarters, and was committed by a low ranking policeman. Since he was the only one sentenced for the action, he was obviously not acting in concert with others.
            
            On September 11, the command structure of the armed forces in Antofagasta assumed the authority and overall control over the region. The general in charge of the First Army Division assumed the function of provincial governor and operational commander and by that very fact also served as the judge of the First Military Tribunal of Antofagasta with jurisdiction over all the territory of the First Division. In Calama the commander of the regiment was the operational commander, and in Tocopilla it was the police chief.
            
            The activity of repression and of asserting control over the region was directed primarily at the local authorities of the newly overthrown government, and at the administrators of state enterprises in the area such as INACESA (National Cement Industry), the SOQUIMICH (Chilean Chemical and Mining Society), Chuquicamata [major copper mine], ENAEX (National Explosives Company), and the like, and at local political and labor union leaders, people active in the Popular Unity parties, and particularly the Socialist party (more than half of the victims in this region belonged to this party). Nevertheless, repressive actions also affected people who were not politically important, both those who were simply members of parties and even some who were not politically active at all.
            
            The most common type of grave human rights violation in the region was the application of the so called "law of escape" [applied to escape attempts]: the authorities explained forty-three deaths in this fashion. According to official accounts presented in each instance, as the prisoners were being transferred from one detention site to another or were being taken to where the procedures ordered by military tribunals were to be carried out, or simply inside the detention sites, they tried to run away by taking advantage of various circumstances such as a lapse on the part of their guards, mechanical problems in the vehicles in which they were being transported, and the like. The most outstanding case of this nature was the execution of twenty-six prisoners from the Calama jail on the road connecting that city with Antofagasta; it was explained as the reaction of troops to the prisoners' attempt to run away. For reasons that will be noted in each case the Commission could not accept these official versions. In general the so-called "law of escape" was ultimately a way to conceal the actual way the prisoners had died, and to avoid legal trials in which the accusations against the prisoners and their varying degrees of responsibility would have to be proven. It was also a way to carry out repression with impunity.
            
            Another especially grave event took place in Antofagasta in the execution of fourteen persons which took place without any due process of law, although there was a subsequent attempt to justify these executions as the result of a war tribunal. For reasons that will be presented, the Commission was convinced that there was no such tribunal. The members of a special high level commission which was flying to several cities in the northern part of the country were involved in this matter as well as in the killing of twenty-six prisoners at Calama. The significance and scope of those visits has already been examined. The actual number of those who received the death sentence in war tribunals was seven; in addition four people disappeared.
            
            Generally it was the police, and to a lesser extent the investigative police, who carried out the arrests in this area. The military were only rarely involved. Violence was used in most arrests, and no explanation was offered as to why the person was being arrested or under what charge. Usually a large number of police was on hand and the family was threatened. Moreover they were not told where the prisoner was being taken.
            
            On the basis of the documentation gathered by the Commission, it can be said that interrogations and torture took place in several prison sites. The most important was Cerro Moreno in Antofagasta, located near buildings that were part of an old airport which was under air force control. Most of the victims from that city whose cases are considered in this report were held there. Another interrogation and torture site was the investigative police headquarters in Antofagasta, which was used by army agents. The places where mistreatment and torture took place in Calama were the regiment base, the installations of the National Cement Company, and the nearby police station, which was known as the Dupont station. The only prison site where torture took place in Tocopilla was the police station.
            
            After arrest there was a period of solitary confinement which began at the police station to which the arrested person was taken. After a few days, generally from three to five, the person was transferred to the local jail or, when he or she was regarded as important (especially in the case of those arrested in Tocopilla), to the jail in Antofagasta. Being transferred to the jail did not mean the end of solitary confinement, but it was simply the moment when the prisoner was placed at the disposal of military tribunals. This second period of solitary confinement in which the prisoner was being held in custody by the military was the time of greatest mistreatment and torture. The condition of the executed people's bodies, when they were actually handed over, shows that in most cases those who executed them did not simply shoot their victims, but that they also tortured them before the execution itself.
            
            This account of cases that the Commission examined in which it came to the conviction that grave human rights violations had taken place, will deal with each of the region's three most important cities: Antofagasta, Calama, and Tocopilla (which will include two cases that took place in Pedro de Valdivia).
            
            
         2. Cases of grave human rights violations that took place in the Antofagasta Region
            

            Antofagasta
            
            On September 12, 1973, Guillermo Eugenio SCHMIDT GODOY, 23, who worked for the police at the Antofagasta station, was executed. A war tribunal condemned him as responsible for killing two officers from that same police headquarters, the station head, Major Mario Osvaldo Niñez Carrasco, and the second in command, Captain Héctor Dávila Rodríguez. It has not been possible to determine the exact circumstances of the event since court record 412-73 in which they appear was not sent even though it had been requested from the proper official. Regardless of the possible responsibility of policeman Schmidt for these actions and regardless of their seriousness, the Commission came to the conviction that this man who was sentenced to death did not enjoy his right to a fair trial. This conviction is based on the following reasons: the doubt over whether such a war tribunal actually took place, since the proper official did not provide the Commission with a record of it, and the fact that the accused did not have a lawyer. That right cannot be denied no matter what actions he might have committed. Hence in this Commission's judgement, a fundamental right of this man was disregarded, namely his right to a proper trial, and his execution took place in an unjust and illegal manner.
            
            On September 14, 1973, José Manuel SALAS SOTOMAYOR, 21, whose work and political position are unknown, was killed. His death certificate reads: "Date of death: September 14, 1973. Time: 5:00 a.m.. Place of death: regiment in Antofagasta. Cause: destruction of the head. Multiple fractures of the cranium. Bullet wound." In view of the fact that José Salas died inside a military installation and of a bullet wound, this Commission has come to the conviction that his death was caused by government agents, who thereby violated fundamental rights.
            
            On September 15, 1973, the following people were executed by soldiers of the Antofagasta Regiment on the road between that city and the air force base at Cerro Moreno:
            
            Nenad TEODOROVIC SERTIC, 24, an Austrian student at the Universidad del Norte who was a MIR activist;
            
            Elizabeth CABRERA BALARRIZ, 23, Teodorovic's wife, a social worker and head of the welfare department at that university who was a MIR activist; and
            
            Luis MUÑOZ BRAVO, 28, a student at the Universidad del Norte who was a MIR activist.
            
            These three people were arrested between September 14 and 15. According to the official report they were killed by troops as they were being transferred from Antofagasta to the Cerro Moreno base: "The event took place at 8:30 p.m. while they were being driven in a vehicle which developed an electrical problem. The vehicle had to stop, and the prisoners took advantage of the situation to run away in the darkness," and so they were executed.
            
            The official account notwithstanding, the Commission came to the conviction that the three people were killed in an execution by government agents carried out in total disregard for the law, thereby violating their human rights, in view of the following considerations:
            
            

            • It is not likely that three prisoners who were presumably unarmed and heavily guarded as they were being driven would try to run away from their captors;
              
              
            • Even had there been an effort to escape, it is not very plausible that the only way to recapture three unarmed fugitives was to kill them;
              
              
            • The fact that up and down the entire country situations like the one described, namely mechanical failures of cars and nighttime escape attempts in which all were killed, were repeatedly reported leads to the judgment that these are explanations concocted for executions without trial.
              
              

            On September 15, 1973, Joaquín Segundo ESPINOZA OJEDA, 36, a merchant seaman who was an active Socialist, was killed by army personnel. The official account, which appeared in El Mercurio in Antofagasta on September 17 under the headline "Activist Killed at Governor's Office," stated that on "Saturday afternoon a political activist who caused a military vehicle to overturn in the area of El Trocadero and later attacked a military officer who was interrogating him, was killed by the officer's bodyguards..." The death certificate indicates that the cause of death was bullet wounds. According to testimony taken by the Commission, Espinoza's car had a mechanical problem that day on a street in Antofagasta and he stopped to try to fix it. Nearby at that very moment a military jeep hit a truck. Espinoza was blamed for that accident and taken to the governor's office. When his family heard about what had happened, they went to the governor's office and then to the hospital where they found his remains, which were handed over to them on September 17.
            
            The Commission came to the conviction that Joaquín Espinoza was executed by government agents who used unnecessary violence and thereby violated his human rights. This conviction is based on the following considerations:
            
            

            • The official account that he tried to attack a military vehicle in the middle of the city in broad daylight and by himself does not make sense.
              
              
            • Even if that had been the case it is not likely that being held inside the governor's office unarmed and in a place under heavy guard as that office was, he would have attacked the officer who was interrogating him.
              
              
            • Even if he did make such an attack, there is no reason why the soldiers interrogating him should have had to kill an unarmed person in order to bring him under control.
              
              

            On September 20, 1973, Jorge Antonio CERDA ALBARRACIN, 30, a doctor at the hospital in Pedro de Valdivia who was a Socialist party leader, and Carlos Desiderio QUIROGA ROJAS, 32, an administrator of the Pedro de Valdivia nitrate mine who was an active Socialist, were executed as a result of a war tribunal sentence. They were arrested by police in Pedro de Valdivia on September 12, 1973, and sent to the jail in Antofagasta, where they remained until the day they were executed. Accused of making and distributing homemade grenades, subversive teaching, espionage, subversion against the armed forces, and involvement in Plan Z, they were sentenced to death on September 19, in the war tribunal recorded in file 347-73 of the First Military Tribunal in Antofagasta. The execution took place on September 20. Their remains, which besides bearing bullet wounds showed signs of torture, were handed over to their families for burial.
            
            It proved impossible to obtain the court file even though the request was submitted to the proper authority. In any case, by examining the sentence, which the Commission obtained from another source, it was able to come to the conviction that Cerda and Quiroga were executed without any due process of law and hence their death is a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible. That conviction is based on the reasons already given for all the war tribunals, and in particular for these reasons:
            
            

            • They did not have a proper legal defense, and their relatives learned of the war tribunal only after they had been executed;
              
              
            • An examination of the sentence indicates that the accusations against these two are not proven and their denial of involvement in the events of which they are accused was rejected without consideration;
              
              
            • They were tried and condemned according to procedures and punishment for wartime, although the crimes they were alleged to have committed occurred before the declaration of a state of war;
              
              
            • No consideration was given to the extenuating factor of their previous irreproachable conduct as was in fact their right, and a number of aggravating factors were applied, including specifically Article 123, No. 1 of the Military Justice Code, which can only be invoked in connection with the actions of on duty military personnel.
              
              

            On October 13, 1973, Carlos Patricio ACUÑA ALVAREZ, 26, who was in charge of security at the Chuquicamata copper mine and an active Socialist, was executed by soldiers. He voluntarily reported to military officers on September 11 and was held under arrest for a number of days at the Calama jail and was then transferred to Antofagasta. Throughout this period he was held in solitary confinement. His family says that on October 13 he was executed on the grounds of the jail in Antofagasta. That date and place are registered on his death certificate. They were also told that a war tribunal had found him guilty. His remains were turned over to the family.
            
            That verbal information notwithstanding, the Commission came to the conviction that Carlos Acuña's death was an execution carried out by government agents in total disregard for the law, and that his fundamental rights were violated. The following circumstances serve as the basis for that conviction:
            
            

            • Even though a request was submitted to the proper authority, there is no record indicating that he was actually tried before a war tribunal;
              
              
            • Even if Carlos Acuña was sentenced in some fashion, he did not have the assistance of a lawyer nor was his right to a defense respected in the least.
              
              

            At 1:30 a.m. on October 19, 1973, the following persons were executed by army troops near Antofagasta:
            
            Luis Eduardo ALANIZ ALVAREZ, 23, a journalism student at the Universidad del Norte who was an active Socialist. In late September, responding to the public summons issued by authorities in Antofagasta, he turned himself in voluntarily to military officials in Arica. From there he was transferred to the jail in Antofagasta, where legal proceedings against him for possessions of weapons were apparently initiated, but were not concluded.
            
            Dinator Segundo AVILA ROCCO, 32, an office worker at SOQUIMICH (Chilean Chemical and Mining Society) who was an active Socialist. He was arrested on September 29 in María Elena and taken first to the police station in Tocopilla and then to the Antofagasta jail.
            
            Guillermo Nelson CUELLO ALVAREZ, 30, a CORFO (Corporation to Stimulate Production) official who was an active Socialist. He voluntarily reported to the Antofagasta police station on September 13 and was taken to the jail there.
            
            Segundo Norton FLORES ANTIVILO, 25, social worker at SOQUIMICH in María Elena who was an active Socialist. He was arrested on October 1 at his home in María Elena and from there was taken to Tocopilla and later to jail in Antofagasta.
            
            Darío Armando GODOY MANSILLA, 18, a high school student who was an active Socialist. He was arrested in Tocopilla and then taken to the jail in Antofagasta.
            
            José Boerlindo GARCIA BERRIOS, 66, a maritime worker and union leader who was an active Communist. He was arrested in Tocopilla on September 12, taken to the local police station and then transferred to the jail in Antofagasta. Several times during his imprisonment he and his daughter were taken to Cerro Moreno for interrogation.
            
            Miguel Hernán MANRIQUEZ DIAZ, 25, a teacher who was working at the cement factory and an active Socialist. He was arrested on September 20 by detectives and soldiers, taken to the investigative police headquarters in Antofagasta and then to the local jail.
            
            Danilo MORENO ACEVEDO, 28, a driver at CORFO and a union leader who was an active Socialist. On October 8, he voluntarily reported to the investigative police headquarters in response to a public summons. He remained there in solitary confinement until October 15, when he was transferred to the jail.
            
            Washington Radomil MUÑOZ DONOSO, 35, a government representative at the Compañia de Cervecerías Unidas (Unified Breweries Company). He was arrested in Antofagasta on an undetermined date and held prisoner in the jail there.
            
            Eugenio RUIZ-TAGLE ORREGO, 26, an engineer and manager at the cement plant who was a MAPU activist. He voluntarily reported to the governor's office in Antofagasta on September 12, in response to a public summons. From there he was transferred to the base at Cerro Moreno, where he remained until September 23, and was then transferred to the jail in Antofagasta. The torture to which he was subjected is described in the general treatment of this period.
            
            Héctor Mario SILVA IRIARTE, 38, a lawyer, the northern district manager for CORFO and a former alderman in Chañaral who was the regional secretary of the Socialist party. He returned from Santiago in order to voluntarily present himself along with others to the military authorities at the governor's office on the morning of September 12.
            
            Alexis VALENZUELA FLORES, 29 an office worker at SOQUIMICH, president of the labor union there and treasurer for the regional CUT (Unified Labor Federation) who was an alderman for Tocopilla and an active Communist. He was arrested on September 17 at his home in Tocopilla, taken to the jail there and then on October 15, was transferred to the jail in Antofagasta. He was held in solitary confinement throughout his imprisonment.
            
            Marco Felipe DE LA VEGA RIVERA, 46, an engineer and the mayor of Tocopilla who was an active Communist. He was arrested on September 15 by members of the police and the investigative police, taken to the Tocopilla police station, and on October 15, taken to the Antofagasta jail.
            
            Mario del Carmen ARQUEROS SILVA, 45, governor of Tocopilla who was an active Communist. He was arrested on September 14, at his home by police and driven to the Tocopilla police station, where he remained until October 15 when he was transferred to the jail in Antofagasta. While imprisoned, he was held in solitary confinement.
            
            On October 21, 1973 the newspaper in Antofagasta published an official communiqué acknowledging the execution of Mario Silva, Eugenio Ruiz-Tagle, Washington Muñoz, and Miguel Manríquez, and stating that "the executions were ordered by the military junta." A second public communiqué appeared on October 24 acknowledging the executions of Luis Alaniz, Danilo Moreno, and Nelson Cuello, stating that by reason of a "decision of the honorable junta, early in the morning of the 20th three persons were killed by firing squad..." There was no official account of the other seven people who were executed on October 19.
            
            Subsequent official statements from both provincial and national authorities speak of these executions as though they took place in compliance with sentences issued by war tribunals. Reports that the government provided to the Interamerican Human Rights Commission stated that Eugenio Ruiz-Tagle and Héctor Silva, among others, had been tried in case number 349-73 held in the First Military Tribunal of Antofagasta. It was said that Ruiz-Tagle was proven to have been "involved in the crime of embezzlement of public funds... and of diverting such funds to acquire weapons for the Socialist party and for the United Popular Action Movement [MAPU]. Moreover, it was established that he was responsible for organizing a terrorist plan prepared for September 18 and 19, 1973... The court sentenced him to the death penalty, and it was carried out by firing squad on October 19, 1973." This same account states that it was proven that Héctor Silva was guilty of several crimes, including embezzlement of public funds, attacking state security, illegal possession of weapons and explosives, and it was noted that "it was reliably proven that he was involved in these activities." In the court record he confessed that he was involved "as initiator, organizer, and main leader of a paramilitary organization.... In that trial... he received the death penalty, which was carried out by a firing squad on October 19, 1973."
            
            After carefully examining the evidence received and testimony gathered from various sources, the Commission came to the conviction that these fourteen persons were executed by government agents in total disregard for the law, thus violating their human rights, especially the rights to physical integrity, to a fair trial, and to life itself. That conviction is based on the following considerations:
            
            

            • In the case of most of those executed there is credible testimony that while they were being held they were brutally tortured before finally being killed. That fact would invalidate any confession they offered.
              
              
            • The official version claiming that there was a judicial trial which is said to have concluded in the death sentence for fourteen of these people contradicts the initial report which spoke of a decision by the honorable junta.
              
              
            • Despite the formal requests made by the Commission it proved impossible to obtain the documents of the trial which was said to have ruled against those executed; that fact in conjunction with other evidence leads to the conclusion that there was no such trial.
              
              
            • Moreover, the initial account of a decision by the junta is consistent with the fact that when the firing squad executions took place, a military delegation from Santiago was present in Antofagasta and it had authority delegated by the highest authorities in the nation.
              
              
            • In this respect, those involved have made contradictory statements concerning the source of the execution order, but none assert that there was a war tribunal.
              
              
            • Even if those executed were sentenced in some fashion, their relatives and lawyers were unaware of it, and thus they were deprived of their right to a defense.
              
              
            • Whatever may have been the origin of the order to execute these fourteen prisoners, officers and troops from the regiment in Antofagasta and officers of the delegation from Santiago were involved.
              

            Calama
            

            On October 5, 1973, Ricardo Abraham PEREZ CARDENAS, 22, a worker at the La Exótica mine who was an active Socialist, was killed by police at Cerro Moctezuma, near Calama. On October 2 he had been arrested by police at his home. Several of his relatives had also been arrested but were released when Ricardo Pérez was taken prisoner. He was taken to the Calama police station and later to the station in the Dupont area. That same day it was reported that "Ricardo Pérez was executed after he had been taken to the area known as Moctezuma in order to search for arms and explosives, at the very moment he tried to revolt." The death certificate puts the time of death at 6:00 p.m. and the cause of death as multiple bullet wounds.
            
            The official account notwithstanding, the Commission came to the conviction that his killing was the product of an execution by government agents in total disregard for the law. It came to this conviction by reason of the following circumstances:
            
            

            • It is not very likely that someone who had been imprisoned for several days and had been mistreated and tortured, as his dead body indicated, and who was under heavy custody, due to the material supposedly being sought, would have tried to escape;
              
              
            • Even if he did make such an attempt, it was not necessary to shoot to kill, since he was unarmed and his captives were a police group that was quite capable of preventing him from escaping.
              
              

            On October 6, 1973, the following were executed by order of a war tribunal which supposedly took place in Calama:
            
            Luis BUSH MORALES, 36, a Bolivian agricultural engineer who was an active Socialist. On October 5 he was arrested by police who took him to the jail in Calama that same day.
            
            Francisco Gabriel VALDIVIA, 34, a worker and president of the union at ENAEX (National Explosives Company) who was an active Socialist. He was arrested at his home in Calama on October 4, 1973 by local police and taken to jail. He had already been arrested for a day on September 20.
            
            Andrés ROJAS MARAMBIO, 38, a driver for the National Health Service who was an active Socialist. On October 5, 1973, he was arrested at his home by police from Calama, and taken to jail.
            
            These three persons were sentenced to death by a war tribunal, which according to official accounts took place in Calama on October 6, 1973. They were accused of being involved in an attempt to sabotage the Dupont explosives plant of the ENAEX company. The official account was published in the regional press.
            
            This Commission did not obtain a copy of the trial record nor of the sentence. The executions occurred the same day as the war tribunal was said to have taken place, and the remains of those executed were not handed over to their relatives until two years later, when they were informed of the burial location and were allowed to have them exhumed.
            
            This Commission came to the conviction that the death of Luis Bush, Francisco Valdivia, and Andrés Rojas was the result of a sentence issued without due process of law and was thus a violation of these people's human rights, particularly the right to a just trial and to life itself, committed by government agents. That conviction was based on the evidence already noted about war tribunals and particularly on the following points:
            
            

            • Only one day elapsed between the date of arrest and the date of execution, thus indicating that it was impossible to have carried out an adequate investigation and judicial process, if in fact there was one.
              
              
            • A number of testimonies indicate the visible consequences of the mistreatment to which these men were subjected during this brief period of time, thereby discounting whatever confessions they might have made.
              
              
            • The defendants were not granted the right to be aided by a lawyer and their relatives were not told that they were going to be subjected to a war tribunal and hence they could not provide them with legal assistance. They learned of their sentencing and execution over the radio.
              
              

            On October 16, 1973, Juan Estanislao MATULIC INFANTE, 19, an active Socialist, was killed by police from the Calama station. The Commission did not obtain precise evidence on the date of his arrest or on why he was arrested. The official account provided by the police states that Juan Matulic was executed when he tried to escape from the Calama police station where he was being held. Regardless of these points, and even accepting the official account of an escape attempt, the Commission came to the conviction that in this instance excessive and unnecessary violence was used against Juan Matulic, and that government agents were responsible for his death. The grounds for that conviction are that it does not seem either reasonable or necessary to have been obliged to shoot at a person who was trying to escape from a police headquarters heavily guarded by personnel who were trained to use the proper amount of force in order to halt whatever action they wanted to prevent.
            
            On October 19, 1973, the following twenty-six persons were executed by soldiers along the road between Calama and Antofagasta:
            
            Mario ARGUELLES TORO, 34, a taxi driver who was an active Socialist. On September 26, 1973, he was arrested and on October 16, 1973 he was sentenced to three years of internal exile south of the 38th parallel. The day he was executed he was being held in jail awaiting the police delegation which was to take him to the place where he would serve his sentence.
            
            Carlos BERGER GURALNIK, 30, a journalist and lawyer who was manager of the El Loa radio station and head of public relations of the Chuquicamata mine and an active Communist. He was arrested on September 11 at the El Loa radio station, tried by a war tribunal on September 29, and sentenced to sixty days imprisonment. At the moment of execution he was serving his sentence.
            
            Haroldo CABRERA ABARZUA, 34, an engineer and assistant finance manager at Chuquicamata who was an active Socialist. He voluntarily reported to the military authorities on September 12. He was tried by a war tribunal and on September 29 was sentenced to seventeen years imprisonment for illegal possession of weapons and embezzlement of public funds. At the moment of execution he was serving his sentence.
            
            Carlos Alfredo ESCOBEDO CARIS, 24, a driver at Chuquicamata who was an active Socialist. He was arrested on September 24 at his home, after having been arrested and released on two earlier occasions. At the moment of his execution he was being held in jail in Calama and had notified his family that he was being sent to internal exile on Dawson Island.
            
            Daniel GARRIDO MUÑOZ, 22, a former army official who was not known to be politically active. He was arrested on October 5, 1973 by police from Calama and taken to the local jail. It has not been possible to determine why he was arrested.
            
            Luis Alberto HERNANDEZ NEIRA, 32, an office worker at Chuquicamata who was active in the Communist party. He was arrested on September 29, 1973 at his home in Chuquicamata and taken to the Calama police station and then to jail. There is no information on why he was arrested, the nature of the charges against him, and whether he was put on trial.
            
            Hernán Elizardo MORENO VILLARROEL, 29, secretary of the governor's office of the province of Loa who was an active Socialist. He was kept under house arrest from September 12 to October 12, when he was taken to the jail in Calama. There is no exact information on the charges against him nor on his trial, although some accounts indicate that he was sentenced to two years imprisonment.
            
            Luis Alfonso MORENO VILLARROEL, 30, a worker at Chuquicamata who was an active Socialist. He was arrested on October 12, 1973, when he voluntarily presented himself after learning that he was being summoned to appear before the military prosecutor's office. He was held at the jail in Calama. There is no information on whether he was put on trial or sentenced.
            
            David MIRANDA LUNA, 48, assistant manager of industrial relations at Chuquicamata and a national leader of the Confederation of Miners who was an active Communist. On September 16 he reported to the new authorities in order to voluntarily resign from his job, and he was put under house arrest. That same day a military patrol transferred him to the Calama Regiment and some days later to the public jail. There is no information on the charges against him or what his court status may have been.
            
            Rafael Enrique PINEDA IBACACHE, 24, a worker at Chuquicamata who was an active Socialist. He was arrested by soldiers on September 17 at the airport in Calama as he was getting on a plane for Santiago; after questioning him they took him to the jail in Calama. There he told his parents that he was to be sent into internal exile; whether he was actually tried and sentenced is still not known.
            
            Carlos Alfonso PIÑERO LUCERO, 29, a driver at Chuquicamata who was an active Communist. In early October police arrested him at the house of some friends and took him to the Calama police station and two days later to the local jail. Whether or not he was tried is not known.
            
            Fernando Roberto RAMIREZ SANCHEZ, 26, a teacher in Minera Exótica who was an active Socialist. He was first arrested on September 11, 1973, released on October 2, and rearrested on October 10 and held at the jail in Calama. There is no information on whether he had been put on trial at the time of his execution.
            
            Sergio Moisés RAMIREZ ESPINOZA, 29, an office worker who was not known to be politically active. The date of, and reasons for, his arrest are not known, nor is there annor is there any information on whether he had been put on trial at the time of his execution.
            
            Alejandro RODRIGUEZ RODRIGUEZ, 47, a labor leader at Chuquicamata and former president of the Confederation of Copper Workers who was an alderman in Calama and an active Socialist. He was arrested on September 17 when he voluntarily reported to the investigative police after a public call to do so, and he was sent to the Calama jail. There is no information on the accusations against him or on whether he was put on trial, although his relatives say that a war tribunal sentenced him to six months in jail.
            
            José Gregorio SAAVEDRA GONZALEZ, 18, a high school student leader who was a MIR activist. There is no information on his whereabouts between September 24, when he was arrested, and September 29, when he was taken to the military prosecutor's office. After being tried before a war tribunal he was sentenced to six years of internal exile somewhere south of the 38th parallel for having taken part in meetings that were forbidden during wartime.
            
            Domingo MAMANI LOPEZ, 41, a worker and president of the union at ENAEX (National Explosives Company) who was an active Socialist. He was arrested by police on September 30, 1973 and was kept in solitary confinement at a house used for interrogation and torture in the Dupont area; his family had no news concerning his whereabouts until October 12, when he was taken to the local jail. He was accused of possession of explosives and of using them in acts of sabotage. At the moment of execution, he had been sentenced to twenty years imprisonment and was waiting to be transferred to Santiago to serve that sentence.
            
            Jerónimo CARPANCHI CHOQUE, 28, an ENAEX worker who was an active Socialist.
            
            Bernardino CAYO CAYO, 43, an ENAEX worker who was an active Communist.
            
            Luis Alberto GAHONA OCHOA, 28, an ENAEX worker who was an active Socialist.
            
            Manuel HIDALGO RIVAS, 23, an ENAEX worker who was an active Communist.
            
            José Rolando HOYOS SALAZAR, 38, an ENAEX worker who was a labor union leader and an active Socialist.
            
            Rosario Aguid MUÑOZ CASTILLO, 26, an ENAEX worker who was an active Socialist.
            
            Milton Alfredo MUÑOZ MUÑOZ, 33, an ENAEX worker who was an active Socialist.
            
            Víctor Alfredo ORTEGA CUEVAS, 34, an ENAEX worker who was an active Socialist.
            
            Roberto Segundo ROJAS ALCAYAGA, 36, an ENAEX worker who was not politically active.
            
            Jorge Rubén YUENG ROJAS, 37, an ENAEX worker who was not politically active.
            
            The last ten of these men were working at the Dupont explosives plant which belonged to ENAEX (National Explosives Company). Police arrested them on company grounds at noon on October 12 and immediately took them to the local police station in the Dupont area. That same day they were transferred to the Calama police station where they were held in solitary confinement for about five days. Several times while they were being held there they were taken to other locations and subjected to interrogation and torture. On October 17 they were placed in the local jail. There is no exact documentation on the charges against them, nor is there any on whether they had been tried at the time of their execution.
            
            On October 20, 1973, the press offered official information from the local commander to the effect that twenty-six prisoners from the Calama jail had been killed by soldiers who were taking them to the jail in Antofagasta, when they tried to take advantage of an electrical problem in the vehicle in order to escape. The immediate family members of those executed were told the same thing. They were not given the remains of those killed however, but only death certificates which stated that the place of death was Calama and the cause of death was shooting. At that time the military authorities made a commitment to turn over the bodies after a year but in fact never did so, even though the families had documents to prove that commitment. Despite repeated efforts to locate the bodies, only in 1990 was it possible to find the place where they had been illegally buried at least for a time and from which they had been taken or blown up at some point. Nevertheless, experts were able to identify some remains of Haroldo Cabrera.
            
            In considering the events that led to the shooting of the twenty-six prisoners in Calama, the Commission came to the conviction that they were all executed in total disregard for the law in a cruel and barbarous manner and that government agents were responsible for this lawless action. The grounds for that conviction are as follows:
            
            

            • The official account that prisoners were being transferred is scarcely credible, particularly when a delegation from Santiago was present for the very purpose of examining the trial situation of the prisoners. Indeed, some have even claimed, although they have not been able to prove it, that when the prisoners were removed from jail their case was being heard in a war tribunal, thus making it even more absurd that they should have been taken somewhere else. Moreover, it does not make sense that they would be transferred, if we take into consideration that by this date many of these prisoners had already been sentenced, others were being tried, others were to be sent to internal exile, and others had not been brought to trial at all. All these facts undermine the notion that there was some reason why all of them had to be taken as a group to Antofagasta.
              
              
            • An escape attempt is unlikely, among other reasons, because among the prisoners some had been sentenced to relatively light sentences, others were still in frail health due to torture they had undergone, and finally because escape would be very difficult since they were being guarded by a large detachment of soldiers.
              
              
            • Even more importantly, various authorities and officers involved in the events have spoken publicly about who gave the order to proceed with the executions. In doing so they did not mention any escape attempt, and indeed they have all denied the initial explanation.
              
              
            • Several reliable witness accounts lead to the conclusion that officers from the Calama Regiment and from the delegation from Santiago were involved in the shooting.
              
              
            • There was no institutional investigation ordered by competent authorities to properly clarify what had happened and define who had been responsible and to what degree, as should have been done. The judicial processes which were eventually determined to fall within the jurisdiction of the military justice system were likewise suspended when the decree law on amnesty went into effect.
              
              
            • The fact that the bodies were not turned over to their relatives suggests that there was an attempt to conceal what had happened.
              
              

            On October 25, 1973, Luis Eduardo CONTRERAS LEON, 33, an office worker at Chuquicamata who was an active Socialist, disappeared from the El Loa police station. Police arrested him together with other people on October 22 and took him to that police station. On October 25 his relatives were told that he had been released, but they were given no other information. Since that date there has been no further word on the whereabouts and final destiny of Luis Contreras. It is the Commission's conviction that the government agents who were holding him were responsible for his forced disappearance by reason of these considerations:
            
            

            • It is certain that he was arrested by police and was present at that police station;
              
              
            • Had he actually been released, it is unlikely that he would have failed to contact his family from that moment to the present.
              

            Tocopilla
            

            On September 11, 1973, Manuel del Carmen MUÑOZ CORNEJO, 33, assistant manager of the SOQUIMICH plant, was arrested in his home by uniformed troops. He was taken to the jail in Tocopilla where his wife was able to visit him on September 12 and 13. When she arrived on the 14th, she was told that he was no longer there but was given no further explanation. The Commission came to the conviction that government agents were responsible for the disappearance of Manuel Muñoz and that his human rights were violated, by reason of the following circumstances:
            
            

            • He had been publicly ordered to report to the authorities on September 11, shortly before he was arrested;
              
              
            • It is established that he was held in the Tocopilla jail for three days; employees there gave no information about who had taken the prisoner away;
              
              
            • From the time that there has been no further word about him, he has not contacted his relatives and this incomprehensible fact leads to the conclusion that his disappearance was not due to his own decision but rather by force.
              
              

            On September 12, 1973, Vitalio Orlando MUTARELLO SOZA, 28, a labor union leader at SOQUIMICH who was an active Socialist, was arrested by police at the Pedro de Valdivia substation. He had voluntarily reported there that same day. Since that time there has been no further information concerning his whereabouts or fate. On December 10, 1974 the regional governor in an official letter told his relatives that Vitalio Mutarello had voluntarily reported to the police in Pedro de Valdivia and subsequently had been released. The Commission came to the conviction that government agents were responsible for his forced disappearance by reason of the following circumstances:
            
            

            • Testimony from witnesses as well as a government official have attested that he was held prisoner at the Pedro de Valdivia substation;
              
              
            • The official account that Mutarello was released is not plausible since if that were true it is not likely that there would have been no further word about him for seventeen years;
              
              
            • The two people with whom he shared the local leadership of the Socialist party were shot in Antofagasta on September 20 after being arrested by the same police forces from Pedro de Valdivia and on the basis of accusations by police officials there. Thus it is hardly credible that Mutarello would have been freed and not accused as were his colleagues. It should also be noted that the two who were shot were transferred to Antofagasta on the same day that Mutarello was supposed to have been released, and were held in solitary confinement until the day they were executed.
              
              

            On September 13, 1973, Luis Alberto GOMEZ CERDA, 35, a foreman who was a union leader and an active Socialist, was arrested by police at the CODELCO boarding house in Tocopilla. Several witnesses observed him being arrested there. Using a private automobile, the police patrol drove him to the Tocopilla police station. The next day his relatives were told that he was being held in solitary confinement. On October 15, they were told that he had been released at 9:00 p.m. the previous night. Curfew began at 7:00 p.m. Since then there has been no further word concerning the whereabouts and final destiny of Luis Gómez, despite all his relatives' inquiries. The Commission came to the conviction that he disappeared by force at the hands of government agents by virtue of the following considerations:
            
            

            • It is an established and acknowledged fact that Luis Gómez was arrested by police personnel and was held at the Tocopilla station.
              
              
            • It is hardly likely that he would have been released as police officials at that station claim, since it is not very likely that he would be released during the curfew period [line missing in text] a time of great danger.
              
              
            • Police officials in Tocopilla refused to provide any documentation to the effect that he had been arrested and later released.
              
              
            • There has been no communication between him and his family since his supposed release.
              
              

            On September 19, 1973, Ernesto Manuel MORENO DIAZ, 18, a high school student who was an active Socialist, and Iván Florencio MORAN ARAYA, 21, an office worker who was an active Socialist, were killed by the Tocopilla police. These young men were arrested by the Tocopilla police at about 8:00 p.m. on September 18, 1973 and were then taken to the local police station, according to those who arrested them. At 12:45 a.m. the next day, September 19, their bodies were handed over to the morgue in the city hospital with the explanation that both had been killed while trying to escape. Their death certificates say that the place of death was, "Tocopilla, public thoroughfare, Avenida Costanera, address unspecified." The condition of the bodies indicated that these young men had been killed by beating and bullet wounds. No official and public version of these events was provided.
            
            The Commission came to the conviction that the killing of these two prisoners was an execution by government agents in total disregard for the law, in view of the following considerations:
            
            

            • The fact that testimony by witnesses indicates that after being arrested both prisoners were handcuffed and tied, making it practically impossible for them to have attempted to run away from their captors.
              
              
            • The prisoners were likewise unarmed and at the mercy of their captors, who were armed police and trained to control prisoners, thus making it even more implausible that they may have tried to escape.
              
              
            • There are reliable witness accounts that the prisoners were present at the police station, and there is no explanation or reason why they should have been taken away just a few hours after they were arrested.
              
              

            On October 6, 1973, these five prisoners were executed in the area of the La Veleidosa mine, near Tocopilla:
            
            Freddy Alex ARAYA FIGUEROA, 21, a university student and active Socialist; he had been arrested September 30, 1973 at a relative's house and taken to the investigative police headquarters and then two days later to the Tocopilla police station;
            
            Reinaldo Armando AGUIRRE PRUNEDA, 28, an office worker at SOQUIMICH and an active Socialist; he was arrested October 4, 1973 by investigative police from Tocopilla and taken to the police station there;
            
            Claudio Rómulo TOGNOLA RIOS, 42, a doctor and active Socialist; he was arrested September 16, 1973 at his home by police and investigative police, taken to the police station and then held in the jail;
            
            Luis Orozimbo SEGOVIA VILLALOBOS, 28, an engineer at the Chuquicamata copper mine and an active Socialist; he was arrested September 11, 1973 while on the job; despite his family's efforts to locate him in a number of prison sites, there was no information on his whereabouts until the operational commander in Tocopilla published an official communiqué on an escape attempt;
            
            Carlos Miguel GARAY BENAVIDES, 25, a foreman at the Chuquicamata copper mine and active Communist; police arrested him at work on September 12; he was taken to the Tocopilla police station and then to the jail. According to an official communique by the operational commander in Tocopilla and published in the Antofagasta newspaper La Estrella, on October 8, Carlos Garay Benavides, Luis Segovia Villalobos, Claudio Tognola Ríos, Freddy Navarro Araya, and Reinaldo Aguirre Pruneda, who were being held prisoner in the Tocopilla jail, were taken to a mine fifteen kilometers north of Tocopilla in compliance with an order from the military prosecutor's office. Taking advantage of the fact that the armed forces and police personnel "were uncovering a large amount of dynamite and other explosives, the prisoners ran away down into the mine, and since they ignored warnings and orders to halt, they were fired upon. As a result, Freddy Navarro Araya and Reinaldo Aguirre Pruneda were brought down. The other prisoners managed to escape into the mine, but evidence gathered on site indicates that they were wounded as they fled."
            
            The mortal remains of Reinaldo Armando Aguirre and Freddy Alex Araya Navarro were handed over to the local morgue, where their relatives picked them up after learning of the official communiqué. The official account, which was quite flimsy by itself, was refuted in 1990, when by judicial order the La Veleidosa mine was excavated and the remains of those said to have fled and who had remained disappeared, were found and legally identified. Their condition indicated they had been executed.
            
            The Commission came to the conviction that the five people listed were executed while imprisoned by government agents who thus gravely violated human rights, by virtue of the following circumstances:
            
            

            • It is unlikely that a group of heavily guarded prisoners would have tried to escape, especially during an effort to look for arms and explosives.
              
              
            • Moreover, various reliable witness accounts indicate that at least some of the victims were in frail condition as a result of the torture to which they had been subjected while imprisoned.
              
              
            • Finally, the fact that the dead bodies of those who were supposed to have escaped appeared at the site of the events, hidden in a mine and with indications that they had been executed, refutes the official account of their escape.
              
              

            On October 7, 1973, René PAREDES CORTINEZ, 21, a merchant who was a MIR activist, and Lino Fidel VALDES MORENO, 24, were executed in Tocopilla. Detectives arrested both of them on October 7 at Paredes's home and took them to the investigative police headquarters. Friends took them clothes and food, which officials there accepted. That same day a radio report said that both had been executed for attempting to escape. Their bodies were handed over to the local morgue where they were identified by relatives of René Paredes. The death certificates state that the cause of death was "bullet wounds"; in the case of René Paredes the place is said to be a "public thoroughfare in Tocopilla," while Lino Valdés is said to have been executed in María Elena. This latter point is untrue, since all the evidence indicates that they were executed together at the same moment and in the same place. The proof is the fact that they were arrested together, the date of death, the fact that both bodies were turned into the morgue, the numerical correlation of their death certificates, and the official radio account which explains these executions as an escape attempt by both prisoners. Moreover, it has been possible to establish that the investigative police headquarters in Tocopilla was the last place where both were present.
            
            The Commission came to the conviction that the deaths of Paredes and Valdés were totally unjustified executions committed by government agents in violation of the most fundamental human rights, by virtue of the following circumstances:
            
            

            • The lack of any plausible explanation for the fact that the prisoners were on a "public thoroughfare" when they were killed, for had they attempted to escape from headquarters, that would have been given as the place of death, as is the usual practice.
              
              
            • Reliable witness accounts attesting to the fact that both were seen under arrest inside police headquarters.
              
              
            • Even had there been some escape attempt it does not seem reasonable that the only way to prevent it was to shoot them to death.
              
              

            On October 23, 1973, the following people were executed in the police station in Tocopilla:
            
            Carlos Oscar GALLEGOS SANTIS, 30, a teacher who was an active Socialist. He had been arrested September 17 near his home and taken to the Tocopilla police station. He remained there unable to receive visitors until the day of his death.
            
            Breno Benicio CUEVAS DIAZ, 45, a health inspector who was an active Socialist. Police arrested him at home on September 16, 1973. He was taken to the Tocopilla police station and was held there and in the local jail. He was not allowed to receive visitors during the period of his arrest.
            
            Julio Enrique BREWE TORRES, 26, a teacher who was a labor union leader and an active Socialist. He was arrested when he voluntarily reported to the Tocopilla police station on September 18 and was held there and prohibited from receiving visitors until the day of his death.
            
            Vicente Ramón CEPEDA SOTO, 31, a surgeon who was director of the CODELCO Polyclinic and an active Socialist. Police arrested him on September 20 and took him to the police station where he remained until his death, unable to receive visitors. He was taken out to other sites for interrogation and then returned to the police station.
            
            On October 23 an official communiqué from the local commander of the zone under state of siege gave an account of how the deaths occurred: "As the jail guard at the Tocopilla police station was opening the door of a cell in response to a request from the prisoner Vicente Cepeda Soto to go to the bathroom, Cepeda suddenly attacked the guard with the aid of his cellmates, Bruno Cuevas Díaz, Julio Brewe Torres, and Carlos Gallegos Santis. They seized his SIG rifle, but they could not use it since they did not know how to handle it and the safety latch was on." In response to the guard's cries for help, other personnel arrived and "immediately opened fire on the attackers who were shot down on the spot." All of this was in accordance with "Military Decree No. 8 dated last September 19 and with Article 281 of the Military Justice Code." That communiqué was published in the Antofagasta newspaper El Mercurio for October 25, 1973 under the headline, "Four Subversives Shot Down in Tocopilla." The death certificates stated that the cause of death was bullet wounds and the place and time were the Tocopilla police station at 3:55 a.m.
            
            The Commission came to the conviction that the deaths of these four prisoners were executions committed by government agents in total disregard for the law and in violation of their human rights, by virtue of the following circumstances:
            
            

            • The unlikelihood that these people would have tried to escape from their prison in the manner described in the official account, for that would have entailed confronting the whole police station with a single weapon, which indeed they did not know how to use, and in conditions of frail health after a month of imprisonment and subjection to repeated interrogation;
              
              
            • Even had something like this taken place, it does not seem necessary to put it down as was done, that is, by killing four prisoners who did not know how to use the weapons they had seized and even allowed the guard to call out to his colleagues.
              
              

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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.c), 272-291.
Note: Digitized and posted by permission of the University of Notre Dame Press, February 22, 2000.