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)
      
      
      5. Fourth Region-Coquimbo
         
         
         1. Overview
            
            This section deals with the grave human rights violations ending in death that took place in the Fourth Region, which includes the current provinces of Elqui, Limarí, and Choapa. These events took place between September 11 and the end of 1973. The Commission came to a conviction on twenty-two of these cases; in all of them government agents were responsible for a person's death. Sixteen of these cases took place in La Serena, three in Vicuña, two in Andacollo and one in Illapel.
            
            The new authorities had matters under control in this region as of September atmosphere was calm and there were no armed clashes or other manifestations of reactions to the authority of the military. After September 11, the commander of the Arica Regiment, based in the city of La Serena, assumed military and political rule and functioned as operational military commander and as governor.
            
            Most of those killed were people connected to the previous government, and a number of them had been government officials. They were active in the Socialist and Communist parties, and in MIR and MAPU, or they were independent people who had ties to the Popular Unity and were politically involved. In only two instances were the victims not politically active and their deaths were apparently not politically motivated. Thus the human rights violations in the Comquimbo Region were obviously selective. Those responsible for the actions this Commission examined were government agents who belonged to the army or the police. The former were responsible for all the events that took place in La Serena, and the latter were involved in carrying out the arrests. The investigative police in the city of La Serena also carried out arrests.
            
            An episode that stands out was the execution of fifteen people at the Arica Regiment in La Serena on October 16, 1973. A military delegation then traveling through the northern part of the country with delegated authority was at that moment in La Serena and it was involved in the execution. The overall aspects of that journey have already been noted.
            
            In La Serena the prisoners were generally taken to the jail, while elsewhere they were taken to police stations and if there were serious charges against them, they were transferred to the jail in La Serena. This facility was the most important detention site. In early November 1973, it held 474 political prisoners. The report issued by the International Red Cross on that date notes that overcrowding was a serious problem. The prisoners were held in five groups, each with an average of ninety people. "Overcrowding is extreme. Each prisoner has approximately .91 m², .98 m², 1.23 m², or 1.11m², varying from area to area.... Some sleep in the halls connecting the areas.... Most of the prisoners sleep on the floor, often without a mattress.... Each area has a single toilet, a single wash basin and a single shower (actually a pipe). Given the overcrowding, cleanliness leaves much to be desired." It says that "the food provided to the prisoners is plain and unvarying."
            
            The Commission received a good deal of consistent testimony concerning physical torture carried out in the police installations in Salamanca, Vicuña and Andacollo. There were accusations that torture was practiced at the regiment in La Serena, where the prisoners were taken for interrogation.
            
            As was the case elsewhere in the country, local authorities, whether military or police, decided what should be done with the bodies of the victims. In La Serena the bodies were not handed over to the relatives, but buried by army troops without informing the families of the site. The same was true of the two people killed in an operation in Vicuña carried out by soldiers from the regiment at La Serena. Elsewhere, in Vicuña, Illapel, and Andacollo, the body was generally turned over to the relatives in a sealed coffin so that they could have them buried in a strictly private manner. In only one case was the body handed over to the family for burial.
            
            
         2. Cases of grave human rights violations in the Coquimbo Region
            
            On September 16, 1973, Jorge Manuel VASQUEZ MATAMALA, 52, a labor union leader who was governor of Elqui and a MAPU activist, was killed by a police patrol from Vicuña. He had been summoned by edict to report to area authorities some days after he relinquished his responsibility as governor. Trying to flee to Argentina he reached the hamlet of Matancillas in the area of Rivadavia where a police patrol found him. The police went into the house where Jorge Vásquez was staying. Many witnesses say they could hear shouts, beating, and shooting and observed him being taken away. Several days later his body was turned over to his family in a sealed coffin, and a private burial under police guard was permitted.
            
            The official account which appeared in the local newspaper, stated that "the MAPU figure Jorge Vásquez was killed when he put up resistance and failed to obey a warning given three times by the security forces." The Commission came to the conviction that Jorge Vásquez was executed by government agents and that this was therefore a violation of human rights by reason of the following:
            
            
            • Credible witnesses attest that there was no gun battle;
              
              
            • His death certificate states that the cause of death was "hypovolemic shock, a bleeding peritoneum, and a burst liver," thus indicating that he died as a result of beating and not of gunshots, as indicated in the official account.
              
              
            On October 7, 1973, Pascual Antonio GUERRERO GUERRERO, age unknown, a miner who was not known to be politically active, was killed by the Andacollo police. According to the official account which appeared in the local press, he was arrested together with eleven other people and was accused of taking part in a political meeting. The family rejects that account and says it was a family party. According to the official communique from the operational commander published in the La Serena newspaper El Día on October 8, 1973, as he was being taken to the police station, Pascual Guerrero "tried to seize a policeman's weapon. Unable to do so, he went running. A warning shot was fired into the air but he did not stop and so he was shot down on the spot." The Commission judges that in this instance government agents were responsible for a human rights violation, namely executing Pascual Guerrero. The grounds for that conviction are the following points:
            
            
            • The other people arrested at the supposed political meeting were not brought to trial, as would have happened had the official account been true.
              
              
            • It is not likely that people arrested and disarmed by a detachment that had at their disposal the means of repression and adequate police training would have found it necessary to kill someone trying to escape, even if that was what actually happened.
              
              
            On October 16, 1973, fifteen people who were being held at the La Serena jail were executed at the Arica Regiment in that city:
            
            Oscar Gastón AEDO HERRERA, 23, a forestry expert who was an active Communist. He was arrested October 6 by police from the Salamanca police station. He was kept in solitary confinement until October 12, when he was transferred to the jail in Illapel. From there he was taken to the La Serena Regiment and arrived there in the early morning of October 16.
            
            Carlos Enrique ALCAYAGA VARELA, 38, a mason and regional secretary for the CUT labor federation who was governor of Vicuña and a MAPU activist. He was arrested September 12, by the Vicuña police and taken to the police station there, and from there to the La Serena jail.
            
            José Eduardo ARAYA GONZALEZ, 23, a small farmer who was active in the Communist party. He was arrested in Salamanca and taken to the local jail. Four days later he was transferred to the jail in Illapel where he was held until October 15, and was then taken to the La Serena jail.
            
            Marcos Enrique BARRANTES ALCAYAGA, 26, a foreman at the MANESA tire plant who was an active Socialist. Soldiers arrested him on the job September 16 and took him to the La Serena Regiment and then to the local jail.
            
            Jorge Abel CONTRERAS GODOY, 31, a small farmer who was not known to be politically active. He was arrested by police, taken to the Illapel police station and from there to La Serena. He was kept in solitary confinement.
            
            Hipólito Pedro CORTES ALVAREZ, 43, a worker and a municipal employee who was a leader in the construction workers union and active in the Communist party. Police from Ovalle arrested him at his workplace and took him to the local police station and from there he was taken to the La Serena jail.
            
            Oscar Armando CORTES CORTES, 48, a small farmer who was active in the Communist party. Police from Ovalle arrested him at his home September 22 and took him to the police station. He was later transferred to the jail in La Serena.
            
            Víctor Fernando ESCOBAR ASTUDILLO, 22, an agronomist who was employed by the ECA (Company for Agricultural Trade) and local secretary for the Communist party. On October 1 he was arrested by police from Salamanca and taken to the local substation. He was then taken to the Illapel jail and then to the La Serena jail.
            
            Jorge Mario JORDAN DOMIC, 29, a doctor who was active in the Communist party. He reported to the Ovalle police station September 12 in response to a summons by military edict. He was held there a day and then remained under house arrest. Rearrested on September 16, he was taken to the La Serena Regiment and from there to the local jail.
            
            Manuel Jachadur MARCARIAN JAMETT, 31, a farmer who was active in the Communist party. Police arrested him September 16 in Los Vilos. He was taken to the jail in Illapel, where he remained until September 18, when he was transferred to the La Serena jail.
            
            Jorge Ovidio OSORIO ZAMORA, 35, a university professor who was an active Socialist. On September 17 he was arrested by investigative police on the grounds of the MANESA tire factory and taken to the jail in La Serena.
            
            Jorge Washington PEÑA HEN, 45, a musician who was a university professor and an active Socialist. Police from La Serena arrested him September 19 and took him to the police station and then to the jail in the city, where his family visited him.
            
            Mario Alberto RAMIREZ SEPULVEDA, 44, a university professor who was active in the Socialist party. Upon receiving a summons he reported to the headquarters of the investigative police in La Serena on September 27. He was arrested and immediately taken to the regiment and then to the jail in the city. His family was allowed to visit him only on two occasions. Most of the time he was held in solitary confinement.
            
            Roberto GUZMAN SANTA CRUZ, 35, a lawyer who was an advisor to the Compañía Minera Santa Fe (Santa Fe Mining Company) and a MIR activist. On September 14 he voluntarily reported at the Incahuasi checkpoint after being told that he had been summoned by authorities in La Serena. He was arrested and taken to the jail in La Serena and tried for violating the Law of Internal State Security. A war tribunal held September 27 sentenced him to five years imprisonment. On June 26, 1975 after he had been executed by decision of the commander-in-chief his sentence was lowered to 541 days.
            
            Gabriel Gonzalo VERGARA MUÑOZ, 22, a small farmer who was a MAPU activist. He was arrested October 12, 1973 by police from Ovalle. After being held for two days in the local police station he was taken to the Arica Regiment in La Serena. In both places he was held in solitary confinement. He was then taken to the La Serena jail.
            
            Through the newspaper the operational commander's office issued an official communiqué which stated: "The citizenry is notified that at 4:00 p.m. today October 16 the following persons were executed in accordance with the provisions on wartime military tribunals..." Mario Ramírez, Jorge Peña, Marcos Barrantes and Jorge Osorio were said to "have been involved in obtaining and distributing guns and in activities of paramilitary instruction and organization aimed at attacking the armed forces, the police, and people in the area." Oscar Aedo Herrera, Víctor Escobar, José Araya and Jorge Contreras were said to "be members of a terrorist group that was planning to take over the Salamanca police headquarters on September 17 and to kill those on duty there and all their children over eight years old, as well as kill a group of more than thirty people in the city, whose names will not be provided for obvious reasons." Hipólito Cortés Alvarez, Jorge Jordán, Gabriel Vergara and Oscar Cortés were said to have "hidden underground a vast supply of fifteen weapons, a good deal of ammunition and explosives in order to attack the Ovalle police on September 17." It was also noted that they had "been involved as guerrilla instructors in the area." Carlos Alcayaga was said to have been shot for "forcefully taking explosives from the magazine of the Contador mine in Vicuña on September 11, 1973, explosives which were found buried and ready to be used." He was also said to be "an instructor in the use of explosives in a guerrilla school operating in Vicuña." Manuel Marcarian was said to have been executed "due to a discovery of explosives to be used for attacking the police substation in Los Vilos, and for having ignored the military summons and the warnings police had issued in person." Roberto Guzmán was said to have been executed "for inciting the miners of the camp at Desvío Norte and nearby to seize the explosives supplies and put up armed resistance to the junta."
            
            Their bodies were not turned over to their families for burial. The official account issued by the local military authority refers to a war tribunal held October 16, which is said to have issued the death sentences for these fifteen prisoners, and notes that the tribunal that issued the sentence "came especially from Santiago." This Commission has established that a special delegation from Santiago with power to examine the situation of area prisoners was on hand. The Commission has heard credible testimony on the names of the persons who were arrested by the military officers who made up that delegation and the fact that they decided which people's situation should be reviewed.
            
            With regard to these killings, the Commission received a good deal of competent testimony that agreed on certain facts: the fifteen prisoners on the list were executed without any due process of law by government agents. The following items support that conviction:
            
            
            • Credible witnesses have testified on the sequence of events leading to the death of the fifteen prisoners: since almost no time passed between the moment when their cases were reviewed and the execution, a war tribunal could not have been conducted in accordance with the law.
              
              
            • It is a fact that when the supposed war trial was conducted the accused were not accorded their right to a defense, since no lawyers were present and they had no chance to defend themselves against the accusations. In fact, as was noted above, Roberto Guzmán had been sentenced by a war tribunal to a five year sentence, which in 1975 was lowered to 541 days.
              
              
            • Despite repeated requests and inquiries the Commission was unable to obtain a copy of the judicial sentence or any documentation from the trial in connection with the sentencing of the fifteen defendants.
              
              
            Since, therefore, the accused had no chance to defend themselves, and the accusations do not appear on any document to which the Commission had access, this Commission has come to the conviction that the fifteen executions were a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
            
            On November 1, 1973, José Segundo RODRIGUEZ TORRES, 23, a merchant who was not politically active, was killed at the Arica Regiment. He had been arrested at home October 30 by troops who took him to the regiment. On November 3 the press carried an official communiqué, stating that at 3:00 p.m. on November 1, José Segundo Rodríguez had been shot down "when he was being held prisoner and tried to escape..." The communiqué also noted that he was a common criminal. Since it is established that he was arrested and was killed inside the La Serena Regiment grounds, the Commission came to the conviction that José
            
            Rodríguez was executed. Government agents are shown to have been responsible for a human rights violation by reason of these circumstances:
            
            
            • Taking into account the nature of the place he was being held, a military garrison which had every reason to be under heavy guard when these events took place, it does not seem likely that he would have tried to flee.
              
              
            • Had there been an escape attempt, it must be assumed that such a large number of troops as were on the regiment grounds and who had their training and weapons could prevent flight without finding it necessary to kill the supposed fugitive.
              
              
            One week later, on November 8, 1973, his father, José RODRIGUEZ ACOSTA, 55, a merchant who had been held prisoner at the same military post starting November 7, where he had presented himself after his home was searched, was also killed. The death certificate states that the cause of death was a "bullet wound," and that the place was the "Arica Regiment in La Serena." There is no official account of these events. The Commission came to the conviction that José Rodríguez was killed by government agents who gravely violated his right to life. The grounds for that conviction are as follows:
            
            
            • Documents prove that he was killed on the regiment grounds by a bullet wound, and thus it is reasonable to presume that army troops were responsible.
              
              
            • There is no explanation for why he had to be killed, let alone without a trial with due process.
              
              
            • There was no response to the many requests this Commission made for information on the case.
              
              
            On November 16, 1973, José Exequiel ROJAS CORTES, 39, a merchant who was not known to be politically active, died in the jail in Illapel. He had been arrested by police from Illapel, and three days later he was taken to the jail in that city. There is a good deal of credible testimony on the torture and unlawful mistreatment to which he was subjected and on his worsening physical condition. On November 16, his wife was informed that José Exequiel was dead, and she was told that he had committed suicide by cutting his veins. His body was handed over for burial in a sealed coffin. The Commission came to the conviction that government agents were responsible for the death of José Rojas Cortés by virtue of the following:
            
            
            • According to several witnesses, he had been subjected to torture.
              
              
            • He was being held in a prison under guard and did not have access to the means enabling him to commit suicide.
              
              
            • His body was handed over in a sealed urn and his relatives were forbidden to open it.
              
              
            All the foregoing lead the Commission to the conviction that he died not by suicide but as a result of the torture and mistreatment he had received, and therefore his human rights were violated.
            
            On December 8, 1973, Bernardo LEJDERMAN KONOYOICA, of Argentinian nationality, 30, and his wife María del Rosario AVALOS CASTAÑEDA, of Mexican nationality, 24, were killed by a military patrol from the Arica Regiment in La Serena, in the area of Guallihuaica in a rural area of Vicuña. At that moment this foreign couple and their one-and-a-half year old son were at that location, apparently in hiding and planning to leave for Argentina. On December 8, 1973 a military patrol arrived with a person who had previously been arrested and had been pressured with threats to reveal the location of Lejdermann and his wife. That person, who was kept out of sight as the troops came up to the couple, heard automatic weapons fire. The leading patrol officer later came back to the witness and ordered the individual to bury the woman's body. He said that both had committed suicide. The next day this same individual who had now been released returned to bury the other body. This is what the person testified before the Second District Tribunal in Vicuña in the trial over the illegal burial of bodies which was held in August 1990. The military gave the couple's child to a sisters' convent. The mother's family later went there and received the child. The body of María Avalos was buried in 1974 at the request of diplomatic representatives from her country, and that of Bernardo Lejdermann was buried in August 1990. In resolution number 397, dated April 10, 1974, the regional director of the Ministry of Public Health, who approved having the remains of María Avalos exhumed, stated that she died of a "dynamite explosion," which along with other public accounts provided at that time made her death appear to be a presumed suicide by means of explosives.
            
            In this instance, the Commission holds the conviction that this married couple, Lejdermann and Avalos, was executed by government agents without any trial by virtue of the following:
            
            
            • The account of the witness who heard shots and who did not observe these people put up any resistance to the military patrol, and in burying them saw their bullet riddled bodies;
              
              
            • The state of the remains of María Avalos in 1974 which were such that she could be identified;
              
              
            • The state of the remains of Bernardo Lejdermann, exhumed seventeen years later; his death certificate lists the cause of death as "shootout with soldiers";
              
              
            • If it had accusations against these people, the military patrol was sufficiently trained to arrest them without killing them.
              
              

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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.e), 298-305.
Note: Digitized and posted by permission of the University of Notre Dame Press, February 22, 2000.