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)
      
      
      8. Seventh region-Maule
         
         
         1. Overview
            
            Overview
            
            This section examines sixty-two cases of grave human rights violations which occurred in the Seventh Region from September 11 until the end of 1973 in which the government was responsible due to the actions of its agents. The Maule region encompasses what are now the provinces of Talca, Linares, Curicó, and Cauquenes.
            
            On September 11, the armed forces and police assumed total control over the region. In only one instance did a group of civilians have an armed confrontation with police and military troops. It took place in the mountains at Paso Nevada, and one policeman and one of the civilians were killed. In Talca the lieutenant colonel who commanded the local regiment took over as governor and as operational commander, but only for nineteen days. In Linares the colonel in command of the local regiment took over as operational commander and as governor. In Cauquenes the head military officer took over the governorship. In cities such as Parral, Constitución, and San Javier, various army officers took over the governorship. Other places, such as Chanco, Catillo and Melozal were under the political and military control of the regiments, or the regional or provincial governor's offices just mentioned.
            
            Most of the human rights violations were committed by members of the army, although police and investigative police and in some instances, civilians working with the armed forces were also involved. Most of the victims were active in left political parties or had been involved in some fashion in labor union or student activities before the events of September 1973. Most of those who had been involved in parties belonged to the Socialist party, and to a lesser extent to the Communist party and to the MIR. They were typically young, on the average from 20 to 22 years old, and many were still in high school. Many of the victims' wives were also arrested and mistreated.
            
            Of the several places used as detention sites two are most significant:
            
            
            • The artillery school in Linares. The military prosecutor's office in the city functioned on its grounds, and most of the region's prisoners were held there. All trace of several of them was lost after they were taken there, and they remain disappeared to this day. Almost all of those who were held there were kept in solitary confinement. Prisoners' relatives say they knew their loved ones were there only because it was verbally acknowledged, or because the food and clothes they brought were accepted. This Commission examined a good deal of testimony by people who were held at the artillery school and who say they were tortured while under interrogation. Members of the investigative police were also involved in interrogation.
              
              
            • The General Bari Firing Range where the areas's military intelligence service had its center of operations. Those prisoners regarded as most important, such as regional political authorities, were taken there. This Commission learned of the torture to which prisoners there were subjected. Some persons also disappeared from this site.
              
              
            Elsewhere in the region, police stations or local jails and, very occasionally, the local quarters of the investigative police were used as detention sites. Prisoners who were tried generally ended up with the investigative police. A significant number of prisoners disappeared from the jail and police station in Parral, and this Commission regards them as disappeared. Testimony was also received from persons who were held prisoner at Reforzada Regiment No. 16 in Talca.
            
            Of the twenty-five cases of execution recorded in the region, some were officially explained as applications of the so-called "law of escape," others as the result of armed clashes, as failure to obey the order to halt during curfew, or as the application of a sentence issued by a war tribunal. For some executions there is no official account.
            
            Of the thirty-seven cases of people who disappeared after arrest, most were apprehended in Parral and disappeared from the jail there. Documents record that many were released. Some were still in the hands of military authorities, while others were seen in jails or at military installations after they had supposedly been released.
            
            When the families received the remains, they were forbidden to hold wakes and provide a decent burial. The bodies were handed over in sealed coffins, and the funeral was carried out according to the exact instructions by authorities and under a heavy military guard, or the body was turned over to the family at the cemetery itself. In three instances the remains were not returned to the families. In September 1990 by a judicial order they were exhumed from the Talca cemetery.
            
            
         2. Cases of grave human rights violations in the Maule Region
            
            Talca
            

            The only instance of armed resistance to the new authorities in the area was the one initiated by the previous intendant [regional governor], Germán Castro, on September 11. Castro headed toward the Andes together with a group of about twenty persons in government vehicles. They precipitated a clash in the area known as Paso Nevado. Approaching the police checkpoint and realizing that there was a barrier preventing them from going further, members of the group shot at the official forces. As a result police sergeant Orlando Espinoza Faúndez was wounded and later died. The group took another policeman from the checkpoint as a hostage and continued on their way toward the Argentinian border. Some kilometers ahead they had a shootout with army troops who had been alerted to the situation and were lying in wait for the ex-intendant's group. The civilian Hugo Zacarías MIÑOS GARRIDO, 29, who worked in intendant's office as a driver for the irrigation department and was active in the Socialist party, was wounded. He died that same day at the regional hospital in Talca. The Commission has come to the conviction that he fell in the armed clash that took place on September 1973 as described and was a victim of political violence.
            
            After the shootout some members of the group, including Castro himself, were arrested and taken to Talca and put in the local jail. With the help of local mule drivers, the rest of the group continued to flee toward Argentina. However, two of them, Jorge Araya Mandujano and Juan Vilchez Yañez, did not make it across the mountain range but fell over a cliff and died there. Their bodies were not recovered. This latter development became known only in late 1990 when some of the members of Castro's group, who had managed to escape from the country, returned to Chile.
            
            As a consequence of these events, on September 30, the military intendant was dismissed by an order signed by a general who visited the area as an official delegate of the commander-in-chief of the army and of the governing junta. After being dismissed, the intendant was arrested, put on trial, and sent into exile.
            
            Subsequently, other people were killed in connection with this incident.
            
            On September 13, 1973, José CASTILLO GAETE, 32, a farmer who was active in the Communist party and lived in the foothill region of Bajos de Lircay, was executed. Castillo's death was connected to the efforts of police to locate the people in Germán Castro's group who were escaping through the mountains. Policemen went to his house and from outside-where they could see him since the door facing the street was glass-shot into the house and killed José Castillo. His widow says that those who came to seize him said he was "to blame" without specifying further. Eyewitnesses provided testimony to this Commission about these events. It should be noted that José Castillo was never part of Germán Castro's group, because when he was killed they were either arrested or outside the country.
            
            The next day, September 14, 1973, three members of a family were executed in Talca:
            
            Héctor VALENZUELA SALAZAR, 27, a university teacher,
            
            Hilda Isolina VELASQUEZ CALDERON, 31, a university nurse and active Communist, and
            
            Claudia Andrea VALENZUELA VELASQUEZ, 6.
            
            Similarly to the previous case, police arrived at the family's house in connection with their investigations into the incident in Paso Nevado. They raided Héctor Valenzuela's house and killed him, his wife and one of their daughters. They wounded two of the couple's other children, Paula, 4, and Gonzalo, 2. The official explanation was that there had been a shootout. The evidence gathered by this Commission establishes that the house was raided in the early morning and that the victims were shot while inside it. Police had cordoned off the area earlier and told some of the neighbors not to go out into the street but to remain in their houses. When some of the professor's relatives arrived and the bodies were still at the house, the police on hand explained that it had been a suicide. Therefore, this Commission has come to the conviction that José Castillo, Héctor Valenzuela, his wife Hilda Velásquez and their daughter, Claudia Valenzuela, suffered a grave violation of their human rights since government agents executed them without any justification.
            
            On September 13, 1973, Pedro Abraham MORALES RETAMAL, 44, an agricultural worker on the Peteroa estate, was killed. He was a peasant leader and Popular Unity supporter. He was found dead on the road between Sagrada Familia and the Peteroa estate. Morales left a friend's house during the curfew period. Apparently he failed to heed the order to halt given by a military patrol that was guarding public order, and so they shot him. The burial authorization states that the time of death was 2:00 a.m. September 13, 1973. There was no official account of these events. Taking into account particularly the time and the day of his death and the nature of the shots, the Commission has determined that Morales Retamal was presumably killed by government agents who were maintaining public order. If this was a curfew violation, it could have reasonably been handled by arresting him, since he was unarmed and on foot. Hence, the Commission came to the conviction that these agents used excessive force.
            
            Then on September 27, 1973, the former regional governor, Germán CASTRO ROJAS, 33, a bookkeeper by profession who was active in the Socialist party, was executed. The official account provided to the media noted that "The decision was made by the war tribunal and approved by the military judge..." and the sentence was said to have been carried out in the early morning of September 27 when Germán Castro was executed by firing squad.
            
            The Commission has received a vast amount of consistent information which leads it to the conviction that there was no such war tribunal. When Castro was executed there was no sentence and the decision had been taken without any due process of law. Indeed, there is a good deal of consistent competent testimony indicating that around 9:00 p.m. September 27, four officers of the Talca Regiment held a meeting and ordered that the intendant be executed. However, as is indicated on the official account, Castro had been executed in the early morning of that same day. That meeting cannot be regarded as constituting a tribunal, not even under wartime conditions, nor can those deliberations be regarded as a trial carried out in accordance with the law. Such a trial would have required, among other things, that the person being tried be provided with a defense. Police had previously carried out a brief investigation, and the officers had the results in hand, but in no sense was it an investigation such as that carried out by a tribunal. This Commission is in a position to assert that the four people in the meeting never held the conviction that Intendant Castro was responsible for the shots that killed police sergeant Orlando Espinoza. Therefore, since there was no war tribunal, the Commission has come to the conviction that German Castro was executed without any due legal process and that he was the victim of a violation of human rights.
            
            On October 3, 1973, three agricultural workers, none of whom was politically active, were executed:
            
            Luis Alberto URBINA DIAZ, 50, an agricultural worker on the Venecia estate;
            
            Domingo Antonio URBINA DIAZ, 47, an agricultural worker on the Venecia estate;
            
            José Antonio MENDEZ VALENZUELA, 24, an agricultural worker on the San Rafael estate.
            
            Army troops arrested them on the Venecia estate October 3, 1973 and took them to the El Culenar estate in Talca, which belongs to the army. There they were executed by their captors, and their bodies were buried without notifying their families. Their remains were transferred to the local cemetery. Only in 1990 were their families able to identify them. The event was presented through the local press the next day with the explanation that three criminals had been killed in a frustrated attempt to attack soldiers with knives.
            
            The official account cannot be accepted by reason of what has already been said as well as the following circumstances: it does not seem likely that anyone would attack military troops with knives alone; that the three supposed attackers and no soldier would be killed; that the troops could not halt the attack in any way except by killing them; that the bodies should be concealed; and that when the exhumation finally took place in 1990, it should be determined that at least one of them showed signs of having had his hands tied. The Commission has come to the conviction that these three peasants from Talca were executed by government agents in an action that violated their right to life.
            
            On October 6, 1973, in a shantytown in Talca, Maria Lidia ANDRADE ANDRADE, 36, who was the mother of fourteen children ranging from eighteen years to seven months, was killed. As she was diapering her youngest daughter inside her house, she was killed by shots fired in the street by soldiers who were using their weapons to try to halt some young people who were running away without having offered any resistance. That same bullet grazed her daughter's head, causing a chronic motor problem. This Commission has come to the conviction that María Lidia Andrade was killed by the action of government agents who were using their weapons excessively and unwisely.
            
            On October 20, 1973, Javier Segundo ALVEAR ESPINOZA, 32, a worker who was a shantytown leader and a MIR activist, was killed. As his family has noted, they last saw him alive on October 15, the day he went underground. Several days later they learned he had been killed. The information they received was that there had been a clash with troops. The official account of what happened, as published in a newspaper reads, "Today the government announced that a mechanic was executed..." The newspaper adds "... The executed mechanic was identified as Javier Alvear Espinoza, 32, who was accused of attacking a police patrol in Pelarco, a small town in the farming province of Talca. When halted by a military patrol he was said to be in possession of a road map and garrison plans, weapons, and ammunition." This Commission does not find it plausible that in October 1973 a single individual would have attempted to attack a police patrol. However, even if that did happen, there is no justification for such a patrol to seize and execute him without any due process, as the official account indicates was the case.
            
            Hence, this Commission has come to the conviction that in executing Javier Alvear, government agents violated his human rights.
            

            Linares
            

            On October 2, 1973, four people, all active in the Socialist party, were killed:
            
            Teófilo ARCE TOLOSA, 26, a CORA (Agrarian Reform Corporation) employee. He was arrested at home on September 12, 1973 by investigative police from San Javier.
            
            José SEPULVEDA BAEZA, 22, a university student. He was arrested at home on September 12, 1973 by investigative police from San Javier.
            
            Mauricio GONZALEZ NORAMBUENA, 20, local director of CORA. He was arrested by investigative police from San Javier on September 13, 1973.
            
            Segundo SANDOVAL GOMEZ, 19, a high school student. He was arrested September 13, 1973, by investigative police from San Javier.
            
            On September 11 police and civilians from the area were chasing these people who managed to elude the bullets of their pursuers and to escape. Later they were arrested by investigative police from San Javier and were taken to the jail in Linares. They were executed by soldiers in Linares on October 2, 1973. According to the official account handed to the press, the prisoners were taken out to the arrest site to "reenact the crime" and there they tried to seize their guards' weapons and escape. The Commission has come to the conviction that the prisoners were executed without any due process of law by government agents. The story of their escape attempt is unacceptable for the following reasons:
            
            

            • It is inconsistent to claim that on that day these four people were taken from jail to reenact the crime at a site between the artillery regiment and the firing range since the firing range is not on the road to San Javier, which is the location of the events in question.
              
              
            • The heavy guard under which prisoners were transferred at that time makes it unlikely that after being brought under control and disarmed, they should try to seize weapons from troops who obviously enjoyed physical, numerical, and logistical superiority.
              
              
            • There is no explanation why in order to halt an escape attempt, if there was one, all the prisoners should have been killed in the manner described.
              
              

            On October 20, 1973, Rubén BRAVO BRAVO, 55, a farmer who was active in the Socialist party, was arrested. Troops from the artillery school in Linares arrested him in the area of El Pillay and took him to their base. This Commission examined a good deal of consistent testimony indicating that he was seen there in pitiable physical condition. That was the last available information concerning him. Since it is established that he was arrested by military troops and subsequently held at a military installation, and bearing in mind his political activity, this Commission has come to the conviction that Rubén Bravo disappeared at the hands of government agents in an action that violated his fundamental rights.
            
            On December 23, 1973, Waldo VILLALOBOS MORAGA, 48, who was not politically active, was arrested. The Commission gathered testimony and evidence which indicates that on December 23 police arrested him on a public thoroughfare in the city of Linares. Available information leads the Commission to believe that his arrest was due to personal feuding between him and one of his captors. Villalobos was taken to the city jail. Records show that he entered the jail on December 24 and supposedly left on December 28 at 10:55 p.m., that is, during the curfew which was then in effect. He had been sentenced to four days in jail for being drunk. Even though his supposed release was recorded in the jail log he never returned home, and his fate and whereabouts remain unknown to this day. Since it is established that he was arrested and that all trace of him has been lost since the moment he was in the hands of his captors; that there is sufficient proof to reject as false the story that he was drunk at the moment of his arrest; that it is unlikely that a prisoner would be released during the curfew period; and that the disappearance of prisoners was common practice in this area in 1973, this Commission has come to the conviction that Waldo Villalobos suffered a forced disappearance by government agents who violated his human rights.
            
            Between December 1973 and January 1974, there were four instances in which people disappeared by force from the artillery school in Linares. The account provided to the families and to the courts indicated that all had been released or had never been arrested. Nevertheless, there are numerous accounts by witnesses who saw them being held at the military installation. Their names are:
            
            María Isabel BELTRAN SANCHEZ, 21, a music student and MIR activist. On December 16, 1973, soldiers arrested her along with another person at her home in Santiago, took her to the Military Academy and later transferred her to the artillery school in Linares. In June 1974 the operational command in Linares acknowledged that she had been arrested. That acknowledgement stated that she had been released in mid-January that year in order to receive specialized medical care since she had suffered an abortion while in prison. That is why she was released, "promising to present herself at the garrison headquarters in Linares, once she had recovered, a promise that to this moment has not been kept." The official claim that she had been released in January 1974 is contradicted by the fact that there has been no information about her since that same month and year, when she was last seen inside the regimental grounds. The fate or whereabouts of María Isabel Beltrán remains unknown to this day.
            
            Alejandro MELLA FLORES, 19, a student and MIR activist. He was arrested September 19 by investigative police from Linares, taken to their main headquarters and later to the artillery school, where he was turned over to the military intelligence service. On October 31, he was transferred to the jail in Linares. The record indicates that on December 26, 1973 he was given conditional release. In the judicial inquiry into his disappearance, the investigative police stated that Mella Flores had been released on December 26, "in order to visit his relatives, with a promise to return, which he did not fulfill. He is now regarded as a fugitive and probably left the country over a pass that was not being guarded." The report does not explain why it is assumed that he left the country nor why he did so over "a pass that was not being guarded." In July 1976 the head of the artillery school in Linares told the court investigating Mella's disappearance that he had not been held at that military unit. The fate or whereabouts of Alejandro Mella Flores remains unknown to the present.
            
            Anselmo CANCINO ARAVENA, 25, a farm worker and a MIR activist. Soldiers arrested him December 8, 1973 at a sawmill in Cauquenes where he had hidden since he had been summoned by a decree to present himself to the military authorities. While he was being sought by authorities, as a way of pressuring him to surrender, his parents, wife and sister were held prisoner, and were released when Cancino was arrested. The Commission established through consistent and credible statements from army officers that Cancino was held prisoner at the artillery school in Linares. He remains disappeared to this day.
            
            Héctor Hernán CONTRERAS CABRERA, 21, an employee at CORA and the regional head of MIR in Parral. On December 8, 1973, army troops arrested him in Santiago at the house of some relatives. Previously his sisters who lived in Parral had been arrested and were questioned so that they could tell where Héctor Contreras was. He was taken to the artillery school in Linares. According to his relatives, the school did not acknowledge that he had been arrested and was being held there. This Commission, however, received much plausible testimony indicating that he was at that facility.
            
            These four prisoners were held at the same detention site. All were active in MIR and were working in the same area. It should be noted that none of them was brought before any sort of court nor was any accused of any crime that would justify their arrests. The Commission has concluded that the reason for their disappearances was entirely political. It is not credible that all should have been released and yet that none should contact his or her family after their supposed release; and that considering the political conditions of the country at that time, well known MIR militants from the area should have been released by the same military authority that had subjected them to harsh treatment of imprisonment and intense interrogation under torture. Since it is established that all were arrested and disappeared while under arrest, this Commission holds the conviction that they suffered a grave human rights violation at the hands of government agents.
            

            Cauquenes
            

            On October 4, 1973, four persons were executed:
            
            Manuel PLAZA ARRELLANO, 25, an agronomist. Early on the morning of September 20, he was arrested at home by a military patrol and sent to the investigative police headquarters in Cauquenes.
            
            Claudio LAVIN LOYOLA, 29, an agronomist. He was arrested October 2, 1973, when he reported to the investigative police headquarters to which he had been ordered to go to sign his name every day.
            
            Miguel MUÑOZ FLORES, 21, a CORA employee. He was arrested at his home immediately after the events of September 11, by investigative police and taken to their headquarters.
            
            Pablo VERA TORRES, 22, a student and office worker who was an area leader of the young Socialists, who had previously been arrested and released. He was rearrested that same month and taken to the headquarters of the investigative police.
            
            On October 4, 1973, these young Socialists were taken from the investigative police headquarters in Cauquenes under heavy military guard. According to the official account, the purpose for doing so was to "reenact the crime" on the El Oriente estate on the outskirts of the city. According to this account these prisoners are said to have taken advantage of the situation to attack one of the guards. In response they were shot and all were killed, "in compliance with Military Decree 24 of the junta." That decree authorized immediate execution should there be armed opposition or resistance to the new military authorities.
            
            A few hours before the execution, a helicopter carrying an official delegate of the commander-in-chief of the army and of the junta and his group had landed in the city of Cauquenes. This delegation remained in the city until immediately after the shooting took place. The overall import of that journey has already been considered.
            
            The families learned of their death through the official decree which was broadcast over loudspeakers installed in the city square. Their bodies were taken to the Medical Legal Institute where the required autopsy was carried out. Troops then took them to the local cemetery and proceeded to bury them in a common grave. Only one of the families, through personal contacts, was able to have the victim's body exhumed and have it buried.
            
            This Commission finds the official account implausible by reason of the following circumstances:
            
            

            • At least one of the autopsy reports states that the victim was shot in the forehead point blank; this expert examination refutes the official account.
              
              
            • The heavy military guard under which they were led out of the headquarters makes it unlikely that without weapons they would have attacked a guard.
              
              
            • Even if that had happened, the troops guarding them could have subdued and recaptured them without having to kill them.
              
              

            Hence the Commission has come to the conviction that these four persons were executed by government agents without any justification whatsoever. Their right to life was gravely violated, as was their families' legitimate right to have them buried.
            

            Parral
            

            On September 26, 1973, four persons disappeared from the Parral jail where they were being held. As noted in the jail log on September 26, 1973, "By verbal order of the department governor, five prisoners were turned over to army troops: Enrique Carreño González, Eladio Saldías Daza, Hugo Soto Campos, Luis Aguayo Fernández and Aurelio Peñailillo." Only Enrique Carreño returned to the jail. To this day the others remain disappeared:
            
            Hugo Enrique SOTO CAMPOS, 18, a student. He was arrested September 13 by police from Parral and taken to the city jail.
            
            Oscar Eladio SALDIAS DAZA, 22, a student who was active in the Socialist party. He was arrested in Parral on September 20 by police and taken to the city jail.
            
            Aurelio Clodomiro PEÑAILILLO SEPULVEDA, 32, who had a disability pension and was not politically active. He was arrested September 16 by police from Copihue, and taken to the Parral jail the following day.
            
            Luis Evangelista AGUAYO FERNANDEZ, 21, a high school dean who was active in the Socialist party. He was first arrested September 12 by police and then released with the condition that he would go to the police station to sign a register. On one of those visits Aguayo was arrested and taken to the jail.
            
            The Commission has come to the conviction that these four persons suffered a forced disappearance at the hands of government agents, and that their human rights were gravely violated. The particular grounds for that conviction are the following points:
            
            

            • It is established that they were arrested by government agents.
              
              
            • During this period leftist activists, who made up the bulk of those being killed, were not released.
              
              
            • There are many instances of people who disappeared after being held prisoner in this area and in this facility.
              
              
            • Their relatives have received no further word about them; there is no record of any of them leaving the country or conducting business with government agencies.
              
              
            • It is established that they were taken out of the jail by army troops who have provided no explanation of their fate.
              
              

            On October 4, Armando Edelmiro MORALES MORALES, 19, a high school student who was active in the Socialist party, was arrested. He was arrested that day when he voluntarily reported to the Parral police station. It has been established that he was then transferred to the Parral jail. Records indicate that he left on October 11, 1973, but there is good reason to presume that he was taken to the artillery school. The Commission has come to the conviction that Armando Morales' human rights were violated, since he was arrested and disappeared at the hands of government agents who have not explained his fate or whereabouts.
            
            On October 6, 1973, Segundo GONZALEZ SANHUEZA, 37, a driver, was killed. He was arrested September 10, while he was driving a truck north toward Santiago. During a demonstration that was blocking the road, there was some shooting, and as a result one of the demonstrators was killed, and González was arrested by police. He was accused of homicide and taken to jail. Such was the situation in which he found himself at the outbreak of September 11, 1973. He had told his family that they were accusing him of being a "subversive" and of having hidden an arms cache in the area of Catillo. After his death his family was told that during his transfer from the jail to Catillo he had tried to escape and that he was killed in the effort to stop him.
            
            The Commission has come to the conviction that Segundo González was executed by government agents. In conscience it cannot regard the official account as plausible, particularly in view of the following elements:
            
            

            • It is unlikely that someone whose case was already being processed in the ordinary courts would have tried to escape under the conditions existing after September 11, 1973.
              
              
            • Even if such an escape attempt had been made the people guarding him had the means to recapture a prisoner alive.
              
              
            • During this same period and in this area false information was often given about the fate of prisoners, as has been established in the preceding accounts.
              
              

            On October 14, 1973, Gaspar HERNANDEZ MANRIQUEZ, 23, a small farmer, disappeared. That day witnesses observed him being arrested in the area of Torca, near Parral, in a joint operation conducted by the army and the police. He was taken to an unknown destination. An intense effort was launched to find his brother, José Rogelio Hernández, who was presumed to have been involved in the death of a policeman. That search led to large scale operations in which several people were killed. He was arrested as part of that search. Since that date there has been no word about Gaspar Hernández. Since it is established that he was arrested by government agents who never offered any explanation of his fate, and since there is no evidence in the various government agencies that he is still alive, this Commission has come to the conviction that Gaspar Hernández was subjected to a forced disappearance by government agents and that he suffered a grave human rights violation.
            
            On October 23, 1973 the following people disappeared: Claudio Jesús ESCANILLA ESCOBAR, 16, a shoeshine boy who was not politically active. He was arrested by a military patrol in the Parral plaza and taken to the police station. He was transferred to the city jail by night, and he remained there until October 23.
            
            Rafael Alonso DIAZ MEZA, 23, a worker. He was arrested on a public thoroughfare by police in Parral on September 22, along with Manuel Bascuñán, and taken to the Parral jail, where he remained until October 23.
            
            Ireneo Alberto MENDEZ HERNANDEZ, 22, who was active in the Socialist party. He was arrested by police at the Copihue checkpoint and transferred to the Parral jail.
            
            José Ignacio BUSTOS FUENTES, 52, a mechanic who was active in the Communist party. He presented himself voluntarily to police in Parral on September 13, after army officials had looked for him in his home. He was transferred to the Parral jail.
            
            Manuel Eduardo BASCUÑAN ARAVENA, 23, a student who was active in the Socialist party. He was arrested on a public thoroughfare by the Parral police on September 22 along with Rafael Díaz and taken to jail in Parral.
            
            Oscar Abdón RETAMAL PEREZ, 19, a high school student who was active in the Socialist party. He was arrested September 25 by police from Retiro and taken to the Parral jail the day after his arrest.
            
            Roberto del Carmen ROMERO MUÑOZ, 23, a worker. He was arrested October 9 when he voluntarily reported to the police station in Parral after having been summoned. He was imprisoned in the city jail that same day.
            
            The record indicates that these seven people left the jail in Parral October 23, 1973. As this commission has heard from several sources, they were then taken by a police patrol to make statements at the military prosector's office by order of the governor of the department of Parral. Examining the Parral jail log, the Commission found that on October 23, 1973 "by order of the governor of the department... the following prisoners are released: José Bustos Fuentes, Claudio Escanilla Escobar, Rafael Díaz Meza, Ireneo Méndez Hernández, Manuel Bascuñán Aravena, Roberto Romero Muñoz and Oscar Abdón Retamal Pérez."
            
            This Commission has come to the conviction that the arrest and forced disappearance of these people was the work of government agents. These persons suffered a grave violation of their rights as citizens. The grounds for that conviction are the following points:
            
            

            • Documents and witness accounts establish that they were arrested.
              
              
            • The last word about them was that they were being held prisoner.
              
              
            • As has been said before, the fact that this kind of procedure occurred repeatedly in this region and the nature of the political involvement of these people makes it unlikely that they would have been released.
              
              

            In October 1973, the following people disappeared, likewise from the Parral jail:
            
            Luis Alberto YAÑEZ VASQUEZ, 23, a small farmer. He was arrested at his home on October 13, 1973 by police from Parral and taken to their station. His family was later told that he had been transferred to Linares. His present whereabouts are unknown. There is credible testimony from people who witnessed the moment he was taken from the station by police on October 14. This is the last information available about him.
            
            José Hernán RIVEROS CHAVEZ, 27, a construction worker. He had been arrested at his home on October 12 by police from Parral and taken to the police station where many witnesses saw him. Despite their testimony, the police told the family he had not been arrested. His whereabouts remain unknown to this day.
            
            Víctor Julio VIVANCO VASQUEZ, 19, a high school student who was active in MIR. He was arrested October 8 by a military patrol and taken to the investigative police headquarters in Parral and then to the city police station. Witnesses say they saw him under arrest there. From that moment all trace of him has been lost.
            
            Luis Enrique RIVERA COFRE, 21, who was active in the Socialist party. He was arrested October 5, by troops from the artillery regiment in Linares while his family observed. His captors told his family that he was going to be taken to the police station in Parral, and witnesses attest that he did arrive there. On the fourth day of his imprisonment at the police station his family was told that Luis Rivera had been released. After October 8 there was no further word on his whereabouts.
            
            This Commission holds the conviction that these four people were arrested and disappeared at the hands of government agents for the following reasons:
            
            

            • All were arrested in the presence of witnesses in October 1973 and were held prisoner at the Parral police station. However, when the Commission asked the police about the fate of these prisoners, the official response was that the records from that period had been burned in accordance with internal regulations.
              
              
            • After consultation with the proper government agencies, it can be said that these people have not left the country, did not register to vote, and have not requested identification cards. None of them contacted their families, and thus it is not plausible that they were released.
              

            Constitución
            

            On September 14, 1973, these two people disappeared: Arturo Enrique RIVEROS BLANCO, 22, a draftsman at Celulosa Constitución who had been governor of Constitución until September 11, 1973 and was active in the Christian Left. He was first arrested September 12 at the governorship and taken to the local jail and then released that same day. He was rearrested by soldiers September 14.
            
            José Alfonso SAAVEDRA BETANCOURT, 37, an ironworker by trade who was a labor leader. On September 12, he was arrested by troops in the Putú area and taken to the jail in Constitución. Some civilians were involved in his arrest.
            
            According to official information provided at that time both prisoners had been taken to the artillery school in Linares. An examination of the logs indicated that these two prisoners were removed by order of the military governor at 10:00 p.m. Friday September 14, 1973, after he had questioned some of the political prisoners in the jail.
            
            This Commission became aware of two facts that refute the claim that these prisoners were taken to the artillery school: (1) The military governor asked for a car to take them, but it was never used for that purpose since it was back in Constitución an hour after leaving. It is impossible to drive to Linares and back in that amount of time. The prisoners were never taken to Linares. (2) One of the people who was held prisoner in Constitución testifies that he was taken to the area called La Poza on Mutrún hill where he was subjected to a simulated firing squad. That happened the same night that Riveros and Saavedra were taken out of the jail. One of the soldiers involved in this feigned firing squad told the witness he had better obey the orders of the patrol since they had already killed two people. Since it is established that both were arrested, and taking into account the evidence already mentioned, the Commission has come to the conviction that Arturo Riveros and José Saavedra disappeared at the hands of government agents who violated their human rights.
            
            On September 19, 1973, Jorge YAÑEZ OLAVE, 29, a journalist and local head of MIR who was working to organize the labor union at Celulosa Constitución, and Jaime TORRES SALAZAR, 21, a worker and MIR leader, disappeared. In view of the events of September 11, 1973, they decided to leave the area. Orders were issued for their arrest, and they were in fact arrested by police and investigative police in Cauquenes on September 16. Their entrance into the investigative police station in Cauquenes is recorded in report No. 10. The day after their arrest a military patrol took them to the office of the governorship of Constitución at the request of the military governor. From that point on there is no further trace of them. The authorities said that they had been released, and that therefore the officers of the investigative police who were supposed to interrogate them had been sent to Talca. Nevertheless, on September 23 an order for their arrest was sent to all police units in the country. Credible testimony taken by this Commission indicates that the prisoners were executed in Constitución itself.
            
            The official account of their supposed release is seen to be implausible if one takes into account that both were well known area MIR leaders, that there were special orders for their arrest and that they had been arrested in the city of Cauquenes and sent to Constitución at the express wish of the military governor there. The fact that no members of the investigative police were available at that moment is not a plausible reason for releasing them, especially if the authorities again ordered that they be arrested a few days later. Hence this Commission holds the conviction that Jorge Yañez and Jaime Torres suffered a forced disappearance at the hands of the government agents who arrested them and that this action was a grave violation of their human rights.
            
            In November 1973, José CAMPOS MORALES, 26, a peasant leader who was active in MIR, who usually went by his nickname "Chupalla" Campos, disappeared. Troops from the regiment at Linares arrested him at the San Gabriel estate near the city and took him to the local jail. According to the jail log on October 5 he was released for lack of proof. However, this Commission received a good deal of testimony from people who saw him being held prisoner at the artillery school in Linares and at the investigative police headquarters in Constitución after the date of his supposed release for lack of proof. One witness recalls that in a conversation at the artillery school Campos told him that he had been taken to the firing range and was subjected to a mock execution. Even later, in November 1973, witnesses saw him under arrest at the investigative police headquarters in Constitucíon. From that point on, all trace of him is lost. Since it is established that he was arrested; since, given his political activity, it is unlikely that he would be released from Linares; since neither his family nor the Chilean government through its agencies has any information on José Campos; and since he disappeared while in the custody of military troops, this Commission has come to the conviction that he suffered a forced disappearance at the hands of government agents, in a grave violation of human rights.
            

            San Javier
            

            In this area four people disappeared by force during September and October 1973. The remains of one of these persons were identified, and those of another were later retrieved. On September 15, 1973, the following people voluntarily reported to the Melozal checkpoint in the presence of witnesses and were immediately arrested:
            
            Cesáreo SOTO, 60, a small farmer from the Molozal area who was not politically active;
            
            Vidal del Carmen RIQUELME IBAÑEZ, 45, a livestock dealer who was a supporter of the Popular Unity;
            
            Ruben ACEVEDO GUTIERREZ, 22, a farm worker who was a peasant leader in Melozal.
            
            On October 2, 1973, Gerardo ENCINA PEREZ, 33, a farmer who was active in the Socialist party, was arrested when he voluntarily turned himself in at the police station in San Javier.
            
            From the moment they were arrested, the prisoners' relatives engaged in an intense but fruitless search for them. One of the families had heard that some bodies had been found nearby and had seen obvious traces of blood on a local bridge. Hence they began a search with the aid of firefighters from Melozal. In the Loncomilla River they found the body of Rubén Acevedo and other bodies that they were unable to retrieve. One of those working in the retrieval effort says that he recognized Gerardo Encina. Rubén Acevedo's body bore bullet wounds.
            
            On the basis of this evidence it can be presumed that these four persons were taken by their captors to the bridge over the Loncomilla River and were executed, and that their bodies were thrown into the current. Since it is established that they were all arrested; since there is no official information concerning their subsequent fate; and since one of the bodies was found, this Commission has come to the conviction that Cesáreo Soto, Vidal Riquelme, Rubén Acevedo, and Gerardo Encina suffered a grave human rights violation at the hands of government agents, who sought to kill them.
            
            On September 29, 1973, Miguel Antonio FIGUEROA MERCADO, 46, a farmer who was not known to be politically active, disappeared. He was arrested at his home in the Peñuelas sector in Yerbas Buenas by the army and the police. There has been no further word about him since the day he was arrested. This Commission has come to the conviction that Miguel Figueroa suffered arrest and forced disappearance at the hands of government agents who thereby violated his right to life. That conviction is based on the accounts of witnesses who saw him arrested by police and the established fact that he disappeared and has not conducted official business for seventeen years, nor has he left the country, or had any contact with his family.
            
            On October 18, 1973, Mario GONZALEZ ALBORNOZ, 34, a small farmer, was executed. That day soldiers and one policeman arrested him on the El Sauce estate where he lived. His family, who witnessed the arrest, say that their search for Mario González was in vain, since everywhere they went they were met with denials that he was being held prisoner. About a week after his disappearance, his body was found in the El Candil estate, next to the section of land on which he had been arrested. The death certificate says that the cause of death was "destruction of the head-homicide. Bullet wound." In view of the fact that Mario González was last seen alive when he was arrested by government agents and that he died of a bullet wound, this Commission has come to the conviction that those agents were responsible for his death and that they were thereby responsible for a grave violation of his human rights.
            
            On October 25, 1973, Ramón LEIVA NARVAEZ, 53, a teacher who was active in the Socialist party, was killed. That day in the early morning hours while curfew was still in effect, police from San Javier arrested him at his home in the presence of witnesses. He had previously been arrested, released, and threatened at his workplace. His body, bearing bullet wounds, was found the next morning on a public thoroughfare. Since it is established that he was arrested and was shot to death a few hours later, and since those who arrested him have not provided any explanation, this Commission has come to the conviction that Leiva Narvaez was executed by government agents in an action that gravely violated his human rights.
            

            Other areas
            

            On October 13, 1973, in the area of Catillo four persons disappeared after being arrested. Their names are:
            
            Ruperto TORRES ARAVENA, 58, a chemical engineer and farmer who was not politically active. After a previous arrest he was obliged to report every day to sign the registry at the police checkpoint in Catillo. When he showed up to fulfill this obligation on October 13 he was arrested.
            
            Miguel ROJAS ROJAS, 52, a farm worker who was active in the Socialist party and who belonged to the union on the El Palomar agricultural cooperative.
            
            Gilberto ROJAS VASQUEZ, 28, a carpenter who was active in the Communist party. He lived in Santiago but that day he was visiting the area.
            
            These last two were father and son. They were arrested at Rojas's house on the El Palomar estate in an operation carried out by troops from the artillery regiment in Linares and by police. They were taken to the Catillo checkpoint. From that moment on there has been no trace of them.
            
            Ramiro ROMERO GONZALEZ, 28, a member of the peasant league who worked at the Nuevo Porvenir agricultural cooperative and was active in the Socialist party. He was arrested October 13 at the Catillo checkpoint when he voluntarily presented himself in response to a summons made by a member of that police unit. That same day Alfredo Durán Durán, the notary of the civil registrar's office in Catillo, is also said to have been arrested. This is the last date on which there is any information on his whereabouts. Since there were no eyewitnesses to his arrest, this Commission has not been able to come to a conviction on whether he suffered a human rights violation.
            
            The police told the prisoners' relatives that they had been taken to the Parral police station the day of their arrest, but at the police station itself the families were told that this was not the case. When the family members were at the Parral police station, a policeman telephoned the Catillo checkpoint, which said that they had been released. In the various judicial processes undertaken on behalf of these people who had disappeared, official accounts continued to vary, and even fell into unexplainable contradictions.
            
            The different accounts provided by authorities, the fact that to this day there has been no word on these prisoners and that none of them is recorded as having left the country, and that they are not currently registered to vote and have not sought an identification card during the last seventeen years; the fact that it is established that police from the Catillo checkpoint were involved in their arrest; the political activity of the victims; and the lack of response to the Commission's requests for help from the proper authorities, have led this Commission to the conviction that these persons suffered grave human rights violations when they were subjected to forced disappearance at the hands of agents of the Chilean government.
            
            On October 15, 1973, Uberlindo del Rosario AGUILERA PEREIRA, 26, a peasant leader, was killed. That day while he was working, local police were carrying out an operation. Driving a jeep, they came to the Pahuil estate and with bursts of machine gun fire forced the peasants to lie on the ground. Uberlindo Aguilera dismounted from a horse with his hands in the air and lay on the ground. A few moments later he stood up with his hands in the air. A policeman shot directly at him, hitting him in the chest and killing him instantaneously. A large number of peasants and police observed these events, and have served as witnesses to what happened. Aguilera's widow was summoned to the Canco police station. The same policeman who shortly before had killed her husband told her that she had four hours to have him buried. He was buried in the local cemetery. His body was transported in a truck belonging to the highway department, and it was driven by police. Since these events have been attested to by the statements of the official forces who were involved in them, the Commission has come to the conviction that Uberlindo Aguilera was executed by government agents and that this was a violation of human rights.
            
            On November 21, 1973, Juan Antonio VILLASEÑOR JARA, 37, an undersea diver who was active in the Christian Democrat party, was killed near Chanco, in the area of Curanipe. According to the official account given to the judge in Chanco, in report No. 27 of the Second police station, Juan Villaseñor was killed while driving his car with the lights off during curfew hours. Refusing to stop when ordered, he is said to have tried to run over troops with his car. After firing a shot into the air to warn him to stop, they killed him with a shot to the head. The police report suggests that he was drunk. What the Commission was able to establish in its own investigation was as follows. On the morning of his death, Juan Villaseñor and a friend had an argument with some soldiers in the area. Some hours later members of the patrol caught up to him and they had detained his friend. When they saw Villaseñor's car they shot several times until they hit him. In the judicial investigation eyewitnesses declared that the troops were looking for him before his death, that his car had a number of bullet holes, that according to the autopsy report he was not drunk, and that one of the soldiers admitted that he had recognized the car before the shooting began. In accordance with this evidence, the Commission has come to the conviction that Juan Villaseñor's human rights were violated by government agents who killed him in an abuse of their power.
            
            

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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.h), 324-341.
Note: Digitized and posted by permission of the University of Notre Dame Press, February 22, 2000.