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)
      
      
      11. Tenth Region-Los Lagos
          
          
          1. Overview
             
             The Los Lagos region encompasses the current provinces of Valdivia, Osorno, Llanquihue, Chiloé and Palena. In 128 of the cases of human rights violations that took place in this region between September 11 and the end of 1973, the Commission came to the conviction that the government was morally responsible by reason of actions committed by its agents or persons at their service.
             
             On September 11, 1973, the area of the provinces of Valdivia and Osorno came under the authority of the army. In each of them an army officer was designated head of the zone under state of siege. The provinces of Llanquihue and Chiloé fell under the authority of an air force commander. Except for the cases mentioned below, civilians did not engage in armed clashes or violent resistance in response to the armed forces' assumption of power, even though at that time there was a great deal of political agitation concerning the agrarian reform process and occupation of estates, especially in the areas where there were many-small farmers.
             
             The Neltume police checkpoint was attacked. It was located in the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex in the province of Valdivia. That complex was composed of a number of logging estates that had been expropriated or "occupied," and it was a stronghold of the more radical left movements, particularly the MCR (Revolutionary Peasant Movement). No policeman was wounded or killed, and even though the attackers were more numerous, they quickly dispersed. This incident led to the convocation of a war tribunal which sentenced twelve people to death. The mass executions of Chihuío and Liquiñe, which are recounted below and were particularly vicious, took place in this logging area. It was also the site of an attempt on the life of an armed forces officer in late October 1973 (see the report on human rights violations committed by politically motivated private citizens during this period). A third incident of this nature was an alleged attack on the Gil de Castro police headquarters. It has not been possible to determine exactly what happened, but it led to the execution of three people accused of carrying out that attack.
             
             In the Los Lagos Region it was primarily members of the army and the police who were involved in actions that violated human rights. In the provinces that fell under army authority, police were involved in most of the deaths, except for the mass executions in the Panguipulli Lumber Complex. In some instances air force troops were involved, and in the rural areas private citizens were involved as well.
             
             Most of the victims in this region were leaders of peasant organizations or political or social leaders. Among the zone's authorities and leaders who were killed or disappeared at the hands of government agents we may mention a national deputy representing Puerto Montt, the governor of La Union, an alderman and two former aldermen from Entre Lagos, an alderman from Rio Negro, the president of the student center of the Liceo de Hombres [boys high school] in Osorno, and the school superintendent for the province of Osorno. In Valdivia and Osorno in particular, leaders of various peasant leagues or federations were killed or disappeared, many of them from the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex.
             
             In Puerto Montt, in addition to the execution of political or social leaders, people who were not politically active were also killed, either for their criminal activities or out of personal revenge. In all these cases those responsible acted with the protection or impunity provided by the government.
             
             A significant number of arrests ended in disappearance. Sixteen people disappeared as the result of a single operation in Liquiñe by police who were working together with troops, presumably from Helicopter Squadron No. 3 of the Maquehua Air Base in Temuco. Police from the Third Police Station in Rahue in the city of Osorno and other police stations in the province carried out similar actions. Hence many people disappeared after voluntarily reporting at police stations. Witnesses have declared that a number of prisoners were subsequently executed on the bridge over the Pilmaiquén River.
             
             Two distinct situations occurred in the province of Valdivia. In the area of the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex, repression was carried out during the course of large military operations in which many people were arrested and taken to the city of Valdivia or executed in remote areas (as in the cases of Chihuío and Liquiñe). In the city of Valdivia and elsewhere, however, it was generally the police who arrested and subsequently executed people.
             
             In the provinces of Llanquihue and Chiloé, which fell under the command of the air force, killings were officially explained as executions which occurred in response to escape attempts or attempted attacks on soldiers or police. This was the explanation given for the death of a Socialist party deputy, and a leftist peasant leader, as well as that of the head of INDAP in Quellón. In Quellón a war tribunal also sentenced six community and peasant leaders to death.
             
             In the Tenth Region, military or police facilities were generally not used as permanent sites for imprisonment or torture, the exception being the Third police station of Rahue, in Osorno. The army and the police used their garrisons as detention sites only in particular cases. As a rule prisoners were held in the local city jail. At the Third police station in Rahue prisoners were held naked for several days and were subjected to interrogation in which electric current was applied to the testicles, mouth and arms. Sometimes dozens of prisoners, in very poor physical condition, were held there and, as has been noted, many of them remain disappeared to this day.
             
             
          2. k.2) Cases of grave human rights violations in the Los Lagos Region
             
             What follows is an account of the cases of human rights violation that led to the death or disappearance of prisoners. It is organized by provinces: Valdivia, Osorno, Chiloé and Llanquihue.
             
             Valdivia
             

             On September 18, 1973, José Segundo VELOSO ARAYA was killed by "a gunshot from a heavy calibre weapon fired at close range by a third party," according to the autopsy report.
             
             On September 22, 1973, Benjamin BUSTOS MORALES, 24, who was unmarried and active in the Communist party, was killed. The autopsy report indicates that the cause of death was the same as that of the previous case.
             
             Although it does not have enough evidence to determine exactly what happened in each case, taking into account the general features of this period, this Commission has come to the conviction that José Veloso and Benjamin Bustos were killed as a result of the political violence of that time.
             
             On September 20, 1973, Roberto HUAIQUI BARRIA, 17, a high school student and active Socialist whose father was president of the local peasant organization in Lago Ranco, was killed. He had left Lago Ranco on September 11, 1973, along with other persons intending to cross the Andes to Argentina. As they reached the Nilahue River, they were fired upon by a light aircraft piloted by civilians. He was killed, and one of the other persons was wounded in the back and taken to a hospital. Roberto Huaiqui's body fell into the river, was drawn under by the current and was never recovered. It is the conviction of the Commission that this execution constituted a grave human rights violation committed by civilians who were acting under instructions from, or with the acceptance of, government agents. The following points have led to that conviction:
             
             

             • Credible witnesses attest to these events.
               
               
             • The people who were attacked from the plane were not armed and did not attack those who killed them.
               
               
             • It is clear that at that period and under such circumstances those firing the shots could not have been doing so without the permission of, or orders from, the military authorities who had the region under their control.
               
               

             That same day September 20, 1973, José Gastón BUCHHORSTS FERNANDEZ, 19, an oarsman, who was fulfilling his obligatory military service at the Cazadores Regiment in Valdivia, disappeared. He disappeared from a military facility after having been arrested for returning late from a period of leave. His family says that at the regiment they were told that he had been executed after an escape attempt. However, his remains were never turned over to them, and there is no official record of his death. The Commission came to the conviction that the disappearance of José Buchhorsts constituted a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible because it took place while he was being held prisoner at a military facility.
             
             On October 3 and 4, 1973, the following persons, most of whom were active in MIR-MCR (MIR-Revolutionary Peasant Organization) and all of whom were accused of attacking the Neltume police checkpoint on September 12, 1973, were executed in compliance with a sentence issued by the war tribunal in Valdivia:
             
             Pedro Purísimo BARRIA ORDOÑEZ, 22, a student;
             
             José René BARRIENTOS WARNER, 29, a philosophy student who played in the chamber orchestra of the Universidad Austral;
             
             Sergio Jaime BRAVO AGUILERA, 21, a logger;
             
             Santiago Segundo GARCIA MORALES, 26, a logger;
             
             Luis Enrique del Carmen GUZMAN SOTO, 21, a logger;
             
             Fernando KRAUSS ITURRA, 24, a university student who was the regional MIR secretary;
             
             José Gregorio LIENDO VERA, 28, a former agronomy student and a MIR-MCR leader at the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex who was also known as "Commander Pepe";
             
             Luis Hernán PEZO JARA, 29, a logger,
             
             Victor Eugenio RUDOLF REYES, 32, a logger;
             
             Rudemir SAAVEDRA BAHAMONDES, a logger;
             
             Victor Segundo SAAVEDRA MUÑOZ, a logger; and
             
             Luis Mario VALENZUELA FERRADA, 20, a logger.
             
             This war tribunal was mentioned in many newspaper accounts at that time. An official announcement of the execution notes that the victims had been accused of a number of crimes including the attack on the Neltume checkpoint. The Commission could not obtain a single piece of documentation from this trial, even though a request had been submitted to the proper military authorities. Nevertheless, it was able to come to the conviction that those who were executed suffered a human rights violation at the hands of government agents. This conviction is based on the features that were common to all the war tribunals at that time as explained in the general portion of this report. It is also based on the following specific considerations:
             
             

             • It has not been possible to determine whether these people were provided with any form of legal assistance, although the families certainly never heard mention of any lawyer.
               
               
             • The Commission does not know whether legal procedures were observed in the case itself, since it did not have access to the trial record.
               
               
             • The mistreatment suffered by the prisoners invalidates any confession they may have given in any trial that may have taken place since such statements would thereby have been neither free nor voluntary.
               
               
             • The death sentence for José Gregorio Liendo Vera was carried out on October 3, 1973, while the rest were executed October 4. This difference is highly irregular since there was only one trial and one death sentence which was issued for all those found guilty. All this took place without the knowledge of those military authorities who were connected to the case.
               
               
             • The accused were subjected to a procedure and punishment for wartime, which at the time of the attack in which they were said to be involved, September 12, 1973, had not yet been promulgated. That promulgation did not take place until Decree Law No. 5, which was published September 22.
               
               

             On October 5, 1973, Víctor Hugo CARREÑO ZUÑIGA, 21, a student who was regional president of the Young Socialists, was killed in Valdivia by members of the army. The newspaper reported that he was killed during the curfew period when he broke away from the military patrol that was holding him prisoner. Witnesses have testified before this Commission that he was arrested at his home on October 4, 1973 by members of the army. This Commission holds the conviction that Víctor Hugo Carreño was executed by government agents who violated his right to life. That assertion is based on the following circumstances:
             
             

             • He was previously arrested at his home by military troops in the presence of witnesses.
               
               
             • It is not very likely that an unarmed prisoner who was under heavy police guard would try to escape during curfew.
               
               
             • Even had there been an escape attempt there is no justification for taking his life since the police had ways to recapture him besides shooting to kill.
               
               

             On October 7, 1973, Andrés SILVA SILVA, 33, a logger at the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex, was executed by members of the army. He was arrested at his parents' home on October 6, 1973 by a group of soldiers who took him to an estate in the area of Nilahue. The following day those same soldiers took him to his house and searched it. He was later executed in the area known as Sichahue, and his body was left in a small stand of trees. Police from Llifén forbade that he be buried. Two months later his relatives decided to bury him despite that prohibition, because dogs had completely ravaged his body. His remains were exhumed when the specially appointed judge was investigating the Chihuío case. Taking into account the accumulated weight of a great deal of testimony, and the personal inspection and examination by experts that was part of the case prepared by the special judge, this Commission is led to the conviction that Andrés Silva was executed by government agents who violated his right to life.
             
             On October 9, 1973, in the area known as Baños de Chihuío, members of the army killed the following persons, most of whom were members of the Esperanza del Obrero peasant league:
             
             Carlos Maximiliano ACUÑA INOSTROZA, 46, a logger;
             
             José Orlando BARRIGA SOTO, 32, a blacksmith and a peasant leader;
             
             José Rosamel CORTES DIAZ, 35, a logger and member of the Esperanza del Obrero peasant league;
             
             Neftalí Reubén DURAN ZUÑIGA, 22, a logger;
             
             Luis Arnoldo FERRADA SANDOVAL, 42, a farm worker;
             
             Eliecer Sigisfredo FREIRE CAAMAÑO, 20, a logger;
             
             Narciso Segundo GARCIA CANCINO, 31, a worker and peasant leader;
             
             Juan Walter GONZALEZ DELGADO, 31, an administrative employee and peasant leader;
             
             Daniel MENDEZ MENDEZ, 42, a logger and peasant leader;
             
             Fernando Adrián MORA GUTIERREZ, 17, a logger;
             
             Sebastián MORA OSSES, 47, a logger and peasant leader;
             
             Pedro Segundo PEDREROS FERREIRA, 48, a worker and land administrator;
             
             Rosendo REBOLLEDO MENDEZ, 40, a union leader;
             
             Ricardo Segundo RUIZ RODRIGUEZ, 24, a factory foreman and active Socialist;
             
             Carlos Vicente SALINAS FLORES, 21, a radio operator;
             
             Manuel Jesús SEPULVEDA REBOLLEDO, 28, a logger;
             
             Rubén VARGAS QUEZADA, 56, a shingle maker and a leader in the Esperanza del Obrero labor union.
             
             On October 9, a military convoy of several jeeps and trucks and approximately ninety troops from the Cazadores and Maturana Regiments, headquartered in the city of Valdivia, began to move toward the Southern Sector of the Panguipulli Lumber Complex. In the areas of Chabranco, Curriñe, Llifén and Futrono, the military arrested the aforementioned persons at their homes or at work or took them from the police. That same night, October 9, 1973, the prisoners were taken to an estate in the Andean area known as Baños de Chihuío, which belonged to a private citizen. At some point the prisoners were taken out of the manor house, led about five hundred meters away, and executed.
             
             The next day, a witness recognized several of the victims and saw that most of the bodies had cuts on the hands, the fingers and the stomach, and some were even beheaded and had the testicles cut off. There were no signs of bullet wounds. The bodies of these people were left at the execution site for several days, covered only with some branches and tree trunks. About two weeks after the execution, troops buried them in different sized pits.
             
             Probably some time in late 1978 or early 1979, people in civilian clothes arrived at the manor house at the Chihuío and demanded that the owner show them the graves. These civilians, together with other people, dug all night and took the remains to a site that could not be located when this report was prepared.
             
             Unexplainably, there are death certificates for these executed persons, even though the bodies were not handed over and there was no burial. All the certificates indicate that the date of death was October 9, 1973, and that it took place in Liquiñe. The cause is not specified and the fact of death is attested to by two independent witnesses.
             
             According to trial record 13094, Special Judge Nibaldo Segura Peña ordered that the traces of remains that were still buried in Baños de Chihuío be exhumed. They were turned over to the relatives of the seventeen people, who then buried them. The facts set forth here, all properly attested to before this Commission and in the trial, make it possible to come to the conviction that these seventeen persons were executed without any previous trial, by government agents who gravely violated their right to life and then hid their bodies, thus depriving their families of their legitimate right to have the victims properly buried.
             
             On October 10, 1973, between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., the following persons were arrested in the area of Liquiñe within the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex:
             
             Salvador ALAMOS RUBILAR, 45, an industrialist who was active in the Socialist party (arrested in Liquiñe);
             
             José Héctor BORQUEZ LEVICAN, 30, a logger and a foreman at the Trafún estate who was a member of the MCR (Revolutionary Peasant Movement) (arrested in Trafún);
             
             Daniel Antonio CASTRO LOPEZ, 68, a merchant who was active in the Socialist party, (arrested in Liquiñe);
             
             Carlos Alberto CAYUMAN CAYUMAN, 31, a logger who was connected to the MCR, (arrested in Trafún);
             
             Mauricio Segundo CURIÑANCO REYES, 38, a carpenter who was active in the Socialist party, (arrested in Liquiñe);
             
             Carlos FIGUEROA ZAPATA, 46, a logger and advisor to the Esperanza del Obrero peasant league of the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex who was active in the Socialist party, (arrested in Paimún);
             
             Isaías José FUENTEALBA CALDERON, 29, regional head of the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex on the Trafún estate who was a MCR member, (arrested in Liquiñe en route to his home);
             
             Luis Armando LAGOS TORRES, 50, a logger at the Panguipulli Logging and Forestry Complex who was active in the Socialist party, (arrested in Carranco);
             
             Alberto Segundo REINANTE RAIPAN, 39, a logger at the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex who was a MCR member, (arrested in Trafún);
             
             Ernesto Juan REINANTE RAIPAN, 29, a logger at the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex who was a MCR member, (arrested in Trafún);
             
             Modesto REINANTE RAIPAN, 18, a logger at the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex who was a MCR member, (arrested in Trafún);
             
             Luis RIVERA CATRICHEO, who was identified by witnesses, 54, a logger at the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex who was not known to be politically active, (arrested in Paimún);
             
             Alejandro Antonio TRACANAO PINCHEIRA, 22, a logger at the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex who was affiliated with the MCR, (arrested in Trafún);
             
             José Miguel TRACANAO PINCHEIRA, 25, a logger at the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex who was affiliated with the MCR, (arrested in Trafún);
             
             Eliseo Maximiliano TRACANAO VALENZUELA, 18, a logger at the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex who was affiliated with the MCR, (arrested in Trafún).
             
             It may also be presumed that Bernarda Rosalba VERA CONTARDO, 27, a teacher at the school in Puerto Fuy (Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex) and an active MIR member, was also arrested along with this group in Trafún. According to the accounts of other witnesses, she was in hiding somewhere in the Logging Complex, because military authorities were intensively pursuing her. Her relatives were told that she had been tried and sentenced to death for allegedly participating in the attack on the Neltume checkpoint.
             
             The Commission has been able to establish that the arrests were made by troops who were using a list of people to arrest. This list was drawn up by civilians, who were also participating in the arrests. Police assigned to the Liquiñe checkpoint were serving as guides to those doing the arresting. The troops wore combat uniforms, and they identified themselves as "military" to the relatives. They said that those arrested would be returning home as soon as they had given some statements. Testimony gathered by this Commission makes it possible to conclude that these troops were members of the air force and belonged to Helicopter Squadron No. 3-Maquehua, which is located in the city of Temuco.
             
             The troops were travelling in a private vehicle, a SAG (Agricultural and Livestock Service) pickup truck, a police car, and an ambulance from the Liquiñe checkpoint. They also had support from a helicopter. They were operating in two groups which came together at the Coñaripe junction, which was close to all the arrest sites. From there they followed the road toward Villarica. On the Toltén River Bridge near the entrance to the city, they killed these people and threw their bodies into the river. Local people recognized two of the bodies before they sank out of sight.
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that these sixteen people were executed without any due process of law by government agents who violated their right to life and then concealed their bodies, thus preventing their relatives from giving them a proper burial. The grounds for this conviction are as follows:
             
             

             • Witnesses attest to the fact that these people were taken prisoner.
               
               
             • The Commission's investigation has credibly established that all these people disappeared after their arrest and that there has been no further trace of them. Moreover, it has been proven that after being arrested none of these people had further contact with his or her family, conducted any administrative business with government agencies, or is registered as having entered or left the country or having died.
               
               
             • Many testified credibly and consistently to this Commission that they heard shots on the Villarica Toltén River Bridge at about 2:00 a.m. on October 11 and that they saw blood stains there the next day.
               
               
             • Witnesses say they recognized at least two of the bodies found in Villarrica as those of the people who disappeared after being arrested in Liquiñe.
               
               
             • This Commission unsuccessfully sought to obtain official information on this case from military authorities and from officials who should have provided an explanation.
               
               

             On October 12, 1973, three of the following people were executed by police on the Pichoy Bridge in Valdivia; the fourth died of torture he had undergone:
             
             José Manuel ARRIAGADA CORTES, 19, a news vendor who was an active Communist;
             
             José Gabriel ARRIAGADA ZUÑIGA, 30, a surveyor who was an active Socialist;
             
             José Manuel CARRASCO TORRES, an accountant who was active in the Socialist party;
             
             Gilberto Antonio ORTEGA ALEGRIA, 39, an office worker and labor union leader who was an active Socialist.
             
             All four were arrested October 10, 1973 by police from Malalhue and Lanco and taken to the Malalhue checkpoint. They were then taken to the police headquarters in Lanco and remained there until October 12, 1973.
             
             Witnesses observed Gilberto Antonio Ortega Alegría die there as a result of torture. A few hours later the other three were taken out in order to be transferred to Valdivia-along with Ortega's body. José Gabriel Arriagada was tied up with José Manuel Arriagada, and Carrasco was tied to Ortega's body.
             
             The prisoners were executed when they reached the Pichoy Bridge. Their bodies all bore many bullet wounds. They were turned over to their relatives to be buried. Police authorities told the families that the prisoners had been killed because they had attempted to escape, but no further details were provided.
             
             The Commission has come to the conviction that Gilberto Ortega died of the torture inflicted on him by government agents; that Manuel Arriagada, Gabriel Arriagada, and Manuel Carrasco were executed without any due process of law by government agents; and that these actions violated their human rights. The grounds for that conviction are as follows:
             
             

             • Many witnesses saw them being arrested by police.
               
               
             • Eyewitnesses saw Gilberto Antonio Ortega Alegría die in the Lanco police station as a result of the torture to which he was subjected.
               
               
             • The many people who were imprisoned alongside them before the victims died and were taken toward Valdivia, who have all testified before this Commission.
               
               

             On October 16, 1973,
             
             Cardenio ANCACURA MANQUIAN, a small farmer and active Socialist,
             
             Teófilo GONZALEZ CALFULEF, 24, a truck driver and active Socialist,
             
             Manuel Jesús HERNANDEZ INOSTROZA, 42, a tailor and former candidate for alderman for Lago Ranco who was active in the Socialist party, and
             
             Arturo VEGA GONZALEZ, 20, a bakery worker who was also a Socialist,
             
             were killed on the ship "Laja" by people working at the naval governorship in Valdivia. This ship was under the authority of the Chilean Navy. The victims' bodies were thrown into Ranco Lake. All were arrested October 16 at their homes in Lago Ranco and were taken to the local police headquarters. Their bodies were thrown into the lake and have not been recovered to this day.
             
             This Commission holds the conviction that government agents arrested and executed Cardenio Ancacura, Teófilo González, Manuel Hernández, and Arturo Vega and made their bodies disappear, thus gravely violating their human rights. The circumstances supporting that conviction include the following:
             
             

             • It has been duly established before this Commission that on the day they disappeared these people were being held prisoner at the Lago Ranco police headquarters, and likewise that all had previously been arrested at their homes.
               
               
             • Their deaths are registered in court record No. 1634-37 by order of the military prosecutor's office in Valdivia. Even though the Commission sent written requests for that trial record to the Fourth Military Tribunal in Valdivia, to the military prosecutor's office and to the army judge-advocate's office, it was never provided.
               
               
             • These people's deaths are recorded in death certificates. It should be noted that their deaths were registered in 1974, and hence many of their relatives did not learn about what had happened until long after the events took place.
               
               
             • An official request from the military prosecutor's office in Valdivia which was sent November 2, 1973 and sought information from the Lago Ranco police on Manuel Jesús Hernández Inostroza, who by that time had disappeared, treated his arrest as an established fact.
               
               
             • None of these people has been buried since their bodies were never found. It is contradictory that death certificates have been issued for all of them, even though there is no material evidence to that effect.
               
               

             On October 25, 1973, three young men, none of whom were politically active, were executed in Valdivia by members of the police and probably of the army:
             
             Juan Bautista FIERRO PEREZ, 17,
             
             Pedro Robinson FIERRO PEREZ, 16, and
             
             José Víctor INOSTROZA ÑANCO, 19, an electrician. Police and soldiers arrested the Fierro Pérez brothers on October 20 at their home and took them to the Gil de Castro police headquarters. Inostroza Ñanco was arrested on October 21, 1973 at the Valdivia fairgrounds by a similar group. They were executed on October 25, 1973, under unspecified circumstances. Their death certificates state that they were killed on public thoroughfares. Their relatives were permitted to bury the bodies.
             
             It is the Commission's conviction that the execution of these three young men by government agents entailed a violation of their human rights, by virtue of the following considerations:
             
             

             • Witnesses attest that they were arrested and held at the police station;
               
               
             • It is also established that these three people were killed while they were being held prisoner by the police;
               
               
             • There was no explanation of the circumstances under which they died, and hence it must be concluded that they died without any due process of law.
               
               

             On October 31, 1973, José MATIAS ÑANCO, 60, a fisherman and Protestant preacher who sympathized with the left, was killed by troops in the area of Maiquillahue, San José de la Mariquina. In the course of a military operation in that area, troops arrested about thirteen people and ordered them to stand in line. José Ñanco [sic] refused to obey and spoke back to the military with harsh words. When he then tried to seize a soldier's weapon, they shot and killed him. That same soldier told the other prisoners to pick up the body, but they refused, and so the troops themselves took it to an unknown destination.
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that in this particular case, government agents used unnecessary violence against Matías in an action that violated human rights. That conviction is based on the following circumstances:
             
             

             • Trustworthy eyewitnesses have testified to what happened.
               
               
             • It has also been established that troops arrived there in helicopters and that it was they who were involved in killing José Matías Ñanco.
               
               
             • There is no equivalence between Matías Ñanco's action and the reaction of the troops, since he was unarmed and entirely at the mercy of his captors.
               
               

             On November 8, 1973, in compliance with a sentence issued by a war tribunal in Valdivia (trial record No. 1572-73), the following persons, who were accused of attacking the Gil de Castro police headquarters in Valdivia on September 13, 1973, were executed:
             
             Cosme Ricardo CHAVEZ OYARZUN, 18, a painter,
             
             Víctor Joel GATICA CORONADO, a street vendor, and
             
             Víctor Enrique ROMERO CORRALES, 22, a worker.
             
             The Commission was able to examine only a copy of the war tribunal sentence even though it had requested all the documentation from the proper military authorities. Having examined the evidence of the case, the Commission has come to the conviction that Cosme Chávez, Víctor Gatica, and Víctor Romero were executed by government agents in violation of their human rights. That conviction is supported by the general observations made on war tribunals and the following observations in particular:
             
             

             • It has not been possible to establish that any armed attack against the Gil de Castro police headquarters actually took place; what is certain is that no police officer was wounded or killed in any such attack.
               
               
             • No legal assistance was provided to the defendants so that they might have an adequate defense.
               
               
             • The crime for which the defendants were found guilty is that defined in Article 248, No. 2, of the Military Justice Code which assigns punishment for "one who, during war, commits an action or omission that is not contained in the preceding articles and does not constitute another crime already sanctioned by the laws, with the intention of aiding the enemy or harming Chilean troops." This crime falls under military jurisdiction only when it is committed by members of the military and "during war... with the intention of aiding the enemy or harming Chilean troops." Hence such a tribunal does not have the authority to try civilians who are not members of the armed forces and who are not involved in a situation of foreign war.
               
               
             • The sentence applied six aggravating factors to the defendants: committing the crime with treachery, acting with the knowledge that the victim would be defenseless, or out of betrayal; operating with premeditation; the abuse of superior forces or weapons by a criminal; committing the crime during sedition, uprising, or popular disturbance; carrying out the crime at night or in a remote area; and carrying it out with contempt for public authority. All these aggravating factors are by their very nature inherent in this kind of crime and hence are not applicable.
               
               
             • The sentence did not accept or even consider any extenuating factor in favor of the defendants, and it rejected the defense claim that their previous blameless conduct should be taken into account in their favor. The sentence expressly states that "all those involved are habitual criminals who are known as highly dangerous and antisocial individuals," without indicating the items of evidence it considered in order to reach that conclusion.
               
               

             On December 23, 1973, police executed two people in the area of Molco, Choshuenco within the Panguipulli Complex:
             
             Hugo Rivol VASQUEZ MARTINEZ, 21, a university student who was a MIR activist, and
             
             Mario Edmundo SUPERBY JELDRES, 23.
             
             They had gone to live in the mountains close to Choshuenco, occasionally coming down to the town for food. According to a newspaper report at that time, "Two subversives were killed at 11:45 p.m. during an operation conducted by Choshuenco police in the area of Molco. As the police were patrolling that area they came under fire from subversives, and immediately repelled the attack. During the shootout Hugo Rivol Vásquez Martínez, 21, who was carrying a Winchester repeater rifle, was killed by shots to the chest. He was with an individual nicknamed 'El Braulio,' who was wounded in the legs and died en route to the Panguipulli hospital."
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that this reported gun battle did not take place, and that the deaths of these two people was a violation of their human rights by government agents who shot them using unnecessary or excessive force. That conviction is based on the following considerations:
             
             

             • Eyewitnesses to the events whom the Commission regards as truthful claim that in this case, police had prepared an ambush for people whom they knew would be coming to a particular place for food and that they executed them at that spot.
               
               
             • No police officer was wounded in this incident even though the official account says it was an armed attack.
               
               
             • Finally, even had such an attack taken place, the patrol certainly had the means to capture them rather than shooting them.
               

             Osorno
             

             On September 13, 1973, Reinaldo Patricio ROSAS ASENJO, 17, an active Socialist who was president of the student center of the Osorno Liceo de Hombres [high school], was killed. That day he was attending a meeting in Osorno, when a military patrol broke into the house intending to capture the participants. As Reinaldo Rosas tried to run away the troops shot him and left him mortally wounded. He was taken to the hospital in Osorno and died that same day. The Commission came to the conviction that Reinaldo Rosas died as the result of the use of excessive force by government agents and that his fundamental rights were violated in view of the following considerations:
             
             

             • It is an established fact that he was shot while trying to avoid being captured.
               
               
             • It is also established that there was no armed resistance to the action of the military.
               
               
             • The force used by the patrol members in shooting to kill at an unarmed youth does not seem to have been appropriate to the situation, and it is reasonable to think that he could have been prevented from escaping through some other means.
               
               

             On September 15, 1973, two brothers, Rodolfo Iván LEVEQUE CARRASCO, 22, a student who was a Communist leader, and Raúl Vladimir LEVEQUE CARRASCO, 23, an invalid, were arrested by a patrol from the Rahue police station in Osorno. At about 10:00 a.m. that day, the patrol came to the Leveque Carrasco home in Osorno in a truck from the Third station in Rahue. About eight police officers got out of the truck, searched the house and arrested the Leveque brothers, took them out and put them into the police vehicle. According to witnesses, they were first taken to that police station, and then on that same day, September 15, they were taken toward an unknown destination.
             
             It is the Commission's conviction that the Leveque brothers disappeared at the hands of government agents who committed a human rights violation against them. That conviction is based on these considerations:
             
             

             • It has been proven that they were arrested by police from the Rahue police station and that they were held there.
               
               
             • It has been established that since they were arrested there has been no further word on their whereabouts and ultimate fate.
               
               
             • The Commission's requests for information from police authorities and officials who should have provided an explanation went unanswered.
               
               

             On September 15, 1973, police from Puerto Octay arrested the following persons in their homes:
             
             Jorge Ladio ALTAMIRANO VARGAS, 19, secretary of the Puerto Octay Peasant league and an active Communist, was arrested at his parents' home;
             
             Lucio Hernán ANGULO CARRILLO, 37, president of the Libertador peasant league who was active in Worker-Peasant MAPU, was arrested at his home on the El Encino peasant cooperative in Nochaco, Puerto Octay, as several witnesses observed.
             
             René BURDILES ALMONACID, 21, secretary of the Libertador peasant league who was active in the worker-peasant section of MAPU, voluntarily reported to the Puerto Octay police station after police from that station had searched his house the previous day.
             
             From the Octay police station these three prisoners were taken to the Rahue police station in Osorno, along with some employees of the Puerto Octay hospital. The hospital officials who witnessed Altamirano, Angulo, and Burdiles being held at the police station were set free, but these three men remain disappeared to this day.
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that Jorge Altamirano, Lucio Angulo, and René Burdiles underwent forced disappearance at the hands of government agents who committed grave human rights violations against them. Its conviction is based on the following:
             
             

             • the established fact that these three leaders were arrested and subsequently taken to the police station and held there;
               
               
             • the complete lack of any information on the victims' fate after they disappeared from a place that was heavily guarded by uniformed police;
               
               
             • the fact that there has been no response to the requests that the Commission submitted to the proper authorities for information on the fate of these three disappeared people.
               
               

             On September 16, 1973, these three persons were arrested by police in Entre Lagos:
             
             José Ligorio NEICUL PAISIL, 45, former alderman of Entre Lagos and a small farmer who was an active Communist;
             
             Jesús Arturo VALDERAS ANGULO, 22, a worker and alderman of Entre Lagos who was an active Communist, and
             
             Flavio Heriberto VALDERAS MANSILLA, 28, a farm worker.
             
             Jesús Valderas voluntarily turned himself in at the local police station on September 16; his brother Flavio and José Neicul were arrested in their homes that same day by the Entre Lagos police. The three disappeared from that police facility, and their fate and whereabouts remain unknown to this day. Since it has been established that they were arrested and that they disappeared from the grounds of a police station, and since requests for information on their fate have remained unanswered, this Commission came to the conviction that the disappearance of Jesús and his brother Flavio Valderas and of José Neicul was the work of government agents who violated their human rights.
             
             In the period of September 14-17, 1973, four persons were arrested by police and taken to the police unit in San Pablo: Mario Armando OPAZO GUARDA, 20, a small farmer who was in charge of propaganda for the Young Communists in the municipality of San Pablo. He was arrested at the house of a female friend in the area of Estación Trumao on September 14.
             
             René Nolberto SALGADO SALGADO, 27, a farm worker who was a leader in the Bernardo O'Higgins union. He was arrested at home in the presence of witnesses on September 17.
             
             Carlos ZAPATA AGUILA, 28, a small farmer who was president of the Socialist party in the municipality of San Pablo. He was arrested September 17 before witnesses as he was arriving at the manor house of the Santa Margarita estate.
             
             Arturo CHACON SALGADO, 40, a farmer and a leader of the Unión Campesina peasant league who was an active Socialist. He reported voluntarily to that police station after police had gone to his house to look for him.
             
             These prisoners were seen at the San Pablo police unit. However, there was no official acknowledgment that they were held there, and they all remain disappeared to this day. Since it is established that they were arrested by police and were held at a police facility, and in view of the fact that there has been no further word about any of them, the Commission came to the conviction that Mario Opazo, René Salgado, Carlos Zapata and Arturo Chacón underwent forced disappearance at the hands of government agents who violated their human rights.
             
             On September 17, 1973, Guillermo Ernesto PETERS CASAS, 19, the driver for a Communist deputy who was himself active in the party, was arrested by a police patrol from the Rahue station. At 3:00 p.m. that day, the police came to Peters' home. A relative told them that he was at his sister's house at the El Cobre estate in Chahuilco. The patrol arrested him there and took him in a SAG (Agriculture and Livestock Service) truck toward the Rahue police station. A policeman followed in Peters' Citroen. A few days later that car was found abandoned near a bridge on the road to Murrinumo. Since that moment there has been no further word on what happened to Peters. None of the region's detention sites acknowledge having held him prisoner.
             
             The Commission has come to the conviction that Guillermo Peters disappeared after he had been arrested by government agents and that this action was a human rights violation. That conviction is based on:
             
             

             • the fact that there is sufficient testimony to his arrest;
               
               
             • proof that he subsequently disappeared and that nothing is known of his ultimate fate;
               
               
             • the fact that his own car, in which he had driven to the place where he was arrested, was observed being driven by a police officer, and then turned up abandoned several days later;
               
               
             • the fact that there was no response to repeated requests to police authorities for information On these events.
               
               

             On September 18, 1973, four persons who until then had been held under arrest at the Entre Lagos police station were executed on the suspension bridge over the Pilmaiquén River:
             
             Luis Sergio AROS HUICHACHAN, 24, a worker who was a Socialist;
             
             Joel FIERRO INOSTROZA, 50, a logger and former alderman in Entre Lagos who was a Socialist;
             
             José Ricardo HUENUMAN HUENUMAN, 30, the alderman of Entre Lagos, who was a Socialist; and
             
             Martin NUÑEZ ROZAS, an office worker.
             
             Police from Entre Lagos arrested them along with the woman who was mayor of the city, on September 17, 1973 and took them to the police barracks. The four men were put in one cell and the mayor in another. On September 18, 1973 at about 12:10 a.m. they were all taken from their cells and into the street where they found themselves facing a line of individuals who were dressed entirely in black civilian clothes and wore vampire masks to cover their faces. The prisoners were put into a vehicle that belonged to a local private citizen and were driven toward the Pilmaiquén River, near Osorno. There they were forced to get off the truck and to walk out onto the bridge, with the mayor in the lead. As they were on their knees facing the river, an individual shot them one by one from behind, and they fell into the water. The mayor managed to escape alive because her wound was not fatal. She was able to swim down the river until she came to a place that was not under guard. The bodies of the other four were never found.
             
             It is the conviction of the Commission that the killing of Luis Aros, Joel Fierro, José Huenumán and Martín Nuñez constituted a grave human rights violation committed by government agents or by private citizens who were acting under the protection or orders of government agents, and who executed these people in total disregard for the law. That conviction is supported by the following:
             
             

             • testimony from the woman who survived the execution;
               
               
             • other witnesses' statements which confirm that these people were arrested and were held at the Entre Lagos police barracks;
               
               
             • the fact that police authorities have provided no explanation for these events and that these authorities did not offer any real cooperation to the specially appointed judge who came to investigate the matter.
               
               

             On September 19, 1973, Santiago Domingo AGUILAR DUHAU, 41, the governor of La Unión and an accountant who was an active Communist, disappeared from the Third police station of Rahue in Osorno. On September 17, he had gone to that police station in the company of another person in order to obtain permission to remove his belongings from his house. Many fellow prisoners testified that Santiago Aguilar remained at the Rahue police station until September 19. At 2:00 a.m. he was taken from his cell and put onto a truck. Since then there has been no further word about him, and it has not been possible to determine his destiny and fate.
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that Santiago Aguilar's disappearance constituted a violation of his human rights committed by government agents in view of the following considerations:
             
             

             • His arrest, his presence at the police station and his departure on September 19 have all been attested.
               
               
             • It is established that there has been no further word on him since these events.
               
               
             • Police officials from that period provided no assistance to the Commission in its efforts to obtain information on Santiago Aguilar's case.
               
               

             On September 19, 1973, Raúl SANTANA ALARCON, 29, a substitute professor at the Osorno campus of the University of Chile and a neighborhood leader who was the president of the neighborhood committee of the homeless and active in the Socialist party, and José Mateo VIDAL PANGUILEF, 26, a worker who was an active Socialist, were executed on the Pilmaiquén River Bridge by police from the Rahue police station in Osorno. On September 16, 1973, they were summoned to report to the new authorities by means of a military decree broadcast over the radio. The next day some hours after their houses had been searched, they decided to present themselves. Accompanied by Santana's wife, they went to the house of an officer from the Third police station in Rahue, Osorno. He left them in his house on Calle Manuel Rodríguez in Osorno. They were then taken to the Third police station where witnesses observed them between September 17-19, 1973. On the 19th, they were taken out and driven to the Pilmaiquén River Bridge where police made them run and then shot them down. The bodies of Santana and Vidal were found in the Pilmaiquén River in January 1974.
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that José Vidal and Raúl Santana were executed without due process of law by government agents and that this action constituted a grave violation of their fundamental rights. That conviction is based on the following considerations:
             
             

             • It is sufficiently established that they were arrested and were held at that police station.
               
               
             • That they were executed is established by witnesses as well as other evidence.
               
               
             • Months later their bodies appeared in the Pilmaiquén River; Santana's death certificate states that his death took place in "September 1973."
               
               

             On September 24, 1973, Humberto SALAS SALAS, 32, a lumber merchant, voluntarily presented himself at the Rahue police station. His house in Bahía Mansa had been searched several times, and so when he was in Osorno he decided to report to the police station. Accompanied by his wife, he presented himself at the Third police station in Rahue on September 24, 1973 at 2:00 p.m. and was arrested and held there. Since that date his whereabouts and fate remain unknown.
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that government agents were responsible for the disappearance of Humberto Salas after his arrest at that police station and that they thereby committed a human rights violation. That conviction is based on the following facts:
             
             

             • It is sufficiently established that he was arrested.
               
               
             • There has been no further word on his whereabouts since his arrest, and he disappeared while in police custody.
               
               
             • The inquiries the Commission made with police authorities were frustrated by unsatisfactory answers.
               
               

             On September 27, 1973, César Osvaldo del Carmen AVILA LARA, 36, the provincial superintendent of education who was active in the Socialist party, was arrested by police from the Rahue police station as he was leaving the Osorno Penitentiary where he had gone to visit his wife who was imprisoned there. After police officers arrested him, he was put onto a police truck and taken to the police station. Several witnesses attest that he was held prisoner. Nevertheless, at the police barracks it was denied that he had been arrested, and to this day his whereabouts and ultimate destiny remain unknown. On the basis of testimony provided by one witness, it can be assumed that his body was thrown into the Pilmaiquén River.
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that in this case government agents were responsible for the disappearance, and probably for the death, of César Avila and that this was a grave human rights violation, in view of the following considerations:
             
             

             • It is sufficiently established that he was held under arrest at that police station.
               
               
             • It is also established that he disappeared completely while he was in police custody and that there has been no word of him since his arrest.
               
               
             • Credible testimony indicates that third parties saw his dead body in the Pilmaiquén River.
               
               

             On September 28, 1973, Mario FERNANDEZ ACUM, 20, was arrested by a police patrol from the Rahue station. That day the police patrol came to his house but did not find him. They then went to a friend's house and found him there. The police arrested him and took him toward an unknown destination. Since then there have been no further traces of Fernández.
             
             It is the Commission's conviction that government agents were responsible for his disappearance and his final fate and that they were thereby guilty of violating human rights. The grounds for that conviction are that:
             
             

             • It is established that police from the Rahue station arrested him.
               
               
             • There has been no further word about his whereabouts and fate.
               
               
             • All requests for information from this Commission to police authorities have been in vain.
               
               

             On September 29, 1973, Gustavo Bernardo IGOR SPORMAN, 22, a student who was an active Communist, was arrested along with his brother at their house in Osorno. Police from the Third station in Rahue arrested him and gave him a thorough beating as they were doing so. He was unconscious as they were taking him to the police barracks. When they arrived the two brothers were separated and never saw each other again. Some months later, on January 14, 1974, Gustavo Igor's dead body appeared in the morgue. His family, who had heard from the police report that he had been found in the Pilmaiquén River, was able to identify the body.
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that his execution was the work of government agents and constituted a human rights violation in view of the following considerations:
             
             

             • Witnesses have testified that he was arrested and held prisoner at that police station.
               
               
             • From the day he was arrested there was no further information on his fate until his body appeared in the Pilmaiquén River.
               
               
             • After executions the bodies were very often thrown into that river.
               
               
             • This Commission repeatedly sought from police authorities information on these events and also tried to interview those who had been assigned to the Rahue police station at that time. It was unable to obtain any results, for reasons beyond its control.
               
               

             On October 4, 1973, the following five prisoners who were being held at the Pilmaiquén police unit were killed:
             
             Valentín CARDENAS ARRIAGADA, 29, a farm worker and labor union leader who was an active Communist;
             
             Juan Segundo MANCILLA DELGADO, 49, a driver;
             
             Alfredo Segundo PACHECO MOLINA, 24, a driver who was a leftist sympathizer;
             
             Eduardo PACHECO MOLINA, 29, a farm worker who was a leftist sympathizer; and
             
             Teobaldo José PAILLACHEO CATALAN, 57, a farm worker who was an active Communist.
             
             At about 7:00 a.m. October 3, 1973, Pilmaiquén police driving an ENDESA (National Electricity Company) pickup came to the house of Alfredo Segundo Pacheco Molina and his brother Eduardo in Mantilhue. They arrested them along with their stepbrother, Juan Mancilla Delgado, in the presence of their family. Teobaldo Paillacheo Catalán was arrested along with another peasant at 10:00 a.m. that same day at the Chiscaihue rural cooperative, also in the presence of witnesses. They were taken to the police facility in Pilmaiquén, then taken to Entre Lagos, and later brought back to Pilmaiquén. At around 9:30 p.m. they were taken away from the checkpoint and were never heard from again. Evidence gathered suggests that they were probably executed on the banks of the Pilmaiquén River. Although no bodies were found, some articles of Mancilla's clothing were found. Nevertheless by order of the military prosecutor's office death certificates were issued for some of these people.
             
             The Commission was led to the conviction that government agents were responsible for the execution and concealment of the bodies of these five people and that their fundamental rights were thus violated by virtue of the following circumstances:
             
             

             • Witnesses observed all of them being arrested; moreover hearsay witnesses have testified on the time at which the prisoners were taken from the police unit at Pilmaiquén.
               
               
             • Some death certificates were issued and indicate that Pilmaiquén was the place of death and that the date was October 9. Moreover, their deaths were recorded "by order of the military prosecutor's office issued November 22, 1973." As was the case elsewhere in the region, these certificates were issued even though there were no bodies. Such procedure is quite abnormal.
               
               
             • Testimony indicates that remains of Mancilla's clothes were found in the river and were turned over to the police.
               
               
             • A woman who worked at the Fourth Military Tribunal located in Valdivia told the family members that these people were killed because they had tried to escape.
               
               
             • Even though formal requests for information on these events were submitted to the Fourth Military Tribunal in Valdivia and to the Chilean police, the Commission did not receive a satisfactory explanation.
               
               
             • The proper civil court declared that Cárdenas Arriagada was to be presumed dead.
               
               

             On October 5, 1973 the following people were killed by police:
             
             Jorge Ricardo AGUILAR CUBILLOS, 28, CORA (Agrarian Reform Corporation) area supervisor for Puerto Octay and president of the Popular Unity provincial committee who was active in the Radical party;
             
             Maria Ester BUSTAMANTE LLANCAMIL, 28, a secretary who was an active Socialist, and
             
             Edgard Eugenio CARDENAS GOMEZ, 24, a radio technician who was an active Socialist.
             
             After the events of September 11, these three people were hiding out in a fisherman's hut in Bahía Mansa. On October 5, 1973, police from the Third station in Rahue and from the Bahia Mansa checkpoint charged into the hut and killed them on the spot. The official report states that "three subversives were killed when a group carried out a terrorist action against the checkpoint in Bahía Mansa, a port in the province of Osorno 65 kilometers from the city of Osorno. In the gun battle which took place Friday night Jorge Ricardo Aguilar, the CORA supervisor for Puerto Octay, Edgardo Cárdenas Gómez, 24, whose occupation is undetermined, and a third unidentified person, approximately 17, were killed. The commander of the zone under state of siege had ordered that they be found, since they were involved in a subversive plot against the armed forces. An enormous supply of weapons and explosives was found in their possession."
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that no such gun battle took place, but rather that these persons were killed as described, and thus their human rights were gravely violated when they were executed without any due process of law. That conviction is based on the following considerations:
             
             

             • Testimony received indicates that they were in the hut when they were killed.
               
               
             • It is unlikely that on that date the police station would have been attacked, since by then the area was fully under the control of police and military forces.
               
               
             • All the alleged attackers were killed and no police were as much as wounded, even though the official report stated that the attackers were carrying a large amount of weapons and explosives.
               
               
             • When requested by the Commission, police officials from that time and place were not willing to provide their explanations of what happened.
               
               

             On October 5, 1973 Marcelo del Carmen GUTIERREZ GOMEZ, 17, a worker and stepbrother of Edgar Eugenio Cárdenas Gómez, who was executed in Bahía Mansa, disappeared. There has been no trace of him since he went there with food for his brother and his companions, whose deaths are described above. In view of what happened to the other three, it can be assumed that Marcelo Gutiérrez was arrested by Rahue police somewhere between Osorno and Bahía Mansa. There has been no word on him since that period.
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that government agents were responsible for his disappearance by virtue of the following considerations:
             
             

             • He was related to one of those who were executed extra-judicially in Bahía Blanca.
               
               
             • He disappeared the very day Cárdenas, Aguilar, and Ester Bustamente were killed.
               
               
             • There has been no further information on his whereabouts since that day.
               
               
             • The inquiries that the Commission submitted on this matter to the proper authorities were not answered satisfactorily.
               
               

             On October 6, 1973, Reinaldo Segundo HUENTEQUEO ALMONACID, 30, the secretary of the Small Farmers Committee, was arrested by police from the Carimallín checkpoint in the area of Mantilhue. After his arrest he was taken to the Rio Bueno police station. He was then taken out along with others and transported to the suspension bridge over the Pilmaiquén River where they were shot. Huentequeo was able to jump into the water seconds before he was to be shot but the police shot at him in the river and hit his left leg. He nevertheless managed to get out of the water and to take refuge at the house of local small farmers. From there he sent a message to his parents to tell them where he was. When the family arrived, they were told that the previous night Río Bueno police had arrested him again in the presence of witnesses. Subsequently there has been no further word on him, and he remains disappeared to this day. Church workers in the area made a complaint to the military authorities at that time.
             
             It is the conviction of the Commission that Reinaldo Huentequeo disappeared at the hands of government agents who thereby violated his human rights. The following circumstances provide the basis for that conviction:
             
             

             • There is sufficient proof of both his first arrest and his second, which occurred after he escaped from the first firing squad.
               
               
             • In 1974 area church workers first made a formal complaint on this matter to the authorities at that time.
               
               
             • Police authorities made no response to the Commission's requests for information on this event.
               
               

             On October 7, 1973, Mario SANDOVAL VASQUEZ, 35, a Río Negro alderman and an office worker who was active in the Communist party, disappeared from the Río Negro police station. Mario Sandoval had been arrested September 17, 1973 at his father-in-law's house in Río Negro and taken to the police station. That same day he was transferred to the Arauco Regiment in Osorno, then to the city jail, and finally to the Estadio Español [stadium]. Government agents took him and other prisoners away on October 7, 1973, and since then there has been no trace of him. The family says that the military prosecutor's office in Osorno told them that he had been released September 28, 1973 because the case against him (trial record No. 1436-73) had been suspended. However, according to his file it was suspended only on October 15, 1973.
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that the disappearance of Mario Sandoval was the work of government agents who seized him as he was leaving his detention site and subjected him to forced disappearance in violation of his fundamental rights. That conviction is based on these facts:
             
             

             • It has been properly demonstrated that he was arrested and placed on trial.
               
               
             • Credible witnesses have testified that Rio Negro police took Sandoval away from the site where he was being held prisoner.
               
               
             • Police authorities have not responded to the Commission's requests for an explanation of this event.
               
               

             On October 8, 1973, Venancio Bernabé GARCIA OVANDO, 25, a farmer, was arrested by police in the presence of witnesses at the Osorno fairgrounds. After his arrest he was seen at the police station in Rahue. He disappeared from that site, and his relatives have never seen him again. The Commission holds the conviction that government agents were responsible for the disappearance of Venancio García in view of the following considerations:
             
             

             • Credible witnesses have testified that he was arrested and was held prisoner in the Rahue police station.
               
               
             • Since his arrest there has been no further information on him, and there is no record of his conducting any legal business that would indicate he is still alive, such as obtaining an identification card, registering to vote, or leaving the country.
               
               
             • Authorities have not answered the Commission's requests for information on García's situation.
               
               

             On October 9, 1973, José Rosario Segundo PANGUINAMUN AILEF, 31, a neighborhood leader and former candidate for alderman who was an active Socialist, was arrested on a public thoroughfare. He had been summoned by a military decree, and in October he reported to the military prosecutor's office and was allowed to go free. Some days later, on October 9, he was arrested at Lynch Junction in Osorno by a retired police officer. He was taken to the Third station in Rahue in a private company's pickup truck. A co-worker who saw the arrest informed his relatives of what had happened. Other witnesses saw him at that police station between October 9-11 in very poor physical condition. Since then there has been no trace of him.
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that human rights were violated in this case, since government agents were responsible for the disappearance of José Panguinamún. The following considerations are the basis for that conviction:
             
             

             • Credible witnesses testify that he was apprehended and taken to that police station.
               
               
             • They likewise attest that he disappeared from that site while in police custody, and there is no evidence on what happened to him.
               
               
             • Despite repeated attempts, the inquiries the Commission submitted to the proper authorities went unanswered.
               
               

             On October 16, 1973, a police patrol from Río Negro arrested Guido Ricardo BARRIA BASSAY, 19, a farm worker who was an active Socialist, and his brother Héctor Alejandro BARRIA BASSAY, 27, a substitute teacher at School No. 2 in Rio Negro and a representative to the Union of Education Workers who was an active Socialist. Both were arrested while at work. That day a police patrol from Río Negro, numbering about ten police officers, came to the sawmill where they were working, arrested them in the presence of a number of witnesses and took them away in a pickup truck. Since that moment there has been no further word on the whereabouts or fate of these prisoners. It is the Commission's conviction that the Barria brothers disappeared at the hands of government agents who were guilty of violating human rights. The following circumstances lead to that conviction:
             
             

             • The fact of their arrest has been attested by witnesses.
               
               
             • In a court trial a police official acknowledged that the Barria brothers had been arrested and stated that they were taken to the police unit in Río Negro.
               
               
             • There has been no further word on them since they disappeared.
               
               
             • Police authorities have not responded to the Commission's formal requests in a timely or specific manner.
               

             Chiloé
             

             On September 16, 1973, Héctor Arturo SANTANA GOMEZ, 24, area supervisor for INDAP (Institute for Agricultural and Livestock Development) who was an active Communist, was killed by police at the police station in Quellón. The official account states that he was killed by police when he tried to assault an officer in the Quellón police station with a pistol he had in his possession at the time of his arrest. However, credible and consistent witnesses have testified that he voluntarily reported to the police station when he learned that his wife had been arrested because they were looking for him. Witnesses likewise indicate that when he went to the police station he was beaten and executed.
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that Héctor Santana was executed by government agents in violation of his human rights in total disregard for the law, by virtue of the following considerations:
             
             

             • It is unlikely that he would have been armed when he went to the police station, especially since his wife was being held there.
               
               
             • Even had there been some aggression against police officers, they are trained to deal with such a situation without having to kill people.
               
               
             • The death certificate notes that he died of bullet wounds.
               
               

             On October 5, 1973, José Esaú VELASQUEZ VELASQUEZ, 52, a farmer, was killed by police in the area of Lago Yunge, Alto Palena, in the province of Chiloé. The official report depicted Velásquez Velásquez as a subversive who "was sowing terror throughout the area of Chiloé Continental, and who was shot dead when he tried to assault a police sergeant who was arresting him in the heavily forested area of El Tranquilo, sixty kilometers from Palena.... Police located this subversive in a forest between El Tranquilo and Lago Yunge where he was trying to escape. When they tried to arrest him, Velásquez Velásquez responded to being caught by assaulting a police sergeant with a machete. To repel the imminent attack the sergeant drew his weapon and shot him. The subversive died of the bullet wound." However, an eyewitness to the events rejects that account and says that Velásquez was killed without having provoked or attacked the police officers.
             
             That same day, October 5, 1973, his son, Rubén Alejandro VELASQUEZ VARGAS, 28, a farmer, was arrested at his home in the presence of witnesses. Police officers from Alto Palena fired their automatic weapons at his house and therefore Rubén Velásquez surrendered to them. He was beaten and arrested in the presence of his wife. He was then handcuffed and taken across the Palena River, about five hundred meters away, to the house of a private citizen. From that point on, there has been no further trace of him.
             
             Finally, on October 9, 1973, José Raúl VELASQUEZ VARGAS, 24, a public roads department employee who was the son of José Velásquez and brother of Rubén Velásquez, was arrested by the Alto Palena police at his home there. He was taken to the Alto Palena checkpoint, where his mother says police acknowledged his arrest. Nevertheless, he then disappeared from that site.
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that the killing of José Velásquez Velásquez and the disappearance of his two sons constituted human rights violations for which government agents were responsible in view of the following considerations:
             
             

             • Accounts by witnesses refute the official account of the father's death, and other testimony confirms that the sons were arrested.
               
               
             • The nature of the alleged attack by José Velásquez, who is said to have challenged an armed patrol with a machete, is implausible.
               
               
             • The father and his two sons suffered three separate repressive actions, each different in nature, and yet an official explanation has been provided for only one of them.
               
               
             • The police who were involved in this situation did not respond to the Commission's invitation to offer their testimony.
               
               

             On October 8, 1973, Nelson Nolberto LLANQUILEF VELASQUEZ, 25, a public works emergency plan employee in Puerto Ramírez who was a leader of the Socialist party, was arrested by police from Futalelfú. As he was being taken toward the Futalelfú checkpoint, he was executed by his captors and his body was thrown into the waters of Lake Yelcho. The Commission came to the conviction that the death of Nelson Llanquilef was a human rights violation committed by government agents. This conviction is based on the testimony it received establishing that he was arrested and that he was killed in the manner described.
             
             On October 9, 1973, Juan LLEUCUN LLEUCUN, 56, who had been appointed district inspector by the Popular Unity government and who was active in the Radical party, was arrested by police officers. The arrest took place at his home on Meulín Island, Chiloé. Due to the mistreatment to which he had been subjected, he was already unconscious as he was being taken to the Quenac checkpoint, and he died there October 10, 1973. The Commission came to the conviction that the death of Juan Lleucún constituted a human rights violation committed by government agents on the basis of the testimony it received which establishes that he was arrested and mistreated and that he died inside the Quenac checkpoint.
             

             Llanquihue
             

             On October 18, 1973 the following people, none of them politically active, were killed on the road between Puerto Montt and Pelluco:
             
             José René ARGEL MARILICAN, 33,
             
             Adolfo Omar ARISMENDI PEREZ, 19, a student,
             
             Dagoberto Segundo CARCAMO NAVARRO, 20, a worker,
             
             Carlos MANSILLA COÑUECAR, 20, a boxer,
             
             Jorge MELIPILLAN AROS, 40, and
             
             José Armando ÑANCUMAN MALDONADO, 20, a worker.
             
             According to the official account from the commander of the zone under state of siege in the province of Llanquihue and Chiloe, found in Military Decree No. 46, a police patrol apprehended six individuals along the road between Puerto Montt and the beach resort at Pelluco. "When informed that they were being arrested they did not obey the order but in fact tried to attack the police officers and insulted and threatened them. Therefore, in accordance with current regulations, those individuals, whose names have been published, were killed on the spot. Subsequently it was established that all of them were habitual criminals and had extensive criminal records."
             
             Although their deaths were presented as having been the outcome of an attack against police forces, the Commission came to the conviction that in this instance government agents committed a human rights violation by executing these people without any due process of law. It came to that conviction by reason of these circumstances:
             
             

             • It has been possible to determine that several of them were previously being held at the Antonio Varas police headquarters in Puerto Montt, and hence it is not likely that they would have been wandering the streets during curfew.
               
               
             • All were killed immediately while unarmed and under heavy miliary guard during curfew.
               
               
             • Some witnesses have testified that this was not an attack against police officers but rather an execution.
               
               
             • Evidence gathered from police officers themselves leads to the conviction that this was an execution.
               
               

             On October 19, 1973, the following people, who were accused of attempting to attack the police headquarters in Fresia and of attacking the Neltume police checkpoint on September 12, were executed in accordance with the sentence of a war tribunal (trial record No. 11-73) of the military prosecutor's office in wartime:
             
             Oscar ARISMENDI MEDINA, 46, a farm worker and a leader of the peasant league at the El Toro rural cooperative who was an active Socialist;
             
             Francisco del Carmen AVENDAÑO BORQUEZ, 20, a professor at the teacher training school and a MIR activist;
             
             José Antonio BARRIA BARRIA, 23, a farm worker and a MIR activist;
             
             José Mario CARCAMO GARAY, 26, an agronomist and a MIR activist;
             
             José Luis FELMER KLENNER, 20, an office worker and agronomy student who was a MIR activist; and
             
             Mario César TORRES VELASQUEZ, 32, a linotypist.
             
             This Commission obtained the trial record by requesting it from the proper air force authorities. It also obtained from another source a copy of the sentence from that war tribunal. In its considerations and in the decision, the sentence offers a summary of the trial. After examining the trial record together with other items of evidence and testimony it received, the Commission has come to the conviction that these people suffered a human rights violation which was committed by government agents. Specifically, their rights to life and to a fair trial were violated.
             
             That conviction is supported by the circumstances surrounding all war tribunals at that time, as explained in the overview in this report, as well as the following specific considerations:
             
             

             • The defense lawyer for the accused testified that he did not believe that he was able to develop an adequate defense since he did not have enough time nor was he permitted to meet with the accused.
               
               
             • The crime for which these people were condemned to death is that defined in Article 248 No. 2, of the Military Justice Code, which assigns the punishment to "one who during war commits an action or omission that is not contained in the preceding articles and does not constitute another crime already sanctioned by the laws with the intention of aiding the enemy or harming Chilean troops." This crime falls under military jurisdiction and can be committed only by members of the military and during a foreign war and is when it is committed "with the intention of aiding the enemy or harming Chilean troops." Hence such a tribunal does not have the authority to try civilians who are not members of the armed forces and who are not acting in a situation of foreign war.
               
               
             • An examination of the trial record indicates that some of the accused were not aware of the alleged unlawful activities of which they were being accused. Moreover, during the trial they said they had been there for reasons of personal security due to their political activity.
               
               
             • Besides the defendants' confessions, the sentence the Commission has in its possession does not refer to any other means of proof, such as simultaneous questioning, expert testimony, and documents. Some of these were obtained but they were not taken into account.
               
               
             • Two aggravating circumstances were applied to the accused, namely that they had committed the crime during a popular disturbance, which was established in the trial "in view of the situation the country was experiencing, as was well known," and that they had executed the crime with contempt for, or in offense to, public authority, "since disregard for the military junta decrees and the office of the commander of the zone under the state of emergency in Llanquihue and Chiloé of its very nature entails repeated contempt and mockery and disdain for the authorities who issued those decrees." However, no consideration was given to any extenuating factors presented on behalf of the accused. The defense claim that their previous blameless conduct should be considered in their favor was rejected in the sentence. That sentence states that "it is not established in documents, and moreover the very context of the defense for the accused indicates that they had been organizing an armed group from June 1973 until the date of their arrest, as was acknowledged by the defense, and therefore they were repeatedly engaged in criminal activity, thus nullifying any previous good behavior."
               
               
             • Those sentenced were held in solitary confinement and were not able to meet with their lawyer.
               
               
             • Finally, the mistreatment to which the prisoners were subjected invalidates any confession they might have offered.
               
               

             On December 2, 1973, in the area of Frutillar, Luis Uberlindo ESPINOZA VILLALOBOS, 33, a farmer and a former national deputy for Puerto Montt who was active in the Socialist party, and Abraham OLIVA ESPINOZA, a peasant leader who was an active Socialist, were killed by members of the police and the air force. The official account provided by the commander of the zone under state of siege in the province of Llanquihue and Chiloé, which was published in a decree, states that at about 3:20 a.m. on December 2, 1973, on Highway 5 north of Frutillar, "a military vehicle carrying out its mission of transferring prisoners to the Valdivia jail was fired upon. As the patrol was fending off the attack, a prisoner tried to take advantage of the confusion and darkness to escape. The patrol fired its weapons and Luis Espinosa Villalobos and one of the attackers who was identified as Abraham Oliva were killed on the spot. In response to the patrol's action, the other attackers fled into the darkness."
             
             Prior to September 11, 1973 the former national deputy Espinoza had been tried in the ordinary courts for the crime of disrespect for authority. On September 26 or 27 by order of the military he was transferred to the Puerto Montt Regiment and was put in solitary confinement. Abraham Oliva Espinoza had been arrested and released with orders to sign the registry at the Fresia police station every day.
             
             The Commission came to the conviction that the killing of these two people had nothing to do with an escape attempt, but rather it was an execution of two prisoners, and was hence a human rights violation. It came to this conviction in view of the following circumstances:
             
             

             • The prisoner Luis Espinoza Villalobos was killed when he was unarmed and under heavy military guard.
               
               
             • One of the persons who allegedly attacked the patrol was Abraham Oliva Espinosa, a Socialist peasant leader, who was killed in that alleged action. This individual was obliged to sign the registry at the Fresia police headquarters every day, and he did so the day of these events. The Commission received credible testimony from witnesses to the effect that he was held there until the beginning of the curfew period.
               
               
             • Oliva is not likely to have been able to organize the alleged rescue, given the limitations imposed on him by his obligation to register at the police headquarters, and since he had been in jail until very recently. Moreover, it is not clear how Oliva could have known the day, time, and place when the former deputy Espinoza was to be transferred.
               
               
             • It has been established that Espinoza's autopsy was not carried out by the doctor who should have done so. His death certificate states that the cause of death was, "Many very serious injuries, complex injuries to the skull, torso, and abdomen." Both bodies were handed over to the families in sealed coffins.
               
               
             • Even if Oliva was not arrested and executed, it is impossible to believe that the only persons wounded should be the two who were killed, and that no member of the patrol transporting Espinoza and none of the other alleged attackers were even injured.
               
               

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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.k), 414-444.
Note: Digitized and posted by permission of the University of Notre Dame Press, February 22, 2000.