PART THREE
Chapter Two (A.2.c)

1974 through August 1977 (continued)

1. HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS COMMITTED BY GOVERNMENT AGENTS OR PERSONS WORKING FOR THEM (continued)
   
   
   2. CASES (continued)
      
      
      3. Victims from the Communist Party^c
         
         
         1. Cases in which the DINA was responsible
            
            On or before January 25, 1974, Gerardo Ismael RUBILAR MORALES, 26, an office worker, and Ernesto Guillermo SALAMANCA MORALES, 20, a university student, who were brothers on their mother's side and were active in the Communist party were arrested. They had both been arrested after September 11, 1973 in search operations conducted in the La Legua shantytown where they both lived at that time and had been held in the National Stadium for twenty-three days.
            
            The date of arrest cannot be determined exactly but it must have been January 25, 1974 or shortly before. About midnight on the day of the arrest, these two brothers and approximately twelve heavily armed people came to their parents' house in Lo Gallardo, near the city of San Antonio. They said they were coming to try to free the prisoners in Tejas Verdes. The two brothers looked nervous. The next morning they left. However, some of those who had brought the two brothers, came back and arrested the father of Ernesto Salamanca and a younger brother, and took them to Tejas Verdes where they were brutally tortured. They were released after having been disappeared for forty-two days.
            
            Witnesses whom this Commission regards as trustworthy have testified that Gerardo Rubilar and Ernesto Salamanca were taken to Tejas Verdes; at that point all trace of them was lost. Statements by a number of witnesses, the experience of the relatives as well as the imprisonment of Gerardo Rubilar's fiancée at Tejas Verdes, enable the Commission to come to the conviction that these prisoners disappeared at the hands of the DINA in violation of their human rights, and that the claim by government officials at the time that these brothers were not imprisoned must be rejected.
            
            On July 10, 1974, Enrique Segundo TORO ROMERO, an active Communist, was arrested by DINA agents at his home in Villa Francia in Maipú. On July 15, José Caupolicán VILLAGRA ASTUDILLO and Eduardo Enrique LARA PETROVIC, who also lived in Villa Francia and were politically connected to Enrique Toro and the CP, were arrested. Jose Villagra was arrested at his home and was taken to the IRT company where Eduardo Lara was arrested. Several witnesses have testified that these three were held prisoner at the DINA facility at Londres No. 38 and then at Cuatro Alamos; they disappeared from the latter site. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On August 13, 1974, three members of the Communist party were arrested in the Conchalí district: Manuel Antonio CARREÑO NAVARRO, 53, a vendor, and his son Iván Sergio CARREÑO AGUILERA, 16, who apparently helped with minor tasks in the party, and Andrés Tadeo GALDAMES MUÑOZ. Three other persons were arrested along with them that day, but were released after some time. In various statements obtained by the Commission, witnesses have testified that they were held at the Villa Grimaldi DINA facility, and then vanished. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On August 15, 1974, Sergio Alberto RIVEROS VILLAVICENCIO, 32, a typesetter who was a leader in the printers union and the political secretary for the CP in his district, was arrested at his house in Conchalí in the presence of several witnesses. There has been no further information on him since he was arrested by DINA agents. The special judge appointed to investigate this case ultimately declared himself incompetent and handed over the evidence and documentation to the military justice system. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On August 21, 1974, Víctor Daniel AREVALO MUÑOZ, who apparently had CP ties, was arrested at his workplace in the central market. The next day Alberto Vladimir ARIAS VEGA, a Communist and a neighbor of Víctor Arévalo in Conchalí who had political ties to him, was arrested. On the 22nd, the DINA also arrested Víctor Arévalo's wife, who was taken to Londres No. 38 where she verified that Alberto Arias was being held. She was released, but Víctor Arévalo and Alberto Arias disappeared at the hands of the DINA. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            Peñalolén
            
            The Commission has been able to establish that on August 22 and 23, 1974, a number of operations to check identifications were carried out in various shantytowns in Santiago. The newspapers reported that the aim was to locate people wanted by the law. In what is now known as the district of Peñalolén, a number of local CP leaders were arrested. In some cases they were also neighborhood representatives. Members of the army, the investigative police, and the police were involved in all these operations. A number of people in this district were arrested. The following persons disappeared:
            
            On August 22, 1974, Modesto ESPINOZA POZO, was arrested at his house in the presence of his wife, along with other persons who were later released. They were all taken to the Military Academy, and were interrogated while blindfolded. That afternoon Modesto Espinoza was taken to his house in search of arms, but none were found.
            
            On August 23, 1974, the same agents arrested Eduardo Fernando ZUÑIGA ZUÑIGA, 44, an auto body repairman, Eduardo Segundo FLORES ROJAS, 40, a barber, Roberto Enrique ARANDA ROMERO, 37, a vendor, Manuel Filamir CARTES LARA, 35, a construction worker, and Stalin Arturo AGUILERA PEÑALOZA, 41, a painter. All belonged to the CP in this area.
            
            As a number of witnesses have testified, all the arrests were made in the early morning by soldiers with their faces painted and wearing black berets, along with police and investigative police. In no case did they present an arrest warrant.
            
            Through testimony from reliable witnesses, this Commission has been able to establish that the prisoners were taken to a military installation. After interrogation they were then sent to various clandestine detention sites. This Commission has been able to establish that some of them were held at the DINA facilities Villa Grimaldi (Eduardo Flores, Stalin Aguilera, and Manuel Cartes) and at Cuatro Alamos (Eduardo Flores, who was transferred there, Modesto Espinoza, and Eduardo Zuñiga).
            
            The special judge who was appointed to investigate some of these disappearances received an official letter from the interior minister stating that none of these people alleged to be under arrest were under arrest at that time and that they had not been arrested at any time since September 11, 1973. In the case of Eduardo Flores the special judge declared himself incompetent and ordered all the documentation to be sent to the military justice system.
            
            A number of witnesses have testified that the prisoners were tortured while they were in the hands of the DINA. In fact, Modesto Espinoza's wife was among the prisoners who were forced to watch her husband lying on the ground with his hands and feet tied while a car was driven over his legs.
            
            The Commission has come to the conviction that these people have disappeared as a direct result of unlawful actions committed by government agents in violation of their human rights.
            
            On August 23, 1974, José Orlando FLORES ARAYA, 19, a student at the Industrial School in Maipú, was arrested. A teacher at the school and a female friend of Flores were also arrested for being involved in the CP. These latter two were subsequently released. This Commission has received testimony from trustworthy witnesses that he was taken to La Venda Sexy where they brought in another witness for simultaneous cross-examination. He was then transferred to Villa Grimaldi. At that point all trace of him was lost.
            
            In official documents sent to the courts, officials several times denied that Flores had been arrested. Nevertheless in 1977, likewise in an official document, they acknowledged that José Flores had been arrested by a member of the army "because of evidence linking him to subversive activities of the MIR which was banned." That document also went on to say that "there is no such place as Villa Grimaldi." Given the false nature of the official accounts, and based on the testimony it has received, this Commission has come to the conviction that José Flores disappeared at the hands of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On August 24, 1974, DINA agents arrested several members of the Maturana Pérez family at their home in the San Miguel district and in the surrounding area. Among those arrested were Washington Hernán MATURANA PEREZ and Juan Bautista MATURANA PEREZ, both of whom were active in the CP, their father, their mother, and another brother. Part of the family was released, but Washington Hernán and Juan Bautista Maturana, whom witnesses saw at the Londres No. 38 location, disappeared while in the DINA's hands. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On August 28, 1974, a teacher at the Darío Salas school who was an active member of the Communist party, Antonio Arturo BARRIA ARANEDA, was arrested at the army's School for Subofficials to which he had been summoned to make a declaration. Witnesses subsequently saw him on the grounds of the Command Center for Military Institutes, the Army Telecommunications School, and Cuatro Alamos. He disappeared from this latter site. According to evidence examined by the Commission, Antonio Barría was arrested for attending the funeral of a student at the high school where he worked. Demonstrations of a political nature took place and the military-appointed principal told his superiors; they then ordered that several teachers be arrested and placed in the hands of the Comando de Institutos Militares. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            Silberman Case
            
            On October 4, 1974, David SILBERMAN GUROVICH, an engineer and active Communist, who was the former general manager of the Cobre-Chuqui company [copper mine] during the Popular Unity government, disappeared. A war tribunal had sentenced him to thirteen years in prison (cf. report on the Second Region). In contrast to the others tried and sentenced in Calama, on September 30, 1973 David Silberman was transferred to the prison in Santiago to serve his sentence (a number of those who worked with Silberman at Cobre-Chuqui and who were sentenced were executed without any due process of law in October 1973 by a military delegation from Santiago).
            
            In a complex operation involving switched identities, telephone tapping, falsified documents, and other devices, DINA agents abducted David Silberman from prison. Many witnesses have testified that he was held at the José Domingo Cañas site where he was subjected to intense torture. Some witnesses also say that he was later held at Cuatro Alamos and disappeared from there in late October.
            
            The subsequent court process was able to establish that David Silberman was taken from prison by an army officer who was using a false identity, and that known DINA agents were behind the operation. Confronted with the court evidence, the DINA presented a report attributing the action to the MIR and specifically to an alleged member of the MIR named Claudio Rodríguez, who was killed in a gun battle, and who they claimed was carrying false military identification papers. In the court case, representatives of the National Prison Service stated that Claudio Rodríguez was not the person who took David Silberman out, and that the document used for that purpose was not the one that DINA claimed had been found on him. They also said that the alleged officer had arrived in a DINA vehicle, and was accompanied by known DINA members. The government supported the DINA account, and did so in a letter by the president to Silberman's family.
            
            The Commission believes it is possible to come to the conviction that the DINA was responsible for abducting David Silberman, and that he disappeared in its hands in violation of his human rights. In doing so it has taken into account the evidence whose major headings are as follows:
            
            
            • testimony by witnesses who state clearly when he was held at DINA facilities;
              
              
            • the implausibility of the official account which is refuted by evidence from the court case;
              
              
            • evidence that DINA agents were involved in his abduction.
              
              
            Information received by the Commission indicates that the purpose for abducting David Silberman was to obtain a large amount of money from the company in which David Silberman worked and which the DINA agents presumed that he had taken for himself. That belief seems to have originated with the delegation that had travelled to Calama and had the other Cobre-Chuqui managers killed with the complicity of local officials. In mentioning this apparent motive in order to explain the facts that it has gathered on the case, this Commission must make it clear that it learned that Codelco's internal investigation dispels any doubt over David Silberman's honesty at the company.
            
            On November 20, 1975, Alejandro Juan AVALOS DAVIDSON, a professor at the Catholic University of Chile who was active in the Communist party, was arrested en route between his work and his mother's house. He was under heavy pursuit by individuals who identified themselves to university officials as DINA agents; they also said that they had orders to arrest Avalos without witnesses. He was taken to Villa Grimaldi, and all trace of him was lost in February 1976. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On December 11, 1975, the active CP member Santiago Abraham FERRU LOPEZ was arrested at home in the presence of his wife and several neighbors. He was later transferred to Villa Grimaldi. His present whereabouts are unknown. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On December 12, 1975, Mario Luis QUEZADA SOLIS, a nurse's aide and active CP member, was arrested in the street. Some days later he vanished from Villa Grimaldi. The Interior Ministry acknowledged that he had been arrested, but told the court that he had been released from Cuatro Alamos by Exempt Decree No. 1837, dated December 30, 1975. Nevertheless Mario Quezada is still disappeared. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On December 29, 1975, José Ramón ASCENCIO SUBIABRE, who was active in the CP and was a former president of the Council for Supplies and Prices in Conchalí, was arrested at his workshop. He was taken to Villa Grimaldi, and many witnesses saw him there until February 1976, when all trace of him was lost. On September 2, 1976 the tribunal investigating his disappearance asked the interior minister at that time to send a list of persons being held at the Cuatro Alamos camp. On September 16, 1976 the minister replied that for reasons of security the ministry did not think it advisable to draw up lists of those who were being held in prison camps. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On April 2, 1976, the former Communist member of congress Bernardo ARAYA ZULETA was arrested at his home in Quintero. His wife María Olga FLORES BARRAZA, his brother-in-law Juan Flores Barraza, and his grandchildren Ninoska Henríquez, Wladimir Henríquez, and Eduardo Araya, all of them minors, were also arrested in the same operation. They were taken to a prison site in Santiago. Juan Flores and the grandchildren were released. A few days later Bernardo Araya and María Flores disappeared from that site. Witnesses have stated that they were both in very poor condition from being tortured.
            
            At the trial that grew out of their arrest, a retired policeman said that in mid-March of 1976, two men who identified themselves as DINA agents came to his house and asked to use it in order to maintain surveillance on the couple. They did so for several days. That account was confirmed by another policeman. A neighbor woman had called him over when she observed that surveillance was taking place. The agents showed him their identification cards.
            
            The Interior Ministry denied that the couple had been arrested. However, the Foreign Ministry later told CEPAL [Economic Commission for Latin America] that Bernardo Araya was registered as having left the country on April 7, 1976 through the Arturo Merino Benítez airport, and that María Flores was registered as leaving the country that same date over the Los Libertadores pass on the border. On August 31 the Foreign Ministry told the court that Bernardo Araya was registered as leaving the country on that same date at Los Libertadores pass, and that there was no record of a trip by María Flores. Finally on September 10, 1979, the head prefect of the Chilean border police told the court that both were registered as having left the country on April 7, 1976 by way of Los Libertadores pass.
            
            In view of the foregoing and the contradictory accounts provided by officials, as well as other similar accounts which proved to be false, the Commission has come to the conviction that this married couple, Bernardo Araya and María Flores, underwent forced disappearance at the hands of DINA agents in violation of their human rights.
            
            On April 29, 1976, the active Communists, Manuel Guillermo RECABARREN GONZALEZ, his brother, Luis Emilio RECABARREN GONZALEZ, and the latter's wife, Nalvia Rosa MENA ALVARADO, who was three months pregnant, and their two year old child, were all arrested in an operation organized by DINA agents in the area near the intersection of Santa Rosa and Sebastopol. A few hours later the child was left near the house of his grandparents.
            
            The next day, April 30, Manuel Segundo RECABARREN ROJAS, the father of Manuel and Luis, who was also active in the CP and was a former president of the Council on Supplies and Prices in San Miguel, set out to make inquiries into the whereabouts of his family members. He too was arrested and taken to Villa Grimaldi. In August 1976 all trace of him was lost. There has been no further word on any of these four people. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            Operation on Calle Conferencia
            
            In early May, 1976, Mario Jaime ZAMORANO DONOSO, Onofre Jorge MUÑOZ POUTAYS, Uldarico DONAIRE CORTEZ, and Jaime Patricio DONATO AVENDAÑO, all of whom were members of the CP Central Committee, and Elisa del Carmen ESCOBAR CEPEDA, a party leader and liaison with Mario Zamorano, were all arrested in a trap set by DINA agents at a building located at Calle Conferencia No. 1587.
            
            According to the court testimony given by the building's owner, Juan Becerra Barrera, in the early morning hours of April 30, 1976, men in plainclothes came to his house and told him that his sister-in-law, María Teresa Guajardo had had an accident, and that he had to come to identify the body. Juan Becerra got into the car with these men, and a few moments later, he was handcuffed, blindfolded, and taken to a place he later identified as Villa Grimaldi. There he learned that his sister-in-law had been arrested the day before. Both were tortured and interrogated about their activities and the whereabouts of Mario Zamorano, who was an old friend of Juan Becerra. Under torture he admitted that they were friends and said that Zamorano was to take part in a meeting that was to be held in his house between May 4 and 5.
            
            Later Juan Becerra and María Guajardo were taken back to the house on Calle Conferencia together with Juan Becerra's wife, María Angélica Gutiérez, and a cousin of hers, Eliana Vidal, both of whom had also been arrested. Also at the house were two daughters of the Becerras and Juan Becerra's niece, Lastenia Palacios. The five armed DINA agents in the house would not allow them to leave and told them to maintain the appearance of going about their everyday business.
            
            On May 4, 1976 at about 7:30 p.m., Mario Zamorano arrived and was immediately arrested. He received a bullet wound to the thigh in the process. Shortly afterward, Onofre Muñoz arrived and was also arrested. Both were taken away to an unknown destination. On May 5, 1976 Uldarico Donaire and Jaime Donato arrived separately. They were both arrested and then taken to an unidentified location. The next day, May 6, Elisa Escobar arrived and was arrested; a half hour later she was taken toward an unknown destination. The agents remained in the house until May 7. Before they left a doctor came and examined the people in the house.
            
            In a parallel operation during this same period a group of armed civilians occupied the house of Juan Becerra's mother, Mercedes Barrera Pérez, and held the occupants captive. Auxiliary bishop Enrique Alvear Urrutia arrived at the house, became aware of this situation, and was himself held for a few hours by these agents, who identified themselves by showing their identification cards.
            
            The Interior Ministry denied that these people had been arrested. However, the Chilean government verbally told the United Nations that Mario Zamorano and Onofre Muñoz had left the country for Argentina on May 13, 1976. Argentinean officials denied that they had entered the country. However, DINACOS [National Directorate for the Mass Media] in statements on July 14 and 17, 1976 claimed that in May of that year the security agencies had uncovered a number of CP houses used as message centers, and that they had arrested several party members. Moreover, the August 12, 1976 issue of the magazine Qué Pasa published an article titled "From the MIR to the CP," in which it reported on the arrest of a number of members of the CP, including José Weibel in March, Bernardo Araya in April, and Miguel Morales, Uldarico Donaire and Victor Díaz in May. The present status of all these people is that of disappeared. Taking into account the information presented here, the Commission has come to the conviction that all these people underwent forced disappearance at the hands of government agents in violation of their human rights.
            
            On May 7, 1976, Fernando Antonio LARA ROJAS, a regional CP leader, was arrested in Santiago. Some months previously, security agents had set a trap at the house he shared with his sisters in Talca, but they failed to arrest him at that time. In the case that arose from the arrest of Fernando Lara, the court sent an official request to the investigative police for his political file, and thus proved that his arrest had been ordered in 1975 by the DINA in Colchagua. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On May 9, 1976, Lenin Adán DIAZ SILVA, who was active in the CP and a former member of its technical commission, had contact with Elisa Escobar Cepeda, whom the DINA had arrested in the operation at Calle Conferencia. Lenin Diaz disappeared from the Villa Grimaldi DINA facility where he was last seen by witnesses. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On May 10, 1976, Marcelo Renán CONCHA BASCUÑAN, who had worked for the SAG (Agriculture and Livestock Service) and CORFO and was an active CP member, was arrested on the way from his mother's house to the Institute to Promote the Fishing Industry. He vanished from Villa Grimaldi in April 1977. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            In the early morning of May 12, 1976, several DINA agents arrested the undersecretary general of the CP, Víctor Manuel DIAZ LOPEZ. He was taken to Villa Grimaldi where he was held in the area known as "the tower." When he was arrested, Víctor Díaz was carrying an identification card with the name José Santos Garrido Retamal. When the court made inquiries, the Interior Ministry stated that Garrido had been arrested by Exempt Decree No. 2052 (May 12, 1976) but that he had been released by Exempt Decree No. 2054 (May 13, 1976). However, when called to testify, the sister of the true José Garrido told the court that her brother had not been arrested and that none of the events that the court mentioned had any connection with him. Víctor Díaz is disappeared to this day. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On May 12, 1976, Eliana Marina ESPINOZA FERNANDEZ, a member of the CP national propaganda commission, was arrested on a public thoroughfare. She had been under heavy pursuit by an unknown individual who had with him Elisa Escobar Cepeda, whom DINA agents had arrested in the operation on Calle Conferencia. There has been no further information on Eliana Espinoza, and hence the Commission came to the conviction that her disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated her human rights.
            
            On May 19, 1976, the former national leader of the CUT and a member of the CP central committee, César Domingo CERDA CUEVAS, was arrested on a public thoroughfare by DINA agents, who took him to Villa Grimaldi. He vanished from that site in September 1976. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            People involved in printing and publishing who disappeared or were killed
            
            In July 1976 an assault was unleashed against a number of CP activists who were involved in the printing trade.
            
            On July 15, 1976, José Vicente TOLOSA VASQUEZ, a typesetter and a leader of printers in the CUT youth department who was an active member of the Young Communists, was arrested in the street after he had attended a meeting at the office of the southern vicariate [of the archdiocese of Santiago]. Since that moment there has been no further information on his whereabouts. On July 21, DINA agents arrested the typesetter and secretary of the union at the Gabriela Mistral publishing house, Guillermo Albino MARTINEZ QUIJON. They took him to Villa Grimaldi and there has been no further trace of him. On July 23, 1976, Juan Luis QUIÑONES IBACETA, a typesetter and CP student leader, was arrested in the street, and subsequently vanished. On July 28, 1976, Guillermo GALVEZ RIVADENEIRA, a journalist and president of the union at the Quimantú publishing house who was also an active Communist was arrested as he was leaving the Association of Journalists offices. There has been no further information about him. The Commission is convinced that the disappearance of all these people was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            Repression against CP members connected with publishing continued. Its next victims were five members of a family who had worked at the Imprenta Horizonte where they had produced a number of party-related publications. Around noon on August 4, 1976, Hugo Ernesto VIVANCO VEGA was arrested on the street in the presence of a witness. The witness informed his wife, Alicia de las Mercedes HERRERA BENITEZ, who was arrested a few hours later at her home. However, she had time to telephone her son, Nicolás Hugo Vivanco Herrera and to speak directly to her sister-in-law, Carmen Vivanco Vega, telling them both that her husband had been arrested. On August 5, 1976, their brother-in-law, Oscar Orlando RAMOS GARRIDO, who was a member of the CP central committee, and his sonOscar Arturo RAMOS VIVANCO, were arrested by DINA agents who took them to Villa Grimaldi. There was no further trace of them. On August 10, 1976, Nicolás Hugo VIVANCO HERRERA, who had also worked at the Imprenta Horizonte and was attempting to locate his parents, was arrested on the street. His whereabouts remain unknown to this day. On August 13, 1976, Juan Aurelio VILLARROEL ZARATE, a photoengraver and union leader at the Imprenta Horizonte, was arrested on the street by DINA agents. He was held prisoner at Villa Grimaldi and vanished from that location. The Commission has come to the conviction that all these people underwent forced disappearance at the hands of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On July 23, 1976, Eduardo CANTEROS PRADO, an active Communist, and his niece, Clara Elena CANTEROS TORRES, 21, who was active in the Young Communists, were arrested near their homes. Eduardo Canteros was held at Villa Grimaldi. There was no further trace of him until March 21, 1990, when his remains were found by chance in a clandestine burial pit on the Las Tórtolas estate in Colina, which belonged to the army until 1980. Also found were the remains of Vicente ATENCIO CORTES, a former member of congress and a member of the CP central committee, who was arrested August 11, 1976 and also held at Villa Grimaldi. It has so far proved impossible to identify the remains of a third person found at the same site. There has been no further information on the whereabouts of Clara Canteros since the day of her arrest. The evidence gathered enables this Commission to state that these three persons were arrested by government agents in whose hands they disappeared in violation of their human rights. The subsequent discovery of the remains of two of them confirms the Commission's conviction regarding the third person and other similar cases presented in this chapter.
            
            On July 27, 1976, the architect Alejandro RODRIGUEZ URZUA, was arrested on a public thoroughfare while driving his car; both car and driver disappeared. His office was later raided, and a number of documents and items of value were removed. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On the afternoon of July 30, 1976, DINA agents arrested Jorge Gerardo SOLOVERA GALLARDO, a musician who was president of the National Cultural Department of Federations and an active Communist, along with Darío Francisco MIRANDA GODOY, who was in charge of cultural matters in the Metal Workers Labor Federation, as they were leaving the headquarters of the federation on Calle Maruri. They were taken to Villa Grimaldi and then disappeared. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On August 4, 1976, Dr. Carlos Enrique GODOY LAGARRIGUE, was arrested as he was driving from the parish hospital in San Bernardo to the San Francisco school clinic. That same night another doctor, Iván Sergio INSUNZA BASCUÑAN, was arrested after making a house call. He also disappeared along with his car. He had on him a promissory note which was later cashed by an individual who used a false identification card. Both doctors were seen at the Villa Grimaldi DINA facility, and all trace of them was lost while they were there.
            
            Officials claimed that Dr. Insunza had left the country for Argentina. That was shown to be false, since he was not registered as having left the country at any time from August 1976 onward. In an address to the United Nations in February 1978, the Chilean government representative stated that the Chilean investigative police had reported that both doctors had applied to be allowed into the Canadian embassy on November 5, 1975. Refuting that claim, the embassy said that they had not come to the embassy and that there was only a request for a visa submitted by Dr. Insunza's sister on September 24, 1976, that is, after they disappeared. In view of all this evidence, the Commission came to the conviction that these two people suffered forced disappearance at the hands of DINA members in violation of their human rights.
            
            Also on August 4, Daniel PALMA ROBLEDO, a businessman who had formerly been active in the CP, disappeared along with his light blue 1972 Renoleta. The police lost-and-found department located the car on March 24, 1977 in the possession of a DINA agent, along with another Renoleta that had been stolen from a French citizen. The Commission has come to the conviction that Daniel Palma suffered forced disappearance at the hands of government agents in violation of his human rights.
            
            On August 7, 1976, Manuel de la Cruz VARGAS LEIVA, a former alderman and mayor of Til Til who was a member of the CP central committee, was arrested in the street by DINA agents and held prisoner at Villa Grimaldi. There has been no further trace of him. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On August 9, 1976, five members of the CP were arrested, and all were held prisoner at Villa Grimaldi and vanished from that site. In the Maipú district the labor leader and regional party leader Víctor Hugo MORALES MAZUELA was arrested on the street. José Enrique CORVALAN VALENCIA, a labor leader, was arrested in the La Granja district at the home of Alfredo Sánchez, who was also arrested but was released the following day. In the afternoon Pedro Eduardo SILVA BUSTOS, a labor leader who was the political secretary for the Viña del Mar region of the CP, and Jorge Orosman SALGADO SALINAS, the former president of the provincial Federation of Labor Unions and Farm Workers in Valparaíso, were arrested near the central market. Finally Mario Jesús JUICA VEGA, a labor leader who was president of the municipal workers union in Renca and had been a CP candidate for alderman, was also arrested that day. They are still disappeared. The Commission is convinced that their disappearances were the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            Also on August 9, 1976, DINA agents arrested Marta Lidia UGARTE ROMAN, a member of the CP central committee. Witnesses say she was held in the area of Villa Grimaldi known as "the tower," and later died of the torture to which she was subjected. Her captors threw her body into the ocean, but despite their efforts to prevent it from being found, her body-half naked and in a sack tied at her neck with a wire-washed up on land at La Ballena beach in Los Molles on September 9. According to the autopsy report, she had suffered a dislocation and fracture of her spine, damage to the abdominal cavity with many fractured ribs, a burst liver and spleen, dislocated shoulders and hip, and a double fracture of her lower right arm, and had died September 9, 1976. The Commission came to the conviction that Marta Ugarte was arrested and forcibly made to disappear by government agents who thus violated her human rights. This judgement is confirmed by the reappearance of her body, which her captors had attempted to hide by dropping it into the ocean.
            
            On August 11, 1976, Carlos Mario VIZCARRA COFRE, a member of the Young Communists central committee, was arrested in the street. He was taken to Villa Grimaldi. While there he had to work with another prisoner pounding dents out of a truck body. After his release this prisoner said he had talked with Vizcarra at that site and saw the festering sores on his body from the application of electric current. There has been no further word about him. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            Also on August 11, 1976, Miguel NAZAL QUIROZ, a member of the CP central committee, was arrested on the street. He was last seen at Villa Grimaldi. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On August 13, 1976, Julia del Rosario RETAMAL SEPULVEDA, a teacher, was arrested in the street. She was also last seen at Villa Grimaldi, in the area known as "the tower." The Commission is convinced that her disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated her human rights.
            
            On the morning of August 16, 1976, the labor leader and president of the union of municipal workers Julio Roberto VEGA VEGA, an active Communist, was arrested in the street by DINA agents. A number of witnesses have testified that he was held prisoner and tortured at Villa Grimaldi, and that he disappeared from that site. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On August 18, 1976, Nelson Enrique JERIA SILVA, a construction worker and an active CP member, was arrested. He was also seen at Villa Grimaldi, and all trace of him was lost from that point onward. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            The Case of "The Thirteen"
            
            The end of 1976 was marked by the arrest and subsequent disappearance of thirteen persons, most of whom were high-ranking Communist party leaders. The official explanation given to the courts was that most of them had left the country for Argentina by crossing the Los Libertadores pass. However, by means of expert examination, witnesses, and on-site inspection, the courts established that the government's account was false. The Interior Ministry became a party in the case, and added its own comment to a document from the head of surveillance of the border police, asserting that "it is once more established that there is trustworthy proof that these persons left the country.
            
            The Commission's investigation into this matter revealed both that the official account that they had left the country was untrue, and that two of these people were illegally imprisoned.
            
            On November 29, 1976, Santiago Edmundo ARAYA CABRERA, was arrested near the central market. Although he was a MIR activist, his case is reported in this section because of the many features that link it to the others. There has been no information on him since that date. He had previously made a sworn statement on the arrest and subsequent disappearance of his friend and party colleague, Mario Maureira, on August 8, 1976, to which he was an eyewitness. When an appeal for protection was introduced on behalf of Santiago Araya, the Interior Ministry, after consulting the investigative police bureau of foreign affairs, told the appeals court that he was registered as having left the country. On February 7, 1977 the court examined the documentation and archives of the bureau of foreign matters and determined that according to certificate No. 366, Araya was recorded as having left the country over Los Libertadores pass on December 22, 1976. In addition to the fact that the courts demonstrated that this documentation was false, it is important to bear in mind that Santiago Araya had a dislocated hip that caused him to limp, and hence it is unlikely that he would have crossed the border on foot.
            
            On December 9, 1976, at about 10:30 a.m., Armando PORTILLA PORTILLA, a member of the CP central committee, was also arrested on the street. He is currently disappeared. The Interior Ministry reported that according to travel certificate No. 364, he had left the country for Argentina on January 11, 1977. The report was untrue.
            
            On December 13, 1976, five agents in two vehicles arrested another member of the CP central committee, Fernando Alfredo NAVARRO ALLENDES, at the corner of Calle Ramon Cruz and Grecia in the presence of witnesses. He has been disappeared since then.
            
            On December 15, 1976, seven CP leaders, several of whom were part of its central committee, were arrested. In the morning, Horacio CEPEDA MARINKOVIC, a civil engineer who was a member of the Communist party central committee, and Lincoyán Yalú BERRIOS CATALDO, the former national president of the municipal employees union in Chile who was likewise a Communist, were arrested on the street. They had agreed to meet at the corner of Calle Rodrigo de Araya and Lo Plaza. The Interior Ministry told the appeals court that according to travel certificate No. 356, Horacio Cepeda had left the country on January 6, 1977. In court that assertion was proven to be false. Lincoyán Berríos was said to have left the country December 21, 1976 on foot. The day after he disappeared a check was cashed to his account (exceeding his balance). It was later demonstrated that a false identification card was used to cash it. Horacio Cepeda was later seen at a clandestine prison site. All trace of him was then lost.
            
            Later Juan Fernando ORTIZ LETELIER, a university professor, and Waldo Ulises PIZARRO MOLINA, a mining expert, both of whom were members of the CP central committee, were arrested in the presence of several witnesses near the intersection of Plaza Egaña and Avenida Larraín. They were arrested by several agents who put hoods over them. One of them managed to shout his name out, and was hit on the head for doing so. The agents violently forced them into a vehicle. They have been disappeared since that day. According to travel certificate No. 1082 dated April 20, 1977, Waldo Ulises Pizarro left the country on foot December 21, 1976 over Los Libertadores pass, but the court proved that document to be false.
            
            Héctor VELIZ RAMIREZ, an active Communist, was then arrested in the street. On April 10, 1979 the Argentinean Interior Ministry stated that Véliz had entered the country with Horacio Cepeda, Edras Pinto, and Luis Lazo on January 6, 1977, in a car with the Chilean license number HG-19 from Santiago. However, the court established that the mint had not authorized that number to the municipality of Santiago. In addition, the Chilean border police reported that Héctor Véliz was not listed as having left the country. This misinformation provided by Argentine officials demonstrates the ties then existing between the intelligence services in the two countries, which helped each other prepare alibis to evade being held responsible for the disappearances and killings that they had committed.
            
            At the corner of Calle Profesor Fuentes Maturana and Catamarca in Santiago a number of agents arrested the CP central committee member Luis Segundo LAZO SANTANDER; he has been disappeared since that day. As in most of the previous cases, the Interior Ministry told the appeals court that according to travel certificate No. 1357 he was registered as having left the country for Argentina on January 6, 1977. That claim was not true.
            
            The last of those arrested that day was Reinalda del Carmen PEREIRA PLAZA, a medical technician who was active in the Young Communists and was five months pregnant. While waiting for a bus at the corner of Calles Rodriguez de Araya and Exequiel Fernández, she was arrested in the presence of numerous witnesses by agents who got out of a car (license plate HLN-55) and forced her to get in. The head of the mint told the court that that license number was not authorized in 1976 and 1977. The Interior Ministry also told the appeals court, that according to travel certificate No. 354 she had left the country on foot November 21, 1976. That claim was implausible since she was pregnant, and in fact it was proven to be false. Since the day of her arrest nothing is known about the fate or whereabouts of Reinalda Pereira and the child she was expecting.
            
            On December 18, 1976, Lizandro CRUZ DIAZ, a telegraph operator who was an active Communist, and Carlos Patricio DURAN GONZALEZ, a civil engineer who was a MIR activist, were arrested and disappeared. Carlos Patricio Durán was also arrested on the street after he and his wife had gone in separate directions at the Mapocho station. Officials reported that according to travel certificate No. 359, Lizandro Cruz had left the country on January 11, 1977. The courts established that that claim was untrue.
            
            On December 20, 1976, three agents took Edras de las Mercedes PINTO ARROYO, an active Communist, from his parents' house and arrested him. He has been disappeared since that date. As in the previous cases, the Interior Ministry told the appeals court that according to travel certificate No. 355, he had left the country for Argentina on January 6, 1977. That claim was proven false.
            
            In view of the vast amount of evidence available, and particularly the result of the judicial investigation mentioned above and testimony from witnesses, this Commission came to the conviction that all these people underwent forced disappearance at the hands of government agents in violation of their human rights. While these disappearances cannot be attributed with complete assurance to any particular government agency, there are indications that the DINA was responsible, since it was the only organization that had the ability to organize such a complex disinformation campaign in order to shield those who were involved in these disappearances.
            
            On May 11, 1977, armed civilians arrested Jorge Andrés TRONCOSO AGUIRRE, who was connected to the Cardjin [sic] Foundation of the Catholic archdiocese of Santiago and was active in the Communist party. The arrest took place at the intersection of Calles General Velásquez and Santa Teresita in Santiago. In early May 1977 the DINA arrested a group of people who worked for, or had ties to, the foundation. They were accused of kidnapping Carlos Veloso Reidenbach, a minor who was the son of one of the people working with the organization. The DINA placed all those who were arrested in connection with this case at the disposition of a military prosecutor's office, which was under the authority of the military tribunal in Santiago, as was required by the Interior Ministry. Jorge Troncoso, however, never arrived at the tribunal nor was he released. The Commission came to the conviction that he disappeared at the hands of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On May 28, 1977, Ruiter Enrique CORREA ARCE, a Communist, died. At the time of his death he was the proprietor of a newsstand that was serving as a message center for the exchange of information between party leaders outside the country and those inside. The previous day he was arrested by DINA members as he was going home at noon. His body was found some days later under the Manuel Rodríguez Bridge over the Mapocho River, very close to the DINA facility on Calle Borgoño, where the bodies of other people the DINA had executed had also been found. The press reported that Ruiter Correa had been assaulted. However, that claim is ruled out, since there were no traces of blood around him, even though his clothes were soaked with it. The Commission has come to the conviction that Ruiter Correa died while in the hands of his captors. However, it cannot specify whether he was killed by his captors or killed himself under the pressure of his situation, as he had told his family members he would do if he found himself in that plight. In either case, he suffered a violation of his human rights.
            
            On June 7, 1977, the DINA arrested Hernán SOTO GALVEZ in the San Miguel district. According to evidence in the Commission's possession, what happened to him is closely connected to the case of the disappearance of three active Communists in Buenos Aires, Ricardo Ramírez, Héctor Velásquez, and Alexei Jaccard as the result of a DINA operation in Buenos Aires. The agents found his name as a CP "financial liaison" between Argentina and Chile. There has been no further word about him. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            
         2. Disappearances of Communists at the hands of the Joint Command and other persons executed or disappeared at its hands
            
            The judicial investigation into the disappearance of eight Communist leaders in 1976 established that what was called the Joint Command was responsible for the apprehension and disappearance of many members of the Communist party. In coming to conviction on these cases the Commission has considered not only that judicial investigation but other court cases, testimony either made available or given before to the Commission by agents of the intelligence services, and especially all the information that provides the background to help make sense out of items of information on particular cases.
            
            On August 28, 1975, Miguel Angel RODRIGUEZ GALLARDO, an active Communist whose nickname was "Quila Leo," was arrested on the street. He was held at the Cerillos hanger, Nido 20, and Nido 18, and was tortured at this latter site. In October 1975 he was taken to the Colina air base. On the basis of evidence it obtained, the Commission was able to establish that some time after New Year's Day 1976, he and other prisoners were loaded onto vehicles with digging tools, weapons, and several liters of gasoline, and were taken toward an unknown destination. The vehicles returned about three hours later. The picks and shovels had dirt on them, there was no gasoline, and the gun chambers were empty. A few days later, the word spread that the prisoners had all been murdered on the military property at Peldehue. Their bodies had been burned and were later secretly buried at that same location. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On September 6, 1975, Arsenio Orlando LEAL PEREIRA, a trucker who was an active Communist, died. He had been arrested the night of September 1, and was taken first to the Cerillos hanger, and then to Nido 20 and Nido 18. Arsenio Leal was repeatedly subjected to torture, and hence decided to take his life to avoid further torment. His body was sent to the Medical Legal Institute from the air force hospital, and was then handed over to his family. Contrary to the Interior Ministry's denials, the fact of his arrest was tragically proven by his death. Bearing in mind his condition, which has been attested by witnesses, the Commission holds the conviction that Arsenio Leal suffered a violation of his human rights insofar as he took his own life under the pressure of torture and the conditions under which he was imprisoned, and thus as a result of actions by government agents that were in themselves unlawful and violated human rights.
            
            On September 8, 1975, Alonso Fernando GAHONA CHAVEZ, a leader of the municipal workers of La Cisterna and an active Communist whose nickname was "Yuri," was arrested in the street and taken to Nido 20. According to information given to the Commission, he died hanging from a shower as a result of the torture he received. His body was wrapped in plastic and apparently thrown into the ocean. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On September 14, 1975, Gustavo Humberto CASTRO HURTADO, an active Communist whose nickname was "Comrade Díaz" or "Chino," was killed by members of the Joint Command. He was arrested early on the morning of September 3, and taken to Nido 20, where he was tortured. A number of agents beat him, but they did not question him. He was beaten to death. Officials reported his case as suicide, but the autopsy report states that the cause of death was suffocation due to a choking of the neck, and trauma to the chest and the extremities. The Commission holds the conviction that he died as a result of the torture inflicted on him by government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            Early on the morning of October 20, 1975, agents of the Joint Command arrested the Communist party leader Luis Desiderio MORAGA CRUZ at his home. They took him first to Nido 20 and then to Nido 18. The torture he underwent at that site is said to have driven him to attempt suicide but he was unsuccessful. The Commission has records indicating that he was transferred from Nido 18 to the Colina air base and was held there. Late in the year he was loaded onto a helicopter along with other prisoners all of whom had been drugged. They were then thrown into the ocean after army commanders had first cut open their stomachs with curved tip knives to prevent them from floating. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On October 30, 1975, at about 6:30 p.m., Francisco ORTIZ VALLADARES, a furniture maker and Communist union leader, was arrested at his home by agents of the Joint Command. At 11:30 p.m., eight armed men who said that they belonged to the Chilean Air Force searched the home of a married couple, whose last names were Castro and Acevedo. They had Ortiz with them in handcuffs. They dismantled a closet he had made, looking for a possible false bottom. He has been disappeared since that day. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            Early on the morning of October 31, José Santos ROCHA ALVAREZ, a Communist leader and friend of Francisco Ortiz since childhood, was arrested at home and in the presence of witnesses. There has been no further word on him since then. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On November 3, 1975, agents of the Joint Command arrested the active Communist Alfredo Ernesto SALINAS VASQUEZ at his home. He was transferred to the Colina air base and then vanished. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            Early in the morning of that same day, José del Carmen SAGREDO PACHECO, a Communist labor leader, was arrested at his home. He was also taken to the Colina air base. According to one witness, he died there of the torture by electrical current to which he was subjected by the military during interrogation. The military later disposed of his body. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On November 4, 1975, the former Communist alderman for Renca, Humberto de las Nieves FUENTES RODRIGUEZ, was arrested by agents of the Joint Command. One of their vehicles had the logo of the Chilean Air Force. He was also taken to the Colina air base. Late in the year he was taken out along with other prisoners. While drugged he was loaded onto a helicopter and then thrown into the ocean. Witnesses have stated that during the flight he woke up, and so one of the soldiers involved in the operation hit him on the head with a metal bar, and immediately opened his stomach with a curved knife, and threw him in the ocean. In view of these facts, the Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On November 7, 1975, members of the Joint Command arrested the neighborhood leader and active Communist Ricardo Manuel WEIBEL NAVARRETE. He had already been arrested by the Joint Command on October 27 and was allowed to go home November 6. He was in very poor condition and showed signs of having been tortured. He was taken to the Colina air base. He was taken out with other prisoners, including Miguel Rodríguez, and was killed on military property at Peldehue, as was described in connection with the case of Rodríguez. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On December 4, 1975, agents of the Joint Command arrested the university student and active Communist, Ignacio Orlando GONZALEZ ESPINOZA, at his mother-in-law's house and in the presence of numerous witnesses. The next day his captors took him back to his mother's house to pick up some things and then took him away. Ignacio González was well known for his cartoons and sketches. He was held prisoner at the Colina air base until he was taken out along with Miguel Rodríguez and Ricardo Weibel and killed on the military property in Peldehue, as described above. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On ecember 17, 1975, in the area of San Diego, agents of the Joint Command arrested the active Communist Carlos Enrique SANCHEZ CORNEJO. He was subsequently taken to the Colina air base where a number of witnesses saw him. He vanished from that location. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On December 20, 1975, the homes of several relatives of David Edison URRUTIA GALAZ, a student at DUOC who was active in the Young Communists, were searched. Those carrying out this operation were members of the Joint Command. They had with them David Urrutia's brother Guillermo, whom they had arrested three weeks previously. No witnesses saw him being arrested. However, David Edison Urrutia has been disappeared since that date. In view of the evidence it possesses, and the circumstances of the case, this Commission holds the conviction that David Urrutia was arrested by members of the Joint Command, who then subjected him to forced disappearance in violation of his human rights.
            
            On January 3, 1976, Víctor Humberto VEGA RIQUELME, an active member of the Young Communists, was arrested in the street. Also arrested were Isabel Sange and her fiancé Jaime Estay Reyno, the brother of Miguel Estay, alias "El Fanta." These two were later released. However, Vega was taken to the Colina air base, where a woman prisoner was brought in for simultaneous cross-examination with him. He has been disappeared since that date. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On March 29, 1976 the former undersecretary general of the Young Communists, José Arturo WEIBEL NAVARRETE, Ricardo Weibel's brother, was arrested by agents of the Joint Command. He had been followed and was under intensive surveillance, apparently by civilians who belonged to a nationalist group that collaborated with the Joint Command. When they were captured, he and his wife, María Teresa Barahona, and their sons Alvaro and Mauricio, were passengers in a small public bus travelling along the Américo Vespucio beltway. Witnesses have stated that when by chance a woman's purse was stolen, the agents took advantage of the moment to blame Weibel, take him off the bus, and put him in one of their cars. A high-ranking intelligence official of the Chilean Air Force was following the operation by radio. José Weibel was taken to the detention site known as "The Company." He was later held for about three days in what was called, "The Bachelors' House" on Calle Bellavista. He was transferred there when a mission from the International Red Cross Committee visited the country, since the agents were concerned that the delegation might visit "The Company." Evidence suggests that José Weibel was killed in the area of Cajón del Maipo, and that one of the bodies found there in 1976 and not identified might be his. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            An agent and a collaborator of the Joint Command who disappeared at its hands
            
            Even though the death of Guillermo Enrique BRATTI CORNEJO was not part of repression against the Communist party it is treated here for the overall narrative sense and because it is connected to the disappearance of a Communist who became a collaborator of the Joint Command. On June 1, 1976, Guillermo Enrique Bratti was shot to death in Cajón del Maipo. His body, bound with ropes, was thrown into the river and was found some days later. Guillermo Bratti was a member of the Chilean Air Force and worked in security as a member of the Joint Command. On February 29, 1976 he was officially discharged from the air force for legal reasons.
            
            Information provided by an agent who was also in the Joint Command indicates that Bratti and a collaborator of the Joint Command were accused by their superiors of passing information to the DINA and wanting to switch to that organization. For that reason both were arrested by their colleagues for an undetermined period, during which their relatives were told that they were in the north. They were subsequently released, but then rearrested. This Commission holds the conviction that Bratti was executed by members of the Joint Command in violation of his human rights.
            
            In June 1976, Carol Fedor FLORES CASTILLO, a member of the Young Communists, disappeared. He had been arrested on June 5, 1974 by air force intelligence and held prisoner for approximately six months. His relatives were able to visit him twice at the Air War Academy. Later Carol Flores helped his former captors arrest other active members of his party. Nevertheless, he was arrested together with the former Joint Command agent Guillermo Bratti. Both were held prisoner at the Colina air base. His relatives last saw him on June 7. Evidence in the Commission's possession indicates that he was subsequently executed by agents of the Joint Command, but his body has not been recovered. The Commission holds the conviction that he was arrested and subjected to forced disappearance by government agents in violation of his human rights.
            
            On June 8, 1976, the regional CP leader Luis Emilio Gerardo MATURANA GONZALEZ and Juan René ORELLANA CATALAN, a member of the Young Communists central committee, were arrested together near the Central Railroad Station and taken to "The Company." The Commission received evidence that they were later taken out blindfolded, handcuffed, and drugged and were driven to the Barriga upgrade. There they were shot and buried in a pit that had been dug the previous day. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On July 1, 1976, Diego MATUS DE LA MAZA, who had an engineering degree from the University of Chile and was not politically active, was killed. Agents of the Joint Command had arrested him June 19. The agents mistakenly thought he was Félix de la Jara Goyeneche, a MIR leader code-named "Diego," who had previously disappeared in the hands of the DINA. Matus was the fiancé of de la Jara's sister. On July 1, Diego Matus's body was found half naked in a ravine near the beach at San Sebastián. It bore obvious signs of torture, such as many burns on the chest, the testicles destroyed, electrical burn marks on the lower lip, tongue, and palate, and the right arm broken. The autopsy report says that the cause of death was strangulation. The Commission came to the conviction that Diego Matus was executed by government agents in violation of his human rights.
            
            On July 15, 1976, at around noon, Mariano León TURIEL PALOMERA, a hydraulic engineer and member of the Young Communists central committee, was arrested in the street. He had been arrested by DINA agents in June 1975 and was seen at Villa Grimaldi. There has been no information on him since his second arrest by the Joint Command. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On July 21, 1976, Raúl Gilberto MONTOYA VILCHES, the head of labor relations at CORFO who was an active Communist, was arrested by agents of the Joint Command in the presence of a witness as he was waiting for a bus. They took him to an unknown destination. There has been no information on his whereabouts since that day. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On July 26, 1976, Juan Antonio GIANELLI COMPANY, an elementary school teacher who was a Communist leader of the teachers union, was arrested. The Commission received testimony that he was arrested by agents of the Joint Command who came to Girls School No. 24 in San Miguel, where he taught. They had been keeping the school under surveillance for some days. He was transferred to "The Company," and was then taken out, shot, and secretly buried at the Barriga upgrade. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On July 28, 1976, Nicomedes Segundo TORO BRAVO, an active Communist and a member of the Ramona Parra Brigade, was arrested by agents of the Joint Command as he was en route from his house to the Barros Luco Hospital. He was receiving psychological treatment for his emotional condition after being held under arrest for a week by air force intelligence (DIFA) in September 1975. That day one of his sisters, Sonia Toro Bravo, and his father, Nicomedes Toro Muñoz, were also arrested. They were taken to a place where they could hear Toro Bravo screaming under torture, but they were then later released. Nicomedes Toro was subsequently taken to the Colina air base. He was held there until he was taken out, murdered, and secretly buried on the military property in Peldehue, as has already been noted in another case. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On July 30, 1976, Nicolás Alberto LOPEZ SUAREZ, a former national advisor to the CUT who was an active Communist, was arrested in the street after having lunch at a restaurant with the wife of Antonio Gianelli, the teacher who had been arrested a few days previously. The security agencies had been making great efforts to find Nicolás López. There has been no further information on him. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On August 26, 1976, an active Communist who was a former local representative in the government of President Allende, Víctor Modesto CARDENAS VALDERRAMA, was likewise arrested on the street. He was taken to "The Company," and there has been no further trace of him. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On November 2, 1976, Carlos Humberto CONTRERAS MALUJE, a pharmacist and a member of the Young Communists central committee, was arrested. Agents of the Joint Command had previously arrested a large number of people. One of them had agreed to meet Carlos Contreras on November 2. It was that information that enabled them to arrest him.
            
            The Commission has evidence that he was taken to "The Company," and under heavy torture, he said that he was scheduled to meet someone on Calle Nataniel the next day. When his captors took Carlos Contreras out to meet that contact on November 3, he escaped and hurled himself under the wheels of a passing van in the presence of numerous witnesses. A police patrol happened to be passing by, and began to carry out the standard procedures applied when a person has been hit by a car. In the meantime Contreras was shouting out his name and address and pleading to be rescued from his captors. A few moments later the agents from the Joint Command arrived and had the police hand him back to them. He was put into a light blue Fiat 125 and taken back to "The Company." A witness has testified to the Commission that he was treated harshly by his captors and was murdered that night at the Barriga upgrade.
            
            On January 31, 1977 the appeals court in Santiago accepted the appeal for protection introduced on behalf of Carlos Contreras. In view of the many statements by witnesses, including police, establishing that he had been arrested by security agents, the court ordered the Interior Ministry to have him released. The Ministry reported that Carlos Contreras was not under arrest, and hence could not be released. In the court procedure prompted by his arrest, it was established that the vehicle used belonged to the Chilean Air Force, and was assigned for the exclusive use of the head of intelligence. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            
         3. Repression of members of the Communist party by other agencies or undetermined agencies
            
            On July 9, 1974, José Luis BAEZA CRUCES, 41, a street vendor who was a member of the CP central committee, was arrested. He was apprehended along with three other people at a house in Santiago that was used for party meetings and contacts. Those involved in the arrest were identified as members of the air force intelligence service and were being directed by a well known-intelligence chief. José Baeza was taken to the Air War Academy where several witnesses saw him. Their statements contradict the official account provided by the interior minister to the effect that José Baeza had not been arrested. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On August 1, 1974, a street vendor and active Communist, José Luis MORALES RUIZ, 21, disappeared in the city of Parral as he went off to work. Shortly afterward a co-worker came to tell his wife that he had been arrested. She says she made inquiries at the police station, and that one time they told her "the buzzards got that poor guy." All efforts to locate him have proved unsuccessful. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On September 14, 1974, the active Communist Pedro Juan MERINO MOLINA was arrested at his home in the city of Coronel in an operation involving soldiers and civilians. He was later taken to Santiago along with other people arrested in that area. Witnesses indicate that they were taken in a truck that stopped at Colonia Dignidad en route to Santiago. Merino was finally taken to Cuatro Alamos. He disappeared there while in the hands of the DINA. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On September 25, 1974, two policemen arrested Adán VALDEBENITO OLAVARRIA, 25, a merchant and a member of the Young Communists, at his home in Coelemu and in the presence of his wife. Since then it has proved impossible to determine his fate or whereabouts. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On November 15, 1974, Osvaldo del Carmen CERNA HUARD, 22, an active Communist, was arrested in Temuco. Those making the arrest were plainclothes agents (later identified as belonging to the investigative police) who were conducting a joint operation with soldiers. Since that moment it has proved impossible to determine his fate or whereabouts. The special judge who investigated the case declared himself incompetent, since persons with military immunity were involved. The Commission believes that Osvaldo Cerna disappeared at the hands of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On April 10, 1975, Aladín Esteban ROJAS RAMIREZ, 30, a miner and member of the Young Communists, disappeared in Copiapó. He had been arrested the day before at Regiment No. 23 in Copiapó where he was tortured. He was released and warned to report back to the regiment the next day, and did so. Since that moment there has been no further information on him. In the court procedure the official in charge stated that on April 9 Aladín Rojas had been arrested because he was the president of the Young Communists in Tierra Amarilla, and that he had been released on April 12 because there was no proof of guilt on his part. The Commission has come to the moral conviction that he disappeared as a result of actions committed by government agents in violation of his human rights.
            
            On September 4, 1975, Juan Segundo CORTES CORTES, a worker and active Communist, was arrested. Evidence gathered by the Commission indicates that he was arrested in an operation by security agents in the southern part of Santiago during which a number of party activists were arrested. There has been no further information on him since that day. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On October 26, 1975, Luis Alberto CORVALAN CASTILLO, an agricultural engineer who was active in the Young Communists, died. He was arrested September 14, 1973, and held at the National Stadium where he was tortured with beatings and the application of electrical current. Witnesses have said that he was treated with particular brutality on September 17. He was later transferred to the Chacabuco prison camp, and was released July 30, 1974. He then went into exile and lived first in Mexico and later in Bulgaria. Doctors in Bulgaria told him that his health was very frail because the torture to which he had been subjected had aggravated a heart problem that he had had since childhood, although it had been held completely under control until that torture. He was advised to lead a sedentary life, but he died in Bulgaria on September 4, 1975. The Commission has come to the conviction that the government agents who tortured him while he was under arrest in violation of his human rights were responsible for his death.
            
            On November 6, 1975, several agents who said they were from the investigative police arrested Juan Luis RIVERA MATUS, a labor leader at Chilectra [electric power company] and an active CP member, in the presence of many witnesses at the corner of Calles Santo Domingo and San Antonio in Santiago. They put him into a truck without a license plate and took him toward an unknown destination. There has been no further information about him to this day. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On November 21, 1975, police from Comuy arrested two active Young Communists, Osvaldo Segundo BARRIGA GUTIERREZ and Hernán Eusebio CATALAN ESCOBAR in the area of Las Cascada, Pitrufquén. According to testimony given by witnesses, they were forced to get off the bus on which they were travelling and were taken away to an unknown destination. Both are disappeared to this day. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            Early in the morning on December 14, 1975, a group of police and civilians in Quilacahui, Osomo (Tenth Region) searched the home of José Avelino RUNCA RUNCA, 60, an active Communist. According to eyewitness testimony that the Commission received, they took Runca out of his house, shot him twice and took him away. Several days later his body was found where it had been left in the brush. The death certificate states that the cause of death was peritonitis caused by a penetrating bullet wound to the abdomen. Newspapers at that time reported that José Runca had been killed in a gun battle between leftists and police. Evidence in the Commission's possession has enabled it to come to the conviction that José Avelino Runca was executed by government agents in violation of his human rights.
            
            On February 2, 1976, Ulises Jorge MERINO VARAS, an active Communist, was arrested by security agents in front of the cafeteria of the La Granja municipal building where he worked, according to testimony given by witnesses. Since then there has been no further word on his whereabouts. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On April 6, 1976, according to evidence in the Commission's possession, Rafael Segundo ARAYA VILLANUEVA, a mine worker leader and an active Communist, was arrested in the streets of Copiapó by security agents. His whereabouts remain unknown to this day. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On April 29, 1976, Moisés Eduardo MUJICA MATURANA, an active CP member, was arrested on the street by security agents. His wife and numerous passers-by witnessed his arrest. Since that day there has been no further information on him. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            Also on April 29, 1976, Basilio EUGENIO EUGENIO, also an active Communist, was arrested. Evidence in the Commission's possession indicates that security agents arrested him on the street in the district of Renca and took him toward an unknown destination. He has been disappeared since that day. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On May 3, 1976, three agents arrested Miguel Luis MORALES RAMIREZ, an active Communist and a labor union leader, at the corner of Calles Catedral and Teatinos in the presence of witnesses. He was taken to an unidentified prison site and then disappeared. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On May 7, 1976, according to evidence in the Commission's possession, two other active CP members, José Manuel GUGGIANA ESPOZ, a former regional superintendant of schools, and Juan Elías CORTES ALRUIZ, a leader of the union at the San Juan de Dios Hospital, were arrested on a public thoroughfare. Their current whereabouts are unknown. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On May 18, 1976, the car in which Rodolfo Marcial NUÑEZ BENAVIDES, an active Communist who was the former leader of public employees in Osorno, was riding was stopped by a Peugeot. According to witnesses, four men got out and arrested him. That afternoon one of these agents was involved in a search operation conducted in Benavides' house. There has been no further information on his whereabouts. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On July 22, 1976, Juan Héctor MORAGA GARCES, a former CUT youth leader who was an active CP member, was arrested in the street. Officials at the police station in the Roosevelt shantytown in Pudahuel told his relatives that he had been arrested for being drunk and had been taken to Captain Yáber section of the prison. At the prison, however, they were told he was not being held. He has been disappeared since then, and there has been no further word concerning him. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On August 3, 1976, Eduardo Enrique HERNANDEZ CONCHA, an active Communist, was arrested in San Bernardo in the presence of witnesses. There is no information on where he was held prisoner and what happened to him after his arrest. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On August 5, 1976, according to information in the Commission's possession, Gabriel del Rosario CASTILLO TAPIA, the former secretary of the labor union at the Pedro de Valdivia nitrate works and a regional CP leader, was arrested in the street. To this day his whereabouts remain unknown. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On August 6, 1976, José Eduardo SANTANDER MIRANDA, an active Communist and former labor leader in the CUT and at the General Treasury of the Republic, was arrested near his home in the presence of witnesses. The arresting agents forced him into their vehicle and took him to an unknown destination. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On August 11, 1976, an active member of the CP, José Edilio FLORES GARRIDO, who was studying public administration at the University of Chile, was arrested. He was put into a blue Peugeot and driven to an unknown destination, which in a court process was determined to be a property of the Chilean Navy. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On August 18, 1976, at about 7:00 p.m. the taxi carrying Rosa Elena MORALES MORALES, an active Communist, and Berta Laporte was intercepted by a car. Three agents got out and arrested them. They were both taken to an unidentified detention site. Berta Laporte was released at midnight, but Rosa Morales was not and remains disappeared to this day. The Commission is convinced that her disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated her human rights.
            
            On September 2, 1976, Lila VALDENEGRO CARRASCO, the wife of the former CP mayor and alderman in Puente Alto, Sergio Bone, was arrested in the presence of witnesses. At that time security agents were making great efforts to find Bone. Lila Valdenegro was arrested at her home in Valparaíso by agents who were driving an unlicensed car. That same night during the curfew period their house was ransacked and searched. The Commission is convinced that her disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated her human rights.
            
            On September 9, 1976, three active Communists who were construction workers union leaders, Aníbal Raimundo RIQUELME PINO, Alfonso del Carmen ARAYA CASTILLO, and Francisco Juan GONZALEZ ORTIZ, were arrested in Santiago. The first two were arrested that afternoon near the Plaza Pedro de Valdivia. Francisco González was arrested that night after attending a meeting of the Industrial Federation of Building Trades, Wood, and Construction Material. On September 22, an employee of the company in which Aníbal Riquelme and Francisco González worked was arrested and taken to an unidentified prison site. There she was brought in for simultaneous cross-examination with Aníbal Riquelme and then released. Since that date there has been no information on the whereabouts of these three men. The Commission is convinced that their disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated their human rights.
            
            On October 11, 1976, according to evidence in the Commission's possession, security agents arrested Gabriel CASTILLO CERNA, a psychiatrist and active Communist, while he was walking in the street. He had previously been held prisoner by security agencies in 1975. There has been no further information on his whereabouts. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            On April 29, 1977, Pedro Daniel CASTRO SEPULVEDA, 38, a worker, was arrested by police from Chillán. Castro, who had connections to a group of persons who painted slogans against the military government, was arrested in the street in the presence of witnesses. Since that moment his family has had no information on him. The Commission is convinced that his disappearance was the work of government agents who thus violated his human rights.
            
            

c) Communist party: The Communist party is often referred to in the original text as PC for Partido Communista. In keeping with this, when PC is used in the Spanish, it is translated to "CP" for the English "Communist Party." Reference is also made to the "SP" when PS is used for Partido Socialista or "Socialist Party."

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Posted by USIP Library on: October 4 2002
Source: Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation
(Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1993), vol. II/II, Part Three, Chapter Two (A.2.c), 559-587.
Note: Digitized and posted by permission of the University of Notre Dame Press, February 22, 2000.