PART THREE
Chapter Three (A.2.a)

August 1977 through March 1990 (continued)

1. HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS COMMITTED BY GOVERNMENT AGENTS OR PERSONS WORKING FOR THEM (continued)
   
   
   2. CASES
      
      
      1. Fictitious gun battles
         
         During this period the official explanation for the deaths of left activists was continually that they had been killed in gun battles with members of security agencies, primarily the CNI. This Commission has nonetheless been able to determine that a very large number of these gun battles never took place. The accounts given by officials were a way to evade government responsibility for these events.
         
         We will now describe how those who were officially described as killed in gun battles were actually killed. Some people who were killed in genuine armed of the official report, the Commission has come to the conviction that Germán de Jesús Cortés was executed by CNI agents, and regards his death as a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
         
         On August 2, 1980, Santiago RUBILAR SALAZAR, a company manager, was killed. He had left his house in Santiago on July 26 en route to Valparaíso, and was due to return two days later. He did not return. The day he was due to return his wife found that her house had been searched. CNI members arrested her and her brother-in-law, and took them to their headquarters on Calle Borgoño for interrogation about Rubilar's activities.
         
         The official account was that Santiago Rubilar was killed August 2 in a gun battle with police as he was fleeing in a car. He was reported to have taken the car's owner and her son with him as hostages. In the course of events one policeman and the hostages were said to have been wounded. Rubilar was also said to be wanted for robbing the branch banks on Calle Santa Elena on July 28.
         
         When an appeal for protection was initiated on Rubilar's behalf, the Ministry of Interior sent an exempt decree for his arrest. This decree proves that the official report is false. That decree was dated July 20, 1980, that is, before the bank robberies; it also mentions, in addition to Rubilar, the two people he was said to be holding as hostages as he was running away on August 2, 1980. In view of this evidence, the Commission has come to the conviction that Santiago Rubilar was executed by government agents in violation of his human rights.
         
         On November 7, 1980, the MIR activists Rubén Eduardo ORTA JOPIA, an electrician, and Juan Ramón OLIVARES PEREZ, a worker, were killed in Santiago. According to the official account, at 1:20 a.m., CNI members are said to have halted a Citroneta that was driving along Avenida Domingo Santa Maria near the Vivaceta Bridge. The official account assumes that the two people in the car were trying to attack the CNI garrison which was nearby. They fired a burst of automatic weapons fire at the agents when they approached. The report also says that the car was carrying a variety of weapons.
         
         However, the Commission received testimony indicating that CNI agents had arrested both of these people earlier that day. The story that they had tried to attack a CNI garrison while driving an old Citroneta, and that none of the agents were wounded by the burst of automatic weapons fire shot at them is implausible. The bodies, moreover, showed signs of torture. For all these reasons, the Commission has come to the conviction that Rubén Eduardo Orta and Juan Ramón Olivares were executed by CNI agents in violation of their human rights.
         
         On January 18, 1981, Leandro Abraham ARRATIA REYES, 36, a photographer and CP activist, was killed. He had returned to Chile legally in October 1980. The official account stated that as CNI members were trying to arrest Leandro Arratia in the early morning, he resisted and climbed on top of a house at Calle Ricardo Santa Cruz No. 651 in the district of Santiago. The officers were forced to use their police weapons and shot him down. The Commission received statements by his relatives to the effect that early on the morning of January 14, 1981, security forces searched his house in the Conchalí district. They demanded that he cooperate with them by identifying old friends and providing information on their activities. His relatives also say that on January 16, an individual came up to him while he was waiting for a bus. There was no further word on him until the official account.
         
         In the judicial investigation, a CNI agent who was involved in the operation in which Arratia was killed said that he had been assigned to investigate his activities. Furthermore, the autopsy report says some of his bullet wounds came from being shot from behind, and hence it is at odds with the official version. Keeping in mind the previous accounts, Arratia's political activity, the search of his house, the surveillance over him, and other evidence gathered, the Commission has come to the conclusion that he was executed by CNI members in violation of his human rights.
         
         Neltume
         

         In mid-1981, small farmers in the area of Neltume in the Tenth Region, reported that there was a guerrilla camp in the area. The guerrillas were MIR activists who had secretly returned to the country as part of what they called "Operation Return." They tried to set up a base in the Andes in southern Chile so that the leaders of their organization could later establish headquarters. With this information in hand, CNI agents dispatched from Santiago and members of the police and the army began an intensive operation.
         
         In July 1981, members of the security forces discovered the camp, which was still being built. They seized a large amount of equipment and documentation. The guerrillas fled up into the mountains with agents in pursuit. In August the MIR decided to send two of its members down to the cities below to look for food and renew contacts with their fellow party members. CNI agents detected and caught them, however, and took them to Santiago. These prisoners revealed the site where they were to meet with their comrades and the password they were to use.
         
         On September 13, 1981, agents used this information to kill Raúl Rodrigo OBREGON TORRES, a surveyor, when he came to the site to meet with his comrades. The Commission holds the conviction that he was executed, and that the agents utilized their knowledge of the meeting place and the password. Hence the official version which, like other similar reports, was spread through DINACOS reports claiming that people had been killed in gun battles, is false.
         
         On September 17, security forces killed Pedro Juan YAÑEZ PALACIOS, an electrician's assistant who had become separated from the group because he was in poor physical condition due to the adverse weather they had to endure, and because one of his comrades had amputated his frozen and gangrenous foot. Hence the Commission came to the conviction that it is highly improbable that he would have offered resistance.
         
         Around this time the group split, and three members went toward the area of Remeco Alto, to the house of a relative of one of them, in order to obtain food. The people in the house themselves alerted the soldiers to their presence. The soldiers caught them in their sleep and killed them. Patricio Alejandro CALFUQUIR HENRIQUEZ and Próspero del Carmen GUZMAN SOTO, both workers, were killed inside the house, which was completely destroyed by the shooting. José Eugenio MONSALVE SANDOVAL, also a worker, managed to flee a few yards from the house, but was caught and executed. The Commission has verified that none of these three people offered resistance before being killed. This all happened September 20, 1981.
         
         On September 21, the two members of the groups who had been arrested at the outset, René Eduardo BRAVO AGUILERA and Julio César RIFFO FIGUEROA, both of whom were workers, were executed. They had been brought to the site of the operation from Santiago. The official statement issued by DINACOS does not say how they died nor does it acknowledge the fact that they had been previously arrested. Other CNI reports state that they were arrested but were killed when they tried to escape. That story is hardly credible given the military deployment and the tight security to which they must have been subjected. The omissions in the official statement only confirm this point.
         
         Finally on November 28, 1981, soldiers executed Juan Angel OJEDA AGUAYO, a medical assistant, in Quebrada Honda. The Commission finds credible the account of an eyewitness to the events who says that there was no armed confrontation in this case either.
         
         In considering these events, what was said in Part One, Chapter Two of this report should be kept in mind. The actions or intentions for which those killed may have been responsible and even considerations on the danger they represented must be clearly separated from the lawfulness or unlawfulness of the officials' actions in combating them. Of course governments cannot be expected to fail to combat an insurgency or to do so with inadequate means in order to comply with some standard of behavior. However, it is proper to demand that certain norms governing the use of force be observed under all circumstances.
         
         Bearing this in mind, the Commission believes that in all of the Neltume events but one, the officials who had already arrested two of these people were in a position to apprehend the rest instead of killing them. Its participants may have seen Neltume as the beginning of a guerrilla struggle. However, given the ineptitude and poor condition of the MIR activists who were involved in this operation, and the vast superiority of government forces, it was actually more a police matter than one that was truly military. Since the rational alternative of arresting these people was present in each of these situations, it was not lawful to choose to execute them, let alone to kill people whom they already had physically in their power.
         
         The only real gun battle involved Miguel CABRERA FERNANDEZ, a worker whom police found in Choshuenco and killed in a shootout on October 16, 1981. The Commission believes he was killed in the gun battle, and that his human rights were not violated.
         
         In view of the foregoing, the Commission believes all the other cases were executions in which the human rights of those killed were violated.
         
         On November 10, 1981, Juan Ramón SOTO CERDA, a student, who was active in the Socialist party, Luis Pantaleón PINCHEIRA LLANOS, an accountant who was active in the MIR, and Jaime Alfonso CUEVAS CUEVAS, a worker who was active in the Socialist party, were killed in Santiago. According to the official report, in the early morning hours security forces and four subversives had a gun battle. In the course of the shootout the car they were driving caught fire and three of them were completely burned up. An examination of the map of the events prepared by the investigative police which is found in the case's judicial file established that the security forces did not shoot from the location from which they claimed they had shot, and that the victims could not have fired the shots that hit the CNI vehicle. In view of the evidence gathered, the Commission has come to the conviction that Juan Soto, Luis Pincheira, Jaime Cuevas, and a fourth person who remains unidentified were executed by CNI agents in violation of their human rights.
         
         On December 11, 1981, Sergio Gabriel FLORES DURAN, 29, a MIR "Central Force" leader who was living underground in Chile, and María Verónica CIENFUEGOS CAVIERES, 28, a MIR activist, were killed. The official account of the events issued by DINACOS states that on December 11 during operations following the killing of three members of the investigative police, there was an armed clash with MIR activists at Calle Rivadavia No. 6674 in the San Joaquín district, and that these two people were killed. However, statements by witnesses and other information gathered by the Commission indicate that security agents were following Sergio Flores and María Cienfuegos for some time, and were keeping the building in which they lived under permanent surveillance. Hence they could have arrested them; they did not have to kill them. Indeed, the shape of the operation planned against them, with large numbers of personnel from the CNI, the police and the investigative police, backed up by two helicopters, and the fact that the whole thing was filmed, indicates that the objective was not to arrest Gabriel Flores and María Cienfuegos, but to kill them. In view of the foregoing, the Commission has come to the conviction that they were executed in violation of their human rights.
         
         On December 17, 1981, Iván Alfredo QUINTEROS MARTINEZ, 31, a MIR activist and merchant, was shot down in a gun battle with security agents in front of Callejón Lo Ovalle No. 437, two blocks from bus stop 17 on the Gran Avenida, according to the newspaper. Witnesses have testified that he was riding a bicycle along Callejón Lo Ovalle when he was hit by a Suzuki van driven by CNI members. They threatened him and told him to get up but he could not and fell down again. They then shot him and left him in grave condition; he died shortly afterwards. The autopsy report says that he had been hit by five bullets. Taking into account the evidence gathered, as well as his political activism, the inaccuracy of the official statement, and the fact that he was followed because he was connected to María Cienfuegos and Sergio Flores who had been killed some days before, the Commission has come to the conviction that Iván Quinteros was executed by CNI members, and it regards his death as a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
         
         On April 28, 1983, Daniel MEDEL RIVAS, 30, who was active in the Socialist party, was taken off a long distance bus at the kilometer seven and a half bus stop on the road between Quillota and La Calera by CNI agents who shot and killed him. Taking all this evidence into account, the Commission has come to the conviction that Daniel Medel was executed by CNI members, and it regards his death as a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
         

         Fuenteovejuna
         

         On September 7, 1983, it was officially announced that in operations carried out in response to the killing of the army General Carol Urzúa, who had been the intendant [regional governor] of Santiago, there had been two armed clashes with MIR members connected to the killing. Initially the gun battle was said to have taken place when CNI agents on a routine patrol accidentally found three suspects on the corner of Calles Visviri and Fleming in the eastern part of Santiago. They were said to have responded to a call to halt by shooting and then running to take cover in a house on Calle Fuenteovejuna. They continued shooting at the agents, who received reinforcements from the police and the investigative police. After some time, there was an explosion inside the house where these people were burning documents, and one of them was killed. The other two were said to have suicidally come out firing and to have been gunned down. The next day the newspapers printed another official version, which, contrary to the first one, indicated that the gun battle took place when the government forces hurried to the building where they had taken cover. They had gotten the address through the confessions of other people involved in the murder of General Carol Urzúa. The report stated that the nearby houses in the neighborhood had been evacuated.
         
         What happened was actually quite different. Security agents were aware that underground MIR members were living in the building. The attack on them was planned after the general was killed. A large contingent of security agents from CNI and other services was assembled. After a number of actions that day, including making arrests, they went to this building. There they set up a 50 mm. machine gun and immediately began to shoot. Only after doing so for a few minutes did they ask those inside to surrender. In response Sergio PEÑA DIAS, a veterinarian, and MIR activist who had entered the country clandestinely, came out with his hands behind his neck. As he was approaching the fence in the front yard, two agents shot and killed him at short range with automatic weapons. These events, which the Commission learned through the account of an eyewitness, have enabled it to come to the conviction that Sergio Peña was executed by CNI members, and it regards his death as a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
         
         After the killing of Sergio Peña, Lucía Orfilia VERGARA VALENZUELA, a MIR activist who had entered the country clandestinely and was inside the house, began firing out. The agents immediately went back on the attack. They also shot a flare, which set the house on fire. The other person in the house, Arturo Jorge VILAVELLA ARAUJO, an engineer by profession and a MIR activist who had also entered the country clandestinely, was burned to death. In view of the obvious true purpose of the operation, the Commission believes that these last two persons can also be regarded as executed.
         

         Janaqueo
         

         Also on September 7, there was an official report of another shootout which took place on Calle Janaqueo in Santiago. This case is connected to the previous one and to the search for those responsible for killing General Carol Urzúa. The report said that after the events at Fuenteovejuna, the government agents went to Calle Janaqueo No. 5707 to arrest other people. That proved impossible because those who were inside the building put up armed resistance. In the exchange of fire Hugo Norberto RATIER NOGUERA, an Argentinean who was active in the MIR, was shot down in the yard of his house, and Alejandro SALGADO TROQUIAN, a veterinarian and MIR activist, was killed two blocks from the house as he was fleeing.
         
         With the evidence it has in hand, the Commission has proven that this story is false, since CNI agents shot and killed Salgado point blank as he was approaching his house. He did not offer any resistance. The agents immediately began to shoot with the 50 millimeter machine mounted on a jeep that they had used against the building on Fuenteovejuna. Hugo Ratier was inside the building. They killed him even though he had not attacked them. The agents had previously gathered the neighbors, approximately eighty people, in a local church. The Commission came to the conviction that both of these people were executed by government agents in violation of their human rights.
         
         On November 3, 1983, armed civilians arrested Víctor Hugo HUERTA BEIZA, 52, who was active in the Communist party, on a public thoroughfare in Concepción. Hours later he was killed in a gun battle with CNI agents, according to the official account. At 5:30 p.m. that same day his house was searched; hence he was presumably already in the CNI's hands. The autopsy report states that he was hit by more than ten bullets and that the immediate cause of death was "a cranial and cerebral wound fired from a nine calibre bullet, which from the shape of the wound may have been inflicted with a mounted weapon. The path of the bullet was from back to front." In view of the evidence gathered, the Commission has come to the conviction that Víctor Huerta was executed by CNI agents and that the report that he was killed in a gun battle was not true; hence it regards his death as a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
         
         On December 29, 1983, Juan Elías ESPINOZA PARRA, 35, a MIR activist, was killed as he was walking east on Calle Andes and was arriving at Calle General Barbosa. He died of more than 22 bullet wounds, apparently fired by CNI agents. Some of the shots came from behind, according to the autopsy report. Juan Espinoza, who had entered the country clandestinely, was said to be one of those in charge of keeping records and organizing documentation at a MIR forgery shop. In view of the evidence it has received and statements by witnesses, the Commission has come to the conviction that security agents detected and followed Juan Espinoza, and that even though they could have arrested him, they executed him on a public thoroughfare; it therefore regards his death as a human rights violation committed by government agents.
         
         On July 2, 1984, Héctor Patricio SOBARZO NUÑEZ, a teacher and MIR activist, and Enzo MUÑOZ AREVALO, an active Communist, were killed in Santiago. The official report reads: "On July 2 at 11:50 p.m., CNI agents detected suspects riding in a car along Avenida José Pedro Alessandri very close to the Departamental Traffic Circle. The suspects shot at the security agents from inside their car. The agents shot back and the ensuing gun battle ended with the death of Enzo Muñoz and Héctor Sobarzo."
         
         The evidence gathered reveals that the official version is not truthful. Witnesses have testified that at 11:30 p.m. Enzo Muñoz and Héctor Sobarzo parked the car at the Departamental Traffic Circle in front of the Don Camilo apartment complex. Sobarzo got out to make a phone call. At that moment armed men in plainclothes drove up in a large number of vehicles. They shot at Enzo Muñoz and arrested Héctor Sobarzo, put him in a vehicle, and shot him further on. In view of the evidence gathered, the Commission has come to the conviction that these people were executed by CNI agents, and it regards their deaths as human rights violations for which government agents were responsible.
         
         On July 3, 1984, Ana Alicia DELGADO TAPIA, an agronomist who was active in the Communist party, and Juan Manuel VARAS SILVA, a mechanic and MIR activist, were killed in Callejón Lo Ovalle in a gun battle that followed the one described above. This official account notes that some hours after the other gun battle and as part of the effort to investigate recent attacks in Callejón Lo Ovalle, when the agents came to the 800 block and were carrying out a search, they had a gun battle with three men and a woman, in which Juan Varas and Ana Delgado were killed. The evidence gathered by the Commission, and particularly the fact that the official account of the deaths of Enzo Muñoz and Héctor Sobarzo was false, has enabled the Commission to come to the conviction that these two people were executed by government agents who thus violated their human rights.
         
         In Valparaíso on August 12, 1984, Luis Enrique TAMAYO LAZCANO, 27, who was not politically active, was killed. According to the official account, at noon CNI agents came to Tamayo's house at Calle Tegucigalpa No. 200 in the Progreso shantytown in Cerro Los Placeres. When he saw the security agents he ran away and shot at them. They were forced to respond to his attack, and thus they killed him. However, the evidence gathered by this Commission indicates that the CNI agents violently broke into Enrique Tamayo's house and that he ran out unarmed. A security agent who saw what was happening, shot and killed him on the spot. In view of the evidence gathered, the Commission has come to the conviction that Luis Tamayo was not killed in a shootout, but was executed by CNI agents who thus violated his human rights.
         

         Operation against the MIR leadership in the south
         

         Between August 23-24, 1984, the CNI sent agents from Santiago to the southern part of the country to carry out an operation aimed at eliminating MIR leaders in Concepción, Los Angeles, and Valdivia. Many of the MIR leaders had come into the country illegally and were working underground. Security agents had been following all of them, and hence they were quite clear on the activities in which they were engaged. The official reports issued on these cases all spoke of gun battles in which people were killed. With the various items of evidence it gathered, however, the Commission has come to the conviction that these people were executed.
         
         The first event took place on the morning of August 23, 1984 in Hualpencillo, an area near Concepción. Luciano Humberto AEDO ARIAS, a worker, was executed near his house. Witnesses say that they shot him without ordering him to surrender, and that he offered no resistance.
         
         Hours later the small bus in which Mario Octavio LAGOS RODRIGUEZ, a worker, and Nelson HERRERA RIVEROS, a merchant, were travelling was stopped in the Lorenzo Arenas section of Concepción. The bus had been followed from Talcahuano, and was halted in front of the fruit and vegetable market where there are always many people. Witnesses whom the Commission questioned said that Lagos and Herrera did not offer any resistance, and that they got off the bus unarmed, without hostages, and with their hands in the air. At that moment Mario Lagos was shot in the armpit, thus proving that his hands were up. The autopsy report on Nelson Herrera indicates that he was killed subsequently, with a shot to the head at short range, and while handcuffed as indicated by the marks on his wrists. A camera crew was filming all of these events with National Television equipment. The fact that the TV crew was already set up in that area before the events likewise indicates that this was not a chance gun battle but had been planned beforehand.
         
         At 6 p.m. that same day, August 23, Mario Ernesto MUJICA BARRIOS, a bookkeeper, was shot and killed in the doorway of his house. Testimony examined by the Commission indicates that he did not offer any resistance when he was arrested.
         
         At around the same time Raúl Jaime BARRIENTOS MATAMALA, an office worker, and Rogelio Humberto TAPIA DE LA PUENTE, a forestry engineer, were killed on the road between Valdivia and Niebla. An official report also spoke of a gun battle in this case and mentioned a third person who fled from the scene. The layout of the land makes that highly unlikely. The Commission has information indicating that these two men were arrested in Valdivia and driven to this area to be executed by CNI agents.
         
         The last of these events took place on August 24, and cost the life of Juan José BONCOMPTE ANDREU, an economist. He was caught at home by a large number of agents. He tried to escape through the back of his house but he was surrounded, shot repeatedly, and died on the spot. A number of witnesses have said that he did not offer any resistance, and that the agents killed him when he was completely at their mercy.
         
         In view of statements from many witnesses whom it interviewed, as well as other evidence that has been gathered, and the implausibility of official accounts of how these events took place, this Commission is convinced that these seven people were executed by government agents in violation of their human rights.
         
         On December 15, 1984, Fernando Gabriel VERGARA VARGAS, a MIR activist who had entered the country clandestinely, was killed. According to the official account, CNI members who were patrolling the area of Santa Elvira near Santa Elena, that day intercepted an individual who seemed to be engaged in suspicious activity. When he saw the security agents he shot twice, and they shot back and killed him. The Commission has evidence that CNI agents had been following Fernando Vergara, thus making it doubtful that he was caught by chance. Expert examination has likewise shown that the weapon he supposedly used to fire two shots was not working well, since it had a broken trigger, and presumably it was not used. In view of the foregoing, the Commission has come to the conviction that CNI agents followed, arrested, and executed Fernando Vergara, and it regards his death as a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
         
         On January 3, 1985, Alan William RODRIGUEZ PACHECO, 28, a MIR activist, was killed. According to the official version, the events took place at around 11:15 a.m. on January 3, 1985, when security agents who were entering the property at Calle Victoria No. 2304 in the Maipú district were met by gunshots from inside. They shot back and a half-hour gun battle ensued, which ended when the house caught fire. Alan Rodríguez, who was using a mortar to defend himself, was burned alive.
         
         Witnesses, however, say that on that day a large contingent of security forces came to this site, and they were backed up by a jeep which had a mounted machine gun. CNI agents surrounded the house, which was built of light material, warned Alan Rodríguez to surrender, and then immediately began shooting. He offered no resistance. The official claim that he had a mortar is implausible since he would have caused a great deal of damage and would have injured many agents, but that did not happen. Likewise, since the house completely burned down, it is unlikely that such a weapon would have survived unscathed like the one later exhibited. Hence the Commission believes that Alan Rodriguez was executed by CNI agents who intended not to arrest but to kill him, and it regards his death as a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
         
         On January 19, 1985, two brothers, David MIÑO LOGAN, 31, and Marcelo MIÑO LOGAN, 29, both of whom were active in the MIR, were killed. The newspapers reported that at 2:30 p.m. that day, as security agents were preparing to search the house that the Miño brothers were renting at Avenida Valparaíso and Calle Yungay in Quillota, they were fired upon. The two subversives were killed in the ensuing gun battle. However, a witness said that a large group surrounded the Miño brothers' house and began shooting at it. One of them was killed, and the other was executed when he tried to surrender. The Commission possesses evidence indicating that they did not offer resistance. In view of the evidence gathered, the Commission has come to the conviction that the Miño brothers were executed by CNI agents in violation of their human rights.
         
         On March 29, 1985, Paulina Alejandra AGUIRRE TOBAR, 20, a MIR activist, was killed. According to the official account, on March 27, 1985, weapons were found at a house on Calle Pastor Fernández No. 16100 in Las Condes, where Paulina Aguirre lived. CNI agents removed the weapons and set up surveillance to arrest the occupant. She did not return until Friday, March 29 at 11:15 p.m., and she arrived on foot. CNI agents intercepted her, and warned her to halt and present identification. The account goes on to say that she did stop but then opened her purse, took out a gun and fired three times. They therefore shot back and killed her. The autopsy report says that Paulina Aguirre was hit by two bullets to the head, one in the neck, three in her right hand and two in her left forearm. In view of the large amount of evidence gathered and after examining the site itself, the Commission has come to the conviction that Paulina Aguirre could have been arrested, but instead CNI agents shot and killed her as she was coming home, even though she offered no resistance. Hence it regards her death as a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
         
         On March 29, 1985, two brothers, Eduardo Antonio and Rafael Maurico VERGARA TOLEDO, both of whom were MIR activists, were killed. The newspaper reported that, "On March 29, 1985, at 7:45 p.m. in the area of Las Rejas near Cinco de Abril, three armed criminals attempting to rob a store were caught by police who were patrolling in a van. Having been frustrated, the thieves fought back, and there followed a brief exchange of fire in which police Corporal Marcel Muñoz Cifuentes was wounded, as were Eduardo and Rafael Vergara Toledo. The latter two died on the spot. The third criminal managed to escape."
         
         The evidence gathered by the Commission, including the autopsy reports, enables it to state that both brothers died of multiple trauma from bullet wounds, and that the body of Rafael Vergara had a bullet wound to the back of the neck fired at short range, which was the ultimate cause of his death. The Commission has come to the conviction that Rafael Vergara was executed by government agents when he was already wounded and in the power of his killers, and thus in violation of his human rights. The Commission was unable to determine exactly how the shooting took place, nor how Eduardo Vergara was involved, and thus has determined that he died as a result of the situation of political violence.
         
         On July 1, 1985, Gilberto de las Mercedes VICTORIANO VELOSO, who had graduated with a degree in social work and was active in the CP, was killed. The official account stated: "On July 1, 1985, two individuals who were being pursued by a CNI operational group engaged in a gun battle with security forces which broke out at 10:05 a.m. at the intersection of Avenidas Los Morros and Alejandro Guzmán, near bus stop no. 31 on Gran Avenida. One of them was seriously wounded and died on the way to the Barros Luco Hospital. He was identified as Gilberto Victoriano Veloso. The other, Pablo Yuri González, was only moderately wounded."
         
         This account is contradicted by what an eyewitness told the Commission. This person said that at about 9:45 a.m. a large number of armed civilians came to the area. At that moment the witness saw Victoriano Veloso running and being chased by several armed men. When he realized that there was no escape he shot twice, and was answered with bursts of automatic weapons fire. The CNI agents told him to give up; when he threw his gun on the ground, they shot him down. In view of the foregoing as well as other evidence gathered, the Commission has come to the conviction that he was executed by CNI agents, and that his death was a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
         
         On April 18, 1986, José Daniel MURGA MEDINA, 28, a MIR leader who was privately employed, and Juan Antonio DIAZ CLIFF, 41, who was also a MIR leader and was living underground, were killed in Santiago. The official account said they were subversive criminals who were killed after a battle with security forces. Witnesses have provided information indicating that what really happened was different. Juan Antonio Díaz was walking along Calle Gabriel Palma, when CNI agents shot him point blank. Others say that José Murga got off the bus at the corner of San Alfonso and Tucapel and was heading toward his house. When he crossed Calle General Jarpa witnesses say that they saw him stop in front of armed men in civilian clothing and raise his hands, and that he was then shot down. The autopsy reports indicate that Juan Antonio Díaz died of a bullet wound to the right lung which caused acute blood loss, and that José Daniel Murga died of widespread skeletal and visceral trauma from bullets. Taking into account the evidence gathered, the Commission has come to the conviction that CNI agents followed and executed Juan Antonio Díaz and José Daniel Murga, and it believes that killing them was a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
         
         On December 8, 1986, Marcelino Carol MARCHANDON VALENZUELA, 28, an active CP member, was killed. According to the account provided by DINACOS, at 10:50 p.m. that day Marcelino Marchandon, a subversive, was killed when the CNI barracks on Avenida Santa María in Santiago repelled an attack. Witnesses have testified, however, that he had been arrested December 6 on the street by armed civilians and taken to a secret facility. The autopsy report says that the cause of death was facial, cranial, and encephalic trauma from bullets. Ten bullet wounds were found, along with a number of buckshot wounds. In view of the evidence received, Marchandon's political activity, and the fact of his previous arrest, the Commission has come to the conviction that Marcelino Marchandon was executed by CNI agents, and that his death was a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
         

         Operation Albania
         

         In June 1987 CNI agents carried out the so-called "Operation Albania" or the "Corpus Christi massacre" against members of the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (FPMR). These killings were justified to the public on the grounds that they were the result of several successive gun battles. The agents were also said to be carrying out a court order and in the presence of a military prosecutor. This latter claim was subsequently denied.
         
         Events began to unfold early in the morning on June 15, 1987, when Recaredo Ignacio VALENZUELA POHORECKY, an economist, was stopped on Calle Alhué in Santiago a few yards from his mother's house. Without ordering him to surrender, the CNI agents who were lying in wait shot and killed him. Because this account has been affirmed in accounts by witnesses to which this Commission had access, it came to the conviction that he was executed by CNI agents and it regards his killing as a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
         
         At approximately 6:30 p.m. that same day Patricio Ricardo ACOSTA CASTRO was killed on Calle Varas Mena where he lived by a bullet that caused cranial, encephalic and spinomedular trauma. Given the overall context and the manner in which he was killed with a single shot to the brain, the Commission came to the conviction that he was executed by government agents in violation of his human rights.
         
         Shortly after midnight a few blocks away at Calle Varas Mena No. 417, a further action took place, and two people lost their lives. An FPMR guerrilla school was located at this address. At that moment three members were inside, and an undetermined number of students were toward the back of the building. For some time the building had been surrounded, and agents were in position in neighboring houses. At that moment a large number of agents knocked on the door and ordered those inside to come out. The agents almost immediately drove a vehicle into the door to knock it down and began to shoot from different directions. The people in the back of the house fled, and some were apprehended in the neighborhood. Those who were inside the house shot back at the agents for a time and then also tried to escape.
         
         The first one, Juan Waldemar HENRIQUEZ ARAYA, an engineer, was killed when he tried to escape through the attic of the house next door (No. 415). The Commission cannot regard his killing as a human rights violation, but rather it believes he died as a result of the situation of political violence, since he could not be expected to do anything but defend himself against his aggressors who obviously intended to kill him.
         
         Wilson Daniel HENRIQUEZ GALLEGOS, a worker, who was wounded, sought refuge in the back yard of the house next door (No. 419), which the agents had left by this time. The woman who owned the house saw him and motioned to him to give up, but he refused to do so. Accounts by witnesses indicate that after some time another group of agents came in and made the family go into the bedroom. They seized Wilson Henríquez and began to taunt him: they beat him and dragged him out to the street; they said they were going to take him back inside so he would not catch cold. They then killed him. According to the autopsy report, his body bore twenty-one bullet holes. The Commission has come to the conviction that Wilson Henríquez was executed by CNI agents and regards his death as a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
         
         Meanwhile in the Villa Olímpica area of the capital yet another person was killed by CNI agents. Julio Arturo GUERRA OLIVARES, an electrician, was in his apartment when security agents surrounded it. His captors started a gun battle, which was observed by witnesses. When it was over, he was executed by being shot at short range. In view of the foregoing, and taking into account the fact that he was at the mercy of his captors, this Commission regards his death as a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
         
         The last episode took place early in the morning that same day on Calle Pedro Donoso in the Conchalí district and cost the lives of the greatest number of people: Esther Angélica CABRERA HINOJOSA, unemployed, Elizabeth Edelmira ESCOBAR MONDACA, a domestic servant, Patricia Angélica QUIROZ NILO, a student, Ricardo Hernán RIVERA SILVA, a driver, Ricardo Cristián SILVA SOTO, a student, Manuel Eduardo VALENCIA CALDERON, an electrical mechanic, and José Joaquín VALENZUELA LEVI, a student.
         
         Once more the official account claimed that these people were killed in a gun battle. It also said that one person escaped and that some of the agents were wounded. The Commission has rejected that account by reason of the following considerations: there were no signs of shots having been fired from inside the building; bullet marks on the floor indicated that some of the victims had been shot from above, presumably while they were in a squatting position; it is unlikely that someone would have fled from the house, as claimed in the official account, since the house is completely enclosed; it was not possible to verify that any agents had been wounded as had been stated publicly; and finally, the lack of CNI cooperation in the legal process that sought to clarify this situation should be taken into account. Not only did the agents involved not testify; their real names were not provided, nor were the weapons alleged to have been captured in the house brought forward. In view of the foregoing, the Commission has come to the conviction that these seven people were executed by government agents in violation of their human rights.
         
         A further general observation should be made. It is not very likely that there would be so many gun battles leaving so many people dead in a few hours. Hence, these events were presumably planned in advance.
         
         On December 20, 1988, Guillermo Eugenio RODRIGUEZ SOLIS, a street vendor, was killed. The CNI issued a statement that he was killed at 11:30 p.m. that day in a gun battle with CNI agents in front of the building located on Avenida Manuel Rodríguez No. 369. However, witnesses have said that there was no such gun battle, but rather that he was stopped, beaten, and shot by armed civilians. Moreover, the autopsy report says that there were no powder burns on his fingers, thus indicating that he had not fired any weapon. In view of the evidence gathered and statements by witnesses, the Commission has come to the conviction that Guillermo Rodríguez was executed by CNI agents and that his death was a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.
         
         

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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 Three (A.2.a), 645-659.
Note: Digitized and posted by permission of the University of Notre Dame Press, February 22, 2000.