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f)
Death of Jaime Ignacio Ossa Galdames
Personal background information:
Date of birth:
October 2, 1943
Identity certificate:
4.529.032 of Santiago Domicile:
Argentina 9156, Comuna la Cisterna Civil
status: Single Profession:
Professor of Spanish at the Catholic University and the Night
Secondary Lyceum Juan Bosco
He was arrested in his domicile on October 20, 1975, between
midnight and 12:30, by 5 persons who identified themselves orally as
belonging to the Military Intelligence Service (among them a woman), all
of whom had come to the house of Ossa an hour before. The arrest took
place at the moment Ossa arrived at his house and it was in the presence
of his parents.
The day following the arrest, a number of the family of Ossa
talked with one of the persons who carried out the arrest, who
identified himself as a member of the DINA. The first information that
was obtained concerning the detained person was obtained by means of a recurso
de amparo, with a report on October 27, 1975, from the Ministry of
the Interior informing the Court of Appeals that Ignacio Sossa Galdames
“was under detention in the Campamento 4 Alamos.” On December 1,
they were told in the office of that agency, that there was no
information whatever concerning the arrest of Ossa Galdames and that the
report of the Ministry of the Interior had been declared null by order
of that Ministry itself. In view of this, there was presented to the
pertinent Criminal Court a criminal complaint and, before the Court of
Appeals, a new request for a recurso de amparo.
On December 11, 1975, through the Medical Legal Institute, it was
learned that, not having been claimed by members of his family, the body
of Jaime Ignacio Sossa Galdames had been put in a common grave in the
General Cemetery. The death certificate stated that the person affected
had died on October 25, in the public thoroughfare, from an abdominal
vertebral trauma. g)
Deaths of Alberto Gallardo, Roberto Gallardo, Catalina
Gallardo and Mónica Pacheco and Luis Andrés Gangas Torres
On November 19, 1975, the Information Headquarters of the
Government announced that a violent confrontation with shooting took
place between members of the DINA and Investigations and 6
“extremists” who were dead in the Rinconada de Maipú. In one of its
parts, the report stated: “With supplementary investigation, it has
been possible to come to the following conclusions: the dead extremists
are Mónica del Carmen Pacheco Sánchez, alias Miriam, belonging to the
MIR, 26 years of age, teacher of Basic Education in School 457 of
Quilicura, married to Roberto Gallardo Moreno, alias Juan, likewise of
the MIR, who was killed in the shooting that took place in School Nº
51, last Monday. Catalina Esther Gallardo Moreno, likewise belonging to
the MIR, 30 years of age, sister of Roberto Gallardo Moreno; Manuel
Lautaro Reyes Garrido, also belonging to the MIR, Alberto Gallardo
Pacheco, belonging to the proscribed Communist Party; Luis Andrés
Gangas Torres, alias Jaime or Lucho Cárcamo, belonging to the MIR,
trained in Moscow, and Pedro Blas Cortés Jeldes, belonging to the
Communist Party, alias Marcos.” However, things were completely
different, according to the explanation in the request for a recurso
de amparo presented to the Court of Appeals of Santiago, on
Thursday, November 20, on behalf of three of these victims, by a member
of their immediate family. This recurso was entered on behalf of
Alberto Recaredo Gallardo Pacheco, his daughter Catalina and his
daughter-in-law Mónica del Carmen Pacheco.
In the request for the recurso, it was indicated that
Catalina Gallardo, on Tuesday, November 18, at 11 o’clock in the
morning, came to the house of one of her sisters, in anguish because of
the disappearance of a brother of both, Roberto, who had not come home
the preceding night. Catalina remained all day at the house of her
sister and, at 7 in the evening, her sister-in-law, Mónica Pacheco
arrived, three months pregnant, seriously worried about the fate of her
husband since they had not heard anything from him. They both thought
that he was implicated in a confrontation that had occurred the night of
Monday, November 17, at the School Nº 51 in Calle Bío-Bío, Santiago.
At 10 o’clock at night, 6 individuals dressed in civilian
clothes came, carrying machine-guns, and they took away the three women,
with a child of 6 years, son of Catalina Gallardo, after requesting
identification of the husbands of Catalina and Mónica Pacheco.
They were taken to the headquarters at General MacKenna, and at
the main entrance they saw Alberto Gallardo, his wife, Ofelia Moreno,
and their granddaughter, Viviana, 9 years of age, and their son
Guillermo Gallardo.
When they entered the headquarters of Investigations, they were
separated. Mónica remained on the first floor and the rest of the group
were taken to the basement and remained in the hallway without being
able to speak. The father, Alberto Gallardo, and his son Guillermo were
interrogated separately. The father remained in a room and,
subsequently, Catalina Gallardo and her sister-in-law, Mónica Pacheco,
were separated from the group. They were interrogated approximately an
hour and a half. They heard screams and the disturbance this caused to
the personnel of investigations.
At 5 in the morning, the sister of Roberto Gallardo heard her
father calling: she went out of the room where she was and she saw him
alive.
At 8:45 in the morning of Wednesday, the 19th, the
said person was left at liberty with his mother, his brother Guillermo
and the two minors. Before that, he had been informed that his brother,
Roberto Gallardo, had died in a confrontation on Monday night at School
Nº 51, that his father and his sister had been delivered to the DINA,
since they would know what to do with the detainees, and that his
sister-in-law had been taken to another prefecture of investigations.
Separately, the mother of Luis Andrés Gangas Torres related, as
follows, the incident that culminated in the assassination of her son.
On Wednesday, November 19, at 3 in the morning, the following persons
were detained in her house in Calle San Pablo 1955: Doña Ester Torres,
mother of Luis Andrés, and her sons: Renato, Mauricio, and Francisco
Javier Gangas Torres, 24, 18 and 20 years of age.
The persons who made the arrest did not exhibit any order and
they forced open the lock on the door to the street. Having completed a
search, they asked for Luis Andrés, who was not living with his mother.
Then, they blindfolded the 4 persons, put them in a vehicle and took
them to Villa Grimaldi. They separated the sons from the mother and
began to interrogate them. She heard their screams and an individual who
was guarding her threatened her with identical treatment if she would
not tell them the whereabouts of her son.
She was confident that justice would give opportunity for the
defense of Luis Andrés, if he was involved in some political matter,
and, in view of the suffering of her sons, she decided to reveal to the
DINA the place where her son, Luis Andrés, was.
The mother of Luis Andrés led the members of the DINA to the
house of her father. There she saw that the block was surrounded by
innumerable people and vehicles. They penetrated the house violently and
arrested Luis Andrés.
Luis Andrés and his mother were put in an auto. On the way to
Villa Grimaldi, the young man was questioned about his political
militancy. He denied that he was a militant of the MIR and that he had
borne arms. When they arrived at Villa Grimaldi, Luis Andrés was taken
to a place apart. Ester Torres rejoined her three sons.
At approximately 4 in the morning, they arrived at Cuatro Alamos,
and Luis Andrés was left in Villa Grimaldi.
h)
Death of Oscar Arrow Yáñez
He was detained on Friday, September 26, at 4 o’clock in the
afternoon at his place of work, ENACAR, Teaching Section, Concepción,
where he was working as a lathe operator.
The supervisor of the Company informed his wife, Mary del Carmen
Nurín Castro, that a carabinero came to “talk” with her husband.
Upon leaving the plant, they put him in a white Fiat 125. A relative
told her of the arrest and she went to her mother’s house. While she
was on her way there, she was detained by the police. They put her in
the vehicle in which her husband was, and they took both of them to
their house, which was searched.
The following day, Arrow Yáñez was taken again to his house.
They told his wife that they had brought him there so he could wash
himself and change his clothes.
“My husband was emaciated, pale, talking incoherently, as
though he were crazy and could not speak. I helped him wash, he could
not do it by himself, and I saw his beaten body. I asked him why it was
that way and he said they had hit him a lot.”
Arrow Yáñez was put in the auto again, he was able to say
goodbye to his son, and that was the last time they saw him alive.
On Sunday, the 28th, he was found in the public
thoroughfare, in a place called “Calero,” in Lota Alto, by a
carabinero. He died as he was being taken to the hospital.
The death certificate issued by the Hospital stated that the
cause of death was acute anemia brought about by bullet wounds and the
bad treatment received. A relative visited him in the Medical Legal
Institute and was prepared to present information to a court stating
that the body was mutilated, the testicles inflamed, and that there was
a perforation in the thorax and another in a wrist.
i)
Andrés Nicanor Cortés Navarro
Personal background information:
Age:
17 years
Civil status:
Single
Domicile:
Barrancas
Profession:
Ironing worker
Andrés Nicanor Cortés Navarro was shot on September 19, 1975,
at 2:30 in the morning, in the public thoroughfare by a uniformed man
who got out of a private truck with two other men.
Cortés Navarro, was with two brothers, his sister-in-law and a
nephew in a house that was authorized for Patriotic Festivals by the
Mayoress of Santiago. They stayed there until one-thirty in the morning
of the 19th, and at that time they left for home, which was 5
blocks from the place. They went by a place where alcoholic liquors are
sold, to buy a demijohn, since they were going to stay up to see a
tennis match that was being transmitted by television at 6 in the
morning.
The place they entered was two blocks from their house. They left
there, walked a block and a half, and it was two-thirty when they were
stopped by a private truck driven by a member of the Chilean Army, in
olive-green uniform, who was accompanied by two other uniformed members
of the Army. These two carried machine guns. The chauffeur stopped them
with filthy language and asked them for their identity cards.
The driver got out of the truck; his two companions got out, and
they again asked for the documentation. The sister-in-law of Nicanor
Cortés was frightened and ran to the house with her little boy; the
house was about 100 meters away. Nicanor, seeing that they were going to
fire at his sister-in-law, thrust himself in the way and cried at them
not to do it. The uniformed man shot 4 times into Nicanor; twice in the
chest and twice in the leg beside the testicles. The driver of the truck
ordered them in a loud voice to finish him off. These cries were heard
by neighbors who had been awakened by the pistol shots.
j)
Death of Dagoberto Pérez Vargas
The national media reported on October 16 and 17, 1975, that, in
a confrontation between members of the Intelligence Headquarters (DINA)
and members of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), which
occurred in the night of Wednesday, October 15, in the property Santa
Eugenia, the locality of Malloco of the Province of Santiago, a leader
of that group in opposition to the government of the Military Junta,
Dagoberto Pérez Vargas, had died.
According to information published in “El Mercurio”
(17-10-75), “On Wednesday afternoon, members of the National
Intelligence Headquarters [DINA] dressed in civilian clothes went to the
main entrance of the property accompanied by two functionaries of the
Carabineros from Padre Hurtado.” According to this same source, these
agents knew that a cell of this movement existed in that place, and the
DINA planned to carry out a search.
“As soon as,” reports “El Mercurio,” “the uniformed
police arrived at the big wooden door of the property, a rain of bullets
from a point 30 machine gun closed off the passage for the military
personnel.” There was then an intense exchange of fire which increased
when the DINA called in reinforcements. The leader, Dagoberto Pérez,
who continued firing in order to cover the flight of his companions,
fell mortally wounded. Another four persons, according to this source,
had fled.
However, according to the version of a witness to the
confrontation (who lived in the vicinity), which has not been
sufficiently verified, Dagoberto Pérez Vargas had not died in the
confrontation but had been seriously wounded and was in a state of
semi-consciousness. In that condition, he had been taken to some unknown
place to be interrogated and had then died. According to this source,
Dagoberto Pérez was still able to move at the time he was taken from
the place of the confrontation.
On October 22, the morning newspaper “Las Últimas Noticias,”
reported that “until the late hours of yesterday (October 21), no one
had claimed or identified the body” of Dagoberto Pérez Vargas. In the
same news item, it was stated that “the background information
obtained from sources close to the Legal Medical Institute indicate that
Dagoberto Pérez arrived at that place in the morning of Friday (October
17), the day the autopsy was carried out, with numerous bullet holes in
his body.
“Until yesterday,” “Las Últimas Noticias” continues,
“the body appears as N.N. of masculine sex and no one has come to
claim it or identify it.”
Contradicting this information, members of the family of
Dagoberto Pérez Vargas went, for the first time, precisely on Friday,
October 17, to the Medical Legal Institute where they were denied the
body of that person. Surprisingly, then, these same members of the
family were informed, in the same Medical Legal Institute, that the body
of Dagoberto Pérez Vargas had been buried in common grave Nº 5588 or Nº
5589, in patio 26, of the General Cemetery of Santiago, the preceding
Wednesday, December 10. The reason that was adduced was that “no one
had come to claim or identify” his body, just as the facts are
reported in the morning newspaper “Las Últimas Noticias.” B.
Persons detained and presumed to be dead
16.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, in its first
report, indicated that the number of cases of persons who had
disappeared after their detention and whose whereabouts are unknown was
very large. This constituted, certainly, one of the factors that caused
the most disquiet and anguish in the Chilean family. With the passage of
time and thanks to the measures adopted by the Government of Chile, by
private organizations and by the High Commissioner for Refugees of the
United Nations, the problem of disappeared persons has diminished
numerically, but it has become more seriously qualitatively. The fate of
the majority of the thousands of disappeared persons has been clarified
and has been reduced to a figure that varies between 153 and 168
persons. The list has been stabilizing, even though from time to time
some names are taken off and others are put on. That figure pertains to
the category of persons who have been detained, have disappeared and are
presumed to be dead, considering the length of time that has passed
since their detention and other indications, related to the place of
detention and the circumstances of the respective detentions, all
efforts to determine their whereabouts having been exhausted.
17.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has received a
large number of communications related to this category of detained
persons, who have disappeared and are presumed to be dead, including
voluminous news reports published in the Chilean and international
press. In view of the impossibility of referring to all this material,
in large part repetitive and frequently contradictory, the Commission
prefers to take as a point of departure the information and the
statistical data which have been consistently set forth in the requests
for the designation of an Extraordinary Visiting Minister presented to
the Supreme Court of Chile by Monsignor Fernando Ariztia Ruiz, Bishop of
the Catholic Church and other representatives of various churches, the
most recent of which is dated September 5, 1975.
18.
The substantial parts of the allegations of the proposers of this
designation, before the Supreme Court, are the following:
In any organized society such as ours, no one is above the law;
we are all subject to the law. No one in such a society can consider
himself the arbiter of the life of another person, nor carry out any act
that even places in danger his security and integrity. If this,
unfortunately, happens, it is the Courts of Justice that must intervene,
investigating the facts and sanctioning those responsible, with the
objective of avoiding the repetition of this conduct.
This has always been understood by the Supreme Court, which has
been extremely vigilant over any fact or circumstance that places in
danger human life or seriously perturbs the peace of the national
community, [which has manifested its concern] by ordering an
investigation of the facts or by expressing its disquiet to the
Government leaders and warning them of the pernicious consequences.
The disappearance of persons who have been arrested in conformity
with the standards of the state of siege, that is, when those persons
are in the custody, and under the tutelage, control and vigilance of the
State, is certainly a circumstance of this nature.
Therefore, we do not doubt but that the Court is going to order
an investigation of this. However, in order that the dimensions of the
requested investigation may not diminish its efficacy, we request that
this be initiated and centered in a preferential manner on the situation
of the 188 persons arrested and concerning whose whereabouts there has
been no news, whose names appear in the list that is attached as an
appendix to this petition, the circumstances of whose arrest are
attested in the sworn declarations that accompany the list.
The inquiries to which allusion is made should, in addition,
necessarily include the fate of the individuals listed in the weekly
publication LEA of Buenos Aires, and the Daily O’DIA, of Curitiba,
Brazil, which have been reprinted in the national press of Chile,
between July 18 and 23 of this year, which names are also included in
the list attached to this petition. (…)
The first newspaper to comment on these events was the Daily El
Mercurio which, in its editorial of August 3, 1975, stated that “the
subject is certainly one that cannot be overlooked, since it concerns
the fate of more than a hundred Chileans, the members of whose families
are suffering because of their disappearance…,’ adding, in the
same article, that ‘the humane thing is to do everything possible
to find the disappeared persons…” Subsequently, the magazine
“MENSAJE,” in its Nº 241 of August, 1975, under the title “WHERE
ARE THEY?” presented 4 disquieting questions: “Where are these 119
Chileans?; if they are dead, where are their bodies?; Could they all
have been liberated and have crossed the frontier clandestinely under
false names to be operating now under their true identity?; Could the
members of their families have sworn falsely?” This goes on in the
magazine “QUÉ PASA,” which, in its edition Nº 225, of August 14,
1975, asserts, under the suggestive or disquieting headline “Are 119
Chileans Missing?” that “the gist of the problem is that 119
Chileans are missing, that they are alleged to have been killed on
foreign territory: but that the last trace of them was lost in Chile
and some of them are asserted to be under detention here. Their
identity as Miristas [members of the MIR] or extremists is a mere
suspicion; even if they were, however, obviously, their rights as
Chileans and as human beings would be the same. And, in short, a
rapid reply to the anguish of their families is due.”
Important foreign newspapers reaffirm the disquiet that is
expressed in the national press. We mention only “The Financial
Times” of July 29, 1975, “Le Monde” of August 6, 7, 10 and 11,
1975, “The New York Times” of August 3, 1975, and the magazine TIME
of August 18, 1975.
The Secretary of State to whom allusion has been made has given
indications of this concern about the problem that has been presented,
in ordering the personnel of the civilian police, according to a report
in EL MERCURIO of August 5, 1975, to carry out an investigation “to
determine the origin of the list of about a hundred Chileans, presumably
affiliated with the MIR, who are said to have died in armed
confrontations.”
Unfortunately, the Minister of the Interior himself, certainly
without realizing it, gave a certain amount of authenticity to the
reports in the Daily NOVO O’DIA of Curitiba, Brazil, and the magazine
LEA, Buenos Aires, by citing the lists and reports published in them
without significant analysis and questioning, in a letter which he sent
to the members of families who were affected, a copy of which is
attached hereto.
Undoubtedly, Honorable Court, the act which demonstrates most the
public alarm which has been caused by the situation of the persons who
have been arrested and have disappeared and who are said to be dead in
foreign countries, is the speech made by the President of the Republic,
General don Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, on August 20 of this year. On that
occasion, speaking from the balcony of the Consistorial Building of San
Bernardo, the Chief of State announced that he had “ordered an
investigation of the news from abroad about the fate of 119 Chileans,”
as was reported in the Daily EL MERCURIO of August 21 of this year.
(…)
This Committee of Churches and religious communities, during the
months from March to May of this year, at the request of the members of
the families of the persons who had been arrested and had disappeared,
decided to carry out a complete study of the state of affairs, which it
has now been bringing up to date. The accounts and testimony presented
by the affected members of families and analyzed, as well as the
statements in the recursos de amparo that have been presented to
the Court of Appeals of Santiago, in the denunciations and formal
complaints entered in the various Criminal Courts; and consideration has
been given to the extent to which they have been given official
cognizance, to the official replies and reports, and to the letters that
have been sent to members of families by the various governmental
authorities and the International Red Cross, etc.
From all of this, the following can be inferred:
1.
That practically all of the persons arrested, about whom there
has been no news whatever, were arrested by civilian functionaries who
did not identify themselves at the time of carrying out the arrests,
even though they asserted that they were members of the National
Intelligence Headquarters (DINA), and who were operating without being
provided with an order issued by a competent authority, or at least
without exhibiting such an order or intimating that they possessed it in
legal form.
2.
That a large number of these arrests were carried out in the
house of the affected persons, during the hours of curfew, or in their
places of work. In some instances, the functionaries carrying out the
arrests remained for several days in the dwelling of the affected
person, even keeping the entire family group under arrest.
3.
That, during the first half of 1974, of a total of 1,436 persons
that we register as having been arrested, 690 disappeared for a period,
and 182 continue to have disappeared.
4.
That, during the first half of 1974, the average length of time
that the arrested persons disappeared was 57 days, 21 days during the
second half of 1974, and 10 days, after the issuance of Decree-Laws 1008
and 1009.
5.
That the total number of persons arrested during the period from
January 1974 to June 1975, who continue to have disappeared, is 629.
6.
That, on behalf of those persons, requests for recursos de
amparo and petitions for ordinary justice have been presented, so
that at present not less than 220 complaints and denunciations for
presumed failure of justice, illegal arrest and sequestration are in
process before the 11 Criminal Courts of First Instance of Santiago, the
4 of the Department of Pedro Aguirre Cerda, and those in San Bernardo,
Talagante and Melipilla.
From the background information that is set forth, it was
concluded that the problem of the persons who had been arrested and had
disappeared was a collective problem which could not be resolved
individually, case by case, but which would require a common
investigation carried out by a Magistrate of the highest rank. As a
result of the studies, a list was prepared of the persons arrested
during 1974 and the first three months of 1975, about whom there had
been no news whatever after the moment of their arrest, who had
continued to have disappeared for not less than a month, and in whose
cases the act of arrest is attested to by members of the families or by
trustworthy third persons who were prepared to declare this under oath
before a Notary Public.
This gave birth to the list of 163 persons who have been arrested
and have disappeared, for whom a request was made on July 4, 1975, for
the designation of a Visiting Minister who would devote himself to
investigating this situation.
We have now brought this list up to date, using the same basic
criteria that we have described, but extending the list to persons
arrested during the first half of this year. The number on the list has
now increased to 188 disappeared persons.
There exists, therefore, background information, documents, and
statements of witnesses, which are sufficient with respect to 188
persons who have been arrested and have disappeared, to initiate and
carry out a judicial-penal investigation. 19. For the purpose of clarifying the facts mentioned in the petition of September 5, 1975, to the Supreme Court of Chile, as well as in other communications and denunciations received by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it was decided to request by note from the Ministers of Foreign Relations of Argentina and Brazil, the following information:
Mr. Minister:
The General Assembly of the Organization of American States, in
its last session, provided that this Commission must prepare a second
report concerning the situation of human rights in the Republic of
Chile, which would permit an evaluation of the changes that have
occurred in this respect since August 1, 1974, the date of the
completion of the observation in loco that we carried out in
Chilean territory, and on the basis of which we prepared our previous
report.
In the course of the work that has been carried out to comply
with this mandate, the Commission has learned of the denunciations that
have appeared in an Argentine magazine and in a Brazilian newspaper,
according to which a total of approximately 119 Chilean citizens, after
crossing the frontiers of their country, are said to have been killed,
most of them in the Republic of Argentina, either in guerrilla battles
with the public forces or, in some cases, in fights or confrontations
among themselves.
The Commission has great reservations about the sources of these
reports, since the Argentine magazine which is cited is “Lea”, year
1, Nº 1, with an indication that the editorial offices, on the date of
appearance of this edition (July 15, 1975), was Calle Brandsen Nº 1845
(Buenos Aires). And the Brazilian newspaper, “O Novo Día,” of the
city of Curitiba, with editorial offices on the date of appearance of
this edition (June 25, 1975) at Praça Osorio, 1st Floor,
Apartment 104, appears not to be published at regular intervals.
Nevertheless, Mr. Minister, in view of the seriousness of the
acts that are denounced and the anguish which such news reports have
caused to the families of those who are indicated as the presumed
victims, this Commission considers that it has the duty of requesting
the assistance of your illustrious Government in clarifying the case.
The persons who are indicated to have disappeared and who are
presumed to be dead are:
Information from the weekly “LEA” of Buenos Aires: 1.
ACUÑA REYES, René Roberto 2.
AGUILERA PEÑALOZA, Arturo 3.
ANDRONICO ANTEQUERA, Jorge 4.
ARROYO PADILLA, David 5.
ARÉVALOS MUÑOZ, Víctor 6.
ALVARADO BORGEL, María Inés 7.
BINFA CONTRERAS, Jacqueline del Carmen 8.
BUENO CIFUENTES, Carmen 9.
BUSTOS REYES, Sonia 10.
CABEZAS QUIJADA, Antonio 11.
CARRASCO DÍAZ, Mario 12.
CONTRERAS GONZÁLEZ, Alejandro 13.
CUBILLOS GALVEZ, Carlos 14.
CHACÓN OLIVARES, Juan 15.
CHAER VÁSQUEZ, Roberto 16.
CHANFREAU OYARCE, Alfonso 17.
DE CASTRO LÓPEZ, Bernardo 18.
DOCKENDORFF NAVARRETE, Muriel 19.
DOUILLY JURICH, Jacqueline 20.
ELGUETA PINTO, Martín 21.
ESPINOZA MÉNDEZ, Jorge 22.
FLÓRES PÉREZ, Julio 23.
FUENTES RIQUELME, Luis 24.
GAETE FARÍAS, Gregorio 25.
GARAY HERMOSILLA, Héctor 26.
GALLARDO AGUIERO, Néstor 27.
GAJARDO WOLF, Carlos 28.
GONZÁLEZ INESTROZA, María Elena 29.
IBARRA TOLEDO, Juan 30.
JORQUERA ENCINA, Mauricio 31.
LABRADOR URRITIA, Ramón 32.
LAGOS HIDALGO, Sergio 33.
LARA PETROVIC, Eduardo 34.
LÓPEZ DÍAZ, Violeta 35.
MACHUCA MUÑOZ, Zacarías 36.
MUÑOZ ANDRADE, Leopoldo 37.
MARTÍNEZ MEZA, Agustín 38.
MIRANDA LOBOS, Eduardo 39.
MORALES CHAPARRO, Edgardo 40.
MONTECINOS ALFARO, Sergio 41.
NEIRA MUÑOZ, Marta 42.
ORTIZ MORAGA, Jorge 43.
PALOMINOS BENÍTEZ, Vicente 44.
PALOMINOS ROJAS, Luis Jaime 45.
PEÑA SOLARI, Nilda 46.
POBLETE CÓRDOVA, Pedro 47.
QUIÑÓNEZ LEMBACH, Marcos 48.
RADRIGAN PLAZA, Anselmo 49.
REYES NAVARRETE, Sergio 50.
REYES PIÑA, Daniel 51.
SANDOVAL RODRÍGUEZ, Miguel 52.
SILVA PERALTA, Claudio 53.
SILVA ZALDÍVAR, Gerardo 54.
TELLO GARRIDO, Teobaldo 55.
URBINA CHAMORRO, Gilberto 56.
SALINAS EYTEL, Marcelo 57.
UGAS MORALES, Rodrigo 58.
VILLAROEL GANGAS, Víctor 59.
VILLALOBOS DÍAZ, Manuel 60.
ZIEDA GÓMEZ, Eduardo Information
from the Daily “O’Novo Dia” of Brazil: 1.
AEDO CARRASCO, Francisco 2.
ACUÑA CASTILLO, Miguel 3.
ARIAS VEGA, Alberto Wladimir 4.
ANDRÓNICO ANTEQUERA, Juan Carlos 5.
ANDREOLI BRAVO, María Angélica 6.
ALARCÓN JARA, Eduardo 7.
BUSTILLOS CERECEDA, María Teresa 8.
BUZIO LORCA, Jaime Mauricio 9.
BARRIAS ARANEDA, Arturo 10.
BRAVO NÚÑEZ, Francisco Javier 11.
CALDERÓN TAPIA, Mario Edgardo 12.
CONTRERAS HERNÁNDEZ, Claudio 13.
CASTRO SALVADORES, Cecilia Gabriela 14.
CHÁVEZ LOBOS, Ismael Darío 15.
CORTES JOO, Manuel 16.
CID URRUTIA, Washington 17.
DURÁN RIVAS, Luis Eduardo 18.
D’ORIVAL BRICEÑO, Jorge Humberto 19.
DE LA JARA GOYENECHE, Félix Santiago 20.
ESPINOZA POZO, Modesto Segundo 21.
ESPEJO GÓMEZ, Rodolfo Alejandro 22.
ELTIT CONTRERAS, María Teresa 23.
FIORASO CHAU, Albano Agustín 24.
GUAJARDO ZAMORANO, Luis Julio 25.
GONZÁLEZ PÉREZ, Rodolfo Valentín 26.
GARCÍA VEGA, Alfredo Gabriel 27.
GONZÁLEZ INESTROZA, Hernán Galo 28.
HERRERA COFRE, Jorge Antonio 29.
JARA CASTRO, José Hipólito 30.
JOUI PETTERSON, María Isabel 31.
LÓPEZ STEWART, María Cristina 32.
LAZO LAZO, Ofelia de la Cruz 33.
LLANCA ITURRA, Mónica 34.
MOLINA MOGOLLONES, Juan René 35.
MARINO MOLINA, Pedro Juan 36.
MORENO GUENZALIDA, Germán 37.
MARCHANT VILLASECA, Rodolfo 38.
MARTÍNEZ HERNÁNDEZ; Eugenia 39.
MATURANA PÉREZ, Juan Bautista 40.
NÚÑEZ ESPINOZA, Ramón Osvaldo 41.
OLIVARES GRAINDORGES, Jorge Alejandro 42.
OLMOS GUZMÁN, Gary Nelson 43.
PEÑA SOLARI, Mario Fernando 44.
PIZARRO MENICONI, Isidro Miguel Angel 45.
PÉREZ VARGAS, Carlos Fredy 46.
PERELMAN IDE, Juan Carlos 47.
RETAMALES BRICEÑO, Asrael Leonardo 48.
REYES GONZÁLEZ, Agustín Eduardo 49.
ROBOTHAM BRAVO, Jaime Eugenio 50.
RÍOS VIDELA, Hugo Daniel 51.
SALCEDO MORALES, Carlos Eladio 52.
SALINAS ARGOMEDO, Ariel 53.
SILVA CAMUS, Fernando 54.
TORO ROMERO, Enrique 55.
URIBE TAMBLAY, Bárbara 56.
VAN JURICK ALTAMIRANO, Edwin 57.
VILLAGRA ASTUDILLO, José Caupolicán 58.
VÁSQUEZ SAEZ, Jaime 59.
ZÚÑIGA TAPIA, Héctor The
Commission would most sincerely appreciate any information that your
Illustrious Government may be able to provide, if possible before
December 31, 1975, the date on which it should have together all the
data for drafting its report, concerning [the newspaper O NOVO DIA and
the weekly LEA] and whatever it may be possible to find out concerning
the sources from which they obtained the information they published. 20. The Governments of Argentina and Brazil have not answered these requests for information.
21.
Of the denunciations received by the Commission in this category,
it has been found that seven meet the formal requirements, including the
detailed information necessary for transmission in conformity with the
special procedure prescribed in articles 53 to 57 of the Regulations of
the Commission. This file comprises Case Nº 1874.
22.
In a note of October 11, 1974, with reference to Case 1874,
information was requested from the Government of Chile, and the
pertinent parts of each denunciation were transcribed for the
Government. These transcribed parts were as follows:
1.
Miguel Salín Nash Sáez, 19 years old, recruit of the
Grenadier Regiment Nº 1, Company B, with seat in Iquique. Discharged,
it appears, on September 13, 1973, arrested and transferred to Pisagua. Marxist
political affiliation. Killed
on September 29, 1973, « for not complying with orders to
‘halt’ during flight which he was attempting with other detained
persons,” according to a communication from General Carlos Forester,
chief of the VI Division of the Army.
2.
Luis Heriberto Contreras Escamilla, 43 years old, married,
resident at Porto Alegre 5742, Población Brasilia, San Miguel, detained
on November 10, 1973, in his domicile, by a uniformed agent of the
Infantry School of San Bernardo. Shot on November 15, the body being
taken from the Medical Legal Institute on November 16 by his wife, Eloísa
Peñaloza, who alleges that the body showed the marks of beating and
torture. The death certificate indicates that he died “in the public
thoroughfare,” even though the daily “El Mercurio,” edition of
November 14, reports that he was detained “for suspicious acts.”
3.
Eugenio Ruiz Tagle Orrego, 26 years old, resident at Alcántara
944, Santiago, who presented himself voluntarily to the authorities when
he was called, in the city of Antofagasta, on September 13, 1973, was
tortured until he died. His mother, Mrs. Alicia V. Orrego de Ruiz Tagle,
after receiving the body of her son, describes the signs of physical
torture observed on it, and which caused his death on October 19, 1973,
in the city of Antofagasta. This information was given to General Joaquín
Lagos and other military authorities of the zona, and to the Under
Secretary of the Interior, Enrique Montero, who was requested to give
permission for exhuming the body “for the purpose of carrying out an
autopsy which would show the form … in which he was assassinated.”
This petition was read in the Council of the Cabinet of the Government
of Chile on October 31, 1973. Mrs. Orrego herself adds that on October
30 she knew that the body of her son had “two bullet wounds,” which
she reported by telephone to one of the Ministers of State.
4.
Arsenio Poupín Oissel, lawyer, resident at Agustinas 715,
office 210, Santiago: Under Secretary of Government up to September 11,
1973, detained in the Moneda Palace on that same day with Messrs.
Eduardo Paredes, Jorge Klein, Claudio Jiménez, Enrique Huerta, Enrique
París Roa, Alfonso Barrios and other high functionaries of the
Government of Dr. Allende. It is alleged that al of them “were first
taken to the headquarters of the Tacna Regiment of Santiago and
subsequently to the Military Camp of Peldehue” and that they were
executed there after being beaten. These reports have been given to the
Commandant of the Tacna Regiment and the Commandant of the Military Camp
at Peldehue. The Ministers of the Interior and Defense refuse to give
any official information on this, and a request for a recurso de
amparo presented on behalf of Mr. Poupín and the other persons
named, before the College of Lawyers of Santiago and before the
Honorable Court of Appeals of that city, on September 23, 1973, entered
in the Court of Appeals with Nº 500 of May 24, 1974, without result.
“Certain detained persons who were in the Headquarters of the Tacna
Regiment saw all these individuals, but upon recovering their liberty
they are not able to serve as witnesses for fear of reprisals.”
5.
Freddy Marcelo Taberna Gallegos, resident at
Calle Pedro Pablo Muñoz 520, La Serena, Santiago. Detained on
September 16, 1973, in the city of Pisagua, Iquique. Taken to the
Communications Regiment, subsequently transferred to the Iquique Jail
and kept incommunicado until the holding of a Council of War in which he
was not permitted to have a lawyer to defend his rights but only to have
an interview with a lawyer the day before the Council of War was held.
The sentence of the Council, confirmed by the Military Advocate,
condemned Taberna to 10 years in prison, without appeal, and then on
October 30, he was shot.
His wife was detained twice: first, on September 13, in trying to
see her husband Freddy; after she was placed at liberty on September 17,
she was again jailed on the 30th of that month, being taken
this time to the “Buen Pastor” [House of Correction for Women],
where she was notified on October 30—the very day on which the act
occurred—of the shooting of her husband. She was kept in prison two
days more, and then was placed under house arrest, being ordered to
leave Iquique within a period of 48 hours.
6.
Mario Silva Iriarte, lawyer, resident at Las Hualtatas
6159, Antofagasta; General Manager of the firm “Osorio Norte.” He
was in Santiago on September 11, 1973, and traveled the same day to
Antofagasta, where he rejoined his family composed of his wife and five
minor children. When he arrived in that city, he was arrested and then
shot “without any legal process and without any defense” on October
19, 1973, at 1:30 in the morning, according to the death certificate.
This act was reported to the Military Chief of the Headquarters
of Antofagasta, Commander Campos. General Arellano Stark had the final
decision.
7.
Absalón Wegner Millar, physician-surgeon, was shot on December
13, 1973, “without substantiation of the charges and without legal
process.” The place of the act is not mentioned. 23. One year having passed, that is, more than double the length of time indicated in Article 51 of the Regulations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Government of Chile has not provided any information whatever concerning these acts.
24.
At its session carried out on October 24, 1973, the Commission
considered it to be sufficiently proved “with the documentation that
it had in its possession,” combined with the silence of the Government
of Chile, that the citizens Michel Selín Nash Sáez, Luis Heriberto
Contreras Escamilla, Eugenio Ruiz Tagle Orrego, Arsenio Poupín Olssel,
Freddy Marcelo Taberna Gallegos, Mario Silva Iriarte and Absalón Wegner
Millar, were executed by military or police authorities, without any
trial, or after trials in which the requirements of due process had not
been observed.
25.
In the same resolution, in compliance with Article 57 of the
Regulations, the Commission recommended to the Government of Chile that
it carry out, with regard to the executions, the pertinent
investigations or that it continue those investigations that it may have
begun concerning the executions that were the subjects of the
denunciations, fixing responsibility on those who may have violated the
fundamental human rights of the executed persons and informing the
Commission of the results of such investigations.
26.
The text of the resolution was transmitted to the Government of
Chile in a note of December 1, 1975.
The Chilean Government, in a note of March 3, 1976, made the
following observations:
FREDDY MARCELO TABERNA GALLEGOS, was tried in case 4/74 that was
conducted in the 6th Military Juzgado [Criminal Court]
for the crime of “treason to the Motherland,” contemplated in Book
III, Title II of the Military Code of Justice. In the trial, it was
convincingly proved that he was guilty of being the author of a plan
that had for its object the assassination of the members of the Armed
Forces and the civilians who would prevent the country from being
subjected to a totalitarian Marxist regime. The organization that was in
charge of carrying out this plan was constituted as a paramilitary
group, which had logistical support and a large quantity of arms and
high-powered explosives. The trial was carried out in conformity with
Title IV, Book II of the Military Code of Justice, which has been in
effect since 1925. The guilty person was defended by a prestigious
lawyer, Hugo Sotil. Voluminous documentary proof and testimony of
witnesses were presented on behalf of the criminal.
The Auditor [Judge] of the Council of War was a
distinguished magistrate of the Court of Appeals of Antofagasta, and the
legal advisor was the judge of the First Criminal Court of Iquique.
The sentence imposed was the death sentence, which was carried
out by shooting on October 30, 1973.
MIGUEL SELIN NASH SAEZ, was under detention at Pisagua in
conformity with the Law of the State of Siege. He died on September 29,
1973, as a result of gunshots, when he was attempting to escape and did
not obey the orders to halt which were given to him three times.
ARSENIO POUPÍN. The Chilean authorities have conducted repeated
investigations without having found any information whatever to confirm
the denunciation. Nor is there any indication that this person has been
detained in Chile.
LUIS HERIBERTO CONTRERAS ESCANILLA, was found dead in the public
thoroughfare on November 16, 1973. On the same date, an autopsy
examination was carried out in the Medical Legal Institute. The
circumstances and the authors of his death are unknown. The
investigations carried out have not resulted in finding any information
that confirms the denunciation. MARIO
SILVA IRIARTE, was tried by the First Criminal Military Court of
Antofagasta. Registry Nº
349-73. He was tried for the following crimes: A)
Illicit association. B)
Placing in danger the external security and sovereignty of the
State. C)
Misappropriation of public funds. D) Frauds and illegal extortions. His
participation in these crimes was proved convincingly. In the trial, he
confessed his participation as supporter, organizer and principal leader
of a paramilitary organization in charge of carrying out acts of
sabotage in industries. He gave orders to workers to destroy the gears
of wheat-elevating machines, which caused a notable diminution in the
production of flour. In his capacity as Manager of the Institute CORFO
Norte, a financial institution with autonomous administration, it was
proven that he misappropriated funds for political purposes, especially
financing for groups of the Socialist Party. He exerted pressure on
industries such as ENAMI, MADECO and INACESA, making use of his
position, in order that they should contribute funds to the Socialist
Party. Arms were seized from him, among them machineguns, the possession
of which is prohibited by law. In the trial, which was carried out in
conformity with the Code of Military Justice, in effect since 1925, he
was condemned to death, which was carried out by shooting on October 19,
1973.
As Your Excellency can appreciate, the assertion in the
denunciation that he was shot “without legal process and without any
defense” is totally lacking in basis.
EUGENIO RUIZ TAGLE ORREGO, the same as Silva Iriarte, was tried
as case 349-73, which was carried out in the First Criminal Military
Court of Antofagasta. He was proved to be guilty of the crime of
misappropriations of public funds. In his capacity as Manager of the
National Cement Industry, he drew funds to acquire armaments for the
Socialist Party and the Popular Action Movement. In addition, it was
proved that he was responsible for the organization of a terrorist plan
prepared for the days September 18 and 19, 1973, that contemplated the
following measures:
A) Blocking the southern access to the city of Antofagasta. B) Cutting off the drinking water supply for the population, by blowing up with explosives the tanks at Salar del Carmen. C) Organizing student fronts and popular fronts. D) Dynamiting the railway bridge at “Carrizo.” As a result of his responsibility for these acts having been convincingly proven, the court imposed the death penalty which was carried out by shooting on October 19, 1973. 27. The tardy observations presented now by the Government of Chile are not of such a nature as to invalidate the conclusions drawn by the Commission from the silence of that illustrious Government and from the documentation which the Commission has in its possession, except in the case of Freddy Marcelo Taberna Gallegos, in reference to which the Government has provided sufficient information, in the judgment of the Commission, including the name of the attorney who acted in defense of the person executed. 28. To end this chapter, we wish to indicate that the Government of Chile informed the Commission of its intention of adopting legal measures to establish the responsibility of those persons who are accused of abuses and excesses of the power imputed to the military and police authorities, who are the subject of denunciations to this Commission or to the Chilean courts, in order that the authors of those crimes may be punished, but up to the present no report has been received concerning the adoption of any such measure. Moreover, in the individual cases mentioned in this report, already definitively examined by the Commission, in which it is considered that the violations that are the subject of denunciations have been proved, and with respect to which recommendations have been made to the Government of Chile that it adopt the legal measures to establish responsibility for the acts and punish those responsible, the Government of Chile, up to the present, has not informed the Commission that it has taken any concrete measure to comply with the recommendations. Finally, the facts related in this report reinforce the conviction of this Commission, already expressed in previous cases of serious and repeated violations of human rights that have occurred in other American countries, that the lack of, or delay in, investigations of such violations contributes decisively to incite the perpetration of new violations by the subordinate personnel in charge of maintaining public order and the defense of the internal security of the State, even though the carrying out of abuses and excesses may not be authorized by their hierarchical superiors.
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