September through December 1973

A. HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS COMMITTED BY GOVERNMENT AGENTS OR PERSONS WORKING FOR THEM

1. OVERVIEW

The incident that took place in the Seventh Region in the area below the crest of the Andes, Paso Nevada, was actually not an action of armed resistance to the new regime but rather an attempt by a group of armed supporters of the overthrown regime to flee to Argentina by crossing the Andes. One policeman was killed. In the Tenth Region, at what is now known as the Panguipulli Lumber and Forestry Complex in the province of Valdivia, there was a failed attempt to attack the Neltume checkpoint. It was carried out by members of the far left who

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worked in the complex, particularly members of the MCR (Revolutionary Peasant Movement), a branch of the MIR; after their failed effort, in which no one was killed, they separated and engaged in no further operations.

Finally, as was to be expected, it was in the Metropolitan Region, and specifically Santiago, that a considerable number of armed clashes took place. These actions reached their peak on September 11 and then quickly declined to the vanishing point. The clashes that took place that day which involved a good deal of shooting were centered in the capital and especially around La Moneda Palace where many soldiers and police were killed; in some shantytowns, such as La Legua, where police were also killed; and in some factories known as those in the "social area" [publicly owned] where some sectors of the Popular Unity and its allies had set up "industrial belts."'! These engaged in weak and ineffective actions, in which some troops were nevertheless killed. Within forty-eight hours, however, all armed activity in Santiago and its region had come to a halt except for occasional scattered shots by snipers or other even less significant and less common types of incidents.

These few episodes resulted in the first victims. The Commission regards them as such because they were killed in gun battles, either as participants on one of the two sides or because the bullets by chance happened to hit them.

We should also note that throughout the country the deposed government officials ceded their positions without any problem and even in a formal fashion. For the most part, those who were ordered by decree to submit to arrest did so voluntarily. Once the country was under control and all armed activity had ceased, the armed forces and police, under the centralized command of the junta now installed in Santiago, provisionally organized the whole country. They also unified political, administrative, and military power in themselves and parcelled out the national territory among the different branches of the service.

To facilitate that process and following the already established boundaries by which the country was divided into provinces and sub-provinces (or departments)/ which were run by provincial and sub-provincial governors, the top ranking officer now became governor in each provincial capital, and the same thing occurred at

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q) Industrial belts: These cordones industriales refer to organizations among workers in Santiago's peripheral industrial, factory-populated areas. Several left-wing fringe sectors claimed that such organizations had formed popular militia in preparation for armed resistance from adversaries of the left. Some claimed that similar groups existed in urban and rural communities as well. Propaganda concerning the existence of these groups and their supposed resistance capabilities escalated as the threat to the Allende government became more imminent.

r) Provinces and sub-provinces/departments: Chile's Constitution of 1925 provided for the national territory to be politically divided into provinces, provinces into departments (sub-provinces), departments into sub-delegations and sub-delegations into districts. This constitution also administratively divided the national territory into provinces (equal to the political division of a province) and the provinces into comunas/municipalities (which were the political equivalent of a sub-delegation). The Constitution of 1980 made the political and administrative division to be one. The national territory was, and in actuality is, divided into regions, regions into provinces and the provinces into comunas/municipalities. There are thirteen regions in Chile including the Metropolitan Region of Santiago and surrounding areas.
 
 

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the departmental level. The result was that the top military officer in each area was likewise its top political, governmental, and administrative head. The governor who administered the province was also head of the zone in a state of emergency and the military judge. By virtue of this last role, by delegation of the junta as was explained in Part Two, Chapter Three (War Tribunals), he also had the power to ratify death sentences handed down in war tribunals. That power had previously been the exclusive prerogative of the commander-in-chief.

One of the effects of this distribution of authority was that the top officials in the provinces, with the range of powers already noted, were primarily in the army—except in the provinces of Valparaiso (navy) and Llanquihue (air force). The heads of the sub-provincial offices likewise mainly belonged to the army, followed by the police and—far less represented—the navy and air force. The existence of a provisional military junta in Punta Arenas was unusual and was soon ended.

Because of a lack of evidence the Commission was unable to determine exactly what role was played by the different intelligence services of the armed forces and police in the provinces during this period or how that role was coordinated with that of the officers mentioned above. There are indications, however, that due to the urgency of the situation and the initial fluidity of the way the country was organized, these services -had, or simply seized, very broad powers and sometimes in actuality ranked above such officers, especially in rural areas. In October that was notoriously the case with regard to repression, the issue of concern to this Commission. The "DINA Group" mentioned in Part Two, Chapter Two, which from November 1973 onward existed as the DINA Commission, was apparently especially significant in making repression take on a harsher character, as is explained below.

This distribution of the territory of the country for managing political, administrative, and military matters, must be understood simply as intended to improve the operation of the command structure and not as any form of absolute autonomy, since all officials were under, and responsible to, the central power. Especially at first, however, the maintenance of public order and human rights violations varied considerably from region to region. Such differences largely reflected the posture of each top military commander. Thus in some places even the top government officials were advised (on one occasion even by telephone) to hand things over to new officials voluntarily, while elsewhere a severe iron fist control over public order was imposed from the very beginning. The central authority made its presence felt during October, especially in those areas in which it thought that thus far it had acted "softly." Despite these differences, which can be noted in the various regions, it was a common practice to jail the national and regional officials from the deposed government and the main leaders and activists of the political and social groups supporting them. We are now ready to provide a brief account of these procedures of arrest and detention.

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When they complied with this request they were arrested. Some arrests occurred when a particular person was sought in his or her house or workplace. In towns and small cities people were often arrested on a main street. Roundups became routine in the countryside, and raids were common in the large factories in major cities and in the chief mining areas. In Santiago the more important shantytowns suffered large scale raids.

Police patrols routinely made arrests, sometimes aided by members of the investigative police and by civilians. Large scale searches or raids were carried out by other branches of the armed forces and security forces. In such cases larger numbers of troops went into action and they had more equipment, such as a number of vehicles, sometimes even full convoys, and the operation might last several days. Search operations were a sign that there had been greater preparation and that arrest lists had been drawn up and were used in methodical fashion. There was generally no correspondence between the branch of the service whose members were doing the arresting, the one that had requested the arrest, and the one that ultimately held the person.

These arrests were made throughout the whole country. In the smallest towns the police arrested mayors and aldermen, local political party leaders and everyone they regarded as an "agitator." In major cities thousands of people were arrested. When arrests took place in people's homes, they were generally part of violent search operations during which police were typically looking for weapons. These searches and arrests did not encounter any opposition.

The above descriptions were valid for the countryside and for small towns and cities. In the more important cities there were significant variations. Thus in Valparaiso the navy used boats as detention sites, some of their own and others requisitioned for that purpose. Since classes were suspended due to the emergency,
 

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the educational institutions of the armed forces and security forces, such as the Naval War Academy in Valparaiso and the Military Academy and Air War Academy in Santiago, served for imprisonment and interrogation for varying periods of time.

Of the initial detention sites, the most notorious, even internationally, were two sports facilities, the National Stadium and the Chile Stadium. Further details concerning these will be found in the region by region analysis.

Except for the police stations and one prison camp, detention sites were not equipped to handle prisoners. Because so many people had been arrested, detention sites had to be improvised. They were therefore very crowded, people had to sleep on the bare floor, and the toilets, food, and other basic services were inadequate. In these places the prisoners were absolutely cut off from the outside, they had no regular routine, and they lived in utter uncertainty about what was going to happen to them. They had no idea about when they would be transferred somewhere else, put on trial, or released.

Their families were waiting outside these places. They knew or had been told that their relatives had been arrested, that they were here—or over there—at some prison site. They even regularly took clothing or food to that site. Then on some fateful day. . . their loved ones were no longer there. Sometimes families were told that they had never been there. Or that they had been transferred somewhere else—where it was then denied. Or that they had been released. Other times the answer was ridicule, a threat, a sinister hint. In some cases their loved ones would never come back.

Later new prison camps were set up (Ritoque, Puchuncavi) and some prisoners were transferred there. As time went on, living conditions there became more acceptable. Although they had to work, sometimes very hard, these camps allowed prisoners to have a more regular routine. The insecurity about what was going to happen to them was less acute, and they were allowed regular visits and could have contact with their families and the outside world. In one camp or another, such as Chacabuco, they managed to attain tolerable living conditions; military officials were actively helpful in this regard. Athletic and cultural activities were generally allowed. The prisoners for their part organized to improve their living conditions, for example, they organized medical services run by those among them who were medically trained.

Once the war tribunal had sentenced inmates to prison terms, they served their time in jails or prisons. We should not forget that arrest did not always lead to the kind of detention centers such as we have been describing. Sometimes, especially in rural areas, it was merely the prelude to a quick execution.

Torture was also usual during interrogation. Many personal testimonies connect interrogation and torture. When the arrested person was being "tough" and not
 
 

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confessing, questioning was coupled with mistreatment. This also occurred in war tribunals. An important former prosecutor involved in the war tribunals in the northern part of the country acknowledged to the Commission that torture was commonly used as a way of putting together the "evidence" later presented to the tribunals.

Torture methods were extremely varied. An almost universal technique was violent and continual beating until blood flowed and bones were broken. Another form was to make detention conditions so harsh that they themselves constituted torture, for example, keeping prisoners lying face down on the ground or keeping them standing rigid for many hours; keeping them many hours or days naked under constant light, or the opposite, unable to see because of blindfolds or hoods, or tied up; keeping them in cubicles so narrow—sometimes made just for this purpose—that they were unable to move; holding them in solitary confinement along with one or more of these conditions; denying them food or water, or clothing, or sanitary facilities. It was also common to hang prisoners up by their arms with their feet off the ground for very long periods of time. They might be held under water, foul smelling substances, or excrement to the brink of suffocation. There are many accusations of sexual degradation and rape. A common practice was a simulated firing squad. In some places, torturers used highly developed tortures, such as the pau de arard [a torture practice in which a person is hung, head hanging down, by a pole or stick placed beneath the legs and arms], dogs, and mistreating prisoners in front of their relatives or vice versa.

It would be impossible to present a comprehensive list of all the torture sites— there were so many—in our country during the period we are considering. During these months torture was not practiced in every single detention site, but certainly in most of them. Generally torture was less common in the prisons. In the following paragraphs the detention sites that have been most sharply engraved in the memories of those who suffered there will be singled out. In addition we may mention the old Cerro Moreno airport in Antofagasta; navy ships or boats under navy control in Valparaiso; the National Stadium, the Chile Stadium and the Air War Academy in Santiago; Mariquina Island and Fort Borgono in Concepcion; the Maquehua Air Base in Temuco, and various regimental headquarters, police stations, checkpoints, and air and naval air facilities around the country.

All the inmates at the prisoner camp at Pisagua were interrogated, and all the interrogations were preceded or accompanied by beating and the application of electric current. Every day some prisoners were chosen for degrading treatment, many hours of very heavy labor, or physical exercise to the point of exhaustion, such as running on uneven floors blindfolded, or having to run up a set of stairs while their guards were pushing them back down. After twenty or thirty inmates had been interrogated for an entire day, it was a common practice to leave them stretched out in the open for forty-eight hours bearing the day's heat and night's cold. One of them, Nelson Marquez, whose case is recounted in more detail further on, ended up going crazy and tried to run away; a few minutes later he was recaptured below the pier and immediately shot to death.

At the police station in Rahue, Osorno, inmates were raped, beaten with gun butts, had electric current applied, were intimidated with simulated hangings,
 
 

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hung from beams by their arms, and so forth. Disappearances were common here;

the bridge over the Pilmaiquen River was used for firing squads; the river disposed of the bodies.

Prisoner Camp No. 2 at the Academy of Military Engineers of the Tejas Verdes Military School and the school itself were very important sites during this period as well as later. Both were later closely connected to the DINA. This complex was active from September 11, 1973 onward, and there is a good deal of testimony about its modus operand! from that date until mid-1974. Although it was located in the area of San Antonio which was important because of its port and was potentially conflictive, given its long union and leftist tradition, it seems that the camp and school complex were also used to imprison and interrogate people from other places, in what was something of an embryonic DINA. Later on the DINA assumed control of it. The detainees came from various prison sites in Santiago.

Prisoners, sometimes as many as a hundred, were normally kept in the camp and were taken to the school only for purposes of interrogation, after a phone call to that effect came from the school. People were transported in refrigerated trucks provided by port fishing companies or requisitioned from them. From the time they left until they returned to the camp, the prisoners were kept blindfolded or hooded. In the school they were taken to be interrogated either in the basement below the officer's club or on the second floor. Once there the prisoner was stripped naked, tied to a chair or to a metal bed frame, and was beaten, often to the point where bones were broken; electric current was applied on the mouth, genitals, and elsewhere. There were other kinds of torture such as hanging the person by the arms with the feet off the floor for hours until the person passed out. Torture for women prisoners was sexual, and took many and bizarre forms. After the torture session was over, the prisoner was taken from the school back to the camp.

The conditions of crowding, toilets, and food at the camps truly constituted mistreatment. One kind of solitary confinement was to put people in containers with a little food and no toilet facilities. Another form was what were called the "niches" underneath the guard towers. Made with the metal structures of the gates and used on those prisoners who were considered to be most dangerous, the niches held them immobile for days without any toilet facilities and also without food.

One feature of this complex was that doctors, also hooded, were on hand. They supervised torture (to prevent people from being killed) and gave emergency treatment to those who were most seriously harmed by it.

Normally, the prisoner who seemed unlikely to reveal new information was sent back or returned to the public jail in San Antonio, usually in pitiable shape.

A report by a humanitarian organization in late 1973 and early 1974 notes the high proportion of prisoners who needed medical care in this jail—five or six times more than that of the other jails visited. The report also indicates this facility's shortcomings in both housing and sanitary facilities. It provides a record of tortures practiced, including "miscellaneous violations." The report also objects to how the visiting delegation was deceived at the camp, where they were told there were no longer any prisoners to interview when in fact the existing prisoners had been packed into refrigerator trucks and kept there until night when the visitors left.
 
 

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As will be indicated in connection with particular cases at the Tejas Verdes complex, many people died there or were taken from there to meet their death; some had been sentenced by war tribunals while others were executed without due process of law, and still others were tortured to death. These latter deaths as well as those constituted by execution without any court verdict were either covered up by false war tribunals, or with death certificates that were—to say the least—intellectually dishonest about the cause of death. Or there was no explanation provided to the family about what had happened and the body was simply shipped by refrigerated truck in a sealed coffin. Such was the case, for example of Oscar Gomez Farias, who after being tortured to the point of madness (his body showing the visible and terrible signs of how he had been mistreated) while naked, attacked an armed guard—who killed him on the spot (December 27, 1973).

The individual cases of torture centers we have described may not be entirely typical of Chile during this period. It may also be that the complaints we have gathered, which are the primary source for the preceding descriptions, may not always be entirely correct. Those on the other side who also ought to know the facts have not offered their help to counteract and modify that information. The very volume of the virtually unanimous body of information gathered seems to establish that torture was an unquestionable fact. This fact cannot be kept secret or forgotten if we are to make amends and learn the appropriate lessons.

Some civilians were involved in pointing out who these "conflictive" people were, particularly farmers, retailers, truckers, and so forth, and a smaller number provided help for the arrests in the form of vehicles or interrogation sites or were even involved in executions. Significant cases of this type of activity are known to have taken place in the Fourth (Salamanca), Eighth (Santa Barbara, Quilaco, Quilleco and Mulchen), Tenth (Liquine, Entre Lagos), and the Metropolitan (Paine)
 

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regions. In other regions or locations, civilians were only occasionally involved in arrests or executions.

It is difficult to give a general description of the victims of these human rights violations. We may say, however, that the magnitude, characteristics, and periodization of deaths and disappearances varied from region to region. This Commission believes that in one of them, namely the Metropolitan Region, there were about five hundred victims. Next comes the Eighth Region with a little more than two hundred victims and the Ninth and Tenth Regions with between one hundred and one hundred and fifty victims each. As a rule, in the rest of the regions fewer than fifty people were killed and in some they numbered ten or fewer.

In some regions the killings were concentrated in the first few days after September 11,1973. Elsewhere, as will be seen, there were practically no deaths until the "orders to get tough" were issued in mid-October. They are discussed toward the end of this section. In November deaths and disappearances began to decline throughout the country. Although it is difficult to present a national overview of these deaths and disappearances, at this point we will try to classify them in terms of the reasons that may have led government agencies to carry them out.

First, we must consider selective executions of a political nature. An appreciable number of the killings during this period were of this nature, and they affected national and local leaders of the former government and the most active leaders and activists of. the parties supporting it. These killings are part of the climate prevailing immediately after September 11, 1973, namely the attempt to carry out a "cleanup" operation aimed at those who were regarded as dangerous by reason of their ideas and activities and to instill fear into their colleagues who at some point might be a "threat." Such a notion may have come from military people subscribing to the counterinsurgency theories analyzed in Part Two, Chapter One (that is, the ideas behind what was then called the "DINA Group," which was not yet operating on a national level). The idea of a "cleanup" could also derive from the destructive extremes of political and social passions which by that time characterized the country, as was also noted in that chapter. Whatever the reasons may have been, it was probably to a great extent spontaneous during the first few days. Of course none of this justifies such a "cleanup" and even less does it justify leaving its deadly effects and other human rights violations unpunished. Indeed, it is likely that the lack of sanction encouraged excesses and made them a permanent feature.

In other instances people who merely sympathized with the former government were killed. Often they were not politically active, and generally they were humble people, or those who were seen as "conflictive," as noted above.

One thing that encouraged the climate of political revenge and the deaths included in those two categories was the widespread distribution of the so-called "Plan Z." The general public saw only the copy published in the Libro Blanco del Gobirno de Chile ["White Book of the Chilean Government"] in 1973. The document presented there is not specific or detailed, but rather quite general. At least from our present vantage point, what it says does not seem realistic or feasible, it refers only to Santiago, and there is little indication of who its author or authors might be or to what extent it had gone into operation. Nevertheless, through rumor and deliberately biased news reporting, Plan Z was transformed into a very detailed
 
 

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list of people opposed to the Popular Unity who had to be eliminated; there were regional and local variations, and new lists of these persons were added, even for the tiniest town. Thus people's own internal justification for killing their adversary or allowing or condoning such killing was nourished by attributing to that adversary the very same intentions.

The Commission also encountered cases of selective executions of those assumed to be criminals. "Eliminating" presumed criminals is another kind of "cleanup" that should be included in an examination of this phenomenon. The parallel with those executed for political reasons is obvious: one group—as those who kill them believe—harm society through their political and social ideas and activities, while another group does so through ordinary common crime. Both are equally criminal and society gets rid of all of them by killing them.

A clear example is that of some of the people who were secretly buried in the collective grave in Pisagua, which was discovered in 1990; their execution was likewise secret (since their killing had never been acknowledged). They had no political connections, but it was claimed that they had connections with drug trafficking;

those ties were either unproven or proven to be false. The example of Pisagua, however, occurred repeatedly up and down the country, in large cities and in backwater rural villages: the bodies of habitual criminals, longstanding alcoholics, aggressive men who beat their wives and got in fights with their neighbors, youth addicted to drugs or beginning careers in petty theft and the like, showed up in the street or on the roadside, or mysteriously in the morgue with two or three bullet wounds—or they simply "disappeared." Latent in all such cases is the perverse idea that society has to use drastic means to free itself from an undesirable and harmful element.

The Commission has also encountered cases of killing during this period carried out by government agents who used unnecessary or excessive force. In such cases death is not intentional, but is rather the result of a display of force or of carelessness or of a culpable excess in using force. Such behavior is typical of those who have such force at their disposal when along with it there is a sense that under the circumstances they can probably act with impunity. A common case is that of people killed for being out after curfew, when there is no reason to assume that they are particularly dangerous and when there are other ways of subduing them and punishing them for breaking the law.

Finally, the Commission has uncovered some cases of selective executions out of personal revenge. Killings to settle personal accounts, whose origins may have been political—or may have been something quite different—that took place during this period also constituted human rights violations. In late 1973 some people who had power settled accounts with others who did not. Those who did so were not only, nor indeed primarily, the military, but also and perhaps mostly civilians who at that moment through their authority, friendship, false accusations, or political intrigue were in a position to utilize the power of weapons for their own purposes.

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the war tribunals. There is an attempt to explain others as applications of the so-called "law of escape" [principle justifying the killing of prisoners trying to escape] or by insisting that these were extremists who had tried to attack some unit or installation of the military or the police. In other instances, a death certificate was issued with no explanation whatsoever. Other victims remain disappeared. The main forms of such killing are as follows:

We have already (Part Two, Chapter Three) extensively analyzed the war tribunals and the irregularities in both substance and form that make the Commission regard all the deaths to which they led as human rights violations. It would be redundant to repeat that analysis here. In the sections devoted to each region that conviction will be reinforced with further details. We need only add here two further background observations. First, the Commission has noted the seriousness of the effects of the poor legal advice available in the war tribunals not only to the victims but also to their judges. The Commission has also become aware of the unsatisfactory level of the judges' knowledge of basic principles of law, even making allowance for the fact that most of them were not lawyers. These judges may have believed—and even in good faith originally—that particular persons "deserved" to die, and that their superiors had made that decision, and that consequently in endorsing a decision already taken at what might be called a military-administrative level, they were simply fulfilling their duty. In such cases the war tribunal was simply a way of legalizing or formalizing a decision already made.

The second point about war tribunals that must be noted has to do with interrogations. As we have already pointed out, the Commission has found that at this stage all the war tribunals (or at least the overwhelming majority of them) were preceded by different kinds of physical and psychological intimidation, if not by outright torture. Hence the Commission is morally unable to accept that those who were interrogated, put on trial, and found guilty in any of the war tribunals held in 1973 really had "due process." In addition, the right to a defense was generally denied or severely restricted.

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has encountered other instances, especially in the southern regions, in which people already taken into custody were executed in the presence of their families.

Methods of execution varied a great deal. Sometimes people being held were killed with one or two shots to the head. Sometimes they were gunned down. Sometimes they were made to run with (or without) the illusion that they had a chance to save their lives, and were immediately shot from behind. Knives were sometimes used, as, for example, in connection with the delegation that flew from Santiago to be described below. There were also instances in which people—or their corpses—were mutilated.

The Commission feels that it must make it clear that in many instances the killing was carried out with such forms of torture and with a viciousness whose only objective seems to have been to intensify the suffering of the victims to an unspeakable degree. For example the mother of Eugenio Ruiz-Tagle, killed in Calama on October 19, 1973, who saw her son's body for a moment describes its condition:

"An eye was missing, the nose had been ripped off, the one ear visible was pulled away at the bottom, there were very deep bum marks as though done by a soldering iron on his neck and face, his mouth was all swollen up, there were cigarette bums, and judging from the angle of the head, his neck was broken, there were lots of cuts and bleeding." Other cases are those of Victor Jara, the singer, and Littre Quiroga, the head of the former government's prison system, both of whom were tortured extensively in the Chile Stadium. Jara's body, with his hands and face extremely disfigured, had forty-four bullet holes. An eyewitness saw Quiroga, who was beaten continually, "literally agonizing," "having trouble breathing" and "almost unable to speak." He seems to have been tortured largely because of the public position he had occupied, and the main purpose was to make him suffer. His body also had many bullet wounds. The bodies of both Jara and Quiroga, who had been killed on September 12 or 13, were left in the Zanj6n de la Aguada. All these cases are described below when we explain the grounds for our conviction, but we wanted to single them out here as examples of how vicious such executions were.

The Commission regards all these cases as clear efforts to justify fatal human rights violations with no regard for the truth. To begin with, on the basis of common sense, all elementary notions of law, and the experts it has consulted, the Commission has concluded that these were not instances of the "law of flight." The mere fact that a prisoner tries to escape does not make it just or legal—even after issuing all kinds of warnings—to kill him or her. The other circumstances surrounding each case must be weighed: how dangerous the prisoner is; the possibility
 

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of using other methods, less drastic than killing, to prevent him or her from getting away; how easy it will be to recapture a person after escape, and so forth. This last point was especially relevant in Chile during this period when the country was under the iron fist control of the armed forces and police, and the state of siege, curfew and so forth were in effect. It is even more relevant in places like the Pisagua prison camp, where the physical surroundings made it true madness to try to run away. Finally, if after taking into consideration all the foregoing, it ultimately became necessary to shoot at someone trying to escape, it was imperative that initially efforts be made to avoid killing the person.

Actually, however, the Commission found that in their official versions of these events, authorities did not prove or even state any of these necessary conditions. Indeed, even though the Commission made numerous requests and inquiries concerning these matters, it found no instance of the "law of flight" in which there was the least trace of a judicial investigation (which was absolutely obligatory since people had been killed) nor of an internal investigation of these events within the armed forces or police. Nor was there ever a single survivor of cases in which the "law of flight" was supposedly applied.

Moreover, and apart from what has just been said, in none of the cases it studied did the Commission find the supposed "escape attempt" even minimally plausible. The people who are presented as trying to escape are unarmed and held in custody by a large heavily armed contingent; they are tied up, shackled, or chained up; they are wounded or physically in poor shape as a result of long imprisonment and torture; they had turned themselves in voluntarily, and so forth.

Another equally implausible explanation commonly presented by authorities in the press was that these people were killed when they resisted arrest or tried to attack a military or police unit. We are not saying that no armed clashes ever took place but rather that they were sometimes invented to cover up these executions, as the Commission has verified in each case.

We may speculate that these explanations were not spontaneous. It is suggested that explanations of the first type, that people were killed trying to escape, occurred mostly around some dates in October 1973; and the notion that they were engaging in armed opposition or resisting arrest occurs mostly between September 18 and the end of that same month. Officials have not given any explanation for most of the executions during this period, nor was any given to the press during that time, nor to this Commission while it was doing its work, despite the requests made in this regard.

Some of the deaths during this period are officially recorded in the Civil Registry. In the remaining cases, the bodies were hidden and to this date the status of the victims is that of having disappeared after arrest.

Torturing people to death can be regarded simply as one form of execution. We are treating it separately, however, insofar as torture—when it is not simply a
 
 

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way of making the punishment or death more painful (the less frequent situation to which we have already referred)—seeks to extract some information from the one being tortured. During this period, the information sought was anything regarded as necessary or useful for the "cleanup" operation. There is however, one item repeated incessantly and monotonously in the particular instances of torture: anything that might lead to locating arms caches prepared by the deposed government or its supporters.

In this regard it should be noted that while such caches certainly existed, and many of them were found in 1973 and even 1974, they were far less significant than they were in the minds of the armed forces and police who had been affected by all the talk about them by both sides before September 11. When the military did not come across the quantity of weapons they had anticipated, they redoubled their search efforts. That was one of the most common—and senseless—reasons for torture in late 1973. It is logical to assume that many of those who died as a result of torture are likewise to be numbered among the "disappeared."

Hiding and refusing to hand over the bodies of those executed was to occur again in the following period (1974-1977), as we will see, and was to be systematic in nature. In the period we are examining now, it was a haphazard and irrational procedure. Sometimes the purpose was clearly to enable those carrying out the crime to avoid any kind of responsibility. Sometimes it was to hide the abuse the bodies received either before or after death. But sometimes there was no imaginable reason, as for example, when the remains of those shot by firing squad in Pisagua were not turned over; they may or may not have been sentenced by war tribunals, but the authorities themselves had very openly spoken of the firing squads.
 

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of the provinces seemed to have a view of the military intervention different from their own. The top officers realized that, with some exceptions, the military officers in the provinces had not experienced the same kind of resistance that the military movement had encountered in Santiago. Indeed, they had often cultivated friendly relations, or at least coexisted, with the provincial authorities or officials of the former government. As a result, in some provinces the treatment had been and still was "soft" or even lenient; since the result might be a resurgence of opposition resistance, this state of affairs urgently required correction.

As the top officers saw things, some developments in the provinces justified such apprehensions and made it necessary to take measures to quickly prevent a situation that had to be avoided at all costs. These and other ideas seem to have been what gave birth to the idea of imparting instructions to the provincial authorities in order to align and make more rapid and severe the punishment for crimes of a political nature. This was done by bringing many of those who had been jailed for that reason before war tribunals.

The Commission has gathered a body of evidence leading it to the conviction that this was the purpose of the mission entrusted to a high army official who travelled throughout the country by air in September and October, 1973, with the open and seemingly official purpose of hastening the trials of political prisoners and making them more harsh, by instructing local authorities to that effect. Whether such an official mission was legal is very questionable, as has become clear. That mission even included telling the governor ofCoquimbo to call a new war tribunal in order to give a death sentence to someone who had been given a lesser punishment by a previous tribunal and who was already sentenced. They did not propose executions without trial, however; indeed, the message of the travelling delegation explicitly and repeatedly referred to assuring that those being tried had a right to be defended.

Thus, with all the foregoing qualifications it may be said that this high level delegation went up and down the country, and specifically to all those places where those in charge believed local officials had given signs of being "soft," bearing an open and official message to carry out war tribunals quickly and harshly, but to do so with relative respect for legal frameworks. We speak of "relative respect" because of some variations in the trip, such as what was said about the war tribunal in La Serena. We refer to it because in any case the open message of that delegation by its very nature meant that it was to some extent interfering in the activity and independence of the war tribunals, above and beyond the jurisdiction delegated to the military commanders in the provinces and departments visited and even though the mission did not formally have the role of a tribunal.

The point to be emphasized now is that this high level official delegate went to the various points in the country that he had to visit accompanied by other persons who were also army officers and who at first glance were obviously members of an official group accompanying and supporting the main delegate and under his authority. Nevertheless, the Commission has been able to ascertain that such was not necessarily the case, since almost all the other members of the delegation came from various levels and units of the army where they were not normally under the direct and exclusive command of that high ranking official delegate. An important
 
 

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additional item of information is that all these persons except for the top officer later belonged to the DINA; several of them held major responsibilities in the DINA and were involved in illegal executions. The delegation visited a number of cities, the main ones being Valdivia, Temuco, Linares, Cauquenes, Talca, La Serena, Copiapo, Antofagasta and Calama.

Alongside the policy of "getting tougher" which was an open and somewhat normal result that the high ranking official sought to obtain on his trip, there was another quite different "getting tough" that took place on this same mission and partly in the wake of its trips. Some of the delegation's brief visits in fact took place at the same time as executions without trial. As has been observed, these executions were sometimes made worse with savagery and covered up with false stories, and often bodies were not handed over to families but were concealed and even destroyed, presumably to hide the viciousness of the crime.

These executions, which took place in October 1973 are treated in greater detail in the parts of this chapter dealing with the various regions. However the overall toll is seventy-two people killed: four executions in Cauquenes (October 4), fifteen in La Serena (October 16), thirteen in Copiapo (October 17), fourteen in Antofagasta (October 19), and twenty-six in Calama (October 19).

We should now consider the relationship between the high level delegation from Santiago and these executions. The delegation was physically present in all these cities and at these times. The reason given for all these executions was that they were killed "while trying to escape" with the exception of Antofagasta, where in some instances war tribunals were seemingly invented to hide the truth and to make the relevant documentation formally correct. Finally, all the executions were selective: the victims were members of the Socialist and Communist parties and of the MIR, with the accent on the first. Forty of the seventy-two persons executed were Socialists.

From these coincidences, one may conclude that it is very likely that members of the delegation were involved in those five groups of executions. However, the Commission has not been able to come to the conviction that they were involved in Cauquenes. In this instance there is no concrete proof of their involvement, the relatively low number of victims is out of line with the much higher number of executions elsewhere, and the delegation spent only a few hours at Cauquenes.

On the other hand, the Commission has come closer to being fully convinced that they were involved in the killings explained as a response to an escape attempt in Copiap6 (although it has not quite reached complete certainty). The events in Copiapo are as similar to those in La Serena, Antofagasta, or Calama as two drops of water. It is unlikely that whoever among the local officials in Copiapo was physically responsible for the crimes acted without orders from above. It is unlikely that the local commander would give such an order if there were present a superior who possessed delegated maximum powers or officers in the delegation who could act in representation of that superior or who themselves had the same level of power as his. However, the available evidence makes it unlikely that members of the delegation in fact were involved on the night of October 16 in Copiapo although the possibility that those locally involved may have been prompted by them cannot be entirely discounted.
 
 

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The case of La Serena, Antofagasta and Calama is quite different. In these instances it is absolutely certain and unquestionable—and there is decisive evidence— that at least three members of the delegation were directly involved in the crimes. Since they took place one after another as the commission arrived at each of the three cities on the same trip, the conclusion is inescapable that the delegation was not only involved in the executions but organized them and prompted the local commanding officers to participate in them. Indeed these three cities have a common feature (which has been proven, but not entirely, for Cauquenes and Copiapo as well), namely, that the delegation officers and officers from each city were jointly involved, using troops and resources, such as vehicles, and apparently without the local commanding officer being aware, that is, while he was off duty, as is indicated by the evidence that the Commission has gathered. We deal with the question of who was formally the head of the delegation when we take up the case of Copiapo.

In any case, it is beyond question that the official and extraordinary character of this delegation's journey to the north and its degree of authority—from the commander-in-chief—coupled with what it left in its wake in the form of executions without trial and the blatant impunity with which it operated can only have given officers of the armed forces and the police one signal: that there was only one command structure, and it was going to be used with severity.
 

2. CASES

We have organized the grave human rights violations committed by government agents or people working for them during this period according to the various regions in which they occurred. The fact that each region presents different features makes it convenient to group the material by regions. Each section begins with a brief account intended to provide an overview of what happened there. In order to be faithful to the order of the events themselves, we begin this section with the Metropolitan Region.

This section deals with 493 cases of human rights violations that led to death or disappearance and were committed by government agents or persons working for them in the Metropolitan Region starting on September 11. The account includes some cases from 1974 in view of their similar features.
 

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On September 11, 1973, President Allende and his closest aides and the officials who worked in the government palace arrived earlier than usual. Very early in the morning they had received information of troop movements in Valparaiso. At dawn La Moneda Palace was surrounded by police forces, and witnesses say that the atmosphere inside was calm but expectant.

At approximately 10:00 a.m. tanks of Armored Regiment No. 2 surrounded La Moneda Palace, and air force and army helicopters were flying over Santiago. After meeting with the president, who allowed them to make their own decision, the palace guard, the military aides, and bodyguards left La Moneda. Officials of the investigative police and members of the president's personal security guard decided to remain, as did the president's closest aides. Radio stations broadcast the first decrees of the military junta. One of them announced that La Moneda Palace had to be evacuated before 11:00 a.m. or it would be attacked by the Chilean Air Force.

Over Radio Magallanes President Allende addressed the nation: "This will be my last opportunity to speak to you. . . Given these developments I can only say to the workers: I am not going to resign. Set upon a historic path, I will pay for my loyalty to the people with my life. . . These are my final words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain..." A few hours later, the president of the republic kept that promise by taking his life inside La Moneda Palace.

In view of the announcement that the Palace would be bombed at 11:00 a.m., the president ordered the women and administrative staff to leave. Approximately fifty people remained inside the building. The bombing of the government palace began at 11:52, setting it on fire. Thus began the events to be dealt with in this section on the Metropolitan Region, which is the political center of the country.

On the whole we can say that the new military authorities did not encounter significant armed resistance in the region. There were only a few isolated events, primarily those that took place around the government palace on September 11 itself and in a few other places such as the La Legua shantytown. The armed forces' own internal reports, some of which the Commission examined, prove that this was the case. Thus the new military government's own internal assessment stated that "our actions in Lo Hermida were successful, and were supported by the people. There was no resistance to the search operations and no weapons were found." (Status Report on the Country No. 7, September 15, 1973, Ministry of National Defense, Military Junta, C.O.FF.AA. [Armed Forces Operational Command])

One indication of the lack of resistance and armed clashes in the region is the fact that the army and police suffered about twenty-five casualties between September 11 and December 1973 and that approximately fifteen of them took place on the day of the coup itself.

By September 13, the armed forces and the police had complete control over the region, and activities in business, industry, finance, education, and government administration slowly returned to normal. By the end of the month, these activities were completely normal. The military authorities themselves admitted as much when only three days after the military intervention they said that "businesses are slowly starting to function again" and that "public services are also returning to normal" (Status Report on the Country No. 4, September 14, 1973, Ministry of Defense, C.O.FF.AA).
 
 

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Certainly what has been said does not mean that there were not a few isolated and tiny points of armed resistance. As was noted before, these basically consisted of snipers in buildings near La Moneda Palace on September 11, and some other incidents that in no way affected military control over the region.

The new authorities in the region were army officers, and it was their branch of the armed forces that took over political, military, and administrative control. Thus they had positions such as head of the zone under state of siege, the governorship, and other administrative positions.

In its examination of events, the Commission found that members of the army and police were involved in activities of repression and controlling public order. Members of the air force were less involved in the intervention, and their activity was primarily focused in the area near the El Bosque air base. The Commission likewise noted in this region that the investigative police and more generally the intelligence services of the various branches of the armed forces were little involved in the events it studied. However, it was at this point that the first activities of the air force and army intelligence services were observed.

Army troops from units outside this region were also involved in these incidents, for example, members of the Yungay Regiment of San Felipe and Guardia Vieja unit from Los Andes, which moved to Santiago during this first period. Territorially, the city of Santiago was divided into several zones, each of which was under the control of a particular group of military troops, generally those located in each sector.

What can be observed of the police is that they generally acted in coordination with, jointly with, or subordinated to the army. In Paine and sporadically elsewhere in the region, civilians were significantly involved, either in turning in people, or directly in arresting them. That was the case in Paine where military personnel, police, and residents were involved in mass arrests of local peasants.

During the first few days repressive action was aimed primarily at leaders of the left political parties, high ranking officials of the former government, members of President Allende's personal security guard, and government ministers. This situation began to change rapidly as repression then extended to include leftist union or neighborhood leaders, members of social organizations connected to the previous government, or simply neighbors whom other civilians denounced to the new military authorities.

Our description of the victims would be incomplete unless we noted that a significant percentage of the cases during this period that the Commission considered were those of people who were not active in, or sympathetic with, any political organization and who lose their lives as the result of military operations that can be regarded as carried out with indiscriminate and abusive use of force against the civilian population. We should note in particular the case of foreigners who were targeted by the government. Many of them ultimately died or disappeared in custody. Nor can we omit the fact that some members of the armed forces were the victims of repression by the state, primarily due to their opposition to the new regime that arose on September 11, 1973.

Most of those killed in this region during this period were younger than 30 and many were under 20. In a few extreme cases 14 or 15 year old children were
 

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killed in acts that violated their essential rights. The deaths of many victims were officially registered, even though in many instances their bodies were never turned over to their families.

The series of government agents' actions that violated human rights began to occur on September 11 itself with the detention and subsequent disappearance or death of some of the people who were in La Moneda Palace, or in university or industrial sites, such as the State Technical University or in factories in what were known as the "industrial belts," where troops carried out raids and arrested people.

During the next few days, raids were conducted in the various neighborhoods of the region, leading to massive arrests of people, some of whom were later killed or disappeared. Similar raids were carried out in various workplaces. Simply by way of example, we may mention arrests at the San Juan de Dios Hospital and in the Sumar, Aerolite, Elecmetal, and Mademsa factories, and in shantytowns such as La Bandera, La Legua, Roosevelt, Pablo Neruda and Jose Marfa Caro, all of which are treated below.

Newspaper accounts, the many eyewitness reports the Commission heard, and the reports of the armed forces themselves all indicate just how massive these operations were. Thus, for example, the status reports of the armed forces operational command on September 15 refer to an "air and land operation in Polpaico tin which] around two hundred persons were captured (sic)" and note that "raids on Lan Chile [airlines] and Palacio de Bellas Artes [theater and center of state supported cultural activities] yielded no results. The results of the raid on high rise building number 18 of the San Borja complex have not come in yet."

After these operations the prisoners were transferred to the detention sites we are going to list. Some people were taken from there and executed, and their dead bodies were left on major streets throughout the city of Santiago and its environs. There were particularly large numbers of bodies left in places like the General San Martin Highway heading toward Los Andes, the road to Valparaiso near the Lo Prado Tunnel, and the intersection of Americo Vespucio and Avenida Grecia, the Metropolitan Cemetery and elsewhere.

Of such sites the mapocho River should Ue singled out. Bodies were left along its banks in areas near the Pedro de Valdivia, Pio Nono and Presidente Bulnes bridges and the area of what is today the Cerro Navia neighborhood. Out of humanitarian concern, local residents buried some of these bodies.

At night staff members of the Medical Legal Institute and the General Cemetery of Santiago picked up the dead bodies of these people and took them to the institute for an autopsy. There the bodies remained for a varying length of time to allow the families to identify their loved ones. In some instances, military or police patrols took the bodies directly to the Medical Legal Institute.

Unfortunately, the staff was not able to identify through fingerprints all the bodies they received and so many bodies were buried without being identified. It is difficult to arrive at an exact estimate of how many people died as a result of bullet wounds and were taken to the Santiago morgue.

After remaining for a number of days at the Medical Legal Institute unclaimed bodies were taken to the General Cemetery of Santiago where they were buried anonymously in Lot 29 of the burial ground. The Commission gathered evidence
 
 

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that at least twice in subsequent years large numbers of the bodies buried in Lot 29 were removed. On one occasion they were taken to the common grave in the cemetery and on the other occasion to the crematorium, despite a 1978 judicial order forbidding such a removal.

There were however, instances in which the killers did not leave the bodies in public sites, but hid them, as happened for example, in Lonquen in October, and often in Paine during 1973.

Another procedure used was firing squad killings of those arrested together in a particular place, as happened, for example, on the Barriga upgrade near the Lo Prado Tunnel, at the Bulnes Bridge over the Mapocho River with one group of people arrested at Puente Alto, several times on the grounds of the base of the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment, in Peldehue with the people arrested at La Moneda, and in Lonquen and Paine.

Deaths due to an unreasonable use of force during curfew or in carrying out repression in the streets were also characteristic of this period. Many people who were quite uninvolved in any political, labor union, or neighborhood activity suffered the consequences.

This Commission encountered some cases of people who were abducted from medical facilities. Military or police personnel frequently visited such sites to check to see whether there were people with bullet wounds. Some of them later disappeared or died in the custody of their captors.

In only one instance in this region was there official notification of the application of a death sentence ordered by a war tribunal. Likewise, in very few cases is there an official notification to the effect that prisoners had tried to flee or attacked military personnel. Often there is no official version at all.

Torture of prisoners was common practice during this period, primarily during the interrogation sessions to which they were subjected in almost all detention sites in the Region. Beatings, abuse, and other inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners were also common procedure.

Finally it should be pointed out that these practices occurred mainly around September and October 1973. In November they began to diminish markedly and then began to increase again with different characteristics around March 1974.

Immediately after the events of September 11, the armed forces did not have enough sites properly set up to serve as detention centers. Hence during the first few hours they used transitory sites like the Ministry of Defense, the Military Academy, and the Tacna Regiment base. The Ministry of Defense served particularly as a temporary place for holding some of the people arrested on September 11. Witnesses testified to the Commission that torture was used at Defense Ministry sites. The Military Academy was also used temporarily. Some of the people being held at the Ministry of Defense were sent there, and were later transferred to Dawson Island in the Twelfth Region. Some foreigners were also held here and later sent to the Tacna Regiment base. That base served as a prison for all the troops of the investigative police who were in La Moneda when army troops entered on September 11, along with members of President Allende's security guard, who were held in the stables there. Later they were taken out to be executed, presumably in Peldehue on September 13.
 
 

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The National Stadium was prepared on September 12 and 13, and it then became by far the largest detention site in this region with more than seven thousand detainees by September 22 according to the International Red Cross. Between two and three hundred of these were foreigners from a variety of nations. This site fell under the command of an army officer. People from all over Santiago, who had been arrested in many different circumstances, were transferred there.

Those held in the National Stadium slept in the dressing rooms and the tower room. These places had no beds, although the places set up for women had mattresses. Some international humanitarian organizations later donated blankets but they were still insufficient for the large number of people imprisoned there. The prisoners were held completely incommunicado, and were permitted no visits from relatives, lawyers, or anyone from outside. Family members were only allowed to bring them clothing and food.

People spent most of the day sitting in the stands of the stadium. A hooded individual went around pointing out left activists, who were then set apart from the other prisoners. Years later it was determined that this hooded person was a former Socialist party activist who worked with the security services of the military regime. In 1977 he quit and went to a human rights agency to testify. On October 24, 1977 his dead body with many knife wounds was found in an empty lot in the La Florida neighborhood.

There is information on the practice of torture and abuse of prisoners in the National Stadium. For example, the room for medical treatment was sometimes used for this purpose. Firing squads were simulated and other cruel techniques were employed. As a rule the prisoners were subjected to constant and intense interrogation.

In its report on a number of visits to the National Stadium between September and October 1973, the International Red Cross notes that "several prisoners complained of mistreatment and torture, at the time of their arrest and during interrogation. The representatives and medical representatives of the IRCC (International Red Cross Committee) have found that many prisoners show signs of having undergone psychological and physical torture." The document goes on to cite some of these cases.

This Commission also concluded that a number of executions took place inside the National Stadium, and that in a number of instances persons imprisoned there were taken out and killed. Such was the case of Charles Herman and Frank Teruggi, both United States citizens.

On the morning of September 12, the Chile Stadium, located near the central train station in Santiago, also began to serve as a detention site. An army officer was likewise in charge. The first prisoners to arrive were approximately six hundred people arrested on the grounds of the State Technical University. They were later joined by prisoners from the so-called "industrial belts." Credible witnesses testified to the Commission that torture was constantly used on those held in the Chile Stadium. On September 14,1973, prisoners were transferred en masse from the Chile Stadium to the National Stadium, which because of its size could accommodate more people.
 
 

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As was the case in the National Stadium, the prisoners in the Chile Stadium were not permitted any contact with people outside the stadium and were subjected to a harsh and severe disciplinary control. Prisoners were divided in accordance with their importance in the estimation of military officials. Evidence available indicates that much of the interrogation was done by personnel of the army's intelligence service. People who were held in this stadium have all said that the lights were left on permanently and that meals were deliberately served at irregular hours, in order to make the prisoners lose their sense of time. Some prisoners in the Chile Stadium were later taken out, executed, and their corpses were left in public places. Such was the case, for example, of the former Director of Prisons, Littre Quiroga Carvajal.

Other detention sites were the Cultural Center in Barrancas (now Pudahuel) and the Barros Arana National Institute in the Quinta Normal neighborhood, where a contingent of the Yungay Regiment from San Felipe was quartered. The army was in charge at the cultural center. Several prisoners taken out from there were later executed. The military unit stationed there was part of the School for Subofficers and they were joined by some troops from the Yungay Regiment from San Felipe. The people taken to Quinta Normal were basically from the west-central area of Santiago. That was the case, for example, of all the employees at San Juan de Dios Hospital, who were subsequently executed and left under the Bulnes Bridge over the Mapocho River.

Although the military authorities never acknowledged it, the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment base also served as a detention site. Inside was Chena Hill, where many prisoners from the area of San Bernado and Paine were executed. Some of the bodies were sent to the Medical Legal Institute; their autopsy documents registered the fact that their corpses came from that base. Many kinds of torture were practiced there.

The air force used sites within the Air War Academy to hold prisoners, and sometimes temporarily used the El Bosque air base. All the people processed in war tribunal record 1-73 of the air force were imprisoned there. The prisoners were generally questioned by members of the air force intelligence service, and it has been established that torturing the prisoners was common practice.

One of the detention sites used in the Metropolitan Region in 1973 was the building at Calle Londres No. 38, which before September 11 belonged to the Socialist party. The DINA would later use it as a clandestine prison.

Evidence indicates that in October 1973 a group of people who had been arrested at the San Borja neighborhood in Santiago were taken to the site on Calle Londres for a few hours and were subsequently taken to the cultural center in Barrancas. Likewise, it has been established that in December some Communist party activists were taken to that address. Newspapers at the time connected them to what was supposedly a subversive plan code-named "Leopard." They were subsequently executed.

The area known as Cerrillos Park, where the International Trade Fair of Santiago is held every year, was also used as a temporary detention site. Some prisoners are known to have disappeared from there. This fairgrounds had been conditioned to enable the army to camp there.
 

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We should also mention that many police stations and other military installations throughout the region were used to hold people. There were so many of these that it would be difficult to list them.

Finally, it is known that in some cases prisoners were transferred to the prison camp in Tejas Verdes, which was part of the Military Engineering School there, or to the Artillery School in Linares, both of which are outside the Metropolitan Region.

On the morning of September 11, 1973, armed forces troops began to attack La Moneda Palace. The president of the republic, Salvador Allende, was inside the building together with a group of his closest aides and members of his security guard. At about 1:00 p.m. after the palace had been bombed, President Allende asked Osvaldo Puccio, Fernando Flores, Minister and General Secretary of Government, and Daniel Vergara, Undersecretary of the Interior, to go to the Ministry of Defense in order to meet with the generals who were gathered there.

When the president was told that the only kind of agreement possible was unconditional surrender, he asked the last group of people remaining with him to leave the palace. An eyewitness says, "At 2 p.m. Salvador Allende said that this was a massacre, that we should surrender and go down single file carrying a white flag, and with nothing in our pockets. The troops were already on the first floor." At 1:45 p.m. when this last group of people went out the door leading to Calle Morande, troops from the Tacna and Buin Regiments and a reserve unit came into the palace through several entrances.

According to several witnesses, the general in charge of the operation came into La Moneda, went up to the Salon Independencia and there found the lifeless body of President Salvador ALLENDE GOSSENS. At his side was Doctor Patricio Guijon, who says that at about 2:00 p.m., while he was at the end of the line of those leaving the building, he decided to return to get a gas mask. As he was passing by the Salon Independencia he looked inside and saw the president with an automatic rifle in his hands; at that very moment the bullets tore into his body.

With this information, the Commission has been obliged to conclude that President Salvador Allende took his own life. His case is unquestionably unique. The Commission has not regarded it as either possible or relevant to assess the death of President Allende in accordance with the criteria that it has been obliged to use in examining other cases. In so doing the Commission is not evading its responsibility. It is true that in a very deep sense the case of Salvador Allende is no different from so many other cases this Commission has examined. His life, like any
 
 

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life, is unique in its essential dignity and individuality. His relatives' grief is worthy of all respect. Nevertheless, it is utterly clear that the office he held, the historic circumstances of his death and the undeniable connotations of his final decision confer on his death a meaning that goes beyond the capabilities and responsibilities that this Commission seeks to elucidate.

The day President Allende took his life and the circumstances under which he did so mark the extremes of division in Chilean society. We think we see signs that this division is being overcome; with this report we hope to make a contribution toward the drawing together that we all need. To that end and in conscience the Commission respectfully bows to the grief of all who have deep feelings over the death of President Allende, and defers to Chilean society itself and to history the judgement to be made concerning the circumstances in which it took place and its significance.

Soldiers removed two wounded members of the president's security guard from inside the palace and took them to the Central Emergency Clinic. These were Antonio AGUIRRE VASQUEZ, 29, and Osvaldo RAMOS RIVERA, 22, both members of the Socialist party. In both cases there is evidence that they remained inside the Central Emergency Clinic in Santiago and that solders took them away from there. Since that moment their whereabouts are unknown. Given that they were taken from La Moneda to the Central Clinic and there is proof that they remained there and were then taken away by military troops, the Commission concludes that the human rights of Antonio Aguirre and Osvaldo Ramos were violated since government agents were responsible for their disappearance.

Augusto OLIVARES BECERRA committed suicide before President Allende's death and before Fernando Flores, the Minister of Government, and his two colleagues left La Moneda Palace. He was a journalist, a Socialist, a news editor at the national television channel, and an advisor to President Allende. He was on the first floor of the building together with some civilians. From the evidence it gathered, the Commission concluded that he withdrew to a bathroom located under a stairway. Bystanders heard the shot. The bullet went into his forehead, and he lay dying. One of the doctors inside the palace described how he lay Olivares' head on his own lap, and a few moments later saw that he was dead. The fact that Augusto Olivares took his own life as La Moneda was surrounded and being attacked leads the Commission to regard him as a victim of the situation of political violence.

The group that went out of the palace onto Calle Morande was apprehended by troops and forced to lie face down on the ground. In this group were aides to the president, members of his security guard, doctors who were on duty in La Moneda, and members of the investigative police. At that point most of the doctors present were set free—except for those who were advisors to the president and who will be mentioned below. The rest were taken to the sidewalk where they were kept lying on the ground.

At 6:00 p.m. this group was taken to the Tacna Regiment in two military vehicles. There they were kept lying on the ground face down with their hands behind their neck from the evening of September 11 until noon on September 13.
 
 

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On September 12, the members of the investigative police were released, except for one who was kept there until noon on the 13th when he also was released.

According to evidence gathered, the Commission is in a position to assure that the group that remained at the Tacna Regiment until noon on the 13th was made up of nine advisors and staff members of the presidency of the republic and fifteen members of the presidential security guard. As has been noted, the evidence gathered makes it clear that the former head of the investigative police, Eduardo Paredes was also held at the Tacna Regiment until September 13. This Commission does not find credible the story that Paredes was killed in an armed clash as the press at that time reported. The members of this group of aides and staff members of the presidential office were:

Jaime BARRIOS MEZA, 47, former general manager of the Central Bank, presidential aide;
Daniel ESCOBAR CRUZ, 37, Communist party activist, chief of staff of the Undersecretary of the Interior;
Enrique HUERTA CORVALAN, 48, administrator of the palace;
Claudio JIMENO GRENDI, 33, sociologist, Socialist party leader, presidential advisor;
Jorge KLEIN PIPPER, 27, psychiatrist, Communist party leader, presidential advisor;
Eduardo PAREDES BARRIENTOS, 34, surgeon, Socialist party leader, former head of the investigative police, director of Chile-Films, presidential advisor;
Enrique PARIS ROA, 40, psychiatrist, Communist party leader, presidential advisor;
Hector PINCHEIRA NUNEZ, 28, doctor, presidential media advisor and
Arsenio POUPIN OSSIEL, 38, member of the Central Committee of the Socialist party, lawyer, ex-deputy director of the investigative police, presidential advisor.

The following members of the presidential security guard were also part of this group:

Manuel CASTRO ZAMORANO, 23;
Sergio CONTRERAS CONTRERAS, 40, journalist, head of public relations of the governorship [of Santiago province];
Jose FREIRE MEDINA, 20;
Daniel GUTIERREZ AYALA, 25;
Oscar LAGOS RIOS, 21, leader of the Socialist Youth;
Oscar MARAMBIO ARAYA, 20;
Juan MONTIGLIO MURUA, 24;
Julio MORENO PULGAR, 24, telephone operator and courier in La Moneda;
Jorge ORREGO GONZALEZ, 29;
Oscar RAMIREZ BARRIA, 23;
Luis RODRIGUEZ RIQUELME, 26;
Jaime SOTELO OJEDA, 33, head of the presidential bodyguard;
Julio TAPIA MARTINEZ, 24;
 
 

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Oscar VALLADARES CAROCA, 23; and
Juan VARGAS CONTRERAS, 23.

All of them were also active members of the Socialist party.

The members of this group of presidential aides and bodyguards were loaded onto military trucks with their hands and feet tied and taken from the regimental headquarters to an unknown destination. Consistent testimony indicates that the military vehicle headed toward Peldehue to a piece of land that belonged to the Tacna Regiment, where they must have been executed and buried. Since that date all of them are among those who disappeared after arrest. The Commission was informed that one of the members of the security guard was able to fool his captors by moving from this group to another and was then released. It is very unlikely that he is one of those listed above.

In view of the fact that this group of the president's aides left La Moneda Palace onto Calle Morande at about 2:00 p.m., where they were arrested by government agents, held on a military installation and from there taken by government agents toward an unknown destination, this Commission has reached a conviction that they were all victims of human rights violations, since the government agents who were holding them were responsible for their disappearance.

A similar and related case is that of a group of persons who were arrested outside La Moneda Palace at around 8:45 a.m. All were members of the presidential security guard who were arriving at this moment in a pickup truck and were arrested by police. Evidence gathered enables us to say that at least the following people were picked up under those circumstances:

Domingo BLANCO TARRES, 32;
Carlos CRUZ ZAVALA, 30; and
Gonzalo JORQUERA LEYTON, 27.

All of them were active members of the Socialist party.

The same thing happened to Enrique ROPERT CONTRERAS, 20, an active member of the Socialist party and an economics major at the University of Chile who was the son of Miriam Contreras, President Allende's secretary. The young man arrived at the same moment to drop off his mother. As she was getting out of the car, the police arrested him. This Commission examined photographs of the moment in which Ropert was put into a police vehicle.

All of these people were taken to the Santiago governor's office. At 11:00 a.m. that same day they were taken out and transferred to the Sixth police station. The bodies of all of them except Domingo Blanco Tarres were found on the banks of the Mapocho under the Bulnes Bridge in late September. Members of the investigative police took Blanco to the Santiago Preventive Detention Center, which he left on September 19, 1973 by order of the Second Military Prosecutor's Office of Santiago. Since then his status has been that of the disappeared.
 

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Since there is enough evidence to state that all these people were arrested by government agents, and that subsequently three of them were found dead of bullet wounds by the Bulnes Bridge over the Mapocho River and one of them disappeared after having been taken out of the Santiago Preventive Detention Center also by government agents, this Commission has reached a conviction that they were victims of human rights violations carried out by those agents against the persons of Domingo Blanco Tarres, Carlos Cruz Zabala, Gonzalo Jorquera Leyton and Enrique Ropert Contreras.

That same day, September 11, two other members of the presidential security guard were stopped by a military patrol as they were trying to travel on the Panamerican Highway from Taica to Santiago to join the others in their group. Their names are:

Francisco LARA RUIZ, 22; and
Wagner SALINAS MUNOZ, 30, both of whom were active in the Socialist party.

They were in Talca, and when they heard what had happened they decided to head toward Santiago. At the outskirts of Curico they were intercepted by a military patrol. After examining documents certifying that they belonged to the presidential security guard, the patrol arrested them and took them to the jail in Curico. The police advised that on September 30, 1973 they were released from that jail but were handed over to government agents "with a lock and chain, and both of them were shackled." Their remains were turned over to their relatives at the Santiago morgue. Their deaths were certified to have taken place on October 5, 1973, and bullet wounds were said to be the cause. Given these antecedents, the Commission is convinced that government agents were responsible for the deaths of Francisco Lara Ruiz and Wagner Salinas Munoz.

On September 11, 1973, Manuel OJEDA DISSELKOEN, 30. an engineer, active in the MIR, and member of the presidential security guard, was killed in the Indumet factory. That day he went to the factory in the morning. Several days later, after searching for him in a number of places, his family identified his body at the Medical Legal Institute. The death certificate declares that he died of a bullet wound. On the basis of evidence gathered, this Commission is convinced that Manuel Ojeda was killed in a gun battle as a result of the situation of political violence at that time.

On September 11, 1973, Jorge Claudio ARAVENA MARDONES, 23, a university student who was a consultant to the investigative police, lost his life in a gun battle. According to testimony given to the Commission, on that date he was involved in a clash with armed forces troops in which he lost his life as a result of "bullet wounds" as indicated on his death certificate. Thus, the Commission came to the .conviction that Aravena Mardones was killed in a gun battle that resulted from the situation of political violence at that time.

On September 11, 1973, Guillermo Jesus ARENAS DIAZ, 25, a bookkeeper who was an active Socialist, was arrested by government agents at his job at
 
 

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SOCORA (Agrarian Reform Marketing Association). He and others who were arrested with him were taken to the Chile Stadium and from there transferred to the National Stadium. That was the last place one of his co-workers saw him alive. His fate and final whereabouts are unknown. The Commission came to the conviction that government agents were responsible for his disappearance, which constituted a violation of his human rights. The grounds for that conviction are that his arrest and presence in arrest sites has been attested, that since that time there has been no information about him, and that he did not leave the country after that date, nor has he been involved in any administrative procedures that would leave a record of him.

On September II, 1973, Jose Agustin FARFAN VERDUGO, 42, a construction worker who was an active Socialist, was killed. On that day he reported to work, but all employees were being told to return home because of what was happening. When Jose Farfan failed to arrive, his relatives looked for him in a number of places. About ten days later at the Central Emergency Clinic they learned that he had died there. At the Medical Legal Institute his body was turned over to them for burial. The death certificate states that he died at about 6:00 p.m. on September 11, 1973, and that the cause of death was multiple bullet wounds. Without evidence on the precise circumstances of Jose Farfan's death, the Commission came to the conviction that he died as a victim of the violence prevailing at that time. That conviction is based on the date and direct cause of his death, bullet wounds.

On September II, 1973, Emperatriz del Transito VILLAGRA, 38, a married homemaker, disappeared. That day she left home as she generally did to take lunch to her husband who was working at a factory in Los Cerrillos. Since then there has been no trace of Emperatriz Villagra, despite the efforts of her husband to find her some months later. That same day he had been arrested at work and later sent to the Chacabuco prison camp and therefore was not informed of the situation until he returned home. There he learned that his wife had disappeared, his house had been burned down, and his children had been taken in by different neighbors. The Commission came to the conviction that Emperatriz del Transito Villagra was a victim of the violence reigning at that time and could not determine the precise circumstances in which she disappeared or perhaps was killed. Her disappearance, however, was not voluntary but resulted from action by third parties. That conviction is based on the victim's prior family circumstances (it is unlikely that she would abandon her children at the very moment when it was particularly dangerous in the country), and on the fact that during those days a large number of people lost their lives or disappeared as a result of the reigning violence, and that since the time of her disappearance there has been no indication of her whereabouts.

On September 11, 1973, Hugo Fernando SANDOVAL IBANEZ, 28, an office worker, was killed. He left home that day and did not return. Days later his family was told that he was being held at the Central Emergency Clinic for treatment of bullet wounds. When they went there they were told that he had died on September 14 due to "many bullet wounds to the chest cavity with complications and wounds
 
 

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to the abdominal cavity," as stated on his death certificate. Although it received no testimony as to the precise circumstances that led to the death of Hugo Sandoval, the Committee came to the conviction that he lost his life due to the violence in the country at that time. The grounds for that conviction are the direct cause of his death and the date it took place.

On September II, 2973, Luis Antonio ROJAS ROJAS, 29, an office worker, was killed in his house in the General Velasquez shantytown. His death certificate says that he died "due to a bullet in the abdominal tract." Although this Commission has no knowledge of the circumstances under which he died, the cause of his death led it to the conviction that Rojas Rojas was killed as a result of the situation of political violence in the country.

On September 11,1973, Ivan Octavio MIRANDA SEPULVEDA, 28, a lathe operator and labor leader, disappeared. On that day he left his home on Calle Lo Franco headed toward an unknown destination. Since that day there has been no word on his whereabouts. This Commission has come to the conviction that the disappearance of Ivan Miranda Sepulveda was a result of political circumstances and constituted a violation of his human rights. In doing so it has taken into account the fact that he was a union leader, that he disappeared in a context of instability and political violence and that since then there has been no indication of Miranda's whereabouts, and no death certificate or record of any transaction that might indicate he is alive.

On September 11, 1973, Francisco CATTANI ORTEGA, a dental laboratory technician who was an active member of the Socialist party, was killed. The cause of his death was a "perforating bullet wound to the right illiac fossa." His body was sent to the Medical Legal Institute by the Barros Luco Hospital, with the observation that it had been found in the street. Given the cause of death and not knowing the circumstances, the Commission came to the conviction that Francisco Cattani was killed as a result of the political violence reigning at that time.

On September 12, 1973, Mercedes del Pilar CORREDERA REYES, a minor who was a high school student, was killed. Her body was sent to the Medical Legal Institute by the Barros Luco Hospital, with the observation that she had been killed on Calle Gran Avenida. The cause of death noted on the autopsy report is "perforating bullet wound to the left knee." The Commission has come to the conviction that Mercedes del Pilar Corredera was killed as a victim of political violence, although the precise circumstances of the events leading to her death are not known.

On September 12, 1973, Benito Heriberto TORRES TORRES, 57, a plumbing installer, was executed. Eyewitness reports indicate that at about 9:00 p.m. on September 11, there was shooting near the victim's house. Policemen from the sector's 26th station raided his house and arrested him, taking him and his son-in-law, also arrested, toward the police station. Witnesses say the victim had been
 
 

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in bed with sciatica. The following day his family's efforts to locate him were in vain. The victim's son-in-law returned to the house three days later with signs of mistreatment and torture on his body. The family found Torres' body in the Medical Legal Institute, and the cause of death was determined to be a "bullet wound in the thorax." The body was found in Las Barrancas and the time of death was recorded as 10:00 p.m. on September 12. In view of the evidence gathered and since it is established that he was arrested, the Commission has come to the conviction that Benito Heriberto Torres Torres was executed and suffered a grave violation of human rights at the hands of government agents.

On September 12, 1973, Juan Manuel LIRA MORALES, 23, an office worker, was killed. On September 11, he and his wife were walking on the street in La Legua shantytown. At that moment, even though there was no trouble in the area, he was shot by soldiers traveling in a jeep. He was taken to the Barros Luco Hospital, where he died on the 12th. The autopsy report stated that "the cause of death was the wound from a bullet that went through the abdomen and tore up the liver and right kidney causing acute internal hemorrhage." The Commission has come to the conviction that Juan Lira Morales was killed by government agents who abused their power and violated his human rights. The grounds for that conviction are that he was wounded by a military patrol, that he died the following day as a result of those wounds, as indicated in the autopsy report, and that there were no clashes and no trouble in the area when he was killed.

On September 12, 1973, Alberto Mariano FONTELA ALONSO, 26, a Uruguayan small fisherman, was arrested. He was arrested at his house, together with his female companion, and another Uruguayan, by soldiers of the Tacna Regiment at about 5:00 p.m.. They were taken to the Military Academy where they were interrogated and that same night they were transferred to the Tacna Regiment. On September 14, his companion was released and was told that the prisoners were going to be transferred to the Chile Stadium. The victim's name never appeared on the lists of prisoners held at the stadium. Despite many efforts made by his companion to find him, his whereabouts remain unknown to this day. Since the victim was arrested by government agents and was last seen in their custody, this Commission is convinced that government agents were responsible for the disappearance of Alberto Fontela and that the action constituted a human rights violation.

On September 12, 1973, Tulio Roberto QUINTILIANO CARDOZO, 29, a Brazilian engineer who was active in the Communist party, was arrested. Troops arrested him and his wife at home, and took them to the Military Academy where they were interrogated. His wife was released that same day. The family presented a habeas corpus action and in that process an official document from military authorities indicated that the victim was held in the Military Academy and then sent to the Tacna Regiment. However, in a letter to the president of the appeals court, the regiment commander states that the victim is not registered as being held in any unit under his authority. Brazilian diplomats in Chile making efforts on his behalf were unable to obtain information on his whereabouts. In view of
 
 

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the facts, and especially since there is proof that he was arrested and indications that he was not released, the Commission is convinced that those responsible for his disappearance were the government agents who held him prisoner and that his human rights were violated.

On September 12, 1973, Sonia Isaura NORAMBUENA CRUZ, 34, a home-maker, died of bullet wounds. On that day Sonia Norambuena, who was pregnant, left her house in the area of Callejon Lo Ovalle in the Santa Adriana shantytown to make some purchases. As she was returning home at about 11:00 a.m., troops guarding the Ochagavia Bridge over Callejon Lo Ovalle fired several times. One of the shots hit Sonia Norambuena, and she died a few hours later. A young man who was walking by the same area was also wounded. Her death certificate notes as the cause of death, "organs perforated as the result of bullet wound." This Commission could not determine why the troops used their weapons, but in view of the antecedents mentioned, the Commission came to the conviction that Sonia Norambuena's death was the result of the situation of political violence at that time. That conviction is based on the cause and date of her death and on what is known about the circumstances surrounding her death.

On September 12, 1973, Adriana de las Mercedes DOTE MENDEZ, 27, a homemaker, was shot dead. At about 5:30 p.m. on that day she was washing clothes inside her house located near the intersection of Lo Sierra and Lo Espejo, with two of her little children and two neighbors. At that moment shots were fired from a low flying helicopter and one of them hit her. She died as police were taking her to the Barros Luco Hospital. Considering the fact she was killed by bullet wounds and what is known about the circumstances of her death, the Commission came to the conviction that the death of Adriana Dote was a result of the political violence reigning at that time.

On September 12, 1973, Arturo Ramon SAN MARTIN SUTHERLAND, 36, a photographer and member of the board of the Quimantu publishing house who was an active Socialist, was killed. On September 11, he set out to take pictures in downtown Santiago. According to eyewitnesses, he was shot while doing so. He was taken to the Central Emergency Clinic where he died at 5:30 a.m. on September 12, as indicated on his death certificate. Although it did not receive testimony on the exact circumstances in which Arcuro San Martin was wounded, the Commission came to the conviction that his death resulted from the violence reigning in the country at that time. That conviction is based on the direct cause of his death and on the time when the events that caused it took place.

On September 1,21973, Tito Guillermo KUNZE DURAN, 42, an office worker who was president of the union at the Burguer textile factory and an active Socialist, was executed. During a raid at the company where he worked (Calle nuble, 1034), police from the Fourth station arrested him along with two hundred of his fellow workers, who did not resist arrest. According to credible accounts, as he was standing in a line of prisoners, a policeman in civilian clothes fired a barrage into
 
 

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his body. He died that same day at the Central Emergency Clinic. The Commission came to the conviction that Tito Kunza was executed by government agents. That constituted a grave violation of his human rights in view of the fact that he was killed not by chance but as the result of a conscious action while he was in the custody of his captors, one of whom attacked him.

On September 12, 1973, Enrique Antonio MAZA CARVAJAL, a Venezuelan university student, was killed. The autopsy report says the cause of death was a "bullet wound in the upper backbone." The date of death is September 12, 1973. His remains were repatriated to his native country. Unable to determine who was responsible for the death of Enrique Antonio Maza Carvajal nor the circumstances under which he died, the Commission has come to the conclusion that he was killed as a result of the political violence reigning in the country at that time.

On September 12, 1973, Luis Alejandro RETAMAL PARRA, 14, an elementary school student, was killed at home. On that day at about 9:45 a.m., his father saw a large number of air force troops near the house and so told his son to go back into the house. While playing with his brothers and sisters on the second floor, the child came out to the balcony and was shot dead on the spot. His death certificate says that the cause of death was "multiple bullet wounds." The Commission came to the conviction that Luis Retamal was the victim of the political violence in the country, inflicted in this instance by government agents who caused his death. Their reasons for using their weapons are not known.

On September 12,1973, Drago Vinko GOJANOVIC ARIAS, of both Chilean and Yugoslav nationality, 23, a driver at the embassy of the German Democratic Republic and a Communist, was executed. While at his parents' home in Las Condes, he was arrested by a military patrol in a jeep. From there he was taken to his own home, which was searched as was that of his sister who lived in a nearby apartment. Then he was taken to an unknown destination. His body was later found at the intersection of Calle Tabancura and Avenida Kennedy. His family picked up the body at the Medical Legal Institute. According to the death certificate the cause of death was a "perforating bullet wound in the thorax and a gunshot to the cranial cephalic." From these circumstances the Commission was able to come to the conviction that he was illegally executed by government agents who were holding him in their custody. That action was a violation of his human rights, particularly the rights to live and to receive a fair trial. The grounds for that conviction are that he was a Communist, that there were witnesses to the arrest and search, and that his body was found in the street with multiple bullet wounds.

On September 12,1973, Hugo ARAYA GONZALEZ, 37, a press photographer who was an active Socialist, was shot dead. He was taking photos at the State Technical University when he was hit by shots fired by army troops surrounding the area. He was wounded and appealing for medical help but the ambulances could not enter because of the shooting by military troops. The Commission came to the conviction that in the death of Hugo Araya Gonzalez government agents were guilty
 

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of violating his fundamental human rights. The grounds for that conviction were that the victim was taking pictures, that he was shot by troops surrounding the area, and that those forces used their weapons indiscriminately and unnecessarily.

On September 12, 1973, Sergio AEDO GUERRERO. 35, a street vendor with no known political activity, was killed in the area of Carrascal. He was killed while on his way to buy food. Troops shot and fatally wounded him from within a military installation. On September 14, 1973, he died at Clinic No. 3. The Commission came to the conviction that he was killed as a result of the unreasonable use of force by government agents, which constitutes a violation of his human rights.

On September 12, 1973, Julio Antonio MARTINEZ LARA, 26, who worked at CORFO (Corporation to Stimulate Production), was killed. His dead body bearing many bullet wounds turned up at the Medical Legal Institute. According to the autopsy report, he was found in the street and he was said to have died at 3:00 a.m. on September 12, 1973. Although the Commission could not verify the exact circumstances of his death, the political conditions at that moment and the cause of his death lead it to the conviction that Julio Martinez died as a result of political violence.

On September 13, 1973, Luis Alberto MARCHANT MARCHANT, 43, a newspaper vendor, disappeared from his home. On that day he left his home with one of his children and was on his way to work in the area of Avenida Independencia. He was stopped by a military patrol, beaten, and put into a vehicle heading south. From that moment he has remained disappeared. Since his detention was attested, the Commission came to the conclusion that he is one of the disappeared and that he suffered human rights violations at the hands of government agents.

On September 13, 1973, Cristina del Carmen LOPEZ ESTAY, 28, unmarried, was killed. On September 11, 1973 on Calle Vicuna Mackenna near the Sumar factory a shootout was taking place between police agents and factory workers. As Cristina Lopez was passing by, a bullet hit her and she died on September 13, 1973 at 11:00 a.m. This Commission has come to the conviction that she was a victim of the political violence taking place at that moment.

On September 13, 1973, Ernesto TRAUBMANN RIEGELHAUPT. 49, a Czechoslovakian public relations employee for ENAMI (National Mining Company) who was active in the Communist party, disappeared. He and another party activist were stopped that morning by policemen. They were both taken to the Seventh police station and from there to the Ministry of Defense. Despite his family's inquiries, there has been no information on his whereabouts, and there is no indication that he left the country. The Commission has come to the conviction that Ernesto Traubmann disappeared at the hands of government agents. In view of the fact that he was known to have been arrested and held at the Ministry of Defense, and considering his political activity and nationality, it is clear that his human rights were violated.
 
 

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On September 13, 1973, Enrique Ernesto MORALES MELZER, 21, a driver for INDAP (National Institute for Agricultural Development) who was a Socialist party activist, was killed. He left his house that day in the Jose Maria Caro shantytown intending to turn over the government car he drove. Along the way an air force patrol and a police patrol fired at the car. Morales appears to have been killed on the spot by a bullet. His family received word of his death from the Barros Luco Hospital, and some hours later his body was turned over to them in a sealed coffin. This Commission has come to the conviction that Ernesto Morales died as a result of indiscriminate use of force by government agents, which is a human rights violation.

On September 13, 2973. Jorge GUTIERREZ SAN MARTIN, 41, a mechanic at the Nobis factory, was killed. He was killed on the street in the presence of eyewitnesses by a police patrol while he was on his way to work. His death certificate lists the cause of his death as "a bullet wound to the thorax with complications and acute loss of blood." The Commission has come to the conviction that the death of Jorge Gutierrez San Martin resulted from a violation of his human rights, since he died as a result of the excessive and unreasonable use of force by government agents. The grounds for that conviction are that it is attested that he was shot while walking on the street and that his death was caused by a bullet wound.

On September 13, 1973, Fernando Sofanor FLORES ACEVEDO, 42, a construction worker, was killed by a military patrol in the Jose Maria Caro shantytown. Accounts indicate that these events took place as he and his daughter were on their way to buy bread during curfew time, that is, at about 9:00 p.m. He was taken to the Barros Luco Hospital, where he died the next day as a result of the bullet wounds he sustained. The Commission came to the conviction that the death of Fernando Sofanor Flores Acevedo constituted a human rights violation, as a result of actions by government agents who used unreasonable force.

Between September 13-26, 1973, there were a number of deaths and disappearances related to the presence of prisoners in the Chile Stadium.

Socrates PONCE PACHECO, 30, an Ecuadorian lawyer who was an active Socialist and the government representative at the INDUMET factory. The official version that the Chilean Foreign Ministry provided on March 27, 1974 stated that "this individual was a government representative at a factory and shot at the armed forces in armed resistance and was killed in the shooting." However, the Commission received credible accounts indicating that Ponce was arrested by police forces on September 11, 1973 at his workplace, and was taken to the Twelfth station. From there he was sent to the Tacna Regiment on the morning of September 12, and then taken to the Chile Stadium at noon. In the early morning of the 13th, his name was called over the loudspeakers, and army troops took him away.

His body was found near the Chile Stadium, at the comer of Union Latinoamericana and Alameda, and bore eight bullet wounds according to the autopsy report. His relatives took the body from the Medical Legal Institute. The death
 
 

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certificate states that the date of death was September 12, and thus differs from what his relatives say.

In view of the foregoing, the Commission has come to the conviction that Socrates Ponce was executed without due process of law by government agents and that thus his fundamental human rights were violated. It bases its conviction on the testimony it took on his arrest and his presence at several sites, and on the documents that explain how he died, all of which make it possible to refute the official version of a supposed shootout.

Gregorio MIMICA ARGOTE, 22, an unmarried university student and leader at the Technical University who was an active Communist. He was arrested at his house on September 14, 1973, by a military patrol shortly after returning from spending two days under arrest in the Chile Stadium and then being released. Since that day there has been no information on his whereabouts. The Commission has come to the conviction that government agents were responsible for the disappearance of Gregorio Mimica and that in so doing they violated his fundamental human rights. The grounds for that conviction are that he was a politically active student leader, that he had been imprisoned previously in the Chile Stadium, and that since that time there is no indication whatsoever of his fate and his whereabouts.

Hernan CEA FIGUEROA, 38, a textile worker who was an activist in the Communist party. He was arrested on September 11 at the Textil Progreso factory where he worked. From there he was taken with other arrested workers to the Chile Stadium. On September 15 he became involved in an argument with one of his guards and was executed on the spot by policemen. His family found the body a month later at the General Cemetery. The Commission has come to the conviction that Hernan Cea was executed without due process of law by government agents, and that his fundamental human rights were thereby violated. It bases that conviction on the fact that execution arose out of an argument with one of his guards, that he did not attack them, and that no matter what the prisoner might have done, there is no justification for killing him without due process of law.

Victor Lidio JARA MARTINEZ, 40, a popular singer and theater director who was a member of the Central Committee of Communist Youth. A statement by the Foreign Ministry dated March 27, 1974» in response to a note from the OAS (Organization of American States) Interamerican Human Rights Commission, said, "Victor Jara: Dead. He was killed by snipers who, I repeat, were firing indiscriminately on the armed forces and on the civilian population."

This Commission received many credible reports refuting this official story and leading to the conclusion that what actually happened was quite different. Victor Jara was arrested on September 12 on the grounds of the State Technical University were he was working as a theater director. He was taken to the Chile Stadium, where he was separated from the other people with whom he had been arrested, and detained high up in the stands together with other people considered to be dangerous. Between September 12-15, he was interrogated by army personnel. The the last day Victor Jara was seen alive was September 15. During the afternoon he
 
 

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was taken out of a line of prisoners who were being transferred to the National Stadium. In the early morning of the next day, September 16, shanty town dwellers found his body, along with five others, including that of Littre Quiroga Carvajal, near the Metropolitan Cemetery. As the autopsy report states, Victor Jara died as a result of multiple bullet wounds (44 entry wounds and 32 exit wounds).

The Commission came to the conviction that he was executed without due process of law by government agents, and hence in violation of his fundamental human rights. The grounds for that conviction are that he is known to have been arrested and to have been in the Chile Stadium, that it is attested that he died as a result of many bullet wounds, thus indicating that he was executed together with the other prisoners whose bodies appeared alongside his. The overview to this period provides an account of the various kinds of torture to which Victor Jara was subjected while under arrest.

Littre QUIROGA CARVAJAL, 33, lawyer who was head of the prison system and an active Communist. The official version as presented by the Chilean Foreign Ministry on March 27, 1974, stated, "Littre Quiroga Carvajal: Dead. This official of the defeated regime was killed by common criminals."

This Commission received many credible-reports refuting this official story and indicating that what actually happened was quite different. On September 11, 1973, Littre Quiroga ended a sick leave and went to his office at the National Prison Bureau. There he decided to send most employees home, and he spoke with a high ranking military officer in order to inquire about where matters stood with regard to his agency and himself. In response he was told to present himself at 8:00 a.m. at the Ministry of Defense. Nevertheless at 9:45 p.m. a contingent of twenty police came to the offices of the Prison Bureau but did not go into the building. Littre Quiroga surrendered to them of his own free will. During the night he was taken to Armored Regiment No. 2. On the morning of September 13, he was sent, along with other prisoners, to the Chile Stadium where, according to eyewitness reports, he suffered many forms of torture and humiliation inflicted by army personnel. He remained there until September 15. In the early morning of September 16, his body was found near the Metropolitan Cemetery, along with five others including that of Victor Jara.

The Commission came to the conviction that Littre Quiroga was executed without due process of law by government agents in violation of his fundamental human rights. The grounds for its conviction are that his arrest is attested, that he was in the Chile stadium, that his death was due to multiple bullet wounds, that his body was found alongside those of others executed under similar circumstances, and that given the nature of the wounds and the date on which they occurred, they can be reasonably explained only as the work of government agents. The torture Littre Quiroga underwent is described in the overview of this period.

On September 13, 1973, Eduardo Alejandro Alberto CAMPOS BARRA, 29, an auto mechanic who was a MIR activist and a JAP [Council for Supplies and Prices] leader, disappeared. On that day he left the home of a relative located in the Roosevelt shantytown along with a police lieutenant and two more police officials. His whereabouts have been unknown since that moment. The family made
 
 

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many efforts to determine what had happened to Campos but all of them, including legal procedures, proved in vain. The Commission came to the conviction that the disappearance of Eduardo Campos was a human rights violation carried out by private citizens for political reasons. The reasons for that conclusion were his prior political activity as an active and well known leader in the shantytown, the fact that he was last seen in the company of police agents and that since then there is no information on his whereabouts despite all efforts made by his relatives and the judicial inquiries attempted.

On September 14, 1973, Jaime Alejandro ALCAZAR AGUILA, 29, a Radical Party leader and a member of the party's central policy committee (CEN), left the hotel in Santiago where he was staying on his way to work at a fishing company since his superiors had ordered him to present himself. Upon leaving the offices, he was hit by three bullets. He was taken to the Central Emergency Clinic but died before arrival. Even though it has not been able to uncover the precise nature and specific circumstances of the shots, with the evidence available, this Commission has come to the conviction that Jaime Alcazar was killed as a result of the atmosphere of political violence at that time. Government agents were presumably responsible for his death.

On September 14, 1973, Ramon Augusto MUNOZ MIRANDA, 25, a farm worker, was executed in the National Stadium. On September 12, at about 6:00 p.m. police from the Vista Alegre station in Cerillos arrested him along with other workers at the Cerillos chicken farm where he worked. They were taken to the station, and on September 14, the prisoners were transferred to the National Stadium. There he was executed by military personnel and taken to the Military Hospital. The death certificate states that his death was caused by the multiple bullet wounds he sustained, and that it took place on September 14, 1973, at 6:30 p.m. in the National Stadium. Since it is established that he was arrested and the circumstances and cause of his death are known, this Commission has come to the conviction that Ramon Munoz was executed, and that he suffered a grave human rights violation at the hands of government agents.

On September 14, 1973, Carlos Alberto BUSTAMANTE MANCILLA. 23, who worked at the Embassy of Argentina, was killed. He was executed by a military patrol during curfew hours when he was leaving his house with a friend. His death certificate states that he died as a result of gunshot wounds sustained in downtown Santiago on September 14 at 10:00 p.m. The fact that witnesses establish that the shots were fired by military personnel and that he died of bullet wounds, leads the Commission to the conviction that Carlos Bustamante died as a result of the unreasonable use of force by government agents in an action that violated human rights.

On September 14, 1973, Angel Gabriel MOYA ROJAS, 15. a high school student, was killed. He was coming home with a friend before curfew when they ran into a military patrol that stopped and searched them and then ordered them
 
 

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to run and shot them down. He died on the spot. According to his death certificate he was killed on September 14, 1973 at 4:00 p.m. in Santiago as a result of a "bullet wound to the left lung cavity." Given the circumstances and cause of his death, this Commission has come to the conviction that he was killed by government agents who used excessive force and that his human rights were violated.

On September 14, 1973, Luis Alejandro LARGO VERA, 26, an unmarried student who was a Socialist party activist, disappeared. He was in the streets on his way from his own house to that of some friends near curfew time. Many raids had taken place there, since it was a university housing area. A number of his fellow party members were arrested during this same period, and he was well known in the area as a party activist. Although the Commission does not know exactly how it happened, it has come to the conclusion that Luis Alejandro Largo Vera disappeared for political reasons. The grounds for this conviction are his political activism, the repression against other party members at that time, the non-renewal of his identification card, the lack of any death certificate, voter registration, or record of travel,^s and the fact that he did not have any contact with his family and that there are no other possible reasons for him to have disappeared.

On September 14, 1973, Luis Alfredo ROJAS GONZALEZ, 35, was killed. That day he left his house in El Pinar shantytown to buy some items; his body was found in the street in that neighborhood. The death certificate says he died of a "perforating bullet wound" on September 14, 1973. While this Commission does not know the circumstances under which Luis Rojas died, the characteristics of that period and the fact that he died of a bullet wound leads it to the conviction that he was an innocent victim of the political violence in the country.

On September 14, 1973, Eduardo LEIVA ADASME was killed. He was still outside at curfew time as he was coming back home from the Metropolitan Cemetery. His relatives say that they received word that same night that he was lying dead in the street, and they were even given his identification card. The next day they found his body in the Medical Legal Institute. The autopsy report gives the cause of death as bullet wounds. Without knowing precisely the circumstances surrounding his death, this Commission has come to the conviction that he died as a result of the political violence of that period.

On September 14, 1973, Jose Eusebio RODRIGUEZ HERNANDEZ. 24. a worker who was a MIR activist, was shot by a firing squad. According to newspaper

__________
s) Obligatory civil procedures: This term refers to those procedures such as identification card registration, tax number registration (R.U.T.), and voter registration which are obligatory for all Chileans. Upon leaving the country, Chileans are also obliged to register the exit and reentry if one occurs. "To conduct official business/dealings with government agencies" makes reference to complying with these obligatory civil registration procedures.
 

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reports, he was tried by a war tribunal and killed by a military firing squad carrying out the sentence. He was accused of being the deputy of "Mickey," the pseudonym of a top MIR leader. Despite the requests it made to the proper authorities, the Commission has not obtained a copy of the supposed war tribunal record. His death certificate says he died on September 14, 1973, and that the cause of death was "multiple bullet wounds." In view of the newspaper report, which was not denied, and the cause of his death, and even though it does not know the circumstances of his arrest, this Commission has come to the conviction that Jose Eusebio Rodriguez was executed without due process of law by government agents and that his human rights were thereby violated.

On September 14, 1973, Guillermo del Carmen BUSTAMANTE SOTELO, 39, a farm worker who was the president of the union at El Gomero farm, and Juan de Dios SAUNAS SALINAS, 29, a farm worker, were arrested in the sector of Isia de Maipo by police officers assigned to the police headquarters there. They were seen by witnesses at the Isia de Maipo station, and their relatives were told that they had been transferred to the National Stadium. They have remained disappeared since that time. Since it is attested that they were arrested and imprisoned and since there has been no further word on either of them, and since furthermore it is known that similar events took place around this police headquarters as is also the case at Lonquen, the Commission has come to the conclusion that Bustamante and Salinas were subjected to a forced disappearance at the hands of government agents and that such action was a violation of their human rights.

On September 15,1973, Carlos Alberto CASTRO LOPEZ, 20, a street vendor, and Serafin del Carmen ORELLANA ROJAS, 32, who was unmarried, without a profession and not politically active, were executed. According to witnesses' accounts and evidence gathered by this Commission, they were picked up near curfew time by a military patrol on the grounds of a sports club located in the Cerro Navia area. They seem to have failed to obey orders given by the troops searching the place and were taken out and beaten. From there they were taken to an unknown destination. Carlos Alberto Castro's relatives searched for him in all the prison sites, but failed to find him. After receiving a tip, they decided to look for him among the bodies appearing in the Mapocho River and that the people of the Cerro Navia area were burying along its banks. Thus they came to the area of El Resbaldn Bridge and saw piles of sand in which a number of bodies were half buried. One of them stood out, and Castro's wife was able to identify it as that of her husband. She dug it out and later had it sent to the Medical Legal Institute. The autopsy attested that the blows the victim suffered were ultimately the cause of his death, although the documentation gives the reason for death as "trauma to the spinal cord and intense bleeding." In view of the foregoing, this Commission came to the conviction that Carlos Castro was executed without due process of law by government agents with no justification. The care taken to conceal his body by throwing it in the Mapocho River only reaffirms that conviction.

Serafin Orellana's body could not be located but insofar as the circumstances were similar, he probably suffered the same fate as Carlos Alberto Castro Ldpez.
 
 

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The fact that inquiries made on his behalf have not been able to determine his fate or his whereabouts only confirm that such must be the case. Serafin Orellana has been disappeared since the day he was arrested, and it can be presumed that he was executed without any due process of law by government agents.

On September 15, 1973, Blanca Marina de la Luz CARRASCO PENA, 27, an art student who was a MIR activist and student leader at the State Technical University, was killed. That day she left her house to go to the Central Emergency Clinic to see a fellow student who was wounded and hospitalized. On the way she was apprehended, apparently by police since witnesses later saw her at the Macul police headquarters. That same day she was taken out in a truck, apparently in order to be transferred to the National Stadium. Some days later her husband found her name on a list at the Medical Legal Institute; she had been taken there unidentified. According to her death certificate she died at 11:00 p.m. on September 15, just a few minutes after she was taken from the police station. The cause of death was "bullet wounds to the thorax and abdomen with complications." The body had been found in the street and sent there by the Grecia police district headquarters. The Commission came to the conviction that Blanca Carrasco was executed by government agents in what constituted a human rights violation. The grounds for that conviction are that it is established that she was at a police installation and was taken out apparently headed for the National Stadium, that she was found dead in the street with her body bearing many bullet wounds, and that she was a political and student leader.

On September 15,1973, Guillermo INOSTROZA FLORES, 34, a worker, was killed. On that date he turned up dead at the Barros Luco Hospital as the result of a bullet wound to the neck. Even though it has no knowledge of the circumstances of his death, the Commission has been led to the conviction that Inostroza Flores died as a result of the political violence in the country at that time. This conviction is based on the characteristics of that period and the cause of death.

September 15, 1973, Juan Fernando VASQUEZ RIVEROS, 15, a high school student, was killed. On September 13, at about 5:30 p.m., before the curfew in Santiago (which began at 6:00 p.m.), he was walking by in the street just as a police squad was raiding the union office at the Ferriloza company. Without even giving any orders to halt, police proceeded to shoot at him. In a wounded condition he was taken to the Jose Joaqufn Aguirre Hospital, where he died on September 15 as the result of an "abdominal bullet wound." Since the circumstances of what happened are attested, this Commission has come to the conviction that Femando Vasquez died as a result of the political violence of that period.

On September 15, 1973, Humberto Antonio VALENZUELA OLEA, 48, a worker, was killed. He left his home in the Conchali neighborhood intending to do some errands and passed by his brother's house located in the Independencia area. It is presumed that he was shot when he left the house while the curfew was in effect. The next day his dead body was taken to the Medical Legal Institute.
 
 

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According to the autopsy report, he was found on Avenida Chile in the area of Plaza Chacabuco. He died as the result of "abdominal bullet wounds with complications." Taking into account the circumstances of that moment and the causes of his death, this Commission has reached the conviction that Humberto Valenzuela died as a result of political violence.

On September 15, 1973, Julio Enrique REYES ESPINOZA, an employee of the Ministry of Public Works, was killed. On September 14, he was coming home close to the hour of curfew. According to testimony gathered, a police patrol travelling in an official truck shot at him. The next day his body was found in the shantytown plaza. The death certificate listed the cause of death as "bullet wounds to the abdomen and neck." The family received the body from the Medical Legal Institute in a sealed coffin on September 18, and Reyes was buried in lot No. 29 of the General Cemetery in Santiago. In view of the circumstances and cause of his death, and in view of the characteristics of that period, this Commission has come to the conviction that he was a victim of the political violence of that moment.

On September 15, 1973, Enrique Antonio SAAVEDRA GONZALEZ, 18, unmarried, and Carlos Ramiro GONZALEZ GONZALEZ, 18, unmarried and both university students of Bolivian nationality, disappeared in Santiago. On that day they were together when they left the Hotel Sao Paulo where they lived. According to their relatives, these young men were seen in the National Stadium, and a reliable witness later saw them at a detention center in San Felipe. Despite numerous efforts made by the families of both victims, there has been no word concerning their whereabouts. It is clear that they did not leave the country. The Commission has come to the conviction that government agents were responsible for the disappearance of Enrique Gonzalez and Carlos Gonzalez and that their human rights were violated, since it has been established that they were arrested, that they were held in detention centers, and that since that time there has been no information on their whereabouts or their fate.

On September 15, 1973, Gabriel Augusto MARFULL GONZALEZ, 22, a student, was killed. He was arrested in the street on September 14 by air force troops, who seized him and his bicycle. He was driven to the El Bosque air base. There his family was told that he was being transferred to the National Stadium the next day. On that same occasion they were given his bicycle pump. His name never appeared on the list of those imprisoned in the Stadium. Twenty-five days later his body was found at the Medical Legal Institute. On his death certificate it is stated that the body was taken from Cuesta Barriga and that it was identified by the Central Bureau of Identification. The cause of death is ascribed to a "bullet wound" and the date is said to be September 15. The Commission came to the conviction that Gabriel Marfull was executed without due process of law by government agents in an action that constituted a violation of his human rights. The grounds for that conviction are the established fact that he was arrested and was held at the El Bosque air base, and the cause of death.
 
 

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On September 15 or 16, Nelson Ricardo ORELLANA TAPIA, 30, a worker, disappeared. He was arrested by police in the presence of witnesses at the home of relatives in Padre Hurtado. Testimony received by this Commission indicates that he was taken to the Malloco police station and later to the Talagante station. From that point on there are no further traces of him. All inquiries made by his relatives have proven fruitless. Since it is established that he was arrested by police, this Commission has come to the conviction that Nelson Orellana's human rights were violated in his arrest and subsequent disappearance at the hands of government agents.

On September 15, 17, and 19, 1973, three military operations took place inside San Juan de Dios Hospital. Soldiers of a battalion of the Yungay Regiment of San Felipe who were being quartered in Quinta Normal and at the Diego Barros Arana School, arrested many people. Five of those arrested were executed and two remain disappeared to this day. Their names are:

Pablo Ramon ARANDA SCHMIED 20, a medical student at the University of Chile western campus, a member of the student federation and an active member of the Young Communists. He was abducted from the campus on September 17. He was arrested on September 17 on the grounds of San Juan de Dios Hospital in an operation carried out by troops from the Yungay Regiment from San Felipe. He was probably held at the Barros Arana school. Witnesses have told this Commission they saw him at an empty lot in the 7000 block of Calle San Pablo; he had been taken there along with other prisoners by soldiers who indicated they were going to execute him. Since the circumstances of his arrest are established and witnesses saw him in the hands of his captors, this Commission has been able to come to the conviction that Pablo Ramon Aranda Schmied was abducted by force and presumably executed by government agents, who violated his human rights.

On September 16, 1973, Sergio ANABALON VERGARA. 38, a police employee who, according to testimony received, was held prisoner at the general police headquarters and killed there by police officials. Although the Commission does not know the exact circumstances of his death, it believes he died as a result of the political violence in the country during the days after September 11, and believes the date on which the events occurred is especially significant in this regard.

On September 16, 1973, Walter Carlos SCHNEVER XUBERO, 21, a student who was active in FER-MIR (Revolutionary Student Front), was arrested. His family says that on that day he told them he was being followed. He left his house and was arrested in the street by policemen. The family later found his body at the Medical Legal Institute. When they asked for his remains, they were told that they had already been buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. Some time later the family had them exhumed. In this instance, as in a number of others in the Metropolitan Region, the death certificate gives a date prior to the one given in the many and consistent testimonies that the Commission has received concerning the date of arrest. The death certificate says he died on September 11, 1973, and gives the cause as a "bullet wound to the head." The autopsy was carried out on September 26 and the certificate is signed October 4, 1973. The Commission came to the conviction that the execution of Walter Schnever constituted a grave human rights violation, since it was carried out by government agents and without due process of law. The grounds for this conviction are that the victim was politically active, that his arrest is well established, and that he died of bullet wounds.

On September 16, 1973, Luis Eduardo SAAVEDRA GONZALEZ, 24, photographer and folklorist, was executed.-He was arrested September 16, during a military operation in the Yarur shantytown where he lived. The family was advised of his death when they went to the Legal Medical Institute; there they identified Saavedra's body. The autopsy report indicates that the body was sent from the Yarur shantytown, and that the cause of death was bullet wounds. The date of death is the same as that of his arrest. The Commission came to the conviction that he
 

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was executed by government agents and that his fundamental rights were violated, especially since his arrest was sufficiently attested, and in view of the cause of death as registered and the place it occurred.

On September 16, 1973, Vicente Patricio CLEMENT HECHENLEITNER, 27, a leader in the Vicuna Mackenna industrial belt, was executed. He had been arrested on September 14, by air force troops when he arrived at the Loncoleche factory. Credible accounts claim that he was executed by government agents on September 16, next to La Aguada alleyway near the intersection of Avenida Vicuna Mackenna and Calle San Joaquin and that his body was left there. The San Joaquin police headquarters sent his body to the Medical Legal Institute. His death certificate gives the place of death, and says it occurred on September 16. Since his arrest is credibly attested and since there are credible accounts of the circumstances of his death and a legal document to that effect, this Commission has come to the conviction that Vicente Patricio Clement was executed, that his human rights were violated, and that government agents were responsible.

On September 16, 1973, five persons were executed at the Barriga upgrade, near Curacavi:

Segundo Nicolas GARATE TORRES, 28, retired from the military;
Jorge Gustavo GOMEZ RETAMALES, 28, a radio repairman,
Justo Joaquin MENDOZA SANTIBANEZ, 23, a worker who was an activist in the Communist party,
Gaston Raimundo MANZO SANTIBANEZ, 34, a highway worker who was a shantytown leader and active Communist; and
Jorge Manuel TORO TORO, 30, a newspaper vendor.

In the days after September 11, these five and two other persons, were arrested by policemen in Curacavi and taken to the police district headquarters there. From there they were driven to the Barriga upgrade on the night of September 16, 1973. There they were forced out of the vehicle and made to go to an abandoned hut where they were forced to stand up against the wall while flashlights were shone in their faces. The patrol chief gave the order, and they were executed and died immediately. The other two persons were wounded and managed to escape.

Later the lifeless bodies of four of the victims showed up at the morgue, with the observation that they had come from the Barriga upgrade. There has been no certification of the death of Nicolas Garate. One of the survivors, Juan Guillermo Barrera Barrera, came with his family to the Ministry of Defense in Santiago in March 1974, where he described these events and his own situation. There he was told that although there was no legal summons for him, he had to report to the Curacavi police headquarters on March 14. He went there with relatives and on the night of the 13th a group of police came to his house and arrested him. Since that day there has been no information concerning his whereabouts and his fate.

The Commission has come to the conviction that Nicolas Garate Torres, Jorge Gomez Retamales, Justo Joaqufn Mendoza Santibanez, Raimundo Manzo Santibaiiez
 
 

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and Jorge Toro Toro were executed, without any due process of law by government agents, who violated their human rights.

On September 16, 1973, Juan Bautista CERDA LUCERO, 27, a railroad conductor, was killed. On the day after September 11, he left his house on his way to that of a friend in the El Bosque No. 1 shantytown in Conchali. His family heard nothing more about him from that moment until his body turned up at the Medical Legal Institute. The body, bearing twenty bullet wounds, had been left in the street. The Commission has come to the conviction that the death of Juan Bautista Cerda Lucero can be reasonably attributed to action on the part of government agents using excessive force against him and violating his fundamental rights.

On September 16, 1973, Gustavo Edmundo SOTO PEREDO, 50, an unmarried father of five children who was a shantytown leader and an active Communist, disappeared. On September 13 he had been arrested at work by a military patrol. Until the 16th he was listed as under arrest at the National Stadium. That day his relatives were told that he had been moved to the Chile Stadium, but there his presence was denied. Later his house was raided. From that point on there has been no information on his whereabouts or fate. Approximately one year later, his son Gustavo Soto Cabrera was also arrested and disappeared. The Commission came to the conviction that government agents were responsible for the disappearance of Gustavo Edmundo Soto and that it constituted a violation of his fundamental rights. The grounds for this conviction are that it is sufficiently established that he was arrested and that he was present in the National Stadium, that he was a shantytown leader and politically active, and that since his disappearance there has been no word concerning his whereabouts or his ultimate fate.

On September 16, 1973, Osvaldo Alfonso TORRES ALBORNOZ, 24, a merchant, disappeared after being arrested at his home in the Roosevelt shantytown. Those who arrested him were police from the local police station. The family assumes that he was taken to that police station. Since that time there has been no word on his fate and his whereabouts, despite the efforts of his family. A check of government agencies indicates that he has not left the country; he has not registered to vote and has not requested a new identification card. Since his arrest is established it is the conviction of this Commission that Osvaldo Torres Albornoz disappeared at the hands of government agents who violated his human rights.

On September 16, 1973, three brothers:

Hernan Rafael SEPULVEDA BRAVO, 28;
Juan Manuel SEPULVEDA BRAVO, 25; and
Ricardo del Carmen SEPULVEDA BRAVO, 16,

were executed in the Los Nogales shantytown. At about 5:00 p.m. policemen violently entered their house searched it and beat the residents. They took the three brothers to the intersection of Calle Uspallata and Calle Antofagasta. There
 

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they executed them in the presence of eyewitnesses. Hernan and Juan Manuel were killed on the spot. Ricardo del Carmen was taken to Clinic No. 3, where he died at 1:00 p.m. Such circumstances enable this Commission to come to the conviction that these brothers, Hernan Rafael, Juan Manuel, and Ricardo del Carmen, were executed without any due process of law by government agents who gravely violated their right to life.

That same day, September 16 and in that same location, Victor Galvarino SILVA LOPEZ, 20, a shoe factory employee, was executed. He was arrested by police in his house in the Los Nogales shantytown. The police searched the house and immediately took him to the edge of'La Aguada alleyway where they proceeded to execute him. The death certificate says he died of "a bullet wound to the neck. and torso" and says it took place at Uspallata in the Los Nogales shantytown. These circumstances and the cause of death lead this Commission to the conviction that Victor Silva's human rights were violated by government agents who executed him without any due process of law.

On September 16, 1973, Jorge Enrique DIAZ LOPEZ, 23, a truck driver, was killed. He was arrested in front of his parents' home on Avenida El Bosque in the community of Conchali and taken to the Chacabuco Plaza police station. The family found his dead body at the Medical Legal Institute on September 20. The death certificate says he died at 10:00 a.m. on September 16 in the street and that the cause of death was "multiple bullet wounds." Since his arrest and the cause of death are attested, this Commission is convinced that due to the actions of its agents the government was responsible for violating the human rights of Jorge Diaz.

On September 17, 1973, the Elecmetal factory had begun operations again after the events of September 11. The workers also returned to work, in accordance with the request of the new government officials. That day at about 10:00 a.m. a contingent of police and soldiers showed up, and began to single out some of the workers and arrest them. The arrests were said to be related to accusations against the labor union at that company and against what was called the Vicunia Mackenna industrial belt, the area where the company was located. The managers, owners, and the other workers, including a brother of one of the victims, were present while the arrests were being made. According to testimony and other evidence presented to this Commission, those arrested were:

Augusto Andino ALCAYAGA ALDUNATE, 42, the company's chief accountant who was also president of the union and active in the Radical party;
Jose Rosa DEVIA DEVIA, 27, a welder and union leader;
Juan Dagoberto FERNANDEZ CUEVAS, 24, a worker who was the secretary of the union and of the Vicunia Mackenna industrial belt and also active in the Socialist party;
Miguel Alberto FERNANDEZ CUEVAS, 22, a worker who was a union coordinator and active in the Socialist party; and
Jose MALDONADO FUENTES, 33, a welder.
 
 

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According to testimony and other evidence gathered by this Commission, these five people were arrested inside the Elecmetal factory by a contingent made up of both police and soldiers. They were taken away in two different vehicles, one of which belonged to Elecmetal. The site to which they were taken and where they were executed is not known. Their bodies were found in the street and sent to the Medical Legal Institute by police from the Macul checkpoint. They died between 10:50 a.m. September 17 and 6:30 a.m. September 18, all from multiple bullet wounds.

Taking into account the circumstances of their arrest, the cause of their death, and the fact that police sent their bodies to the Medical Legal Institute, this Commission has come to the conviction that Augusto Andino Alcayaga Aldunate, Jose Rosa Devia Devia, Juan Dagoberto Fernandez Cuevas, Miguel Alberto Femandez Cuevas, and Jose Maldonado Fuentes were executed by government agents in a violation of their fundamental human rights without any due process of law or any justification.

On September 17, 1973, Luis Alberto LOBOS CANAS, 31, a driver for a high ranking female leader in the Communist party who was himself active in that party, was executed. According to numerous consistent witnesses' reports and other evidence examined, it has been established that he was arrested in his home in the Los Nogales shantytown on the afternoon of September 17 by a group composed of police and civilians. Where he was taken is not known. He was executed hours after his arrest, and his body was found in the street. The autopsy stated that the cause of death was "two perforating bullet wounds, one to the head and the other to the abdomen and torso." Since the circumstances of the arrest, the victim's political activity, and the cause of his death are attested, this Commission concludes that Luis Alberto Lobos Canas was executed without any due process of law by government agents.

On September 17, 1973, Juan Segundo UTRERAS BELTRAN, 23, a street vendor, disappeared. The evidence and testimony gathered by this Commission indicate that he was arrested at his home in the Cerro Navia neighborhood on September 17, 1973, during the curfew period by a military patrol. Noting that there were eyewitnesses to the arrest and having examined other evidence, this Commission has come to the conviction that Juan Segundo Utreras Beltran was arrested by government agents and disappeared in their custody.

On September 17, 1973, two brothers, Paulino Ernesto ORDENES SIMON, 21, a small farmer who was active in the MIR, and Juan Miguel ORDENES SIMON, 20, a small farmer, were arrested in the presence of witnesses. Army personnel from the Patratroop and Special Forces Regiment of Peldehue made the arrest in a peasant community in Lampa.

During that same operation Victor Joaqum MALDONADO GATICA, 21, a student who was active in the MIR, was arrested in the peasant community of El Esfuerzo in Lampa. Other persons were also arrested in that same raid. One of them was Maldonado's brother, who was released after he had been held for some time.
 

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The following day their father, Manuel Maldonado Miranda, was also arrested and taken to the installation at Peldehue (his case is related below).

The prisoners were taken to Peldehue where they were beaten. On the night of the 18th they were transferred to the National Stadium where, according to credible witnesses, they were interrogated. According to the statement of a survivor, they were taken out of the National Stadium along with others on September 19, 1973 and executed at the Grecia traffic circle during curfew. According to the death certificates, Paulino died as a result of "two perforating bullets to the torso," Juan Miguel Ordenes died as a result of "bullet wounds to the torso and abdomen," and Victor Maldonado Gatica died of "bullet wounds to the abdomen and the head."

It should be noted that the death certificates of the Ordenes brothers put the time of death as 4:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. September 16, 1973. Both certificates were written on October 1. This information conflicts with that of the many eyewitnesses to their arrest and that of others who were arrested with them, who consistently say that they were killed later. Maldonado's death certificate, however, puts his death at 11:00 p.m. September 19, 1973 on the comer of Avenida Grecia and Americo Vespucio, which is consistent with the account received.

The Commission has come to the conviction that the Ordenes Simon brothers, Paulino Emesto and Juan Miguel, and Victor Joaquin Maldonado Gatica, were executed without any due process of law by government agents and that the killing constituted a grave human rights violation.

On September 18, 1973, Jorge AVILA PIZARRO, 27, a doctor who was a MIR activist, was executed. He was arrested on September 17 at Police Station No. 9 when, in obedience to a request, he reported at the Psychiatric Hospital, where he worked. That day at about 4:00 he came to his house in the company of two police officers, who searched the house and impounded some books. He was taken back to Station No. 9, this time accompanied by his wife, who was told that Jorge Avila was being transferred to the National Stadium. Shortly after she returned home, her husband telephoned confirming that he was going to be transferred. Nevertheless, when his wife went to the National Stadium the next day to see Avila, she was told he was not there. Police at Station No. 9 insisted that the transfer had taken place. Only on December 20, 1973, did the family learn that Jorge Avila Pizarro had been dead since September 18 and had been buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery.

According to the autopsy report, the military prosecutor's office sent the body to the Medical Legal Institute, with the name listed as "unknown" and stating that the site of death was not known. The body was identified by the Identification Bureau and the cause of death was declared to be a "gunshot wound to the face and head and a bullet wound to the left side of the thorax."

The Commission came to the conviction that Jorge Avila Pizarro was executed without due process of law by government agents in what constituted a human rights violation. The grounds for its conviction are that his arrest is sufficiently attested;

it is not likely nor has it been stated that he was released; and that the military prosecutor's office sent his dead body to the Medical Legal Institute.
 
 

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On September 18, 1973, Luis Humberto MINO SAUNAS, 26, was arrested by government agents. Police Station No. 3 sent his dead body to the Medical Legal Institute, noting that it had been found on the Manuel Rodnguez Bridge over the Mapocho River, and that the cause of death was bullet wounds to the chest with complications. The Commission came to the conviction that Luis Mino was killed as a result of political violence.

On September 18, 1973, Manuel Beltran CANTU SALAZAR, 36, a public school teacher who was a Socialist and an aide to the governor of Santiago, and Jose Fernando TORRES ARENAS, 25, a DIRINCO (National Bureau of Industry and Trade) inspector, were executed. On September 11 both were arrested by police at the office of the governorship in Santiago, and were being taken toward the Ministry of Defense, but were released before they arrived. From that moment they both stayed at Jose Torres' apartment located at the corner of Calle Pio Nono and Calle Dardignac. On September 16 police arrested them there and took them to the Calle San Isidro police station. Credible eyewitness reports indicate that they were subsequently taken to the National Stadium and killed there on September 18, 1973. Their bodies, however, appeared at the Medical Legal Institute, where they had been sent by the military prosecutor's office as having been found in the street. The cause of death was said to be "multiple bullet wounds" and was said to have occurred on September 18.

The Commission came to the conviction that Manuel Cantu Salazar and Jose Fernando Torres were executed without any due process of law by government agents who violated human rights. The grounds for that conviction are that their arrest and their presence in the National Stadium are attested; their dead bodies were sent to the Medical Legal Institute as though they had been found in the street, (although that is unlikely since they were imprisoned and in the custody of government agents); the circumstances of their death suggest a firing squad; and at least Cantu had a politically important position in the Popular Unity government and was an outstanding leader in his party.

On September 18, 1973, Charles Edmund HORMAN LAZAR, 31, a United States citizen, filmmaker and writer, was executed. He was arrested on September 17, by a group of five or six soldiers while he was alone at his home in the Vicuna Mackenna neighborhood. When his wife arrived the next day, it was clear that their house had been raided. Documents that were part of an investigation Herman was carrying out along with other North Americans with whom he had set up a journalistic working group were taken in that raid. On the 17th, Charles Horman was sent to the National Stadium, where he was interrogated. Officials never acknowledged his arrest. Some weeks later his family was informed that he was dead and buried at the General Cemetery. The miltitary prosecutor's office had sent his body to the Medical Legal Institute with an indication that the place of death was not known. His death certificate registers the time of death as September 18, 1973, at 9:45 a.m., and the cause as "multiple bullet wounds." The Commission has come to the conviction that Charles Horman was executed without any due process of law by government agents, and that his human rights were thereby violated. The
 

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grounds for that conviction are that his arrest by army agents and his entry into the National Stadium are sufficiently attested, that from that moment there was no further word about him until the family learned of his death, and that the bullet wounds from which he died were similar to those of a firing squad.

Related to that execution, on September 22, 1973, Frank Randall TERUGGI BOMBATCH, 24, a United States citizen with Chilean residency who was a student at the University of Chile, was killed. He was involved with Charles Horman and other U.S. citizens in the press group FIN (North American Investigatory Source). On September 20 at about 9:00 p.m. he and another North American were arrested in his apartment in the l^lunoa neighborhood by policemen from the Macul Subofficers Training School. Both were taken to that school and remained there until the morning of September 21, when they were transferred to the National Stadium. At about 8:00 p.m. on the 21st, the prisoners were separated when Frank Teruggi was summoned by an army officer who was taking names from a list. His friend never saw Teruggi again. Days later his body turned up at the Medical Legal Institute. The death certificate said he died September 22, 1973, at 9:15 p.m., that the cause was "multiple bullet wounds" and that it had taken place in the street. The official version of his death presented by the Foreign Ministry asserted that Frank Teruggi had been arrested on September 20, 1973, for a curfew violation and that he had been released for lack of a reason to hold him.

The Commission cannot accept the official version and in fact has come to the conviction that Frank Teruggi was executed without any due process of law by government agents and that his human rights were thus violated. In doing so it has taken into account that it is established that he was arrested at home and not for a curfew violation and that he was held in the National Stadium; it is clear that he was killed by many bullet wounds while he was being held prisoner by government agents; and his execution took place at the same time as that of Charles Horman.

On September 18, 1973, Leopoldo Raul BENITEZ HERRERA, 37, an architect who was on the department of architecture faculty at the Catholic University, was killed. On September 17 at about 7:30 p.m. while he was at the house of his wife's parents in the ^lunoa district, police forces came from the Macul Subofficers Training School forced their way in, searched the house, and threatened the people there. After asking to see the identification papers of everyone in the house, they arrested Benitez, and took him in a police van that had previously been parked outside the entrance to the house. At the Subofficers' Training School his wife learned that he had been there and was told that if he was still alive, she should look for him at the National Stadium. Her inquiries there proved in vain. His body was found on September 24 at the Medical Legal Institute. It had been sent there by the military under the name Leopoldo Raul Benitez Herrera, with a note that he had been found on the street. The death certificate states that he died on September 18, 1973 at 1:35 p.m. as a result of "multiple bullet wounds." However, seven days went by between his arrest and the official notification of his death, and during that time his relatives were given misleading accounts of what had happened to him. One of these was that he was being brought to trial and that his case was going to be heard along with others on September 24, 1973 at the Military Academy.
 
 

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It is the Commission's conviction that Leopoldo Raul Benitez Herrera was executed without any due process of law by government agents who violated his right to life. That' determination is based on the following elements: his arrest by government agents is attested; it is clear that he was at the Macul Subofficers Training School for police; he was killed while in the custody of his captors.

On September 18, 1973 at 3:00 p.m., Humberto PICARTE PATINO, 30, was arrested at his home in San Joaquin by police agents. His mother found his body at the Medical Legal Institute after the Vicuna Mackenna police headquarters had sent her there. The death certificate says he died as a result of "bullet wounds to the thorax and lung areas," and says it occurred at September 18, 1973 at 3:00 p.m. in San Joaquin. Since it is established that he was arrested by police agents and died of bullet wounds, this Commission has come to the conviction that Humberto Picarte Patino was executed by government agents who violated his right to life.

On September 18, 1973, Ernesto Carlos BRIZUELAS PONTIGO, 34. a worker, died at the intersection of Calle Gorbea and Calle Molina as a result of a bullet wound to the head. In view of the nature and date of his death, the Commission has come to the conviction that Ernesto Carlos Brizuelas Pontigo was killed by government agents using excessive force.

On September 18, 1973, Sergio Orlando PERALTA MARTINEZ. 39. a surveyor who was an advisor to the governor's office in Santiago and active in the Socialist party, was killed. On September 16 he was arrested by air force troops at his home on Calle Obispo Donoso in the neighborhood of Providencia, and taken to an unknown destination. Countless efforts by his family to determine his whereabouts were in vain. His body was found on September 23 at the Medical Legal Institute. The death certificate says he died of a "perforating bullet wound to the thorax," and puts the date as September 18, 1973. This Commission has come to the conviction that Sergio Orlando Peralta was executed without any due process of law by government agents who violated his right to life. The grounds for that conviction are the certainty that he was arrested, his political activity and the manner in which he died.

On September 18, 1973, Jorge Rodrigo MUNOZ MELLA, 18, a student, and Jose Andres GARCIA LAZO, 29, a television repairman, were arrested at their home on Calle Bascunan. That night a police patrol burst violently into their house and arrested both young men. Numerous consistent witnesses say they heard shouts and shots and observed the young men being put into the police truck. Then they saw the police take two people out of the truck, shoot them while they were lying on the ground, and then put them back in the vehicle. The many inquiries and legal efforts made by their relatives were all met with denials. To the present nothing is known concerning the fate or whereabouts of these young men. Since it is fully established that they were arrested, and that neither of these young men had subsequent contact with their families, had any dealings with government agencies,
 

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or were registered as having left the country, this Commission has come to the conviction that Jorge Munoz and Jose Andres Garcia disappeared at the hands of government agents who violated their human rights.

On September 18, 1973, two brothers, Jose Gregorio HERNANDEZ AN-DRADE, 27, a public school teacher and a MAPU activist, and Roberto Dario HERNANDEZ ANDRADE. 26, an employee at CORFO who was also a MAPU activist, were killed. On September 16 police forces arrived at the home of the Hernandez Andrade family. They searched the property inquiring about the Secretary General of MAPU, for whom both brothers had worked as a driver. They then arrested both of them, along with a neighbor who was in the house. Witnesses say they were taken to the Second police station. The neighbor was released the next day. The family's efforts to discover the whereabouts of the young men were fruitless. On September 26 relatives found their bodies at the Medical Legal Institute. Both had been found in the street. Jose Gregorio's death certificate says the cause of death was a "bullet wound to the thorax and neck region," and Roberto Dario's was "a perforating bullet wound to the head." The date of death for both is September 18, 1973. Since it is fully attested that both were arrested and that the cause of death was bullet wounds, this Commission has reached the conviction that the execution of Jose Gregorio and Roberto Dario Hemandez Andrade was a human rights violation for which the government was responsible because it was the work of its agents.

On September 18, 1973, Luis Hilario HERMOSILLA MUNOZ, 45, a driver for a high ranking Communist party leader who was also an activist in that party, was killed. He was arrested on September 17 by police forces who took him away, telling him that they needed him to turn over the vehicle he drove which was parked a few blocks away. His relatives searched for him unsuccessfully in a number of places until September 22, when they found his body at the Medical Legal Institute. The death certificate states that he died of "a perforating bullet wound to the head." Place: the street; date: September 18, 1973. Since it is attested that he was arrested by government agents and that he died of bullet wounds, and taking into account his political activism and job, this Commission has come to the conviction that Luis Hilario Hermosilla was executed by government agents who violated his right to life.

On September 18, 1973, Jose Fernando TORRES ARENAS, 26, an inspector at DIRINCO (Bureau of Industry and Trade) and a firefighter, was executed. On September 16 he was arrested together with another person at his home in the presence of witnesses. Those arresting him were police, and a family acquaintance says he saw Jose Torres that same day at the National Stadium. Some days later on the 26th, the family found his name among the lists of people dead at the Medical Legal Institute. The autopsy report indicates that the body was sent by the military prosecutor's office, supposedly after it was found in the street. The cause of death is listed as "multiple bullet wounds." The Commission came to the conviction that he was executed in an action for which government agents were responsible, and that his human rights were thereby violated, especially since his arrest is attested
 
 

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and that the cause of death makes it reasonable to assume that it was the work of government agents.

On September 19, 1973, Segundo Enrique THOMES PALAVECINOS, 15, a high school student and a worker, was killed. On that day he took a public bus on the way back to his house. Along the way at around 6:30 p.m., police stopped the bus in the Walker Martmez neighborhood and arrested all the male passengers. An eyewitness who was among those arrested reported this information to the family. Segundo Thomes' death occurred at 9:00 p.m. on September 19; the certificate says the body was found in the street with a bullet wound to the head and many to the abdomen. The family identified the body at the Medical Legal Institute, and it was buried in the General Cemetery. In view of the evidence gathered and credible testimony received, this Commission has come to the conviction that the death of Segundo Enrique Thomes Palavecinos can be attributed to the political violence of that period and that it is reasonable to think that it was the result of actions by government agents.

On September 19, 1973, Ramon Luis ESCOBAR CHAVARRIA, a taxi driver, was killed at about 2:00 a.m., while curfew was in effect. He took a woman from his neighborhood to the Carolina Freire Maternity Hospital. On his way home, at about 3:30 a.m. [sic] at the intersection of Calle Carrion and Calle Vivaceta, he was hit by a bullet, and was taken to the Jose Joaquin Aguirre Hospital and died there. His body had a "bullet wound in the chest with complications," according to the autopsy report. Taking into account the context in which these events occurred, and the cause of the victim's death, this Commission has come to the conviction that Ram6n Luis Escobar Chavarrfa was killed by government agents using excessive force.

On September 19, 1973, Alvaro Agustm SALCE ASCORRA, 48, a resident in the United States who worked there administering buildings and was in Chile for family reasons, was killed. That afternoon he set out toward the house of a female friend near Plaza Italia and never arrived. His family searched for him without any result, until they found his body at the Medical Legal Institute on September 26. His body had been sent there by the military prosecutor's office after he had been found on Avenida Bustamente. The autopsy report states that the cause of death was "three perforating bullet wounds to the chest." Taking into account the cause of death and the date and time of these events, this Commission is convinced that Alvaro Agustm Sake died as the result of use of excessive force by government agents.

On September 19, 2973, Mario Armando CANEDO ROJAS, a security guard who was the neighborhood council secretary of Villa Salvador Allende and active in the Socialist party, was arrested. The arrest took place in the street in the presence of witnesses, in front of the San Rafael police headquarters. His relatives looked for him in a number of places, but everywhere they went they were told he was not there. On September 23 his body was found at the Medical Legal Institute. The autopsy report attests that the body was "sent by the Chilean Air Force at El Bosque, with the note that it had been found at the El Bosque air base," and that the cause
 

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of death was "a perforating bullet wound to the neck." The Commission has come to the conviction that the death of Mario Armando Canedo Rojas involved a grave violation of his right to life committed by government agents. The grounds for this conviction are the fact he was arrested and the cause and place of his death.

On September 19, 1973, at 3:00 p.m. Luis Gilberto MATAMALA VANEGAS, 16, a high school student and vendor, was executed. Police forces from the San Joaquin headquarters violently entered his house in the Isabel Riquelme shantytown. Without even asking him his name, they shot him and withdrew, leaving him gravely wounded. He died on the way to the Red Cross Clinic. When the family went to the police to ask for an explanation of what had happened, they were told it had been a mistake. Nevertheless, in a 1976 response to the Interamerican Human Rights Commission, the Foreign Ministry stated that Luis Matamala had died in a shootout with the police. The information given here indicates in itself that the official version is implausible. This Commission is convinced that Gilberto Matamala was executed without due process of law by government agents.

Several persons were arrested between September l9'2l, 1973 at the Airolite, S.A. factory, located on the Panamerican highway north in the Conchali district. Three of them were executed:

On September 20, 1973, Jorge Carlos Romualdo RUZ ZUNIGA, 26, a hydraulic engineer, was arrested. He worked at SERCOTEC (Technical Cooperation Service) and was arrested there by army troops from the Guardia Vieja Regiment of Los Andes. He was transferred to the grounds of the International Trade Fair of Santiago, where troops from that regiment were quartered. He was later transferred to the National Stadium, where he was interrogated but was held for only four hours. That same night, September 20, he and another of those arrested at SERCOTEC, were taken out, along with three others. They were driven in a police van to the edge of the Maipo River, where the police forced them to kneel down and executed them. Their bodies were thrown into the river. One of these people managed to escape the firing squad by jumping into the river and avoiding being hit by bullets. Jorge Ruz's body was never found. This Commission has come to the conviction that since it is established that he was arrested, held, and executed, but his remains have not been found, Juan [sic] Ruz Zuniga is one who disappeared after arrest at the hands of government agents in a violation of his human rights.

On September 20, 1973 at 6:00 a.m., air force, army and police troops in a joint operation began a raid in the La Bandera shantytown in the district of La Granja. This Commission has received testimony indicating that several people were arrested during this raid, and were taken to an athletic field in the shantytown. There the troops blindfolded them and forced them to lie face down on the ground. This operation lasted until 6:00 p.m. Later some people were transferred to the El Bosque air base and the 25th police station, which is located on Avenida Santa Rosa. This Commission examined the cases of three of those arrested on this occasion who remained disappeared and one person who was executed:

Ricardo Octavio LOPEZ ELGUEDA, 15, street vendor. He was arrested inside his house in the presence of his family and taken to the athletic field. From there he was taken as a prisoner to the 25th police station, where he was last seen by witnesses. From that moment his fate and whereabouts are unknown.

Hector Orlando VICENCIO GONZALEZ, 24. a worker, was arrested at home in the presence of his family and neighbors by air force troops. They arrested him when he said he had no identification card. Despite his family's countless efforts to locate him, he remains disappeared to this date.
 

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Simon Eladio SANCHEZ PEREZ, 17, student, who lived with his family in Villa O'Higgins in the La Florida district. That day his father sent him to drop off a sheet of roofing in the La Bandera shantytown. The area was being searched at that very moment, and it is assumed chat he was arrested when he entered it. His whereabouts are unknown since that date.

Luis Osvaldo SILVA, 38, a street vendor. He was arrested at home, in the presence of witnesses, by troops who beat him and took him to an unknown destination. His family looked for him in vain in different places. On September 30 they were told that his body had been found on San Cristobal hill with many bullet wounds. The date of death is September. 21.

Taking into account the circumstances of these arrests and the fact that three of these persons had no further contact with their families, had no official dealings with government agencies, and were not registered as having left the country, this Commission has come to the conviction that Ricardo Lopez, Hector Vicencio and Simon Sanchez were disappeared by force and that Luis Osvaldo Silva was executed, all by government agents in violation of their human rights.

On September 20, 1973, Juan Carlos DIAZ FIERRO, 27, an office worker who was the secretary of the labor union at Casa Garcia and a Communist party activist, was killed. He was apprehended by army troops the previous day at the Casa Garcfa store, and taken to a military unit where the family says his arrest was acknowledged. However, they were later given different and contradictory accounts of his fate and whereabouts. Their countless inquiries proved fruitless. His dead body was brought to the morgue on September 20 and was buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. Since that time his family has not been able to reclaim his body in order to bury it. The death certificate states that the cause of death was a "perforating bullet wound to the head." Place: Santiago, Avenida Espana, 450. Date: September 20, 1973 at 6:30 a.m. Since his arrest is fully attested, and taking into account the cause of his death, this Commission came to the conviction that Juan Diaz was executed without any due process of law by government agents, thus violating his right to life.

On September 20, 1973, Vicente Ramon BLANCO UBILLA, 37. president of the association of homeless in the El Olivo shantytown in San Bernardo and active in and the registrar of the Communist party of San Bernardo, disappeared after being arrested. According to his family, the authorities were looking for him from September 11 onward and so he hid. He finally decided to surrender and did so with his wife at the San Bernardo police station. Both were arrested on September 20, 1973, but she was released two days later. After her own release she heard nothing more about the fate of her husband. Given these antecedents, this Commission has come to the conviction that the disappearance of Vicente Ramon Blanco Ubilla constituted a grave human rights violation for which government agents were responsible, since his arrest is attested by credible testimony and there is no indication that he was ever subsequently released.
 
 

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On September 20, 1973, Jose Rafael MUNOZ CONTRERAS, 24, married, a street vendor, was killed in the street. On September 20 at about 10:00 p.m. he left his house to go to the store. Twenty days later his wife found his body at the morgue. The death certificate states that he died of "two abdominal bullet wounds" and that the place of his death was "a public thoroughfare in Santiago." Although it does not know under precisely what circumstances Jose Munoz lost his life, this Commission has come to the conviction that he died as a result of the political violence in the country at the time of his death.

On September 20, 1973, Rafael ARCE JEREZ, 21, an office worker, was killed. At around noon on September 20 he left his house on the way to the Gran Avenida branch of the Banco del Trabajo in order to cash a check. When he did not return home, his family began looking for him. They finally found his body at the Medical Legal Institute. According to the death certificate the body had bullet wounds. The time of death was 11:00 p.m. September 20. The family later learned that there had been a major military operation there that day and many arrests were made. Since it is attested that members of the armed forces were carrying out an operation, and taking into account the circumstances and causes of death, this Commission came to the conviction that Rafael Arce Jerez died as a result of political violence, and it is to be presumed that government agents killed him.

On September 20, 1973, Pedro Armando MENA SEPULVEDA, 38, a butcher, was killed. He was last seen on September 20 as he was leaving his job at the Franklin slaughterhouse. He turned up dead of bullet wounds at the Medical Legal Institute. The date of death is September 20. Because of the antecedents noted, the fact that he was shot to death, and the circumstances of the time, the Commission has come to the conviction that Pedro Mena Sepulveda died as a result of the political violence that took place after September 11, 1973.

According to his family, on September 20, 1973, Carlos Antonio GUZMAN ALTAMIRANO, 23, an unmarried vendor, was killed. His dead body was sent to the Medical Legal Institute by the Vicuna Mackenna police headquarters, and the cause of death was multiple bullet wounds. The Commission has come to the conviction that Carlos Guzman was killed as a result of the political violence prevailing at that time.

On September 20, i973, Luis Alfredo DIAZ JERIA, 18, disappeared. That day he was arrested by police from the Curacavi police force headquarters that day, while he was buying some things, and he was taken to that police station. Since that date there has been no further information on him. Since the evidence in its possession attests to the fact that he was arrested, this Commission has come to the conviction that his disappearance was the work of government agents who violated his human rights.

On September 21, 1973, Patricio Enrique MANRIQUEZ NORAMBUENA. 17, a student who was active in the Young Communists, was executed. He was
 

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arrested the previous day by police from the Fourth station, who searched his house and apprehended him as well as confiscating some books. The following day police at that station said that he had been transferred to the National Stadium, but that proved to be false. On the 22nd, the bullet-ridden body of Patricio Manriquez was found along the train tracks in the area of Lira, as indicated in his death certificate. Alongside the body were the books that his captors had taken from the young man's house. The Commission came to the conviction that the execution of Patricio Manriquez Norambuena constituted a grave violation of his fundamental rights at the hands of government agents. The grounds for this conviction are that it is thoroughly established that he was arrested, his political activity, and the place and state in which his body was found.

On September 21, 1973, police from the Davila station arrived to carry out a raid at the Clinica Bancaria de Pensiones and arrested:

Antonio Artemio TAMAYO REYES, 31, an office worker:
Luis Alberto ORTEGA FERNANDEZ, 31, an office worker;
Luis Porfirio ALZAMORA GONZALEZ, 21, an office worker; and
Luis Sergio MENDEZ ORTEGA, 25, a mechanic.

They arrested a total of ten employees whose names they had on a list and took them to the police station for interrogation. That afternoon they released six of them. The other four were taken to the National Stadium, and their names appeared on the list of people there, according to testimony received by this Commission. Word came to the clinic that their bodies were at the Medical Legal Institute. All the autopsy reports indicate that the bodies were brought from the National Stadium and that the cause of death was bullet wounds. When the coffins were turned over to the families, they were already sealed. The date of their death is September 22. After examining the evidence gathered, the Commission came to the conviction that these people were executed without any legal process. The grounds for that conviction are that it is established that all were arrested and held in the National Stadium, that they died of bullet wounds, and that three died in the National Stadium; hence it is to be presumed that the fourth death took place under the same circumstances.

On September 21, 1973, at about 7:45 p.m. police from the Walker Martinez station arrested the following three people at their home:

Alamiro Segundo GONZALEZ SAAVEDRA, 41, a merchant;
Manuel Jose GONZALEZ ALLENDE, 16, a student; and
Simon Cirineo ALLENDE FUENZALIDA, 26, a merchant.

According to those who witnessed what happened, the police were drunk and during the arrest searched the home of these men. Alamiro Gonzalez was wounded in the leg in front of his house at the moment of arrest. The next day relatives found their bodies near the Pio Nono Bridge on the banks of the Mapocho River. This Commission came to the conviction that the deaths of Alamiro Gonzalez Saavedra,
 
 

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Manuel Antonio Gonzalez Allende and Simon Allende Fuenzalida were executions which occurred without any due process of law and which constituted a grave human rights violation by government agents, particularly of the right to life. The grounds for coming to this conviction are that their arrest is attested and that the bodies with bullet wounds were found on the banks of the Mapocho River, as indicated on their death certificates, which registers the date of death as September 21.

On September 22, 1973. Nelson Gonzalo DURAN CASTILLO, 22, an ex-marine, was killed. On that day Duran, who had retired from the marines a few months before September 11, went to present himself at the recruiting office on 18th St.^t Since he did not return home and there was no word about him, the family went looking for him, until at the Medical Legal Institute they were told that he had died as a result of bullet wounds. The autopsy report described the body as having "many fractures and widespread destruction along the whole left side and part of the right side of the facial cranial mass, torn skin muscle and a bruise wound on the upper third of the left thigh," which indicates that he had been subjected to torture; he also had bullet wounds, to the "head and abdominal cavity with complications." The relatives said that they had not been able to view the body and that it was handed over to them in a sealed casket. The time of death registered by the death certificate is 4;00 a.m. September 22, that is, while the curfew was in effect.

The Commission came to the conviction that the death of Nelson Duran Castillo was an execution which took place without any due process of law and that it constituted a grave human rights violation. The grounds for this conviction are the state of his remains and the fact that he was killed during the curfew period, which indicate a premeditated action against him. Under the circumstances government agents can reasonably be assumed to have been responsible.

On September 22, 1973, police at the Conchai checkpoint arrested:

Juan Guillermo ARREDONDO GONZALEZ, 33, a lathe operator who was an active Communist;
Juan Humberto Alberto ORELLANA ALARCON, 31, a worker; and
Jose Gabriel MOLINA GUERRERO, 31, a married locksmith who was an active Socialist.

They were arrested in the presence of many witnesses during a police operation in the Pablo Neruda shantytown in the Conchali district and taken to the area checkpoint. The bodies of Arredondo and Molina were found along the General San Martin highway; that of Orellana was found in the street and taken to the Medical Legal

__________
t) Eighteenth Street: This is a street located in the heart of downtown Santiago. The name refers to September 18, which is observed as Chile's National Day. September 19 has traditionally been observed as Armed Forces Day. The two days together are referred to as the Fiestas Patrios.
 

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Institute. Molina's death certificate registers the date of death as September 22, 1973, and the cause, according to the autopsy report, was "two perforating bullet wounds in the cranium' which destroyed the raquidean bulb, protuberance, and cerebellum." It also adds that such wounds are made by "high power bullets." The cause or Arredondo's death, according to his autopsy report is "bilateral bleeding in the thoracic cavity, a perforating wound of the superior and middle lobes of the right lung and a perforating wound of the inferior lobe of the left lung." The cause of Orellana's death was "bullet wounds to the head." These two are dated on September 23.

Given the evidence it has examined, this Commission has come to the conviction that the human rights of Juan Guillermo Arredondo Gonzalez, Jose Gabriel Molina Guerrero and Juan Humberto Orellana Alarcon were gravely violated, and that government agents are responsible for that action since their arrest is thoroughly attested by reliable witnesses and the causes of their deaths can reasonably be attributed to armed agents, who left the bodies abandoned.

On September 23, 1973,

Jaime Ivan MENESES CISTERNAS, 28, a freelance photographer;
Miguel Segundo ORELLANA BARRERA, 32, a driver;
Jorge Bernardino PINTO ESQUIVEL, 53, a union leader; and
Nardo del Carmen SEPULVEDA MANCILLA, 24, a worker,

were killed. The first three were arrested in a military operation carried out in the Roosevelt shantytown that morning and loaded onto a bus being used by soldiers from the Buin Regiment. It has not been possible to determine where they were taken. The fourth was arrested at his workplace, in the Conchali district, also by troops of the Buin Regiment. All the bodies, with many bullet wounds as indicated on their death certificates, were found that same day on the Panamerican highway north. The Commission has come to the conviction that the deaths of Jaime Ivan Meneses Cisternas, Miguel Segundo Orellana Barrera and Jorge Bernardino Pinto Esquivel were executions which took place without any due process of law and were grave human rights violations that can be attributed to the action of government agents, since it is established that they were arrested and in view of the specific causes of their deaths.

On September 23, 1973, Jose Alfredo VIDAL MOLINA, 27, a worker, disappeared. He was arrested on September 23 at his house in the Nueva Matucana shantytown by a group composed of both police and soldiers and then taken to an unknown destination. From that moment there have been no indications of his whereabouts. His family went to-the banks of the Mapocho River, where the bodies of people arrested under similar circumstances had been found, but they were unable to locate his body. Jose Alfredo Vidal has remained missing since the date of his arrest. Further confirmation comes from the fact that he has not carried out any dealings with the government, he has not left the country, and has not had contact with his family throughout this period. These facts, which the Commission
 
 

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has verified, support its conviction that we have here the case of someone who disappeared after being arrested by government agents.

On September 23, 1973, Ramon Osvaldo JARA ESPINOZA, 23, a plumber. was killed. He was arrested at his home in the Roosevelt shantytown in the Conchali district, by soldiers, police and investigative police, during the search operations being carried out by this shantytown's police station. His bullet ridden body turned up on the Bulnes Bridge, and it was sent to the Medical Legal Institute where it was identified by his relatives. According to the autopsy report, the cause of death was a "perforating bullet wound to the head with complications." The date of death was the same as that of his arrest. Since it is established that he was arrested and held in a police facility, that his body was found in a public place, that the autopsy report says the cause of death was a bullet wound, and that it occurred on the date of his arrest, the Commission has come to the conviction that Ramon Osvaldo Jara Espinoza was executed and that his human rights were gravely violated by the action of armed government agents while he was a prisoner in their custody.

On September 23, 1973, Enrique Segundo MONTERO MONTERO, 29, an itinerant vendor, disappeared after being arrested at his house by police from the San Bernardo station. Police told the family that the day after he was taken to the San Bernardo police station, he was transferred to Cerro Chena. However, at that site they did not acknowledge his arrest. Since that date the family did not discover anything more about his fate, until as a result of their efforts SENDET (Executive National Secretariat of Prisoners) answered that "according to official information in the possession of this secretariat, the citizen Enrique Segundo Montero Montero, died in combat as a result of September 11, 1973." Despite this official statement, there is no death certificate or any other document attesting to his death. This Commission is convinced that the status of Enrique Segundo Montero Montero is that of disappeared, and government agents were responsible for the violation of his human rights. The official version that he was killed in combat is not credible since it is established that he was arrested by police and therefore must have been in their custody, and that there is no legal evidence of whatever kind of death he may have suffered.

On September 23, 1973,

Ofelia Rebeca VILLARROEL LATIN, 29, a foreign trade department secretary who was responsible for the women's section of unionized office workers and an active Communist;
Donato QUISPE CHOQUE, an employee of Bolivian nationality; and
Adrian del Carmen SEPULVEDA FARIAS, 27, an employee in the thread making section who was an employee representative and a leftist sympathizer,

were arrested along with twenty other workers at the Sumar factory, which was part of what was known as the Vicuna Mackenna industrial belt. Soldiers had raided and searched this factory on September 12 and taken over the company.
 

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On September 23, most of the workers obeyed a call from the new authorities and showed up for work. As the employees arrived at the factory they were lined up;

those who were considered the most dangerous according to lists the military were consulting were set apart. Numerous factory and office workers who were inside the company consistently testified that soldiers arrested these people and separated them from the other workers who had also been arrested. This was the last time they were seen alive.

Their bodies were found on the General San Martin highway and sent to the Medical Legal Institute. The autopsies indicated that they died the day they were arrested. Their bodies bore many bullet wounds. The fact that all were blindfolded indicated that they had been executed. The evidence gathered, particularly the testimony that credibly attests to their arrest and how it was carried out, added to the date and cause of death, has led this Commission to the conviction that Ofelia Rebeca Villarroel Latin, Donato Quispe Choque, and Adrian del Carmen Sepulveda Farfas were executed and that their human rights were gravely violated by government agents.

On September 23, 1973, Fernando Isidro VERA ORTEGA, 18, was executed. He had been arrested at his house in La Pincoya shantytown during a large scale search operation. All those arrested were taken to the local athletic field and then to the La Pincoya police station. His relatives say that there they were told that the prisoners had been taken to the Buin Regiment, but all their inquiries made there were in vain. His body was later found on the General San Martin highway. The time of death is 11:15 a.m. that same day, September 23. His body had deep wounds in the left temporal and right parietal lobes and the cause of death was "bullet wounds to the head and thorax with complications." In view of the evidence it has examined, and since it is established that he was arrested on the day of his death and that the circumstances of his death prove that this was the work of armed agents, the Commission has come to the conviction that Femando Isidro Vera was executed without any due process of law and suffered a grave human rights violation at the hands of government agents.

On September 24, 1973, Carlos Enrique Mario NICHOLLS RIVERA, 27, a chemical engineer and active Communist, was executed after being arrested at his home in the Maipu district by a military patrol. On the day he was arrested he was taken to the International Trade Fairgrounds in Santiago. From there he was taken by night and later executed at the intersection of Avenida General Velasquez and the road to Melipilla. Government officials had his body buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery without informing the family. They were able to have it exhumed only some time later. The autopsy certificate says that his death was caused by multiple bullet wounds to the torso and abdomen with complications and that it occurred on the same day he was arrested. The Commission has been able to come to the conviction that Carlos Nicholls Rivera died as a result of being executed without any due process of law, and that this was a grave human rights violation for which government agents were responsible. The grounds for that conviction are the attested fact that he was arrested, his violent death
 
 

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and the circumstances of his burial; his political activism has also been taken into account.

On September 24, 1973, Roberto Hernan CACERES SANTIBANEZ, 16, an itinerant vendor, was executed after being arrested by police. After being arrested he was taken to the Fourth police station. Some days later his bullet ridden body was found at the Medical Legal Institute, where it had been sent by the military prosecutor's office. The autopsy report states that the place of death was the comer of Avenida Departamental and Macul and that it took place on September 24, at 11:00 a.m. Since it is established that he was arrested, and taking into account the cause of death, the Commission has come to the conviction that Roberto Heman Caceres was executed without any due process of law, and that his human rights were violated by government agents.

On September 24, 1973, Arnoldo CAMU VELOSO, 36, a lawyer who was a legal advisor to the presidency and active in and member of the political commission of the Socialist party, was executed in the street. He had been in hiding from September 11 while still maintaining contact with his family. Prior to his death troops had come to his house intending to arrest him. On September 24, he had arranged to meet his wife in a public place in downtown Santiago but did not arrive there. According to eyewitness reports the Commission has received, he was stopped in the street by armed civilians who put him in a car and shot him there. Fatally wounded, he was taken the Central Emergency Clinic where he died. The autopsy report says the cause of death was a "recent perforating bullet wound to the spinal cord," and that it took place on September 24 at 12:45 p.m. Taking into account the political activity of the victim, his responsibilities in the party and his work as a legal advisor to the president, the fact that he was being sought by troops, that he was named in the legal process initiated by the Chilean Air Force—trial record 1-73, and that the autopsy report notes that he was shot at close range and is consonant with the eyewitness report that he was shot inside a vehicle, the Commission has come to the conviction that Arnoldo Camu Veloso was executed without any due process of law by government agents, and that this act was a grave human rights violation.

On September 25, 1973, Jorge Alberto VERGARA UMANA, 30, a shoemaker, was executed after being arrested by troops at his home in the Nueva Ilusion shantytown located at El Cortijo on the Panamerican highway north. He was arrested during a large scale search operation in the area. After many inquiries, the family found his body at the Medical Legal Institute. According to the death certificate the cause of death was a "perforating bullet wound to the head," and the date was the same as that of his arrest. In view of the cause and date of death, and since according to credible testimony he was arrested by government agents, the Commission came to the conviction that Jose Alberto Vergara was executed without any due process of law, and that his human rights were thereby violated by government agents.
 

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On September 26, 1973

Oscar Antonio LOBOS URBINA, 24, a worker;
Amado de Jesus RIOS PRADENA, 31, a merchant; and
Manuel Jesus ARANCIBIA ARANCIBIA, 29, a street vendor,

were killed on the grounds of a police facility. The official account states that these three men had participated in an attack on a police ambulance in the La Legua shantytown on September 11, 1973. According to the newspaper report, First Sergeant Jose Humberto Wettlyn and three other police were killed in this attack. On September 15 air force personnel arrested Lobos and Rios in La Legua, and the next day they arrested Arancibia at his house. Arancibia was transferred to the National Stadium, and nothing more was known of him until his body showed up at the Medical Legal Institute. The newspaper account states that the three were submitted to a war tribunal, sentenced to death, and killed by firing squad at a police unit on Calle Las Perdices in the La Reina district.

The autopsy report states that the La Reina Police Subofficers headquarters sent the bodies to the Medical Legal Institute, and that the cause of Rios Pradenas' death was a "perforating bullet wound to the head." It states that Lobos Urbina died of "perforating bullet wounds to the head and to the neck," and that Arancibia Arancibia died of "perforating bullet wounds to the thorax and abdominal thorax." The Commission submitted requests to the proper officials for the trial record but did not receive it.

By reason of the foregoing, the Commission came to the conviction that these three men were executed and were not granted their right to a proper trial, since there is no reliable record that the alleged war tribunal actually took place, that even if it did take place, they did not have the right to a legal defense that could have prevented the death penalty or modified the degree of guilt or of participation. All of this was a human rights violation, regardless of whatever responsibility those who were executed may have had for the events for which they were condemned to death.

On September 26, 1973, Freddy Flavio MOLINA RODRIGUEZ, 34. a worker, was executed after being arrested by police and soldiers the previous day at his house in the El Cortijo shantytown. All those arrested on that occasion were taken in a truck to the Fifth police station in Plaza Chacabuco. There his family was told that he had been transferred to the National Stadium, but it became clear that such was not the case. Relatives found his body on October 5, 1973 at the Medical Legal Institute. According to the death certificate he was killed on September 26, 1973 at Portezuelos, Quilicura. Since his arrest has been established, and taking into account the cause of death, the Commission has come to the conviction that Freddy Flavio Molina was executed without any due process of law, and that his human rights were thereby gravely violated by government agents.

On September 26, 1973, Juan Arturo CERON BARROS, 32, an itinerant merchant, was executed. That day he came to the La Pincoya shantytown, the departure point for the trucks with which he worked. He was arrested in the course
 
 

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of a search operation conducted in the neighborhood by military and police. His body was later found in Portezuelos in the Quilicura district. The autopsy report says that the cause of death was "a series of perforating bullet wounds, to the head, thorax and members, hemorrhaging and acute loss of blood. The path of the bullet wound in the middle third of the left upper arm is from back to front, left to right, and top to bottom." The date of death is the same as that of his arrest. Since his arrest by military personnel is attested, and taking into account the date and cause of death, the Commission has come to the conviction that Juan Arturo Cerdn Barros was executed without any due process of law, and that government agents were thereby responsible for violating human rights.

On September 27, 1973, Juan Patricio PALMA RODRIGUEZ, 17, a student, was killed. He had disappeared on September 11, 1973, in the course of a search operation being conducted near his home in San Joaquin during which several people were arrested. His family heard no word about him from the time he disappeared until they learned that the youth's body had turned up near the Metropolitan Cemetery, and that, according to his death certificate the cause of death was "bullet wounds to the head and thorax," and that it took place on September 27. The family never saw his body, and he was buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery in Santiago. Taking into account this evidence, the fact that a police operation took place the day the youth disappeared, and the specific features of his death (which occurred several days after the date of his probable arrest), the Commission has come to the conviction that Juan Patricio Palma Rodriguez was executed by government agents and that he was consequently a victim of political violence.

On September 27, 2973, Ramon Bernardo BELTRAN SANDOVAL, 24, itinerant vendor, was killed. On the day of his death, he left home and never returned. In their efforts to determine his whereabouts, his family found his body already buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery and learned from his death certificate that he had been killed by multiple bullet wounds. Based on the evidence it has received, this Commission has come to the conviction that the death of Ramon Bernardo Beltran Sandoval was a product of the political violence of that time, and it is presumed to be the work of government agents.

On September 27, 1973, Julio CHACON HORMAZABAL, 26, a member of the presidential security guard and an active Socialist, was arrested at home by men in civilian dress who identified themselves as investigative police. At the time of arrest, it was said that he was going to be taken to the Defense Ministry. He had been held prisoner at the headquarters of the San Fernando Regiment from September 8-16, 1973. After his arrest there was no further information concerning his whereabouts, despite the many efforts his relatives made on his behalf. His identification card has not been renewed, and there is no record of death, voter registration, or information on any travels. The Commission has come to the conviction that the human rights of Julio Chacon Hormazabal were violated, and that since the fact that he was arrested is thoroughly attested, his death should be regarded as the work of government agents.
 
 

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On September 27, a military patrol came to the Chilean Autos Company and arrested two workers, both of them union leaders. Their names are Mario PARRA GUZMAN, 29, a worker, and Luis Ricardo HERRERA GONZALEZ, 34, a worker who was active in the Communist party. Their bodies, bearing bullet wounds, were found the next day in front of a garage at the Peugeot dealership. The management at Chilean Autos asked the army for information on the arrest of two of its workers. The answer received was that "these people had in fact been arrested and interrogated at a military facility, but that they had been released at 9:15 p.m." It added that "there is no evidence on what they were doing between the time they were released and when their bodies were found the next day. However, it can be presumed that these activists had a gun battle with an unidentified patrol and that in the course of the gun battle these citizens lost their lives." Since the fact that they were arrested is established by the express statement of their captors; since the army's official response is implausible—namely that they were released during curfew hours—and since it is even less credible that they would have been carrying weapons immediately after being released and then had a shootout with an unknown military patrol; and also taking into account their political activity and their roles as union leaders, and the cause and circumstances of their deaths, the Commission has come to the conviction that the execution of Mario Parra Guzman and Luis Ricardo Herrera Gonzalez constituted a grave violation of their human rights committed by government agents.

On September 28, 1973, Omar Enrique BALBOA TRONCOSO, 18, a student, and Patricio Humberto PARRA QUINTANILLA, 14, a student, were executed after being arrested in their homes in the Villa La Cistema No. 1 shantytown by air force personnel from the El Bosque air base. They were arrested as the result of accusations by neighbors. Toward the end of October the Medical Legal Institute told their relatives that their bullet ridden bodies had been found alongside the Metropolitan Cemetery, that the date of death was September 28, and that they had been buried side by side in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. As a result of the evidence it has found, and especially since it is established that they were arrested, and in consequence of the style and circumstances of their deaths, this Commission has come to the conviction that Omar Enrique Balboa Troncoso and Patricio Humberto Parra Quintanilla were executed and that they were victims of a grave human rights violation at the hands of government agents.

On September 29, Raul Antonio MUNOZ MUNOZ, 50, an office worker and union leader, disappeared after being arrested at his home in the Einstein shantytown in El Salto by troops from the Buin Regiment. He was immediately transferred to the headquarters of the special forces police. He then disappeared, and there has been no further word on his whereabouts or his fate. The Commission came to the conviction that Raul Antonio Munoz Munoz disappeared at the hands of government agents. This conviction is based on the fact that it has been established that he was arrested and was held in a police installation and that he has not been involved in any subsequent dealings that might provide a record that he is still alive. Consequently his human rights were gravely violated by the actions of government agents.
 
 

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On September 29 at 5:00 a.m. Luis Alberto VALDIVIA CONTRERAS, 32, a cargo loader, was killed. He left his house at bus stop No. 25 on Gran Avenida on September 28 and never returned. His family later found his body at the Medical Legal Institute and was told he had been killed for violating curfew. The Commission came to the conviction that the death of Luis Alberto Valdivia entailed a violation of human rights as a result of the unreasonable use of force by government agents responsible for maintaining public order.

On September 29, 1973, Nelson Miguel SANCHEZ ROJO, 28, a street vendor, was killed. Testimony gathered by this Commission indicates that he was arrested at his home by a military patrol in late September. Neighbors had reported him when he was intoxicated and beating his sister. His body was later found in the Mapocho River, with bullet wounds in the thorax. Taking into account the established fact that he was arrested and the causes of his death as reported on his death certificate, the Commission came to the conviction that Nelson Miguel Sanchez Rojo died as the result of an execution which took place without any due process of law and a violation of human rights at the hands of government agents.

On September 29, 1973, Mario Ramiro MELO PRADENAS, 27, a retired army officer who was a private secretary of the president, a member of his security guard and an active Socialist, disappeared. On that day he was arrested at the house of a female friend by a patrol of the Chilean Air Force. He was taken to the Ministry of Defense, and according to hearsay was last seen at the military base in Peldehue. The Commission came to the conviction that his status is that of having disappeared at the hands of government agents in a violation of his human rights. In doing so it took into account the fact that he had been a member of the security guard, was an ex-member of the military, and active in the Socialist party, as well as being President Allende's private secretary, that he had been summoned by decree to present himself to the new authorities and that since that time there has been no information on his whereabouts or his fate, nor is there any record of his death or of any dealings with the government that might indicate he is alive.

On September 30, 1973, the following six residents in the Santiago Pino squatter settlement in the Puduhuel (formerly Barrancas) district were arrested:

Victor BARRALES GONZALEZ, 25, a worker, settlement leader, and active Socialist;
Sergio Osvaldo DE LA BARRA DE LA BARRA, 26. a post office worker, president of the settlement, and an active Socialist;
Raul Eliseo MOSCOS QUIROZ, 24, a settlement leader;
Mario SALAS RIQUELME, 24, a worker, settlement leader, and active Socialist;
Jose Eusebio VILLAVICENCIO MEDEL, 25, a worker, vice-president of the settlement; and
Luis Sergio GUTIERREZ RIVAS, 29, a miner, active Communist and former regional secretary in Lota.
 
 

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According to the accounts provided by eyewitnesses, at about 5:00 a.m., troops began a search operation in the settlement, which is located behind the Barrancas cultural center. They arrested six other persons, who were subsequently set free. The prisoners were taken to the cultural center, which was serving as a detention site. A group of military from the training school for subofficials in Santiago and the Yungay Regiment at San Felipe were quartered at the center. All the prisoners died that same September 30, and it has been determined that they died "on the streets" as a result of "multiple bullet wounds." The only death certificate that places the site of death as the Santiago Pino settlement is that of Victor Barrales. The military took the bodies to the Medical Legal Institute.

Luis Gutierrez did not die from the bullet wounds he had sustained, and he was taken from the Medical Legal Institute to the Jose Joaquin Aguirre Hospital. His wife visited him there on October 2, 1973. That day she was told he had been transferred to the Military Hospital. However, there is no record of his entering there, and there has never been any further trace of him.

The official version of what happened to these six people as published in newspapers on October 2, 1973 is that during their search operation the troops had been attacked by a group of subversives who were then captured. The news report goes on to say that, "They were all executed at that settlement." The official story provided through the press does not seem plausible since there is no sign that there was any "attack by subversives"; since even had such an attack taken place, it does not seem necessary to kill settlers who are already arrested; since there is sufficient evidence to attest to the fact that residents of the settlement had been arrested and subsequently taken to the cultural center; and in view of the selective way the arrests were carried out and the political position of those imprisoned. All these factors led the Commission to the conviction that in the executions of Victor Barrales Gonzalez, Sergio Osvaldo de la Barra de la Barra, Raul Eliseo Moscoso Quiroz, Mario Salas Riquelme, and Jose Eusebio Villavicencio Medel which occurred without any due process of law, and in the disappearance of Luis Sergio Gutierrez Rivas, human rights were gravely violated by government agents.

On September 30, 1973,

Carlos Emilio DONOSO AVILA, 30, a street vendor;
Jorge Humberto NUNEZ CANELO, 27, street vendor; and
Romelio Antonio VASQUEZ GUAJARDO, 33, a merchant,

were executed after being arrested by police in the house of one of them. They were arrested along with one other person, who was subsequently released, and taken to the Twelfth police station where they remained that day. Although the families were told that they were being transferred to the National Stadium, witnesses who were arrested with them, attest that they remained in the station all day. On October 1, the bodies of Vasquez and Nunez were found with bullet wounds alongside the Metropolitan Cemetery. Donoso's body was found with many bullet wounds at the Departamental traffic circle.
 
 

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According to credible witnesses, on the night of September 30, 1973, police took these three people to a place along one side of the Metropolitan Cemetery near a shantytown. Vasquez and Nunez were executed there at about 9:30 p.m., by shots fired from behind at close range. The police released the fourth person and took Carlos Donoso away. He was undoubtedly executed further on, since his body appeared at a different site. By reason of these antecedents, and especially since witnesses attest to the fact that these three were arrested and executed, and taking into account their death certificates, the Commission came to the conviction that they were executed without any due process of law by government agents in violation of their human rights.

On September 30, at about 10:30 p.m.

Jose Sergio MUNOZ GONZALEZ, 32, a merchant,
Jorge Eduardo Cristian OYARZUN ESCOBAR, 23, a retailer, and
Juan Joaquin ESCOBAR CAMUS, 31, a merchant,

all of whom were relatives, were executed in front of the Escuela Haiti. The first two were arrested in front of Munoz's house after civilians and one soldier shot at their car. The third, who was walking toward the same place, showed up dead alongside the other two. Bullet wounds caused the death of all three. The relatives say that before they found the bodies at the Medical Legal Institute, a soldier involved in the arrest told them that the prisoners were being held at the Tacna Regiment, and that he had handed them over himself; he even gave the families the documentation of the two he had arrested.

Press accounts at that time said. that they had been executed in that same location for having shot at a military housing compound. Despite this semiofficial version, the Commission came to the conviction that these three people were executed without any due process of law by government agents. The grounds for its conviction are that it is attested that they had been arrested (as confirmed by one of their captors); that the press version is implausible since they had previously been arrested by government agents; that there are no clear signs that any armed clash took place or that these people had weapons; and finally the circumstances and causes of their deaths. Consequently, Jose Sergio Munoz Gonzalez, Jorge Eduardo Cristian Oyarzun Escobar and Juan Joaquin Escobar Camus suffered a grave human rights violation.

On September 30, 1973, Mario Emiliano STAPPUNG LOPEZ, 30, a worker and MIR activist, was executed after being arrested at home that same day by the air force. He was active in MIR and, according to his family, he was in close contact with Miguel Enriquez.^u After he was arrested his relatives went looking for

__________
u) Miguel Enriquez Espinosa: In August of 1965 Miguel Enriquez Espinosa along with Baustista van Schowen, Luciano Cruz, and others founded the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR). In 1967 he assumed the position of party secretary general. Miguel Enriquez was a physician from Concepcion, Chile. The case of his death, on October 5, 1974, is recounted on page 538 of Volume Two.
 
 

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him unsuccessfully until they were told at the Medical Legal Institute that he was buried in lot no. 29 at the General Cemetery. The autopsy report says he died of "multiple bullet wounds," and gives the day of his arrest as the date of death. Since it is credibly attested that he was arrested, and in view of the cause and date of death, the Commission came to the conviction that Mario Emiliano Stappung was executed by government agents, who thereby violated human rights.

In late September 1973, Carlos Ramon REYES AVILA, 19, day laborer, disappeared after being arrested in the presence of witnesses in his house in the April 16 shantytown in the Conchali district. Those arresting him were police, who according to testimony taken, were working with a list of names. Since his arrest there has been no information on his whereabouts. The Commission came to the conviction that government agents were responsible for the disappearance of Carlos Reyes and that it was a violation of his human rights since it is established that he was arrested and that there has been no information on his whereabouts or his fate since then.

In late September, Raul Rene FUENTES VERA, 42, a loader at the slaughterhouse, was arrested by the military at the boarding house where he lived. According to testimony received by the Commission, on the day of his arrest troops from the area were carrying out a raid in response to accusations that the children of the military were being robbed. The patrol came asking about a person who had recently entered that place, and that turned out to be Rojas. They arrested him and took him to an unknown destination, along with two other persons, whose identities are unknown. Since that time, there has been no information about his fate or his whereabouts, despite efforts made by his relatives. Since the Commission has received reliable testimony to the effect that he was arrested, it has come to the conviction that Raul Rene Fuentes Vera was arrested by government agents and then made to disappear, also by government agents, and that human rights were thereby violated.

On October 1, Gilberto ESTAY ESTAY, 46, an employee of the Barros Luco-Troudeau Hospital, and Julio Alberto MUNOZ TORRES, 43, a plasterer, were executed, after police had arrested them at about 1:30 a.m. in their homes. Their dead bodies showed up at 3:00 a.m. on October 1 at the Departamental traffic circle, alongside the body of Carlos Donoso, whose case is described above. The investigative police who found the remains attested to the many bullet wounds and stated that it was the work of common criminals. A press account indicated that "three criminals had been shot down. . . investigative police experts calculated that they had been killed at around 3:00 a.m., that is, while the curfew was in effect." The news in another paper said that "three criminals had been killed as
 
 

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a result of personal feuds." Nevertheless, the Commission came to the conviction that like Donoso, these two men were executed without any due process of law by government agents. In doing so, it took into account that it is established that they had been previously arrested by police officials; that there are many eyewitness reports about how these prisoners were transferred from a police station to the Metropolitan Cemetery and how two were executed there; that the circumstances and causes of the deaths of the others suggest that the same agents were involved;

that the alleged feud mentioned in the newspaper is unlikely, since these people were being held in custody; that the moment of death was very close to the moment these people were arrested; and that the immediate causes of the death of the victims suggest the participation of armed agents.

On October 1, three youths

Miguel Angel RIOS TRASLAVINA, 16, a student,
Rogelio Gustavo RAMIREZ AMESTICA, 18, a student, and
Marcos Orlando RIOS BUSTOS, 15, a student,

were executed after being arrested by a military patrol in an establishment where they were playing fuzball.

Neighbors saw these young people being taken out of that establishment to the street. Numerous eyewitness accounts say that the military beat them fiercely, forced them to run, and shot down two of them. The third continued to run until he came to the Iquique Bridge, where he was killed by another military patrol that was guarding that area. Even though this event took place very much in the open, and many people in the neighborhood observed it, no official explanation was given for what happened. Autopsies revealed numerous bullet wounds on the bodies: Rogelio Ramirez had twelve, Miguel rios Traslavina had eighteen, and Marcos rios had three. Since the circumstances and cause of death as well as the previous detention of these people are well established, the Commission came to the conviction that Miguel Angel rios, Rogelio Gustavo Ramirez, and Marcos Orlando Rios, all of them minors, were executed and that this execution constituted a grave human rights violation carried out by government agents.

On October 2, 1973, the body of Luis Humberto MUNOZ AGUAYO, 25, a shoe repairman, was found in the street. Police from the 22nd station picked up his body and sent it to the Medical Legal Institute. The death certificate states that the cause of death was a "perforating bullet wound to the abdomen." This Commission came to the conviction that Luis Humberto Munoz died as a result of the political violence then present in the country.

On October 2, 1973, Mauricio Segundo CAYUAN CANIUQUEO, 22, a worker, and Carlos Humberto GARRIDO OCAREZ, 19, a fruit and vegetable street vendor, were killed after being arrested in public that same day. Their families were told that these prisoners had been taken to the National Stadium, but there
 
 

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they were told there was no record of their arrest. Later their bullet ridden bodies appeared at the Medical Legal Institute. Carlos Garrido's death certificate states that the cause of his death was a "series of many perforating bullet wounds to the head, thorax, abdomen, and appendages." The time of death is given as October 2 at 11:30 p.m.. Cayuan's death certificate was similar. The Commission has come to the conviction that the deaths of Mauricio Segundo Cayuan Caniuqueo and Carlos Humberto Garrido Ocarez were human rights violations since it is established that they were arrested by government agents and the circumstances of their death indicate that armed agents were involved.

On October 2, 1973, Nelson Jorge FLORES ZAPATA, 29, who worked at INDAP (National Institute for Agricultural Development) and was active in MAPU (United Popular Action Movement) and a community leader, was killed at his home in the Robert Kennedy shantytown after it was raided by combined army and police forces. According to the story as told by witnesses, after a brief interrogation by these agents, he was immediately taken out to the backyard of his property and was executed. His wife and two small children observed these events. His body remained there until a patrol came by and took it away. The autopsy report says that the cause of death was "bullet wound to the face and head." Considering the testimony received from eyewitnesses to this event and the direct cause of death, this Commission came to the conviction that Nelson Jorge Flores was executed by government agents, while he was in their custody, and that consequently he suffered a violation of human rights.

On October 2, Leon Eduardo CELEDON LAVIN. 33, a lawyer, died at the Jose Joaquin Aguirre Hospital. According to testimony received, on September 30, 1973 while he and a friend were on a public bus, he was arrested by officials of SICAR (Police Intelligence Service), with whom he had previously had an argument. He was forced to get out of the vehicle on Calle Trieste, in the Recoleta area, and immediately was shot down by his captors. Having suffered many bullet wounds he was driven to the Jose Joaqufn Aguirre Hospital, where his relatives found him. He died as a result of "bullet wounds to the torso with complications." Since his arrest, and the circumstances and cause of death are all attested, the Commission has come to the conviction that Leon Eduardo Celedon Lavin was executed without any due process of law by government agents in what constituted a human rights violation.

On October 3, 2973. Sergio FUENTES SILVA, 44, a fruit and vegetable street vendor, was killed. Early in the month he left home in order to buy some goods and never returned. While trying to determine his whereabouts, his relatives went to the Medical Legal Institute where they learned of his death. Administrative authorities had already cremated the body. The autopsy report states that he died on October 3 of a "perforating bullet wound to the face and head." Although the specific circumstances that led to his death are unknown, this Commission, noting in particular its cause and date, has come to a conviction that Sergio Fuentes died as a result of the situation of political violence in the country at that time.
 
 

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On October 3, 1973, Hugo Manuel ROJAS CORTES, 38, an employee at the Luchetti company, was killed. He was arrested in a raid of the company on September 13, 1973 and taken to the Chile Stadium. He died at 6:00 p.m. on October 3, 1973, and the death certificate states that the cause of death was "bronchial pneumonia to the right lung." The family was told that he had died of this cause and that the body was already buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. The autopsy, however, indicates that he was repeatedly tortured, since the body showed signs of mistreatment. The family had the body exhumed in order to identify the victim, and in fact determined that it was the body of Rojas. By reason of the evidence it has in hand, the fact that Rojas was arrested and died in custody, that his autopsy report notes signs of torture and that the body was not handed over to his relatives but ordered to be buried instead, the Commission came to the conviction that the government agents who had him in custody were responsible for the death of Hugo Rojas, since their treatment of him either caused his death directly or contributed to causing it, and that all of this constituted a human rights violation.

On October 3, 1973, two brothers, Juan Enrique RODRIGUEZ AQUE-VEQUE, 20, a shoe repair shop employee, and Florentine Aurelio RODRIGUEZ AQUEVEQUE, 17, a shoe repairman, were arrested by troops. The arrest took place in the home of one of them during a family feud while curfew was in effect. Some days later the family found Juan Enrique's body at the Medical Legal Institute. According to the death certificate, he died on October 3, 1973. The Commission was also able to obtain the autopsy report of another person found in the same spot who was not then identified; the characteristics of the body indicate that it is presumably that of Florentine Aurelio who has remained disappeared. There were many bullet wounds in both bodies. In view of the established fact that they were arrested, and keeping in mind the circumstances and cause of death of one of these brothers as well as the information gathered from the autopsy reports, this Commission has come to the conviction that Juan Enrique and Florentine Aurelio Rodnguez Aqueveque died as a result of human rights violations for which government agents were responsible; it is established that one was executed, and the same is very probably the case with the other.

On October 3, 1973, Gustavo CANTUARIAS GRANDON, 45, army colonel and former director of the Los Andes Mountain Training School, died while under arrest at the Military Academy. The evidence gathered by this Commission, especially that provided by human rights agencies, indicates that in the period after September 11, Gustavo Canturarias was transferred under arrest to the Military Academy. The official accounts state that there he committed suicide. His death certificate says he died of a bullet wound to the mouth and head. Gustavo Cantuarias had close family ties with high ranking people in the Popular Unity government, one of whom he released from arrest at the Military Academy. In view of these antecedents and keeping in mind that the suicide took place inside the Military Academy, where he had been taken after September 11, this Commission believes this was the suicide of a person who was being subjected to so much pressure by government agents that such a decision offered an avenue of escape.
 

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From October 3-8 five people were arrested in the sectors of Pudahuel and Quinta Normal and were all taken to the cultural center in Pudahuel (Barrancas). These arrests were the result of raids in the various poor and working class neighborhoods being conducted by military stationed in these districts. According to their death certificates, these five prisoners were found dead in the streets between October 4-9, 1973. In all five cases the cause of death is listed as "multiple bullet wounds to the torso, abdomen, neck, and head." Their names are:

similar to the previous case. That same day at the cultural center his relatives , were told that he had been transferred to the National Stadium, even though he was already dead.

On October 4, Isaias Rodolfo CANALES VENEGAS, 23, an office worker at .the Mademsa company and an active Socialist, was killed. His family last saw him in early October, 1973, when he told them that he was being followed. Some time later his body was found at the Medical Legal Institute. The cause of death was bullet wounds, and it had taken place on October 4. The body had been sent from the Jose Joaquin Aguirre Hospital. While his family was seeking to determine his whereabouts, civilians came to search his house on three occasions. The Commission came to the conviction that Isaias Canales was killed as the result of a grave human rights violation and that government agents were involved in his death. The grounds for that conviction are the kind of political activist he was, the circumstances of his death, and the fact that government agents were looking for him.

On October 4, Edmundo Alejandro MAUREIRA MIRANDA, 26, a tailor, was arrested at his house by police from the Eleventh station in Maipu. The next day his bullet ridden body was found at the comer of Camino Lo Errazuriz and Cinco de Abril. The body was taken to the Medical Legal Institute, but the family only learned what had happened to him after he was already buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. The Commission has come to the conviction that Edmundo Alejandro Maureira suffered a grave human rights violation, and that there are very serious reasons for presuming that government agents were involved in his death.

On October 5 the following people were arrested in the Jose Marfa Caro shantytown during a search operation carried out by the military:

Manuel Fernando CANTO GUTIERREZ, 18, a merchant;
Sergio Fernando FERNANDEZ PAVEZ, 18, a loader at the central fruit and vegetable market;
Luis Eduardo ROJAS GERALDO, 21, a driver's assistant;
Miguel Angel SANTIBANEZ DURAN, 19, a merchant.
 
 

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Many people were arrested in that raid and were sent to the 21st police station. All were later released, except for the four listed. There has been no further word on the whereabouts of two of them. At the Medical Legal Institute family members of the other two, Rojas and Santibanez were told that the victims were buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery and that they had died of bullet wounds. Since it is established that they were arrested, and taking into account the causes of the deaths of two of them, the Commission has come to the conviction that Manuel Fernando Canto Gutierrez and Sergio Fernando Fernandez Pavez disappeared at the hands of government agents, while Luis Eduardo Rojas Geraldo and Miguel Angel Santibanez Duran were executed by the same kind of agents, and that the human rights of all four were gravely violated.

On October 5, Jorge Ernesto CARRION CASTRO, 22, a municipal public works department worker who was a shantytown leader and MIR activist, was arrested during a raid of his house by troops from the Puente Alto Regiment. According to a number of eyewitness reports, a military operation which took place in the Casas Viejas sector of the Vista Hermosa and 12 de Mayo shantytowns lead to the arrest of some sixty people. At military offices the family was told that he had been arrested and sent to the National Stadium. There, however, his arrest was not acknowledged, and his name did not appear on the official prisoner lists. According to credible testimony, Carrion was executed that same day, October 5, during the night. However, there is no record of his death, and his body was not found. Since there is reliable testimony to his arrest and since there is no evidence establishing beyond any doubt that he is dead, this Commission believes that there are enough elements to come to the conviction that Jorge Ernesto Carri6n suffered a grave human rights violation and that government agents, and specifically those who arrested him, are responsible for his disappearance.

On October 5, 1973, Fernando de la Cruz OLIVARES MORI, 27, was arrested by troops at CELADE (Latin American Center for Demography), a UN (United Nations) agency, where he worked in administration. Witnesses state that he was taken to the Ministry of Defense. There his relatives were told that he was to be transferred to the National Stadium, but at the stadium it was never acknowledged that he was being held. Despite numerous efforts to find him made by his family and his colleagues at work, they never found any true information on his whereabouts. The Commission has come to the conviction that the disappearance of Fernando Olivares Mori was a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible, since it is sufficiently attested that he was put under arrest and that since that time there has been no further word on his whereabouts or his fate.

On October 5, 1973. Hector Andres QUEGLAS MATURANA, 23, a furniture maker, was killed the day after he and a friend had been arrested in his home by police. The next day the relatives heard from the police in San Gregorio chat these prisoners were going to be released. His wife looked for him unsuccessfully until November, when she found his name on the lists at the Medical Legal Institute, where he was said to have died of bullet wounds. The name of the person arrested
 
 

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with him was also listed as having died of the same kind of wound. His death certificate put the date of death as the same day he was arrested. The Commission came to the conviction that Hector Andres Queglas suffered a grave human rights violation. The basis for that claim is that the fact of his arrest and the cause and circumstances of his death are all established.

On October 5, 1973, Luis Eduardo MORALES MUNOZ. 27, was executed. At approximately 10:00 p.m. on October 4, he was arrested by police in the presence of witnesses at his home in the San Ramon shantytown and driven away in a pickup truck that the police were using. On October 5 his body was sent to the Medical Legal Institute, with a note stating that he had been found on the comer of Departamental and Santa Rosa. The cause of death as indicated on his death certificate was two bullet wounds to the thorax with complications. His family was not given this information until November 1973. The Commission came to the conviction that Luis Morales was executed by government agents and that his human rights were thereby violated. The grounds for that conviction are that eyewitnesses attest to the fact of his arrest; he died the day after being picked up and while still under arrest; he died of bullet wounds and his body was found on a public thoroughfare and sent to the Medical Legal Institute.

On October 5, 1973, Oscar Jesus DELGADO MARIN, 30. a member of the presidential security guard and an active Socialist, was executed in the National Stadium. His family last saw him at home on September 18. They later began to look for him until they learned that he had been killed at the National Stadium on October 5, due to a "bullet wound to the shoulders and thorax with complications," according to his death certificate, which expressly notes that his death occurred at the stadium. His body was buried in Lot 29 at the General Cemetery in Santiago on October 22. In view of the evidence gathered, the Commission has come to the conviction that Oscar Jesus Delgado was executed by government agents at the site where they were holding him prisoner, thereby violating his human rights.

On October 5, 1973, Dagoberto YANEZ YANEZ, 25, was killed. His body was found on the northern bank of the Mapocho River at the Bulnes Bridge, and taken by police from the Juan Antonio Rios police headquarters to the Medical Legal Institute. The body bore numerous bullet wounds and the date of death was certified to be October 5. The Commission has come to the conviction that Dagoberto Yanez Yanez died as a result of the political violence at that time, and that it is reasonable to think that it was the work of government agents.

On October 5, Vicente del Carmen VIDAL PAREDES, 25, was killed after being arrested at his house in the Anibal Pinto shantytown in the San Miguel district. After the arrest he was transferred to the police unit in the Sumar shantytown. Some hours later he was found dead in the La Aguada alleyway with "bullet wounds to the torso and head." The autopsy report notes that the bullets were "of different calibers." The Commission came to the conviction that Vicente
 

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Vidal Paredes was executed without any due process of law and suffered a grave human rights violation at the hands of government agents, presumably those who arrested him.

On October 6, at about 9:00 p.m. Eduardo Emilio TORO VELEZ, 42, a traveling salesman who was active in the Radical party, disappeared. According to eyewitness accounts, he left his apartment intending to go to the Plaza Italia area. They further state that he was stopped by a military patrol which was carrying out an operation in the neighborhood. He has not appeared since that moment, and his family has had no word about his whereabouts or his fate. Since credible testimony establishes that he was arrested by armed forces personnel, and since there is no information about his arrest, this Commission has come to the conviction that Eduardo Toro Velez disappeared and was thus a victim of a human rights violation at the hands of government agents.

On October 6, 2973, five young men attempted to seek asylum in the Embassy of Argentina. Four of them were:

Eduardo Santos QUINTEROS MIRANDA, 19, a high school student who was active in the Young Communists;
Abelardo Jesus QUINTEROS MIRANDA, 21, who was learning to be a tailor and active in the Young Communists;
Raul Buridan SAN MARTIN BARRERA, 19, a worker who was active in the Young Communists; and Celedonio SEPULVEDA LABRA, 25, a worker who was also active in the Young Communists.

The fifth person managed to survive these events.

On October 6, 1973, they went to the San Borja Hospital intending to enter the Argentinian embassy by climbing a wall that at that time marked the boundary between the hospital and the embassy. When they entered the inner courtyard of the hospital, witnesses observed them being ambushed by members of the investigative police who were dressed like hospital personnel and were inside ambulances parked in front of the wall leading to the embassy. Eduardo Santos Quinceros Miranda was killed by perforating bullet wounds to the abdomen. The other members of the group were unsuccessful and were arrested in the presence of a number of witnesses. They have remained disappeared since that moment. The last word about Celedonio Sepulveda is that he was admitted to the San Borja Hospital on October 8.

Bearing in mind that each of these people was active in the Young Communists, and that one of them died as a result of bullet wounds inflicted by police, and that there has been no further word concerning the others who were arrested, this Commission has come to the conviction that Abelardo Jesus Quinceros Miranda, Raul San Martin Becerra, and Celedonio Sepulveda Labra have disappeared at the hands of government agents and that Eduardo Quinteros Miranda was executed by those same agents, and that these all constitute a human rights violation.
 
 

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On October 6, 1973, Jaime Benjamin VIDELA OVALLE, 28, an office worker who was active in the National party, disappeared. He and other people were arrested that day by police in the Vicuna Mackenna area. According to eyewitness accounts, he was taken to the police chorus rehearsal room and from there to the Fourth station. That night he was taken out to an. unknown destination, and there has been no further word about him. Since his arrest and detention in two police installations are attested, this Commission has come to the conviction that the arrest and subsequent forced disappearance of Jaime Benjamin Videla constituted a grave violation of human rights for which government agents were responsible.

On October 7, Luis Alberto SANCHEZ MEJIAS, 21, a bartender, was killed after being arrested during a police raid in the San Gregorio shantytown. He was transferred to the La Granja police station. From that point all traces of him were lost until his relatives found his body at the Medical Legal Institute. The death certificate states that he died of bullet wounds to the head October 7, 1973 on a public thoroughfare. Since it is established that he was arrested and bearing in mind the cause and circumstances of his death, this Commission has come to the conviction that Luis Alberto Sanchez Mejias was executed and suffered a human rights violation at the hands of government agents.

On October 7, 1973, Manuel Antonio VALENCIA NORAMBUENA, 39, a street vendor, was killed after being arrested the previous day at his home by police stationed in San Gregorio. He was taken by his captors to an unknown destination. The next day his relatives talked with officials who denied that he had been arrested. After much searching in vain, the family located his body at the Medical Legal Institute, and learned that he had died of bullet wounds. The death certificate registers the date of death as October 7. Since it is sufficiently established that he was arrested, and taking into account the circumstances and cause of death, the Commission has come to the conviction that Manuel Antonio Valencia suffered a human rights violation at the hands of government agents.

On October 7, Francisco SAEZ VALENZUELA, a merchant and active Socialist, was killed by police at the home of one of his brothers and in the presence of witnesses. Eyewitness accounts state that the police put him into a truck and shot him. He was taken to the emergency clinic and died there that same day as a result of the bullet wound. Since his arrest by police and the circumstances and cause of death are attested, the Commission has come to the conviction that Francisco Saez was executed and hence suffered a grave human rights violation at the hands of government agents.

On October 7, 1973, Jorge Segundo PEREZ UBEDA, 22, a worker, was killed. At 9:00 a.m. he left his home in the La Legua shantytown and was heading toward the athletic field when, according to witnesses, he was arrested by police, presumably from the Twelfth station. The next day his dead body was found in that shantytown at the comer of Calle Pedro de Valdivia and Camino Agricola. He had four bullet wounds, and the cause of death was "bullet wounds to the head and abdomen."
 
 

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Bearing in mind these facts, and particularly the established fact of his arrest and the circumstances and conditions in which his body was found, this Commission has come to the conviction that Jorge Perez Ubeda was executed by government agents in violation of his human rights.

On October 7, 1973, Luis Enrique OTTS FLORES, 28, was executed. He was arrested that day in the San Gregorio shantytown during a search operation conducted by soldiers and police and then taken to the police station in San Gregorio. Testimony received indicates that at that police station a group of seventeen persons was set apart and then taken by. night to the corner of Camino Agricola and Macul. All the prisoners were executed at that point, and their bodies were left in different sites. One of the prisoners survived and told relatives what had happened. The body of Otts Flores was found on the road to Lo Espejo alongside three other bodies. The death certificate states that the cause of death was a "bullet wound to the head." The time of death is said to be 11:00 p.m. on the day he was arrested. Since reliable witnesses attest that he was arrested and taking into account the cause and circumstances of the death of Luis Enrique Otts, the Commission has come to the conviction that he was executed and suffered a violation of his human rights at the hands of government agents.

On October 7, 1973, Jorge Hernan ESPINOZA FARIAS, 19, disappeared from the San Gregorio shantytown. According to witnesses, he was arrested along with his brothers and his father by police stationed at San Gregorio together with soldiers. The troops conducted a search operation in the shantytown and arrested many of the males. All the prisoners were first held at athletic field No. 3 and then were taken to the police station. Since that day their relatives have had no further word about them.

After the arrest, the family received the eyewitness account of a young man who had been with Espinoza at the police station. He said, "The day after the October 7 raid, the police led a group of young people to believe that they were releasing them. They made them run and shot them from behind. They put them onto a vehicle thinking they were all dead, and went to throw them in the San Carlos canal." Of all the people who had been shot, this young man and Espinoza were still alive. According to this survivor he was able to crawl up out of the canal, and received care at a nearby parish, but Espinoza could not because he was exhausted and wounded in the shoulder. In view of the information it has examined, this Commission has been able to come to the conviction that Jorge Espinoza has been disappeared since his arrest and suffered a human rights violation that can reasonably be attributed to government agents.

On October 8, 1973, Zacarias Enrique PARDO GONZALEZ, 25, a street vendor, was killed. He was arrested at his house in the San Miguel district by government troops at around 3:00 a.m. on October 3. Those who arrested Pardo accused him of hiding weapons. Along with another person arrested at the same time, he was then taken to a destination unknown to his relatives. Some time later, his relatives learned that his body was found floating in the Mapocho River,
 
 

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near the Bulnes Bridge, and was pulled out by police from the Juan Antonio Rios headquarters. According to the autopsy report, the body had bullet wounds to the abdomen and the face, and the latter were the cause of death. The time of death was said to be 6:30 a.m. on October 8. The investigative police, however, said that the death presumably occurred at midnight on October 7. Since it is established that he was arrested, and taking into account the circumstances and cause of death noted here, the Commission has come to the conviction that Zacarias Pardo was executed by government agents in violation of his human rights.

On October 8, 1973, Victor Fernando RAMIREZ ORTIZ, 19, was killed. His body appeared on the north bank of the Mapocho River, near the Purisima Bridge. Police from the First station transferred it to the Medical Legal Institute. According to his death certificate, he died of bullet wounds to the abdominal thorax. Testimony received indicates that he left his house in San Gregorio at about 9:00 a.m. on October 7, just as soldiers and police were carrying out a search operation. According to those same eyewitness reports, many people from the shantytown were arrested, especially criminals and people who did not have their identification papers. Ramirez was among those arrested. Due to the information here presented and the causes and circumstances of his death, this Commission has come to the conviction that Victor Ramirez was executed and that he suffered a human rights violation at the hands of government agents.

On October 8, 1973, Ernesto Antonio YEVENES APABLAZA, a worker, was arrested. At 10:00 p.m. the previous day, he had left his mother's funeral wake, but had not returned home. On October 29, his relatives obtained a death" certificate according to which he had died at 6:00 a.m. on October 8, 1973 and had been buried at the General Cemetery. The relatives went to the cemetery and received documentation indicating that he was buried in Lot 29. They have never been permitted to examine the body. According to the autopsy report, he died of penetrating wounds to the face, skull and neck and thoracic regions, possibly due to a burst of gunfire, and his body had been found in the vicinity of the Metropolitan Cemetery. Keeping in mind that he was killed during curfew, as well as the cause of death and the place his body was found, this Commission has come to the conviction that Ernesto Yevenes Apablaza died as a result of the political violence in the country at that time.

On October 8, 1973, Hector Juan MALVINO CAMPOS, 26, showed up dead along the General San Martin highway, near the road to Portezuelo. His body had 32 bullet wounds. At that time the newspaper indicated that according to information provided by the investigative police, his death resulted from a dispute between common criminals. This Commission has come to the conviction that Hector Malvino Campos was executed by government agents, in violation of his human rights, since there is no evidence to lead this Commission to think that the death took place in combat, and since the large number of bullet wounds in the body, the political circumstances at that time, and the fact that he was killed at
 

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3 a.m. when the curfew was in effect, make it difficult to entertain the possibility that his death was the work of civilians.

On October 8, 1973, Samuel Eduardo MATURANA VALDERRAMA, 21, an office worker who was active in the Socialist party, was arrested by unidentified people in civilian dress at his home in the presence of witnesses and during curfew. They asked for Samuel Maturana and after arresting him, they took him away in their unlicensed vehicle. To this day there has been no word concerning his whereabouts. This Commission has come to the conviction that the arrest and subsequent disappearance of Samuel Eduardo Maturana Valderrama constituted a human rights violation carried out for political reasons, presumably by government agents. The basis for this conviction is the political activity of the victim and the fact that those who apprehended him were driving about in an unlicensed vehicle during the curfew period in October 1973.

On October 9, 2973, Victor Segundo BENITEZ ORTEGA was killed. Police from the Vicuna Mackenna substation sent his body to the Medical Legal Institute, indicating that it had been found in the La Florida area. The cause of death was "multiple bullet wounds." Not knowing the precise circumstances in which Victor Benitez died, the Commission came to the conclusion that he was a victim of the political violence of that period.

On October 10, 1973, Nelson Mario TORRES GONZALEZ was killed. His body was sent to the Medical Legal Institute by the military prosecutor's office, with the observation that it had been found in Renca. The cause of death was five bullet wounds to the head, abdomen, and thorax. Unaware of the exact circumstances in which he was killed, the Commission has come to the conclusion that Nelson Torres was a victim of the political violence at that time.

On October 10, 1973, Victor Moises CASTILLO ALEGRIA, 27, a student and watch repairer, was executed. He was arrested at his home after midnight on the night of October 9 by police from the Renca station. His relatives' efforts to locate him were in vain since all the places they checked denied that they were holding him prisoner, until they learned that he was dead at the Medical Legal Institute. The death certificate says he died at 6:30 a.m. on October 10, as a result of bullet wounds to the head, chest and abdomen. Keeping in mind the circumstances of the arrest, the cause of death, and the fact that it took place a few hours after his arrest, this Commission has come to the conviction that Victor Moises Castillo was executed by government agents and that such an action was a human rights violation.

On October 10, 1973, the body of Jose Sergio ALEGRIA HIGUERA, a 22 year old worker, was found in the Mapocho River. According to information on the death certificate, he was killed along the Mapocho River at 11:00 a.m. October 10. The autopsy report says the cause of death was a series of bullet wounds to the abdomen and thorax with complications. In view of the place and cause of death and the conditions at that time, the Commission has come to the conviction that
 
 

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the death of Jose Sergio Alegria can only have been the work of government agents who executed him, and that such an action constituted a human rights violation.

On October 10, 1973, Francisco MIRANDA MIRANDA, 22, disappeared. Eyewitnesses saw police arrest him that day on the street during a search operation conducted in the Illanes de Renca shantytown. He was then taken to the local police station. Since that time there has been no word concerning his whereabouts. Since it is established that he was arrested and has remained disappeared since that date, this Commission has come to the conviction that Francisco Miranda was arrested and that he disappeared at the hands of government agents, and that thus his human rights were violated.

On October 11, 1973, Luis Alberto MARTINEZ HORMAZABAL, 19, an office worker, was killed. After making many efforts to locate him, his wife found his body buried in a common grave in the General Cemetery. The death certificate says he died of a "perforating bullet wound to the thorax." He died at the Central Emergency Clinic on October 11, 1973, according to that certificate. Taking into account the cause of death and credible testimony it has received, this Commission has been able to establish that Luis Alberto Martinez suffered a human rights violation as a result of the political violence during that period, and that it can reasonably be presumed that those responsible were government agents.

On October 11, 1973, Carlos Helen SALAZAR CONTRERAS, 46, a lawyer and professor at the law school of the University of Chile who was a Socialist party activist and personal friend of President Salvador Allende, died. He was arrested on October 5, 1973 at home with eyewitnesses present. Those arresting him said they were agents from the investigative police. Inquiries carried out by his family established that Carlos Salazar had been taken to the National Stadium that same day. For ten days a policeman kept telling them that he was in good condition. According to witnesses, on October 11, 1973, Salazar urged his prison companions to spend "a minute in silence to mark the one month observance of the death of Allende." He died in the stadium that very day. The cause of death was "strangulation by hanging." According to the official version provided by the Undersecretariat of the Interior at that time, Carlos Salazar committed suicide. The Commission has come to the conviction that he committed suicide because he could no longer endure what he was undergoing, and in view of the conditions under which he was imprisoned, his human rights were violated.

On October 11, 1973, Julio Cesar FERNANDEZ FERNANDEZ, a Uruguayan, 24, an artisan who had ties to the Tupamaro Movement and had entered the country in August 1972, disappeared. He and the woman with whom he lived were arrested that day by government agents. Witnesses have said they saw him in the Tejas Verdes prison camp in San Antonio in October and November 1973. Since then there has been no further word about him. This Commission has come to the conviction that Julio Cesar Fernandez was arrested by government agents and that while acting as such they caused him to disappear thus gravely violating
 
 

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human rights. The grounds for this conviction are the testimony it has received, the fact that there has been no further word about him, and that there is no record of his leaving the country.

On October 11, 1973, Raul Fernando SANTIS URRIOLA, 26, a mechanic who was active in the Socialist Party, was killed. Six days previously he was arrested in the street by police and taken to the police station at the corner of San Francisco and Condor. During curfew time he was taken away by police and army troops and driven with other prisoners to the banks of the Mapocho River near the Pio Nono Bridge. There they were told to run and were immediately shot down. Raul Santis was still alive and managed to send word to his relatives, who came looking for him. They took him to the Jose Joaquin Hospital where the bullets were removed. Then they took him home. While he was at home, his condition worsened, and he was rushed to the Melej Clinic. He died there on October 11, 1973 as a result of the bullet wounds and of pneumonia. Having established these facts, this Commission has come to the conviction that Raul Santis died as a result of an attempt by government agents to execute him, and that this was a grave human rights violation.

On October 11, 1973. Joaquin Segundo MONTECINOS ROJAS, 44, furniture maker, was killed. According to the account given by his relatives, he had been arrested that day in a police raid on the San Ramon shantytown. They later found his body at the Medical Legal Institute and were told that he had died of bullet wounds, as is noted on his death certificate. He had already been buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. Taking into account the situation in the country at that time and the cause of death, and also keeping in mind that it has not been able to reliably establish that he had been arrested previously, the Commission came to the conviction that he died as a result of the political violence in the country at that time.

On October 12, 1973, Eduardo Elias CERDA ANGEL, 8, was killed. That day he was together with his family at his house, which is located in the Quinta Normal district. When they heard shots near the house, Eduardo Elias opened the door and was hit by a bullet in the chest; that same bullet also wounded a sister. His older brother picked up his body and ran out into the street, following the military patrol that had done the shooting. He managed to have his younger brother driven to the emergency room at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in the car the troops were driving, but the boy was dead upon arrival. According to the death certificate he died at 10:30 p.m. on October 12, 1973, as the result of a bullet wound in the thorax. Bearing in mind what witnesses have said, and having attested that he was killed, this Commission has come to the conviction that Eduardo Cerda Angel died as the result of an indiscriminate use of force by government agents who violated his right to life.

On October 12, 1973, Oscar Roberto LUCERO ALDANA, 23, a married painter and worker, was arrested by police at his home. His dead body was found at kilometer 18 of the General San Martin highway. The cause of death was perforating
 
 

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bullet wounds to the head, and the date was October 12. The Commission came to the conviction that Oscar Lucero was executed by government agents, and that this was a case of grave human rights violation.

On October 12, 1973, Francisco Arnaldo ZUNIGA AGUILERA, 22, an office worker, disappeared. That day he left his job at 9:30 p.m. Curfew began at 10:00 p.m. He failed to reach home that night. Witnesses have stated that the next day a policeman who knew Zuniga's boss went to his workplace. According to testimony given, that policeman said that Francisco Zuniga was under arrest at the Third police station and he had asked that a fellow worker take him clean clothes. There has been no further word concerning him since then. His family's efforts to find him there and elsewhere proved in vain. There is no record of Francisco Zuniga renewing his identification card, registering to vote, or leaving the country, nor is there any death certificate. Since it is established that Francisco Zuniga disappeared, and in view of these facts, this Commission has come to the conviction that his disappearance constituted a human rights violation for which government agents were responsible.

On October 12, 1973, Waldemar Segundo MONSALVEZ TOLEDO, 26, a Politec factory employee who was a MIR activist and a leader in the Nueva La Habana shantytown, disappeared. That day a police patrol from the Thirteenth station arrested him at his job. Since then there has been no further word about him, and in view of his established arrest, his political activism, his role as a shantytown leader, and his disappearance without further word, this Commission has come to the conviction that Waldemar Monsalvez was arrested and then made to disappear by government agents, thereby violating his human rights.

On October 12,1973, Teobaldo Rene SALAZAR LEAL, 50, an official at the University of Chile who was a neighborhood leader and active in the Communist party, was killed. On October 10, he had been arrested by police at his house on Calle Via Lactea in the Macul district. His body was found at kilometer 18 of the General San Martin highway and was sent to the Medical Legal Institute by the military prosecutor's office. He was buried without the knowledge of his relatives. According to the death certificate, he died at 6 a.m. on October 12 of bullet wounds to the head, abdomen and chest. In view of the circumstances of his arrest, the cause and time of his death, and the fact that his body was found along a public thoroughfare, this Commission came to the conviction that Teobaldo Rene Salazar was executed by government agents and that his human rights were thereby violated.

On October 13, 1973, Floridor de Jesus FLORES CAROCA, a worker at FENSA [National Electronics Manufacturer, Inc.], was executed. That day his house was raided by troops of the Chilean Air Force, and he was arrested. His body appeared that same day, October 13, at the comer of Suarez Mujica and Covarrubias. The autopsy report states that he died as a result of perforating bullet wounds to the abdomen and thorax and to the face and head. The Commission has come to the
 
 

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conviction that Floridor de Jesus Flores was executed by government agents, in what constituted a grave human rights violation. This conviction is particularly supported by the circumstances of his arrest and the fact that his body, dead from bullet wounds, appeared on the very day he was arrested.

On October 13, 1973, Carlos Patricio FARINA OYARCE. 13, a student who was politically uninvolved, disappeared. That day he was arrested in the presence of witnesses during a raid on the La Pincoya shantytown which was being conducted by members of the army, police and investigative police. Another youth was also arrested at this same time and later was found dead from bullet wounds. Farina was taken from his house to the local soccer field. His relatives say that they learned that the youth was taken to Infantry Regiment No. 3, which was then quartered in Quinta Normal. The family made countless efforts to locate him, but since that day, October 13, 1973, there has been no further word on his whereabouts. Particularly since it is established that he was arrested and that another youth arrested with him was executed, this Commission has come to the conviction that the arrest and subsequent disappearance of Carlos Patricio Farina was the work of government agents, and that it constituted a grave human rights violation.

On October 13, 1973, Hector Eugenio ARAYA GARRIDO, 18, a plumber, was executed. That day he was arrested along with Carlos Patricio Farina by army troops of the Yungay Regiment, who were carrying out an operation in the La Pincoya No. 1 shantytown. According to testimony taken by this Commission, he was held on the grounds at Quinta Normal where those troops were stationed. On October 14, his body with numerous bullet wounds to the head and thorax was found at the Medical Legal Institute. To this day his body has not been turned over to his relatives. According to his death certificate, he was killed October 13, 1973. The autopsy report states that the cause of death was multiple bullet wounds to the head and thorax. This Commission has come to the conviction that Hector Eugenio Araya Garrido was executed by government agents who sought to kill him and thereby committed a human rights violation, since it is established that he was arrested and later died, for the reasons already given.

On October 13, 1973, Victor Ivan VIDAL TEJEDA, 16, a high school student, was killed. Troops arrested him and took him to the La Pincoya shantytown, and later presumably to where they were stationed at Quinta Normal. His mother went there but her efforts to find him were in vain. Two months later his mother found a file with information on her son at the Medical Legal Institute. He had been transferred there at 1:00 a.m. on October 14. The body was buried on Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. The autopsy report states that he died of the multiple bullet wounds he sustained. The body was found in the street at 10:30 p.m. on the day he was arrested. Having established that he was arrested and taking into account the cause and date of his death on the same date as his arrest, the Commission came to the conviction that Victor Vidal was a victim of human rights violation at the hands of government agents.
 
 

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In the early morning of October 14, 1973, eight people were executed by police. They were:

Alfredo Andres MORENO MENA, 23, a worker;
Luis Miguel RODRIGUES ARANCIBIA, 23, a fruit and vegetable street vendor;
Luis Alberto VERDEJO CONTRERAS, 26, a merchant;
Elizabeth LEONIDAS CONTRERAS, a 14 year old student who was pregnant;
Jaime Max BASTIAS MARTINEZ, 17, a worker;
Luis SUAZO SUAZO, 20, an automobile painter;
Domingo de la Cruz MORALES DIAZ, 20, an electrician; and
Luis TORO.

On the afternoon of October 13, 1973, a police patrol arrived at Los Sauces de Puente Alto recreation park and in the presence of witnesses proceeded to arrest the people listed. They were taken to police station No. 20 in Puente Alto and from there were driven to the Fourth station in Santiago. Very early on October 14, they were put into a jeep and taken to the banks of the Mapocho River at the Bulnes Bridge. In the presence of witnesses they were forced out of the vehicle. They were told to start running and were immediately shot down. Their relatives later found the bodies at the Medical Legal Institute. The autopsy reports indicate that the bodies were found in the Mapocho River near the Bulnes Bridge, and that they had been shot to death. Since the arrest, and the place, date and cause of their death is attested, this Commission has come to the conviction that Alfredo Moreno, Luis Miguel Rodriguez, Luis Alberto Verdejo, Elizabeth Leonidas, Jaime Max Bastias, Luis Suazo and Luis Toro were executed by government agents and that this action constituted a grave human rights violation.

On October 14, 1973, Hernan Antonio MUNOZ ROJAS was killed. He had been arrested three days previously at home by police from the Curacavi headquarters. Since that moment there were no traces of him until October 14 when his dead body was found on the Esperanza Bridge in the Padre Hurtado neighborhood. The body had a bullet wound to the thorax and abdomen. This Commission has come to the conviction that Hernan Antonio Rojas was executed by government agents since it is established that he was arrested and subsequently met a violent death during the curfew period. This act was a crime against his right to life.

On October 14, 1973, Segundo del Carmen LIRA BRAVO, 28, a plumber. was executed. Early that month witnesses had seen him being arrested by army troops as they were carrying out a search operation in the La Legua shantytown. Days later his family found his body at the Medical Legal Institute. It had many perforating bullet wounds to the face and head, the chest and abdomen. According to the death certificate, he was killed on October 14, 1973. Bearing in mind these circumstances of his arrest and death, this Commission has come to the conviction that Segundo Lira Bravo suffered a human rights violation when he was executed by government agents.
 
 

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On October 15, 1973, Manuel Segundo TAQUIAS VERGARA, 38, a worker who was not politically active, was killed. At 10 a.m. that day he was with other people on the comer of Calle San Diego and Calle Copiapo when a police patrol came by. In the presence of witnesses, the police told them to break up and began shooting. They wounded Taquias and two other people. He was taken to the Barros Luco Hospital where he died some hours later. This Commission has come to the conviction that Manuel Taquias Vergara died as a result of the actions of government agents who used excessive and indiscriminate force, and thereby gravely violated human rights.

On October 15, 1973, Sergio Manuel CASTRO SAAVEDRA, 15, a fruit and vegetable vendor, was executed. He was arrested that day at his home in the Renca district by members of the army and police. His body, bearing an abdominal wound, was found at Quilicura hill, which is very close to where he was arrested. Officials had him buried without informing his relatives. According to the death certificate, he was killed on October 15, 1973. Taking into account the evidence it has gathered on his arrest and also the circumstances and cause of his death, this Commission has come to the conviction that Sergio Manuel Castro was executed by government agents while he was at their mercy; such an action constituted a human rights violation.

. On October 15, 1973, Luis VERGARA GONZALEZ, 22, a worker, and Hernan PENA CATALAN, 20, a driver's assistant, disappeared. At 9:15 p.m. that day police from the Thirteenth station at Los Guindos arrested Luis Vergara in the La Faena shantytown a few blocks from his parents' house. The police went with Vergara to Hernan Pena's house. There, according to relatives, the police said they already had Vergara and if they found Pena they were going to kill him. In the course of the day they proceeded to search the house. They asked about Pena but he was not there since he was working. Neither of these persons was ever heard from again, despite numerous efforts both families made to find them. Since it is established that one was arrested by government agents, the other one for whom they were looking must be presumed to have been arrested. Bearing in mind that there was never any further word of them and that there is no record of their having left the country, this Commission has come to the conviction that Hernan Pena Catalan and Luis Armando Vergara were arrested and disappeared at the hands of government agents and that this action constituted a grave human rights violation.

On October 15, 1973, Domingo Manuel MEDINA RIQUELME, 25, an electrician, was executed. At 2:30 a.m. that day he and his brother were arrested by a patrol of five soldiers and one police officer who were using a government jeep. The patrol took the prisoners to lot 68 on the road to Lonquen in the Santa Ana de Chena district. There they ordered them to stand alongside an irrigation canal and shot them at around 11:00 a.m. that same day. Domingo Medina Riquelme died of these bullet wounds, and his body was carried away downstream. His brother was only wounded and managed to escape. According to the autopsy report the cause of death was multiple bullet wounds. In view of these established facts, the
 
 

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Commission has come to the conviction that Domingo Medina Riquelme suffered a grave human rights violation since he was executed by government agents.

On October 16, 1973, Jose Wannio DE MATTOS SANTOS, 47, a Brazilian, was killed. Highly reliable sources told this Commission that by October 13, 1973, he was being held in the National Stadium and was ill. That day he had "symptoms of worsening typhus with constipation and vomiting." Officials at the stadium said he would have to wait ten days to receive attention in the field hospital because they did not have the capacity to take care of all the sick. When the medical delegate in the National Stadium was asked to have him transferred to the Military Hospital, the request was denied. Consequently, he died on October 16, 1973 in the field hospital at the National Stadium as a result of "acute peritonitis." It is the conviction of this Commission that Jose Wannio de Mattos Santos died because government agents denied him the timely and effective medical treatment he needed, and that this was a grave violation of his right to physical integrity and of his right to life.

On October 16, 1973, Mario Armando GHO ALARCON, 19, a conscript of the Buin Regiment, was killed. He was arrested at the regimental headquarters, where he was doing his military service, and he was accused of intending to free a prisoner. Witnesses say that ever since September 11, 1973 Mario Gho had been expressing reservations about the military's actions in a number of operations. That was why he was tried before a war tribunal. During the interrogation he was repeatedly beaten. Qualified witnesses have testified to this Commission that after one of these interrogations, he was shot from behind without any provocation on his part. He died at the Jose Joaquin Aguirre Hospital. With the evidence and testimony it has received, this Commission has come to the conviction that whatever disobedience to military discipline he may have committed, Mario Armando Gho Alarcon was executed without any due process of law nor justification by those who had arrested him. That was a violation of his right to due process and his right to life.

On October 16, 1973, Juan Angel GALLEGOS GALLEGOS, 38, a tailor who was president of the neighborhood council of the Sarmiento shantytown and an active Communist, disappeared. That day he was arrested in the presence of witnesses by police who were carrying out a search operation in that shantytown. Other residents were also apprehended, and all were taken to the local athletic field. That was the last place Gallegos was seen, and his whereabouts remain unknown to this day. He has not requested to have his identification card renewed, there is no record of his leaving the country, nor is there any record of his death. Since his arrest is established, this Commission has come to the conviction that government agents were responsible for the subsequent disappearance of Juan Angel Gallegos, which constituted a human rights violation.

On October 16, 1973, Luis Enrique PEREZ BALBONTIN, 22, a disabled news vendor, was killed. On the 15th, witnesses observed him being arrested at his worksite by police who were making inquiries in order to arrest people whose names they had on a list. He was then taken to the San Rafael shantytown checkpoint.
 
 

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The next day, October 16, his body was found on an empty lot in the area ofNos. The autopsy report states that the cause of death was a bullet wound and that it occurred on October 16. Bearing in mind that it is established that he was arrested and was taken to the San Rafael checkpoint and that he died while he was being held prisoner, the Commission came to the conviction that he was executed by government agents in violation of his human rights.

On October 16, 1973, Jose Daniel HERNANDEZ ORREGO, 31, a worker who was active in the Socialist party, disappeared. When army troops searching his house that day did not find him, they left orders that he present himself at the cultural center in Barrancas (now Pudahuel) where army troops from the Subofficials Training School and the Yungay Regiment from San Felipe were quartered. When he came home from work Jose Hemandez was given that summons and decided to comply. This happened at about 1:00 p.m. He told his family that if he did not return by 7:00 p.m., they should take him a blanket. Since he did not return they went to the cultural center. They were told he did not need anything. His relatives heard different stories, but since that day they have had no further word about him. This Commission has come to the conviction that Jose Daniel Hemandez did in fact report to government agents, and they made him disappear and so violated his human rights.

On October 17, 1973, Juan Carlos AMPUERO GOMEZ, 26, an office worker and an active Communist, was killed. He was arrested that day by a military patrol and taken to the National Stadium. According to witnesses, he was executed at the stadium. Although the body was not turned over to the family, they were given a death certificate which says that he died October 17 of "a perforating bullet wound to the thorax." They were told that his body was buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. Since witnesses have testified that he was arrested and held in custody, and considering the cause of death, the fact that it occured two days after his arrest [si'c] and the nature of his political activity, this Commission has come to the conviction that Juan Carlos Ampuero was executed by government agents in an action that gravely violated human rights.

On October 17, 1973, Jaime JIMENEZ JIMENEZ. 29, a worker and CUT (Unified Labor Federation)^v leader was arrested. He was arrested during a military

__________
v) CUT—Central Unica de Trabajadmes de Chile: The CUT was officially founded in February of 1953, but it was preceded by several other organizations in an attempt to unify into a single force Chile's many and disparate labor groups. It was formed by unions and federations of state workers, students, miners, factory workers, rural workers among other labor sectors. Its first president was Clotario Blest, who continued to be an influential leader throughout the history of the CUT, and its first Council of National Direction was composed mostly of communist and socialist labor leaders. The CUT was disbanded by the junta in November 1973. With Chile's transition to democracy it has slowly reemerged as a voice for labor in negotiations with private industry leaders and the government.
 
 

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operation in the Nuevo Amanecer shantytown, and was taken to the Puente Alto Regiment. There his family was told he had been taken to the local prison where prison officials at first admitted, and later denied, that they were holding him. Subsequently his wife went to the Medical Legal Institute, where his name appeared on a list. She also learned that he had been buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. According to his death certificate he died of a "thoracic cardiopulmonary bullet wound," and had been found in the street on October 21, 1973. The Commission came to the conviction that Jaime Jimenez was executed by government agents, because he died while he was in their custody; this action constituted a grave violation of his right to life.

On October 17, 1973, Pedro Hugo PEREZ GODOY, 15, a s

seventh grade student, disappeared. That day while curfew was in effect police arrested him before witnesses and took him to the National Stadium. He was last seen there during November 1973. The Commission came to the conviction that government agents were responsible for the disappearance of Pedro Perez Godoy and so violated his human rights, since it is established that he was arrested and that there has been no further word about his fate, and especially because his age makes it unlikely that he would have disappeared by his own decision.

On October 17, 1973, the following persons were executed:

Carlos Rodolfo ADLER ZULUETA, 25, an Argentinean with Chilean residency since March 1973; it is not known whether he was politically active;
Beatriz Elena DIAZ AGUERO, 26, a pregnant Argentinean with Chilean residency since March 1973;
Victor Alejandro GARRETON ROMERO, 60, an importer who was active in the National party;
Cristian MONTECINOS SLAUGHTER, 27, a married employee of the International Monetary Fund;
Julio Andres SAA PIZARRO, 37, a dental surgeon;
Jorge Miguel SALAS PARADISI, 25, mathematical pedagogy student at the Valparaiso campus of the University of Chile who was then living in Santiago in order to undergo a medical treatment that kept him confined to bed for long periods of time.

These persons were arrested in high-rise No. 12 of the San Borja apartment complex early in the morning October 16, 1973 by troops from the Army Subofficers School in Santiago. Except for the first two, who were a married couple, they had no connections with each other. They were arrested after a female neighbor turned them in by telephone, as has been duly established in testimony taken by this Commission. After arrest they were taken first to a house at Calle Londres No. 38 (the address that the DINA later used as a detention site). While still in army custody they were then taken to the cultural center in Barrancas, where others saw them.

Their dead bodies were found on October 17, 1973 at kilometer 12 of the highway from Santiago to Valparaiso by the Lo Prado Tunnel, and were taken to
 
 

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the Medical Legal Institute. This was indicated on all their death certificates and autopsy reports, which in every case state that the cause of death was "multiple bullet wounds." Immediately after these events, at the request of Carlos Garreton, the father of one of the victims, the army undertook an internal investigation and concluded that this was a case of "a military error." The families were so advised and the army proceeded to inform them of the "junta government's regret over this enormous military error."

In a response to the Interamerican Human Rights Commission, the Chilean government stated that at around 5:00 a.m. on October 17, 1973, these six people, "taking advantage of the precarious conditions of the building, fled through a window without bars toward a fence between the apartment area and surrounding shantytowns. Sentries for the military garrison caught them as they were fleeing, notified them that they were under arrest, properly ordered them to halt, and shot into the air." The report provided by the military government goes on to say that "the prisoners nevertheless continued to run away, and thus the sentries took aim and shot them, thus causing their death." The official response concludes by noting that "subsequently the bodies of the six prisoners were driven in a truck to the area of the Lo Prado Tunnel, where the army had a field hospital. Their bodies were handed over and driven in a hospital ambulance to the Medical Legal Institute, where the required autopsies were carried out."

The Commission has rejected the official version offered by the Chilean government, especially for the following reasons:

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On October 17, 1973, Nestor GONZALEZ RAMOS, a draftsman and leftist who had actively participated in the Popular Unity's presidential campaign, was killed. On the day of his death, witnesses observed him being arrested by troops at the house of his uncle. His family made many efforts to determine his whereabouts but to no avail. His body bearing bullet wounds was found near the Lo Prado Tunnel. The death certificate states that he died on October 17, 1973. This Commission has come to the conviction that Nestor Gonzalez Ramos was executed by government agents while he was under arrest and in their custody, thus constituting a grave human rights violation.

On October 17, 1973, Jose Miguel VALLE PEREZ. 15, disappeared. At 10:30 a.m. that day the police arrested him in his house. That day shots were coming from a jeep as it pulled up to the entrance to the Lo Ovalle alleyway. Like many other people Jose Valle went out to see what was happening. When he came back home and closed the door, police knocked it down and seized the youth, handcuffed him, and put him into the jeep. His mother looked for him in local police stations and headquarters and in the Medical Legal Institute but to no avail. When inquiries were made as the result of a habeas corpus introduced by his family, officials never acknowledged that he had been arrested. Having established his arrest and subsequent disappearance on the same day, this Commission has come to the conviction that Jose Miguel Valle was arrested by government agents and disappeared in their hands, and that this action constituted a grave human rights violation.

On October 17, 1973, Jose Miguel MUNOZ BIZAMA, 21, a student who was active in MIR, disappeared after being arrested at his home in the San Ramon district. He was transferred to the Paratroop Training School at Colina, where he was held prisoner and was seen by witnesses. Since that time there has been no further word about him, despite many efforts by his relatives to determine his whereabouts. This Commission has come to the conviction that Jose Miguel Munoz was arrested by government agents and disappeared in their hands, in what was thus a human rights violation. The nature of the victim's political activism and the circumstances of his arrest and detention, after which all traces of him vanish, lend support to this conviction.

On October 18, 1973, Jorge Cristian CLAVERIA INOSTROZA, 19, an office worker and student who was active in the Young Communists, was killed. On October 10, he showed up at DINAC [National Bureau of Trade], where he worked, in order to present himself to the new authorities. Since that moment there has been no further word concerning him. His relatives went to DINAC and to some police stations but found no evidence of him. On October 27,1973, the family found his body at the Medical Legal Institute. Records indicate that he had been brought there from the Mapocho River. The autopsy carried out on October 19 established that the cause of death was a series of three perforating bullet wounds, one to the face and head, one to the thorax and one to the abdomen. According to the death certificate, he was killed at 5 a.m. on October 18, 1973. This Commission has come to the conviction that Jorge Cristian Claveria was executed by government agents,
 

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and that this constituted a grave human rights violation. His political activism, his disappearance from a place under the control of the new authorities, the place his body was found, and the fact that he was killed during the curfew period all lend support to that conviction.

On October 18, 1973, Ramon Edmundo REBOLLEDO ESPINOZA, 41, a worker, disappeared. That day he was arrested in a bar before witnesses during a search operation being conducted by troops in the La Faena shantytown. His family made numerous efforts to determine his whereabouts but all proved in vain. Since the day of his arrest, Ramón Rebolledo has not sought to have his identification card renewed, or registered to vote, and there is no record of him having left the country. Since it is established that he was arrested and since there is no word on him since that date, this Commission has come to the conviction that Ramón Edmundo Rebolledo suffered human rights violations at the hands of government agents who arrested him and later forcibly made him disappear.

On October 18, 1973, Santiago Ruben ROJAS ARANCIBIA, 16. a student, was killed. As the accounts we have received indicate, he left his house in Quinta Buin near curfew time on October 17. His family heard nothing more about him until they found his body at the Medical Legal Institute, where it had been sent by the El Salto police department. Police officers found his body on the road to El Barrero at about 8:30 a.m., and the document sent to the Third Criminal Court in Santiago states that "... the victim had bullet wounds in the back and thus he was presumably killed by a military patrol for violating curfew." The death certificate says that the cause of death was "perforating bullet wounds to the head, torso, and abdominal cavity." In view of this evidence gathered, and the circumstances and cause of his death, the Commission has come to the conviction that the death of Santiago Reuben Rojas Arancibia, was due to the political violence of that time and can reasonably be assumed to have been the work of government agents.

On October 19, 1973, Pedro Enrique TRONCOSO SAAVEDRA, 33, a painter, was executed. That day in the presence of witnesses, air force personnel arrested him at his house in Conchali. His dead body was found one hour later on the road to Lo Espejo, as indicated in his autopsy report. The cause of death was a perforating bullet wound to the head. Bearing in mind that the last information available about Troncoso dates from the moment he was arrested by air force personnel, the fact that his dead body was later found on a public thoroughfare, as well as the cause of death, this Commission has come to the conviction that he suffered a violation of his right to life as a result of actions carried out by government agents.

On October 19, 1973, Jorge Antonio ARANGUIZ GONZALEZ, 16, a high school student, disappeared. He had been involved in a dispute with a neighbor in the Rosita Renard shantytown where he lived. She then made accusations against him to police. According to his family, the police soon arrived at Aranguiz* house intending to arrest him. They did not find him, however, since he had already
 
 

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run away. In the judicial investigation that followed the disappearance of Aranguiz numerous eyewitnesses provided testimony to these events. Since that day there has been no information on the whereabouts of Aranguiz, despite the various efforts made by his family to locate him, including that judicial investigation. A check with various government agencies did not result in any indication that he had had any dealings with the government or had left the country. In view of these facts, this Commission has come to the conviction that government agents made Aranguiz disappear by force, and thus it believes that his fundamental rights were violated.

On October 20, 1973, Hernan SOTO CARDENAS, 34, a shoe repairman, was killed. Five days previously, on October 15, he was arrested by army troops at his home in the Teniente Saavedra shantytown in the Barrancas district. His dead body was found at the Medical Legal Institute on October 20. He had died of bullet wounds to the chest and abdomen. Since it is established that he was arrested, and since he died that same day of bullet wounds, this Commission has come to the conviction that Hernan Soto was executed by government agents who in their assault on his life committed a human rights violation.

On October 20, 1973, the following people were executed:

Sergio Orlando CANDIA SAUNAS, 28, a butcher at the Lo Valledor slaughterhouse;
Carlos Octavio CHAMORRO SAUNAS, 18, a tailor's assistant;
Jaime Alberto VEAS SAUNAS, 21, a butcher at the Lo Valledor slaughterhouse; and
Miguel Angel PONCE CONTRERAS, 18.

They were all arrested by police in the San Gregorio shantytown and were taken to the local police station. When their relatives arrived to inquire about them, the police told them they were under arrest "for looking suspicious" and that they would be released in a few hours, [sic—material missing here]...the date, hour and place of death is noted on the respective death certificates as October 20, 1973 at 11:00 p.m. at the intersection of Barros Arana and Eucaliptus in the case of Sergio Candia, on the road to Melipilla in the case of Jaime Veas, and in the Padre Hurtado neighborhood in the cases of Miguel Ponce and Carlos Chamorro. Considering the manner in which these events occurred, this Commission has come to the conviction that these four people were executed by agents of the state, therefore being victims of a violation of their right to life.

On October 20, 1973, Mario SALINAS VERA, 16, a high school student, was arrested at home by soldiers in the presence of witnesses. He was arrested by members of the Guardia Vieja Regiment of Los Andes, who were quartered on municipal property in Maipu. Since that date there has been no information on the whereabouts of Salinas, and efforts made by his family to locate him have been unsuccessful. When his father introduced a habeas corpus plea in October 1973, officials acknowledged the fact that Mario Salinas had been arrested when they
 
 

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answered that he had been released the day after his arrest, that is, on October 21, 1973. It has been established that Mario Salinas was arrested, but this Commission does not find plausible the official, account, namely that Mario Salinas was set free the next day, since he never had any further contact with his family. After checking with a number of government agencies, the Commission finds no proof that he ever conducted any official business these years, nor is he registered as having left the country. Hence it concludes that he never recovered his freedom. Consequently, the Commission has come to the conviction that Mario Salinas was arrested and disappeared at the hands of government agents, in violation of his human rights.

On the night of October 20, 1973, the following persons were executed:

Jose Tomas BELTRAN BIZAMA, 25, a worker who was not politically active,
Eduardo Antonio FONSECA CASTRO, 26, a street vendor who was not politically active; and
Hernan Anselmo CORTES VELASQUEZ, 22, a worker, who was not politically active.

In the presence of witnesses a police patrol that was moving about in an ambulance arrested all three of them in their homes in the 18 de Septiembre squatter settlement near the central railroad station and took them away. The next morning their bodies were found in an empty lot along the Lo Errazuriz road in the Maipu district. According to the autopsy reports, the cause of death was multiple perforating bullet wounds to the head. The circumstances in which Beltran, Fonseca, and Cortes were killed, hours after they had been arrested by the police, lead this Commission to the conviction that they were executed by government agents in violation of their essential rights.

On October 20, 1973, Pedro GUEVARA MUNOZ, 28, a painter, was killed. Relatives found his body at the Medical Legal Institute, where it had been taken after being found out in the open on the northern bank of the Mapocho River near the Manuel Rodriguez Bridge. According to the death certificate the body had bullet wounds to the head; the autopsy report, however, said that the body had around eighteen bullet wounds. The body was finally buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. The Commission has come to the conviction that Pedro Guevara Munoz was executed as a result of the political violence of that time, presumably by government agents.

On October 20, 1973, Jose Ismael CAVADA SOTO, a painter, was killed. According to testimony received, Cavada's father found his body at the Medical Legal Institute, where it had been sent after being found out in the open on the northern bank of the Mapocho River near the body of Pedro Guevara. It was established that the cause of death was the many bullet wounds he had received, and that he died on October 20. The body was finally buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. In view of the evidence obtained, and although the exact nature of what happened is not known, the Commission came to the conviction that Jose Ismael
 
 

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Cavada Soto was killed as a result of the political violence of that time, presumably by government agents.

On October 21, 1973, Luis Rene LOBOS GUTIERREZ, 25, and Carlos German MALDONADO TORRES, 41, both farm workers, disappeared. That day civilians went to the military and accused these two men of having threatened them. These same civilians and the military went to where the two men were and proceeded to arrest them in the presence of witnesses. They took them to the Malloco police station, but they were not permitted to detain them there on the grounds that the events in which they were involved had taken place outside that district and also because the officer in charge did not think they should be jailed and so they were returned to their captors. Since that moment there has been no further word about these men.

The Commission came to the conviction that Luis Lobos and Carlos Maldonado disappeared while in the custody of government agents who were abusing their power, since it is established that they had been arrested. The court record establishes that the police were not willing to hold these two men and turned them over to the military. They were not released later, there has been no information on their whereabouts since that date, and it has been established that since then they have not had any business with government agencies, left the country, or gone to see their relatives.

On October 25, 1973, the body of Jaime Antonio RIVERA AGUILAR, 29, was found. The body had bullet wounds to the chest and stomach. He had disappeared from his house in the La Faena shantytown in Penalolen around October 18. Unable to determine exactly how he died, but taking into account especially the cause and date of his death, the Commission has come to the conviction that he died as a result of the political violence prevailing in the country.

On October 26, 1973, air force Second Corporal Jose Enrique ESPINOZA SANTIC was executed. He was arrested on October 19, at the Capitan Avalos Aviation School, by air force troops and was transferred to the Air War Academy and then to the Aeronautic Polytechnical Academy. He was executed there on October 26. These facts have all been established through eyewitness testimony. His autopsy report says that the cause of death was a "bullet wound to the torso which entered from the back." Taking into account these facts, this Commission has come to the conviction that Jose Espinoza was executed by government agents thus violating his right to life.

On October 27, 1973, Luis Antonio ABARCA SANCHEZ, 22, a worker, was executed. Witnesses saw him arrested by police in the La Victoria shantytown on the night of October 26, while he was returning from a party with other people. A few days later his family found his dead body at the Medical Legal Institute in Santiago. In the autopsy report that agency noted that he died as a result of twenty bullet wounds. Since the last information about Abarca comes from the moment of his arrest by police, and since he was killed a few hours later, this Commission
 

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came to the conviction that he was executed by government agents in violation of his right to life.

On October 30, 1973, Pedro Antonio FERNANDEZ BURGOS, 54, a street vendor, was killed by soldiers. That day his wife had a dispute with a neighbor woman who then went to complain to the police station in Padre Hurtado. A group of soldiers was present at that moment. At about 4:00 p.m. four soldiers came to Fernandez' house, and proceeded to arrest him and his wife. They were taken to that same police station, where a soldier showed them a document, apparently the neighbor's accusation, and asked them what they thought about it. Neither of them knew how to read, however, and they did not know what it was concerning. Since they said nothing, the soldier continued asking them, and became increasingly angry, until finally he opened a drawer, drew out a weapon and shot Pedro Fernandez in the presence of his wife. They immediately took him to the hospital in Penaflor, where he died at 4:25 p.m. On the basis of the statements and evidence it received, the Commission came to the conviction that Pedro Fernandez was executed without any due process of law by government agents who were abusing their power.

On October 31, 1973, Juan de Dios MARTINEZ PEREZ, 24, a vendor, was killed. He was last seen on October 23 at the gate of the Santa Maria Clinic where he worked selling flowers. His body was later found in the Mapocho River by the Oriente Bridge and sent to the Medical Legal Institute by the Pudahuel airport police unit. The body bore bullet wounds, and according to the death certificate, he died on October 31. The body was identified by relatives and buried in the General Cemetery. The Commission came to the conviction that Juan de Dios Martinez Perez died as a result of the prevailing political violence, and that government agents were presumably involved.

On November 3, 1973, Pedro David OTAROLA SEPULVEDA, 22. a slaughterhouse worker, was killed. Police arrested him that day along with a friend while they were inside a business located near bus stop number 46 on Avenida Santa Rosa and took them to the local police station. Witnesses have testified that the day after the arrest Otarola and others were taken out of the police station where they were being held. He died as a result of bullet wounds to the head and torso, as indicated in his death certificate. This Commission has accordingly come to the conviction that the death of Pedro David Otarola was the result of an act of that violence that was characteristic of the period under examination.

On November 11, 1973, Guillermo IBARRA FUENTES, 32, an employee at SERVIU (Housing and City Planning Service) was arrested at his home by a Chilean Air Force patrol. He had fought with his wife, prompting her to go looking for a nearby patrol. Ibarra resisted the patrol's efforts to arrest him and one of the members shot him in the chest, leaving him fatally wounded. He was taken to Emergency Clinic No. 4 in nunoa and died there a few hours later. The Commission came to
 
 

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the conviction that Guillermo Ibarra Fuentes died as a result of the use of excessive force by members of that air force patrol, thus gravely violating human rights.

On November 18, 1973, Juan Fernando MILLAS VELIZ, 31, a mechanic, was killed. On the night of November 17, he was driving his small Citroen south along Gran Avenida. Just as he was passing the Twelfth police station, troops there shot and wounded him. He was taken to the Barros Luco Hospital and died there at 5:00 a.m. on November 18 of a "perforating bullet wound to the abdominal cavity." According to the autopsy report, the bullet was shot from a distance. The account provided by the police in their official report asserts that Millas was moving about during the curfew period, and therefore they shot him. However, the hospital record shows that Millas entered at 11:05 p.m. when the curfew began at 11:00 p.m., and thus the claim of the authorities is not very plausible. Accordingly, this Commission has come to the conviction that Juan Ferando Millas was killed as a result of the use of excessive force by government agents.

On November 26, 1973, Miguel Andres HEREDIA VASQUEZ, 23. an unmarried office worker who was a shantytown leader and active in the Communist party, was arrested. Air force troops carried out the arrest at the emergency room in the Barros Luco Hospital, his workplace, in the presence of witnesses. He was taken to the Air Force Special Forces School in Santiago, where he was listed as among the prisoners. Around January 4 he was taken to the Air Force Poly technical Institute. From there he wrote to his family telling them he was well. Around January 9, 1974, he was taken to the prison camp in Tejas Verdes. There he was seen by witnesses and with one of them he was put into a lineup on January 28. Since that moment his whereabouts have been unknown. His family adds that officials at SENDET (Executive National Secretariat of Prisoners) acknowledged that Heredia was arrested and said he was being held in solitary confinement. Nevertheless, the Ministry of the Interior denied that he had been imprisoned, as indicated in the judicial inquiry into his disappearance. For the reasons given, this Commission came to the conviction that Miguel Heredia was subjected to forced disappearance while he was being held in custody by government agents, and that his essential rights were thereby violated.

On November 26, 1973, the following persons were executed:

Juan Domingo ARIAS QUEZADA, 17, an unmarried student who was active in the Socialist party and a member of the Jose Marti group;
Mario Francisco ZAMORANO CORTES, 33, an unmarried student who was active in the Socialist party and a member of the Jose Marti group;
Juan Carlos MERINO FIGUEROA, active in the Socialist party and a member of the Jose Marti group;
Juan Jonas DIAZ LOPEZ, 24, a student who was active in the Socialist party and a member of the Jose Marti group; and
Que Phung TRAN HUYNH, a Vietnamese who had a doctorate in biochemistry and nuclear medicine.
 

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In the early morning of November 27, residents in El Arrayan heard a heavy vehicle climbing the road. Around 4:00 a.m. they heard many shots. During the day a resident found the bodies of those listed above in lot No. 38 of El Arrayan. There was a sign mentioning the MIR and calling them "traitors."

Their death certificates indicate that they died of multiple heavy caliber bullet wounds. Several of the bodies had wounds different from those caused by bullets, and were described as "many kinds of cuts of various kinds on the right forehead," "many traumas in a number of body parts produced by blunt objects and hot objects," and "many bruise wounds in various places on the body." In addition the autopsy reports said two of them were tied up.

Family members say that their own investigations indicated that the group had tried to take asylum in an embassy and were caught by a patrol which then arrested them. They also say that troops from the Tacna Regiment had previously come looking for one of the victims and said that he should present himself to that military unit. Bearing in mind the testimony it has examined, that the autopsy reports establish that the victims were executed during the curfew period with high caliber weapons and that their bodies bore wounds compatible with their having been tortured before death; the fact that troops had come looking for at least one of them during the previous days; that they shared a common political activism, and taking into account the general features of the period in which these events took place, the Commission has come to the conviction that these people were executed by government agents, and suffered a grave violation of their right to life.

On December 1, 1973, Jacob Daniel AGUILAR GARRIDO, 21, a worker, and Bias Javier VICENCIO ARRIAGADA, 20, were killed. They were arrested that day by air force troops in the Manuel Larrain shantytown of Pudahuel where they lived. The next day Aguilar's family says that air force personnel informed them that he was at the Medical Legal Institute. Police from Las Barrancas found both bodies in the San Pedro estate of Las Barrancas near the west end of the Americo Vespucio beltway. From there they sent the bodies to the institute. According to the autopsy, the cause of death was a "perforating bullet wound to the thorax and lungs" for Aguilar, and a "perforating bullet wound to the head" for Vicencio. They were said to have died December 1 at 9:10 a.m. By reason of the evidence gathered, and the cause of their deaths, this Commission has come to the conviction that Jacob Daniel Aguilar Garrido and Bias Javier Vicencio Arriaga were killed as a result of the violence of that time, and that government agents were presumably involved.

On December 6, 1973, Sergio Herman RAMIREZ PENA, 17, a student, was killed. As Ramirez was leaving his house in the La Legua shantytown, a military patrol went by chasing some young people. One member fired, hit Ramirez, and killed him. The autopsy report indicates that the cause of death was a "perforating bullet wound to the neck," and adds that "the path of the bullet was from back to front, right to left and top down." In accordance with the evidence mentioned, this Commission has come to the conviction that Sergio Ramirez died as the result of an excessive and indiscriminate use of force, and hence he is regarded as the victim of a human rights violation committed by government agents.
 
 

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On December 8, 1973, Gerardo GODOY BELLO, 26, a worker, was killed. Evidence presented to this Commission established that Godoy was arrested at the door of his house in the Barrancas district by a military patrol. His body was later found in the Mapocho River, in the vicinity of the Pedro de Valdivia Bridge. According to the death certificate the cause of death was a "perforating bullet wound to the face and head." The time was registered as 10:00 a.m. that same December 8. In view of the events sketched out here, this Commission came to the conviction that Gerardo Godoy died as a result of actions by government agents and thus his essential rights were violated.

Very early on the morning of December 9, 1973, Juan Rene Alberto VASQUEZ ORTIZ, 25, a worker who was active in the Young Communists, was executed. The previous night Vasquez had come hurrying back to his house in the Quinta Normal district together with other neighbors because they had been still out in the streets when curfew began. A few moments later a military patrol showed up and in the presence of witnesses proceeded to arrest all the males in his house. Those who witnessed these events testified that the military, after taking them away, forced them to run and immediately shot at them. Since Vasquez refused to obey that order, a soldier shot and hit him in the thoracic region. The injured were then taken in an ambulance to the Felix Bulnes Hospital. Vasquez died there at 5:00 a.m. on January 9 as the result of a penetrating bullet wound, as stated on his death certificate. Juan Vasquez' autopsy report states that "the shot was what in legal medical terminology is called from short range," thus corroborating what the witnesses said. On these grounds, the Commission came to the conviction that Juan Vasquez was executed in total disregard for the law by government agents and he thus suffered a grave human rights violation.

On December 10, 1973, Waldo Antonio BELLO BELLO, 35, a merchant, was killed. That day Bello went to play soccer after work and did not return home. His body was found at the Medical Legal Institute days later. The cause of death was "the series of bullet wounds to the torso and head". The ballistic reports sought and obtained by this Commission indicated that two types of weapons were used, and their features fit the description of the kind of weapons commonly used by the police. Bearing this point in mind, and the general characteristics of the time when these events took place, this Commission holds the conviction that the death of Waldo Bello was the work of government agents and that his human rights were violated.

On December 13, 1973, Bautista VAN SCHOWEN VASEY, 30, a married surgeon who was a member of the political commission of the MIR, and Patricio MUNITA CASTILLO, 22, a law student, were arrested at the Capuchin church in Santiago. A contingent of police and non-uniformed personnel arrested them and a priest of the Capuchin church along with another unidentified person on the afternoon of December 13 inside the church and in the presence of witnesses. As was attested by eyewitnesses to the arrest, they did not offer resistance, and their captors loaded them onto a police bus and took them to an unknown destination. The priest was released after spending eight days in jail. Van Schowen, Munita, and
 

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the unidentified third person had come to the church early in the month and were being sheltered there temporarily.

Bautista Van Schowen was a well known MIR leader who ever since September 13 had been publicly summoned and ordered to report to military authorities. Newspapers were reporting that the junta was offering a 500,000 escudo reward to the person "who provides evidence making it possible for government forces to locate and arrest" some of the people mentioned on a list, including Van Schowen. On the other hand, the Santiago daily, El Mercurio, on August 24,1974 reported that ".. .on December 13, 1973, shortly after the military proclamation of September 11, the dangerous subversive Bautista Van Schowen Vasey was arrested for grave crimes, which are sufficiently attested in the case against him prepared by the First Military Prosecutor's Office of Santiago. Currently... he is being held in a prison somewhere in the country." The same month the Ministry of the Interior offered similar information in the judicial inquiry into his disappearance when it stated that "Bautista Van Schowen is in the hands of the First Military Prosecutor's Office in Santiago." The ministry retracted that statement the following month when it said that "an unintentional error of fact was committed, since actually the one who was imprisoned in the public jail in Santiago.. . was Roberto Fernando Van Schowen Vasey, and not his brother, Bautista."

Finally in February 1978, in response to an inquiry from the OAS (Organization of American States) Interamerican Human Rights Commission, the military junta replied that Van Schowen ".. .travelled to Cuba on February 2, 1973 with Chilean passport No. 2743 and there is no indication of his return to the country." In other reports to the courts, officials at that time denied that Bautista Van Schowen had been arrested or that he was in the hands of any tribunal.

Nevertheless, this Commission cannot accept the official account reporting that Van Schowen left the country in February 1973 and did not return, or that he was not arrested, since after that date he was one of the most wanted political figures, and the junta had offered a monetary reward for his capture, and there are eyewitnesses to his arrest by police in December 1973. We may also add the confusing official and newspaper accounts of his legal situation.

Patrick) Munita's dead body was found in Americo Vespucio at a 3,600 meter elevation on December 14, and it was later buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery as ordered by troops who came to the cemetery, according to eyewitnesses to the event. Two months later his family was able to have the body exhumed and to identify it. It has not been possible to establish the identity of the person arrested along with Van Schowen and Munita nor what happened to him.

In view of all the evidence indicated, this Commission has come to the conviction that Patricio Munita was killed by government agents in total disregard for the law, that Bautista Van Schowen disappeared by force also at the hands of government agents, and that both suffered grave human rights violations.

On December 19, 1973, Jorge Pedro PACHECO DURAN, 20, a craftperson who was active in the Christian Left, and Denrio Max ALVAREZ OLIVARES, 17, a university student and leader who was an active Communist, were executed. They were arrested by investigative police at Pacheco's home on December 3, 1973.
 
 

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Several other left activists were arrested along with them and soon released. They were taken to the central headquarters of the investigative police and then to the local prison and finally to the Buin Regiment, for interrogation. From that point on there was no trace of them until their dead bodies turned up at the Medical Legal Institute. The autopsy report on Alvarez says that the cause of death was a "bullet wound," and that of Pacheco says that he died of "three bullet wounds to the torso and one to the head." The Commission has come to the conviction that they were executed by government agents in an action that gravely violated their human rights. The grounds for this conviction are that it is established that they were arrested, that they were killed by bullet wounds, that they were politically active, that they died while in the custody of the police and military, and that there was no official explanation of their deaths.

On December 19, 2973, Jose Braulio ASTORGA NANJARI, 55, a furniture maker who was a member of the Council on Supplies and Prices and active in the Communist party, was arrested. Witnesses observed as two armed and ununiformed men along with heavily armed police from Station No. 17 detained him while he was working in his shop. He was taken to the station where he was held "in transit." He has disappeared since that time. The government officially recognized his arrest and declared that he had been released on December 26, 1973, and that his whereabouts were unknown. Since it is established that he was arrested, both because it was observed by witnesses and because it was officially acknowledged by the government, this Commission cannot accept the official account that he was released for the following reasons: Astorga was active in the Communist party and also in the Council on Supply and Prices, and it can be reasonably presumed that he was arrested by security agents and that the function of the police was simply to hold him in custody; it is presumed that he was subsequently imprisoned at Tejas Verdes; to this day there is no record of his leaving or entering the country after his arrest nor of his registering to vote. In view of these facts, this Commission has come to the conviction that Jose Braulio Astorga was arrested and disappeared by force at the hands of government agents in an action that gravely violated human rights.

On December 19, 1973, Nelsa Zulema GADEA GALAN, 29, a Uruguayan secretary at CORVI (Corporation for Housing) who was assigned to the Soviet company, KPD, was arrested. She disappeared on December 19, 1973 from her workplace on Calle Condell, in the Providencia district, just as a military patrol visited the place. Around that time her house and those of several friends were searched. Since that day she has remained disappeared and there is no information on her whereabouts. This Commission has come to the conviction that she was subjected to forced disappearance, presumably by government agents, since witnesses have testified that she was arrested, and in view of her political activity and the fate of foreigners who were connected to revolutionary movements in the country at that time. Despite the journeys her family undertook to find her, they never had further word about her either in Chile or elsewhere.
 

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On December 21, 1973, the following five members of the Communist cell of the local Galo Gonzalez committee of the La Legua shantytown, who were accused of being involved in a so-called "Plan Leopard," were executed:

Cuevas' death certificate stated that the cause of death was "acute loss of blood." The body showed bleeding, multiple bullet wounds, and only one eye was left. The cause of Rojas Castro's death was said to be "multiple bullet wounds" and his hands were swollen and had no fingernails, his right arm was broken and his head was smashed. The body of Gomez Vega had fourteen bullet holes, and on both ankles and wrists there were circular sores; the cause of death was "multiple bullet wounds." Canales Vivanco was said to have died of "bullet wounds to the abdominal thorax" and the body had seven bullet wounds. Orellana Perez had fifteen bullet
 
 

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wounds and his body showed cuts, raw skin and sores on the wrists and ankles. The cause of death was a "perforating bullet wound to the head."

The Commission has received numerous credible and consistent statements by witnesses which provide an account that differs from the official version. All these Communist activists were arrested between December 18-20, 1973 by the same agents together with others who were later released. They were all loaded onto the same vehicle and taken to an unknown destination. As a group they were subjected to torture and mistreatment and were individually interrogated about where they supposedly had weapons hidden in La Legua. They were then thrown together into a single cell where according to witnesses, Patricio Castro died of shots fired by his captors. The families of some of the victims were subsequently subjected to searches, persecution, and arrest.

This Commission has come to the conviction that these five young men were executed without any due process of law by government agents, and that their human rights were gravely violated. The primary elements of support for that conviction are the following:

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approaching. Although the Commission is unfamiliar with the circumstances under which he was killed, given the context of these events, the cause of death, and the place where his remains were found, the Commission has come to the conviction that Juan Barra was the object of use of excessive force by government agents and hence in violation of human rights.

On December 22, 1973, Manuel David CACERES MUNOZ, 60, a municipal worker, was killed. He was arrested during curfew on December 20, 1973 by police who proceeded to give him a heavy beating. His death certificate says he died on December 22, 1973 at the Barros Luco Hospital of a miocardiac arrest that halted his heartbeat. Police had taken him to the hospital. His family says that before he died he told them his captors had beat him. This Commission holds the conviction that Manuel Caceres died as a result of the use of excessive force by government agents. Its grounds are that he was arrested by such agents and died while he was in their custody.

On December 25, 1973, Maria OSORIO RODRIGUEZ, 25, lost her life. She was in the front yard of a friend's house in the Carrascal area when shots were fired at both of them from a military jeep that was passing through the area. She was hit in the head and her friend in the leg. After examining statements by witnesses, the Commission has come to the conviction that Maria Osorio died as a result of excessive and improper use of force by government agents who were presumably trying to assure that curfew was observed.

On December 29, 2973, Rene Claudio Roberto CARRASCO MALDONADO, 27, a union leader at the Roberto del Rio Hospital who was an active Socialist, was killed. On December 21, 1973, air force troops arrested him and another person at the hospital after they had presented themselves in response to a summons from the hospital director. They were then taken to the Artillery Regiment of the Chilean Air Force, and there, according to the testimony of his fellow prisoner, Carrasco was repeatedly interrogated and tortured. They had only sporadic contact since Carrasco was kept in solitary confinement most of the time. On January 1, 1974, Carrasco's body was turned over to his family with the explanation that he had taken his own life. According to the autopsy report the cause of death was "asphyxiation by hanging."

The Commission came to the conviction that his human rights were violated. To begin with, it is not at all plausible that Carrasco would commit suicide since he was being held subject to the usual rules of solitary confinement, that is, without having access to anything that would enable him to attempt to take his own life. Even if, however, he had taken his own life, this is still a human rights violation since when he died, he was being subjected to great physical and emotional pressure, being held in solitary confinement, and subjected to torture at the hands of government agents, and so he may have been impelled to decide to take his own life as a way of ending his suffering.
 
 

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On December 30, 1973, Angel Clodomiro ROMAN VERGARA, 26, a worker who was an active Socialist, was publicly arrested by police in the presence of witnesses. His family looked for him in different places, until they found him at the Medical Legal Institute. The time of death indicated on the death certificate was 9:45 a.m. on December 31, and the cause was "multiple perforating bullet wounds to the torso and head." This Commission has come to the conviction that he was executed by government agents, inasmuch as he died of gunshot wounds a few hours after being arrested, and thereby suffered a violation of his human rights.

Enrique Rene ASTUDILLO ALVAREZ, 51,
Omar ASTUDILLO ROJAS, 20,
Ramon ASTUDILLO ROJAS, 27,
Carlos HERNANDEZ FLORES, 39,
Nelson HERNANDEZ FLORES, 32,
Oscar HERNANDEZ FLORES, 30,
Sergio MAUREIRA LILLO, 46,
Jose MAUREIRA MUNOZ, 26,
Rodolfo MAUREIRA MUNOZ, 22,
Segundo MAUREIRA MUNOZ, 24, and
Sergio MAUREIRA MUNOZ, 27.

Eyewitnesses to these events have told this Commission that those arrested were put onto a truck tied up and held lying face down. The police agents rode standing on top of them. When they arrived at the police station they were beaten.

That same day four youths who were in the Isla de Maipo Plaza were arrested by police officers and sent to the same headquarters. Their names are:

Miguel BRANT BUSTAMENTE, 22, a farm worker;
Jose HERRERA VILLEGAS, 17, an occasional worker;
Manuel Jesus NAVARRO MARTINEZ, 20, a bicycle shop employee; and
Ivan ORDONEZ LAMA, 17, who had no trade.

After the families had made unsuccessful efforts to find them for some time, habeas corpus was introduced for the eleven farm workers in 1974. During the course of this habeas corpus, the deputy chief of the Isla de Maipo police headquarters
 
 

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declared in an official statement sent to the First Appeals Court in Santiago, that "they were in fact arrested in October of last year by members of this unit and were sent to the prisoner camp at the National Stadium for reasons listed in an unnumbered memorandum which is dated October 8. They were admitted to the stadium according to the signature on the other side of the copy of that memorandum which apparently reads 'Second Sergeant Gonzalez.' A copy of that document is here enclosed."

However, in 1978 the Catholic church received an anonymous report that there were human remains in an abandoned mine in Lonquen. As a result, the special judicial investigator, Adolfo Banados Cuadra, undertook a judicial investigation. When he then declared himself incompetent, the military prosecutor, Gonzalo Salazar Swett, took charge of the case. In making their statement to the judicial investigator and military judge, the police officers who took part in the arrest gave this account: on October 8, 1973, at around 1:00 a.m., they decided to transfer all the prisoners to the National Stadium detention center. They stopped at the Lonquen lime ovens because a prisoner had said that weapons were hidden in an abandoned mine in the area. There they let the prisoners out, and while they were walking toward the ovens, an armed attack broke out against the whole group. As a result of that action, all the prisoners were killed, but there were no casualties among the official forces. Fearing reprisals from the victims' families, the police officer in charge decided to bury the bodies in the abandoned ovens.

On April 4, 1979, the specially appointed judicial investigator issued a resolution in which he declared himself incompetent to continue investigating the case, and referred it to the Second Military Tribunal of Santiago. This resolution contains several supporting clauses in which it is established that the bodies buried in the Lonquen lime ovens are those of the fifteen people arrested on October 7, 1973 in Islam de Maipo and that that district's head of police was "directly involved in and responsible" for the death of those people "irrespective of the involvement and responsibility of those who were acting under his command. Likewise from the terms of his confession it is clear that he was involved in these actions during or on the occasion of police duty."

In the resolution's supporting clauses 8 and 9 it was made clear that the account given by the police chief not only contradicted the evidence gathered in the investigation, but also that "it is inherently farfetched (and the same can be said of the statements given by those under him). In the shootout that is supposed to have taken place in the dark, it is impossible to imagine that the bullets flying back and forth hit only the prisoners and not the police who were practically right next to them, and that the shots were so accurate that they all instantaneously killed their victims without leaving traces elsewhere. In this regard, it is worth noting that none of the fifteen skeletal remains studied by the Medical Legal Institute showed signs of perforations, fractures, or other kinds of indications that could be related to bullets hitting a living organism. The death of these fifteen persons must therefore be attributed to other causes."

Later the military prosecutor ordered that all those police who were on duty at the Lonquen headquarters be charged with the crime of unnecessary violence by causing the death of the prisoners listed above. A subsequent sentence definitively
 
 

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halted all proceedings against those accused of unnecessary violence, by reason of the terms of the 1978 Amnesty Decree law. That decision was confirmed by the military court.

With regard to turning over the victims' bodies, the Second Military Prose' cutor's Office officially told the Medical Legal Service to turn over the identified remains to their relatives. This official document stated, "... You are to turn over the remains of Sergio Adrian Maureira Lillo for burial once it is proven that the mourners are related by means of certificates of relationship. . . Since it is impossible to identify the remaining skeletons with the evidence available, let them be buried in accordance with the local law in Isla de Maipo since that is where they died."

The very day that official document was sent, the relatives came together in the Franciscan church of the Recoleta to celebrate a funeral mass. While they were waiting for the remains to arrive, they were informed that without having consulted them, employees of the Medical Legal Service had buried all the bodies except that of Sergio Maureira Lillo in a common grave at the Isla de Maipo municipal cemetery.

In response the relatives introduced a petition for review [recurso de queja]^w against the Second Military Prosecutor's Office in Santiago for "the error and abuse committed in not strictly complying with the order to turn over the bodies. . . and to determine the measures that could lead to repairing the injuries done to the plaintiff." The military court applied the disciplinary measure of a written reprimand. The Supreme Court nullified this disciplinary measure since, as stated in its ruling on January 4, 1980, "... the very judges who imposed this measure were those who issued the order for what procedure to follow..." The remains have not been exhumed since then.

In accordance with all the elements mentioned and despite what the justice system has determined, this Commission holds the conviction that on-duty government agents at the Isla de Maipo police district headquarters were directly responsible for the death of the fifteen prisoners and the subsequent concealment of their bodies, and it thus regards them all as victims of the violation of their right to life.

On September 13, 1973, Pedro Leon VARGAS BARRIENTOS, 23, an unmarried MIR activist, was arrested. Police and civilians arrested him, and in the presence of many witnesses they beat and insulted him, and then took him to the Paine checkpoint. Since then his relatives have received no information about him.

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w) Recurso de queja: The recurso de queja is a creation of Chilean jurisprudence to ensure that a court is correctly applying the law. Individuals may file a petition of review or complaint, the objective of which is to correct errors or abuses allegedly committed by a court.
 
 

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The Commission came to the conviction that government agents and the civilians who were acting together with them were responsible for the disappearance of Pedro Vargas, and that this action constituted a human rights violation. The grounds for that conviction are that it is sufficiently established that he was arrested and that subsequently there has been no further news about him, in addition to the fact that there were a large number of similar situations occurring in the area at that time.

On September 14, 2973, Luis Nelson CADIZ MOLINA, 28, a merchant, was arrested by a civilian at his house and in the presence of relatives. Later it was said that he had been turned over to the police at the Paine district headquarters. Since then his whereabouts are unknown. The Paine police checkpoint acknowledged that he had been taken there but said that he had then been handed over to the San Bernardo Infantry School; the school, however, did not acknowledge that he had been taken there. This Commission came to the conviction that government agents were responsible for this prisoner's disappearance since, given the fact that his arrest is sufficiently established, it must have taken place while he was in their custody.

On September 14, 1973, Alberto LEIVA VARGAS, 33, a married student of philosophy at the Catholic University of Chile who was the Buin area political secretary of the MAPU, was arrested. At 5:00 p.m. on September 14 he was arrested at his home by police from Paine. When his wife went to the police station to inquire about him, she was told that he had been handed over to military troops. On one occasion his name appeared on a list of prisoners in the National Stadium, but they said he could not receive visitors. The next day his name was no longer on the list. Based on this evidence, the. Commission has come to the conviction that Leiva's disappearance is a direct result of his arrest and that government agents were responsible. The grounds for its conviction are that it is certain that he was arrested, and that all information about him ceased while he was in the custody of those who apprehended him.

On September 15, 1973, Juan Humberto ALBORNOZ PRADO, 25, and Hernan Fernando ALBORNOZ PRADO, 23, both of them married agricultural workers, were arrested. Police accompanied by civilians arrested Juan Albornoz at work on September 15, 1973. They put him in a car trunk with other prisoners. The same police arrested Hernan Albornoz and his father as he was arriving at his parents' house. They were taken to the Paine substation, where witnesses observed as the police beat, interrogated, and shaved them. The next day a number of prisoners were released, including their father, but they remained at the substation. Their whereabouts since that moment remain unknown.

On March 5, 1979, the police involved in these events were accused of the crime of aggravated kidnapping. These legal proceedings were formally halted in November 1981, and the appeals court upheld that decision on May 15,1982. Taking into account the foregoing established facts, this Commission holds the conviction that government agents were responsible for the disappearance of these two people since it is sufficiently established that they were arrested and since there has been no further word concerning them since the time they were in their captors' hands.
 
 

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On September 16, 1973, executions in the area of Paine left two people dead:

Orlando Enrique PEREIRA CANCINO, 32, a farmer who was not politically active;
Raul del Carmen LAZO QUINTEROS, 38, a farmer;
Pedro Luis RAMIREZ TORRES, 34, a farmer; and
Carlos CHAVEZ REYES, a married farmer who was not politically active.

They reported to the police station in response to a police summons through the president of the Paula Jaraquemada cooperative farm which had formerly been known as the San Francisco de Paine estate. They were arrested at the station. According to testimony received, early on the morning of September 18, a group of police and civilians took the prisoners out and drove off in a big commercial truck accompanied by several vehicles to Collipeumu hill. There they ordered them
 

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to get out and keep their hands up. They shot them down and threw the bodies into the Collipeumu River. When they were found in the river, their bodies bore many bullet wounds. Some of them had been mutilated in various parts of the body, and their eyes had been removed. An autopsy of the bodies was carried out on September 20, and in each case the conclusion was that the cause of death was bullet wounds. All the foregoing enables this Commission to come to the conviction that the prisoners were executed by government agents accompanied by civilians and that their human rights were thus violated.

On September 18, 1973, Cristian Victor CARTAGENA PEREZ, 30, a married elementary school teacher who was active in the Communist party, was arrested by the police in Paine. Police and civilians came to the school in Chada, where he was teaching. He was accused of being a subversive, and beaten to the point of unconsciousness, and then taken to the Paine police substation. On September 19, 1973, at that police station it is said that he had been released because there was no reason to hold him. Nevertheless, since that day there has been no evidence concerning the whereabouts and ultimate fate of Cristian Cartagena. The Commission came to the conviction that he disappeared at the hands of government agents, since it is established that he was arrested and it is unlikely that he was released, since there has been no word about him since that date, and many similar events took place in the same area at that time.

On September 18, 1973, Francisco Baltazar GODOY ROMAN, 49, a married agricultural worker who was in charge of the Laguna de Aculeo agricultural cooperatives and president of the Buin and Paine area Committee of Small Farmers, was arrested. Police from Paine arrested him at the Huiticalan agricultural cooperative along with another worker who was released three days later. The previous day someone had told him that he was on a list of people to be arrested. Witnesses who saw him detained at the Paine substation say he was taken out at midnight and did not return. Since that date there has been no further information concerning the whereabouts and fate of Francisco Godoy. In view of the foregoing, this Commission has come to the conviction that government agents were directly responsible for his disappearance in violation of his human rights since it is established that he was arrested and he disappeared while he was being held in custody by his captors.

On October 2, 1973, Luis Alberto DIAZ MANRIQUEZ, 30, a married agricultural worker who was an active Socialist, was killed at the San Benardo Infantry School. He reported to the Paine substation in response to a summons to do so. At the police station relatives were told that he had been turned over to soldiers. At the Medical Legal Institute where his name appeared on the lists of bodies that had been brought in, they were told that he was buried in Lot 29. According to his death certificate he died at "12:00 noon on October 2, 1973. Cause: multiple bullet wounds to the torso. Santiago, Infantry School." The autopsy report states that the cause of death was multiple perforating bullet wounds to the torso, head, and abdomen. In view of the foregoing, the Commission came to the conviction that the government agents who held Luis Diaz under arrest were directly responsible
 
 

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for his execution, since his death was caused by the multiple bullet wounds that he sustained while he was being held prisoner at the infantry school.

Between September 24 and October 3, 1973 at the El Escorial farm in Paine there were a number of instances in which people were arrested and then executed.

On September 24, 1973, at about 4:00 p.m. troops from the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment riding in a truck and a jeep arrived at the El Escorial vineyard in Paine and arrested five farm workers. They took the workers to a soccer field and made them lie down on the ground. From there they took them to the Infantry Regiment base where they were held until about 10:00 p.m.. At that point the prisoners were blindfolded and put into a truck headed toward the Cerro Chena prison. Those arrested were:

Hector CASTRO SAEZ, 18, a single person who was not politically active;
Juan Guillermo CUADRA ESPINOZA, 26, who was married and an active Socialist;
Gustavo Hernan MARTINEZ VERA, who was married and not politically active;
Juan Bautista NUNEZ VARGAS, 33, who was married and an active Socialist; and
Ignacio del Transito SANTANDER ALBORNOZ, 17, who was unmarried.

On October 3 in the early morning, there was an operation in which thirteen more agricultural workers from the Paine area were arrested. This time troops from the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment, with their faces painted black, were traveling in a red truck. They went into the houses, took people prisoner, transported them to San Bernardo and then to the prison at Cerro Chena. The following thirteen people were arrested that night (along with others who were subsequently released):

Jose Angel CABEZAS BUENO, 21, unmarried,
Francisco Javier CALDERON NILO, 19, unmarried,
Domingo Antonio GALAZ SALAS, 23, unmarried,
Jose Emilio GONZALEZ ESPINOZA, 32, married,
Juan Rosendo GONZALEZ PEREZ, 23,
Aurelio Enrique HIDALGO MELLA, 22, unmarried,
Bernabe del Carmen LOPEZ LOPEZ, 23, unmarried,
Carlos Manuel ORTIZ ORTIZ, 18, unmarried,
Hector Santiago PINTO CAROCA, 34, married,
Pedro Hernan PINTO CAROCA, 42, married,
Aliro del Carmen VALDIVIA VALDIVIA, 39, married,
Hugo Alfredo VIDAL ARENAS, 27, married, and
Victor Manuel ZAMORANO GONZALEZ, unmarried.

Several people who were held in the Cerro Chena detention center say they were taken there together with the people on the list. There they were kept blindfolded for the most part and were subjected to torture and interrogation. Subsequently some of them were released. The relatives of those who disappeared went to this
 
 

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prison several times, but there was no acknowledgement that the victims were being held. However, in habeas corpus 283-79 introduced for Ignacio Santander Albornoz and Juan Cuadra Espinosa, the head of the Interior Zone of the Departments of San Bernardo and Maipo says that "the prisoners Ignacio Santander Albornoz and Juan Cuadra Espinosa were discharged by the sentry guards of the Chena prison camp on October 4, 1973."

In December the relatives were told at the Medical Legal Service that the remains of all these prisoners were registered and that they had been buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. That same date residents found human remains near the Cuesta de Chada. The relatives went there and most were able to recognize scraps of the clothes that the prisoners had been wearing when they were taken from their homes. Police gathered the remains which were scattered about and sent them to the Medical Legal Service where the proper examinations were carried out. None of the persons were identified.

In September 1990 the special appeals court judge German Hermosilla went to the Medical Legal Service in order to examine the remains that had been unidentified since 1974. The bodies that were finally identified belonged to the following persons: Jose Cabezas Bueno, Francisco Calderon Nilo, Domingo Galaz Salas, Emilio Gonzalez Espinoza, Juan Gonzalez Valdivia, Hugo Vidal Arenas, Manuel Zamorano Gonzalez, Hector Castro Saez and Juan Nunez Vargas.

According to the evidence gathered and indicated here, it is proven that government agents and civilians were directly involved in the detention and killing of prisoners on September 24 and October 3, 1973. Hence after identifying the remains of sixteen of these people, fourteen whose bones were identified in 1990 and two whom officials at the time acknowledged having executed, this Commission has come to the conviction that they all suffered a violation of their right to life.

On October 8, 1973, Ramon Alfredo CAPETILLO MORA, 25, a married agricultural worker who was not politically active, and Jorge Orlando VALENZUELA VALENZUELA, 30, an unmarried agricultural worker who was not politically active, were arrested at the Campo Lindo agricultural cooperative. Around midnight that day a group of armed police arrived at the Capetillo home where Jorge Valenzuela was staying. They proceeded to arrest them and put them into vehicles driven by civilians who were waiting outside the house. The next day the family went to the Paine substation and was told that the two men were under arrest, and was asked to bring them food and clothes. That afternoon they were told that the prisoners had been transferred to the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment. Since Ramon Capetillo and Jorge Valenzuela were arrested by government agents with the help of civilians, it can be concluded that government agents were responsible for their disappearance, and thus for a violation of their human rights. This is based on the fact that it is sufficiently established that they were arrested and that subsequently there has been no further word about them.

On October 10, 1973, Jose Gumercindo GONZALEZ SEPULVEDA, 32, a married local business employee, was arrested at around 4:00 p.m. by police. They were beating him as they took him out of his workplace and transferred him to the
 
 

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Paine substation. His wife took him food the night he was arrested. The following day witnesses observed police turning him over to soldiers who took him away in a military vehicle. After numerous inquiries, the family was informed at the Medical Legal Service that he was dead and that he had been buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. They were given a death certificate which put the date of death as October 9, 1973 and the place, as the Viluco Bridge within the El Carmen vineyard. All the foregoing enables this Commission to come to the conviction that government agents were responsible for his death while he was imprisoned.

On October 13, 1973, several persons were arrested in the El Patagual and Rangui [sic] agricultural cooperatives in Paine, and five were later executed:

Jose Manuel DIAZ INOSTROZA, 29, a farm worker;
Francisco Javier LIZAMA IRARRAZAVAL, 34, married, an active Socialist, and president of the El Patagual agricultural cooperative in Paine;
Juan Manuel ORTIZ ACEVEDO, 38, married, a farm worker, and president of the Rangue agricultural cooperative;
Luis Celerino ORTIZ ACEVEDO, 36, married, a farm worker, and vice-president of the Rangue agricultural cooperative; and
Jorge Manuel PAVEZ HENRIQUEZ, 35, unmarried, a farm worker, and vice-president of the El Patagual agricultural cooperative.

That morning a military squad and one policeman in a jeep and a military truck came to the Rangue cooperative storage facilities. Carrying a list of names of people, including personal data, they proceeded to arrest the Ortiz Acevedo brothers, along with other persons who were subsequently released. That morning soldiers and one civilian also went to the El Patagual cooperative and arrested Jorge Pavez, Francisco Lizama, and Jose Diaz. Since that moment their families have heard no further word concerning those who were arrested. Even after going to various prison sites they obtained no information on their fate or whereabouts.

Eyewitnesses told this Commission that the group of prisoners was taken to Cepillos hill and from there to the area of Pintue where they were held at the La Aguachera athletic field. That night they were taken to the Cerro Chena prison where they were subjected to torture and interrogation. Finally they were driven to the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment where they were held for about a week. Then these five prisoners were taken out of that facility and did not return. On November 13, 1973, a farmer found items of clothing and human remains at the Lo Arcaya cooperative in Paine. Troops sent the remains to the Medical Legal Service and there they were identified as those of the five prisoners. The cause of death was bullet wounds.

Since these five persons were arrested by government agents and taken to a military base and later taken away, and since their bodies were found bearing fatal bullet wounds and buried illegally in the same area, this Commission came to the conviction that government agents were responsible for the deaths of each one of them, and therefore for violating their right to life.
 

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On October 16, 1973, twenty three persons were arrested at the Campo Undo, 24 de Abril, and Nuevo Sendero agricultural cooperatives. Twenty-two of them remain disappeared to this day, although the body of one of them was recently found and identified. Early that morning troops from the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment, along with police and civilians from the area, carried out a military operation in those three cooperatives near Paine. They were armed and some had their faces painted. They were travelling in a red truck, a military jeep and other civilian vehicles. The troops proceeded to arrest twenty-three persons, searching their houses and several times using unnecessary violence. They were not allowed to turn on lights, but worked only with flashlights. Twelve of these people belonged to peasant families who were living in the 24 de Abril cooperative; two belonged to families in the El Transito cooperative but who worked at the 24 de Abril cooperative; seven were from the Nuevo Sendero cooperative; one was a merchant and the other a local industrialist:

Jose Domingo ADASME NUNEZ, 37, married;
Pedro Antonio CABEZAS VILLEGAS, 37, married;
Patricio DUQUE ORELLANA, 25, married;
Carlos GAETE LOPEZ, 29, married;
Luis Alberto GAETE BALMACEDA, 21, married;
Jorge FREDES GARCIA, 29, married;
Rosalindo Delfin HERRERA MUNOZ, 22;
Luis Rodolfo LAZO MALDONADO, 20, unmarried, and an active Socialist;
Carlos Enrique LAZO QUINTEROS, 41, married;
Samuel Altamiro LAZO QUINTEROS, 49, married, and an active Socialist;
Samuel del Transito LAZO QUINTEROS, 24, married, and an active Socialist;
Rene del Rosario MAUREIRA GAJARADO, 41, married, and an active Socialist;
Jorge Hernan MUNOZ PENALOZA, 28;
Mario Enrique MUNOZ PENALOZA, 24, married, and vice-president of the 24 de Abril cooperative;
Ramiro Antonio MUNOZ PENALOZA, 32, married;
Silvestre Rene MUNOZ PENALOZA, 33, married;
Carlos Alberto NIETO DUARTE, 20, unmarried;
Laureano del Carmen QUIROZ PEZOA, 42, married;
Andres PEREIRA SALSBERG, 54, married, and an industrialist;
Luis Ramon SILVA CARRENO, 43, married;
Roberto Esteban SERRANO GALAZ, 34, married;
Basilio Antonio VALENZUELA ALVAREZ, 35, married; and
Jose Ignacio CASTRO MALDONADO, 52, an active Socialist.

These people were arrested and taken to the Paine substation, where some of them were seen by their relatives. From there they were transferred to the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment. Since then their whereabouts remain unknown despite numerous efforts to find them made by their relatives in both government offices and the courts. Currently the specially appointed judge, German Hermosilla, is responsible
 
 

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for investigating all the events that took place in Paine in 1973, and he is examining all the previous legal proceedings.

In a 1975 document the Chilean government told the United Nations that according to the records of the Medical Legal Institute the dead body of Carlos Gaete Lopez had been brought in at 12:20 p.m. on October 18, 1973, and that his autopsy number was 3303 and his identification card No. 5338566 from Santiago. This information turned out to be false since Gaete Lopez' identification card is No. 53491 from Buin. The investigatory judge, Juan Rivas Larrain, determined that "autopsy report No. 3393 was that of an unidentified male sent by that agency's prosecutor's office whose death occurred at 10:00 p.m. on October 13, 1973, in the area of Quilicura." Twenty-two of the twenty-three people arrested on October 16, 1973 remain disappeared to this day. Since all the victims were arrested by government agents, as is established, and were transferred to installations under their responsibility and then disappeared from those installations, the Commission holds the conviction that government agents were responsible for their disappearances, and their human rights were thus violated.

On October 20, 1973, a number of arrests took place in the Huiticalan, Patagual, and El Vinculo agricultural cooperatives in Paine. The action was carried out by troops from the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment, who that morning went to those places and arrested the following people:

Santos Pascual CALDERON SALDANA, 28, a married farmer who was an active Socialist;
Benjamin Adolfo CAMUS SILVA, a married farmer;
Rolando Anastasio DONAIRE RODRIGUEZ, 49, a married farmer who was not politically active;
Luis Osvaldo GONZALEZ MONDACA, 32, a married farmer who was not politically active;
Pedro MENESES BRITO, 30, an unmarried farmer who was an active Socialist; and
Juan Bautista OYARZO TORRES.

The first to be arrested was Benjamin Camus who was seized as he was taking animals to graze on the hill. Next the troops went to the offices of the Huiticalan cooperative where they arrested Osvaldo Gonzalez and Juan Oyarzo. Rolando Anastasio Donaire Rodriguez was arrested at the El Patagual cooperative. The prisoners were assembled on an athletic field in Pintue. At 5:00 they were put onto military trucks and taken toward Cuesta el Cepillo. Finally the next day Pedro Meneses Brito, the president of the El Vinculo cooperative, was arrested there. After that their families could obtain no further information on their whereabouts. In November 1973 they learned through the Medical Legal Service that the victims had all been sent there and buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. Their families arranged to have them transferred to the cemetery in Aculeo. Their death certificates indicate that the time of death was 10:00 p.m. on October 23 at the Maipo Bridge and that the cause of death was bullet wounds. The foregoing facts enable this Commission to come to the conclusion that these people were executed three days after being arrested
 
 

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while the government was holding them imprisoned, and that their bodies were left alongside the Maipo bridge and then later transferred to the Medical Legal Institute by police. Their deaths constituted human rights violations for which government agents were responsible.

On November 29, 1973, Manuel SILVA CARRENO, 44, a married small farmer, was arrested in the Arco Iris agricultural cooperative. Five police arrived in a police truck and proceeded to arrest Manuel Silva inside his house in the presence of witnesses. Shortly thereafter his wife went to the Paine substation where she was told that he had been transferred to the San Bernardo Infantry School, but those in charge there did not acknowledge that he had been brought in. On August 14, 1980, a legal accusation of abduction was initiated. In that proceeding a witness gave testimony to the effect that he had been taken to the Paine substation with Silva and that there he saw police execute him. Police who had been working there when Silva was arrested declared that they had no knowledge of the incident and said that there were no arrests at that unit after the military proclamation. In 1982 the case was permanently suspended. The Commission came to the conviction that government agents were responsible for the disappearance of Manuel Silva, and that this was a human rights violation. The grounds for that conviction are that it is established that he was arrested and that there has been no trace of him since he was being held in detention by government agents and that such remains the case to this day.

On September 12, 1973, Moises del Carmen COSSIO PEREZ, 32, was killed. He was arrested that day in his house before witnesses by troops from the Parachute and Special Forces Regiment of Peldehue. They took him to their headquarters. Some days later uniformed troops told his relatives that he was dead. His family identified the body at the Medical Legal Institute. The death certificate states that the cause of death was multiple bullet wounds. The Commission came to the conviction that Moises Cossio's human rights were violated, since he was executed
 
 

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without any due process of law by government agents. That conviction is based on the following arguments:

— It is established that he was arrested by troops from the regiment at Peldehue.

— He died the day he was arrested.

— The many bullet wounds on his body suggest that he died as the result of an execution similar to those that were taking place at that base in other cases presented to this Commission.

— The short lapse of time between his arrest and death was not enough for him to have been given any kind of legal sentence, and furthermore there is no evidence of any.

On September 20, 1973. Evaristo Segundo YANEZ ASTUDILLO, 34, a leader in the Council on Supplies and Prices in Lampa who was active in the Socialist party, was killed. That day troops from the Parachute and Special Forces Regiment at Peldehue arrested him at his parent's house in Lampa. He was taken to that regiment and was last seen alive there on September 18. Relatives later found his body at the Medical Legal Institute. The official cause of death was a bullet wound, and it occurred at 11:30 p.m. on September 20. The Commission is convinced that the death of Evaristo Yanez constituted a violation of human rights, as it occurred without any due process of law by government agents. That conviction is based on the following arguments:

— It is established that he had been previously arrested by troops from the Peldehue Regiment.

— The many bullet wounds on his body suggest that he died as the result of an execution similar to those that were taking place at that base in other cases presented to this Commission.

— The short lapse of time between his arrest and death was not enough for him to have been given any kind of legal sentence, and moreover, there is no evidence of any having taken place.

On September 20, 2973, Manuel MALDONADO MIRANDA, 43, a small farmer and president of the El Esfuerzo Campesino rural cooperative, which used to be the Santa Ines de Lampa farm, was killed. On the morning of September 18 he and one of his sons were arrested by a military patrol from the Parachute and Special Forces Regiment at Peldehue. He was taken to their base. His body later showed up on a public thoroughfare and was sent to the Medical Legal Institute where his family located it. According to the autopsy report, the body bore many bullet wounds to the head and thoracic cavity and that death had taken place on September 20. This Commission came to the conviction that Manuel Maldonado
 
 

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suffered a human rights violation, namely that he was executed without any trial by government agents, on the basis of these considerations:

— It is established by the word of numerous witnesses that he was held a prisoner at the Parachute and Special Forces Regiment at Peldehue.

— The fact that he was a peasant leader made him a target for assaults on his rights as is proven by other killings which took place during this period.

— The many bullet wounds his body sustained indicate that his death resulted from an execution similar to those being carried out at that base in other cases presented to this Commission.

— The brief period of time between his arrest and death was not enough to permit any kind of sentence against him, and furthermore, there is no record of any having taken place.

On October 29, 1973, Luis Alberto BARRAZA RUHL, 27, a worker, a retired junior army officer and former member of the presidential security guard who was an active Socialist, disappeared. That day he called his relatives and told them he was being held prisoner at the Parachute and Special Forces Regiment at Peldehue. That same day his house was searched by a military patrol led by the officer who had been his immediate superior when he belonged to the army and was assigned to that regiment. His house was later raided again. After that phone call there was no further word about him. This Commission came to the conviction that it was dealing with a violation of human rights, namely the arrest and subsequent disappearance of Luis Barraza, on the basis of the following considerations:

— The phone call indicates that he was held prisoner at the Peldehue Regiment, and that is consistent with the fact that troops from that regiment raided his house that same day and on a later occasion.

— His political activity and the fact that he was a retired junior army officer placed him in a situation similar to that of other persons who met their death in that same place.
 

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detention site. Subsequently SENDET advised their relatives in writing that they had died at Cerro Chena on October 1, 1973, without stating the cause of death. Despite this acknowledgement, neither family ever received the body, and where they were buried remains unknown to this day. These established facts, namely that they were killed and no justification was ever offered, enable this Commission to come to the conviction that Mauricio Cea and Roberto Avila suffered human rights violations committed without any due process of law by government agents.

On October 2, 1973, soldiers killed:

Hugolino Humberto ARIAS NAVARRETE, 35, an agronomy professor in the Linderos area;
Victor Omar GALVEZ NORAMBUENA, 21, an agronomy professor in the Linderos area; and
Nelson Joaquin MEDINA LETELIER, 23, an agronomy professor in the Linderos area.

On September 11, 1973, classes were suspended by order of the new authorities until the situation in the country returned to normal. Teachers were later ordered to show up at their jobs on October 1 and so these three teachers came to teach their classes at the Rural Technical School in Linderos where they worked. Police from the Buin station were waiting for them and arrested them. They were also waiting for a fourth teacher, but at the train station he was warned not to show up because his colleagues had been arrested. That afternoon they were taken to the Buin police station and registered as "subversives" according to the station's arrest book. Nevertheless, that afternoon they were taken from there by an officer from the San Bernardo Infantry School and transferred to the Cerro Chena prison camp. The following day they were executed at that prison camp. According to the autopsy reports, their bodies bore multiple bullet wounds in the chest and head.

The arrests were continually denied to the families, nor was the fact that they had died communicated. By other means, however, the families were able to find out what had happened, and they found the bodies buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. The relatives of Hugolino Arias and Victor Galvez were able to have the bodies exhumed and identify them. The Commission came to the conviction that these people were executed without any due process of law by government officials in a violation of their elemental rights. The established fact that they were arrested and the manner in which they died constitute sufficient proof for that conviction.

On October 4, 1973, Franklin Antonio VALDES VALDES, 28, a bookkeeper and president of the employees of the El Pino sanatorium who was an active Socialist, was killed by army troops. On September 28, 1973 a military patrol arrested him at the El Pino sanatorium and took him to the Cerro Chena prison camp. The family unsuccessfully searched for him at that site and elsewhere. According to testimony given to this Commission, Valdes was continually tortured while he was imprisoned and that was the cause of his death. The autopsy report confirms that fact in stating that he died of asphyxiation and states that there were various forms of severe damage to the thorax, the limbs, and the head; it particularly notes wounds to the
 
 

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ribcage and lungs. This leads to the conclusion that he was drowned in a barrel of liquid, and that the wounds resulted from his efforts to stay alive. The soldiers left his body on a public thoroughfare. It was buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery, and his family was able to have it exhumed in March 1974 and identify it. With the testimony and evidence it has in hand, the Commission has come to the conviction that Franklin Valdes suffered a grave human rights violation at the hands of government agents who tortured him to death.

On October 6, 1973, the following people were killed by members of the army:

Hector Enrique HERNANDEZ GARCES, 17, a student at a private high school in Puente Alto who was sympathetic with the Young Socialists. He was arrested
on September 27 at his home by soldiers who were trying to locate his friend, Francisco Viera.

Arturo KOYK FREDES, 48, a worker in the machine shop at the San Bernardo train yard. He was arrested at his home in the early morning of September 28 by the same patrol that captured Mauricio Cea and Roberto Avila.

Alfredo ACEVEDO PEREIRA, 27, worker in the machine shop at the San Bernardo train yard who was active in the Communist party.

Raul CASTRO CALDERA, 23, a worker in the machine shop at the San Bernardo train yard who was active in the Communist party.

Hernan CHAMORRO MONARDES, 29, a worker in the machine shop at the San Bernardo train yard who was active in the Communist party.

Manuel GONZALEZ VARGAS, 46, a worker in the machine shop at the San Bernardo train yard who was active in the Communist party.

Adiel MONSALVES MARTINEZ, 41, a worker in the machine shop at the San Bernardo train yard who was active in the Communist party.

Jose MORALES ALVAREZ, 31, a worker in the machine shop at the San Bernardo train yard and vice-president of the Workers Railroad Council who was active in the Communist party.

Pedro OYARZUN- ZAMORANO, 36, a worker in the machine shop at the San Bernardo train yard and a union leader who was active in the Communist party.

Joel Guillermo SILVA OLIVA, 37, a worker in the machine shop at the San Bernardo train yard who was active in the Communist party.

Ramon VIVANCO DIAZ, 44, a worker in the machine shop at the San Bernardo train yard who was active in the Communist party. (The same thing happened to Juan Guillermo Cuadra Espinoza, Gustavo Martfnez Vera and Carlos Ortiz Ortiz, who had been arrested in Paine and taken to the Cerro Chena prison camp. Their story, however, is told in the section about the Paine area.) Troops arrested these eleven people on September 18, 1973 in an operation at the machine shop of the train yard at San Bemardo.

Javier Antonio PACHECO MONSALVE, 31, a furniture maker who was for a time a member of President Allende's security guard, was arrested by troops on October 5. (His wife, Maria Isabel Beltran Sanchez, who was active in MIR, also disappeared after being arrested.)

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All these people were executed with many bullets on October 6, 1973 at the Cerro Chena prison camp. Their deaths are recorded in death certificates, many of which indicate that the place of death was the San Bernardo Infantry School. Although Arturo Koyck's [sic] death certificate gives the date of death as September 28, 1973, the Commission has evidence that enables it to declare that on October 6 he was killed along with the other railroad employees.

Their relatives learned of their deaths only when they discovered the bodies at the Medical Legal Institute. In some instances their mourners were not able to recover the bodies which were buried in Lot 29 at the General Cemetery. In order to respond to the concern of relatives and fellow workers, military authorities in the area called a union meeting and stated that these people had been involved in paramilitary activities and had tried to run away from Cerro Chena, and therefore the military killed them. Witnesses who conversed with the workers while they were imprisoned, however, said that they had said that they were being accused of intending to blow up the gas meter or gas line of the machine shop, which would have meant blowing up half of San Bernardo.

The Commission came to the conviction that the death of these people was a case of human rights violation and could not accept the version given to the family members for the following reasons:

— There is no official document to support the story told by the military representative at the company that the victims had tried to run away, nor are there any news reports or judicial investigations to that effect.

— The Commission heard witnesses' testimony concerning the conditions in which the prisoners were kept at Cerro Chena, which also militates against the idea that they tried to run away. The prisoners were blindfolded before arriving and were kept that way throughout their detention. Moreover, the camp was entirely surrounded by a barbed wire fence. The paths were lined on either side with small ditches into which the prisoners used to stumble because they were unable to see.

— An effort to run away would have entailed a prior agreement among these people, but that was not very feasible since the imprisoned railroad workers were not held together but were distributed throughout various parts of the facility.

— The autopsy reports state that all of them were killed by bullets, most shot uphill and from a distance. That corroborates the eyewitness accounts the Commission has received according to which the victims were removed from their cells and taken to the hill where they were obliged to go uphill while soldiers shot at them from behind.

— All the bodies were sent to the Medical Legal Institute with the observation that they had been "found" at the San Bernardo Infantry School. This
 
 

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Commission determined that there was no judicial investigation into the discovery of the bodies at the military base.

This Commission came to the conviction that all these people were executed without any due process of law by government agents.

On October 11, 1973, Ricardo Jorge SOLAR MIRANDA, 23, a night watchman and shantytown leader who was a MIR activist, and Francisco Eugenio VIERA OVALLE, 19, a student leader at the State Technical University who worked at the Council for Supplies and Prices in his neighborhood and was active in the Socialist party, were killed by army troops. On September 19, Jorge Solar was arrested when he reported to the police station in response to a summons issued the previous day. A few days later he was transferred to the Cerro Chena prison camp. Later, on October 1, Francisco Viera was arrested at the house of an uncle and aunt and was likewise taken to the Cerro Chena prison camp. Both were executed by members of the army on the grounds of the camp on October 11.

The Commission came to the conviction that these persons' human rights were violated by government agents in the form of an execution which took place without any due process of law. In coming to this conviction it took into account the following considerations:

— It is established that at least one of the victims was being held prisoner at an installation under army control.

— As is demonstrated by other cases from this same period, their political activity and social endeavors made them a target for actions like those that caused their death.

— The manner of their death, from multiple bullet wounds, was the commonly used method of execution at that prison camp.

— As is true of all previous cases, there is no evidence that the victims were brought before any war council, and so they were not executed as a result of any judicial decision.

— Even though their official certificates note that the bodies were found at a military installation, there is no evidence of any investigation, either administrative or judicial, into such an irregular matter.

On October 16, 1973, Bernardo Enrique MUNOZ GUAJARDO, 19, was killed. According to his death certificate, he was killed on the former El Mariscal estate, now the technical high school, in Santa Elena by two bullet wounds, one of which was to the head. The Commission has not been able to determine the exact circumstances in which he was killed; however, taking into the account the place and cause of death, it has come to the conviction that at the very least Bernardo Enrique Munoz was killed as a result of the political violence of that period.
 
 

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On October 21, 1973, Segundo Fernanda VALDIVIA VASQUEZ, 20, and Miguel Angel VALDIVIA VASQUEZ, 16, who were brothers and were both workers, were killed by army troops. Troops from the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment arrested them along with their brother Victor Eduardo that day at 2:00 p.m. at their home in San Bernardo in the presence of all their relatives. The three were taken to Cerro China, in the area called Bajos de San Agustin. There they were told to run and troops started shooting at them. Fernando and Miguel Angel died at the execution site, the former from bullet wounds to the torso and abdominal cavity, according to his autopsy report, and the latter of a bullet wound to the lung cavity, according to his death certificate. In view of the evidence it has in hand, this Commission is convinced that their human rights were gravely violated by government agents who executed them without any due process of law.

On October 22, 1973, Victor Eduardo VALDIVIA VASQUEZ. 18, a worker, disappeared. After surviving the execution attempt that had cost the lives of his two brothers the previous day, private citizens took him to the parish hospital in San Bernardo, where he was able to state what had happened to his brothers. On October 22, police abducted him from the hospital in the presence of witnesses. There has been no further word about him since that date. The Commission came to the conviction that he suffered a human rights violation by being imprisoned and then subjected to forced disappearance at the hands of government agents.

On November 15, 1973, Luis Heriberto CONTRERAS ESCAMILLA, 43, an electrician who was active in the Socialist party, was killed. On November 10, Contreras Escamilla was arrested at his house by a military patrol. They also arrested one of his sons, although that took place elsewhere. Both were taken to the Cerro Chena prison camp. The newspaper reported that he had been arrested for "suspicious actions." According to statements made by witnesses to this Commission, on November 15, after he had been tortured while imprisoned, he was executed with two shots by soldiers within Cerro Chena. His body was left on a public thoroughfare, and from there it was sent to the Medical Legal Institute. The autopsy report, which mentions many wounds and sores, attests both to the tortures he underwent and to the cause of his death. Since it is established that he was arrested, and was held at a military base, that he was tortured and was killed by gunshots while he was imprisoned, and since there is no evidence that he underwent any judicial processing or appeared before a war tribunal, the Commission has come to the conviction that the killing of Luis Contreras constituted a human rights violation, inasmuch as he was executed without any due process of law by government agents.

On November 22, 1973, Rudy Freddy VIDAL PEREIRA, 27. an office worker and leader in the El Olivo shantytown neighborhood organization who was an active Communist, was killed. Early that morning a military patrol came to his house and shot him inside his house and then took him away as he was dying. The death certificate indicates that Rudy Vidal died at the San Bernardo Infantry School that same day at 1:30 p.m. and that the cause of death was a perforating bullet wound to the torso and another to the abdominal cavity. In view of these accounts from
 
 

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witnesses and evidence, the Commission holds the conviction that Rudy Vidal was executed without any due process of law by army troops in violation of his human rights.

On December 7, 1973, Manuel Tomas ROJAS FUENTES, 20, a reservist of the San Bernardo Infantry School and Juan Domingo MARTINEZ ALDANA, 42, a leader of the Confederation of Leather and Shoe workers who was a former Socialist candidate for alderman in San Bernardo, were killed. After September 11 Manuel Rojas was called up to rejoin the San Bernardo Infantry School since he was an army reservist. He was assigned to the Military Polytechnical School there, along with Rene Martinez, the son of Juan Domingo Martinez Aldana. On December 1, Rojas did not return home. His wife inquired about her husband at the Polytechnical School many times and was continually told that he had been sent on an official mission. In January, however, the commander's office of the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment officially informed her that he had been shot by a firing squad on December 7, 1973.

Juan Domingo Martinez was arrested near midnight on December 3, by troops who said they were members of the military intelligence service. They did not say why he was being arrested nor where they were going to take him. He had already been arrested twice before. Martinez' relatives subsequently found his body at the Medical Legal Institute.

According to the autopsy reports, the military prosecutor's office sent the bodies as unidentified. They were said to have died the day before of multiple bullet wounds. The Commission came to the conviction that Manuel Rojas and Juan Martinez were executed without any due process of law by army troops who violated their human rights. In doing so it was taking into account the following considerations:

— It is established that Juan Martinez was arrested.

— It is false that Manuel Rojas was on an official mission since he had already been executed. He was presumably imprisoned from the day he failed to return home. It should be emphasized that a document from the office of the undersecretary of war later said that he was "discharged from his unit along with his whole class on March 29, 1974," that is, more than three months after his death.

— It is attested that troops from the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment were involved in both cases.

— There is no record that either of them went through any legal processing or appeared before a war tribunal.

— The type of death is similar to that of the other people who were killed by members of that same regiment.

The cause of death of these people is connected to the next case.
 
 

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On December 8, 1973, Rene Maximo MARTINEZ ALISTE, 20, the son of Juan Domingo Martinez, an army reservist, was killed by army troops. He had rejoined the army after September 11 and had been reincorporated into the San Bernardo Infantry Regiment. He was assigned to the Military Polytechnic School there along with Manuel Rojas. On December 4, 1973, the day after his father was arrested, he presented himself at the Polytechnical Institute. He did not return home, and he had no further contact with his relatives after that day. When the relatives made inquiries at the Polytechnical Institute, they were repeatedly told that he was "on an official mission." After the funeral of Juan Martinez, family members learned that the body of Rene Martinez had been buried in Lot 29 of the General Cemetery. The autopsy report indicates that the body, bearing multiple bullet wounds, had been found on a public thoroughfare and sent there by the military prosecutor's office. The death certificate indicates that he died on December 8.

The Commission came to the conviction that his human rights were violated by government agents who executed him without any due process of law on the basis of the following arguments:

— It was not true that Rene Martinez was on an official mission, since in fact he had been executed. Presumably he was imprisoned from the day he failed to return home. It should be pointed out that a document subsequently issued by the office of the undersecretary of war indicates that he was "discharged from his unit along with his whole class on March 29, 1974," that is, more than three months after his death.

— There is no proof that he underwent any legal processing or appeared before a war council.

— The kind of death is similar to that of the other people who were killed by members of that regiment.

— Information gathered by his relatives indicated that he was accused of being involved in a plan to organize a military countercoup. The grounds for these suspicions were that his father had been a Socialist party leader. This Commission has documented that investigations of this sort were taking place in that regiment.

Troops from the Sixth Army Division took control of the region on September 11. Army personnel and police were involved in the events that ended in death or
 
 

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disappearance. The Chilean Navy was involved only in transporting prisoners from Valparaiso to Pisagua. Control over public order in the region was fully in effect as of September 11 itself, and there were no resistance actions, armed clashes or any other form of violence perpetrated by supporters of the overthrown government. Indeed, armed forces records register only one casualty in this area during the period in question.

The victims were generally well known political activists who supported the government that had been in power until September 11, 1973. Several of them held important public positions in the region. Most were active in the Socialist party, followed by those active in the Communist party. Some were executed by order of war tribunals in which the legal norms that safeguard the basic rights of the accused were not respected. There were also attempts to justify some killings as necessary to stop prisoners from escaping. The Commission questions whether the former were lawful and proper and whether the latter were plausible and fitting, as will be noted below.

There were other executions which took place without due process of law and also cases in which people were tortured to death. Likewise this account includes those people who were arrested in this zone and remain disappeared under circumstances in which it can be presumed that government agents were responsible.

Repression also extended to relatives. Many wives of prisoners who were subsequently executed were also held under arrest at the Sixth Telecommunications Regiment in Iquique. Later the women and their families were forced to leave the city within twenty-four or forty-eight hours.

A number of places in the region were used to hold political prisoners; in Iquique, the Sixth Telecommunications Regiment; in Arica, the Rancagua Motorized Infantry Regiment; and in Pisagua, the jail, buildings next to the theater, and a large shed. In all these places prisoners were tortured or subjected to other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

The most important detention site was the jail in Pisagua. Prisoners from the Telecommunications Regiment at Iquique, and from a number of regional police stations, and also from Valparaiso were taken there (navy personnel took those from Valparaiso on the ship "Maipo"). At one point this old three-story building in the tiny seacoast town held around 500 prisoners, a number far exceeding its natural capacity. In the ten cells on the first floor, each two by four meters, prisoners were held in solitary confinement. On the second and third floors were eight cells of approximately four by ten meters, each of which held up to twenty-five prisoners. Women prisoners were transferred to a building next to the town theater, which was conditioned for that purpose. A shed the prisoners called the "supermarket" was also used. This Commission has received testimony and evidence enabling it to state that torture was used systematically in the Pisagua jail. An account of some of that torture is found in the general material preceding these region by region accounts.

Newspapers generally reported the deaths, and in a considerable number of cases the families received official notification. In most cases the victims' bodies were not turned over to their mourners. Many were not even informed of the place of burial, or officials lied to them in this regard. Sometimes the very fact of death
 
 

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was denied. Six people whose cases are described below remained disappeared from the time of their arrest until 1990. In 1973 a high ranking officer speaking on behalf of the Chilean Army stated that these people had been released. Their relatives had been looking for them since that date.

As a result of judicial investigations begun in Pisagua, in June 1990 a grave with nineteen bodies was discovered next to the cemetery. These people included the six disappeared persons mentioned in the previous paragraph and other people whom authorities had acknowledged to have been executed and whose families had been told officially that "they had been given Christian burial." The remains were found to be laid out in three layers that reflected the dates of their death. All the bodies were in sacks and bore a number of bullet wounds. Most showed clear and unmistakable signs that they had been blindfolded with their hands tied.

The bodies of some people who were executed in the First Region have yet to be located.

On September 17, 1973, Luis Fernando ROJAS VALENZUELA, 49, was executed. The local newspaper for September 18, 1973 stated that "in compliance with the provisions of edict No. 24 of the military junta the citizen Luis Rojas Valenzuela was executed yesterday at 7:00 p.m. at the site of his arrest." According to this newspaper account, "yesterday the military patrol came to his house, and this individual immediately put up furious resistance to their mission. He was so enraged that he charged at one of the soldiers, hit him and tried to seize his automatic rifle." This account which, by its nature and the conditions of that period can only have come from, or been authorized by, the head of the military command, has enabled this Commission to come to the conviction that in this case, at the very least, government agents used undue force, since there is no reason that a military patrol making a search has to kill an unarmed person in order to subdue him or her. Moreover, the use of the word "execution" could indicate that Rojas Valenzuela had already been subdued and was killed in retaliation for his alleged angry reaction.

The local newspaper in Iquique reported that on September 29, 1973, six "subversives" had been killed at the Pisagua prison camp as they were attempting to escape. "The security patrol ordered them to halt several times and aimed its first shots into the air, but since they continued to flee, they were shot down." That is how the following persons' deaths were announced:

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of the Socialist party. He was arrested in Valparaiso and transferred to Pisagua on the ship "Maipo."

Nolberto Jesus CANAS CANAS, 48, an active Socialist who was a government representative in the fishing industries of the Northern Fishing Complex. He was arrested in Iquique and transferred to the Telecommunications Regiment and from there to the Pisagua prison camp.

Marcelo Omar GUZMAN FUENTES, 34, a sanitation educator and administrator of the Iquique hospital who was active in the Socialist party. He voluntarily reported to the Telecommunications Regiment. Luis Alberto LIZARDI LIZARDI, 29, a port worker who was active in the Socialist party. He was arrested September 11, 1973 and was transferred to the Telecommunications Regiment and from there to the Pisagua prison camp.

Juan JIMENEZ VIDAL, 42, a customs official in Valparaiso who was not known to be politically active. He voluntarily reported on September 13, 1973.

Michel Selim NASH SAEZ, 19, a recruit who was fulfilling his military service in Iquique and was active in the Young Communists. He was discharged and arrested on September 11, 1973, and transferred to Pisagua.

This Commission thus comes to the conviction that Juan Calderon, Nolberto Canas, Marcelo Guzman, Juan Jimenez, Luis Lizardi, and Michel Nash suffered a grave violation of their human rights at the hands of government agents. The fact that the bodies were not handed over to their families only aggravates this situation.

Since September 30, 2973, Jorge MARIN ROSSEL, 19, an EMPORCHI (Chilean Port Company) employee who was active in the Socialist party, and William MILLAR SANHUEZA, 42, a worker at Ferrocarrilles del Estado (state railroad company), have remained disappeared since they were arrested. Both were arrested in the city of Iquique some time after September 11 and transferred to the Telecommunications Regiment. Toward the end of September 1973 the Iquique newspaper reported that "By means of Edict No. 64, dated September 30, 1973, the commander of the zone under state of siege has ordered the arrest of two leftists who ran away from their detention site and had given orders for them to be shot on sight." According to the official account, the people mentioned had tried to
 
 

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run away from the Telecommunications Regiment in Iquique. There was never an official explanation of the whereabouts of these supposed fugitives and hence there is no official certification that they are dead.

The members of this Commission find it implausible that two people held prisoner at a military regiment could have managed to run away while security measures were as severe as they were at that time. Nor was there any internal investigation of an event of this nature which at least should have implied negligence on the part of some soldier. It should also be kept in mind that many of the other people in this area who were said to have been released showed up in the common grave in Pisagua in 1990. Furthermore, Pedro Prado, the recruit who in official reports at the time was said to have been killed by Mann and Millar in their escape attempt, has now been declared to have died under other circumstances in a number of new and likewise official reports. This Commission has come to the conviction that both of these persons were arrested by government agents and disappeared at the hands of their captors, thus violating their human rights.

On October 5, 1973, Manuel Heriberto ARAYA ZAVALA, 29, was arrested at his home by soldiers, and was taken first to the Telecommunications Regiment and then to the Pisagua prisoner camp. His wife received three letters from him sent from that camp, but there has been no information on his whereabouts since then. When the Chilean Army was consulted concerning Manuel Heriberto Araya's stay in the Pisagua camp and his subsequent whereabouts, it responded that it could not provide evidence since "by regulation it does not keep on hand documentation from that period." According to documentation obtained from the Civil Registry, there is no official notification of his death. This Commission holds the conviction that Manuel Araya Zavala disappeared at the hands of government agents who were holding him in custody.

On October 20, 1973, the following three active Socialists were executed:

Oscar Walter Pedro RIPOLL CODOCEO, 38, a metallurgical engineer who was an official at SERCOTEC (Technical Cooperation Service);
Julio Gaston VALENZUELA BASTIAS, 28, a radio operator of the Arica-La Paz railroad line; and
Manuel Francisco DONOSO DANOBEITIA, 26, a sociologist who was teaching at the Universidad del Norte.

All three were arrested on October 9, 1973 and taken to the Rancagua Regiment in the city of Arica, where they remained imprisoned and in solitary confinement until October 18. Then they were taken to the investigative police headquarters. In the early morning of October 20 they were taken out by soldiers in order to be transferred to Pisagua.

The next day the newspaper in Arica carried a news item from the military authorities which read: "A military commission transferring prisoners to Pisagua suffered an accident presumably as a result of mechanical problems of the vehicle causing it to overturn. The event took place forty kilometers south of Arica and
 

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all the passengers were killed. The list of those killed is as follows: First Sergeant Humberto Villalobos Lopez, Private First Class Jose Martinez Albarracin, Oscar Ripoll, Waldo Sankan, Julio Valenzuela, and Manuel Donoso." The next day the newspaper reported that a rescue operation "led to the discovery that the prisoner Waldo Sankan was not among those killed. He had presumably run away, and in fact the very afternoon of the accident Waldo Sankan turned himself into military authorities. Sankan's statement has made it clear that the accident resulted from mechanical problems, and that the driver was unable to stop the vehicle from plunging into a ravine."

Although the death of these persons has been presented as the result of an accident, the Commission has come to a different conclusion:

— The newspaper stated that the prisoners in that vehicle, all active in the Socialist party, had been accused of having been involved in the "sinister Plan Z, which was going to be put into effect in Arica by means of a paramilitary organization of the former Socialist party, which was called AGP (Agitation and Propaganda)."

— On the basis of testimony that it finds fully convincing, this Commission is able to affirm that Donoso, Ripoll, Sankan, and Valenzuela, with their hands tied and blindfolded, were taken from the investigative police headquarters in the early morning of October 20, 1973 in a station wagon. Forty kilometers down the road the car stopped, and the drivers got out, leaving the civilians inside. The drivers pushed the station wagon over the embankment into a ravine, where all the prisoners met their death except Sankan who miraculously survived.

— Julio Valenzuela was already dying or perhaps dead. His death certificate gives the cause of death as a "bullet wound bursting the lungs."

— The soldiers mentioned in the news report are not registered as having died. The army did not include them among the victims it reported to this Commission.

This Commission holds the very firm conviction that Oscar Ripoll, Julio Valenzuela, and Manuel Donoso suffered a grave human rights violation at the hands of government agents who killed them in total disregard for the law.

On October 21, 1973, Gerardo POBLETE FERNANDEZ, 31, a Salesian priest who was a philosophy teacher at the Salesian school in Iquique, was killed. The public relations department of the zone under state of siege in the province of Tarapaca published the following item in the newspaper El Tarafsacd on October 25, 1973: "At 5:20 p.m. on Sunday October 21, 1973, after receiving a report of suspicious activity by people on the top floor of the Don Bosco School, the police reconnoitered the area and carried out a search of the whole building. In the course of the search they found a good deal of Marxist literature, heavy weapons,
 
 

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and some ammunition in Father Poblete's bedroom. For that reason they arrested and took away Gerardo Poblete Fernandez, a priest, and Ricardo Francisco Salgado Torres, an office worker, both of whom were teachers at the school. When they arrived at the headquarters Father Poblete slipped on a step and fell heavily to the pavement as he was getting down from the truck. He was handcuffed at the time. The consequences were not immediately apparent and so he was taken inside the police station where he was held in a cell while Salgado was interrogated. When he was summoned at 7:50 p.m. that same day, he was found unconscious in his cell. He was taken to the infirmary where it was determined that he was dead." El Tarapaca for that same day reported. "Both prisoners said they were with the Socialists, and supported the Popular Unity government. Father Poblete even said that his ideology was Marxist." This report contradicts the previous one, according to which he was never interrogated.

Numerous very plausible statements given to this Commission by eyewitnesses make it possible to declare that Father Gerardo Poblete was not handcuffed when he was being driven in the police truck and that he did not fall onto the pavement after slipping from the step on that truck. Indeed, he entered the police station in normal physical condition; while he was there several of the guards insulted him and beat him with their fists with blunt instruments. This lasted for a long time until they killed him. Hence this Commission has come to the conviction that Father Gerardo Poblete suffered a violation of his human rights by government agents, who inside a prison area subjected him to interrogation and torture until they put an end to his life.

On October 23, 1973, the newspaper in Arica reported that Luis Pedro SOLAR WELCHS, 18, had been executed. "In the early morning of October 23, 1973, Luis Pedro Solar Welchs, was apprehended by an army patrol inside a properly marked military installation. While the prisoner was being held in custody and awaiting interrogation, he suddenly tried to seize a guard's weapon with the clear purpose of shooting him, thus forcing another guard to execute him on the spot." This Commission does not accept the official account as presented, since it is unlikely that a person inside a military installation, who, according to the military's own story, was properly in custody, would try to seize his guard's weapon. Moreover, even if that were true, it is not reasonable to think that the way to stop him was to kill him. Hence the Commission holds the conviction that Luis Solar was executed by government agents in violation of his fundamental rights.

On January 11, 1974, Isaias HIGUERAS ZUNIGA. 39, a policemen at the Iquique jail who was an active Communist, was killed. He had been arrested and taken to the Telecommunications Regiment in Iquique and was later transferred to Pisagua. His wife was officially notified that her husband had died of a cardiac arrest. This report was given by the man who was then warden of the Iquique jail and was reconfirmed by the offices of the Sixth Army Division in that city. Isaias Higueras' wife received his remains in a sealed coffin. This Commission is convinced, especially in view of the many consistent eyewitness accounts it received, that he
 
 

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died as a result of the torture to which he was subjected by government agents, his guards, who beat him to death while he was imprisoned in Pisagua.

On January 18, 1974, Nelson Jose MARQUEZ AGUSTO, 31, an office worker who was active in the Communist party, who had been arrested in Iquique, was executed in the Pisagua prison camp. Many credible and consistent eyewitness statements indicate that Marquez was emotionally disturbed as a result of the manner in which he was treated in prison. While the prisoners were out on an athletic field, Nelson Marquez "got up and jumped over a small wall around the field. There was only one soldier guarding all the prisoners and he was some distance away. The soldier came running and shouted out to him to come back. Marquez sped toward the area of the pier, no more than fifty meters from the field and hid under the pier. About forty-five minutes later soldiers came back with him, and they were brutally beating him as they did so. ... About two hours later there was a burst of fire not very far from the jail. One of the soldiers said that Marquez had been shot by firing squad." This Commission holds the conviction that after being recaptured Nelson Marquez was executed without any due process of law by government agents in violation of his fundamental rights. In 1990 his body was found in the common grave in Pisagua.

On January 29, 197-4, six people who had been arrested in Iquique in November 1973 and then taken to the Pisagua camp disappeared from that camp:

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also received an official letter from the Chilean Army stating that their relatives had been released. Thus the wife of one of them received letter No. 3550-380, dated July 19, 1974, from the commander's office of the Sixth Army Division, which seated that Nicolas Chanez was arrested and transferred to Pisagua, "in order to investigate and determine who was responsible for an alleged violation of the Law on Weapons Control. . . . Once the matter had been investigated and it had been proven that he was innocent with regard to the law on weapons, he was released on the date noted above. If he has still not returned home, you should look elsewhere for the answer, or ask yourself, your own conscience as a wife who is familiar with her husband's activities."

In 1990 their bodies were all found in the common grave at Pisagua. They had been put into sacks, their hands were tied, and they were blindfolded. This Commission holds the firm conviction that Orlando Cabello, Nicolas Chanez, Juan Mamani, Luis Manriquez, Hugo Martnez and Juan Rojas were not released, but were executed without any due process of law, and that government agents disposed of their bodies.