In Spanish translation: El despertar de los cuervos. Tejas Verdes, el origen del exterminio en Chile

A Spanish translation of my book review published in Ceibo Ediciones http://www.ceiboediciones.blogspot.com/2013/12/venceremos-chile-un-viaje-traves-de-la.html

 

Siguiendo el relato macabro 'La Danza de los Cuervos: El Destino final de de los Detenidos desaparecidos ", que describe la tortura y exterminio de opositores de la dictadura llevaron a cabo en Cuartel Simón Bolívar, el último libro de Javier Rebolledo,' El despertar de los Cuervos. Tejas Verdes, el origen del exterminio en Chile "(Ceibo Ediciones, 2013) ofrece una descripción detallada de la formación de la DINA en Tejas Verdes - el lugar donde se llevó a cabo la experimentación de la tortura en los primeros días de la dictadura.

 

El prólogo del libro describe la perversidad como un término inadecuado en relación a las atrocidades de la dictadura cometidos en Chile. Con la plena verdad de horrores aún ocultos a la nación, el tema de la tortura, exterminio y desaparición está envuelto en varios niveles de anonimato - el anonimato impuesta por la DINA sobre los desaparecidos, torturadores, cuya identidad todavía no divulgada, y las víctimas de tortura que se resisten a revelar sus cuentas y añadir al marco memoria colectiva chilena.

Alternando entre los testimonios de sobrevivientes de la tortura, la información de los documentos de investigación oficial y el comentario crítico, cuenta de Tejas Verdes de Rebolledo valida su declaración anterior insistir en la diferencia entre la información convencional sobre atrocidades y testimonios de sobrevivientes. La deshumanización de los detenidos a través de diversas formas de tortura, la degradación, la manipulación de la cultura y la negativa a reconocer la identidad individual de los detenidos crearon relatos desgarradores vacilantes entre la necesidad de reconocimiento y las experiencias que la DINA trató de sumir en un imposición generalizada del olvido con el fin de consolidar la impunidad.

La importancia de las Tejas Verdes ha sido eclipsado por otros centros de tortura infames como Londres 38 y Villa Grimaldi, así como por las operaciones llevadas a cabo por la DINA que implica el exterminio de militantes del MIR y del Partido Comunista, como la Caravana de la Muerte y la Operación Colombo. Sin embargo, antes de la creación oficial de la DINA, los opositores políticos de Augusto Pinochet ya estaban siendo torturados y desaparecieron de Tejas Verdes - la tortura y el exterminio centro primario en la historia de la dictadura chilena.

Tejas Verdes sirvió de iniciación a la tortura y el centro de coordinación de otros centros de tortura y exterminio en Chile. La mayoría de los torturadores recibían su instrucción en Tejas Verdes - nombres como Marcelo Moren Brito, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Ricardo Lawrence y Cristian Labb é ocupan un lugar destacado en la historia de la dictadura. Operando bajo diversas brigadas de agentes de la DINA se encargaron de las operaciones de inteligencia, la orientación específica de MIR y militantes del Partido Comunista, la seguridad y las operaciones clandestinas de exterminio de opositores de la dictadura. De especial mención es el papel de Brito en la Caravana de la Muerte y las prácticas de tortura de Krassnoff en Londres 38. Brigada Halcón, que funcionó en Londres 38, también estuvo involucrado en el secuestro, tortura y asesinato de Víctor Díaz que tuvo lugar al Cuartel Simón Bolívar. El refinamiento de la tortura se practica en otros centros de tortura como la Clínica Santa Lucía - una cuestión examinada por Patricio Bustos Streeter indica un continuo intento de borrar los errores anteriores y cultivar un elaborado impunidad. Rebolledo también discute la existencia de Brigada Mulchén, bajo el mando de Cristian Labbé - una brigada relativamente desconocido involucrado en operaciones clandestinas, pero cuya complicidad ha sido difícil de probar, además del asesinato del diplomático español Carmelo Soria en 1976.

Rebolledo muestra cómo, a pesar de las investigaciones judiciales iniciadas por el juez Alejandro Solís, ha sido imposible determinar el número de detenidos en Tejas Verdes. Lo que surgió, sin embargo, eran los detalles de una red de terribles torturas encabezado por Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda - un testimonio del sadismo en el nombre de erradicar el marxismo de Chile. Los torturadores acusados ​​por el juez Solís se presentaron como patriotas injustamente acusados, que supuestamente habían salvado a Chile de las garras de una dictadura comunista. A través de los vestigios expuestos de poder dictatorial durante los juicios de ex agentes de la DINA, como las amenazas de Contreras a juez Solís, es posible discernir los rasgos de una organización que opera con impunidad.

Los testimonios de Anatolio Zárate, Ana Becerra, Olga Letelier y Feliciano Cerda, complementadas con otras narraciones recogidas de documentos de investigación oficial, retratan la extensión de violaciónes de derechos humanos que los agentes de la DINA complacen pulg Las sesiones de tortura fueron diseñados para crear una barrera de magnitud inmensa entre torturador y detenido, entre los detenidos y la humanidad. Sobrevivientes de la tortura describen las descargas eléctricas a través del uso de la parrilla, la violencia y la coacción sexuales, palizas, simulacros de ejecución, la inserción de los ratones y arañas en la vagina, la mutilación genital, el uso de perros en la tortura sexual, las mutilaciones, amputaciones y cauterización crudo, violación en presencia de los miembros de la familia, el lenguaje degradante, así como la ingestión forzada de orina y heces. Motivos para la muerte en nombre de los detenidos se encontraron con brotes adicionales del tormento.

Los ex soldados que testificaron contra Contreras afirmó que los detenidos fueron atraídos a Tejas Verdes en la premisa de 'discutir' puntos de contención, que se imparte en una carta oficial.Detenidos prospectivos suelen cumplirse y no mostraron resistencia, descubriendo a su llegada a la naturaleza de la supuesta discusión de la DINA. Algunos fueron asesinados tras el pretexto inventado de intentar escapar, otros que expresaron sus temores de ser asesinado, como detenido Lucho Normabuena, se desapareció de forma sistemática. Los profesionales médicos que intentaron inscribir la verdad acerca de la causa de la muerte fueron detenidos en Tejas Verdes. Los detenidos fueron obligados a escuchar o presenciar sus amigos torturados, mientras que la DINA se embarcó en planes con la esperanza de obtener información de los detenidos sobre otros militantes detenidos. Olga Letelier describe cómo normalmente se atendieron sesiones de tortura por un grupo de agentes de la DINA, alternando entre mirar y participar en la tortura.

El libro también se explaya acerca de la red de profesionales de la salud contratados para supervisar la tortura y dar instrucciones a los torturadores de la DINA en el reconocimiento de los umbrales individuales para reducir la posibilidad de asesinato durante una sesión de tortura. Con la mayoría de los torturadores médicos siguen beneficiándose de la impunidad, la sociedad chilena tiene que lidiar con una contradicción - que de confiar su salud a los médicos cuya complicidad en la tortura y el asesinato está todavía oculto. Una lista de los ex torturadores médicos aún practican su profesión ha estado circulando en Internet, en un intento por exponer más atrocidades de la DINA. La literatura sobre los torturadores médicos en el libro retrata explícitamente cómo la dictadura desfigurado la profesión. Entre otros, el libro de Rebolledo se refiere a Vittorio Orvieto Tiplisky, quien comenzó su carrera con la DINA de Tejas Verdes y más tarde participó en el exterminio de militantes en el Cuartel Simón Bolívar, enfermera Gladys Calerdon que administró inyecciones letales a los detenidos torturados antes de su desaparición y Roberto Lailhacar , quien recientemente admitió a la eliminación de seis desapareció opositores de la dictadura en los pozos en su propiedad en Curacaví.

Rebolledo ha legado otro tratado importante de la historia reciente de Chile. Afirma una declaración anterior de la autora chilena y sobreviviente de Tejas Verdes, Hernán Valdés, quien resumió Tejas Verdes así: "Todo lo que sabía acerca del mal hasta entonces era sólo caricatura, sólo la literatura. Ahora el mal ha perdido toda referencia moral. "Súplica de Pinochet durante décadas el olvido más tarde sirvió como un recordatorio de lo que la oposición de izquierda había luchado en contra. El olvido ya había sido implementado por la dictadura antes de cualquier convocatoria pública, como se evidencia a partir de la década de desapariciones de Tejas Verdes, la certeza de la impunidad, que se hizo alarde de una y otra vez a los detenidos torturados, las adopciones ilegales de los bebés que nacen a los detenidos a fin de eliminar rastros de violación en los centros de detención, los médicos que trabajaban bajo asumieron nombres, separando así su papel de verdugos del rol asumido dentro de los camarotes más amplios de la sociedad. El testimonio detallado y comentario en este libro demuestran que Tejas Verdes debería estar al frente de ninguna investigación detallada sobre la dictadura de Pinochet - es a través de una comprensión de Tejas Verdes como referencia primaria a la violación de los derechos humanos que se puede comprender la red de tortura prolongada y complicidad del Estado durante la dictadura chilena.

Publicado por Ramona Wadi

El despertar de los cuervos. Tejas Verdes, el origen del exterminio en Chile

Following the macabre narration ‘La Danza de los Cuervos: el destino final de los detenidos desaparecidos’, which describes the torture and extermination of dictatorship opponents carried out in Cuartel Simon Bolivar, Javier Rebolledo’s latest book, ‘El despertar de los Cuervos. Tejas Verdes, el origen del exterminio en Chile’ (Ceibo Ediciones, 2013) provides a detailed account of DINA’s formation in Tejas Verdes – the location where experimentation with torture was carried out in the early days of the dictatorship.

 

The prologue to the book describes perversity as an inadequate term in relation to dictatorship atrocities committed in Chile. With the full truth of horrors still concealed from the nation, the subject of torture, extermination and disappearance is shrouded within various levels of anonymity – the anonymity enforced by DINA upon the disappeared, torturers whose identity is still undisclosed, and tortured victims who are reluctant to disclose their accounts and add to the Chilean collective memory framework.

Alternating between testimonies from torture survivors, information from official investigation documents and critical commentary, Rebolledo’s account of Tejas Verdes validates his earlier statement dwelling on the difference between conventional reporting about atrocities and survivor testimony. The dehumanisation of detainees through various forms of torture, degradation, manipulation of culture and a refusal to acknowledge individual identity of detainees created harrowing narratives vacillating between the need for recognition and the experiences which DINA attempted to mire within a widespread imposition of oblivion in order to consolidate impunity.

The importance of Tejas Verdes has been overshadowed by other infamous torture centres such as Londres 38 and Villa Grimaldi, as well as by operations carried out by DINA involving the extermination of MIR and Communist Party militants such as the Caravan of Death and Operacion Colombo. However, prior to the formal establishment of DINA, political opponents of Augusto Pinochet were already being tortured and disappeared from Tejas Verdes – the primary torture and extermination centre in Chilean dictatorship history.

Tejas Verdes served as the initiation into torture and a focal point for other torture and extermination centres in Chile. The majority of torturers received their instruction at Tejas Verdes – names such as Marcelo Moren Brito, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Ricardo Lawrence and Cristian Labbé featuring prominently in dictatorship history. Operating under various brigades, DINA agents were tasked with intelligence operations, specific targeting of MIR and Communist Party militants, security and clandestine operations involving extermination of dictatorship opponents. Of particular mention are Brito’s role in the Caravan of Death and Krassnoff’s torture practices in Londres 38. Brigada Halcón, which operated in Londres 38, was also involved in the kidnapping, torture and murder of Víctor Díaz which occurred at Cuartel Simon Bolivar. The refinement of torture practiced in other torture centres such as Clínica Santa Lucia – an issue discussed by Patricio Bustos Streeter indicates a continuous attempt to obliterate any previous errors and cultivate an elaborate impunity. Rebolledo also discusses the existence of Brigada Mulchén under the command of Cristian Labbé – a relatively unknown brigade involved in clandestine operations but whose complicity has been difficult to prove, apart from the murder of Spanish diplomat Carmelo Soria in 1976.

Rebolledo shows how, despite judicial investigations initiated by Judge Alejandro Solis, it has been impossible to determine the number of detainees held in Tejas Verdes. What emerged, however, were the details of an appalling torture network headed by Manuel Contreras Sepulveda – a testimony of sadism in the name of eradicating Marxism from Chile. Torturers indicted by Judge Solis portrayed themselves as patriots unjustly accused, who had allegedly saved Chile from the grips of a communist dictatorship. Through the exhibited vestiges of dictatorial power during the trials of former DINA agents, such as Contreras’ threats to Judge Solis, it is possible to discern the traits of an organisation which operated with impunity.

The testimonies of Anatolio Zarate, Ana Becerra, Olga Letelier and Feliciano Cerda, supplemented by other narrations garnered from official investigation documents, portray the extent of human rights violations which DINA agents indulged in. The torture sessions were designed to create a barrier of immense magnitude between torturer and detainee, between detainee and humanity. Torture survivors describe electric shocks through use of the parilla, sexual violence and coercion, severe beatings, mock executions, the insertion of mice and spiders in the vagina, genital mutilation, use of dogs in sexual torture, mutilation, amputations and crude cauterisation, violation in the presence of family members, degrading language, as well as forced ingestion of urine and faeces. Pleas for death on behalf of detainees were met with additional bouts of torment.

Former soldiers who testified against Contreras claimed that detainees were lured to Tejas Verdes upon the premise of ‘discussing’ points of contention, which was imparted in an official letter. Prospective detainees usually complied and exhibited no resistance, discovering upon arrival the nature of DINA’s alleged discussion. Some were assassinated upon the fabricated pretext of attempting escape, others who voiced their fears of being murdered, such as detainee Lucho Normabuena, were systematically disappeared. Medical professionals who attempted to inscribe the truth about the cause of death were detained in Tejas Verdes. Detainees were forced to listen or witness their friends being tortured, while DINA embarked upon plans in the hope of extracting information from detainees upon other detained militants. Olga Letelier describes how torture sessions were usually attended by a group of DINA officers, alternating between watching and participating in torture.

The book also expounds upon the network of health care professionals recruited to supervise torture and instruct DINA torturers in recognising individual thresholds to reduce the possibility of murder during a torture session. With most medical torturers still benefiting from impunity, Chilean society has to contend with yet another contradiction – that of entrusting their health to doctors whose complicity in torture and murder is still concealed. A list of former medical torturers still practicing their profession has been circulating on the internet, in a bid to expose further DINA atrocities. The literature dealing with medical torturers in the book explicitly portrays how the dictatorship disfigured the profession. Among others, Rebolledo’s book refers to Vittorio Orvieto Tiplisky, who commenced his career with DINA at Tejas Verdes and later participated in the extermination of militants at Cuartel Simon Bolivar; nurse Gladys Calerdon who administered lethal injections to tortured detainees prior to their disappearance and Roberto Lailhacar, who recently admitted to the disposal of six disappeared dictatorship opponents in wells on his property at Curacaví.

Rebolledo has bequeathed another significant treatise to Chile’s recent history. It affirms a previous statement by Chilean author and survivor of Tejas Verdes, Hernan Valdes, who summarised Tejas Verdes thus: “All I knew about evil until then was only caricature, only literature. Now evil has lost all moral reference.” Pinochet’s plea for oblivion decades later served as a reminder of what leftist opposition had struggled against. Oblivion had already been implemented by the dictatorship prior to any public call, as evidenced from the early disappearances from Tejas Verdes, the certainty of impunity which was flaunted time and again at tortured detainees, the illegal adoptions of babies born to detainees in order to eliminate traces of rape in detention centres, the medical practitioners who worked under assumed names, thus separating their roles as torturers from the role assumed within the wider berths of society. The detailed testimony and commentary in this book prove that Tejas Verdes should be at the helm of any detailed research regarding Pinochet’s dictatorship – it is through an understanding of Tejas Verdes as the primary reference to human rights violation that one can comprehend the extended torture network and state complicity during the Chilean dictatorship.

Despite forensic report, judge insists upon further investigations into Pablo Neruda's death

According to the forensic report released yesterday by Servicio Medio Legal (SML), Pablo Neruda's death was caused by advanced prostate cancer, dispelling allegations of murder which have been sustained primarily by Neruda's chauffer and personal assistant, Manuel Araya. The awaited report ignited further conflict in Chile, challenging the dynamics of memory as opinion fluctuated in a spectrum which ranged from acceptance of the report, cynicism and outright denial.

Chile's right wing attempted to deride the exhumation of Neruda's remains, citing the forensic report as a reaffirmation of the obvious cause of death and describing the process as a manifestation of 'leftist paranoia'. The attempt to reclaim Neruda's memory as the poet of all Chileans, regardless of political affiliations, is reminiscent of the conspiracies detailed in El Doble Asesinato de Neruda, which explains the process through which the dictatorship and affiliated media sought to prepare the public for Neruda's imminent death.

Sentiment on behalf of Chile's left revealed the complexities of the country's memory struggle. While the report was accepted by some as a likely scenario, given the fact that Neruda indeed suffered from cancer, outrage over the published report overshadowed any form of acceptance.

Reaction on social media has cast doubts over the report, drawing comparisons with the death of former Chilean president Eduardo Frei Montalva, allegedly murdered by DINA while hospitalised in Clinica Santa Maria. Reports regarding his death Frei's death have been conflicting - some alleging that he had been administered thallium and mustard gas, while other reports declared the absence of toxic substances.

Neruda's chauffer, Manuel Araya, denounced the report and insisted that the poet had been murdered by the dictatorship at the Clínica Santa María. His allegations regarding the poet's death by lethal injection administered by a doctor whose identity is still disputed have been meticulously researched in light of Pinochet's determination to annihilate all leftist opposition, thus reducing the possibility of formidable opposition to his rule. Research has established that Neruda was planning to go into exile - such an accomplishment would have provided the possibility of an organised intellectual force against the dictatorship, a possibility which Pinochet dreaded due to the possibility of forming a government in exile and which led DINA to track the activity of dissidents and exiles.

Neruda's nephew, Rodolfo Reyes, insisted that the report is inconclusive and does not take into consideration all possible forms of assassination, such as the use of sarin gas - an opinion echoed by the family's lawyer, Eduardo Contreras, who insisted that further investigations should be carried out in order to dispel any fragments of doubt over the poet's death. Forensic expert Guillermo Repetto has also admitted the difficulty of detecting any traces of sarin gas and similar substances, indicating that despite the report's conclusion, the possibility of assassination at the hands of DINA cannot be absolutely eliminated. Judge Mario Carroza has declared the case still open and the possibility of assassination a cause for further investigation.






 

79 DINA agents accused of participation in Calle Conferencia I

Mario Zamorano Donoso

Jorge Muñoz Poutays

Magistrate Miguel Vasquez from the Santiago Court of Appeals has issued an indictment against 79 former DINA agents for their participation in the abduction of seven dictatorship opponents: Mario Zamorano Donoso, Jorge Muñoz Poutays, Uldarico Donaire Cortés, Jaime Donato Avendaño, Elisa Escobar Zepeda, Lenin Díaz Silva and Eliana Espinoza Fernandez, as well as the murder of Víctor Díaz López, all victims of Calle Conferencia I. The clandestine operation targeted MIR and Communist party militants with the intention of destroying the clandestine opposition to Pinochet's  dictatorship between May 1976 and January 1977.


Uldarico Donaire Cortes

Jaime Donato Avendano



Mario Zamorano Donoso, Communist Party member, was detained during an operation which lasted from April 30 to May 6, 1976 from a house in Santiago, which was under DINA observation and its inhabitants forced to cooperate in the clandestine operation in the hope of luring Communist Party members to the dwelling. Zamorano was detained on May 4 and transferred to Villa Grimaldi.
On the same day at 21:00,   Jorge Muñoz Poutays was detained and also transferred to Villa Grimaldi.



Elisa Escobar Cepeda

Eliana Espinoza Fernandez

Uldarico Donaire Cortez and Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño were detained by DINA on May 5 and transferred to Villa Grimaldi.

Elisa Escobar Cepeda, also a Communist Party member, was detained on May 6 and transferred to Villa Grimaldi.

On May 9 1976, DINA agents detained Lenin Díaz Silva, who was transferred to Villa Grimaldi from where it is assumed that he was disappeared. Eliana Espinoza Fernandez was detained on May 12, 1976 and transferred to Villa Grimaldi.


Victor Diaz

Lenin Diaz Silva

The detention of Víctor Díaz López occurred on May 12 1976. DINA agents detained the Secretary General of the Communist Party and transferred him to Villa Grimaldi for interrogation and brutal torture. He was later taken to DINA's extermination centre Cuartel Simon Bolivar, where he remained for a few months prior to his murder and disappearance. Díaz was asphyxiated, his corpse packed in two big bags and strapped to metal rods ready for transfer to Pedelhue, lifted onto a Puma helicopter to be deposed in the sea, in an undisclosed location. Details regarding the detention of Víctor Díaz at Cuartel Simon Bolivar have been narrated by former DINA agent and aid to Manuel Contreras Jorgelino Vergara Bravo, protagonist of Javier Rebolledo's book 'La danza de los cuervos: el destino final de los detenidos desaparecidos'

Below is a list of former DINA agents charged with the crimes.
01. Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda
02. Pedro Espinoza Bravo
03. Carlos López Tapia
04. Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko
05. Ricardo Lawrence Mires
06. Jorge Madariaga Acevedo
07. Eugenio Fieldhouse Chávez
08. José Fuentealba Saldías
09. Hugo Clavería Leiva
10. José Soto Torres
11. Raúl Soto Pérez
12. Juan Carlos Escobar Valenzuela
13. Jerónimo Neira Méndez
14. Héctor Briones Burgos.
15. Pedro Mora Villanueva.
16. Roberto Rodríguez Manquel.
17. Leonidas Méndez Moreno.
18. Jorge Andrade Gómez.
19. Nelson Herrera Lagos.
20. Juan Morales Salgado.
21. Jorge Sagardía Monje.
22. Héctor Valdebenito Araya.
23. Federico Chaigneau Sepúlveda.
24. Bernardo Daza Navarro
25. Sergio Escalona Acuña
26. Guillermo Ferrán Martínez
27. Gladys Calderón Carreño
28. Elisa Magna Astudillo
29. Heriberto del Carmen Acevedo
30. Emilio Troncoso Vivallos
31. Claudio Pacheco Fernández
32. Jorge Díaz Radulovich
33. Orlando Altamirano Sanhueza
34. Eduardo Cabezas Mardones
35. Jorge Escobar Fuentes
36. René Riveros Valderrama
37. Jorge Pichunmán Curiqueo
38. Orfa Saavedra Vásquez
39. Celinda Aspe Rojas
40. Teresa Navarro Navarro
41. Berta Jiménez Escobar
42. Adriana Rivas González
43. Jorge Arriagada Mora
44. Pedro Bitterlich Jaramillo
45. Eduardo Oyarce Riquelme
46. Guillermo Díaz Ramírez
47. Ana Vilches Muñoz
48. Italia Vacarella Gilio
49. Jorge Manríquez Manterola.
50. Orlando Torrejón Gatica
51. José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo
52. Manuel Obreque Henríquez
53. Gustavo Guerrero Aguilera
54. Eduardo Garea Guzmán
55. Juvenal Piña Garrido
56. Rufino Jaime Astorga
57. Luis Lagos Yáñez
58. María Angélica Guerrero Soto
59. Sergio Castro Andrade
60. Manuel Montre Méndez
61. Pedro Gutiérrez Valdés
62. Claudio Orellana de la Pinta
63. Joyce Ahumada Despouy
64. Hiro Álvarez Vega
65. José Miguel Meza Serrano
66. José Ojeda Obando
67. Carlos Bermúdez Méndez
68. Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett
69. Eduardo Reyes Lagos
70. Marilin Silva Vergara
71. Hernán Sovino Maturana
72. José Friz Esparza
73. Carlos Miranda Mesa
74. Camilo Negrier
75. Orlando Inostroza Lagos
76. Carlos López Inostroza
77. José Seco Alarcón
78. Lionel Medrano Rivas
79. Juan Suazo Saldaña

Former DINA agents indicted for the kidnapping of Maria Ines Alvarado Borgel

Four DINA agents - Manuel Contreras Sepulveda, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Marcelo Moren Brito and Basclay Zapata Reyes were indicted by judge Leopoldo Llanos from the Santiago Court of Appeals, for the kidnapping and disappearance of Maria Ines Alvarado Borgel.

Maria Ines Alvarado Borgel, secretary and MIR militant, was detained on July 15, 1974 in the afternoon while walking with her friend and transferred to Londres 38. She was briefly released and allowed to return to her family after being subjected to severe torture. Following the temporary release, her family was placed under house arrest.

On July 25, 1974, Maria Ines was once again detained and taken to Londres 38 for additional interrogation and torture. According to witnesses, she was last seen on August 2 1974. Her name appears in the list of the 119 disappeared militants - a victim of Operacion Colombo.

Ex CNI chief Odlanier Mena's suicide allegedly hastened by the transfer to Punta Peuco

Former CNI chief Odlanier Mena

Chilean President Sebastian Piñera is being held responsible for the former CNI chief Odlanier Mena's suicide, with relatives declaring the decision to close the luxurious Penal Cordillera and the transfer of human rights violators to Punta Peuco a strategy to ensure a victory in the forthcoming presidential elections. The family has since published Mena's final statement which, apart from protesting the move to Punta Peuco as inhumane given his old age, also proclaims himself innocent of charges and convictions against him.

"Due to our advanced age, we cannot accept the conditions resulting from my detention in the other prison." Mena also accused opponents of Pinochet's dictatorship of manipulating the situation in order to effect the long-awaited closure of the prison which hosted officials close to Pinochet who were involved in torture, killings and disappearances of dictatorship opponents. According to Mena, the transfer was achieved "through massive pressure by communists upon political actors in the country ... they are truly hostages of their own actions".

Mena had requested a presidential pardon upon 'humanitarian grounds' due to deteriorating health, a lament which indicates the detachment of torturers from their past. Declarations of innocence despite proof of crimes committed form the basis of allegedly humanitarian appeals. Apart from assuming leadership of the CNI when Pinochet ordered the dissolution of DINA, Mena was also involved in the Caravan of Death - his participation leading to the deaths of three Socialist Party leaders, Oscar Ripoll Codoceo, Manuel Donoso and Julio Valenzuela, detained on October 9, 1973 and murdered 11 days later.

Recent reports have determined that eight prisoners in Punta Peuco are in possession of weapons - the majority of them being prisoners who were transferred from the Penal Cordillera. According to information published in La Segunda, Alvaro Corbalan, Manuel Contreras, Marcelo Moren Brito, Miguel Krassnoff, Hugo Salas Wenzel Jose Zara, Carlos Herrera Jimenez and David Miranda retain rifles and pistols. Corbalan is described as having access to a mini arsenal, followed by Hugo Salas and Manuel Contreras.
 

Salvador Allende: Revolutionary Democrat

This review was first published in Irish Left Review.

Salvador Allende’s last speech may well have contradicted the perfunctory process of an expected historical epilogue. The mere fragments of time prior to the initial horror unleashed by the military coup on September 11, 1973 may have annihilated the actual era of the Unidad Popular; however it ensured Allende remained an integral part of Chile’s collective memory. Of greater fortitude than nostalgia, Allende’s revolutionary process has managed to retain its relevance beyond the conformity of time.

‘Salvador Allende: Revolutionary Democrat’ (Pluto Press, 2013) goes beyond the expected portrait of Allende as president of Chile, delving into an understanding of his life as a committed activist whose ideology was garnered both from Marxism as well as a profound insight into social inequalities. Despite a relatively privileged background, Allende’s upbringing in Tacna and later in various areas of Chile enabled profound perspectives through an observation of colonial processes, workers’ resistance, popular movements and the contradictions assailing Chilean society. Dispelling the critique of Allende as utopian, Victor Figueroa Clark demonstrates that, far from the multitude of generalisations associated with Allende, Chile’s political process with Allende at the helm was of tangible importance for the left on a global level, as well as for current Latin American governments who have embraced a perpetual struggle against imperial exploitation.

Allende’s life may be perceived as a series of experiences culminating into a profound concern for society and freedom, to the point where the definition of freedom becomes at times a source of controversy. Despite US intervention in Latin America proving detrimental to socialist progress, Allende’s respect for freedom of opinion went beyond the norm. Parallel to his insistence upon flexibility within socialist ideology in order to attain ‘unity of thought’, future dissent was also tolerated, departing from the trend of maintaining revolution through force and opting for revolution ‘as a profound and creative transformation’.

Foreign exploitation was instrumental in shaping Allende’s consciousness and ability to form perceptions beyond the confines of his immediate surroundings. His military experience evoked a primary contradiction – while expressing a certain affinity to the entity, unlike other socialist leaders such as Fidel Castro, Allende was also perceptive to the injustices carried out by the military, resulting in his decision to embark on another career which heightened his sense of perception of inequalities. Allende’s role in the medical profession propelled him into direct contact with the ramifications of inadequate access to healthcare, later declaring “I won my bread sticking my hands into pus, cancers and death”. Allende’s perception of healthcare and poverty was not isolated from the political concept – his revolutionary transformation of society through socialism addressed the limitations and deprivations experienced by Chileans.

The insistence of finding ‘a Chilean solution to Chilean problems’ – a view also shared by the Chilean Communist Party, was heightened by Allende’s years of activism since university. His aim to transform Chilean society through embracing socialism was not solely dictated by an adherence to classical texts, as evidenced by his years of activism and later political career. Departing from an earlier relevant affirmation regarding the role of man in society following his return from internal exile in Caldera: “Man is only part of the social whole; therefore his life should be at its service, that is, at the service of his fellow men”, Allende maintained the obligation of fulfilling his duties towards society, embarking upon criticism of policies of detriment to Chileans in terms of welfare, health and education. Prior to his electoral victory, Allende was pushing for national control over Chile’s natural resources – denouncing imperialism not only through a projected national interest at governmental level, but also through a genuine interest in the workers’ plight, thus allowing the workers to distance themselves from the role of spectators.

The book portrays Allende’s electoral campaigns in a similar vein – authenticating the process of resistance between the leader and the masses. His victory at the helm of the Unidad Popular represented decades of indefatigable effort to build the necessary groundwork to build a socialist revolution in Chile through non-violent mobilisation. Allende’s electoral programme, including land reform, the transformation of the judiciary, nationalisation of industries and social reform battled an entrenched structure which had served imperial interests for decades, leading to a fragmentation of unity within the left with the main factions urging a continuation and strengthening of the socialist revolution through armed resistance countered by a sustained challenge to institutions through popular control. The destabilisation of the country by the CIA-aided Chilean right wing played out the contradiction between freedom of speech and destruction, later dissent was deconstructed into patriotism by the leaders of the military coup, in an attempt to justify the collapse of the Unidad Popular and the death of Salvador Allende under circumstances still disputed, despite testimony alleging suicide.

Allende’s revolutionary legacy stands in contrast to that of other Chilean leaders such as Eduardo Frei and Patricio Aylwin, who endorsed the coup and granted it legitimacy. The neoliberal experiment unleashed upon Chile –marked by torture, execution, disappearances and exile in an attempt to annihilate all traces of Marxism and deter future revolutions in Latin America failed to surpass the power of collective memory, despite the various frameworks outlining the fragmentation of Chilean society.

However, as the book argues, Allende’s legacy and steadfastness to his principles of non-violence lent credibility and concrete proof of his last uttered convictions to the people prior to the bombing of La Moneda. The immediate dissonance of certain decisions can now be interpreted, and correctly so, as a testimony of steadfastness and unwavering triumph which does not descend into the politics of compromise, as evidenced by Allende’s speech at the United Nations, denouncing intervention in Chile and acknowledging the ramifications of facing unbridled turbulence in the name of sovereignty without adequate support – occurrences which echo Fidel Castro’s certainty that Allende would lead the next revolution in Latin America, effectively exposing imperial fears of socialist domination in the region following the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.

The electoral power of the Unidad Popular as viewed decades later enables the reader to differentiate between the power of the masses and the reality reflected in Congress, with both camps struggling for unity while assaulted by different forms of subversion orchestrated through CIA involvement. Allende’s vision for Chile’s socialist and democratic progress might have withstood a chance, had Congress adopted Allende’s earlier philosophical declaration regarding the significance of unity of thought, which would have bestowed the necessary dynamics between political representation and the people. Allende advocated against violence and humiliation, acknowledging the frail boundary between both scenarios which can also be interpreted as a metaphor for Chilean resistance in the aftermath of the coup. It is the alternative, embodied by Allende and portrayed so effectively in this compelling biography, which transcends symbolism both through a historical interpretation of events, as well as the sustained struggle for freedom against all forms of imperial exploitation

Former head of DINA Manuel Contreras denies torture and disappearances in dictatorship era

Interviewed by CNN Chile at the Penal Cordillera, former head of DINA Manuel Contreras denied the routine practice of torture and disappearance of socialists during the dictatorship era, adding that he vouched for the organisation as he had never ordered torture.

As Chile commemorated the 40th anniversary of the ruthless dictatorship which fragmented the country into divergent memory frameworks, Contreras sought to contradict the evidence of committed atrocities either by vehemently denying the confirmed facts by seeking to demean the credibility of torture survivors and evidence relating to the desaparecidos, or else projecting blame upon other forces of the dictatorship, such as the air force. The Valech and Rettig reports were also disregarded with Contreras simply claiming he was not ordered to impose torture practices upon detainees and that no one died while in custody.

It is estimated that over 1200 sites were turned into detention, torture and extermination centres during the dictatorship.

According to Contreras, the desaparecidos can be located at the Cemeterio General in Santiago, adding that all bodies were taken to the Servicio Medico Legal prior to burial in mass graves. The practice of disappearing the bodies of murdered socialist militants into the sea was also denied, with Contreras claiming that 'DINA had no ships or aircraft or helicopters', thus striving to impart the assumption that there was no collaboration with other powerful structures within the dictatorship. The desaparecidos, according to Contreras, 'died in combat'.

The Chilean Ministry of Interior dismissed Contreras' interview as 'having no significance or relevance', adding that the imprisoned general imposed destruction upon Chile, reminding people that his rhetoric has been dispelled by the Chilean courts.

The remarks uttered by Contreras elicited outrage in social media, compounded by the fact that right wing supporters clamoured online for the freedom of former military offices, who they described as political prisoners.

DINA's covert operations manual, known as 'Secreto 28', instructs agents to take advantage of instances when people believe the law is not being violated, as it allows further freedom to infringe. The 108 page document instructs DINA to violate the law and ensure that all traces of such violations should be appropriately concealed in order to avoid the possibility of implicating the state and authorities.

President Sebastian Piñera condemned the human rights violations which occurred during Pinochet's era; however he expressed the opinion that both sides of the political spectrum should assume responsibility, adding that Salvador Allende's government 'broke the legality and rule of law'.

Meanwhile in Santiago, activists are determined to continue the struggle for the memory of the desaparecidos. It has been reported that Santiago will be 'bombarded' with thousands of photos bearing the faces of Chile's desaparecidos in various places, including the notorious detention and extermination centre, Cuartel Simon Bolivar.



 

Further indictments against DINA agents for disappearances of socialist militants

Juan Aurelio Villaroel Zarate

Judge Leopoldo Lanos from the Santiago Court of Appeals has indicted nine DINA agents and other accomplices for the disappearances of Juan Aurelio Villaroel Zarate, Clara Canteros Torres and Eduardo Canteros Prado.

Manuel Contreras, Carlos López Tapia, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Juan Morales Salgado, Marcelo Moren Brito, Rolf Wenderoth Pozo, Eugenio Fieldehouse Chávez, Ricardo Lawrence Mires and Jorge Andrade Gómez have been charged with the murders and disappearances which occurred in July and August of 1976.



Clara Canteros Torres

Gladys Calderón Carreño, Rufino Jaime Astorga, José Friz Esparza, Hermon Alfaro Mundaca, Orlando Inostroza Lagos, Pedro Bitterlich Jaramillo, Claudio  Pacheco Fernández, Eduardo Reyes Lagos, Orlando Torrejón Gatica, Orlando Altamirano Sanhueza and Carlos López Inostroza are being charged as accomplices.

Juan Aurelio Villaroel Zarate, aged 55 and affiliated to Partido Comunista, was detained by DINA agents on August 13, 1976 and taken to Villa Grimaldi. His presence was witnessed by another detainee prior to his permanent disappearance.

Clara Canteros Torres was detained by DINA agents on July 23, 1976 and taken to Villa Grimaldi. Aged 21, married, and a mother of two children at the time of her detention and disappearance, Canteros was a militant of Juventudes Comunistas. Her uncle Eduardo Canteros Prado - a militant of Partido Comunista, was detained on the same day and transferred to Villa Grimaldi.



Eduardo Canteros Prado

DINA denied involvement in the kidnappings and disappearances of both Clara and Eduardo Canteros, despite testimony from former detainees claiming that both of them had been held at the notorious torture centre.

On March 21, 1990, the remains of three disappeared people were discovered in a former military site at Fundo Las Tortolas de Colina. The exhumed remains corresponded to Eduardo Canteros, Vicenter Atencio Cortes and Alejandro Avalos Davidson. The remains of Clara Canteros and Juan Villaroel were never discovered.

All three detentions and disappearances formed part of a DINA plan to eliminate all traces of formidable opposition to the dictatorship by targeting socialist and communist leaders, in order to weaken the structure of resistance.

Book Review: Remembering Pinochet's Chile. On the eve of London, 1998

Remembering Pinochet's Chile. On the eve of London, 1998
Steve J Stern
Duke University Press, 2006

As Pinochet's tangible presence receded from the Chilean political structure, a vibrant memory legacy erupted, challenging dictatorial impositions and awakening the struggle for historical memory. The volatile political environment following the disintegration of the dictatorship created a complex memory framework fighting not only the imposed oblivion, but also an ingrained process through which memory became an essential part of the collective experience on both sides of the political spectrum. In 'Remembering Pinochet's Chile. On the eve of London, 1988', Steve J Stern explores the national experience of the dictatorship, fragmented into several memory camps beyond the usual distinction of memory versus oblivion, depicting the diverse ramifications of collective memory and the induced oblivion in return for complacency and indifference, thus extracting the fight for remembrance promulgated by the marginalised opposition to the dictatorship.

Right wing rhetoric frames political violence as a necessity, with remembrance based on recollection which do not necessarily represent personal experience. Memory as salvation - the expression of a collective national sentiment as purported by Pinochet's adherents is detached from historical reality and fails to question the dynamics of Chile's left, such as whether violent revolution was favoured by Salvador Allende. The remembrance associated with the experiences of other harbouring similar sentiment indulges in a convenient dismissal of torture and disappearances. The fear of violence becomes displaced, projected onto the resistance incorporated by the militant left, in order to justify the violations committed by DINA.

Dissident memory, incorporating memory as rupture, persecution and awakening, involves a transformation of various struggles of the collective. An embodiment of contradictions between life and memory, existence is organised around memory, with different forms of expression contributing to the collective. While memory as rupture manifests itself as an expression of anguish, particularly in honouring the disappeared and executed, memory as persecution is characterised by an inevitable division of society owing to contrasting memory camps, in turn validating social commitment and values to promote solidarity through activism.

Stern also acknowledges a process through which a form of passive oblivion is inadvertently practiced. Using the metaphor of memory as a closed box, Stern describes a process of silence through which atrocities remain unchallenged. A lack of validation of a collective expression in the public sphere becomes prone to a form of idolisation of victims which shifts the focus from the actual issue of dictatorship atrocities and the quest for justice.

Despite the encompassing collective experience, other forms of memory remain obscured due to guilt and unintended complicity. Various leftist supports willingly presented themselves for questioning, others urged to comply by family members. The ensuing permanent disappearance rendered a guarded expression of memory, with remorse being less explicit due to the burden of guilt. Enlisted conscripts, among them former leftists, were also coerced to participate in arrests and torture - an experience which failed to safeguard against DINA retribution, such as in the case of Carlos Alberto Carrasco Matus who, upon confiding in his friend about the horrors perpetrated by the dictatorship, was forced to take part in arresting his friend. Both ended up prisoners in Villa Grimaldi - Carrasco was beaten with chains and murdered by DINA in Villa Grimaldi, while his friend was exiled and in 1990 testified before the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Besides Pinochet's insistence upon oblivion, Stern discerns another memory framework which negates atrocities through an intentional misinterpretation of history. Memory as indifference is established by recalling the alleged reasons as to why the coup was a necessity, while undeservedly attributing altruistic adjectives to a military which constantly proved its macabre character. According to an interviewee in the book identified as Colonel Juan F, the Chilean military possessed a 'socialist character' and was the salvation to Chile's future through its solutions of problems posed by a welfare system. Any failure was blamed upon the Allende era having produced 'mentally sick people', depicting a complete irrelevance to the deterioration of progress which rendered society irrelevant in order to justify political violence.

Measures were also taken to enable the military to distance themselves from the atrocities committed. A particular instance refers to the Calama massacres, where Colonel Eugenio Rivera sought to protect himself and his soldiers by placing the blame solely upon General Sergio Arellano Stark, in charge  of the 'Caravan of Death'.

The various memory frameworks have created a volatile coexistence shaped by elements in a constant struggle. Different experiences of life under Pinochet's dictatorship have provided the framework for the ensuing cultural silence battled by a quest for justice, memory and recognition of committed atrocities. Considering the split within Chilean society, the major obstacle to emblematic memory is its displacement due to persistent right-wing hegemonic narratives. Hence the projection of emblematic memory into the public sphere in order for the collective experience to escape fragmentation and isolation, which in turn strengthens the case for historical legitimacy. Chilean society is imbued with ambiguities - certainties mingle with doubt, the struggle for memory resisting certain narrations which, despite the relevance to the struggle, are perhaps perceived as blurring the divide between various forms of rupture, as in the case of conscripts who resisted implementing torture and suffered the same fate as left wing supporters. Stern's book serves as a compelling reminder of an incomplete sequence in the Chilean struggle, one that is partially dependent upon a dissolution of impunity in order to eliminate the process of selectivity and the peril of descending into various forms of oblivion.





 

Pinochet era biological and chemical weapons clandestinely destroyed

A recent declaration by the Institute of Public Health acknowledged Pinochet's possession of chemical weapons and their destruction in 2008. Ingrid Heitmann, former director of the institute, declared that Pinochet had obtained 'enough chemical weapons to eliminate thousands of people in Chile and abroad'.

Human rights lawyer Nelson Caucoto has expounded upon the importance of disclosure, in order for Chileans to comprehend the character of the armed forces, as well as the 'culture of death' operating during Pinochet's dictatorship. The destruction of the weapons, according to Carmen Hertz, may have also served to annihilate proof of the chemicals being used in assassinations. The same concern was echoed by former health minister Alvaro Erazo, who claimed to have no previous knowledge of the weapons' existence. Both Caucoto and Hertz have called for further investigations, with Caucoto stating that Chileans have the right to learn about the 'culture of death' still heavily protected in Chile by the military. As in the case of Victor Jara's murder, Caucoto reiterated the lack of cooperation exhibited by the Chilean Armed Forces, who continue to withhold information which, if declassified, would shed light upon the multitude of atrocities committed by the dictatorship.

Previous reports and research indicate that the manufacture of such weapons, entrusted to Eugenio Berrios and Michael Townley, was a priority for DINA in relation to el Plan Condor. Human experiments involving sarin gas were carried out on detainees held in Cuartel Simon Bolivar, epitomised by the torture inflicted upon two unidentified Peruvians who were forced to inhale the lethal spray and later administered a cyanide injection by Gladys Calderon. Other experiments were conducted upon detainees held at Colonia Dignidad - a detention centre which also hosted a laboratory used for the production of bio-chemical weapons.

In July 1976, Spanish diplomat, former Unidad Popular advisor and member of CEPAL Carmelo Soria was abducted by DINA agents and his corpse discovered in Canal del Carmen in Santiago. Despite dictatorship reports claiming his death had occurred as a result of a car accident, Soria had been detained in Via Naranja - the same location used by Michael Townley and Eugenio Berrios for their clandestine work, and subjected to sarin gas.

Following the assassination of Orlando Letelier in Washingtom, Eugenio Berrios was helped to flee to Uruguay to avoid testifying regarding his role in el Plan Condor, including the murder of Carmelo Soria. In November 1992, having escaped from the house of Uruguayan Colonel Eduardo Radaelli, Berrios declared to the police that he was being held hostage upon orders from Pinochet. His body was discovered three years later on the beach of el Pinar.

Suspicions have also been raised regarding the deaths of former president Eduardo Frei Montalva and Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, both believed to have been administered a toxic substance while at the Santa Maria Clinic.

 

Search for desaparecidos in Curacaví

Former DINA agent Roberto Emilio Lailhacar Chavez

Based upon testimony by a former DINA agent and psychiatrist Roberto Emilio Lailhacar Chavez, the Chilean police section investigating human rights violations (PDI) and Servicio Medico Legal (SML) are searching for the remains of at least six victims of the dictatorship. According to  Lailhacar's testimony, the bodies were thrown into wells built on his property at Curacaví. The atrocity is estimated to have occurred between 1973 and 1975.

In his role as psychiatrist, Lailhacar assisted torturers through conducting psychiatric analysis of detainees in various torture centres, including Clinica Santa Lucia which fell under the administration of Werner Zanghellini Martinez, who was accused by Villa Grimaldi survivors of allegedly administering an injection containing the rabies virus to dictatorship victim and desaparecido, Jorge Fuentes Alarcon.

The investigation has been ordered by Judge Sylvia Pizarro from the Court of Appeals in San Miguel. In his testimony, Lailhacar stated he is unaware of the identities of the desaparecidos disposed of in his property - "they could be from Santiago, Curacaví, or any nearby area". The excavation is expected to pose several difficulties as it involves an investigation of various wells on the property which have since been blocked with cement. The same property had also been utilised to host functions and social gatherings for DINA's top command.

Following the dissolution of DINA and later collapse of Pinochet's dictatorship, Lailhacar occupied the role of president of the 'Sociedad Chilena de Sexologia y Educacion Sexual' in Providencia until 2001.

Further information about the case and the dynamics of DINA, which originated from the Tejas Verdes contingent, will be divulged in Javier Rebolledo's forthcoming book published by Ceibo Ediciones, 'El despertar de los Cuervos: Tejas Verdes, el origne de extermino en Chile'.

 

Book Review: Ways of Going Home

Ways of Going Home
Alejandro Zambra
Granta Books, 2013

Delving into Chile's turbulent past requires a thorough analysis of the country's fragmented society, usually vaguely described and simplified as a split between socialists and Pinochet adherents. In 'Ways of Going Home', Alejandro Zambra portrays a deeper complexity which resonates through a technique of employing different narrators who are an extension of each other, striving to understand the macabre circumstances which altered life and perception.

Commencing with a compelling metaphor - a boy is lost and discovers another way home, the book plunges into the disorientation experienced by the child, whose perceptions are inextricably linked to silence - the silence emanating from a fear of dictatorship and its imposed culture of oblivion. On one hand, Pinochet is depicted as an annoying abstract - an unwanted interlude into a child's life. However, the boy's life is thwarted from innocence an truth by a prevailing mistrust and fear of association which the adults, having experienced the dictatorship and its atrocities, have employed as a possible means of escaping the ruthless regime. Zambra is careful to acknowledge the disorientation on various levels - notably the elders' fears translating into an inconclusive issue for a child whose parents' obsession with neutrality sought to alter, through a possibly unwanted means of protection, the tangible collective memory of Chile's left wing.

For the neutral parents, it is perhaps soothing to portray left-wing militants as having disturbed 'the peace' - an euphemism revealing the challenge for memory frameworks to emerge. As the narrator's parents indulge in neutral rhetoric, ultimately seeking an ephemeral protection against the macabre culture permeating Chile, the narrator reveals an awareness of the alternative, and stronger, collective memory - that of psychological trauma, torture and disappearances, revealing the network of relationships forged across society once distanced from the family home. A discussion of political allegiances raises the ultimate reality of neutral stances, epitomised by "But we were never, your father and I, either for or against Allende, or for or against Pinochet" - an effective method of acquiescing to Pinochet's imposed culture of oblivion.

The refusal to acknowledge passive support for the dictatorship leads to an outburst which pits time against What do you know about those things? You hadn't even been born yet when Allende was in power. You were just a baby during those years." here, knowledge is expected to have been gained solely through experience, despite the fact that an altered narration of memory deconstructs the process of knowledge. The victim's narration remains embroiled in a continuous struggle with the society of spectators, which misconstrues a violent memory for a good story.

Zambra's novel weaves a depth of dimensions and contrasts between the narrating voices, families, political perceptions and memory, depicting a lingering isolation which fails to resolve due to the characters' reticence in reclaiming memory. With the story of the militant deconstructed into that of an abstract terrorist, Pinochet's stronghold over Chile is reflected into the more mundane aspects of the story which deal with the narrator's reflections regarding relationships and society. The absence of tenacity, the lack of solid identification with history possibly elicits a far deeper frustration - the urge to discover resistance is smothered within a series of anti-climaxes which indicate the continuous stifling of excruciating memory in return for a semblance of the neutrality which the narrator so vehemently abhors.

Former DINA officials charged with the murder of Littré Abraham Quiroga Carvajal

 Littré Abraham Quiroga Carvajal

Judge Miguel Vasquez Plaza from the Santiago Court of Appeals has charged six former DINA agents with the murder of Littré Abraham Quiroga Carvajal. Quiroga, the director of prisons during Salvador Allende's government, was allegedly murdered by the same agents responsible for Victor Jara's murder.

Hugo Sanchez Marmonti stands accused of murder, while Raul Jofre Gonzales, Edwin Dimter Bianchi, Jorge Smith Gumucio, Nelson Haase Mazzei and Ernesto Bethke Wulf are accused of complicity. The accused, who were granted bail in the early stages of the case pertaining to Victor Jara's murder, have been notified of the charges.

Quiroga was detained on September 11, 1973 by a police patrol and transferred to the Estadio Chile (later named Estadio Victor Jara), which fell under the administration of various military units, including the Tejas Verdes, Esmeralda and Valparaiso regiments.

Quiroga was recognised by military personnel within the enclosure and, like Victor Jara, was singled out for brutal torture. Having been questioned between September 13 and September 16 by a military prosecutor, Quiroga  and Victor Jara were separated from the rest of the detainees and murdered by officials from the Tejas Verdes contingent. According to the autopsy, forensic and ballistic reports, Quiroga was shot at least 23 times. His body, exhibiting signs of torture, was dumped next to the Cemeterio Metropolitano and discovered by people living in the vicinities.
 

Charges related to the dictatorship crimes of Pisagua

After forty years of impunity, charges have been filed against former soldiers Sergio Eugenio Benavides Villareal, Roberto Antonio Ampuero Alarcón, Arturo Alberto Contador Rosales, Sergio Eduardo Figueroa López,  Gabriel Alonso Guerrero Reeve, Manuel del Carmen Vega y Miguel Aguirre Alvarez for their participation in the execution and disappearance of prisoners at Pisagua.


The crimes occurred between September 29, 1973 and October 11, 1973. Investigations have been ordered by Judge Mario Carroza to establish a detailed chronology of events.

According to preliminary investigations, Juan Calderón Villalobos, Marcelo Guzmán Fuentes and  Luis Lizardi Lizardi were executed on September 29, 1973. The same date also corresponds to the disappearance of Michel Nasch Sáez, Nolberto Cañas Cañas and Juan Jiménez Vidal.

Calderon, Guzman and Lizardi were escorted out of their cells by officials, on the pretext of being assigned to do voluntary work. The prisoners were executed in the outskirts of the Pisagua cemetery and their remains buried on the north side of the cemetery. The bodies were discovered seventeen years later almost intact, with red targets marked upon the prisoners' shirts. The Chilean military attempted to justify the murders by insisting the prisoners had attempted an escape. The military had also insisted that the three other prisoners, Nasch, Cañas and Jiménez has also been buried in the same location; however their remains were never discovered.

On October 11, 1973 Julio Cabezas Gacitúa,  Mario Morris Barrios, Juan Valencia Hinojosa, Humberto Lizardi Flores y Julio Córdova Croxato were interrogated by military prosecutor Mario Acuna Riquelme and executed that same morning, upon allegations of treason to the homeland, espionage and violation of the state's security law. Their remains were buried in the same mass grave, discovered in exactly the same conditions as the prisoners executed previously.





 

Echoes of Pinochet's 'Caravan of Death'

A revelation made by an unidentified soldier prior to his death led to the discovery of rails used to dispose murdered opponents of Pinochet's dictatorship into the sea. Less than five remnants of rails were found on the shores of Caldera - the second discovery pertaining to the crimes committed during the 'Caravan of Death'.

It is estimated that around 500 dictatorship opponents, amongst them members of MIR and Partido Comunista, were disappeared in the ocean between October 1973 and August 1977. The recently discovered rails are now located at the PDI's Criminal Laboratory in Santiago, to determine whether any further information regarding the crimes may be obtained. The probability of establishing further proof is remote, particularly if no further details regarding the operation were divulged prior to the soldier's death.

It has been reported that two particular cases might be linked to the recent discovery - the case of three extrajudicial killings at Copiapó in 1973, and the case of 26 prisoners murdered in the Atacama desert in 1973. The bodies were recovered by the dictatorship in 1976 and disposed of into the ocean from helicopters.

The criminal procedure has been narrated in great detail by Jorgelino Vergara Bravo - a servant in the household of Manuel Contreras who later served at Cuartel Simon Bolivar. following severe torture, detainees would usually be administered a lethal injection before the bodies would be 'packaged' in the middle of the night, awaiting their final destination.

Only one victim defied the intended disappearance, thus enabling identification as well as proof of the atrocity. Marta Ugarte, a teacher, seamstress and member of the Chilean Communist Party, had been detained by DINA and tortured at Villa Grimaldi in August 1976. A month later, her body was discovered on the shores of La Ballena in Los Molles. The body was discovered inside a bag, with a wire around the victim's neck indicating strangulation. According to official records, the wire had been used by DINA agent Emilio Troncoso Vivallos upon realising that despite the administered lethal injection, Ugarte was still alive. 



 

DINA agents sentenced for the murders of Alejandro de la Barra Villaroel and Anna Maria Puga Rojas

Alejandro De la Barra Villaroel

The Santiago Court of Appeals has convicted six DINA agents for their role in the murder of MIR militants Alejandro De la Barra Villaroel, age 24, political scientist, and his wife Ana Maria Puga Rojas, age 25, professor and actress. The detention and death occurred on December 3, 1974, when DINA agents fired shots at the couple after intercepting their car at the crossroads Andacollo and Avenida Francisco Bilbao. Both had been monitored since October 3, 1974, when the agents discovered Alejandro and Ana Maria had a son who attended kindergarten in Providencia. Their bodies were taken to Villa Grimaldi and transferred to Servicio Medico Legal to conduct autopsies, after which the victims' remains were released to their families.

The following DINA agents were convicted:

Manuel Contreras - 15 years and 1 day for responsibility of the murder.

Marcelo Moren Brito - 15 years and 1 day for both murders.

Ana Maria Puga Rojas

Ricardo Lawrence Mires - 15 year and 1 day for both murders.

Pedro Espinoza Bravo - 15 years and 1 day for both murders.

Jaime Eduardo Astorga - 10 years and 1 day for his role as accomplice to both murders.

Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko - 5 years and 1 day for assuming responsibility of the cover-up of both murders.

 

Todos los dardos apuntan a Draper: an article by Francisco Marin

Francisco Marin, author of 'El Doble Asesinato de Neruda' (Ocho Libros, 2012), has given me permission to translate his article for the benefit of an English speaking audience. Here is the chance to access a direct Chilean source regarding a vital stage of investigations into the suspicious circumstances of Pablo Neruda's death.

Original source: http://www.elciudadano.cl/2013/06/06/70422/caso-neruda-todos-los-dardos-apuntan-a-draper/

On Wednesday 5th May, lawyer Eduardo Contreras presented a letter to Minister Mario Carroza, together with copies from the Chilean and Brazilian press 'confirming the strange behaviour of Dr Sergio Draper throughout this judicial investigation, who attended to Neruda in his final hours - something which, in our opinion, must be subjected to investigation'.

One of these publications is 'Jornal de Brazil' dated 24 September 1973, which published Neruda's death as front page news, delivered by journalist Paulo Cesar Arujo and photographer Eandro Texeira, reporting from Chile a few hours after the poet's death.

It is reported that Dr Draper established Neruda died in the Clinica Santa Maria on September 23 at 22:30, 'victim of a chronic urological infection and phlebitis'. The newspaper was discovered by Brazilian journalist Frederico Fullgraf, who gave a copy to Contreras. Draper's declarations are in severe contradiction with the other media narratives and judicial authorities dealing with the death of Neruda.

On the second anniversary of Neruda's death, Chilean newspaper La Tercera published an article entitled 'Last Moments and last words of the poet Pablo Neruda', written by the journalist Orosmel Valenzuela, who is also quoted in 'El Doble Asesinato de Neruda' by Francisco Marin and Mario Casasus.

Draper, who is presented as the doctor at the Clinica Santa Maria who attended to the poet 'until the last moment', suggests that Neruda died of cancer; also that he heard Neruda's last words, uttered five hours before dying. Neruda allegedly complained of the alleged prostrate cancer and requested Amidone, which Draper says he agreed to in order to decrease Neruda's pain. After uttering his last sentence, Neruda fell into a pre-comatose state and failed to regain consciousness.

However, justice imparted a totally different version. As noted in 'El Doble Asesinato de Neruda', Draper states, 'I remember on Sunday September 23 1973 I was on duty in the Clinica Santa Maria, and around 15:00 I called the nurse on duty; allegedly Maria Araneda Aguilera, who informed me that Pablo Neruda was in pain. I immediately went to his room and greeted his wife Matilde Urrutia. Quickly I read the instructions left by Dr Roberto Vargas, which stated that intramuscular dipyrone should be administered in case of pain. Then I saw Neruda, a dying patient, suffering from anasarca (extreme swelling caused by oedema) and with a possible pathological fracture of the femur (product of metastasis). Immediately I contacted the aforementioned nurse, giving her instructions to administer the medicine intramuscularly.

The doctor stated that he retired in the evening of that day, leaving the alleged 'Dr Price' to do his round. The next day upon arriving at the clinic, Draper learnt that Neruda had died the night before.

Draper made a second judicial statement, adding that Dr Price told him that after Neruda's death, he had lifted the bed covers to prove to Matilde Urrutia that nothing suspicious had happened at the time of the poet's death.

Sergio Draper describes Price as a man with short, slightly wavy, blond hair, who was never again seen at the Clinica Santa Maria.

In view of the contradictions which Draper incurred, Contreras raised questions in his judicial writing. 'Until when will these abundant lies and contradictions be allowed to distort the sense of expertise? What were the reasons then, which are still rendered valid now, driving the dictatorship to give different versions regarding the cause of death of the poet? What do you fear will be discovered?'

Alleged assassin of Pablo Neruda is former CIA and DINA agent Michael Townley

Pablo Neruda

After taking into consideration additional evidence in the compilation regarding the possible assassination of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, Chilean courts have issued orders to search for the mysterious 'doctor' who allegedly murdered Neruda by injecting a toxic substance in his abdomen. Following two years of investigations, Dr Sergio Draper testified that there had been another doctor with Neruda at the Clinica Santa Maria.

'Dr Price', widely assumed to be an alias for a DINA agent tasked with assassinating the poet, is reported to have been with Neruda on the day he died. A tall, blond and blue eyed man, the description matches that of former CIA and DINA agent Michael Townley, living under the US witness protection programme as part of a plea bargain after confessing to the murder of Carlos Prats and Orlando Letelier.



Michael Townley, ex CIA and DINA agent

Apart from the well known murders of Prats and Letelier, Townley was also a major collaborator at Cuartel Simon Bolivar - the torture and extermination centre which remained DINA's most heavily guarded secret prior to Jorgelino Vergara's testimony regarding the methods of torture and disappearances of prominent MIR and Communist Party militants. Together with biochemist Eduardo Berrios, Townley was responsible for the production of sarin gas and was a frequent visitor to Cuartel Simon Bolivar and Colonia Dignidad, where detainees were used to conduct biological experiments.

The recent developments would seem to render cries of a 'leftist conspiracy' as futile, strengthening Manuel Araya's consistent narrative of an assassination, as opposed to death caused by advanced and metastatic prostate cancer.

For further reading about Michael Townley's role in DINA, see La Danza de los Cuervos: el destino final de los detenidos desaparecidos (Ceibo Ediciones, 2012). Araya's testimony about Neruda's assassination is compiled by authors Francisco Marin and Mario Casasus in El Doble Asesinato de Neruda (Ocho Libros, 2012)

 

Five former DINA agents sentenced for the detention of MIR militant Alfonso Chanfreau Oyarce

Manuel Contreras Sepulveda, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Marcelo Moren Brito, Ricardo Lawrence Mires were yesterday sentenced to ten years imprisonment for the detention and disappearance of MIR militant Alfonso Chanfreau Oyarce. Basclay Zapata Reyes was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for complicity in detention and torture while another indicted agent, Gerardo Urich Gonzales, was absolved.

Alfonso Chanfreau, a philosophy student and MIR militant, was detained on July 30, 1974. At approximately 11:30pm, a  number of agents surrounded Chanfreau's dwelling - orders came directly from Contreras. His wife; Erika Hennings, and their daughter were transferred to her parents' home. Chanfreau was taken to Londres 38 and tortured, in an attempt to garner information about other militants. Enraged by Chanfreau's silence, DINA agents detained Erika, taping her eyes shut as the vehicle passed the Mapocho river in order to render oblivious of her surroundings. She was transferred her to Londres 38 and tortured in the presence of her husband in order to force him to collaborate with the dictatorship.

Marcia Alejandra Merino, a former MIR militant turned collaborator, was instrumental in the detention and subsequent torture of Chanfreau. It is reported that while at Londres 38, Merino sought out Chanfreau, pleading forgiveness for his plight and stating that she had collaborated with DINA to avoid further torture. Luz Arce Sandoval, another militant turned collaborator whose testimony proved vital for the Rettig Commission, declared that she was forced to witness Chanfreau being tortured.

On December 17, 1974 ,the Interior Ministry gave orders regarding Erika Henning's exile, while denying that Chanfreau had ever been detained. Chanfreau's name later appeared on the list of the 119, also known as Operacion Colombo - one of the dictatorship's fabrication of memory in which it was claimed that certain MIR and Communist Party militants had died as a result of infighting while abroad.

Testimony from witnesses indicate that Chanfreau was intensely tortured, as DINA believed he had access to fundamental information which would aid them in the destruction of MIR.

As in other cases, justice continues to be seriously hampered owing to impunity laws. The former agents will serve their sentences in Penal Cordillera, described by many as a luxurious five start dwelling, while dictatorship survivors and relatives of the desaparecidos remain entrenched within a fragment of mangled memory which is temporarily alleviated by judicial sentences long due. Former agents still retain their oath of silence about the the systematic disappearance of detainees, which makes a further recovery of memory an improbable accomplishment.

El Doble Asesinato de Neruda

In light of the recent news regarding the investigations into Pablo Neruda’s death, the much maligned testimony of Neruda’s personal assistant and chauffeur Manuel Araya, is of significant importance. Denounced by the Chilean right as a leftist conspiracy, Araya’s declaration in the Mexican publication Proceso accusing the dictatorship of having assassinated Neruda by a lethal substance injected into his stomach created a furore and Chilean courts opened investigations into Neruda’s death, following a petition filed by Partido Comunista.  

El Doble Asesinato de Neruda (Ocho Libros, 2012) presents a compelling case based upon Araya’s testimony and the Fundación Neruda’s insistence upon adhering to the official version, which related the cause of death as happening from advanced and metastatic prostate cancer. The recent forensic investigations, partially completed since laboratories still have to test for toxic substances, have determined that Neruda was indeed suffering from advanced and metastatic prostate cancer, yet the authors Francisco Marín and Mario Casasús insist that medical records were void of such grim diagnosis and radiology reports did not specify the presence of metastatic cancer.

The book is described as 'a reference to a biological and ideological crime' - befitting the irregularities and contradictions which evolved through the years, as well as a possible manipulation of Chilean history. Prior to Neruda's exhumation, the Foundation expressed its objection to the investigation, endorsing the dictatorship's official statement and reiterating that there was no doubt that Neruda's death had occurred due to natural causes. Despite the ambiguous statement indicating a lack of interest in constructing a vital segment of chile's recent history, Marín and Casasús discover a more sinister network of contacts which may shed light upon why Neruda's wish to bequeath La Isla Negra as a retreat for artists and intellectuals was disregarded. A betrayal of ideals ensued with the foundation became economically aligned with Cristalerías Chile - an enterprise owned by Ricardo Lagos, a torture coordinator as well as a financial supporter of Pinochet's dicatatorship.

Prior to Neruda’s return to Chile from France where he was serving as ambassador, Araya was summoned to Santiago by leaders of the Communist Party and asked by Victor Díaz and Luis Corvalan whether he would accept the role of personal assistant and chauffeur to Pablo Neruda – a job which entailed a magnitude of commitment and responsibility. Araya describes Neruda as brimming with plans to strengthen the Communist Party in Chile, seeking ways to mobilise further support for Salvador Allende and concerned with establishing a cultural foundation for writers and intellectuals. Far from retiring to his home at La Isla Negra due to consuming illness, Neruda maintained an active political stance and frequently denounced US imperialism and interference in Chile, considering his role ‘a poetic, political and patriotic duty’ to prevent a right wing insurgency in the country. Among the frequent visitors to La Isla Negra were Salvador Allende, Voloida Teitelboim and Cardinal Raul Sílva Henríquez. The latter would attract the ire of the dictatorship and Vatican officials, who instructed the clergy to maintain a perfunctory role restricted to religious duties instead of campaigning against human rights violations and clamouring for investigations into the cases of Chile’s desaparecidos.

Pablo Neruda

Considering Pinochet's fear of leftist intellectuals destabilising the dictatorship from exile, the assassination scenario fits in perfectly with the later powers allocated to DINA and the deadly targeting of militants. In the aftermath of the coup, Neruda expressed the conviction that Allende had been murdered, despite the dictatorship's proclamation of alleged suicide. The Tejas Verdes contingent paid their first visit to La Isla Negra on September 12, 1973, while Neruda fretted incessantly about the fate of his compañeros, sentiments fluctuating between the despair of abandonment and futility of defence. Knowing that the military would detain and torture Neruda for his involvement in the Allende government, discussions about the possibility of exile heightened, which would safeguard Neruda's life and also provide him with the opportunity to initiate a formidable resistance.

Meanwhile La Tercera, a newspaper which was closely affiliated to the dictatorship, had started spreading rumours about Neruda’s allegedly debilitating illness. In an attempt to quell opposition suspicions of assassination, Pinochet issued a statement through Radio Luxemburgo. “Neruda is not dead. He is alive and free to travel wherever he likes, as befits other people of old age and struck with infirmity. We do not kill anyone and, if Neruda dies, it will be of natural causes.” The book translates this ubiquitous statement as proof of constructing Neruda’s imminent annihilation.

Having left La Isla Negra to avoid the possibility of torture, Neruda, accompanied by his wife Matilde, and Araya, sought refuge at the Clínica Santa María. The exile offer by the Mexican government was at first repudiated, with Neruda vehemently declaring he would not assume a traitorous stance and betray his compañeros. After being briefed about the atrocities committed by the military, Neruda assumed a resilient stance, stating that he would lead the struggle against the dictatorship from exile in Mexico. On September 23, the newspaper El Mercurio contributed to the rumours by stating that Neruda had experienced a deterioration of health, coinciding with the injection administered by a doctor at the clinic at a time when the poet was alone, having sent Araya and Matilde on some errands prior to exile. Upon their return to the clinic, having been alerted of the suspicious circumstances by an employee, Araya was sent to buy medicine which, according to the doctor, was not available at the clinic. Upon his departure, Araya was ambushed and detained in Estadio Nacional. “I lost all contact with Neruda forever, I never saw him again. I believe it was a plot to detain me.”

Araya’s version of Neruda’s final hours has been discredited by the Fundación Neruda, despite the fact that all ‘official’ testimonies which have been endorsed by the foundation come from sources who had no access to the poet during his final days. Araya was beaten, subjected to electric shocks and asked to reveal the identities of Communist Party Leaders. He was released 45 days later following intervention by Raul Sílva Henríquez.

Matilde’s reluctance to denounce the alleged assassination was reciprocated by the foundation in later years. A solitary figure searching for ways to open an investigation, Araya’s efforts were shunned and the official version assumed the emblem of truth. The existence of the lethal injection would have been eliminated from collective memory, had it not been for Araya’s determination in maintaining his testimony. The official medical and death certificates obliterated its existence, citing cardiac arrest as the cause of death. Only when El Mercurio reported Neruda having been given ‘a tranquiliser’, did the injection suddenly spring into existence.

The possibility of Araya having invented his testimony in order to create a controversy fades when faced with the various contradictions and reluctance to properly investigate the cause of Neruda’s death. The authors hold Matilde responsible for the ensuing silence – it is reported that she had even tried to reach a compromise with Araya in return for relinquishing the quest for justice. She is also deemed responsible for the foundation’s betrayal of Neruda’s wishes, having entrusted the administration to individuals responsible for maintaining the dictatorship’s atrocities.

As we await the final results regarding the presence of toxic substances in Neruda’s remains, it is evident that, whatever the forensic verdict decrees, Neruda’s death will continue to hover within the confines of Chilean memory. The measures of impunity imposed by Pinochet to protect the network of torturers and murderers has rendered investigation a source of controversy and a means through which truth will remain eternally shrouded with a pervading negotiation of privilege over human rights violations.