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.