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The former GOPE sergeant Carlos Alarcón – accused of being the material author of the murder of Camilo Catrillanca – confirmed this Wednesday in the oral trial that the Carabineros had ordered him to lie on the dynamics in which the crime occurred, on November 14, 2018.
During his interrogation this morning, the former uniformed man waived his right to remain silent and said that after the death of the Mapuche community member they were instructed to declare that there was a “confrontation” and that there were no audiovisual records of the police procedure, details that turned out to be false.
Alarcón directly targeted the former head of the GOPE in La Araucanía, the former Major Manuel Valdivieso, and at former institutional lawyer Cristián Inostroza, the only civilian accused in the case.
“He provided information that corroborates the information that the Prosecutor’s Office had already provided during the oral trial, regarding the origin of the false versions that tried to cover up and obstruct the investigation in these cases, “explained the prosecutor Roberto Garrido.
He stressed that the former GOPE, “rather than indicating that he was asked to lie, made it quite clear that it was an order he was given not to account for the events as they had actually occurred.”
According to the details, the Carabineros version, which was then delivered to the media and political authorities of the regional and central government -Ministry of the Interior and La Moneda-, was forged in a Pailahueque checkpoint.
Alarcón’s face became known nationally in December 2018, when he released a video from a police station where he assured that “there are people who made us lie”, which has been confirmed in his statements in the criminal case.
THE ORDER: SAY THAT THERE WAS “CROSSED FIRE” AND THAT “NOBODY CARRIED CAMERAS”
As collected Third After Alarcón’s statement, once the crime had occurred, all police officers were ordered to leave the scene of the event and go to the Pailahueque Special Forces police station, where Inostroza was waiting for them next to the headquarters.
“I told him how the procedure had happened, everything we did, the whole thing, (Inostroza) left the office in the direction of the corridor, after a few minutes he enters, they call him on the phone, I ignore well, we kept telling him more details, as they arose, he went back out, came back in and tells us: ‘Now guys, you are going to give a statement to the Prosecutor’s Office and have to say that you were attacked from the side of the road, that there was crossfire, that the tractor crossed the line of fire, that you never targeted, “he said.
Alarcón assured that he “from the beginning” said that he would take responsibility for what had really happened, “and that he would be truthful at all times.” After listening to the legal advisor, the former GOPE said – according to his statement – that “that is not right, I am assuming my responsibility, but that is not right.”
Then, Valdivieso, the then head of the GOPE in the region, asked who was carrying the camera in the operation. “He immediately says that you have to eliminate them”, Alarcón assured, adding that the lawyer also instructed them that “it must be said that no one walks with a camera.”
“WHEN WE ARE GIVEN AN ORDER, WE MUST ACCEPT IT”
After that order, “I took my head, your honor, I said this is not good, it is not like that, it is not good, this is going to know and it will be worse “Alarcón recounted. Upon hearing him, according to the former uniformed man, Valdivieso said harshly: “Hey hueón, do what you are being told, or do you want to go to jail?”
“I was silent. We are a police institution with a military nature, so when we are issued an order we must comply with it (…) The situation in which I found myself, the only thing I did was keep silence and take my head, “he acknowledged after being consulted in court about his reaction to the words of his superior.
“THE CAGÁ REMAINED”
“Cagá cabros was left”, Valdivieso alerted two days after the crime, because images were already circulating where it was seen that the uniformed men did carry cameras. For this reason, Inostroza instructed them to say that they did not have the memory card since, supposedly, there were “intimate images” of the wife of the also accused Raúl Ávila, always according to Alarcón.
Then Valdivieso commented to the four members of the “Jungle Command” patrol that the deadly operation was carried out that they should go to testify before the PDI, but maintaining the forged version. “My major, this is not right. This is going to go wrong, this is going to be worse,” Alarcón recalls telling his superior.
“Hey hueón, you are the weakest”, Valdivieso replied. “My greatest Valdivieso fell from the sky,” said Alarcón.
“Weak for wanting to tell the truth? I am the one who is carrying the most, with the most terrible charges. I was treated as weak, the person who was facing the procedure, risking my life, I am very sorry for what happened. There is no time of day that I do not regret having used the firearm. I have never had anything against the Mapuche people. I’m sorry that Camilo Catrillanca has died, since that day my life died, “he argued.
This Thursday the questioning of Alarcón will resume, and then continue with the rest of the accused.
In the trial they are accused seven Carabineros officials for the crimes of consummated murder, attempted murder and unlawful coercion. They are also investigated, together with the referred then institution lawyer, for the crimes of obstruction of the investigation, falsification of a public instrument, infidelity in the custody of documents and prevarication.
