10
prisons, at the request of the President of the Republic, he served in a
bicameral investigative and multipartisan commission of thirteen members
working for four months was appointed in which he took part. In the riots of
El Frontón at first, the Republican Guard and then the Navy Infantry played
an active role; at the first three rockets were launched, and later plastic
explosives were used. In his opinion, there was disproportion in the means
used because it was unnecessary to use explosives. The commission had the
support from a group of engineers who prepared a report on the demolition.
He does not know about any investigation to determine the whereabouts of
Neira Alegría and the Zenteno brothers. Reports of on majority and minority
opinions by the commission agreed upon the facts and disagreed upon the
political constitutional point of view regarding the liability of the Ministers who
approved the participation of the Joint Command in subduing the riots. One
of the survivors informed a third party about rioter executions after they
surrendered, but once he was summoned to confirm its version, he refused to
do so.
h)
Testimony of Rolando Ames Cobián (B.A. Political Science)
He was Senator in 1987 and appointed President of the Congress commission
to investigate the events that took place during the riots in the three prisons.
The commission strictly performed the investigation. Reports on majority and
minority opinions agreed on the facts; the difference lies in the responsibility
pointed out by each of them at the highest government level, regarding
repression in prisons. The Government declared not taking rebellion in the
three prisons as a police problem, but as “the great confrontation between
the Government and Sendero Luminoso … because public releases and
statements by the President of the Republic are clear in detailing events,
Sendero Luminoso versus the Government”. All of this made possible for the
subduing to be carried out in the fastest possible way by the Joint Command
of the Armed Forces. Two thirds of the Blue Pavilion that were standing were
demolished with dynamite placed at the outer columns thus producing an
absolutely unnecessary toll of dead people among prisoners who were not
actively resisting. There was no interest in looking for wounded people or
other people inside the tunnels, even entrance to the prison was not allowed
until one year later. Neira Alegría and the Zenteno brothers were not among
the prisoners who surrendered, but they appeared in the list provided to the
commission by the National Penitentiary Institute. Riots' survivors refused to
declare before the commission. The Congress adopted the investigating
commission majority report. The final explosion that demolished the prison,
took place when there was no strong attack, but this was already over, and
as a result of sympathetic dynamite explosion, but due to the explosions of
the building columns. Besides the 28 prisoners who surrendered on the same
day of the events, a day after one or two more prisoners appeared and three
days later some others did too. The investigative commission asked for
information on the investigation undertaken by the Supreme Council of
Military Justice, but the Naval Court did not provide any and even refused to
provide the names of the officials who were in charge of the operation. The
commission did have evidence related to the fact that prisoners had dynamite
and tried to get information to explain why diverse means, like tear or
enervating gas, were not used, and it was told that there was no time to
apply them because of the urgency to subdue the riots that same night.
There was no possibility for prisoners to escape.