37
“pileteada” (consisting in immersion in a tank with water, blood and human
excrement,36 often until the victim drowned).
61(36) Carlos José Mancuello Bareiro remained detained for 22 months. Regarding
the tortures to which he was subjected, Jorge Pane Zárate, who was an officer in the
Asunción Police Investigations Department at the time of the facts, saw him while he
was detained on these premises and confirmed that “he appeared to have suffered
unlawful coercion, because […] the so-called 'Constitución y Teyú-yuruguai,” a short
whip of plaited leather, about a meter long … left very visible marks, and he was
bruised and swollen.”
61(37) Gladys Meilinger de Sannemann, who was detained in the offices of the
Investigations Department in 1976, saw Carlos José Mancuello Bareiro and Benjamín
and Rodolfo Ramírez Villalba during this period, because she was able to observe
them every day in the early morning when they went to the bathroom. The last time
she saw them alive was on September 21, 1976, when she was transferred from
these premises to the Emboscada prison.
61(38) Mrs. Bareiro de Mancuello, Carlos José Mancuello Bareiro’s mother,
periodically sent him clothes, food and medicine. She also received his dirty clothes
from the police to wash them and return them to him. As of September 21, 1976,
Mrs. Bareiro de Mancuello no longer received the clothes of her son, Carlos José
Mancuello Bareiro, from the police with the explanation that he was no longer in the
Police Investigations Department or that he had escaped from there.
61(39) The logbook of the Investigations Department for 1976 states that, on
inspecting the cells on the night of September 21, 1976, it was verified that “four of
the detainees had escaped.” The Investigations Department’s ledger of “Entry and
Departure of Detainees” states that Carlos José Mancuello Bareiro had “escaped”
and, regarding the brothers Rodolfo and Benjamín Ramírez Villalba and Amílcar
Oviedo, the space by their names corresponding to “Departure” was left blank.37
Also, an official document from the Guards Office of the Investigations Department
addressed to the Head of the Investigations Department, Pastor Milciades Coronel,
reported the alleged escape of Carlos José Mancuello and Benjamín and Rodolfo
Ramírez Villalba. This was subsequently confirmed by the statements of several of
the investigation officers present that night, who were called on to testify in the trials
opened with regard to the case after 1989.38
61(40) However, based on the statements of several former police officers, the No.
1 Criminal Tribunal [de Liquidación y Sentencia] came to the following conclusions
(infra para. 69):
At approximately 10.30 p.m. [on September 21, 1976] […] the detainees, MANCUELLO,
OVIEDO and the brothers RAMIREZ VILLALBA, were ordered to get ready because they
were going to be transferred to another place […]; then, they proceeded to transfer the
four detainees to a VW Kombi vehicle […] which was waiting outside the building […]
without anyone being informed of their destination. Since then and to date, there has
36
Cf. statement made before notary public (affidavit) by Gladys Meilinger de Sannemann on May
22, 2006 (file of statements made before or authenticated by notary public, folio 6271).
37
Cf. Es mi informe, supra note 11, p. 228 and 229.
38
Cf. Es mi informe, supra note 11, p. 228 and 229.
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