The persons recognized as victims by the Valech Commission who live outside Chile do not
receive the health care benefits, which “may only be taken advantage of in the country.” 72
In addition, Law No. 19,992 and its Regulations had already established that the pension
was incompatible with those granted by Laws Nos. 19,234, No. 19,582 and No. 19,881, so
that if someone was already receiving one of the latter pensions, he or she would have to
choose between that one and the pension established by Law No. 19,992. Once “the
interested person had chosen, he or she would have the right to a one-time bonus payment
of $3,000,000.00” (three million Chilean pesos).
74.
Article 15 of Law No. 19,992 contained a clause concerning the “confidential” nature
of the “documents, testimony and background information provided by the victims before
the [Valech] Commission”; it established that “no persons, group of persons, authority or
judge shall have access to [them]” for “50 years,” and also indicated that this was “without
prejudice to the personal right of the owners of the documents, reports, statements and
testimony included in them to publicize them or provide them to third parties of their own
volition.” 73.
B.2) Measures of reparation granted to Mr. García Lucero by the State
75.
In order to be considered “a person dismissed for political reasons,” Mr. García
Lucero sent a letter dated December 23, 1993, from London, United Kingdom, to the
Program for the Recognition of those Dismissed from their Employment for Political Reasons
in Chile (supra para. 69). In a communication of December 1, 1994, the State
acknowledged receipt of the “background information” concerning Mr. García Lucero’s
request in relation to Law No. 19,234. In his letter, among other matters, Mr. García Lucero
referred to the torture he had endured “while he was detained” and to the “injuries caused
by the torture received.” He stated that:
[His] upper teeth had been kicked out; [his] left arm had been broken by blows from the butt of a
rifle, and a blow from a rifle butt to the forehead had disfigured [him] and [he] almost lost an eye.
[He] had to have an emergency operation for a hernia (in the groin) in a tent in “Chacabuco” by a
FACH doctor. The hernia appeared because [he] was hung from his wrists with a bag of wet
cement tied to each of [his] ankles (this took places in the National Stadium). Also [he] was placed
in a barrel of water which was connected to the electricity, and given electric shocks, etc. etc. The
numerous blows to the head (throughout one whole night) with a rubber truncheon, caused
serious health problems which meant that [he] could not work […] in England, where he is
registered as an invalid. Also, [in England, he] had to have surgery on a tendon in [his] right leg.
This was also the result of having been hung up, while [he] was detained, as [he had] explained. 74
72
Testimonial statement of María Luisa Sepúlveda provided by affidavit on March 11, 2013 (merits file, tome
II, fs. 576 to 625).
73
In relation article 15 of Law No.19,992, the State indicated that “this article merely gives the deponent the
right to state the information that he possesses, granting the required legal safeguards to the members of the
Commission [Valech. I]t was precisely this norm that made a major contribution to the success of the investigation
conducted by the Valech Commission into the torture and political imprisonment that took place during the military
regime, as well as the adoption of a plan of measures of reparation for the victims of these crimes and their
families, including Leopoldo García.”
74
Cf. Note dated December 23, 1973 (sic), addressed by Mr. García Lucero to the Department of the
Program for the Recognition of those Dismissed from their Employment for Political Reasons of the Ministry of the
Interior of the Republic of Chile, supra. Regarding the request submitted by Mr. García Lucero there is also a note
of December 1, 1994, addressed to him by the National Coordinator of the Program for the Recognition of those
Dismissed from their Employment for Political Reasons, Humberto Lagos Schuffeneger, who stated that the
Program “[h]ad received the documentation in which he applied to be eligible for the welfare benefits established
by Law No. 19,234 for those who are classified as persons dismissed for political reasons” (file before the
Commission, tome I, f. 746).
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