More than 50 years after the coup, the Legal Medical Service (SML) has identified by DNA José González Gutiérrez, Ricardo San Martín Fuentealba, Óscar Vivanco Castro and Ricardo de la Jara Frez, who were executed and secretly buried in Patio 29. However, despite the forensic confirmation, their names still do not appear on the official roll of dictatorship victims, CIPER revealed.
Identified by the SML, missing from the state registry
According to the investigative report, in August 2025 the SML reported the identification of José González. Earlier, in 2017, the agency had identified the remains of Ricardo San Martín, Óscar Vivanco and Ricardo de la Jara. All four were executed in the months following the September 11, 1973 coup and buried in secret in the Patio 29 of the General Cemetery, a landmark of Chile’s memory and human rights history.
Although the SML has already added them to its “List of human rights violation victims identified to date”, they currently appear as “not qualified” in the state victims system: they are not part of the official registry, CIPER notes.
Why they are not on the official list—and what could change
The Human Rights Undersecretariat told CIPER that three cases —Vivanco, González and De la Jara— were never filed before the Rettig (1991) and Valech (2010–2011) Commissions, apparently due to a lack of awareness of those mechanisms. In the case of Ricardo San Martín, his mother submitted evidence after the deadline and without sufficient documentation for a determination at the time.
In that context, the agency told CIPER that the National Search Plan (PNB) includes a new mechanism to add cases to the official registry when technical and legal evidence supports victim status. According to the Undersecretariat, that mechanism is slated to take effect in the last quarter of 2025, opening a path to formal state recognition for these four executed men.
Civil lawsuits and the status of criminal cases
Three families have filed damage claims. According to CIPER, the 21st Civil Court of Santiago recognized state responsibility in the death of Óscar Vivanco. By contrast, the suit for Ricardo San Martín was dismissed at first instance — because he is not listed in Rettig/Valech — and his family has appealed. The sisters of José González sued before the 12th Civil Court; the case remains pending.
In the criminal arena, the Judiciary told CIPER that the four investigations ended in temporary dismissal due to insufficient evidence to indict. The genetic identification and a potential reclassification via the PNB could enable new investigative steps.
Reclassifications underway: other pieces of the puzzle
On September 10, the PNB reported two cases under review for reclassification: that of Luis Pino Soto (a student from Arica who disappeared in 1986), who was likely left out of the Rettig report due to a transcription error — authorities instructed that his victim status be recognized —; and that of Bernarda Vera, recorded as a detained-disappeared person, who was reportedly seen alive outside Chile and could be removed from the registry.
For the families of San Martín, González, Vivanco and De la Jara, the SML’s forensic identification is a crucial step toward truth; what remains is the formal state recognition needed to lift them out of the “not qualified” limbo. If the PNB mechanism comes into force on the announced timeline, their names could enter the official registry before year’s end — closing, at least in part, a 52-year wait for memory, recognition and reparation.
