My name is Maria Cristina Pezoa Lazo. Through this means, I testify concerning the disappearance of my husband, Victor Manuel Gonzalez Millones, Identity Card N. 6.564.819-9, date of birth August 13, 1954, member of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), who disappeared November 10,1984 and whose whereabouts are unknown to this day in October 2002.

My hope is that through this network we may come across someone who saw him or who was with him at some time. His physical characteristics are as follows: 1.83 meters tall, black semi-wavy hair, dark brown eyes, and heavy-set.

Our search for him has brought us to many different places, but the focus of the search has been the Los Patos mountain pass on the Chile-Argentina border, accessible from the city of Putaendo, and much of the surrounding area. I have also been to the Argentine province of San Juan, in that same vicinity. We have also searched for him in certain countries of Europe. Codepu and the Corporacion Nacional de Reparacion y Reconciliacion have supported my investigative efforts.

Information about the Case

On September 25, 1973, Victor was arrested in the city of San Felipe, near the town of Rinconada de Silva, where we lived. He was tried by a War Council and sentenced to 11 years in prison. After three years in the San Felipe prison, his sentence was commuted to exile in 1975. In August 1976 we were able to travel to Denmark, which accepted us as political refugees.

After three years in Denmark, in July 1979 I returned to Chile with my two-year-old son, with the intention of obtaining formal permission for Victor to return to the Chile. Authorities denied our request.

In March 1981, Victor was able to enter Chile through "Plan Retorno." He came back to Chile with the idea of making contact with someone. On several occasions he went to the agreed upon point of contact, but the person never arrived.

We settled in Santiago and he began to work as supermarket distributor for the Lechera del Sur dairy company. As I had worked for this company since my return, they hired him on his word, without looking into his background. He did change his second last name Millones to Zamora, but retained his Identity Card number.

Life continued normally until October 1984 when the Court of Appeals subpoenaed him to testify about his "illegal entry" to Chile. Several months before, he learned that he was under surveillance. A former Investigations police member Raul Toro informed him of this situation. We have reason to believe that this individual was also responsible for denouncing Victor. He attempted to extort us through Victor's father, claiming to have the means to "fix papers" but he never did a thing. Obviously, we did not take him seriously, especially after the court citation arrived.

In those months, the country was shaken by a series of protests against the dictatorship. In early November 1984, the military regime declared state of siege. In light of this situation, Victor, at one point, told me, "If I disappear and after three weeks, at the most, you still have not heard from me, then start searching every place you can, because it means that something happened to me."

Just as he feared, November 9 was the last time I saw him. That night he went to see one of his brothers (Juan Gonzalez) who lived in Rinconada de Silva. Victor told his brother that he wanted to cross the mountains into Argentina on foot by the road that leads to Laguna del Copin, located some 25 kilometers from that locality. Once in Argentina, and specifically the province of San Juan, he would ask local authorities for asylum. His brother accompanied him up to Los Baños del Parron, about nine kilometers from Rinconada de Silva. That day, November 10, 1984, was the last time he saw Victor. He has been disappeared ever since.

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Testimony before the National Corporation for Reparation and Reconciliation
Santiago, 1993

"VICTOR MANUEL GONZALEZ MILLONES, 30 years of age, married, employed, disappeared on November 10, 1984 in Putaendo.

Victor Manuel Gonzalez Millones, member of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), was arrested on that day by a Carabinero police patrol in the mountainous area near the Los Patos border pass. He has been disappeared ever since.

As testified by his wife and verified by various court records, in 1973 a War Council sentenced Victor Manuel Gonzalez to eleven years in prison. He was released in 1976, when his sentence was commuted to exile. In 1981, he entered the country illegally. In 1984 secret police learned about his situation, and began to look for him.

In August 1984, the Interior Ministry filed for an injunction with the Santiago Court of Appeals for his illegal entry into the country. In October of that year, the judge summoned him to testify, and when he failed to appear in court, issued an arrest warrant against him.

A brother of Victor Manuel Gonzalez has testified that this situation made Victor fear for his safety, and he decided to flee on foot to Argentina, through the border pass mentioned previously. At that place, on November 10, 1984, a Carabinero police patrol arrested him and took his bag of belongings.

On July 3, 1985, the Interior Ministry confirmed to the Appellate Court judge that Victor Manuel Gonzalez was under arrest and in the custody of the Putaendo Court, which was ordered to present him before the Court of Appeals. The Putaendo Court informed the Santiago Court of Appeals that Victor Manuel Gonzales did not appear in its records of prisoners.

The family subsequently filed a denunciation for presumed misfortune, which the Court dismissed without determining his whereabouts or ascertaining what had happened to him.

In view of the information gathered and the investigation conducted, particularly the Interior Ministry's knowledge of the arrest of Victor Manuel Gonzalez Millones, the Corporation Council reached the conviction that he disappeared after arrest by agents of the State of Chile. For this reason, the Corporation declares him to be a victim of human rights violations.

Please send any information about Victor Manuel Gonzalez to e-mail [email protected] or telephone 56-2-2880474 (in Chile) and mobile phone 09-8686324.

Many thanks from,

Maria Cristina Pezoa Lazo
CI. 7.351.385-5
Santiago ,October 2002

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