JAIME PATRICIO DONATO AVENDAÑO
Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño, married, five children, electric mechanic and a trade union leader was detained on May 5th, 1976 by agents of the DINA (Directorate of National Intelligence) along with other communists leaders at a house located on Conferencia Street 1587, in Santiago, between April 30 and May 5, 1976. The house was occupied by the agents during the six days in which the operation was carried out.
In the early hours of the morning of April 30th, 1976, Juan Becerra was detained by the DINA. He was taken to the DINA torture center known as Villa Grimaldi. Juan Becerra was questioned and tortured. At dawn, Juan Becerra and other detainees, among them, his wife and sister-in-law, were taken to his house located in Conferencia street, where the agents prepared what was known as a “mousetrap”, that is to occupy a house trying to give the impression of normality in order to detain people who come into the house. The agents forced “retained” people into staying in the house, taking over between them every 24 hours.
Many communist leaders were detained on arrival at that house and consequently taken to torture centres.
On May 5th, Patricio Donato Avendaño arrived to the house without knowing what was happening, being immediately detained. Later, Uldarico Donaire Cortez reached the house, and was also detained by the agents. They were kept in that spot until almost midnight, at that moment they were taken to a precinct run by the DINA and subsequently by the CNI, known as Villa Grimaldi
The detainee leaders of the Communist party are today detained disappeared.
Previously, Jaime Donato had been summoned and then released by the police organizations. The first detention occurred in September 1973 when his parent’s house was raided. Subsequently, in December of the same year, Jaime Donato was detained in his house, coerced physically and then released.
His wife, Mariana Guzmán, carried out numerous but unsuccessful actions to seek the final whereabouts of Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño. Their children had to go into exile and one of them spent a long time in prison because of his political activities.
In Italy, a proceeding was opened against the ex- general Augusto Pinochet, accused of the detection and later disappearance of five Italian- Chilean people during his regime (1973-90). The prosecutor, Giancarlo Capaldo, was in charge of the preliminary investigation in order to determine whether conditions to initiate a proceeding existed not only against Pinochet, but against his secret services’ chief, Manuel Contreras. Capaldo led the investigation of the disappearance of Juan Montillo, Omar Venturelli, Giovanni Maino, Jaime Donato and Dignaldo Pizzini.
In June 2002, judge Juan Guzmán Tapia permanently dismissed the former director of the DINA, general Manuel Contreras, related to the Conferencia street case, in which is investigated the disappearance of Jaime Donato, among others.
The plaintiff appealed against the dismissal of Contreras
A tree was planted on his memory, as part of our ecomemoria program : www.ecomemoria.com