Manuel Segundo TAQUIAS VERGARA
On 15 of October 1973 Manuel Segundo Taquias Vergara, died, 38 years old worker, no political militant. At 10 in the morning of the same day, he was on the corner of San Diego with Copiapo streets, with other people. At that moment a police patrol arrived. The police ordered Manuel Segundo and the other people to leave, and then they started shooting, wounding Taquias and the other persons. Taquias was taken to Hospital Barros Luco, dying hours later.
This commission has formed the conviction that Manuel Taquias Vergara, is the victim of action taken by agents of the state, that have used excessive and indiscriminate power making it a great violation of Human Rights.
Information taken from the report of COMMISSION OF TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION (Informe Retting)
Word from his sister.
My brother and friend Manuel Segundo Taquias Vergara , whom we called Jancy, since hi was little.
He was the eldest of 18 children, from which only 19 survived to adulthood.
At a very young age he had to stop going to school, so he could work in order to help the family, because our father was in the "Black List" due to his activities as a syndicalism. But that didn't make us give in, those days were very hard, but Jancy was always an happy person. I remember his laughter , and his love of books and his passion for music.
He loved nature and life, since he was young he loved to go on the weekends to fish and hunt rabbits with his friends. He like to read, just like his friends, and they were constantly analysis and discussing what they have read. Our house was always full of his friends, so we, his younger siblings, were always witness to their endless discussion.
Jancy did not belonged to any political party, but his principles and commitment to his class where beyond question. He had the examples of our parents Manuel and Ana, which both were Socialist.
Jancy, like thousands of man and woman, was forced to immigrate to other countries out of the misery.
He was then an illegal immigrant, who tried to find work , that would permit him to help his family.
When he returned to Chile, he married and had 4 children. He worked as a shoe maker. During the day he worked in a factory and at night , he worked with our parents.
Jancy was peaceful man. He would use his power of persuasion and reason to calm his friends. His friends used to call him the Judge of Peace. Our brother was known for his happiness and his love for life, his generosity not only with his family , but also with his friends and colleagues.
But his life was taken in an act of violence by Pinochet men. Jancy, was worried about the whereabouts of two of his brothers, who were taken prisoner. He was desperate. He knew what was happening in the detention centres were prisoners were kept and tortured.
So one day when he was waiting for a bus, he saw a military convoy which belonged to the Air Force and in anger shouted out "murderers". It was loud enough for the officer in charge to hear him. So the officer stopped the convoy and they fired on him.
With that brutal act, it was the end of a wonderful human life, just like thousands of victims, who disappeared or were killed during the dictatorship of Pinochet.