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PISAGUA TESTIMONY
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From the testimony provided on June 1, 1990 to the Chilean courts investigating Pisagua by Alberto Enrique Neumann Lagos, a medical doctor, imprisoned at the Pisagua concentration camp. Neumann was a city councillor for the City of Valparaíso at the time of his arrest on September 11, 1973. He was first detained aboard the Esmeralda prison-ship in Valparaíso and then the Maipo prison-ship, which brought him to Pisagua on September 18, 1973. The camp commanders used his services to confirm the deaths of prisoners after execution.
On October 11, I woke up early and was taken in a jeep along with Commander Larraín (Lieutenant Coronel Ramón Larraín, head of the detention camp), and some other vehicles. At that point, I still did not know where we were going or what was the nature of the special mission Larraín had told me about.
We arrived at one end of the former Pisagua cemetery, between the cemetery and the sea. There were almost all the Pisagua Army authorities, plus lower-ranking officers, all in what looked like ceremonial military formation. The officers were armed with semi-automatic weapons; there was also a platoon of conscripts lined up like a firing squad, with some standing and others kneeling in front of them, also armed with automatic rifles.
I was able to see that the military officers were situated beside a ditch or excavation that had recently been dug, measuring about 15 meters long by two meters wide. In the bottom there were six bodies side-by-side, wrapped in bags...
I was informed by Commander Larraín that some prisoners were going to be executed. They had been condemned by a War Council, he said.
Subsequently, Larraín made a speech, directed at the military officers and especially at the firing squad. At this point, the prisoners had not yet arrived. His speech was meant to give them the strength to commit the crime, saying that they were cleaning up the country of its bad elements...
I must add that the lower-ranking officers were lined up perpendicular to the soldiers that made up the firing squad and were also armed, which really put a lot of pressure on the soldiers to fire.
What happened next was done in total silence, without any verbal commands. The prisoners arrived on foot. First, three blindfolded prisoners were placed in front of the firing squad, beside each other and separated by about two meters. An officer gave the signal to shoot with his hand and then the squad, comprised of 12 men, shot. The three prisoners fell dead.
I have the impression that the prisoners did not know what was happening, because they did not behave as if they knew what was going on. They were very calm.
Then, Commander Larraín told me that I had to verify the death of the executed men, which I did, confirming their death, except for one. The officer proceeded to give him the so-called "mercy shot."
The corpses of these three persons were wrapped in burlap bags and thrown inside the aforementioned pit.
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