Juan Bosco Maino Canales (died 1976?) was a

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

, political activist, and opponent of

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

's regime in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. He was a leader in the

Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitaria The Popular Unitary Action Movement or MAPU ( es, Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitario) was a small Left-wing politics, leftist political party in Chile. It was part of the Popular Unity (Chile), Popular Unity coalition during the government o ...

(''United Popular Action Movement''). He was detained on May 26, 1976 by agents of

Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional The Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional ( en, National Intelligence Directorate) or DINA was the secret police of Chile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. The DINA has been referred to as "Pinochet's Gestapo". Established in November ...

(DINA) agents and

disappeared An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organiza ...

Early life

Juan Maino was an engineering graduate from Universidad Técnica del Estado (State Technical University) and a militant and dirigent of the Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitaria. He was working on his thesis in mechanical engineering with classmate Antonio Elizondo Ormachea.

Arrest

Two days before his arrest, on May 24, 1976, around 3 p.m., Andrés Rekas Urra, the brother of Elizabeth Rekas Urra who, in turn, was the wife of Elizondo, was arrested by DINA agents. He was driven to a secret detention and torture facility known as

Villa Grimaldi Villa Grimaldi is considered the most important of DINA’s (Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional, the Chilean secret police during the Pinochet regime) many complexes that were used for the interrogation and torture of political prisoners during ...

. There, he was interrogated about the "activities" of his sister and brother-in-law as well as Juan. He was forced to identify his sister in a clandestine stake-out and on May 26, he was able to hear his sister screaming at Villa Grimaldi. Maino was arrested by DINA agents on the night of May 26, 1976, at the Elizondo apartment, in

Ñuñoa Ñuñoa (; from Mapudungun ''Ñuñohue'', "place of yellow flowers") is a commune of the Northeastern zone of Santiago, in the Santiago Metropolitan Region of Chile. According to the 2021 Urban Life Quality Index (ICVU), it is considered the fou ...

, Santiago, together with Elizabeth Rekas Urra. The latter was pregnant at the time and her husband, Antonio Elizondo, had been detained earlier that same day around 6:30 p.m. at the intersection of Alameda Avenue and Lord Cochrane Street, in downtown Santiago. Both are also still listed as disappeared. According to witnesses, Maino and Rekas were detained by at least three agents in one car, who remained at Elizondo's house past 2.00 a.m. Days after his disappearance, Maino's mother presented a ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

'' to the 8th Criminal Tribunal of Santiago. The court refused to investigate the case. In the Chilean criminal system, investigating, prosecuting, and judging were all then done by only one person, the criminal judge, according to Judge Juan Guzmán's autobiography, released in 2005. Andrés Rekas Urra was released the same day, but no trace of Antonio Elizondo, Elizabeth Rekas and Juan Maino has been found since then.

Investigation

In 2005,

Paul Schäfer Paul Schäfer Schneider (4 December 1921 – 24 April 2010) was a Nazi, child rapist, German-Chilean Christian minister and the founder and leader of a sect and agricultural commune of 300 German immigrants called Colonia Dignidad (''Dignity ...

, the former leader the enclave of

Colonia Dignidad Colonia Dignidad ("Dignity Colony") was an isolated colony of Germans established in post-World War II Chile by emigrant Germans which became notorious for the internment, torture, and murder of dissidents during the military dictatorship of G ...

, Chile, was charged with involvement in his "disappearance" after two cars owned by Maino were found inside Colonia Dignidad.

References

External links

Truth Commissions Digital Collection: Reports: Chile
PART THREE, Chapter Two (A.2.c) 1974 through August 1977 {{DEFAULTSORT:Maino, Juan 1970s missing person cases 1976 deaths Assassinated Chilean journalists Chilean photographers Enforced disappearances in Chile Missing people Missing person cases in Chile People killed in Operation Condor Year of birth missing

Early life

Arrest

Investigation

See also

References

External links