• Universidad de Santiago’s Student Federation paid homage to psychologist Carmen Gloria Quintana Arancibia, for her permanent defense of human rights, in her condition of victim in the case known in Chile as “Caso Quemados” (the Case of the Burned Youngsters), an incident that occurred in 1986, when she was a student at the Electrical Engineering Program of Universidad de Santiago. Her companion, photographer Rodrigo Rojas de Negri, did not survive the incident.

 

 

At the Aula Magna of Universidad de Santiago, Carmen Gloria Quintana was paid a warm homage. She was a student at the Electrical Engineering Program of this University in 1986, the year when she and photographer Rodrigo Rojas de Negri were burned alive by an army patrol. Rodrigo Rojas died and she was badly injured and left dangerously near to death.


The ceremony was organized by the Universidad de Santiago’s Student Federation (Feusach). Francisco Ugaz, Executive Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior’s Human Rights Program, and Inéz Erazo, widow of former Universidad de Santiago’s President, Enrique Kirberg, attended the ceremony, among others.
 

Marta Matamala Mejía, President of the Universidad de Santiago’s Student Federation, and Cristián Berríos, President of the Federation in 1986, highlighted how important is Carmen Gloria Quintana for Human Rights matters in our country and recognized her as an example of consistency and courage.
 

Carmen Gloria Quintana expressed her gratitude and said that she valued the concrete actions of truth and justice that Universidad de Santiago has taken for years that “give meaning to forgiveness.”
 

For example, the posthumous professional diplomas awarded to 39 students of Universidad Técnica del Estado who got disappeared and killed by political reasons; the Report delivered by the “University Reconciliation Commission”, which included a record of all people who suffered repression of any kind during the military dictatorship, and the memorials built to honor the fallen at Universidad de Santiago.
 

In this sense, the criminal complaint for attempted murder filed a few days ago by this University, in the context of the “Caso Quemados,” rises as a significant contribution in order to clarify the facts and find the culprits.
 

Memory
 

Carmen Gloria Quintana specified that there is no revanchism in her search for truth and justice, but an attempt to preserve memory; to clearly state that life is an unalienable right of human beings which cannot ever be taken off by the ignominious use of weapons.
 

“Memory should address future and current generations. It should be constructive and it should say that these terrible crimes cannot ever happen again in our country,” she said. That is why “a dignified memory should be based on the whole truth and the whole justice,” she concluded.
 

Her words were interrupted in several occasions by the hundreds of people who attended the ceremony, supporting the clear position of Carmen Gloria Quintana, who currently serves as scientific attaché at the Embassy of Chile in Canada.
 

Symbols
 

Marta Matamala gave Carmen Gloria Quintana the flag that the students of Universidad de Santiago have used to lead the public protests in the past few years as well as the University pennant, as symbol of the commitment of the students of this institution to her permanent defense of human rights.
 

She highlighted that the example given by Carmen Gloria Quintana inspires new generations, because time should not interfere with the desire for truth and justice.
 

For his part, in a previous meeting, Dr Juan Manuel Zolezzi, President of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, gave her a copy of the criminal complaint for attempted murder that Universidad de Santiago filed in the context of the investigation led by Judge Mario Carroza.