El Ciudadano
Original article: La sombra de la impunidad: Neira y Ferrada, los rostros de la tortura que caminan hacia la libertad
In August 2024, the Fourth Oral Criminal Tribunal (TOP) in Santiago sentenced two Carabineros to effective prison time for their involvement in the torture incidents that took place during the social unrest of 2019.
The individuals in question are former Carabineros lieutenant Nicolás Andrés Neira Durán and officer Gustavo José Andrés Ferrada Vásquez, who received 5 and 4 years of effective prison sentences respectively for their roles in the completed crime of torture, which occurred in Santiago in January 2020.
The TOP found them guilty of torturing Renzo Fuentealba. The ruling established that after a detention at the Metro in 2020, the officers inflicted beatings, repeated asphyxiation, and struck the victim against a gate, leading to a severe nasal fracture.
With the arrival of José Kast to La Moneda, the two ex-Carabineros convicted of tortures committed in 2020 may regain their freedom through a presidential pardon announced for individuals convicted in the context of social unrest. This is not merely excessive use of force; rather, it involves more serious matters: documented torture committed by those tasked with protecting citizens. Is it justifiable for such individuals to gain their freedom?
The Origin of the Torment: The Ambush at Metro Universidad de Chile
The events transpired on January 31, 2020, around 4:00 PM, inside Metro Universidad de Chile station, located in Santiago. According to the ruling, Ferrada and Neira, while carrying out their duties alongside other officers, pursued and intercepted the victim, Renzo Fuentealba, proceeding to assault him with a kick to the face and subsequently striking him with their service baton.
Later, the accused restrained and handcuffed the victim, forcibly removing him from the station while threatening to continue the assaults, tightening the handcuffs and twisting his fingers.
Furthermore, the ruling stated that the ex-officers transported the victim to the First Carabineros Station in Santiago, during which they began bending his arms. At that point, Neira choked him, briefly cutting off his breathing, in a sequence that was repeated numerous times.
Subsequently, the accused, hiding behind a mobile police checkpoint near the station, held the victim’s arms and legs, swung him, and slammed him against a gate on Enrique Mac Iver Street before reaching Santo Domingo. As a result of these assaults, the victim sustained various injuries, including a serious one: a fractured nasal bone with displacement.
“In the opinion of these judges, the described acts constitute the crime of torture as outlined and penalized in Article 150 A of the Penal Code, integrated by Law No. 20.968, which establishes: the public employee who, abusing their position or functions, applies, orders, or consents to the application of torture, will be punished with major imprisonment at its minimum degree,” the ruling states.
In November 2025, the Santiago Court of Appeals rejected a nullity appeal, affirming the conviction for torture against Ferrada and Neira. It is noteworthy that the case stemmed from a complaint filed by the National Human Rights Institute (INDH), which also argued for the dismissal of the appeal.
The ruling confirmed the sentence from the second oral trial—the first was annulled in 2024—and dismissed errors in the legal classification of the crime, highlighting the severity of the acts, which included beatings, asphyxiation, and degrading treatment against the victim. Additionally, it was confirmed that intensive supervised release was not applicable in this type of crime. Previously, the convicted had attempted to reverse their sentences before the Constitutional Court, but were unsuccessful.
From Upstanding Officer to Convicted: The End of the ‘Lifestyle’
Nicolás Andrés Neira Durán was born on May 2, 1994, in Santiago. He represents the profile of institutional middle management. He entered the Carabineros Academy in 2013 and graduated in 2016, meaning at the time of the events, he was a young officer but had direct authority over his subordinates. In his defense, he claimed that he always wanted to be a Carabineros officer.
In court documents, his personality comes across as methodical and defensive; his self-defense strategy relied on strict adherence to procedural manuals, trying to project an image of a technical officer who merely “fulfilled his duty.”
“He specifies that he was the service chief, in charge of everything, and that the arrest occurred as explained, clarifying that the victim only presented his identity card and that he did not order any Carabineros to have physical contact with the victim […]. The physical force to lift and handcuff the victim was executed by the other two Carabineros who arrived first; he did not do it and insists he never had physical interaction with the victim, therefore he did not hit the victim at any time,” his defense states in the record.
In the document, Neira reiterated that he had not previously had any issues with his arrests, and that this was the first time he found himself in such a situation. He added that, due to this accusation, his life took a 180-degree turn, as he claimed, “I always had the best ratings and now everything is called into question.”
Additionally, in his defense, he stated: “Regarding when he became aware of this case, he responds that it was in 2023, as when he received the phone call indicating it was regarding a nasal fracture, he was informed that the detainee was complaining, and it’s common for detainees to always say that the Carabineros assaulted them; this is an absolutely normal attitude. Learning about a complaint against him, a penal process against him only happened in 2023,” his defense added.
In his final words, he expressed that he never imagined finding himself in such a situation and that throughout his 12-year career, he had not faced previous issues. He stated that the process led to personal questioning, but he always understood his work as a lifestyle, indicating his desire to continue within the institution.
He asserted that he had not acted incorrectly, denied the alleged acts—which he described as false—and, although he recognized the complexities of his job and the strain faced, he expressed confidence in the judgment.
However, the court detected a dissonance: while he attempted to present himself as an orderly figure, testimonies described him as the instigator, permitting and participating in acts of cruelty, suggesting a profile of authority that exploited the hierarchical structure to validate the abuse of power.
Testimonies like that of the victim himself recount a version vastly different from Neira’s claim that he never had physical interaction with the victim:
“He specifies that it was a group of Carabineros, but it was Lieutenant Neira who landed the punch to the nose, and he knows because at the moment he kicked him he looked up due to the impact and also because, as he attempted to stand up, he saw Neira and was struck more blows and subdued…,” stated Fuentealba’s defense.
In fact, Fuentealba testified that the conflict began when Lieutenant Neira, after withholding his identity card, shoved and threatened him. He indicated that a highly tense atmosphere developed, where the identity control extended for nearly 40 minutes without effective verifications, while Neira only awaited the arrival of more officers. Furthermore, he stated that after attempting to leave the metro station, he was pursued by Neira and Ferrada.
In the testimony from the victim’s brother, not only does he recount the assault, but also the demeanor of the officer throughout the events. According to what Fuentealba allegedly told him, the Carabinero stared intently, with a wild expression, while applying asphyxiation. In this context, he declared: “He would asphyxiate him for a few seconds, then stop, then asphyxiate him again, then stop, then asphyxiate him again, then stop, as a torture technique. He told me the carabinero looked him in the eyes with a crazy face while doing this and then, when he fell to the ground, they kicked him in the nose.”
This gap between the methodical officer citing manuals and the Carabinero who, according to the ruling, used his boot and hands to asphyxiate, ultimately collapsed Neira’s defense. For the court, his account was nothing more than an administrative construct designed to obscure what the ruling termed a dehumanized conduct.
In the end, the ‘12 years of impeccable career’ he invoked as a shield did not weigh as heavily as the ‘crazy’ look that the victim described during the asphyxiation, sealing the first effective conviction for torture against an officer within the context of social unrest.
«Due Obedience» and Willful Blindness: Ferrada’s Account
On the other hand, Gustavo José Andrés Ferrada Vásquez, was born in Chillán on October 28, 1991 (34 years old). At the time of the events, Ferrada, holding the rank of Second Corporal, functioned as the executing arm within the patrol.
In his defense, it was detailed that at the time of the events, he worked at the 15th Police Station in Buin and had eight and a half years of experience in the Carabineros. He added that he spent a year as a second corporal and had a year of training. Additionally, he noted that before January 31, he was ordered to serve at the 1st Police Station in Santiago.
He also recounted that at the time of the events, he was accompanying his lieutenant during the identity check of two men and a woman, who began insulting and mocking them. According to his testimony, one of the young men became agitated due to the delay, adopting a challenging stance and issuing threats, resulting in him snatching the identity card from the lieutenant before pushing him to the ground. After that, the young men fled towards Metro Universidad de Chile, with the officers in pursuit.
According to his testimony, his role was to accompany at a close distance; he claimed not to have witnessed the arrest nor does he know the officers who performed it: “he was not the apprehender, was not tasked with taking statements from the apprehenders, and does not know where they went after arriving at the first police station,” his defense states.
“As final words, he thanks the court for the treatment referred to during his testimony and mentions that he too suffers psychological sequelae; he always wanted to be a Carabinero to help his mother and lived in the Vicente Pérez Rosales neighborhood, known as the home of the brave, and as the only carabinero from that area, he could have been a delinquent, but he was not. In his actions, he has never behaved improperly and reiterates that he never struck the victim and that he is not the villain in this story,” his defense concluded.
Unlike Neira’s more administrative stance, Ferrada’s profile is marked by direct physical action. During the judicial process, it was established that he was the one who delivered kicks to the face of a victim who was already restrained and handcuffed, a trait that demonstrates a loss of impulse control or a sadistic engagement in high tension contexts.
His figure is that of a subordinate who, under the supervision of a superior with no limitations, escalates violence to levels of torture. His profile is not that of a strategist but rather an operational officer whose previous behavior (commendable or not) was overshadowed by the brutality exercised in a confined space like the Metro.
In the testimony given by the victim, he clearly identifies Ferrada as one of his aggressors: “when they arrive at the metro, a man trips him because he thought he was being robbed and at that moment he falls, all the Carabineros come, Neira and Ferrada start beating him with the batons, and among those, they kick him in the face; the first strike was the kick to the face.”
Moreover, the victim stated that all the Carabineros, particularly Ferrada, threatened him, saying that he would regret what he did, that “they would take the life of his mother” and were waiting to reach a location for that purpose, next to the station on Mac Iver Street.
“When walking to Catedral, Ferrada told him they were arriving at a street without cameras and that they were going to ‘do him in,’ and at that moment he thought ‘okay, I’m going to get beaten up’, and when they turned left onto Mac Iver, just before reaching the station, there was a checkpoint, and there all the Carabineros, about 5 or 6, he cannot remember because Ferrada and Neira left a stronger impression since they were guiding the entire situation,” the statement outlines.
Ferrada’s account before the court attempted to appeal to his origins in the Vicente Pérez Rosales neighborhood in Chillán, presenting himself as the young man who donned the uniform to “not be a delinquent” and assist his mother. However, the judiciary dismantled that narrative of overcoming by establishing that, in the darkness of the Metro and the alleys of Santiago, Ferrada did not act as a guardian of order but as the executor of violent acts.
His self-perception as ‘the only brave one from his neighborhood’ collided against the evidence of a kick to the face of a restrained man and threats to ‘do him in’ in a street without cameras. In the end, he was not the villain of his own story but rather the material author of an act of torture, marking him as the first Corporal from the institution to be sentenced to actual prison time for these crimes.
The Rift of Impunity: Heroes or Torturers?
Despite the court’s clear designation of Nicolás Neira and Gustavo Ferrada as perpetrators of torture, the current political climate under José Kast’s administration opens a rift of impunity: both could regain their freedom under the official narrative that positions them as “heroes defending the homeland.”
However, the profiles of the two convicted show no remorse or acknowledgment of the harm done; rather, they reveal a disturbing disconnect between the vocational aspirations they professed and the brutality they enacted.
The lingering question in this ruling is at what point the aspiration to protect citizens morphed into a will to destroy them. The answer, perhaps, was provided by the victim during the trial:
“Regarding the psychological impact, he indicates it affected his way of relating to others and he tried to turn it into a positive note, recognizing that for such violence to occur, the perpetrators must be individuals not in a stable condition psychologically. In this case, Neira and Ferrada were not well,” Fuentealba testified.
Today, as the government evaluates benefits for those who committed crimes against humanity during democracy, the profiles of these ex-officers come back into the public eye. Not merely as two men who lost their institutional bearings, but as individuals who, according to their victims’ testimony, appeared to take pleasure in executing torment as a group.
It is this profile—the torture as “service”—that now walks towards potential freedom, backed by a state narrative that conflates public order with barbarity without compassion.
El Ciudadano
La entrada The Shadow of Impunity: Neira and Ferrada, Faces of Torture Approaching Freedom se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.
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