April 4, 1975

April 4, 1975, is a hinge in the prison chronology: records for Luis Alberto Molina and Valentin Arregui Paz give the same date for their transfer to Pavilion D, cell 7. The date therefore marks the administrative beginning of their shared cell, while preserving the contrast between Molina’s sentence and Arregui’s detention as a political prisoner awaiting judgment.

Molina’s Transfer

Molina had been sentenced on July 20, 1974, by Judge Justo José Dalpierre to eight years’ imprisonment for corruption of minors. He was lodged in Pavilion B, cell 34, from July 28, 1974, with other prisoners convicted of sexual offenses. His record describes his conduct as good. On April 4, 1975, he was transferred to Pavilion D, cell 7, where Arregui was held.

Arregui’s Prison Chronology

Arregui had been arrested on October 16, 1972, along Route 5 outside Barrancas, when National Guard troops surrounded a group of activists involved in disturbances with strikers at two automotive assembly plants beside the highway. Held under executive power and awaiting judgment, he was recorded in Pavilion A, cell 10, with political prisoner Bernardo Giacinti as of November 4, 1974.

Arregui took part in a hunger strike protesting the death of political prisoner Juan Vicente Aparicio during police interrogation. The prison record says he was moved to solitary confinement for ten days beginning March 25, 1975. It characterizes his conduct as rebellious and identifies him as a reputed instigator of the hunger strike and other protests concerning prison conditions. On April 4, he was transferred to Pavilion D, cell 7, with Molina.

Significance of the Date

The date joins two distinct institutional histories in one cell: Molina arrived after a criminal conviction and a period in Pavilion B, while Arregui arrived after years of detention under executive power and political protest. April 4 is thus significant not as a change in either man’s stated legal status, but as the recorded point at which their confinement became shared.