October 16, 1972

October 16, 1972, marks the arrest of Valentin Arregui Paz, a date that anchors the prison chronology of his political detention. The official report places the arrest on Route 5 outside Barrancas and describes National Guard troops surrounding a group of activists connected with strike-related disturbances at two automotive assembly plants along the highway.

The Arrest Record

The prison report identifies October 16, 1972, as the date of Arregui’s arrest. Its account situates the event amid labor unrest: the activists were described as promoting disturbances with strikers at two automotive assembly plants. The report records the National Guard’s encirclement of the group but does not give further detail about the arrest itself.

Detention and Political Status

Following the arrest, Arregui was held under the authority of the Federal Government’s Executive Power while awaiting judgment. As of November 4, 1974, he was lodged in Pavilion A, cell 10, with political prisoner Bernardo Giacinti. The report also records his participation in a hunger strike protesting the death of political prisoner Juan Vicente Aparicio during police interrogation. These later entries show that the 1972 date begins a record of detention in which protest and prison discipline remained closely linked.

Place in the Prison Chronology

The report traces Arregui’s movement through the prison system after his arrest: he was placed in solitary confinement for ten days beginning March 25, 1975, and transferred on April 4 to Pavilion D, cell 7, with Luis Alberto Molina. Molina’s own entry records his sentence on July 20, 1974, and his transfer to that cell on April 4, 1975. The dates distinguish their different paths into imprisonment while pinpointing when they became cellmates. October 16, 1972, therefore functions not as an isolated calendar reference but as the starting point for the documented span of Arregui’s detention and its eventual convergence with Molina’s.