On Thursday, the Oral Criminal Court of Cañete sentenced Tomás, Felipe, and Yeferson Antihuen to qualified life imprisonment for the murder of three carabineros in April 2024. Nicolás Rivas Paillao was given 17 years as an accomplice. The sentence means lifelong incarceration without parole for at least 40 years.
On March 26, 2026, the Oral Criminal Court of Cañete issued its verdict for the triple murder of carabineros Misael Magdiel Vidal Cid, Sergio Antonio Arévalo Lobo, and Carlos José Cisterna Navarro, which took place overnight from April 26 to 27, 2024, in the Antiquina sector at kilometer 25 of Ruta P-72S between Cañete and Tirúa. The officers from the 4th Public Order Control Station in Los Álamos were ambushed while checking a nighttime house arrest at a property linked to the Antihuen family. Upon opening their armored truck's gate, they were attacked, disarmed, killed, and their bodies loaded into the police vehicle. The perpetrators drove it to kilometer 24, where they set it ablaze with fuel from a police chainsaw, incinerating the victims' bodies in the early hours of April 27. Brothers Tomás, Felipe, and Yeferson Antihuen Santi were convicted as perpetrators of three qualified homicides against public officials and violent robbery, plus five years for arson. They also received additional sentences for illegal firearm possession: Yeferson for five years and one day over incidents in Contulmo on March 29, 2023, and Cañete on April 26, 2024; Felipe for three years and one day in Cañete; and Tomás for ten years related to events in 2020 and 2025. Nicolás Rivas Paillao, accomplice in one homicide and robbery, got 17 years in maximum-degree major prison. Qualified life imprisonment ensures the brothers remain jailed for life, ineligible for parole before 40 effective years. The victims were posthumously promoted to senior subofficer; their station renamed Héroes de Arauco. Cisterna was 43 with 24 years of service, father to a six-year-old; Arévalo, 34 with 14 years, father to a one-year-old; Vidal, 30 with ten years, father to a three-year-old. Carabineros welcomed the ruling: “This shows there is no room for impunity in crimes against those who protect the citizenry,” stressing the need to preserve the memory of their martyrs.
