On January 4, 1974, Querubín Bernardo CUEVAS PARRA, 38 years old, a teacher, agent of the Production Development Corporation (CORFO) in Linares, and a member of the Partido Comunista, was killed.

He was arrested in Parral by Carabineros officers on September 12, 1973, and taken to the police station in that city. He was admitted to the Linares Artillery School and later transferred to the prison in that city.

According to official information, he was taken from that penitentiary facility to the vicinity of the Pan-American Highway South, in Linares, when "at the moment of carrying out the reconstruction of the scene in case no. 18 37, he attempted to escape...; as a consequence of his attempt, the personnel in charge of his custody found it necessary to open fire, killing him with shots to achieve their objective."

It should be noted that the detainee suffered from an ulcer and had been subjected to torture, leaving him in a deplorable physical condition, which makes it highly implausible that he would have attempted to escape. But even if that had been the case, nothing justifies armed and trained personnel having to kill an unarmed person to detain them.

This Commission has reached the conviction that Bernardo Cuevas was executed by State agents in violation of his human rights.