On October 6, 1973, the following five detainees were victims of political execution in the "La Veleidosa" mine sector, near Tocopilla:

-Freddy Alex ARAYA FIGUEROA, 21 years old, university student, socialist militant; who had been detained on September 30, 1973, at a relative's home, taken to the Investigaciones barracks, and moved to the Tocopilla police station two days later;

-Reinaldo Armando AGUIRRE PRUNEDA, 28 years old, employee of the Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (Soquimich), socialist militant; detained on October 4, 1973, by personnel from the Tocopilla Investigaciones police and taken to the local Carabineros station.

-Claudio Rómulo TOGNOLA RIOS, 42 years old, physician, socialist militant; who was detained on September 16, 1973, at his home by officials from the Investigaciones police and Carabineros, transferred to the police station, and later held in the jail.

-Luis Orozimbo SEGOVIA VILLALOBOS, 28 years old, executive engineer, employee of Cobrechuqui, socialist militant; detained on September 11, 1973, at his workplace. Despite his family searching for him in various detention centers, they received no news of his whereabouts until the publication of an official statement by the Tocopilla Military Commander (Jefe de Plaza) reporting an attempted escape.

-Carlos Miguel GARAY BENAVIDES, 25 years old, supervisor at Cobrechuqui, communist militant; who was detained on September 12 by Carabineros officials at his workplace. He was taken to the Tocopilla police station and subsequently to the jail.

According to an official statement issued by the Tocopilla Military Commander and published in the newspaper *La Estrella de Antofagasta*, on October 8, the detainees held in the Tocopilla jail—Carlos Garay Benavides, Luis Segovia Villalobos, Claudio Tognola Ríos, Freddy Araya Figueroa, and Reinaldo Aguirre Pruneda—were transported to a mine located 15 km north of Tocopilla to carry out a Military Prosecutor's procedure.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Armed Forces and Carabineros personnel "were unearthing a large quantity of dynamite and amongelatina, the prisoners fled into the interior of the mine and, despite warnings, did not obey the order to stop, which is why they were fired upon.

As a consequence of the above, Freddy Araya Figueroa and Reinaldo Aguirre Pruneda were killed. The rest of the prisoners managed to flee into the interior of the mine, but based on evidence collected at the scene, it is estimated they fled while wounded."

The mortal remains of Reinaldo Armando Aguirre and Freddy Alex Araya Figueroa were delivered to the local morgue, from where they were collected by their families after the official statement was made public.

The official version, which was inherently weak, was refuted in 1990 when, by judicial order, the La Veleidosa mine was excavated. The remains of the alleged escapees—who had been forcibly disappeared until that time—were found and legally identified, in conditions that evidenced they had been executed.

The Commission formed the conviction that the deaths of the five individuals already identified were political executions of captured prisoners, for which State agents were responsible, constituting a grave violation of human rights, based on the following circumstances:

-It is implausible that a group of heavily guarded detainees, especially considering they were allegedly searching for weapons and explosives, could have attempted an escape; -In addition to the above, various reliable testimonies confirm that at least some of them were in precarious physical condition as a result of the torture they had received during their imprisonment; -Finally, the discovery of the lifeless bodies of the alleged escapees at the same site where the events occurred, hidden in a mine and showing signs of having been executed, refutes the official version regarding their escape.