Freire

On October 17, 1973, Hernaldo AGUILERA SALAS, 28 years old, and Leomeres MONROY SEGUEL, 25 years old, were executed. Both were farmers, left-wing sympathizers, and members of the board of the El Roble settlement.

That day, a patrol composed of four Carabineros arrived at the aforementioned settlement, raided the houses, and proceeded to beat the aforementioned individuals in the presence of the other settlers.

Immediately afterward, they were tied to the jeep in which the police officers were traveling and dragged along the road. Approximately 1 km from the site, the patrol stopped and proceeded to execute them. Their bodies were taken to the Temuco morgue.

By means of Communiqué No. 93, the Military Intendancy of Cautín informed the public that: "on October 17, while personnel from the Freire Carabineros Station were transporting the detainees, activists Leomeres Monroy Seguel and Hernaldo Aguilera Salas, to that unit to be placed at the disposal of the Fourth Military Court of Valdivia for being involved in a plan aimed at assaulting Carabineros barracks and murdering their personnel, approximately 4 km east of Freire, they attempted to snatch a carbine from an officer and fled, failing to obey the order to stop, whereupon the personnel used their firearms, killing them."

This Commission cannot accept this version in consideration of the following elements:

It is not plausible that the detainees would have attempted to snatch a weapon from an officer and flee while in a deteriorated physical state, tied up, and dragged by the police vehicle;

Even assuming the event of an attempted escape, the police personnel, who were armed and in a vehicle, could have prevented it without the need to cause the death of two unarmed people.

The sum of these considerations allows this Commission to be convinced that Leomeres Monroy and Hernaldo Aguilera were executed by State agents outside of all legality or justification, in an act of violation of their human rights.