Modesto Carriegas Pérez
Modesto Carriegas Pérez (Arcentales, 1932 – Baracaldo, 1979) was a Spanish banker and politician. He directed a Banco Hispano Americano branch in Baracaldo and was the second candidate on the Unión Foral del País Vasco list for the Congress of Deputies in the 1979 general election. He was married and had five children.
On January 27, 1979, four ETA members robbed the bank where he worked, stole ten million pesetas, and kidnapped Carriegas. They took him to Barakaldo railway station, forced him onto a train toward Bilbao, and later released him in a bar after warning him not to report the theft until nine o’clock. Their aim was to delay reporting the crime.
On September 13, 1979, around 8 a.m., three ETA members attacked him near his home. Two hid on the stairs to the basement. Carriegas was shot four times—twice in the head and twice in the stomach—and died at the Cruces hospital. Neighbours and a doctor helped at the scene. The attackers had stolen a white Seat 127 in Portugalete to use as a getaway car.
After the murder, Carriegas’s family received a letter from ETA telling them to leave Baracaldo. On December 26, 1979, the Spanish National Court provisionally closed the investigation due to lack of conclusive evidence. Two days later ETA’s military wing claimed responsibility for the attack. The case remains unresolved, with no convictions or official attribution to specific ETA members.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 12:57 (CET).