Roger Mateos brings 'El verano de los inocentes' to the A Contracultura festival
1. Key points
Roger Mateos, a journalist with the EFE news agency, presented 'El verano de los inocentes' in Puerto del Rosario.
The book reconstructs the case of Xosé Humberto Baena, a FRAP militant and the last person executed by firing squad under Franco.
The presentation, hosted by writer Javier Tendero, took place on Tuesday 9 June at the Casa de la Cultura.
The work draws on dozens of testimonies and documentary discoveries, including papers from Albania's Central State Archive.
The event is part of the A Contracultura festival programme run by the council's Culture Department.
2. The news in detail
On Tuesday 9 June at 7.30 pm, the Casa de la Cultura in Puerto del Rosario hosted the presentation of 'El verano de los inocentes', the investigation by Roger Mateos, an EFE news agency journalist in Catalonia, into the case of the last man executed by firing squad under Franco: Xosé Humberto Baena, a FRAP militant accused of killing a police officer. Writer Javier Tendero introduced the book at an event included in the programme of the A Contracultura festival, organised by the town council's Culture Department.
In this account, the author draws on dozens of testimonies from former FRAP militants, members of armed cells, relatives of those sentenced to death and lawyers, to reconstruct the life journey that led Baena into a fanaticised terrorist group, the family and personal background he came from, and the political and social context in which the killing took place.
The book also features significant documentary discoveries, such as transcripts of the meetings the leadership of the PCE (m-l) held clandestinely in 1975 and papers on FRAP from Albania's Central State Archive, published for the first time in its pages.
Roger Mateos (Barcelona, 1977) has been a journalist with the EFE agency since 2003 and currently heads its political desk in Barcelona. He has published reports on the clandestine activities of the PCE (m-l) and FRAP, and the books 'El país del presidente eterno', 'Soldados del gol' and, with Jelena Prokopljevic, 'Corea del Norte, utopía de hormigón'. He co-wrote 'Tota la veritat', an investigation into the inner workings of the Catalan independence process, and in 2018 published 'Caso Cipriano Martos' with Anagrama, an exhaustive investigation that helped restore the memory of the anti-Franco militant.
3. Voices and statements
“An exhaustive investigation into the case of the last man executed under Franco,” is how the town council's statement describes the work, which reconstructs Xosé Humberto Baena's story through first-hand testimonies and previously unpublished documents.
4. When, where and how to attend
The presentation took place on Tuesday 9 June 2026 at 7.30 pm at the Casa de la Cultura in Puerto del Rosario, as part of the A Contracultura festival. The season, promoted by the council's Culture Department, continues over the coming days with further events devoted to journalism and culture, including a conversation with elDiario.es editor Ignacio Escolar on Thursday 11 June.
5. What it means for Fuerteventura
With events like this, Puerto del Rosario is consolidating a cultural offering that goes beyond entertainment, bringing the debate on Spain's historical memory to Fuerteventura and giving local audiences access to investigative journalism of national significance.
Stay up to date with the island's cultural agenda in the Fuerteventura news from Fuerteventura TV.
