3 3. The public demonstration of August 3, 1993 in the municipal capital of Colotenango brought together a large number of peasants from various neighboring villages. They had gathered to express their refusal to take part in the civil defense patrols and to protest the abuses committed by these units. The patrols have been repeatedly accused of responsibility for violations in previous years. In 1993, the patrols were formally charged with responsibility for a large number of violations, including the death of peasants Juan Domingo-Sánchez, Pascuala Sánchez-Domingo and Santa Domingo-Sánchez. The State, however, did not conduct a thorough investigation, nor did it make any arrests as a result of those charges. 4. From the information received by the Commission from the Government, it appears that in the actions filed pursuant to the attack on the Colotenango demonstrators, court orders were issued on September 9, 1993 for the arrest of 15 civil patrol members. Nevertheless, nine months later only two of the accused have been detained, according to the claimants, while the rest remain at large. The denouncers indicate that officers of the National Police have declared that they do not dare to go into Colotenango to detain the remaining thirteen patrol members because they are afraid of them. The Army, which is responsible for controlling the patrols, has for its part issued statements attempting to justify its failure to support the enforcement of the arrest warrants. 5. This breakdown of the authority of the State has made it possible for the patrol members to continue to live in their communities and threaten the witnesses to the events of Colotenango. The failure to enforce the court's warrants of arrest seems to have served as an incentive to increase the repression and harassment of the witnesses, because it is perceived as a symbol of the immunity enjoyed by the patrol members, of the lack of interest of the authorities and of the impotence of the courts. 6. On September 26, 1993, Andrés Godínez-Díaz and María PérezSánchez were murdered in their home in the village of Xemal. These two individuals had earlier been threatened by the patrols. The victims were the parents of witnesses RAMIRO, MARCOS and NATIVIDAD GODÍNEZ-PÉREZ. The threats they had received had been reported to the judicial authorities and to the Office of the Attorney for Human Rights, without success. 7. On April 22, 1994, two more witnesses —ARTURO FEDERICO MÉNDEZORTIZ and ALFONSO MORALES-JIMÉNEZ— were detained when they appeared before the court to make a statement, having been accused of homicide. According to their defenders and the organizations presenting these denunciations, this was a false accusation aimed at intimidating them. The information available to the Commission indicates that these persons have not been released. The above mentioned witnesses, Méndez-Ortiz and Morales-Jiménez, were accused of responsibility for the death of the Chief of the civil patrols of the town of Xemal, Colotenango, on September 15, 1993, despite the fact that there is evidence that on that day the two were in an area far removed from the murder scene. 8. Other witnesses have also received threats, among them MIGUEL MORALES-MENDOZA and JULIA GABRIEL-SIMÓN, who survived gunshot wounds at the Colotenango demonstration. 9. Lic. PATRICIA ISPANEL-MEDIMILLA, an attorney with the Pastoral Social Office of the Diocese of Huehuetenango who has thoroughly documented the case and provides advice to the victims, has on at least three occasions been followed by a suspiciuos-looking vehicle. 10. On May 11, 1994, a hearing was held at the Huehuetenango Court in the case against the two La Barranca patrols members who had been detained, Messrs. Juan Pérez-Godínez and Juan Díaz-García. On that day, the Army brought two truckloads of patrolmen from La Barranca. They demonstrated both inside and outside the courtroom in an effort to intimidate the persons participating in the hearing. 11. Eyewitnesses report that most of the patrolmen against whom arrest warrants were outstanding participated in this demonstration, which had been organized by the Army. Neither the representative of the Justice Department, Lic. Cecilia de Cansinos, nor the members of the National Police who were present were willing to