Los Toriles, the village of Jocote Amarillo and the canton of Cerro Pando was affected, in one way or another, by one or several of the following situations: (a) fearful of being killed, they were forced to flee from their homes into the hills, woods, rivers and wooded areas of the mountains to take refuge alone or with their families in caves, homes of friends and other safe places in the area, where they remained for days without sufficient food or water; (b) from the places where they had sought safety, they heard and, in some cases, witnessed the soldiers entering the homes of their relatives, neighbors and acquaintances, forcing these persons from their homes, killing them and setting fire to them, and heard their cries for help while they were brutally massacred. They also heard gunfire, gunshots, a hail of bullets, bombardments and the explosion of grenades; (c) when they saw that the soldiers had left, they returned to those places, and found the corpses of the executed victims, including their family members and loved ones, burned and/or in an advance state of decomposition and, in some cases, incomplete, because they had been devoured by animals; (d) in some cases they were unable to bury the bodies they found because the soldiers were still in the area; (e) days later, they proceeded to bury the remains of their family members, including wife, sons and daughters, mother, brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, as well as acquaintances and neighbors, although they also found corpses that they were unable to identify, and (f) some of the survivors searched for the remains of their relatives for days without finding them. 171. Similarly, the evidence presented reveals specific situations that illustrate the way in which some of the surviving victims were affected. Rufina Amaya stated that, from where she was hiding, she was able to hear “the children screaming that they were being killed”, and among them she “made out the screams of her children who cried out: ‘Mama Rufina, they are killing us, they are choking us, they are stabbing us’; […] later [she] realized that they had been killed.”223 Juan Bautista Márquez Argueta explained that, in the place where he was hiding with his family, “several bombs were dropped, which affected his two-month old son, Jesús Salvador, because, owing to the bombardment – in other words, the sound of the bombs – he became ill and died the next day, [and] they had to carry his body with them for two days, because they were unable to bury him.”224 Juan Antonio Pereira Vigil indicated that he had chosen “to leave his home and hide about half a block away in a field of sisal, and was spotted by the soldiers of the Atlacatl battalion; therefore […he] moved around among the sisal and, from there, was able to observe how the soldiers entered his home and took out his family[,], organized them into groups, and then heard the volley of bullets and the explosion of grenades […, later] he proceeded to bury the remains of the members of his family.”225 Rosendo Hernández Amaya 226 and Domingo Vigil Amaya227 both stated that on December 13, 1981, they left their homes at 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., respectively, to attend to their crops, leaving their wives and children at home; shortly after 8 a.m. they heard shots and saw a large column of smoke in the direction of their Sotero Guevara Martínez before the Second First Instance Court of San Francisco Gotera on May 7, 1991 (evidence file, tome III, annex 23 to the submission of the case, folios 1774 to 1777); Witness statement made by Remigio Márquez before the Second First Instance Court of San Francisco Gotera el July 29, 1992 (evidence file, tome III, annex 23 to the submission of the case, folios 2299 to 2300); Sworn statement made by Rufina Amaya before the Oficina de Tutela Legal del Arzobispado on October 10, 1990 (evidence file, tome II, annex 20 to the submission of the case, folio 1578); Sworn statement made by Cesar Martínez Hernández before the Oficina de Tutela Legal del Arzobispado on June 22, 2011 (evidence file, tome VIII, annex 3 to the pleadings and motions brief, folios 5547 to 5548), and Witness statement made by Irma Ramos Márquez before the Second First Instance Court of San Francisco Gotera on October 31, 1990 (evidence file, tome III, annex 23 to the submission of the case, folios 1668 to 1670). 223 Sworn statement made by Rufina Amaya before the Oficina de Tutela Legal del Arzobispado on October 10, 1990 (evidence file, tome II, annex 20 to the submission of the case, folio 1576). See also, Witness statement made by Rufina Amaya before the Second First Instance Court of San Francisco Gotera on October 30, 1990 (evidence file, tome III, annex 23 to the submission of the case, folio 1662). 224 10276). 225 10289). Affidavit provided by Juan Bautista Márquez Argueta on April 1, 2012 (evidence file, tome XVII, affidavits, folio Affidavit provided by Juan Antonio Pereira Vigil on April 2, 2012 (evidence file, tome XVII, affidavits, folio 226 Cf. Witness statement made by Rosendo Hernández Amaya before the Second First Instance Court of San Francisco Gotera on July 29, 1992 (evidence file, tome III, annex 23 to the submission of the case, folios 2300 to 2301). 227 Cf. Witness statement made by Domingo Vigil Amaya before the Second First Instance Court of San Francisco Gotera on July 29, 1992 (evidence file, tome III, annex 23 to the submission of the case, folios 2301 to 2302). 54