15 51. The State has acknowledged that the night of July 22, 1980, Renato Ticona and his oldest brother, Hugo Ticona, were detained by a military patrol, in the vicinity of a control gate of Cala-Cala, Oruro, while they were heading to Sacaca, Potosí, to visit their sick grandfather. Afterwards, state agents strip them off of their belongings, beat them and torture them. At the moment of the detention, Ticona’s brothers were not informed of the charges brought against them nor were they brought before the competent judicial authority. After being hardly beaten for several hours, the state agents transferred them to a military post in Vinto, from where they were taken to the offices of the Special Security Service [SES], also known as the Division of Public Order (hereinafter, "DOP") and handed over to the chief of that unit. That was the last time that Hugo Ticona or any other next-of-kin heard from Renato Ticona’s whereabouts. Some of the detainees at the DOP’s cells, in Oruro, are witnesses of the fact that Ticona Estrada’s brothers were deprived of liberty in said place. On April 15, 2004, Luis García Meza acknowledged, in an interview conducted by Radio Panamericana, that the personnel under his command was responsible for the detention of Ticona’s brothers and subsequent disappearance of Renato Ticona. 52. When they heard about the detention of their sons, the parents of Ticona Estrada’s brothers turned to several authorities and state institutions31 to learn about 31 The Commission pointed out in the application some of the legal actions carried out: a) On July 25, 1980, the next-of-kin turned to the Prefecture of Police to learn about the whereabouts of his son, without obtaining any answer; b) on August 30, 1980, the parents of Renato Ticona sent a note to Colonel Hernán Ferrel Lobo, Commander of the First Army Corp, requesting information on their children; c) Rodo Ticona, eldest brother of Hugo Ticona, went to the clinic called URME, passing himself off as somebody else since entrance was prohibited, and in there he saw his brother, Hugo, from a distance but he could not talk to him; d) the next-of-kin of Renato Ticona turned to the Military Unit Nº 2, of Oruro, to file briefs with the Prefect without obtaining any answer regarding the whereabouts of Renato; e) in December, 1980, the parents of Renato Ticona went to the city of La Paz after hearing a rumour, according to which his son, Renato, was paralyzed at the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Due to the lack of answer, on January 22, 1981, the parents of Renato Ticona headed to the city of La Paz to have an interview with the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship to investigate his son’s whereabouts and to present a brief mentioning the absolute secrecy surrounding this matter on the part of the authorities of Oruro and La Paz, despite the collaboration of the International Red Cross, the Church, among others; f) since Renato Ticona remained disappeared, his next-of-kin and the Episcopal Commission made “several trips” to meet the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, without obtaining any answer; g) on July 24, 1981, they met with the President of the Republic, General Luis García Meza Tejada in order to initiate an investigation on the disappearance of their son, Renato; h) on August 25, 1981 they filed a complaint for the disappearance of Renato with the Commanders Junta; i) on December 27, 1982, they requested the Prefect of Oruro to conduct an investigation on the disappearance of their son; j) on October 28, 1983, the parents of Renato Ticona requested the General Officer of the Armed Forces to shed light on the disappearance of their son. Furthermore, they pointed out that semi- official sources knew that their son was in bad shape, in a security house or military property; k) on July 28, 1984, the parents of Renato Ticona asked the Ministry of Interior, Migration and Justice, to shed light on the disappearance of Renato Ticona; l) On May 16, 1986, the Local University Federation of Oruro requested the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces to speed up the investigation and the delivery of the mortal remains of Renato Ticona; m) on November 19, 1986, the next- of-kin of Renato Ticona appeared at the offices of the Commander in Chief of the Army to learn about the whereabouts of their son. In this place, a Captain advised them to communicate with a Colonel who would know about the final destination of their son; but when they met him, that person told them he had nothing to do with the disappearance of their son and identified the people who were, at that moment, at the regiment. Moreover, said Colonel stated that he did not appear before the justice because of distrust; however, he was one of the military and police officers who were notified by citation of the criminal procedure for the crimes committed against Renato Ticona; n) on September 3, 1997, the national member of the Parliament, Raúl Araoz Velasco requested information from the Ministry of Government regarding the forced disappearance of Renato Ticona Estrada and the progress of the investigations; o) on January 26, 2003, Hugo Ticona requested the Human Rights Commission of the Parliament to order the continuation of the investigation on the forced disappearance of his brother and p) as of the disappearance of Renato Ticona, his parents have been