-17public hearing (supra para. 14). The Court summarizes the relevant parts of these statements below. a) Proposed by the Inter-American Commission and the representatives 1. Suyapa Serrano Cruz, the alleged victims’ sister She is the daughter of María Victoria Cruz Franco and Dionisio Serrano Morales, and an elder sister of Ernestina and Erlinda Serrano Cruz. The witness’s parents had 12 children: Martha, the witness, Socorro, Arnulfo, Irma, Enrique, Fernando, Juan, Ernestina, Erlinda, Rosa and Oscar. Ernestina had the same color skin as the witness, long, light brown “somewhat split” hair, brown eyes, a round face, with a “greenish” vein and another vein standing out over one eye, “she was quite small, but […] was able to talk well.” Erlinda was “darker” with straight hair; “she was unable to talk well yet.” She does not remember the dates on which Erlinda and Ernestina were born, but recalls that they were baptized. The witness referred to the “guinda de mayo” that took place during the armed conflict, when she had to flee with her family for fear of dying at the hands of the Army, and also to what happened to her family, particularly to Ernestina and Erlinda. When they fled from the Army, her mother and her siblings, Fernando and Rosa, were able to cross the river to reach Chichilco, while she, her baby, the witness’s father, and the witness’s siblings, Erlinda, Ernestina and Enrique, took refuge in a wooded area known as “Los Alvarenga.” Erlinda and Ernestina were constantly asking for water and cried a great deal, especially Erlinda, who was the youngest and had an injury in her shoulder. Her father and brother Enrique went to seek water while the girls, the baby and she waited. When they heard the sound of shots and shouts approaching, the witness separated from the girls because her baby was crying a lot and she feared that they would be found. She heard when the soldiers found the girls, and shouted to each other about what they should do with them; they said they would take them even though the helicopter was not arriving until the following day. When she heard the shouts retreating from the area where she was hidden, she went to look for the children, without success. Then, she met up with her father and brother and, again, they went to the place where the facts took place to search for the two children, but they did not find them. The witness’s mother asked about the girls and blamed the witness and her father for not bringing them, so she had to explain what had happened to her mother. After her father and her nephew died in June 1985, machine-gunned down from a helicopter, the witness and her family went to live under difficult conditions in Mesa Grande, Honduras. The witness’s mother informed the witness that, when they were in Mesa Grande, Esperanza Franco had told her that the girls had been handed over to the Red Cross. They remained in Honduras only until 1987, because her mother decided to return to El Salvador to seek the girls. The witness and her family were frightened to look for the girls because they had no assistance. In 1992, the witness’s mother visited the court to file a complaint, but no one listened to her and she was asked to leave. On April 30, 1993, her mother filed a complaint before the Chalatenango Trial Court; however, she did not describe clearly how the facts