from the Ministry of Defense, regarding the identity of the military commanders of the Petén Military Zone and the military detachment in the village of Las Cruces, La Libertad, Petén Department and about its knowledge of the massacre.92 38. On July 29, 1996, Samuel Bracamonte, the former Deputy Mayor of Los Josefinos, gave a witness declaration to the Public Prosecution Service.93 On July 24 of that year, the EAFG submitted its forensic report to the prosecutor's office, saying that it had not been possible to identify the 19 skeletons recovered, although their sex and approximate age had been determined. It also reported the recovery of 27 bullet fragments and the conclusion that all of the deaths had been violent.94 On July 29, 1996, the remains were laid out at the village of Las Cruces in order to hold a wake for them and identify the victims based on their clothing and personal items; however, the procedure did not yield favorable results.95 39. From the limited inquiries carried out between 1996 and 2005, it was determined that at the time of the events the commander of Military Zone No. 23, Petén, was Infantry Colonel Eliú Cabrera Padilla.96 Upon being summoned to testify in the criminal proceeding, on February 25, 1997, he confirmed that on the date of the events he had indeed been the commander of the Petén Military Zone.97 However, he denied any knowledge of the massacre.98 Despite saying that he did not recall precisely which military detachment had jurisdiction over Los Josefinos, he mentioned that it could be the Santa Cruz (Las Cruces) or the Los Chorros detachment.99 When asked about the person in charge of directing military operations, he said that “the detachment commander was given autonomy to that effect, so that he could make his decisions in accordance with the security needs of the detachment.” 100 In spite of the fact that his home address was known and he was accessible to the bodies in charge of the investigation and trial in Guatemala for many years, by the time he died 10 years later, Eliú Cabrera Padilla was not questioned further, no proceedings of any kind were instituted against him in order to determine his possible command responsibility for the events that occurred in Los Josefinos, and no one else who might have disputed the veracity of his statements was questioned. 40. Following the declaration of Eliú Cabrera, as of 2005—that is, in the eight intervening years—only a visual inspection was done, on March 12, 1997, of the place where the exhumations had been carried out at Los Josefinos cemetery, which failed to yield any additional information.101 There is nothing in the record to show that any other investigative procedure or deposition of witnesses was done after that date, and the last decision, of July 12, 2001, only contains a request for copies of the record. 102 On March 15, 2005, the Office of the President of the Republic of Guatemala confirmed that, indeed, no additional steps had been taken in the proceeding, noting that “[a]n examination of the record shows that no one has been put under investigation in the proceeding; therefore the Public Prosecution Service is not constrained by any time limit to conclude the investigation.”103 41. The case remained inactive until May 6, 2005, when the Supreme Court requested a certification of the process to forward to the Commission.104 That had the effect of reactivating the proceeding, and in the months of October 2006 and January and November 2007 the Public Prosecution Service gathered testimony from different survivors and witnesses to the massacre, as well as carrying out a new inspection of Los Josefinos Annex 05, Criminal case file C-805-96, p. 35. Annex 05, Criminal case file C-805-96, pp. 36-37. 94 Annex 05, Criminal case file C-805-96, pp. 38-41. 95 Annex 05, Criminal case file C-805-96, pp. 43-44. 96 Official letter 01-0263 of October 29, 1996, from the Commander of Military Zone No. 23 to the Assistant Prosecutor of the Public Prosecution Service for San Benito, Petén, in response to official letter C-1, 249-96 of October 23, 1996. See Annex 05, Criminal case file C805-96, p. 48. 97 Declaration of Eliú Cabrera Padilla to the Assistant Prosecutor of the Metropolitan District Prosecutor's Office of the Public Prosecution Service, dated February 25, 1997 (hereinafter “Declaration of Eliú Cabrera Padilla”). See Annex 05, Criminal case file C-805-96, p. 76. 98 Declaration of Eliú Cabrera Padilla, Annex 05, Criminal case file C-805-96, pp. 77-78. 99 Declaration of Eliú Cabrera Padilla, Annex 05, Criminal case file C-805-96, p. 78. 100 Declaration of Eliú Cabrera Padilla, Annex 05, Criminal case file C-805-96, p. 78. 101 Annex 05, Criminal case file C-805-96, pp. 74-75 (verso). 102 Annex 05, Criminal case file C-805-96, pp. 1-90. 103 Annex 10, Letter of March 15, 2005. 104 Annex 05, Criminal case file C-805-96, p. 91. 92 93 12