12 threats. A security guard fired a gun against a car in which the witness was traveling and injured her, allegedly because he was following a thief. On the day of the arrest of Mr. Alfredo López Álvarez, she went to his home and saw that the top of his car had been opened and its tires had been punctured, the tool shed and the house were open, there were damages to the floors, mattresses, furniture, and the ceiling. When she was in the house, she saw people leaving with some documents. Later, along with Mrs. Teresa Reyes Reyes, they started searching for Mr. Alfredo López Álvarez, whom they found hours later in the Office of the Public Prosecutor arrested and apparently beaten, because his hands were swollen. b) Alfredo López Álvarez, alleged victim At the time of his arrest he held the position of Coordinator of the Committee for the Defense of the Lands of Triunfo de la Cruz (CODETT), treasurer of the Confederation of Indigenous People and Vice-President of OFRANEH. On April 26, 1994 he was intercepted by members of the Security of Tela and taken to the department of military investigation to be investigated for drug possession and for problems with the lands. He mentioned that on April 27, 1997 he left for Tela with a mechanic, who could not fix the vehicle he used for the community’s activities. Upon their arrival at the town, when they were going to get out of the vehicle, armed groups surrounded the automobile; they took out the mechanic and the witness and threw them on the ground face down, putting their feet on their head and backs. The agents of the Office of Criminal Investigation of Tela handcuffed them, without presenting an arrest warrant, and took them to the offices of the DIC. There they were submitted to a detailed physical inspection, to which a police agent assigned another prisoner who was detained, and he was later questioned and coerced into acknowledging as his the two packages presented to him. He needed them to “loosen the shackles because his wrists were trapped, they were bleeding.” They did not let him communicate with his lawyer or next of kin. He gave his preliminary examination statement in the presence of the secretary of the Sectional Court of First Instance of Tela, after being held for 24 hours; five days later he signed a power of attorney for the attorney Víctor Manuel Vargas Navarro. The arrest conditions in the Criminal Center of Tela were degrading. In a room designed to hold 40 people there were 300 prisoners, either convicted or assigned to preventive detention, and there was no medical attention. He was initially allowed to speak his mother tongue in this criminal center, with some limitations, but at the end it was totally forbidden. As a result of the claims made against the director of the penitentiary center the Committee for the Defense of the Inmates (hereinafter “CODIN”) was formed; Mr. López Alvarez was elected Vice-President of that Committee. Due to his participation in this organization he was transferred to the National Penitentiary of Támara, without any warning. In the new criminal center the situation got worse. The long distance from his next of kin made it impossible for them to visit him, there was no medical assistance, the area of the cell was smaller and it did not have latrines. During his detention, the Garifuna community remained in a vulnerable state. Several projects were lost, including the installation of a public library and the construction of a training and literacy center for the elderly. Even after being released, his next of kin, his community, and he himself have been harassed.