reported 226,744 internally displaced persons. Meanwhile, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at June that year, there were between 175,000 and 295,000 Salvadoran refugees in the countries of Latin America.62 72. In sum, during the internal armed conflict in El Salvador, there was a State policy executed by means of the ‘scorched-earth’ operations that sought to depopulate the rural areas considered to support the guerrilla or where the guerrilla were present, by the systematic perpetration of massacres of members of the civilian population by the Salvadoran Armed Forces and the incineration and destruction of homes, crops and other possessions, as well as the killing of animals. 3) The massacres of El Mozote and nearby places 73. The case of the El Mozote massacres was one of the incidents addressed by the Truth Commission in its 1993 report, as a case that illustrated the peasant massacres committed by the Salvadoran Armed Forces during the counterinsurgency operations. However, until that date and for several years, the occurrence of the massacres of El Mozote and nearby places was systematically denied and concealed by the State. According to the Truth Commission, “despite public reports of the event and even though it would have been easy to prove it [owing to the number of bodies that had not been buried], the Salvadoran authorities failed to order any inquiry and permanently denied the existence of the massacre.”63 74. Indeed, the articles on the incidents that appeared in the Salvadoran newspapers at the time merely recount, based on military sources, the implementation of a counterinsurgency operation in different areas of the department of Morazán, with results described as successful in terms of the dismantling of guerrilla camps and the supposed protection of the peasants and inhabitants of those areas.64 However, it was because of two international feature stories published on January 27, 1982, in The New York Times and The Washington Post, with testimony from survivors obtained on site,65 that the truth of what happened began to be exposed, even though, both nationally and internationally, attempts were made to discredit the 61 Established in 1985 to develop policies and plan the organization, management and execution of programs designed to assist the displaced. Cf. International Center for Research on Women. Working paper No. 25: Conflict, displacement and reintegration: household survey evidence from El Salvador, July 2000 (evidence file, tome X, annex 9 to the pleadings and motions brief, folio 6476), and Expert opinion provided by affidavit by Father David Blanchard on April 15, 2012 (evidence file, tome XVII, affidavits, folio 10346). 62 Cf. Report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador, From madness to hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador, 1992-1993 (evidence file, tome II, annex 1 to the submission of the case, folio 1103). 63 Report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador, From madness to hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador, 19921993 (evidence file, tome II, annex 1 to the submission of the case, folio 1195). 64 Cf. Newspaper article in Diario Latino on December 9, 1981 entitled “Mueren 4 terroristas al atacar base militar” [4 terrorists die in attack on military base] (file of proceedings before the Commission, tome II, folio 877); Newspaper article in La Prensa Gráfica on December 9, 1981 entitled “Inició ayer operación de contrainsurgencia la F.A.” [Armed Forces counterinsurgency operation began yesterday] (file of proceedings before the Commission, tome II, folios 879 to 881); Newspaper article in La Prensa Gráfica on December 10, 1981 entitled “Avanza ejército en zonas de Morazán” [Army advances in parts of Morazán] (file of proceedings before the Commission, tome II, folio 878); Newspaper article in El Diario de Hoy on December 11, 1981 entitled “‘Yunque and Martillo’ se Llama Operación de Tropa” [Army operation is called ‘Anvil and Hammer’] (file of proceedings before the Commission, tome II, folio 885); Newspaper article in La Prensa Gráfica on December 14, 1981 entitled “Continúan acciones militares en Morazán” [Military actions in Morazán continue] (file of proceedings before the Commission, tome II, folio 882), and Newspaper article in La Prensa Gráfica on December 19, 1981 entitled “Recuperan Morazán al terminar operación FA” [Morazán recovered following the Army’s operation] (file of proceedings before the Commission, tome II, folio 886). 65 Cf. Report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador, From madness to hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador, 1992-1993 (evidence file, tome II, annex 1 to the submission of the case, folio 1197); Newspaper article in The New York Times on January 27, 1982, entitled “Massacre of Hundreds Reported in Salvador Village” (file of proceedings before the Commission, tome II, folio 874), and Newspaper article in The Washington Post on January 27, 1982, entitled “Salvadoran Peasants Say Army Killed Hundreds in Community” (file of proceedings before the Commission, tome II, folios 873 and 875). 24