Salomón Martínez wants to know how much money you want to withdraw your candidacy for mayor of Tocoa and he will pay it.”44 Ms. Escobar said that Carlos Escaleras’s reply was that “he didn’t want anything because his principles wouldn’t allow him to do such a thing.”45 Blanca Escobar stated that Hernán Banegas told Carlos Escaleras to “be careful.”46 64. She also reported that she had heard that Javier Banegas, Hernán Banegas’s brother, had on one occasion said that “that SOB Carlos Escaleras should be killed so his brother could be elected mayor.”47 Ms. Escobar added that Mr. Hernán Banegas again visited Carlos Escaleras’s business and offered him 25,000 lempiras.48 She claimed that Carlos Escaleras said, “you can go out through the same door you came in, because I didn’t take the three million that (…) Facussé offered.”49 She maintained that Hernán replied that “he hoped he wouldn’t regret it later.”50 65. Marta Alvarenga, Mr. Escaleras’s wife, stated that some days before his death, he received several calls from Miguel Facussé offering him “three million lempiras to withdraw from politics and from the environmental movement.”51 She said that Carlos Escaleras rejected the offer and so began to receive telephone threats and had to temporarily suspend his telephone line. 52 In turn, Blanca Escobar said that Carlos Escaleras had also narrated the same incident described by his wife in her statement. 53 Mr. Joaquín Benítez, a friend of Carlos Escaleras Mejía, said that one week before his murder, the victim had told him that “he had some very rich enemies.”54 66. Finally, some months before his death, Carlos Escaleras Mejía led the protests against Col. Aldo Augusto Aldana, the commanding officer of the 15th Infantry Battalion. 55 According to an undated public notice contained in the case file, Mr. Carlos Escaleras “had direct conflicts with the colonel (…) on account of the decision to construct military facilities at the location of a watershed that benefited hundreds of 44 Annex 13. Report of the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation, dated September 23, 1999, judicial case file, pp. 162163, annexed to the initial petition of January 14, 2002; Annex 15. Judicial hearing of August 7, 2001, judicial case file, Vol. II, pp. 490-491, annexed to the initial petition of January 14, 2002. 45 Annex 13. Report of the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation, dated September 23, 1999, judicial case file, pp. 162163, annexed to the initial petition of January 14, 2002. 46 Annex 14. Statement of Blanca Escobar, dated September 29, 1999, judicial case file, p. 171, annexed to the initial petition of January 14, 2002. 47 Annex 14. Statement of Blanca Escobar, dated September 29, 1999, judicial case file, p. 171, annexed to the initial petition of January 14, 2002. 48 2002. Annex 15. Judicial hearing of August 7, 2001, judicial case file, Vol. II, pp. 490-491, annexed to the initial petition of January 14, 49 Annex 14. Statement of Blanca Escobar, dated September 29, 1999, judicial case file, p. 171, annexed to the initial petition of January 14, 2002. 50 Annex 14. Statement of Blanca Escobar, dated September 29, 1999, judicial case file, p. 171, annexed to the initial petition of January 14, 2002. 51 Annex 13. Report of the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation, dated September 23, 1999, judicial case file, pp. 162163, annexed to the initial petition of January 14, 2002. 52 Annex 13. Report of the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation, dated September 23, 1999, judicial case file, pp. 162163, annexed to the initial petition of January 14, 2002. 53 Annex 14. Statement of Blanca Escobar, dated September 29, 1999, judicial case file, p. 171, annexed to the initial petition of January 14, 2002. 54 Annex 16. Statement of Joaquín Benítez, dated October 23, 1997, judicial case file, p. 22, annexed to the initial petition of January 14, 2002. 55 Annex 17. Notice “Six years and Carlos Escaleras Walks with Us,” undated, Annex 4 to the petitioners’ communication of April 24, 2004; Annex 7. Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH), Erguidos como pinos. Memoria sobre la construcción de la conciencia ambientalista, Honduras, 2006, p. 43. 11