8
IV
29.
The Inter-American Commission submitted with its application copies of
testimony of witnesses, newspaper clippings, diagrams, maps, and reports.
30.
The Government submitted to this Court voluminous records of the
proceedings conducted by several civil and military authorities related to the
disappearance of Isidro Caballero-Delgado and María del Carmen Santana.
31.
Included among these files was the record of an investigative proceeding in
the lower criminal court initiated on March 2, 1989, before the Second Mobile Court
of Criminal Investigation. That action resulted in an Order of September 20, 1990,
which in conjunction with the Order of the 11th of the same month, absolved for lack
of evidence all of those charged and ordered their immediate release. Although the
case was closed on October 3, 1990, it was reopened as of March 12, 1992 due to
the alleged participation of Carlos Julio Pinzón-Fontecha in the events. He was later
shown to have died on May 29, 1989. Currently, the investigation has been reopened
because of the statement of an official of the Prosecutor's Office. The official who
reported that, in an interview undertaken as part of an investigation, Gonzalo AriasAlturo related facts incriminating himself and others in the commission of the crime
under investigation.
32.
It has also been confirmed that, from February 27 to June 6, 1989,
preliminary proceedings inquiring into those responsible for the kidnapping of Isidro
Caballero-Delgado and María del Carmen Santana took place before the 26th Court
of Military Criminal Investigation. These proceedings were suspended because, at
that time, no member of the Army was connected with the events.
33.
In the course of oral arguments this Court heard the testimony of witnesses
called by the Commission and the Government. This testimony is summarized in the
following paragraphs. Witness Doctor Zoilo Javier Jerez-Medina testified that he is
President of the Committee for Human Rights of Santander; that Isidro CaballeroDelgado offered to organize a forum in San Alberto; that he could not be precise as
to the date on which he had seen Caballero-Delgado for the last time, but that it was
at the end of October, 1988; and that on February 9 or 10, 1989, he found out about
his disappearance.
34.
Witness María Nodelia Parra-Rodríguez testified that she is an educator, but
that, at present, instead of working as a teacher, she is the director of the Teachers'
Union of Santander; that she had lived with Caballero-Delgado since 1986; that they
are co-owners of an apartment, and that they had a child in 1988; that CaballeroDelgado had many responsibilities in the Teachers' Union; that in 1984 he was
arrested for illegally carrying weapons and was sentenced to 36 months in prison but
was released in November 1986; that Caballero-Delgado told her that he was a
militant member of the M-19 and was afraid; that in December 1987 or January
1988 members of DAS came to the Union looking for him and he also received death
threats by telephone; that Caballero-Delgado told her that he was in charge of
organizing a Forum for Citizens' Coexistence in San Alberto; that the Laborers' Union
of Santander was affiliated with USITRAS, which is the trade union organization of
the Department of Santander that sponsored the Forum; that Caballero-Delgado left
for San Alberto in the middle of January, because the Forum was going to take place
on February 16, and it required preparation; that he called her every week and that
he called on Thursday of the week before February 7 and left a message that he