13 weapons, but the soldiers said if they did not tell the truth they would be killed, then they left the 43 house, leaving the door to the patio open. 62. The testimony of Rufina Amaya, who survived the massacre, indicates that before the 44 killings the soldiers of the Atlacatl Battalion tortured the assembled people cruelly . In her words: Through the window I saw that the soldiers had tied up all the men by their feet, with their hands bound behind their backs. Inside the chapel, with its doors open, all the men were lying facedown on the floor, and I also saw the soldiers standing over them, and pulling their heads back, and then the men shouted with pain, and then I saw the soldiers pick them up from the floor and cut their heads off, one by one, and then throw the bodies and the heads toward the convent, and there was 45 a pile of dead bodies, but when some of the men tried to escape they were machine-gunned. 63. At noon, after having killed the people who were in the chapel, several soldiers entered the home of Alfredo Marquez, where the women and younger children were, telling them “okay ladies, we’ve already released the men, and only you remain. We’re going to take you out by groups, because 46 we’re send you home by groups, to Gotera or wherever you want” . Thereafter the women were taken 47 out in groups, and forced to abandon their children there, some of whom were mere babies . As Rufina Amaya tells the story: Then the soldiers took out the first group, who were the younger women, taking away all their children and leaving those children locked up with the women who remained. The groups they took away did not return, and all we heard was constant machine-gun fire. The soldiers came back to get the other group, and in this way they took away all the women in groups, taking first the younger ones and ending with the older ones. All the children were left in the house above the store, and they were of all ages, starting at only two days old, and they were the ones that cried the most. Then it was my turn, they took me out with a group of several women, leaving the children with maybe 20 women. At five in the afternoon they took me together with 22 women, and I was the last in line, because I tried to stop them from taking my eight-month-old daughter, whom I was holding in my arms, and I didn’t want them to take the sling that I had across my chest, as the soldiers were taking everything from the people, but in the end they forced me, and to soldiers took my little girl and separated me from my three small children, whom I did not want to leave. The soldiers handed my little baby to the biggest boy, so she wouldn’t be left on the ground. And so, weeping bitterly, I was forced to leave my children, who shouted at me not to go. They took the group of women, 43 Statement by Rufina Amaya to the Tutela Legal, October 10, 1990 (annexed to the initial petition of October 30, 1990). The statement of Mrs. Rufina Amaya was also cited in a report by the Human Rights Institute of the Central American University José Simeón Cañas (IDHUCA). See IDHUCA report, Consideraciones sobre la impunidad a propósito de la masacre del El Mozote, No. 451 of November 7, 1990 44 Tutela Legal, op. cit. 45 Statement by Rufina Amaya to the Tutela Legal, October 10, 1990 (annexed to the initial petition of October 30, 1990). The statement of Mrs. Rufina Amaya was also cited in a report by the Human Rights Institute of the Central American University José Simeón Cañas (IDHUCA). See IDHUCA report, Consideraciones sobre la impunidad a propósito de la masacre del El Mozote, No. 451 of November 7, 1990 Rufina Amaya also declared that at that time she could see when her partner and the father of her children had been murdered. “I saw when they took out my partner, Domingo Carlos and a man named Segundo Chicas from the chapel and took them to my house, and the two tried to run away, whereupon the soldiers machine-gunned them and then cut off their heads. At that time my oldest son, Cristino, said “mommy they’re taking daddy away” and when he saw them kill his father he broke into tears, crying “mommy, let’s go because they’re going to kill us too”, but I merely answered “and how are we going to go, don’t you see they have us surrounded?” 46 Tutela Legal. The mass executions in El Mozote and neighboring locales, July 23, 1992 (Annex A to the petitioners’ communication of November 11, 2002). Statement of Rufina Amaya before the Tutela Legal on October 10, 1990 (annexed to the initial petition of October 30, 1990). The statement of Mrs. Rufina Amaya was also cited in a report by the Human Rights Institute of the Central American University José Simeón Cañas (IDHUCA). See IDHUCA report, Consideraciones sobre la impunidad a propósito de la masacre del El Mozote (“Considerations on Impunity with Respect to the El Mozote Massacre”), No. 451 of November 7, 1990. 47 Tutela Legal, op. cit.