15 67. At that time the children, of whom there were several hundred, were still assembled at the home of Alfredo Martinez. Rufina Amaya could hear their cries as they were being killed, and she could even distinguish the voices of her own children, shouting “mommy, they’re killing us”, “they’re choking us”, “they’re knifing us”. After committing these murders, the soldiers burned the house. One child was heard crying for its mother, and Rufina Amaya heard a soldier say, “go and kill that kid, you 53 didn’t do it properly”. Then she heard shots and there was no more crying. 68. The report of the Tutela Legal recounts the cruelty with which the murders were committed. According to statements by other soldiers who were in the vicinity, the troops hesitated to kill the children, until Major Caceres Cabrera, the commander of the operation, killed the first one by throwing 54 him in the air and catching him on the point of a knife as he fell. 69. With respect to the persons who lost their lives in these events, the statement of Rufina Amaya indicates: That all the men who were killed were farmers and woodcutters, and the women were housewives (...). That year there were never any guerrillas around. All the people died and they were burned in those houses, they were not buried, and there was certainly no judicial recognition (...). I can’t remember the names of all those killed, such was my sate of mind at the time, and I can recognize none of the soldiers who perpetrated that genocide. But I know that the Colonel who gave the order 55 for the massacre was Colonel Domingo Monterrosa. 70. In addition to Rufina Amaya, the survivors of subsequent massacres, whose testimony is given below, said they had gone to El Mozote after the massacre to look for relatives living there, and 56 they found corpses and burned houses . In reference to El Mozote, for example, Rosa Ramirez Hernandez said that “I went to see the scene of the events, and I saw the bodies of children and adults, 57 burned, there were many bodies (...) . In a similar vein, Maria Teofila Pereira said she did not witness the 58 killings but she did see bodies lying on the ground in El Mozote . Anastasio Pereira Vigil said he learned about the El Mozote murders “via the grapevine” and he went there to look for his sister, and found the 59 bodies of family members in her house . He added that “besides the bodies of my relatives, in the church there were bodies lying around, but I cannot say how many because I didn’t go into the church, as the 60 smell was so bad” . Juan Bautista Marquez and Raquel Romero Claros also declared that several of 61 their relatives had died in the village of El Mozote. 53 Ibid. 54 Tutela Legal, op. cit. 55 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. With respect to other possible witnesses of the massacre, Rufina Amaya said: “I remember that a child came running out heading for the hills, and his name was Chepito Marquez, the son of Marcelina Marquez and Gertrudis Guevara, and if he’s alive he would be another witness to the massacre.” 56 Statement of Juan Bautista Márquez before the Second Court of First Instance of San Francisco Gotera, January 30, 1991, Court File (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006) 57 Statement of Rosa Ramírez Hernández before the Second Court of First Instance of San Francisco Gotera, January 30, 1991, Court File (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006) 58 Statement of María Teofila Pereira before the Second Court of First Instance of San Francisco Gotera, February 18, 1991, Court File (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006) 59 Statement of Anastasio Pereira Vigil, June 2, 1992, Court File (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 60 Ibid. 2006) 61 Statement of Juan Bautista Márquez, March 11, 1990, Court File (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006) and Statement of Raquel Romero Claros Viuda de Claros, June 2, 1992, Court File (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006).