17 69 their wives and children would be harmed . However, at around 8 a.m. on December 11, 1981, 70 uniformed soldiers entered La Joya and proceeded to kill the people they found there . 79. The report of the Tutela Legal contains stories from some of the survivors, corroborating statements made before the Second Court of First Instance of San Francisco Gotera between 1990 and 1992. Those statements indicate what people saw and heard while they were hiding in the bush, the problems they faced while they were there, their return to La Joya, finding the bodies of their relatives, 71 and the subsequent search for refuge . Generally speaking, these stories reveal that those who survived in La Joya were forced to flee and evade the military operation, taking to the bush and hiding in nearby caves for many days. Those persons witnessed the destruction of their homes, their families and their people. On repeated occasions the survivors said they could hear shouts and wailing from people who 72 were being killed . 80. Pedro Chicas Romero, for example, said that on his return he found in La Joya the remains of “approximately 200 persons, including children, women and old people”. He said that he could identify only one person, as the other bodies “had been burned and devoured by buzzards”. People’s 73 livestock were also killed . 81. Mrs. Lucila Romero Martinez recounted that on December 11, 1981, she was in her house in La Joya when she heard a helicopter land, and she could see several soldiers. She hid and she could hear gunshots and cries from people begging not to be killed. She met a boy who said his family had been killed. She did not see when the people were killed, but she could hear their cries and she heard the soldiers boasting of sexual assaults on the girls. Whenever she went looking for food in those 74 days, she found bodies . She saw “the bodies of eight people lying in one house, but I don’t know 75 whether they were buried or not”. 82. Rosa Ramirez Hernandez stated that on November 11, 1981, at 8 a.m., she saw the army take Lorenzo Vigil from his house in La Joya, and they shot him dead about 200 m from the house. She related that on that day, between 9 and 10 in the morning, she saw the soldiers set fire to the houses 76 77 of La Joya with cans of tar-like oil . She stayed several days in caves to protect herself from mortar fire . 83. Eustaquio Martinez Vigil said that on December 10, 1981 he was at home in La Joya when around 20 helicopters flew over and at about 5 p.m. he “saw men in olive-green uniforms who started shooting toward the canton of La Joya”, and then he saw a big cloud of smoke. When he returned on December 12, he found the bodies of his wife and his children, killed by bullets, hidden under some mango boughs. He buried his relatives in the same place 10 days later. He said that upon fleeing he had 78 left his wife and children behind because he thought nothing would happen to them . He added that “I 69 Ibid. 70 Ibid. 71 Ibid. 72 Ibid. 73 Supplementary statement of Pedro Chicas Romero before the Second Court of First Instance of San Francisco Gotera, October 31, 1990. Court record (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006) 74 Statement of Lucillla Romero Martinez before the Second Court of First Instance of San Francisco Gotera, January 24, 1991. Court record (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006) 75 Statement of Eustaquio Martinez Vigil and Lucila Romero Martinez, May 14, 1992, Court record (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006) 76 Statement of Rosa Ramírez Hernández before the Second Court of First Instance of San Francisco Gotera, January 30, 1991. Court record (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006) 77 78 Ibid. Statement of Eustaquio Martinez Vigil before the Second Court of First Instance of San Francisco Gotera, March 14, 1991, Court record (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006)