21 When her brother “disappeared,” the witness went, with some of the next of kin of the other alleged victims to file the respective reports “to the Attorney General's office, [to the] office of the Personero, [to the] Santander No. 15 Battalion, [to the] National Police.” She also filed a report with the municipal traffic office with regard to Alvaro's vehicles. Her siblings took part in the different searches conducted by the next of kin of the other alleged victims. During the first trip, they did not obtain any information; they merely had expenses of about sixty thousand pesos. During the second trip, a woman stated “that she had seen them pass by” and then they met more than a hundred armed men who told them to “turn back if you don't want there to be any more disappeared persons in your families.” Subsequently, the investigations were conducted through ASFADDES. The loss of her brother had a psychological, social and financial impact on her family, and also irreparable damage, because the family life deteriorated and the relationships among the members were increasingly distant, since the alleged victim used to be the “central link” of the family. Álvaro helped the rest of his siblings financially, even those who had their own household. Following the events, her father began to drink and, five years later, he abandoned the household. Her mother became a different person; she lost interest in life, she stopped taking care of herself, she did not take care of her health and she took refuge in religion. Her brother, Lubin, had to abandon his studies to help with the household expenses. He subsequently studied another career. The witness's state of mind was profoundly affected by the “disappearance” of her brother and she became very subdued owing to the many obligations she had to assume. She had to pay debts relating to pending payments for her brother's vehicles and to repairs that were being carried out in the house where they lived, because the witness was the guarantor for these obligations. She devoted herself to her mother and never had a life of her own. She led the search for those who had disappeared. This affected her performance at work, which added to her problems. The witness asked the Court to ensure that those responsible for the facts are punished, that a book is written relating the personal and family life of her brother and that it is distributed to clear his name, and that his remains are returned to them, in order to give them proper burial. The witness was afraid to testify, fearing reprisals against herself or her family. j) Testimony of Manuel Ayala Mantilla, father of the alleged victim, Víctor Manuel Ayala Sánchez The witness was 69 years of age at the time of the “disappearance” of his son, Víctor Manuel, who was responsible for all his household and medical expenses. The alleged victim was around 33 years of age when “he disappeared” and he lived in Bucaramanga with Sandra Montero and their two children, Caterine and Juan Manuel. Manuel also had another son, Víctor Hugo. The alleged victim worked as a driver of two taxis working with a transport company called “Motilones” and he offered his services on the Bucaramanga-Cúcuta route.