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ii.
The arms employed were reserved for the official use of the military
and police, and the vehicles used had tinted glass, which requires special
official authorization. In some cases, Government agents carried out the
detentions openly and without any pretense or disguise; in others,
government agents had cleared the areas where the kidnappings were to
take place and, on at least one occasion, when government agents
stopped the kidnappers they were allowed to continue freely on their way
after showing their identification (testimony of Miguel Angel Pavón Salazar,
Ramón Custodio López and Florencio Caballero);
iii.
The kidnappers blindfolded the victims, took them to secret,
unofficial detention centers and moved them from one center to another.
They interrogated the victims and subjected them to cruel and humiliating
treatment and torture. Some were ultimately murdered and their bodies
were buried in clandestine cemeteries (testimony of Miguel Angel Pavón
Salazar, Ramón Custodio López, Florencio Caballero, René Velásquez Díaz,
Inés Consuelo Murillo and José Gonzalo Flores Trejo);
iv.
When queried by relatives, lawyers and persons or entities
interested in the protection of human rights, or by judges charged with
executing writs of habeas corpus, the authorities systematically denied any
knowledge of the detentions or the whereabouts or fate of the victims.
That attitude was seen even in the cases of persons who later reappeared
in the hands of the same authorities who had systematically denied
holding them or knowing their fate (testimony of Inés Consuelo Murillo,
José Gonzalo Flores Trejo, Efraín Díaz Arrivillaga, Florencio Caballero,
Virgilio Carías, Milton Jiménez Puerto, René Velásquez Díaz, Zenaida
Velásquez, César Augusto Murillo and press clippings);
v.
Military and police officials as well as those from the Executive and
Judicial Branches either denied the disappearances or were incapable of
preventing or investigating them, punishing those responsible, or helping
those interested discover the whereabouts and fate of the victims or the
location of their remains. The investigative committees created by the
Government and the Armed Forces did not produce any results. The
judicial proceedings brought were processed slowly with a clear lack of
interest and some were ultimately dismissed (testimony of Inés Consuelo
Murillo, José Gonzalo Flores Trejo, Efraín Díaz Arrivillaga, Florencio
Caballero, Virgilio Carías, Milton Jiménez Puerto, René Velásquez Díaz,
Zenaida Velásquez, César Augusto Murillo and press clippings);
154.
ON THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SAUL GODINEZ
a.
That Saúl Godínez, a leader of a teachers' group, disappeared on the
morning of July 22, 1982. Nothing is known of his whereabouts since that date
(testimony of Alejandrina Cruz, Enmidida Escoto de Godínez, Elsa Rosa Escoto
Escoto and press clippings).
b.
That, although the Court has not received any direct evidence that the
disappearance of Saúl Godínez was the work of governmental agents, there does
exist considerable circumstantial evidence with sufficient weight to establish the
judicial presumption that this disappearance was carried out within the framework
of the aforementioned practice. To wit: