year. On December 24, 2003 the IACHR transmitted the complaint to the Government of El Salvador, asking it to respond within two months. On March 10, 2004 the government responded to the petition. On March 17, 2004, the Commission transmitted the State's response to the petitioners. On April 22 and on June 3, 2004 the Commission received the response of the petitioners to the observations of the State, which was transmitted to the State on December 15, 2004. On February 15, 2005 the State presented additional observations on questions regarding the admissibility of the petition. III. POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES A. The petitioners 6. The petitioners alleged in their initial complaint that on October 25, 1981, the nine-year-old boy Santos Ernesto Salinas disappeared at the hands of members of the Salvadoran army. According to the complaint, the child's disappearance was not an isolated event, but rather part of a systematic policy of disappearances executed in El Salvador during the time of the internal conflict, when the disappearance of children was a common phenomenon. 7. On October 15, 1981, according to the petitioners, members of a guerrilla group destroyed the Puente de Oro ("Golden Bridge"), which was considered a strategically important structure, and this attack sparked great concern and anger in the Armed Forces. Ten days after that event, a group of some 15 members of the Armed Forces conducted a sweep search in the locality of San Nicolas de Lempa, allegedly with the objective of "settling accounts" with the community of people living near the bridge, whom the Armed Forces suspected to be collaborating with subversive groups. 8. On October 25, 1981, 9-year-old Santos Ernesto came to purchase supplies at the home of Mrs. Tomasa Torres, who at that time was 65 years of age and ran a shop below the bridge. Other people present at the time were Carmen Torres (the wife of Antonio, brother of Tomasa Torres), Wilber Torres (17 years of age, the nephew of Tomasa Torres), two-year-old Francisco Torres (grandson of Tomasa Torres) and a child named Modesto N. (the son of a couple who had arrived in the locality a few days earlier; according to the petition, no one remembers his last name, but only the given names of the parents and the child). In total there were six persons, three of whom were relatives of Mrs. Tomasa, and two were children who had come to buy things at the store. Members of the National Guard and the Atlacatl Battalion appeared on the scene and detained everyone found in the house. According to the petitioners, the neighbors testified that, after having been captured, all these people, with the exception of Santos Ernesto, were taken to the riverbank and killed. Santos Ernesto was captured by the soldiers and taken to an unknown destination. A woman living in the same neighborhood, named Josefa Sanchez, said she saw Santos Ernesto being taken away by members of the National Guard and the Atlacatl Battalion, and that he was wearing no clothes, except for his underpants. 9. On the very day of the boy's disappearance, his family began a search, but this had to be called off because the continued presence of soldiers in the area intimidated the family. Family members were not even able to venture near the river that day, because there was gunfire from the other side. 10. The petitioners report that it was impossible at that time to file a complaint with the authorities, because of the ongoing armed conflict, and the fear that any person who showed up at military headquarters would be taken to have links to the guerrillas and would suffer reprisals. On this point, according to the petitioners, the Truth Commission for El Salvador found that there were many violations of human rights committed against the population, simply on the grounds that they were deemed collaborators with the guerrillas, especially during the early years of the campaign to “quitarle el agua al pez” (roughly "deny the fish its water"). In these circumstances, the petitioners argue, there was no faith in the authorities, especially when human rights were violated by the Army. 2