described the patterns of violence during the armed conflict, both by State agents and by members of the FMLN.44 For methodological reasons, it divided the period examined (19801991) into four stages: 1980 to 1983; 1983 to 1987; 1987 to 1989, and 1989 to 1991. The first stage, from 1980 to 1983, during which the events of this case occurred, was named “the institutionalization of violence,” in which “[t]he establishment of systematic violence, terror and distrust among the civilian population […] are the essential features of this stage. The dismantling of any opposing or dissident movement by arbitrary detention, murder, and the indiscriminate and selective disappearances of leaders became common practice.”45 According to the Truth Commission, “the greatest number of deaths and human rights violations were record[ed]” during this period.46 2) The scorched-earth operations and the creation of the Rapid Deployment Infantry Battalions 67. Starting in January of 1981, the United States of America significantly increased military and economic assistance to El Salvador, targeting those resources “to train, modernize and expand the structure of the Armed Forces and increase the number of soldiers.”47 The Rapid Deployment Infantry Battalions of the Salvadoran Armed Forces were created in this context; they were elite units specially trained for counterinsurgency combat that had completed their training under the guidance and supervision of United States military personnel.48 The first unit was created in March 1981 with the name “Atlacatl,” under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Domingo Monterrosa Barrios.49 68. In its most extreme form, the counterinsurgency was expressed by an extended concept of “taking the water away from the fish”;50 in other words, destroying the insurgent’s support base. The inhabitants of areas where there was a significant FMLN presence “were either assimilated with the guerrilla based on suspicion, or belonged to or collaborated with it, and therefore ran the risk of being eliminated.”51 69. The Truth Commission received direct testimony of numerous mass executions that occurred during 1980, 1981 and 1982, in which, during counterinsurgency operations, members of the Armed Forces “executed peasants, men, women and children, who had offered no resistance, merely because they were considered collaborators with the guerrilla.”52 The Truth 44 Cf. Report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador, From madness to hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador, 1992-1993 (evidence file, tome II, annex 1 to the submission of the case, folios 1087 to 1088). 45 Cf. Report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador, From madness to hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador, 1992-1993 (evidence file, tome II, annex 1 to the submission of the case, folio 1096). 46 Cf. Report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador, From madness to hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador, 1992-1993 (evidence file, tome II, annex 1 to the submission of the case, folio 1097). 47 Cf. Report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador, From madness to hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador, 1992-1993 (evidence file, tome II, annex 1 to the submission of the case, folios 1100 to 1101). 48 Cf. Report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador, From madness to hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador, 1992-1993 (evidence file, tome II, annex 1 to the submission of the case, folio 1196). 49 Cf. Report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador, From madness to hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador, 1992-1993 (evidence file, tome II, annex 1 to the submission of the case, folio 1196); Report of the UCA Human Rights Institute (IDHUCA), Consideraciones sobre la impunidad to propósito de la masacre de El Mozote, Proceso: número 451, November 7, 1990 (evidence file, tome III, annex 2 to the submission of the case, folio 1290); Americas Watch, The Massacre at El Mozote: The need to remember, Volume No. IV, Issue No. 2, March 4, 1992 (evidence file, tome II, annex 3 to the submission of the case, folios 1299 to 1300), and Tutela Legal del Arzobispado de San Salvador, El Mozote. Lucha por la verdad y la justicia: Masacre a la Inocencia, San Salvador, El Salvador, 2008, p. 39 (evidence file, tome VIII, annex 2 to the pleadings and motions brief, folio 5293). 50 Cf. Report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador, From madness to hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador, 1992-1993 (evidence file, tome II, annex 1 to the submission of the case, folio 1119). 51 Cf. Report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador, From madness to hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador, 1992-1993 (evidence file, tome II, annex 1 to the submission of the case, folio 1119). See also Expert opinion provided by affidavit by Father David Blanchard in April 2012 (evidence file, tome XVII, affidavits, folio 10345). 52 Cf. Report of the Truth Commission for El Salvador, From madness to hope: the 12-year war in El Salvador, 1992-1993 (evidence file, tome II, annex 1 to the submission of the case, folio 1208). 22