with the assistance of the watchman and another person, took him to the CEMECO clinic. 68 The petitioners
report that no surgeon was available at that hospital and so Mrs. Alvarenga then took him to the D’Antoni
Hospital in La Ceiba, where he underwent surgery and, a few hours later, died. 69
71.
The records of the Vicente D’Antoni Hospital read as follows:
On October 18, 1997, this hospital provided emergency care to Mr. Carlos Alfonso Escaleras
Mejía, who was admitted in a state of hypovolemic shock due to gunshot wounds penetrating
his abdomen and injuring his elbow and left thigh. This service provided him with assisted
ventilation and restitution of volume until his condition improved; he was then taken into
surgery and we found a severe lesion of the anterior and posterior stomach walls and
pancreas, and, in the retroperitoneal space, a lesion of a major vessel. He went into cardiac
arrest; resuscitation procedures were unsuccessful and he died at 12:25 p.m. 70
72.
Mr. Narciso Daniel Castro, a primary-school teacher and acquaintance of Carlos Escaleras,
said that on the day of Mr. Escaleras’s death, Mr. Orlando Martínez approached him and told him that “he
killed a man there and (…) gave the name of Carlos Escaleras.”71 He reported that Mr. Martínez showed him a
“wad of money” and said that he had been given it by Mr. Oscar Sosa, 72 who allegedly had ties to Miguel
Facussé.73 This same witness reported that previously “he had seen Mr. Orlando Martínez at Mr. Sosa’s home,
and there were rumors that the two were involved with drugs.”74 He also stated that Orlando Martínez had
previously told him that he had killed two people on the orders of Oscar Sosa because “they had stolen
livestock from him.”75
73.
Mr. Castro stated that after his conversation with Orlando Martínez, he received telephone
calls telling him “they [knew] where he was” and that “if he opened his mouth they [would] close it for him.”76
His wife, who answered the telephone calls, recognized Orlando Martínez’s voice.77 Mr. Castro indicates in his
statement that Orlando Martínez was murdered at a gasoline station a few weeks after the incident. 78
68
Annex 18. Statement of Martha Alvarenga Reyes, dated October 27, 1997, judicial case file, p. 37, annexed to the initial petition
of January 14, 2002; Annex 20. Statement of Martha Alvarenga Reyes, dated November 27, 1997, judicial case file, p. 86, annexed to the
initial petition of January 14, 2002.
69
Annex 18. Statement of Martha Alvarenga Reyes, dated October 27, 1997, judicial case file, p. 37, annexed to the initial petition
of January 14, 2002.
70
Annex 21. Record of the Vicente D’Antoni Hospital, dated October 27, 1997, judicial case file, p. 50, annexed to the initial
petition of January 14, 2002.
71
Annex 22. Statement of Narciso Castro, dated November 21, 1997, judicial case file, pp. 82-83, annexed to the initial petition of
January 14, 2002.
72
Annex 22. Statement of Narciso Castro, dated November 21, 1997, judicial case file, p. 82-83, annexed to the initial petition of
January 14, 2002.
73
Annex 23. Statement of Lucas García Alfaro, dated November 15, 2000, judicial case file, pp. 291-296, annexed to the initial
petition of January 14, 2002.
74
Annex 22. Statement of Narciso Castro, dated November 21, 1997, judicial case file, p. 82-83, annexed to the initial petition of
January 14, 2002.
75
Annex 22. Statement of Narciso Castro, dated November 21, 1997, judicial case file, p. 82-83, annexed to the initial petition of
January 14, 2002.
76
Annex 22. Statement of Narciso Castro, dated November 21, 1997, judicial case file, p. 82-83, annexed to the initial petition of
January 14, 2002.
77
14, 2002.
Annex 24. Statement of Lilian Rosales, dated October 23, 1997, judicial case file, p. 83, annexed to the initial petition of January
78
Annex 22. Statement of Narciso Castro, dated November 21, 1997, judicial case file, p. 82-83, annexed to the initial petition of
January 14, 2002.
13