18 buried the bodies of 16 people, women and children, all in one day, in two ditches” the locations of which 79 he was able to indicate. He said that he saw another 24 bodies in different parts of La Joya. 84. Genaro Sanchez recounted that on December 10, 1981 “a contingent of government troops opened fire on La Joya (...). The shooting lasted an hour, although there was no return fire (...)”. He thereupon decided to leave with his family at four in the morning on December 11, 1981. “At around seven in the morning the troops descended on La Joya, shooting as they came, and all day long there 80 was thick smoke coming from the houses that had been set on fire” . When he returned, he found several people weeping because their families have been killed. He went to the home of one of those 81 persons where he found bodies. 85. Sotero Guevara Martinez said that on December 11, 1981, men of the national army 82 killed several members of his family, along with other persons . In his statement he said that “on December 10 of that year he heard gunfire from 10 o’clock in the morning onwards in La Joya, where he lived with his family, but as the village was big he specified that the shots were coming from Los 83 Quebrachos canton” . Fearful, he took his entire family off toward the La Joya River, but as the shooting died down he decided to return with his family. The next day he went with two of his children to the home of his partner, with her younger daughter. When his partner and her daughter did not show up during the day he became concerned and he left his two sons with another person and went out to look for them. He found the house burned with “several bodies piled up, and on top was the body of my daughter Catalina”. Some days later he went back with other survivors to bury the bodies, and at that time he could see 84 whose bodies they were. 86. He also reported that a group of approximately 50 persons, residents of La Joya, sought refuge in the hills known as “El Perico”, some 500 m from the village houses. From that place they could see columns of smoke and hear the soldiers shooting. After wandering in the bush for several days, most 85 decided to seek refuge in Honduras . 87. According to statements taken by the Tutela Legal, after the massacre there was a 86 message scrawled on a wall: “The Atlacatl Battalion was here” . As well, at the end of December 1981 an airplane flew over the village of San Fernando, in the north of Morazán Department, dropping pamphlets reporting that all the people of La Joya and Cerro Pando and the village of El Mozote were 87 dead . 79 Statement of Eustaquio Martinez Vigil and Lucila Romero Martinez, May 14, 1992, Court record (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006) 80 Statement of Genaro Sanchez, April 4, 1991. Court record (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006) 81 Ibid. 82 Statement of Sotero Guevara Martínez, May 7, 1991. Court record (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 83 Ibid. 84 Ibid. 2006) 85 Tutela Legal, op. cit. on this point, Hilario Sanchez Gomez said that he hid on El Perito hill together with some 50 persons, and stayed there six days. From there, on December 12, 1981, he was able to observe “columns of soldiers dressed in olive-green uniforms, who were setting fire to all the houses, and they also heard gunfire. When they came down from the hill they found all their houses destroyed.” See statement of Hilario Sanchez Gomez before the Second Court of First Instance of San Francisco Gotera, February 14, 1991, Court record (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006). 86 Tutela Legal, op. cit. 87 Ibid.