19 88. Approximately 152 victims were identified. See. Annex of the present report. 4. The massacre in the village of Ranchería 89. The village of Ranchería was located a few kilometers to the northwest of El Mozote, and 88 contained 17 dwellings . 90. In the early hours of December 12, 1981, the third company of the Atlacatl Battalion moved in this direction, heading for Ranchería and Los Toriles, where they continued the mass murder of 89 the local population . By 8 a.m. troops of the Atlacatl Battalion had already killed the majority of the 90 residents of Ranchería . According to survivors’ testimony, and the manner in which the bodies were found, in this village the victims were killed in their houses as whole families. The killings began in the house of Vicente Marquez, continued in the house of Catarino Rodriguez, and proceeded family by family 91 during several hours. Many of the houses were burned after the killings. 91. Those who managed to escape and hide could hear the shooting, the shouts of the persons begging for their lives, and the weeping of the children. Many survivors returned to the site in 92 search of their families, and found bodies, some of them mutilated or with their throats slit. 92. Mrs. Irma Ramos Marquez declared that on December 12, 1981 she was at her home in Ranchería, when at around 8 a.m. she saw soldiers go into the house of Vicente Marquez. She then heard the wailing of women and children, followed by gunfire and a cloud of smoke, as the house had been set on fire. After that she saw nothing but she heard heavy gunfire. At around 9 a.m. soldiers arrived at the house of Catarino Rodriguez and after dragging out his entire family they took them to the house of Maximo Rodriguez, where the witness heard gunfire and the shouting of women. She saw around 30 93 dead people, women, men and children. She added that the soldiers killed 16 cows . 93. On a subsequent occasion, Irma Ramos Marquez declared that: In the village of Ranchería, on December 12, 1981, I saw some 25 dead people, 13 of which were lying under some orange trees, and the others were in an adobe house. I don’t know if those people were buried or not, but I suppose that the animals ate them, because I could already see 94 some dogs and pigs gorging on them. 94. Juan Bautista Marquez, a survivor from Jocote Amarillo, declared that he went to 95 Ranchería to look for other relatives, and found their bodies . On another occasion, he declared that “in the village of Ranchería, on around 16 December 1981, I saw 13 dead people lying under trees, and further on there were four more dead people in the house, and four more in another house, and in another house, and nearby four more dead people, for a total of 26 bodies. I don’t know whether they 96 were buried or not, I just know they were shot, and they included men, women and children” . 88 Ibid. 89 Ibid. 90 Ibid 91 Ibid. 92 Ibid 93 Statement of Irma Ramos Marquez before the Second Court of First Instance of San Francisco Gotera, October 31, 1990, Court record (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006). 94 Statement of Juan Bautista Marquez and Irma Ramos Marquez, May 14, 1982, Court record (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006). 95 Statement of Juan Bautista Marquez before the Second Court of First Instance of San Francisco Gotera, March 11, 1990, Court record (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006). 96 Statement of Juan Bautista Marquez and Irma Ramos Marquez, May 14, 1982, Court record (Annex 2 to the petitioners’ communication of July 7, 2006).