13
[o]n January 24, 1998, Mr. Oscar Humberto Vásquez, son of Mr. Oscar Vásquez (a victim in
the "white van" case) and a witness who had testified before the Honorable Court in
September 1997, was unlawfully detained by a group of three unknown men, who attacked
him violently and threatened his life.
The Commission also said that Mr. Vásquez had been threatened, that the Office of the
Department of the District Attorney ["Ministerio Público"] had refused to accept a
complaint about the events, and that the precautionary measures adopted to protect
the members of the Vásquez family (supra, para. 17) had not yielded satisfactory
results.
57. On February 10, 1998, the President required the State to adopt such measures
as were necessary to ensure the physical integrity of the members of the Vásquez
family and to investigate the attack on Mr. Oscar Humberto Vásquez.
58. On February 16, 1998, the State submitted its first report on the measures
adopted in compliance with the Order of the President. On February 19, the
Secretariat, at the President’s instruction, requested the State to submit forthwith to
the Court documents containing the results of the action taken to protect the Vásquez
family, especially those contained in points one and four of its report. On the following
day, the State submitted another document also titled as the first report on the
measures adopted in this case.
VI
DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE
59.
The significant documentary evidence in this case includes, first of all, the
extensive report prepared by the National Police of Guatemala, C.A. dated June 6,
1988, and dispatched to the Judge of the Magistrates' Court of Santa Catarina Pinula,
Zone 14, through official communication No. 3214. Subsequently, at the public hearing
before the Court, the report was acknowledged by those who had ordered the
investigation at the time of the events (infra, para. 67 (h) and (p)).
60.
In that report, the National Police gave an account of the investigation
conducted in connection with the operation carried out on March 10, 1988, at
kilometer 12 and 1/2 on the highway leading to El Salvador. In that operation, a
white Ford van was seized with the following on board: Aníbal René MoralesMarroquín, Manuel de Jesús de la Cruz-Hernández, César Augusto Guerra-Ramírez,
Neftalí Ramírez-García, Igloberto Pineda-Juárez and Juan José Elías-Palma, members
of the Treasury Police indicated in the report as "the persons allegedly responsible for
the abduction and murders" of the victims.
61.
At the same time as the report, the Police delivered to the magistrate the
vehicle described above, together with two others, "claiming that criminal acts had
been committed on board them." The vehicles were: a white Ford Econoline 350 van;
a white Nissan Cherry Vanette private minibus and a beige Chevrolet Chevy Van 20,
with brown borders, at that time painted all brown.
62.
The conclusions reached by the police investigators in that report were as
follows:
1)
The white FORD ECONOLINE 350 van with tinted windows was detained on March
10, 1988, at kilometer 12 and 1/2 on the El Salvador highway, following many complaints
to the country's authorities that a series of criminal acts had been committed in it.
2)
Following an exhaustive investigation by the NATIONAL POLICE DEPARTMENT, it
was reliably concluded and proven that on March 10, 1988, at kilometer 12 and 1/2 on the