10 a) José Mario Salgado Montalbán, lawyer, prosecutor on duty in the local offices of the Office of the Public Prosecutor of the City of Tela, Atlántida The deponent remembers that on the last Sunday of April 1997 the detectives of the Authorities for the Fight Against Drug Trafficking assigned to the city of Ceiba, Atlántida, informed him that they had carried out an operation on the beach in the surroundings of the Puerto Rico Hotel, and as a result of it they had seized two packages that allegedly contained two kilos of cocaine. The agents arrested three men, among them Mr. Alfredo López Álvarez, from who they also seized “a bit of marihuana and a portion of cocaine.” Later, in his condition of prosecutor on duty, he prepared the complaint that was presented before the Sectional Court of First Instance of Tela. He sent the defendants to the same court, where they were “inquired” and sent to the criminal center. The substances seized were sent to the North-Occidental Authority of Forensic Medicine for their corresponding analysis, which resulted positive with regard to the cocaine in a 97.4% of purity, which coincides with the field trial performed at the time of the seizure. Although he did not hear the entire case, since he was transferred to the city of San Pedro Sula, he later found out that the drug had been substituted with another substance. When the arrest was carried out there was full evidence that a crime had been committed and rational evidence to consider those responsible of said illicit act. b) Dennis Heriberto Rodríguez Rodríguez, former agent of the General Office of Criminal Investigation of the Office of the Public Prosecutor (hereinafter “Office of Criminal Investigation” or “the DIC”) As an agent of the DIC he remitted Messrs. Alfredo López Álvarez, Luis Ángel Acosta, and Sunny Loreto Cubas to the Sectional Court of Lower Court of Tela, Atlántida, along with the evidence collected, which consisted of two kilos of cocaine covered in rubber and with “tape”. He witnessed the field test, which gave a positive result. Later, the Toxicological Laboratory of San Pedro Sula confirmed that the samples were more than 90% pure. Before the arrest, the prosecution received several calls filing a complaint against the detainees as drug traffickers, reason for which the Prosecutor José Mario Salgado called the agents of the Office for the Fight Against Drug Trafficking in order to speed up the corresponding investigations. He considers that the sample seized was switched when the court changed buildings and the evidence was not duly handled. c) José Roberto Cabrera Martínez, former agent of the Office for the Fight Against Drug Trafficking He carried out the arrest of Mr. Alfredo López Álvarez. With it he concluded an investigation that began at the end of March 1997 with a telephone call in which someone informed that Mr. López Álvarez was trafficking drugs. They proceeded then to follow Mr. López Álvarez during two weeks and they recollected evidence that he was meeting with individuals related with drug trafficking activities. He later obtained information that on April 27, 1997 Mr. López Álvarez had drugs in his power, reason for which he was intercepted along with Messrs. Acosta and Loreto Cubas. The agents checked the car they were driving; in the back seat they found two packages containing approximately one kilo of cocaine each, and then they performed a field test that came out positive. Once in the offices of the Office of Criminal Investigation they received Alfredo López Álvarez’s statement, where he acknowledged he had been given the two packages of cocaine in his house and that Luis Ángel Acosta offered to find him a buyer. If he was able to sell that drug, he would be paid ten thousand lempiras for each package. The evidence was later handed over, duly packed, to the prosecutor; it