42 [...], if you had been captured with your family you would not be around, so don't ask questions.” He found out through the media that Santiago Cabrera López had deserted from the Army, but that the other former combatants who were prisoners were still in the different military zones. With regard to Karina (Anastasia López Calvo), he saw her again when she went to make another statement to the press as a result of Cabrera's desertion. He knew another ORPA member, known as Valentín (Cristóbal Che Pérez), who was posted to Military Zone No. 1316, Mazatenango, at the end of 1991. However, he heard, through some combatants who had been taken prisoner that Valentín was taken drunk from Mazatenango, put in a prison cell and then nothing more was heard about him. He left the Army in August 1996, after contacting Jennifer Harbury. When he was in the airport leaving Guatemala, he was told that there was an order of ne exeat against him. Moreover, he was detained because he was carrying a gun. He was freed after payment of a financial surety. Then he went to Mexico, where he remained from August 1996 until October 1997. He fears for his safety and that of his family, because he has given testimony before the Court, and because a few days after his arrival in Washington D. C., in November 1997, he heard that people were driving round his family's house in Guatemala. He did not request protection from the law as he considered that “in Guatemala, the laws are controlled by the Army.” He was granted political asylum in the United States. h. Testimony Army Staff Officer. of Mario Ernesto Sosa Orellana, Guatemalan He began his service with the Army on June 30, 1977. In 1992, he held the rank of Major and he was posted to Military Zone No. 1316 at Mazatenango. Subsequently, between March and December that year, he transferred to the Santa Ana Berlín military base while the Quetzal Task Force was active, and when this closed down he was posted to Military Zone No. 18, in the Department of San Marcos, where he worked as an Intelligence Officer. Regarding the structure of the military in Zone No. 18, he stated that it was a military command, led by three commanders with the rank of colonel, who were well-informed about military operations; the second commander was responsible for the Staff and the third commander, was the inspector. The battalion commanders were under the orders of the second commander and then the Staff officers, including the officer in charge of personnel, intelligence, operations, logistics and civilian matters, and the companies of soldiers. As an intelligence officer, he was under the authority of the second commander of the military zone. With regard to the line of authority among the Staff officers there was a situation of “rank to rank”; in other words, they all had the same employment, but the years spent in the Army were respected.