4
19.
By note of March 8, 1982, the Government responded that Francisco Fairén Garbi and
Yolanda Solís Corrales had entered Honduran territory at the Las Manos Customs Post in the
Department of El Paraíso on December 11, 1981 and had left the country on December 12, 1981,
through the El Florido Customs Post, presumably headed for Guatemala. The Commission sent
this information to the petitioner on March 29, 1982.
20.
In communications dated March 15 and April 16, 1982, the petitioner pointed out to the
Commission a series of facts that he found contradictory:
a)
that on January 8, 1982, the Consulate of Nicaragua in San José, Costa Rica
certified that Francisco Fairén Garbi and Yolanda Solís Corrales had left Nicaragua for
Honduras, crossing the border at Las Manos at 4:00 p.m. on December 11, 1981.
The Consulate subsequently produced photostatic copies of the immigration cards
filled out in the travellers' own handwriting;
b)
that the Government of Honduras in a document dated January 24, 1982, and
the Honduran Ambassador to Costa Rica, in a paid advertisement in the Costa Rican
newspaper "La Nación", both declared, based upon a "thorough investigation" of
Honduran immigration officials, that Francisco Fairén Garbi and Yolanda Solís
Corrales had "at no time entered the territory of the Republic of Honduras." On
February 19, 1982, the Ambassador to Costa Rica repeated this statement based on
an investigation conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of her country. On
February 11, 1982, the Secretary General of Immigration of Honduras had already
certified, however, that Yolanda entered Honduran territory on December 12, 1981,
through the Las Manos Customs Posts, travelling from Nicaragua "in a private
vehicle" and that "there is no evidence of Francisco Fairén having entered our
country, nor is there any record of the departure of either of the Costa Ricans." On
the other hand, on March 10, 1982, the Foreign Minister of Honduras informed his
Costa Rican colleague that both Francisco and Yolanda had entered Honduran
territory from Nicaragua at Las Manos on December 11, 1981 and had left for
Guatemala the following day, December 12, crossing the border at El Florido;
c)
that whereas the Consul of Guatemala in San José, Costa Rica certified on
January 4, 1982, that Francisco Fairén Garbi and Yolanda Solís Corrales did not enter
or leave Guatemala between December 8 and 12, 1981, on February 3, 1982, he
certified that both had entered Guatemala from Honduras on December 12, 1981, at
the El Florido border post and had departed for El Salvador on December 14, 1981
through the Valle Nuevo border post;
d)
that the Department of Motor Vehicles of Costa Rica certified that no driver's
license had been issued to Yolanda Solís Corrales;
e)
that witnesses had seen Francisco and Yolanda in Tegucigalpa on December
12, 1981.
21.
In those communications, the petitioner added that he was worried by the
Government's reluctance to allow a second autopsy on the body of a young man
found in La Montañita, near Tegucigalpa, on December 28, 1981.
22.
On June 9, 1982, the Government responded to the petitioner's observations.
It repeated what it has stated on May 8, 1982, when it informed the Commission of
the results of its investigations. According to that statement, Francisco Fairén and
Yolanda Solís had departed for El Salvador on December 14, 1981 and their
departure was attested to by a certificate issued by the Guatemalan authorities.