Honduras,142 indicated that on November 12, 1997, Orlando Martínez confessed to him that Miguel Facussé
had given money to two congressmen – Juan Ramón Salgado and Salomón Martínez – who in turn paid Oscar
Sosa to kill Carlos Escaleras.143 He claimed that Oscar Sosa and another attorney from Mr. Facussé’s company,
Irene Castro, paid Orlando Martínez to carry out the murder, which was committed by Leodán aka ‘Guatuso’,
Oscar Escobar, and another person. He stated that “they [were] angry with Escaleras because he had ruined a
business deal for the congressmen and [for] Col. Aldana and [for] Mr. Facussé.”144 He said that business deal
involved “an oil factory they were going to build in Tocoa and Escaleras mobilized the people and prevented
them from building the plant [and] reportedly they lost more than two million lempiras.”145
97.
Mr. García Alfaro reiterated his statement given to the Committee for the Defense of Human
Rights in Honduras to the DGIC on December 3, 2000. 146 In addition, in the expansion of his statement, he
stated that Orlando Martínez also confessed to him that on the day of Carlos Escaleras’s death, he told the full
story to Mr. Narciso Castro.147 He said that Orlando Martínez told him that the congressmen received a check
from Facussé.148 He stated that hours after telling him about the death of Carlos Escaleras, Mr. Martínez was
killed.149 He further claimed that Oscar Sosa had Orlando Martínez killed “because he was ´talking´.”150
98.
In a later statement he said that Salomón Martínez’s attorney had visited him repeatedly at
the prison where he was being held, and told him that “if (…) he gave that statement, what he (…) would get is
a conviction because (…) he was the only poor person involved in the problem and everyone else had
money.”151 He reported that during a second visit, he was offered “scholarships for the children and (…) a
monthly payment for [his] wife (…) and private defense counsel in exchange for (…) not [giving] that
statement.”152
99.
On November 21, 2000, the Escaleras family, its legal representative, and the Coordinating
Committee of Peoples’ Organizations of Aguán (COPA) wrote to the Attorney General of the Republic to
remind him that he had agreed to appoint an ad hoc prosecutor to take charge of the proceedings. 153 They
142
Annex 23. Statement of Lucas García Alfaro, dated November 15, 2000, judicial case file, pp. 291-296, annexed to the initial
petition of January 14, 2002.
143
Annex 23. Statement of Lucas García Alfaro, dated November 15, 2000, judicial case file, pp. 291-296, annexed to the initial
petition of January 14, 2002.
144
Annex 23. Statement of Lucas García Alfaro, dated November 15, 2000, judicial case file, pp. 291-296, annexed to the initial
petition of January 14, 2002.
145
Annex 23. Statement of Lucas García Alfaro, dated November 15, 2000, judicial case file, pp. 291-296, annexed to the initial
petition of January 14, 2002.
146
Annex 23. Statement of Lucas García Alfaro, dated December 3, 2000, judicial case file, p. 321, annexed to the initial petition of
January 14, 2002.
147
Annex 63. Expansion of statement of Lucas García Alfaro, dated December 12, 2000, judicial case file, pp. 339-340, annexed to
the initial petition of January 14, 2002.
148
Annex 63. Expansion of statement of Lucas García Alfaro, dated December 12, 2000, judicial case file, pp. 339-340, annexed to
the initial petition of January 14, 2002.
149
Annex 63. Expansion of statement of Lucas García Alfaro, dated December 12, 2000, judicial case file, pp. 339-340, annexed to
the initial petition of January 14, 2002.
150
Annex 63. Expansion of statement of Lucas García Alfaro, dated December 12, 2000, judicial case file, pp. 339-340, annexed to
the initial petition of January 14, 2002.
151
Annex 64. Statement of Lucas García Alfaro, dated February 7, 2000, judicial case file, pp. 387-388, annexed to the initial
petition of January 14, 2002.
152
Annex 64. Statement of Lucas García Alfaro, dated February 7, 2000, judicial case file, pp. 387-388, annexed to the initial
petition of January 14, 2002.
153
Annex 65. Letter to the Attorney General of the Republic, dated November 21, 2000, Annex 2 to petitioners’ submission of
August 6, 2005.
19