17 The lives of the witness and her children have changed since the disappearance of her husband, who supported the family financially. Oscar José Blanco-Romero was a “millstone maker, he also sold food and had a small workshop where he repaired electric appliances.” She had two children with Oscar José Blanco-Romero and has raised her niece and nephew since they were little, so she regards them as her own children. Her elder children help in the food shop, which is her sole source of income, and one of her younger children has problems at school due to the trauma caused by his father’s disappearance. One of her daughters is an outstanding athlete and, due to her husband's absence, every time her daughter takes part in an international competition, the witness has to seek authorization from the Courts so that her daughter may leave the country, for she is a minor requiring authorization from her parents. Her son Edwar remembers everything that happened to his father and is receiving psychological help from the COFAVIC (Comité de Familiares de Víctimas de los Sucesos de Febrero-Marzo de 1989) (Committee of Next of Kin of the Victims of the Events of February-March 1989). The witness and her children await Oscar’s return in hope. They are very sad by the lack of elucidation of the events and are waiting and hoping to get justice done and to know why Oscar was taken away. 2. Nélida Josefina Fernández-Pelicie, mother of José Francisco Rivas-Fernández She gave an account of the events of December 29, 1999, when her son was arrested, beaten and disappeared by army members. Her husband, one her children and herself tried to control the military men so that they would stop beating him. She heard one of the army members tell another one to kill him, since he was a “dog.” The Rivas Fernández family did all they could to prevent the military from taking him away; in spite of them, they took off his shoes, gagged him and took him away. The family of José Francisco Rivas spent the following day looking for him in other areas, going through the mud to hospitals, jails or military centers. In one of these places, they were informed that their son had been turned over to the DISIP. However, this agency kept informing them that they did not have any record showing such person to have been arrested. Her son supported her financially; he used to do small construction and paint jobs and some odd jobs she got from the people in the neighborhood. In the search for her son, she has received help from the Vicaría (Vicarship) and the COFAVIC (Comité de Familiares de Víctimas de los Sucesos de Febrero-Marzo de 1989) (Committee of Next of Kin of the Victims of the Events of February-March 1989), who have also provided her psychiatric help, although she pays for her medicines herself. She continues searching for her son and hopes to find him. She wants to recover “at least a button of his shirt, a finger from his hand, his teeth, whatever is left.” She fervently wishes to have at least the possibility to bury her son and have a place to lay flowers or light a candle for him. She complains about the lack of investigation into the disappearance of her son. Ever since her son disappeared she has been feeling lonely, sad, and desolate. Her husband has composed a song that he hopes to play to his son when he is found. The family hopes justice to be done.