35 play a special role in granting permits and licenses for the provision of these special services, since they are only granted following approval by these authorities. To ensure that the private security and surveillance services remain within the framework of the Constitution and the law, the Superintendence exercises strict control and monitoring by meticulously ensuring that they fulfill the requirements and conditions for obtaining operating permits and licenses for all surveillance services, and also by carefully reviewing implementation of the activities of the authorized service and verifying that the requirements are updated and the permits and licenses renewed. While continuing to perform these activities, the Superintendence will soon be undergoing a legal and administrative restructuring that will provide it with improved human, technical and physical resources to strengthen controls and society’s confidence in the professional and technical quality and efficiency of the private security and surveillance sector. B) TESTIMONIAL AND EXPERT EVIDENCE 111. On September 22 and 23, 2005, the Court received the statements of the witnesses and expert witnesses proposed by the parties at a public hearing. Since several witnesses asked that their identity should kept confidential, for fear of reprisals owing to their statements, the Court will now make a general summary of these statements avoiding allusions that could lead to the identification of those testifying and their next of kin. The Court will also summarize the expert opinions. TESTIMONIES a) Witness proposed by the Inter-American Commission29 Prior to October 1997, El Aro was a village with around 700 or 800 inhabitants. The paramilitary presence in the district began in 1996. On October 25, 1997, some “paramilitary troops” arrived in El Aro and shots were heard at the entrance to the village. Among the troops was a member of the Army known as “Rambo.” The armed group wore Army uniform with dark green clothing. Some of them had a military emblem on their shirts that read “National Army, Girardot Battalion.” The witness was obliged to bring equipment from a nearby farm known as “El Paraíso” and to unload mules carrying other equipment and the bodies of individuals that the group had killed along the way. That night, the armed group raped three or four women. The following day, they were allowed to bury the bodies of the villagers who had been executed up until that time. El Aro was totally destroyed. There were from “90 to 100 houses in the village.” The armed group stole the possessions from the homes of the inhabitants of El Aro and a great many head of livestock. The people were obliged to herd their own livestock. They asked for help from an Army troop that was in “El Socorro” to 29 The Inter-American Commission and the witness requested that the name should remain confidential for reasons of safety.