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place in Tegucigalpa on the afternoon of September 12, 1981. According to the petitioners,
several eyewitnesses reported that Manfredo Velásquez and others were detained and taken to
the cells of Public Security Forces Station No. 2 located in the Barrio El Manchén of Tegucigalpa,
where he was "accused of alleged political crimes and subjected to harsh interrogation and cruel
torture." The petition added that on September 17, 1981, Manfredo Velásquez was moved to the
First Infantry Battalion, where the interrogation continued, but that he police and security forces
denied that he had been detained.
4.
After transmitting the relevant parts of the petition to the Government, the Commission,
on various occasions, requested information on the matter. Since the Commission received no
reply, it applied Article 42 (formerly 39) of its Regulations and presumed "as true the allegations
contained in the communication of October 7, 1981 concerning the detention and possible
disappearance of Angel Manfredo Velásquez Rodríguez in the Republic of Honduras" and pointed
out to the Government "that such acts are most serious violations of the right to life (Art. 4) and
the right to personal liberty (Art. 7) of the American Convention" (Resolution 30/83 of October 4,
1983).
5.
On November 18, 1983, the Government requested reconsideration of Resolution 30/83 on
the grounds that domestic remedies had not been exhausted, that the National Office of
Investigations had no knowledge of the whereabouts of Manfredo Velásquez, that the Government
was making every effort to find him, and that there were rumors that Manfredo Velásquez was
"with Salvadoran guerrilla groups."
6.
On May 30, 1984, the Commission informed the Government that it had decided, "in light
of the information submitted by the Honorable Government, to reconsider Resolution 30/83 and
to continue its study of the case." The Commission also asked the Government to provide
information on the exhaustion of domestic legal remedies.
7.
On January 29, 1985, the Commission repeated its request of May 30, 1984 and notified
the Government that it would render a final decision on the case at its meeting in March 1985.
On March 1 of that year, the Government asked for a postponement of the final decision and
reported that it had set up an Investigatory Commission to study the matter. The Commission
agreed to the Government's request on March 11, granting it thirty days in which to present the
information requested.
8.
On October 17, 1985, the Government presented to the Commission the Report of the
Investigatory Commission.
9.
On April 7, 1986, the Government provided information about the outcome of the
proceeding brought in the First Criminal Court against those persons supposedly responsible for
the disappearance of Manfredo Velásquez and others. That Court dismissed the complaints
"except as they applied to General Gustavo Alvarez Martínez, because he had left the country and
had not given testimony." This decision was later affirmed by the First Court of Appeals.
10.
By Resolution 22/86 of April 18, 1986, the Commission deemed the new information
presented by the Government insufficient to warrant reconsideration of Resolution 30/83 and
found, to the contrary, that "all evidence shows that Angel Manfredo Velásquez Rodríguez is still
missing and that the Government of Honduras . . . has not offered convincing proof that would
allow the Commission to determine that the allegations are not true." In that same Resolution,
the Commission confirmed Resolution 30/83 and referred the matter to the Court.
I