This is false. State Radio played music by Bach at 10:31 p.m.; Ravel at 10:59 p.m.; Stravinsky at 11:30 p.m., and ended its programming at 12:00 a.m. with a marching song as usual. At 12:11 a.m. on June 10 it resumed its broadcast unexpectedly on all State Radio stations at once, aired light music for twenty-one minutes, and at precisely 12:32 a.m. began to read the text of the martial law.
Cuello goes on:
that at approximately 0030 hours on the 10th, or rather closer to midnight, a group of individuals was driven to the District Police Department. It was said that they were being held incommunicado and under the command of the Chief of Police, who had allegedly carried out the procedure of apprehending them . . . Asked by Your Honor if the intake of these prisoners was recorded in the department’s books, he states: that it was not done because they were being held incommunicado and under the Chief of Police’s command, so it was understood that they were stopping there briefly and would then be driven to headquarters. Asked by Your Honor if the regulation is not that prisoners are to be registered as soon as they arrive at the station, he responds: that the San Martín District Police Department does not have stations designated for holding prisoners, and when a few do come through, they stay only temporarily . . . Asked by Your Honor if the prisoners were questioned, the witness states: that he cannot quite recall if they were questioned, that they might have been asked a question or two because the reason for their arrest was unknown, but he does not remember if this was recorded in writing . . . Asked by Your Honor if he can provide the names of those who were arrested, he remembers Rodríguez and thinks he remembers a last name like Brión. Actually he thinks the last name was Lizazo, and he also remembers distinctly that Giunta was there; as for Juan Carlos Livraga, he does not remember him . . . Asked by Your Honor what happened next, he states: that at approximately five o’clock in the morning his chief, Rodríguez Moreno, stated that he had received, via direct communication over the police radio between himself and the Chief of Police, an order to execute the group that the Chief of Police had arrested in Florida, that in compliance with said order he made all the prisoners get into an assault car, each prisoner with his respective guard. Asked by Your Honor whether it was covered with the appropriate curtains, the witness states: that he is almost certain that it was; that said vehicle set out followed by the Department van, which was being directed by the chief of the District Department, who was accompanied by the declarant and perhaps another officer or another person, he does not recall; that they arrived at an open field, the precise location of which the declarant cannot affirm. He can only say that it was in the jurisdiction of San Martín, that the assault car came to a stop there and was lit up by the headlights of the van. They then proceeded with the execution of the prisoners and, upon completion, or rather upon establishing how many individuals had been executed, they realized that there were only five instead of the twelve or thirteen who had been driven there, and at that moment they realized that some of the prisoners had escaped.
—When was that? —asked the judge.
Cuello doesn’t know. He participated only “as a witness and as moral support [sic] for the chief, who had taken command of the execution.”
It seems obvious that, when giving oneself to a moral task of this caliber, you cannot get too hung up on the details. But the escape, Cuello explains, “happened before the execution.”
the judge. —How many were left dead?
cuello. —Five.
the judge. —Is it possible that, of those who faced the firing squad, some were left unharmed?
cuello. —I don’t believe so.
the judge. —How were these five executed?
cuello. —I don’t recall, I think it was done in two groups.
At this point, the commissioner takes a polemical turn that the judge records on the back of page 62:
“At this moment the witness says he considers it necessary to explain that he does not see the reason for the investigation that is being conducted regarding these executions, that they had been ordered in compliance with martial law, that he seems to recall that it was instated on the night of the ninth between 10:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., and is almost certain that all the prisoners knew it had been put into effect, because he even seems to recall that the District Police Department acquired knowledge of these circumstances based on statements made by the prisoners themselves.”