b) Testimony of Teófilo Báez Zacarías, guard at the Center The witness is a prison official and was a prison guard at the Center when it operated out of Emboscada prison; later, when the Center moved to Asunción, he worked there until October 1999. Therefore, he did not witness any of the fires because he was assigned elsewhere.
c) Testimony of Teresa Alcaraz de Mencia, official with the Ministry of Education and Culture. The witness served as a supervisor from 1998 to 2001, in the area where Youth and Adult Education Center No. 118 was located, which served the ‘Panchito López’ Juvenile Reeducation Institute. The Youth and Adult Education Center was in continuous operation from July 1993 to July 2001.
Center No. 118 started out with three teachers and eventually had seven. The program it offered was basic schooling, including the three cycles from the first to the sixth grades. It also offered vocational training to become a plumber, chef, hairdresser and electrician. The classes had special schedules, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. There were 150 students enrolled; of those, 110 finished the sixth grade, thereby completing the basic education cycle. The inmates also had computer courses. Brother Michael Sean O’Loingsigh requested that more cycles be opened up given the excessive number of students.