PRESS RELEASE

Nº 12/00

At a public function in Guatemala City on August 9, 2000, the Guatemalan State, through the President of the Republic, Dr. Alfonso Portillo, recognized its liability in 10 cases of human rights violations pending before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The Commission was represented by Dean Claudio Grossman, First Vice Chairman of the IACHR and Rapporteur for Guatemala, and by Ambassador Jorge Taiana, the Commission’s Executive Secretary. 

 

 

           The cases are the following: Víctor Hugo Rodríguez Jaramillo et al (case 10.441); Miguel Pu López and Francisco Pu Chach (case 10.556); Tomas Lares Cipriano et al (caso 11.171); Finca la Exacta (case 11.382); Maritza Urrutia (case 11.043); Plan de Sánchez (case 11.763); Irma Flaquer (case 11.766); Marco Antonio Molina Theissen (case 12.101); Rosal Paz (case 9.168); Juan C. Sosf Váquez (Atitlán Massacre, case 10.725). 

          Further, the Guatemalan State accepted “the occurrence of the essential acts that gave rise to the filing of petitions before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights” and pledged to initiate the friendly settlement procedure in those cases. 

The Guatemalan State also pledged to ensure that the friendly settlement procedure would include appropriate compensation and/or assistance to the victims or their families and “to monitor and promote the investigation of the acts that are the subject of this declaration, to prosecute in civil and in criminal and administrative proceedings those individuals who, in the performance of their state functions or as an abuse of State power, are presumed to have participated in the alleged violation.” 

The IACHR acknowledges this important step taken by the Government of President Alfonso Portillo to recognize its liability for human rights violations in the aforementioned cases as well as its commitment to initiate the peaceful settlement procedure to bring justice in the pursuit of truth, punishment of the guilty, and compensation of the victims or their families. 

The Commission urges the Guatemalan State and the petitioners in each case to initiate the friendly settlement procedure as quickly as possible so to continue to advance toward the effective protection of human rights in Guatemala.  Lastly, it expresses its resolve and readiness to continue facilitating those procedures within the parameters established in the American Convention on Human Rights and other international instruments.

 

Washington, D.C., August 17, 2000