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 |