be provided, to the extent possible, in the centers nearest to their places of residence522 in El
Salvador for as long as necessary. When providing the psychological or psychiatric treatment,
the specific circumstances and needs of each victim must also be taken into consideration, so
that they may be provided with collective, family or individual treatments, as agreed with each
of them and after individual evaluation.523 This medical, psychological or psychiatric, and
psychosocial treatment must include simple and differentiated registration and updating
procedures by the corresponding health care system, and the State officials responsible for
providing it must know that they are designed to provide reparation. The surviving victims and
the next of kin of the executed victims identified in Annexes “B” and “C” of this Judgment who
request this measure of reparation, or their legal representatives, have one year from
notification of this Judgment to inform the State of their intention of receiving medical,
psychological or psychiatric, and psychosocial treatment.
3)
Measures of Satisfaction
a)
Public acknowledgment of responsibility
354. In general terms, the Commission asked the Court to order the State to establish and
disseminate the historical truth of the facts and to recover the memory of the deceased victims.
In their pleadings and motions brief, the representatives indicated that, for the acknowledgment
of responsibility to have a true meaning for the victims, given the severity of the facts, it must
be made by the President of the Republic, in his capacity as Head of State, and the High
Command of the Armed Forces, senior officials of the Public Prosecution Service and the
Judiciary, and the executive council of the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly must attend the
ceremony. They also asked that the ceremony be held in the village of El Mozote; that the State
ensure the presence at this ceremony of the greatest number of surviving victims and next of
kin of the murdered victims, and assume all the expenses arising from the transfer of these
people; that the characteristics and details of this ceremony, such as the date and place, be
agreed previously with the victims and their representatives, and that it be broadcast by the
main national media.
355. Initially, the State expressed its willingness to accept and carry out the public
acknowledgment of responsibility. Subsequently, during the public hearing and in its brief with
final arguments, the State indicated that the said “measure ha[d] already been complied with.”
In this regard, the State mentioned the act of apology and acknowledgment of responsibility for
the massacres of El Mozote and nearby places, held in the village of El Mozote on January 16,
2012, in the context of commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Peace Accords. In this
regard, the State explained that, on December 5, 2011, the President of the Republic of El
Salvador had met with a representative group of the victims of this case and their
representatives, when “the President agreed to realize the act of apology and acknowledgment
of responsibility requested by the representative before the Inter-American Court.” According to
the State, this proposal was accepted and “the organization of the historic act of apology was
carefully planned by the State, in full coordination with the victims and their representatives.”
The said act was held on January 16, 2012, with the presence of the President of the Republic
and different State authorities.524 The State assumed all the costs of the ceremony, and it was
522
Cf. Case of the Las Dos Erres Massacre v. Guatemala, para. 270, and Case of Uzcátegui et al. v. Venezuela.
Merits and reparations. Judgment of September 3, 2012. Series C No. 249, para. 253(d).
523
Cf. Case of the Las Dos Erres Massacre v. Guatemala, para. 270, and Case of Uzcátegui et al. v. Venezuela,
para. 253(b).
524
The Presidential act was also attended by the Vice President of the Republic, most of the Government’s Cabinet,
including the Secretary for Social Inclusion and the First Lady of the Republic; the Minister of National Defense and
representatives of the High Command of the Armed Forces of El Salvador; the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Economy,
Health, the Interior, Justice and Public Security, Labor and Social Welfare, and the Deputy Minister of the Environment;
officials of the Public Prosecution Service, such as the Ombudsman and the Prosecutor General; Justices of the Supreme
Court of Justice, representing the Judiciary; the President of the Legislative Assembly and members of the legislature;
the Director General of the National Civil Police; the Inspector General of the National Civil Police; the Diplomatic Corps
accredited to the country, and also a representative number (several hundreds) of surviving victims and next of kin of
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