6 State of Ecuador for Human Rights violations committed in the past and thus decided by the Inter-American Court […], as well as reference to the friendly settlement reached under the framework of the Inter-American Commission […] and the other cases in which the Ecuadorean State has accepted its responsibility.” The Minister of Justice expressed, inter alia, the following: Today the international community commemorates 60 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This Declaration turned human rights into an ethics project for all of the countries and into the fundamental standards of human coexistence. Every [S]tate has the obligation of achieving the translation of these standards into true commitments with public policy, of truly guaranteeing them, in order for human rights not to remain as mere proposed regulations. In our efforts to have these standards reach their full potential, if there is one thing that we should be brave about pursuing, and that we should defend at all costs, is the truth: without it there is no justice, without it there can be no true peace. Defending human rights is not only the State’s first responsibility, it is its reason for being and that of its institutions. State institutions sustain themselves with the effort, work and resources of its citizens. Therefore there is no graver betrayal than when governors and government employees direct the State and its devices to endanger the human rights of its inhabitants, betraying its reason for being. Disgraceful acts have occurred in our country, sad, dark pages that we, as a society, should have never experienced, family tragedies that are national tragedies, unbearable abuses that cannot and must not remain unpunished, they cannot remain silent. The National Government understands that the best way to commemorate the 60 years of the [U]niversal [D]eclaration of [H]uman [R]ights is by complying with a pending international obligation before the Inter-American System of Human Rights, which is: public apologies to the men and women whose human rights were violated by an action or omission by the Ecuadorean State. This memory exercise is not only an obligation contained in international judgments, but it should also allows us, in this time of change, in this era of self-construction, to create exemplifying memories of those acts that cannot and must not be repeated. Presentation of the apologies case by case: The national government, in complying with international obligations and the obligations of its democratic and humanist convictions, presents public apologies on behalf of the Ecuadorean State: […] 6. To Mr. Juan Carlos Chaparro and Mr. Freddy Lapo Íñiguez, entrepreneurs detained, in solitary confinement, and involved in offensive acts that were not proven. […] In this manner the State complies with the judgments issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. […] The apologies to the victims will never be sufficient, no indemnity can compensate, but we can never relinquish the truth. Truth defeats impunity, truth makes us understand that society suffers in each victim. […] 25. That finally the representatives informed that the Minister of Justice and Human Rights “contracted the making of a documentary on the personal history of the victims of the human rights violations, and this documentary includes interviews of the victims and representatives of the instant case. The aforementioned documentary, named ‘El derecho a la memoria’ (‘The right to memory’), was presented in a ceremony where the victims of various cases, attorneys, judges, and other guests participated.” The representatives expressed their conformity with “the efforts shown by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to disseminate the case, for vindication of the memory of the victims and for these