2 5. The reports of March 6th, May 17th, July 4th, and August 9, 2007, and their annexes, presented by the State of Guatemala. 6. The observations of April 27th, July 5th, and August 16, 2007 presented by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Commission” or “the Inter-American Commission”) 7. The brief of August 31, 2007, through which the Commission informed that the matter regarding Messrs. Bernadino Rodríguez-Lara and Pablo Arturo Ruiz-Almengor is in the stage of admissibility before it. 8. The observations of April 17th and August 1, 2007, and their annexes, presented by the beneficiaries’ representatives (hereinafter “the representatives”). CONSIDERING: 1. That Guatemala is a State Party to the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” or “the American Convention”) since May 25, 1978 and it accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court on March 9, 1987. 2. That Article 63(2) of the American Convention states that “[i]n cases of extreme gravity and urgency, and when necessary to avoid irreparable damage to persons, the Court shall adopt such provisional measures as it deems pertinent in matters it has under consideration. With respect to a case not yet submitted to the Court, it may act at the request of the Commission.” 3. That Article 1(1) of the Convention states the duty of the States Parties to respect the rights and freedoms recognized in that treaty and to ensure to all persons subject to their jurisdiction their free and full exercise. 4. That provisional measures have an exceptional nature, that they are issued based on the needs for protection and, once they are ordered, they must be maintained as long as the Court considers that the basic requirements of the extreme gravity and urgency and the prevention of irreparable damages to the rights of the people protected by them subsist.1 5. That the stipulation established in Article 63(2) of the American Convention grants an obligatory nature to the adoption, by the State, of the provisional measures ordered by this Tribunal, which corresponds to a basic principle of the law of the international responsibility of the State, supported by international case law, according to which a State must fulfill its international treaty obligations in good faith (pacta sunt servanda).2 1 Cf. Case of the Constitutional Court v. Peru. Provisional Measures. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of March 14, 2001, Considering clause number three; Matter of Carlos Nieto et al v. Venezuela. Provisional Measures. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of July 3, 2007, Considering clause number seven; Matter of Monagas Judicial Confinement Center (“La Pica”) v. Venezuela. Provisional Measures. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of July 3, 2007, Considering clause number seven. 2 Cf. Matter of James et a v. Trinidad and Tobago. Provisional Measures. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of June 14, 1998, Considering clause number six; Matter of Carlos Nieto et al v. Venezuela. Provisional Measures, supra note 1, Considering clause number eight; Matter of Colotenango v. Guatemala. Provisional Measures. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of July 12, 2007, Considering clause number five.