5
offices of the Coordinadora Nacional de Viudas de Guatemala (Office of the
Coordinator of Guatemalan Widows, hereinafter “CONAVIGUA”) on June 2, 2000.
Specific measures: on the situation of the former patrolmen
14.
The State’s sixteenth and seventeenth reports made no reference to the
apprehension of the former patrolmen. The Commission’s comments on those
reports, submitted on March 22 and June 29, 2000, where it pointed out that twelve
former patrolmen were still at large and that “no steps to apprehend” them had been
taken. The State’s eighteenth report, dated July 31, 2000, wherein it reported on
the June 6, 2000 meeting where COPREDEH officials again urged the Director
General of National Police that the former patrolmen had to be apprehended. The
State also reported that the protective measures were being carried out as “highly
covert” operations in order to achieve their objective.
In its nineteenth and
twentieth reports, the State made no reference to the measures taken in this
connection.
15.
The Commission’s comments on the eighteenth report, the public hearing
held on March 13, 2001, and the Commission’s comments on the State’s twenty-first
report, wherein the Commission underscored the urgency of apprehending these
persons. In its comments on the twenty-first report, the Commission reported that
the beneficiaries of the provisional measures had been threatened by relatives of the
former patrolmen. They were told that if the former patrolmen were taken into
custody again, the patrolmen’s relatives would take reprisals, including possibly
poisoning the Colotenango municipal water supply. At that public hearing, the State
said that it was working with MINUGUA to map out strategies to apprehend the
former patrolmen.
16.
The July 19, 2001 note from the Secretariat of the Court (hereinafter “the
Secretariat”) where it reminded the Commission that it had not submitted comments
on the State’s nineteenth and twentieth reports.
17.
The Secretariat’s July 20, 2001 note wherein Guatemala was reminded to
submit its twenty-second report. As of the date of this Order, that document had
not been received.
18.
The Court’s August 29, 2001 Decision wherein it determined that it:
1.
The Court will admit and hear autonomous requests, arguments, and
evidence from the beneficiaries of provisional measures which it adopts in
cases where the application has been presented before it; this will, however,
not exempt the Commission from its obligation under the Convention to
provide the Court, at its request, with all relevant information.
2.
Only the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is authorized to
provide information to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights during the
processing of measures ordered by the Court in cases where no application is
pending before it.
CONSIDERING: