I INTRODUCTION OF THE CASE AND PURPOSE OF THE DISPUTE 1. The case submitted to the Court. On July 10, 2019, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Inter-American Commission” or “the Commission”) submitted to the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court the case of the “Massacre of the village of Los Josefinos” against the Republic of Guatemala (hereinafter “the State of Guatemala,” “the Guatemalan State” or “the State”). According to the Commission, the case relates to the events that took place on April 29 and 30, 1982, in the village of Los Josefinos, located in the department of Petén, Guatemala, during the internal armed conflict. In particular, according to the Commission, the case refers to the actions carried out by the State or that it carry out after March 9, 1987, the date on which Guatemala accepted the Court’s contentious jurisdiction. According to the Commission, these State actions include: (i) the forced disappearance of three persons, who were last seen in the State’s custody; (ii) the forced displacement of the survivors of the massacre and their families; (iii) the violation of the rights of the family and of the child, and also (iv) the violation of the rights to integrity, judicial guarantees and judicial protection. Consequently, the Commission concluded that the State was responsible for the violation of Articles 3, 4(1), 5(1), 5(2), 7, 8(1), 11(2), 17, 19, 21, 22(1) and 25(1) of the American Convention, in relation to Article 1(1) of this instrument and Article I of the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons (hereinafter “the ICFDP”). 2. Procedure before the Commission. The procedure before the Commission was as follows: a) Petition. On October 27, 2004, the Asociación Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos de Guatemala (hereinafter “FAMDEGUA”) and the Center for Justice and International Law (hereinafter “CEJIL”) lodged the initial petition before the Commission. b) Friendly settlement agreement. On December 18, 2007, the petitioners signed a friendly settlement agreement with the State, to which an addendum was added on April 14, 2008. In this agreement, the State undertook to adopt a series of measures of reparation and guarantees of non-repetition. However, the Commission advised that, on October 24, 2012, owing to the State’s failure to comply fully with the agreement the petitioners asked the Commission to conclude the friendly settlement procedure and to continue processing the case. c) Admissibility Report. On March 24, 2015, the Commission adopted Admissibility Report No. 17/15, in which it concluded that the petition was admissible. 1 d) Merits Report. On February 12, 2019, the Commission adopted Merits Report No. 16/19, under Article 50 of the Convention (hereinafter also “the Merits Report” or “Report No. 16/19”), in which it reached a series of conclusions and made several recommendations to the State. 2 e) Notification to the State. The Merits Report was notified to the State on April 10, 2019. The Guatemalan State indicated its “total opposition and disagreement” with the Merits Report and indicated that it constituted an act of “bad faith, because a [friendly settlement 1 This was notified to the parties on May 6, 2015. The Commission concluded that the State of Guatemala was responsible for the violation of the rights to life and personal integrity, the rights of the child and to recognition of juridical personality, personal liberty, privacy, property, protection of the family, freedom of movement and residence, judicial guarantees and judicial protection. All the foregoing pursuant to Articles 3, 4(1), 5(1), 5(2), 7, 8(1), 11(2), 17, 19, 21, 22(1) and 25(1) of the American Convention in relation to Article 1(1) of this instrument. In addition, the State had failed to comply with the obligations contained in Article 1 of the ICFDP. 2 4