for the provision of equipped ambulances, the design of food security and nutrition
programs for the families of the victims, “potable water services” and “education services,”
all of them requested by the representatives. Nevertheless, the State indicated that “it was
unable to undertake” to provide free electricity to the Pacux settlement. However, it “offered
to arrange with the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the National Reparations Program”
for the reconstruction of the social fabric and the Maya Achí culture, “in keeping with their
institutional mandates.” Despite the foregoing, during the public hearing and in its final
written arguments, the State asked the Court to consider that some of the victims in the
instant case had received reparation “under different measures of reparation granted by the
National Electricity Institute.”
283. The Court will now analyze the relevant aspects of these arguments. However, first,
the Court emphasizes that, in accordance with Article 41(1) of the Rules of Procedure, the
appropriate procedural moment for the State to present its observations on the reparations
requested by the Commission and the representatives is in its answer to the submission of
the case. In the said brief, the State did not refer to the supposed measures of reparation
granted through the National Electricity Institute to some of the victims in the instant case.
Thus, the requests made by Guatemala during the public hearing and in its final written
arguments regarding the said measures are time-barred and will therefore not be analyzed
by the Court.
C.1.4.1. Infrastructure and basic services
284. The Court takes note of the State’s willingness to facilitate several measures
addressed at improving the living conditions of the members of the community of Río Negro
who live in the Pacux settlement (supra para. 282). In view of the precarious living
conditions of the victims of this case who were displaced and subsequently resettled by the
State in the Pacux settlement (supra para. 183), the Court establishes that Guatemala must
implement, in the said place, following consultation with the victims or their
representatives, and irrespective of the other public works included in the national budget
for the Pacux settlement or for the region where it is located, the following measures: (a)
the improvement of the Pacux health center by the provision of permanent human
resources qualified to provide physical, psychological and dental health care, medicines and
equipped ambulances; (b) the design and implementation of food security and nutrition
programs; (c) the improvement of the streets and avenues in the settlement; (d) the
implementation of a drainage system, treatment of sewage or residual waters, and supply
of potable water, and (e) the reconstruction or improvement of the elementary schools in
Pacux and the establishment of a bilingual, Spanish and Maya Achí, high school education
program. The State must implement the said programs within five years of notification of
this Judgment.356 Lastly, within one year of notification of this Judgment, the State must
guarantee the supply of electricity to the inhabitants of the Pacux settlement at an
accessible cost.
C.1.4.2. Project to rescue the Maya Achí culture
285. In this Judgment (supra paras. 160 to 162), the Court has established that the living
conditions in the settlement of Pacux have harmed the cultural integrity of the Río Negro
community, making a negative impact on the Maya Achí cosmovision and culture, and the
356
Cf. Case of the Plan de Sánchez Massacre v. Guatemala. Reparations and costs, supra, paras. 110 and
111.
97
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