The events of the case refer to the forced disappearance, since April 1, 1981, of the Mayan indigenous political leader Florencio Chitay Nech, and the lack of diligence in the investigation of the incidents. The IA Court placed these events in the context of the internal armed conflict that took place between 1962 and 1996, during which time the forced disappearance of peoples constituted State practice carried out by security forces in Guatemala, with the purpose of not only punishing the victim but also the social or political collective that they belonged to.

The IA Court applied standards regarding the forced disappearance of peoples as a multiple violation of human rights. Furthermore, it developed criteria concerning the obligation to guarantee the enjoyment of political rights to members of indigenous and ethnic communities, and regarding the effects of forced displacement of the victim’s family within a context of systematic violence against Mayan indigenous groups, which resulted in infringements of their cultural identity.