4 elders). 4 Now that such a long time has passed since the massacre took place, can the damage caused still be repaired? 15. In his answer to my question, the expert witness, Augusto Willemsen-Díaz, focusing on the issue of the oral transmission of the Mayan “millenary culture” considered that, although it was true that the dead were no longer able to communicate fully with the living, and that the principle “spiritual guide” had been “eliminated,” which was an irreparable loss, nevertheless: "Collectively there is perhaps hope, because there are still some who are bearers and reproducers of the captivating ancient traditions of the Mayas. I hope they are able to react and rebuild a little this extraordinary culture they possessed and maintained for almost 500 years until this terrible event occurred, and I hope they find [...] the strength to recover a large percentage of this magnificent culture they possessed and still possess. [...] I believe it has been significantly harmed [...]. I profoundly hope they are able to recover and readapt and rebuilt this captivating culture." 5 16. In this judgment on reparations, the Court has duly taken into account the temporal dimension of this important cultural element (paras. 49(12) and (82)). The Court has duly emphasized the spirituality of the members of the Maya Achí community, not only in their relationship with the land, but also in their “close relationship between the living and the dead,” expressed through “the practice of burial rites, as a form of permanent contact and solidarity with their ancestors. The transmission of knowledge and culture is a role assigned to the elders and women” (para. 85). 17. In the Case of the Plan de Sánchez Massacre (reparations), the Court added: "the victims were unable to bury appropriately their next of kin who had been executed in the massacre or practice funeral rites in accordance with their traditions. And, it is necessary to recall the special significance for the Mayan culture, and particularly the Maya-Achí culture, of the funeral rites, and the magnitude of the damage caused to the victims because these rites were not respected. Moreover, it has been proved that, owing to the conditions of decomposition and calcination in which the remains were found after the exhumations conducted in 1994 and 1996, only a few victims could bury their next of kin and perform the corresponding ceremonies [...]. It has been proved that the death of the women and elders, oral transmitters of the Maya-Achí culture caused a cultural vacuum” (para. 87(a) and (b)). III. Reparations for State Crime 18. It was essential that, when deciding and ordering a wide range of reparations (pecuniary and non-pecuniary) in its judgment, based on the provisions of Article 63(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights, the Inter-American Court should take into account the aggravating circumstances of the violations in the Case of the Plan de Sánchez Massacre. Moreover, the reparations ordered have an individual and a collective or community dimension. Thus, together with the pecuniary damage, when determining the non-pecuniary damage, the InterAmerican Court has stressed the "aggravated impact" of the facts – their particular gravity – for the members of the Maya-Achí people (paras. 81 and 83). 4 . See note 2, p. 91 (in Spanish, for internal circulation only). 5 . See note 2, p. 92 (in Spanish, for internal circulation only).