8
the events; on life expectancy in Colombia which is 73 years; on an update of Mr.
Caballero-Delgado's salary at the time of his disappearance, provided by the Santander
Teachers' Union; and on the assumption that Colombian law recognizes additional social
security benefits of two months salary for each year worked.
28.
The Government alleged that those calculations contained probatory defects, "such
as any proof that María del Carmen Santana was in any kind of full employment at the time
of the events, or the assumption that she was earning the legal minimum wage, in addition
to her social security benefits."
It also pointed out that no deduction had been made in the calculation for sums the victims
would have spent on their own upkeep, which would account for 25 percent to 50 percent of
their income; that it had used fourteen-month years, thereby distorting the calculation; that
the award of loss of earnings to María del Carmen Santana's companion would only be
reasonable if there were children of the union; that it was proper to award it to the parents
until such time as the victim would have reached the age of twenty-five, and to children
until the beneficiary reached adulthood. The Government also questioned the idea of
payment of six percent annual interest, arguing that arithmetical errors had been made in
the calculations of both victims' future loss of earnings.
X
29.
The Commission requested that the Court award a sum of US$ 150,000.00 (one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars of the United States of America) per family for moral
damage "directly sustained by the victims themselves", which would be "equitably
distributed between the families, depending on the number of beneficiaries and on the
distribution criteria already established by the Court in other cases."
30.
In that connection, the Government argued that it was not reasonable to suppose
that Isidro Caballero-Delgado and María del Carmen Santana had suffered moral damage,
inasmuch as the circumstances of their disappearance or death were unknown.
31.
The Commission also requested that the Court grant an indemnity for the moral
damage sustained by the victims' relatives and to use "as a minimum applicable" to that
calculation the maximum judicial assessment for such cases in Colombia, that is, an amount
equivalent to one thousand grams of gold for each person, who suffered moral damage,
other than the victim.
32.
While the Government acknowledged the presumption of moral damages sustained
by the victims' relatives, it maintained that if the sums demanded by the Commission were
converted, the moral damages for each person affected in the case of María del Carmen
Santana would be equivalent to four-thousand seven-hundred grams of gold, and in the
case of Isidro Caballero-Delgado to three thousand one hundred and fifty grams of gold.
Therefore, in its view, the amounts requested should be reduced.
XI
33. The Commission also requested the Court to order in its Judgment on reparations the
adoption of certain measures relating to its main petitions, namely that Colombia recognize
interest on the final amounts of the compensation from the date of the Judgment until the
time of the actual payment, on the basis of the bank interest rate in effect in Colombia on
the date the Judgment is delivered, that the payments be made in cash and not in public
bonds or credit instruments, and that the Court decide to supervise fulfillment of the