The facts of the case refer to the forced disappearance of Manfredo Velásquez Rodríguez, a university student kidnapped by agents of the State in September 1982. Such acts occurred in a time in which disappearances constituted a systematic practice utilized on those persons considered dangerous for the security of the State.

This is the first sentence issued by the IA Court, and as such establishes important standards regarding the legal nature and the elements of forced disappearance as a multiple and continued violation of numerous rights contained in the Convention, alongside the development of the content of the state obligations with regards to respect, guarantee and adaptation of domestic law, as well as the scope of the obligations to prevent, investigate, sanction and provide reparations of all violation of rights.