49 large number of children. According to General Gramajo “[a] lot of the families of army officers have grown with the [‘]adoption[’] of children, victims of the violence, given that at certain points it became fashionable among army ranks to take care of 3 or 4 year old children […].”176 174. The report “Hasta Encontrarte, Niñez Desaparecida Por el Conflicto Armado Interno en Guatemala” (Until I find you, Missing Children of the internal armed conflict of Guatemala) of the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of Guatemala177 (hereinafter “ODHAG, Hasta Encontrate”), highlights the problem of disappeared children as a consequence of said internal conflict, and indicates that “of the total cases of missing children documented in the investigation process, 69% were taken to different military units after their capture” and points out several “cases where a member of the Army took a boy/girl, […] after the Army massacred his/her community”178. The report establishes that at the time of the facts of the instant case there were “at least 444 cases of boys and girls who disappeared due to the internal armed conflict in Guatemala.179” 175. Additionally, this report by the ODHAG, Hasta Encontrarte, indicates that the crime of illegal abduction and retention of minors was committed, given that: [d]uring the armed conflict there were illegal adoptions. As previously indicated, the dynamics of the conflict, which facilitated impunity, allowed for boys and girls to be delivered by those who victimized them to military, civil, or religious entities or individuals, and it is believed that in a great number of cases they were [‘]adopted[’] without observing the legal procedures. Procedural irregularities such as the forging of birth certificates, or changes in identity through new registrations, allowed for children to the adopted by foreigners, nationals, and even the families of those who victimized them. The factual adoptions or integration of the victims to substitute homes, in many cases were performed arbitrarily by those who victimized them, or by social, public, or private entities who ignored the family investigation phase, making more complex the phenomenon of forced disappearance of children180. 176. The same report by the ODHAG, Hasta Encontrarte, highlights that “in many known cases it has been possible to detect that the relocation of disappeared boys and girls meant a change of name and surnames, which not only occurred in the cases of [‘]adoption[’] outside and within Guatemala, but also in those who stayed in the country living with other families”181. * * * 177. Based on the foregoing and on the evidence submitted, the Court concludes that it has been established that at the time of the facts there existed in Guatemala a pattern of separation of children from their families after the massacres perpetrated by the armed forces, and of abduction and illegal retention of these children, in some cases by the soldiers themselves. Additionally, it has been established that this practice entailed, in many cases, changing their name and denying the children’s identity. The State neither has denied, nor claimed ignorance of this situation. 178. For purposes of the instant case, the Court will take into account this practice of kidnapping and retaining children, and that the State was aware of it, and it will 176 REMHI, Guatemala Never Again, supra note 171, f. 10020. 177 ODHAG, Hasta Encontrarte, supra note 171, fs. 10042 and 10995. 178 ODHAG, Hasta Encontrarte, supra note 171, fs. 11042 and 11043. 179 ODHAG, Hasta Encontrarte, supra note 171, f. 11051. 180 ODHAG, Hasta Encontrarte, supra note 171, f. 11120. 181 ODHAG, Hasta Encontrarte, supra note 171, f. 11063.