84
measures, and the provision of psycho emotional accompaniment that the victim so
requires.
269. The Court observes that the Commission and the representatives did not submit
these requests at the appropriate procedural opportunity, namely, in the brief containing
the application and written brief of pleadings and motions. Consequently, the requests
for these measures of reparation are time-barred and the Court will not consider them.
D.
Indemnization, compensation, costs, and expenses
i) Pecuniary damage
270. The Court has developed in its jurisprudence the concept of pecuniary damage
and the requisites for which it should be compensated. This Court has established that
pecuniary damage supposes “the loss of or detriment to the income of the victims, the
expenses incurred as a result of the facts, and the pecuniary consequences that bear a
relationship to the facts of the case.”293
271.
The Commission requested the Court to, where it deems appropriate, fix in
equity an amount of compensation that corresponds to consequential damages and loss
of earnings, using its wide faculties on the matter.
272. The representatives indicated that as a direct consequence of the rape of Mrs.
Rosendo Cantú, the victim had to abandon involuntarily her two parcels of five hectares
each, three head of cattle, and 13 goats. The representatives clarified that the victim
was only the proprietor of half of her assets, given that the other half belonged to her
husband. They indicated that the commercial value of both the parcels was $120,000.00
M.N. (one hundred and twenty thousand Mexican pesos), of which half belonged to her,
namely, $60,000.00 M.N. (sixty thousand Mexican pesos), equivalent to US $4,583.65
(four thousand, five hundred and eighty-three dollars of the United States of America
and sixty-five cents). As such, they requested, as a measure of reparation for the loss of
the parcels, that “the State […] offers [Mrs. Rosendo Cantú] a parcel with the
characteristics of that one which was lost, in the village of Caxitepec […], in order for her
to return to her community and return to her heritage where she can then carry out
harvesting activities as she did before the rape.” Regarding the heads of cattle, the
representatives expressed that each head of cattle had the commercial value of
$8,000.00 M.N (eight thousand Mexican pesos) and each goat had the commercial value
of $1,000.00 M.N (one thousand Mexican pesos), to which the total value of the cattle
was $37,000.00 M.N (thirty-seven thousand Mexican pesos), of which half belonged to
her, namely, $18,500.00 M.N (eighteen thousand, five hundred Mexican pesos),
equivalent to US $1,413.29 (one thousand, four hundred and thirteen dollars of the
United States of America with twenty-nine cents). In addition, they noted that to the
prior sums, “medical and transportation costs should be added that […] she had to incur
[as a consequence of the rape],” given that she went four times to a private doctor and
had to purchase medicine for three months, to which she had to end the treatment due
to lack of means.
273. On the other hand, the representatives also stated that, as a direct result of the
rape, owing to the stigmatization and discrimination suffered in her community and
owing to the well-founded fear of suffering another attack from the soldiers, Mrs.
Rosendo Cantú isolated herself from her community and avoided work in her daily
chores that entailed cultivation and care of the livestock, and given the situation she was
living, had to involuntarily leave the community. The amount that corresponds to the
earnings that she did not make since the events took place, amount to $613,552.00
M.N. (six hundred and thirteen thousand, five hundred and fifty-two Mexican pesos),
293
Cf. Bámaca Velásquez v. Guatemala. Reparations and Costs, Judgment of February 22, 2002. Series C
No. 91, para. 43; Case of Chitay Nech, supra note 25, para. 261, and Case of Manuel Cepeda Vargas, supra
note 25, para. 242.
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