13
measures taken; iv) the alleged obstacles faced in the pursuit of justice; v) the
alleged obstacles faced in the attempts to obtain medical care; vi) the alleged
consequences in her personal life and to her family of the alleged violations of
human rights in the present case, and vii) the measures that the State should
adopted to repair the violations committed.
2. Hipólito Lugo Cortés, Inspector General of the Commission for the Defense of
Human Rights of Guerrero (CODDEHUM-GRO), witness proposed by the InterAmerican Commission and the representatives. He testified about: i) the
complaints received by the Commission for the Defense of Human Rights of
Guerrero regarding the alleged military abuses against indigenous people of
Guerrero; ii) the alleged lack of access to medical care by indigenous women; iii)
the investigation conducted by the CODDEHUM-GRO, in the case of Mrs. Rosendo
Cantú, and iv) the assistance provided to the alleged victim to present her claim
before the State authorities, particularly before the Common [Local] Public
Prosecutor’s Office.
3. Roxana Arroyo Vargas32, professor and expert in gender and issues of human
rights of women, proposed by the representatives. Rendered her expert report
on: i) the alleged discrimination suffered by women victim’s of violence; ii) the
lack of access to justice suffered by indigenous women victim’s of violence, and
iii) the necessary measures available to obtain adequate reparations in the
present case.
B.
Assessment of the documentary evidence
31.
In this case, as in others,33 the Court admits the probative weight of those
documents forwarded by the parties at the appropriate procedural opportunity, which
were not contested or opposed, and the authenticity of which was not questioned.
32.
On the one hand, the Court will examine, in the first place, the observations
made by Mexico on some documents offered in the application and in the brief of
pleadings and motions, and will then rule on those that were provided by the
representatives and the State following their brief of pleadings and motions and brief in
response to the application, respectively.
33.
The State raised objections to certain texts,34 newspaper articles,35 which were
submitted as documentary evidence by the Commission and by the representatives. It
32
Subsequent to the offering of the final list of deponents, witnesses, and experts, on May 4, 2010, the
representatives requested the substitution of the expert Facio Montero, whom “was not able to participate in
the hearing due to force majeure,” for the expert Roxana Arroyo Vargas, so she could provide her expert
opinion in said hearing. Given that the Inter-American Commission and the State expressed their conformity
with the request made by the representatives and the eventual usefulness of the proposed expert, the Court
accepted the proposed substitution and convened said expert to the public hearing to render her testimony
whose purpose was identified as being that of the expert Facio Montejo. Cf. Case Rosendo Cantú et al. v.
México. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of May 19, 2010, Operative Paragraph 2.
33
Cf. Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras. Merits. Judgment of July 29, 1988. Series C No. 4, para. 140;
Case of Chitay Nech et al., supra note 25, para. 50, and Case of Manuel Cepeda Vargas v. Colombia, supra
note 25, para. 56.
34
The publications mentioned by the State are the following: Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights. Access to Justice for Women Victims of Violence in the Americas, OEA/Ser.L/V/II, document 68, of
January 20, 2007 (case file of annexes to the application, tome I, annex 1, folios 3 to 155); Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico. Report on the Human Rights situation in Mexico, 2003 (case file of
annexes to the application, tome I, annex 2, folios 158 to 326); Global Exchange, Centro de Investigaciones
Económicas y Políticas de Acción Comunitaria, A.C. (CIEPAC) and CENCOS. Siempre cerca, siempre lejos: Las
fuerzas armadas en México, [Always close, always far: The Armed Forces in Mexico], 2000 (case file of
annexes to the brief of pleadings and motions, tome I, annex 1, folios 5031 to 5040); Rosalva Aída Hernández
Castillo. The Dirty War against Women [La Guerra Sucia contra las Mujeres]. March 8, 2009 in News Services,
Solidary Alternative Information (case file of annexes to the brief of pleadings and motions, tome I, annex 6,
folios 5262 to 5265); International Peace Brigades. Silenced: Violence against human rights defenders in the
south of Mexico [Silenciados: Violencia contra defensores de derechos humanos en el sur de México],