which were never delivered. They add that in the late 1970s and early 1980s, many communities that lived in the Río Negro basin were brutally ousted. 23. The petitioners note that the Community of Río Negro was one of the communities affected by the construction of the Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam, and the one that put up the most resistance to being ousted from their ancestral lands. They state that as a consequence of that resistance, the Community of Río Negro was the one that suffered the most repression and persecution by the Guatemalan State, which, “taking advantage of the context of internal armed conflict at the time, accused its inhabitants of being the social base of the insurgency, considering them its enemies, and as a result their community was considered a red area for the Guatemalan Army.” 24. The petitioners allege that the persecution of the Community of Río Negro began in 1980 with the disappearance of the seven persons who represented the Community in the negotiations with the National Electrification Institute (Instituto Nacional de Electrificación, hereinafter “INDE”). At the time of their disappearance, they had the book of minutes that recorded the information on the decision made by the Community in the negotiations that the INDE was proposing. 25. They add that on March 4, 1980 4, at the Catholic chapel of the Community of Río Negro, the following members of the community were executed by agents of the Ambulatory Military Police (Policía Militar Ambulante, PMA): 5 Máxima Chen, Francisco Tun Uscap, Mateo Uscaps Chen 6, Calixto Chen Sánchez, Santos López Ixpatá, Justo Alvarado, and Mateo Ixpata. 26. The petitioners state that the repression and intimidation against the Community continued in the following years and grew worse in late 1981 and early 1982. 27. According to the petitioners, on February 7, 1982, the Guatemalan Army and members of the PACs called the men from the Community of Río Negro to a meeting in the Community of Xococ, where they were accused of belonging to the guerrillas. At that time their identity papers were taken; they were ordered to return one week later to retrieve them. 28. The petitioners indicate that on February 13, 1982, approximately 70 7persons – most of them men and approximately eight women and nine children – from the Community of Río Negro, went to the community of Xococ to look for the identity papers that had been taken from them. Once there, members of the Guatemalan Army and the PAC brutally assassinated them 8 and buried them in a common grave at a place called Chitón. 9According to the information provided by the petitioners, the children were tortured and the women were raped. One of the women was pregnant and as a result of the acts of violence labor was brought on; “despite her condition, they forced her to walk to Chitón, where they hung her; when she was dead they placed the baby on her chest and buried them both, even while the baby was 4 According to the petitioners, in the report on Guatemala “Memorias del silencio,” Illustrative Case No. 10, “Massacre and elimination of the Community of Río Negro, and Illustrative Case No. 14, “Forced transfer of child survivors of the massacre of the community of Río Negro,” this event is narrated as if it had occurred on March 5, 1980. Nonetheless, according to eyewitness statements and the death certificates, it occurred on March 4, 1980. See petitioners’ brief of April 16, 2007, page 4. 5 According to the petitioners, the Ambulatory Military Police provided security services to the INDE. See petitioners’ brief of July 19, 2005, p. 4. See also petitioners’ brief of April 16, 2007, p. 3. 6 The petitioners report that Mateo Uscaps Chen died at the hospital as the result of wounds inflicted to the abdomen with a firearm. See petitioners’ brief of April 16, 2007, p. 3. 7 It can be observed that the number of victims of the events of February 13, 1982, in the information provided by the petitioners, varies from 70 to 91 persons. 8 “That day, the 70 persons massacred went in front of the Catholic church, where they were to be given their identity papers, but that’s not what happened; instead, they were forced to go to a private home the property of Mr. Francisco Paz, where they were beaten with the butts of firearms, they were cut on the feet, nose, ears, and cheeks, most of those persons died from the torture to which they were subjected.” In this respect see: Jesús Tecú Osorio, Memorias de las Masacres de Río Negro, first edition, p. 81. Cited by the petitioners in their brief of April 16, 2007, p. 4. According to the petitioners the brutal way these persons were assassinated was revealed by the forensic anthropology report that was submitted as part of the anthropological investigation. See petitioners’ brief of July 19, 2005, p. 4. 9 According to the petitioners, the persons massacred were buried at a place called Chitón, located in the village of Xococ, municipality of Rabinal, department of Baja Verapaz. Petitioners’ brief of April 16, 2007, p. 5. 4