was thought that they could be aiding the guerrillas. Such military actions, executed on the orders of the very highest state authorities or with their knowledge, mainly consisted of killings of defenseless populations, socalled massacres, and scorched-earth operations.”15 At least 626 massacres were committed by Government forces during the armed conflict,16 primarily by the Army, supported by paramilitary structures such as the PACs, and Military and Judicial Commissioners.17 The Commission also takes into account that, as indicated by the Public Prosecution Service of Guatemala, Articles 1-2 and 5-7 of Government Act 4-73, published in Diario de Centro América on March 6, 1973, provided that military commissioners had the obligation to collaborate directly and indirectly with the Guatemalan Army, and therefore were subordinate to the latter under the respective chain of command.18 16. As the Court has determined, during the internal armed conflict there was a State policy of military massacres and scorched-earth operations,19 the purpose of which was to wipe out entire families and destroy communities. 20 As the Court also stated in relation to the Las Dos Erres Massacre, there was a “systematic context of massive human rights violations in Guatemala, in which multiple massacres occurred ... [within a] generalized context of violence exerted by the State.”21 17. According to the CEH, those operations were also intended to terrorize and punish communities regarded as having ties to the guerrillas in order to inhibit any attempt to support the insurgency. 22 Such punishments not only targeted the civilian population, but were also directed to persons linked to the PACs and military commissioners when they failed to provide effective and timely cooperation in the counterinsurgency struggle, as was the case in the massacre of Los Josefinos.23 18. Forced displacement was the natural corollary of such massacres and scorched-earth operations: “Hence, those communities had two options: a quick death, by machete or bullet, or a very possible slow death, by hunger or disease.” 24 Families and communities not only experienced the complete destruction of their homes, livestock, crops, and other means of survival,25 but were also victims of systematic persecution. Indeed, as the Court described, those who managed to escape and take refuge in the mountains lived for years “stripped of all their belongings, sleeping exposed to the elements and moving continuously in order to flee the soldiers and patrollers who pursued them even after the massacres.”26 19. In addition, in the context of the armed conflict and the State’s policy of destroying families and communities, the Court also determined that “during this period, there was a pattern of separating children from their families after the massacres, and taking and retaining them illegally, all perpetrated by the military forces and illegal armed groups.”27 In similar fashion, during the most violent period of the conflict, boys and IACHR, Río Negro Merits Report, par. 57. See also IACHR, Cichupac Merits Report, par. 42; I/A Court H.R., Las Dos Erres Massacre Judgment, par. 73; I/A Court H.R., Río Negro Massacres Judgment, par. 57; and I/A Court H.R., Plan de Sánchez Massacre Judgment, par. 42.5-42.6. 16 Of which 13 were in the Department of Petén. See CEH, Guatemala: Memory of Silence, Conclusions and Recommendations, Commission for Historical Clarification, First ediction, June 1999 (hereinafter “CEH, Guatemala: Memory of Silence, Conclusions and Recommendations”), p. 100. 17 IACHR, Río Negro Merits Report, par. 57; IACHR, Cichupac Merits Report, par. 42; I/A Court H.R., Las Dos Erres Massacre Judgment, par. 73; I/A Court H.R., Río Negro Massacres Judgment, par. 57; I/A Court H.R., Plan de Sánchez Massacre Judgment, par. 42.6; and I/A Court H.R., Tiu Tojín Judgment, footnote 35. 18 Document seen by the Public Prosecution Service upon issuing its report on the Case of Plan Sánchez v. Guatemala. See Petitioners’ Observations on Merits, December 16, 2015, Annex 1, par. 160. 19 The IACHR has long understood "scorched-earth operations" to mean the forced displacement of the civilian population as a result of the repression brought to bear against them in the form of murders and the systematic destruction of harvests and properties. IACHR, Río Negro Merits Report, Footnote 22. 20 I/A Court H.R., Las Dos Erres Massacre Judgment, par. 207; I/A Court H.R., Río Negro Massacres Judgment, par. 244. 21 I/A Court H.R., Las Dos Erres Massacre Judgment, par. 152. 22 CEH, Guatemala: Memory of Silence, pp. 358-359, pars. 808-811. 23 CEH, Guatemala: Memory of Silence, p. 359, par. 811. 24 I/A Court H.R., Río Negro Massacres Judgment, par. 58. 25 I/A Court H.R., Plan de Sánchez Massacre Judgment, par. 42.7. 26 I/A Court H.R., Río Negro Massacres Judgment, par. 82. 27 I/A Court H.R., Río Negro Massacres Judgment, par. 60. See also I/A Court H.R., Las Dos Erres Massacre Judgment, par. 170-177. 15 5