27
that are consistent with the evidence, and with the information provided by the representatives
and the Commission that was not disputed by the State, without prejudice to any new evidence
that may arise in this regard.
83. Rabinal is one of eight municipalities of the Department of Baja Verapaz and is located in
the central region of Guatemala. This municipality is comprised of the municipal seat or urban
area, fourteen villages and sixty hamlets. In 1981 the area was predominantly inhabited by
members of the Maya indigenous people belonging to the Achí linguistic community. 77
84. During the internal armed conflict, high levels of violence were recorded in the municipality
of Rabinal. 78 In this regard, the CEH determined that, although Rabinal was not a combat area,
the region was used as a staging point for logistical supplies, recruitment of personnel or
rearguard, and that due to its geographical location, the Army considered the entire area as
strategic. Therefore, it “had to be subjected to full control” and “the population of the region was
identified as an internal enemy.” Between 1981 and 1983, military or paramilitary groups killed
at least 20% of the population in the municipality; 99.8% of the victims recorded by the CEH
were members of the Maya Achí people, a non-combatant, civilian population. 79
B.1. Execution of Juan Alvarado Grave, Mateo Grave and Pedro Depaz Ciprián, and
disappearance of Pedro Siana between August 23 and 24, 1981
85. On August 23, 1981, Juan Alvarado Grave was executed by a group of judicial officers
known as “judiciales.” Upon learning of this event, his brother Mateo Grave and Pedro Depaz
Ciprián (or Pedro de Paz Cipriano or Pedro de Paz Cipriáno) and Pedro Siana, from the village of
Xeabaj, went to the Salamá Hospital in Baja Verapaz in order to locate the body of Juan Alvarado.
On the way, the three men were stopped by a group of ten “judiciales” between the hilltop of
Rabinal and the municipality of San Miguel Chicaj. The lifeless bodies of Mateo Grave and Pedro
Depaz Ciprián were taken to the Salamá Hospital. 80 To date, the whereabouts of Pedro Siana’s
body is unknown.
86. According to statements made by Juana García Depaz, her husband Mateo Grave died on
August 24, 1981, from “gunshot wounds” and his body was buried in the cemetery of San Salamá
in Baja Verapaz, by order of the Justice of the Peace of the municipality of San Miguel Chicaj.
She stated that upon noticing her husband's absence, she went to the Justice of the Peace, the
National Police and the post office in the municipality of Rabinal. Later, upon learning that her
husband was in the Salamá Hospital, identified as "XXX", she went to the hospital and when she
arrived she “was threatened and pursued by three judiciales who were in a state of
drunkenness.”
B.2. Execution of three members of the Alvarado family and three members of the Reyes
family on January 1, 1982
87. On January 1, 1982, members of the Army and of the Civil Self-Defense Patrols (hereinafter
“the PAC”) in the village Xeabaj entered the home of Víctor Alvarado Valey and killed him and
his two sons, Ceferino (or Seferino) and Fidel, the latter aged 17, both Alvarado Sucup (or
Sucúp). That same day, members of the National Army and the PAC entered the home of
Domingo Reyes Juárez (or Domingo Juárez Reyes) in the hamlet of Toloxcoc and killed him and
his two sons, Andrés and Santiago, the latter 15 years old, both with the surnames Reyes Román.
77
Cf. Case of the Plan de Sánchez Massacre v. Guatemala. Merits, para. 42.10, and CEH, “Guatemala, Memory of
Silence”, Chapter 4, para. 3362.
78
Cf. Case of the Río Negro Massacres v. Guatemala, para. 64, and Case of the Plan de Sánchez Massacre. Merits,
para. 42.8.
79
Cf. CEH, “Guatemala, Memory of Silence”, Chapter 4, paras. 3364 to 3368.
80
Cf. Statements rendered by affidavit by Juana García Depaz (wife of Mateo Grave) and Olivia Siana Ixtecoc de Bolaj
(daughter of Pedro Siana) on November 2, 009 and December 18, 2014 (evidence file, folios 1330, 1331 and 5841),
and Statement of Juana García Depaz at the public hearing held on April 28, 2016.