Torture on January 29, 1987; the Convention of Belém do Pará on April 4, 1995, and the
Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance on February 25, 2000.
31.
The Court recalls that, as a general rule, it has temporal competence as of the date
of ratification of the respective instruments and of the recognition of its contentious
jurisdiction, in the terms in which the said ratifications and recognition were made. 27
However, it observes that, in the instant case, the State has acknowledged its international
responsibility for the alleged violation of freedom of association as the reason for the forced
disappearance of the 26 disappeared persons, and for the alleged violation of the rights of
the child of Juan Pablo and María Quirina Armira López, because they were minors at the
time of their detention and subsequent disappearance (supra paras. 17(b(2), 17(b)(5) and
24). These allege violations occurred and ceased before the date of recognition of the
Court’s competence.
32.
The Court has established that, when a State acknowledges its international
responsibility for violations of the American Convention that occurred before its recognition
of the Court’s competence, that State waives the temporal limitation to the exercise of its
competence with regard to the facts or violations acknowledged, thereby giving its consent
for the Court to examine the facts that occurred and to rule on the violations that were
constituted in that regard.28 Therefore, based on the State's acknowledgment of
responsibility, the Court finds that, in this case, it has competence to examine the alleged
violation of Articles 16 and 19 of the Convention to the detriment of the alleged 26 victims
of forced disappearance and of Juan Pablo and María Quirina Armira López, respectively.
V
PRIOR CONSIDERATION ON ADDITIONAL FACTS ALLEGED BY THE
REPRESENTATIVES
33. The Court observes that the representatives added certain facts in their pleadings and
motions brief that were not included by the Commission in its merits report. In particular, in
their arguments regarding the alleged violation of Article 5, they indicated that Aura Elena
Farfán had been raped in 1991, and in their allegations relating to Article 22 of the
Convention, they indicated that Blanca Rosa Ortega, Yordin Herrera Urizar and Ana Dolores
Monroy Peralta had left Guatemala or had been internally displaced. Furthermore, in the
section on the requests for compensation in favor of the presumed victims, the
representatives referred to the presumed forced disappearances of two persons not included
as presumed victims in this case29, and also to the presumed murder of Florentín Gudiel
Ramos30the presumed attacks suffered by Raúl Augusto Sosa Calderón in 1983, by Yordin
Eduardo Herrera Urizar in 1994, by Wendy Santizo Méndez starting in 1999, by Efraín
García in 2007 and by Aura Elena Farfán in 2001 and 2004, among which they describe a
presumed rape. In addition, it their final written arguments, the representatives included
27
Cf. Case of Ibsen Cárdenas and Ibsen Peña v. Bolivia. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of
September 1, 2010 Series C No. 217, para. 20.
28
In this regard, see, Case of Ticona Estrada et al. v. Bolivia. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of
November 27, 2008. Series C No. 191, para. 30; Case of Ibsen Cárdenas and Ibsen Peña v. Bolivia, supra, para. 22.
See also, Case of González Medina and family members v. Dominican Republic. Preliminary objections, merits,
reparations and costs. Judgment of February 27, 2012. Series C No. 240, para. 192.
29
This refers to the presumed disappearance of Florentino Gómez, brother of Crescencio Gómez López, and
of the husband of the sister of Víctor Manuel Calderón Díaz.
30
The presumed murder of Florentín Gudiel Ramos forms part of the facts and purpose of the Case of Gudiel
Ramos et al. v. Guatemala.
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