59 those proceedings, on various occasions, exhumation procedures were ordered in order to find his corpse. These procedures did not have positive results as they were obstructed by State agents79. X FORCED DISAPPEARANCE OF PERSONS 122. In its final written arguments, the Commission referred to the phenomenon of the forced disappearance of persons, stating that in this type of situation the arbitrary detention, solitary confinement, isolation and torture of the victim are followed, in most cases, by the execution of the victim and the concealment of his corpse, accompanied by an official silence, denials and obstruction; the family, friends and companions remain anxious and uncertain about the fate of the victim. Forced disappearance attempts to erase any trace of the crime in order to ensure the total impunity of those who committed it. In the light of this reasoning, the Commission argued that, although Guatemala had signed, but not ratified, the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons, this entered into effect on March 28, 1996, and “constituted an important instrument to classify and understand forced disappearances and to interpret the American Convention”, pursuant to its Article 29. 123. In the same arguments, the Commission stated that in Latin America most victims of dirty wars did not die in combat or accidentally in the crossfire between the armed rebel groups and the Army. Many of them were confined in clandestine detention centers, tortured [... and] buried without dignity or respect in unnamed graves or […] thrown from airplanes into the sea. 124. According to the Commission, at the time of the facts of this case, there was, in Guatemala, a State policy under which captured guerrillas were used to obtain information on the organization and activities of the rebel group of which they formed part. To achieve this, the agents who captured them kept their detention secret and submitted them to torture. This situation constituted the phenomenon of forced disappearance, which often culminated with the execution of the person 79 Cf. Transcripts of the reports of the Magistrate and the autopsy that appear in case file No. 39592 provided to Jennifer Harbury on August 23, 1993, Annex 4; testimony of Patricia Davis of August 24, 1993, Annex 5; judicial record of the exhumation in Retalhuleu, August 17, 1993, Annex 6; report of the forensic expert, Michael Charney, to the Second Criminal Trial Court of Retalhuleu, August 18, 1993, Annex 7; Final report of the Ombudsman on the special pre-trial investigation procedure, December 9, 1994, Annex 16; Decision of June 19, 1995, of Second Criminal, Narco-Activity and Crimes against the Environment Trial Court, Annex 37; Newspaper article, “Exhumation of Bámaca Velásquez suspended due to insufficient time”, NOTIMEX, June 16, 1995, Annex 39; Forensic Anthropology Team. Preliminary Report. Forensic studies in the investigation proceedings of the Efraín Bámaca Velásquez Case, Annex 40; Newspaper article, “Frustrado nuevo intento para exhumar cadáver de Bámaca Velásquez”, Prensa Libre, July 7, 1995, Annex 41; statement by Jennifer Harbury presented to the Inter-American Commission on December 20, 1995, Annex 46; Human Rights Watch/Americas, Disappeared in Guatemala: The Case of Efraín Bámaca Velásquez, March 1995, Annex 51; testimony of Jennifer Harbury, given to the Court on June 16, 1998; testimony of James Harrington. given to the Court on June 17, 1998; testimony of Francis Farenthall, given to the Court on June 17, 1998; testimony of Fernando Moscoso, given to the Court on June 17, 1998; testimony of Julio Arango Escobar, given to the Court on June 17, 1998; testimony of Patricia Davis, given to the Court on June 18, 1998; testimony of Acisclo Valladares, given to the Court on November 22, 1998; and letter of May 11, 1992 of Ramiro de León Carpio, Ombudsman, to Francisco Villagrán Muñoz.