32 caused by endogenous and exogenous factors which must be proven in each specific situation.”169 The same obligations to respect and guarantee the right to life apply to the right to personal integrity. 109. The State has not denied that its agents caused the deaths and the injuries during the October 5, 1995 incident, but rather it has claimed that it is not responsible because it complied with the obligation to guarantee the respective rights by diligently investigating the facts and punishing 14 persons. The Court has already determined that the investigation conducted by the State, despite its progress and decisions, was violative of the rights to judicial guarantees and judicial protection. Therefore, it cannot be admitted that, as the State has maintained, the case has already been “elucidated domestically” nor that Guatemala has complied, by means of an investigation, with its obligation to guarantee the rights to life and to personal integrity. Therefore, it is appropriate that the Court examine the alleged infringement of those rights. Specifically, the Court can and must evaluate whether Guatemala, through its military personnel, complied with its obligation to respect the indicated rights. B.2. Rights to life and to personal integrity 110. The State emphasized the convictions by its courts. Therefore, Guatemala does not question that determination, nor does the Commission or the representative. On July 8, 2004, the soldiers were convicted (supra para. 64), as “perpetrators” of the crime of “extrajudicial execution against the legally protected right [….] life” and “of the crime of serious injuries against personal integrity.” That decision was confirmed, after which appeals in cassation were filed and the convictions were confirmed (supra para. 65). 111. No element has been presented to justify the use of lethal force by the soldiers, which was held to be a crime by the Guatemalan courts.170 The proven facts show that various persons, already referred to (supra para. 37) and later clarified (infra Annexes B(2), B(3) and B(4) of this judgment), were killed or were injured because of the incident. Therefore, depending on each case, Guatemala violated to their detriment the rights to life and to personal integrity. 112. Regarding Santiago Maquín Quip, Gerardo Maldonado Sales and Rosendo Morales Ortiz, the violation of their right to life as well as their right to personal integrity was alleged since they were wounded and subsequently died. However, there is no reliable information that their deaths, which occurred no fewer than eight years after the incident, had a causal nexus with their injuries.171 Case of Loayza Tamayo v. Peru. Merits. Judgment of September 17, 1997. Series C No. 33, para. 57 and Case of Ortiz Hernández et al. v. Venezuela, supra, para. 102. 170 While there have been different versions of the circumstances that led to the shootings by the soldiers, none of the versions justify their actions. The domestic judgment that convicted them states, as a proven fact, that when the soldiers attempted to leave the Community, they met with other members of the patrol and after “firing […] point blank” and killing Juana Jacinto Felipe, they continued shooting “indiscriminately” (judgment of July 8, 2004, supra). It should be clarified that, in view of the conclusion, it is not necessary to examine the argument of the representative regarding the failure to observe the agreements on the return to Guatemala of the persons who were in Mexico (supra footnote 158). 171 The death certificates presented during the proceedings, issued by the National Registry of Persons, do not indicate that the causes of death are related, per se, to the incident of October 5, 1995 (nor is there a sufficient explanation by the Commission or by the representative): (1)- Santiago Maquin died at age 73 on November 18, 2003 of “meningitis,” “respiratory insufficiency” and “cerebral edema.” (2)- Gerardo Maldonado Sales died on January 12, 2004 of “sepsis,” “periodontal abscess” and “medullary hypoplasia,” and (3)- Rosendo Morales Ortiz died at age 71, on August 8, 2011, of “cardiorespiratory arrest,” “respiratory insufficiency” and “arteriosclerosis –eufemia” (cf. Death certificates issued by the National Registry (evidence file, annex 1 to the brief with pleadings and motions, fs. 5176, 5181, 5182 and 5234). 169