instruments for health-care policies that permit cases of maternal mortality to be
documented adequately. All this is because pregnant women require special measures
of protection.
234. Based on the above, the Court declares that the State violated the right
established in Article 4(1) of the American Convention, in relation to Article 1(1)
thereof, to the detriment of the persons mentioned in this paragraph, because it failed
to take the required positive measures, within its powers, that could reasonably be
expected to prevent or to avoid the risk to the right to life. Consequently, the death of
the following individuals can be attributed to the State: Sara Gonzáles López, who died
from gastroenteritis and dehydration in July 2008, and did not receive medical
attention; Yelsi Karina López Cabañas, who died of whooping cough in 2005, at the age
of one, and did not receive medical attention; Remigia Ruiz, who died from
complications while in labor in 2005, at 38 years of age, and did not receive medical
attention; Aida Carolina Gonzáles, who died from anemia in June 2003, at eight
months of age, and did not receive medical assistance; NN Ávalos or Ríos Torres, who
died from tetanus in 1999, three days after birth, and did not receive medical care;
Abundio Inter Dermott, who died from pneumonia in 2003, two months after birth, and
did not receive medical care; NN Dermott Martínez, who died from enterocolitis in
2001, at eight months of age, and it is not known if he or she received medical care;
NN García Dermott, who died from whooping cough in 2001, at one month of age, and
did not receive medical care; Adalberto Gonzáles López, who died from pneumonia in
2000, aged one year and two months, and did not receive medical care; Roberto Roa
Gonzáles, who died from tuberculosis in 2000, at 55 years of age, and did not receive
medical care; NN Ávalos or Ríos Torres, who died from tetanus in 1998, nine days after
birth, and did not receive medical care; NN Dermontt Ruiz, who died at birth in 1996
and did not receive medical care, and NN Wilfrida Ojeda Chavez, who died of
dehydration and enterocolitis in May 1994 and did not receive medical care.
VIII
RIGHT TO PERSONAL INTEGRITY
(ARTICLE 5(1) OF THE AMERICAN CONVENTION)
235. The representatives alleged the violation of Article 5(1) of the Convention to the
detriment of the Community owing to the “death of their next of kin and also their
precarious situation because they do not have access to their lands, which [has
violated] their cultural personal integrity and also their cultural collective integrity.”
The representatives stated that the family members who have lost their loved ones
have suffered greatly, particularly because of the Community’s cultural characteristics.
They also indicated that the death of the loved ones affected the Community, owing to
its cultural patterns related to the remembrance of the dead and their methods of
burial. They emphasized that, “[t]he members of the Xákmok Kásek Community have
experienced physical, mental and moral suffering, which has violated their right to
personal integrity.”
236.
The State did not comment on this.
237. The Court reiterates that the alleged victims and their representatives may cite
the violation of rights other than the ones included in the application, provided these
rights relate to the facts that have been included in the application, because they are
the holders of the rights established in the Convention.270 Nevertheless, the application
270
Cf. Case of the “Five Pensioners” v. Peru, supra note 262, para. 155; Case of Barreto Leiva v.
Venezuela. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of November 17, 2009. Series C No. 206, para. 94, and
Case of Manuel Cepeda Vargas v. Colombia, supra note 8, para. 49.
55
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