the population, known as massacres or “scorched-earth operations,”39 were concentrated in the regions of Quiché, Huehuetenango, Chimaltenango, Alta and Baja Verapaz, the southern coast, and Guatemala City.40 According to the CEH Report, around 626 massacres were perpetrated with “acts of extreme cruelty” intended to eliminate individuals or groups of individuals “defined as enemies,” and “to terrorize the population.”41 58. Based on the said National Security Doctrine, the Guatemalan Army identified the members of the Mayan indigenous people in the category of “internal enemy,” considering that they formed or could form part of the guerrillas’ social support network.42 According to the CEH, the Mayan people were the ethnic group most affected by the human rights violations committed during the armed conflict,43 suffering forced displacement44 and the destruction of their communities, homes, livestock, harvests and other elements necessary for survival. In this regard, “[t]he intentional destruction of homes, farming tools, harvests and domestic animals, undoubtedly resulted in cold, hunger and disease. The slaughter and the destruction of property were carried out simultaneously or successively against the same communities, because both actions formed part of a common pattern of action against the group.” That is to say, the individuals who had been able to flee to save themselves from the massacres “did not have anything left to subsist on. Hence, those communities had two options: a quick death, by machete or bullet, or a very possible slow death, by hunger or disease.”45 59. This Court has also established that during the armed conflict women, in particular, were selected as victims of rape. Thus, during and prior to the said massacres or “scorched earth operations,” members of the State security forces committed mass or indiscriminate and public rape, at times accompanied by the death of pregnant women or the induction of abortions. This practice was intended to destroy a woman's dignity at the cultural, social, family and individual levels.46 In addition, it should be indicated that, according to the CEH, when perpetrated against Mayan communities “the mass rapes had a symbolic effect, Case of the Plan de Sánchez Massacre v. Guatemala, Merits, supra, paras. 42.3 and 42.4 and Case of Chitay Nech et al. v. Guatemala, supra, para. 65. 39 Cf. Case of the Plan de Sánchez Massacre v. Guatemala, Merits, supra, para. 42.6, and Case of the Dos Erres Massacre v. Guatemala, supra, para. 73. 40 Cf. Case of the Plan de Sánchez Massacre v. Guatemala, Merits, supra, para. 42.5. 41 Cf. Case of the Plan de Sánchez Massacre v. Guatemala, Merits, supra, para. 42.6; Case of the Dos Erres Massacre, supra, para. 73, and Report “Guatemala, Memoria del Silencio,” supra, second chapter, volume III, paras. 3086, 3105, 3128 and 3177. 42 Cf. Case of the Plan de Sánchez Massacre v. Guatemala, Merits, supra, para. 42.7. 43 According to the Report “Guatemala, Memoria del Silencio,” in ethnic terms, “83.3% of the victims of the human rights violations and acts of violence recorded by [the Commission] belonged to the Mayan ethnic group […].” Report “Guatemala, Memoria del Silencio”, second chapter, volume II, para. 1745; also, Case of Tiu Tojín v. Guatemala, supra, para. 48, and Case of Chitay Nech et al. v. Guatemala, supra, para. 66. 44 Cf. Case of the Plan de Sánchez Massacre v. Guatemala. Merits, supra, para. 42.5; Report “Guatemala, Memoria del Silencio,” second chapter, volume III, para. 2951. According to the expert opinion provided by Rosalina Tuyuk during the public hearing, the persons displaced to sites far from their community lost the possibility of taking part in the community’s activities, rites, spirituality, and learning cycle, and of speaking their own language, wearing their traditional dress and carrying out their traditional tasks. 45 Report “Guatemala, Memoria del Silencio”, supra, second chapter, volume III, para. 3392. 46 Cf. Case of the Plan de Sánchez Massacre v. Guatemala. Reparations and costs. Judgment of November 19, 2004. Series C No. 116, para. 49.19; Case of the Dos Erres Massacre v. Guatemala, supra, para. 139, and Report “Guatemala, Memoria del Silencio”, supra, second chapter, volume II, para. 1363. 24