19 At the time of Mr. Carpio Nicolle’s death, the UCN held a sizable advantage over the other parties in the country. It was very probable that it would win the next elections, because there was no other party with a similar organization or number of members. On July 3, 1993, visits to the party headquarters in Huehuetenango, Totonicapán and El Quiché had been planned. They were ambushed when they reached the turning to El Molino. Mr. Shaw Arrivillaga saw someone carrying a military-type rifle, who opened the door of the microbus, and he heard shots behind the back-up car. He saw how they shot Mr. Rivas González and Mr. Ávila Guzmán. They then shot Mr. Carpio Nicolle. The man who killed Mr. Ávila Guzmán shot Sydney Shaw Díaz, Mr. Shaw Arrivillaga’s son, who was traveling in the back-up car, several times in the back, so the witness thought he had been killed. Then they shot Mr. Carpio Nicolle again and they also shot Mr. Villacorta Fajardo in the leg. Then a voice ordered the men to withdraw. The microbus passengers took the injured Mr. Carpio Nicolle to the local hospital in Chichicastenango. Mr. Shaw Arrivillaga left Mr. Carpio Nicolle there and, in the same microbus, returned to the place of the ambush to look for his son. On the way out of the town, there was a patrol of soldiers under a young officer who, very nervously, asked them to take him to El Molino. On the road, he only heard the soldiers loading their rifles and the officer giving them orders to follower the ambushers. When they arrived at the place, he did not find his son, but Manolo Rodríguez told him that the firemen had taken him to El Quiché and that they had also taken Mr. Carpio Nicolle there. In El Quiché, there was great confusion in the hospital. There was no doctor on duty, only a young medical student and a nurse. He helped give Mr. Carpio Nicolle saline solution. When he saw that his son had arrived, he stopped helping Mr. Carpio Nicolle. He was concerned about the wounds in his son’s back, because there were several bullet holes and he spent some minutes examining them. When he was sure that Sydney Shaw Díaz was not in danger, he returned to Mr. Carpio Nicolle, but “it was too late.” Mr. Carpio Nicolle’s death totally changed his life, because his life project was linked to the former. Mr. Shaw Arrivillaga’s plans were that the UCN would be elected and that Mr. Carpio Nicolle would be President. He had worked side by side with Mr. Carpio Nicolle for more than ten years. Consequently, when the latter died, he had no plans for the future and no employment. He could not find work for several months following Mr. Carpio Nicolle’s death. Consequently, with Mr. Carpio Nicolle’s death, the future plans and political career of Mr. Shaw Arrivillaga died also. The aspect of the attack that affected him most was the thought that his son had died, because, for almost half an hour, he was sure his son was dead. The stage of his son’s recovery also had a strong impact on him. He finds it difficult to remember what he thought and what his son thinks, because he left him alone at the site of the ambush. The State should provide justice in this case and not only acknowledge its perpetration of the facts. He therefore asked the Court to order the necessary compensation and declare the State guilty of the murder of Mr. Carpio Nicolle.