instructions on how to deal with the bodies. Local PAC members and survivors were then ordered to bury the bodies quickly, or the community would be bombed. Most of the bodies were buried in 21 pits at the site of the massacre. Survivors reported that soldiers returned every few days to pillage the houses and threaten those who had returned. Fear of what had happened and of the returning soldiers drove the survivors from the community for several years. 15. The petitioners report that, in 1993, members of the community approached the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman seeking support to denounce the massacre and request the exhumation of the bodies, in order to prompt an investigation and re-inter the bodies of their loved ones with dignity. After overcoming a series of procedural obstacles, in mid-1994, the Guatemalan Team of Forensic Anthropology (hereinafter "EAFG") exhumed 19 sites in Plan de Sánchez containing the remains of at least 84 victims. The EAFG reported their findings in March of 1995. 16. The petitioners submit testimonial, circumstancial and physical evidence in support of their allegations. The petitioners also cite the September 2, 1996 report of the Ombudsman for Human Rights on the massacres of Plan de Sánchez, Chichupac and Rio Negro. The report establishes the responsibility of state agents, namely PAC’s, military commissioners, members of the Army and high ranking officials, for failing to protect the local population and for attempting to cover up the crimes to ensure impunity for the material and intellectual authors. The Ombudsman’s report concludes that these massacres were carried out as part of a premeditated state policy. 17. The petitioners assert that the Plan de Sánchez massacre was carried out pursuant to the "scorched earth" campaign of the State "designed to defeat the insurgent movement through the strategic eradication of its civilian support base." They indicate that this massacre was one of 42 carried out by the Army in rural Guatemala in the month of July, 1982. They assert that the crimes alleged in their petition constitute violations of Articles 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 19, 21 and 24 of the American Convention, and that the failure of the State to investigate, prosecute or punish those responsible, or repair the consequences further violates Articles 1(1), 8 and 25. They contend that the crimes represent massive violations of the Convention and the relevant dispositions of international humanitarian law, and constitute crimes against humanity and genocide. 18. With respect to the admissibility of the case, the petitioners contend that the survivors invoked and pursued domestic remedies to the extent possible, but that it was impossible to exhaust them. Domestic remedies had been essentially unavailable because those involved were subjected to threats and intimidation, and the Law of National Reconciliation impeded the prosecution of those responsible. Further, such remedies had been ineffective because the authorities had failed to respond as required. The petitioners allege that, prior to the massacre, residents of Plan de Sánchez attempted to denounce acts of intimidation by soldiers before local judicial authorities. Instead of receiving assistance, they were fined. After the massacre, the survivors were threatened by soldiers and PAC’s and driven from the area for several years. Only in 1993 were they able to initiate their search for justice. The petitioners allege that the obstacles placed in their path by the authorities caused the first exhumation to be delayed for over a year, and the second for over two years. They report that the compelling evidence presented to the Public Ministry in March of 1995 failed to provoke a serious response. In summary, the petitioners assert that, notwithstanding the passage of time since the massacre and the efforts of the survivors to pursue justice, the remedies invoked had failed to produce any substantive results. B. The Position of the State 19. As noted above, the State acknowledges that the massacre at Plan de Sánchez occurred and condemns the loss of Guatemalan lives. The State maintains that the killings were perpetrated in the context of an armed conflict in which abuses were committed by both sides. In the course of the negotiations effectuated to conclude that conflict, on June 23, 1994, the State and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (hereinafter "URNG") signed the 3