22 U.S. Embassy in Guatemala to the Secretary of State; and March 1990 document from the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala to the Secretary of State). (p) The Civil Defense Patrols (PACs) or Civil Defense Committees (hereinafter "the civil patrols") had an institutional relationship with the Army, were assisted and coordinated by the Ministry of National Defense, received funds, weapons, training and direct orders from the Army regarding their actions, and operated under its supervision (cf. DecreeLaw 1986 of January 10, 1986, of the Head of State; Decree No. 143-96 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala of November 28, 1996; Peace Agreements, 1996-1998; Agreement on the Strengthening of the Civil Authorities and Function of the Army in a Democratic Society of September 19, 1996; April 17, 1997 testimony of Ricardo Roberto; May 1984 article, "Self-Defense Patrols"; October 1993 statement by Samuel Blake delivered in Washington, D.C.; October 1993 statement by Richard R. Blake, Jr., delivered in Washington, D.C.; June 1988 statement by Justo Victoriano Martínez-Morales; and August 12, 1993 statement by Jennifer Schiemer delivered in Boston (infra paras. 75, 76, 77 and 78). VIII PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATION ON THE MERITS 53. Before embarking on the merits of the instant case, the Court deems it necessary to resume examination of the previous question of limitation of competence ratione temporis. In the judgment on the preliminary objections rendered on July 2, 1996, the Court decided that the acts of deprivation of Mr. Blake's freedom and his assassination were completed in March 1985, that those events could not per se be considered to be of a continuing nature, and that the Court was incompetent to decide on the State's responsibility for those acts. 54. In the aforementioned judgment, the Court also pointed out that, although some of the acts had been completed, their effects could be deemed to be continuing until such time as the victims' fate or whereabouts were determined. Inasmuch as in this case Mr. Nicholas Blake's fate or whereabouts were not known until June 14, 1992, after the date on which Guatemala accepted the contentious jurisdiction of this Tribunal, the Court considers itself competent to hear the case with regard to the possible violations which the Commission imputes to the State in connection with those effects and actions. 55. In the brief containing its final arguments, the Commission pointed out that the Court had decided in its judgment on preliminary objections - that in a forced disappearance case - the effects extend until such time as the disappearance is entirely solved and that the crime of forced disappearance is an indivisible whole inasmuch as it is a continuing or permanent crime, which extends beyond the date on which the actual death occurred, provided that the death took place in the context of the disappearance. In the present case, the Guatemalan authorities, in addition to knowing that Mr. Nicholas Blake had been abducted and disappeared, also knew that he had been murdered. The Commission added that the obstruction of justice was aimed not only at hindering an investigation and affecting due process, but also at concealing Mr. Nicholas Blake's whereabouts and that, consequently, such conduct affected the right to life enshrined in Article 4 of the American Convention. 56. The Commission further alleged that if the Court maintained in its judgment that the right to life was not violated in a case such as this, it would be setting a precedent contrary to international human rights law and, moreover,