12
family. The Government could not disprove the existence of psychological problems that affect
the family of the victim. The Court finds that the disappearance of Manfredo Velásquez produced
harmful psychological impacts among his immediate family which should be indemnified as moral
damages.
52.
The Court believes the Government should pay compensation for moral damages in the
amount of two hundred and fifty thousand lempiras, to be paid to the wife and children of
Manfredo Velásquez as specified below.
VII
53.
With regard to entitlement to receive the compensation, the representative of the
Government and of the Commission, in the document they signed on January 23, 1989,
recognized as the sole beneficiaries of that compensation the wife of Manfredo Velásquez, Mrs.
Emma Guzmán Urbina and the children of that marriage, Héctor Ricardo, Nadia Waleska and
Herling Lizzett Velásquez Guzmán. They added that their right could only be enforced once they
had fulfilled the requirements of Honduran law to be recognized as heirs of the victim.
54.
As previously stated, the obligation to indemnify is not derived from internal law, but from
violation of the American Convention. It is the result of an international obligation. To demand
indemnification, the family members of Manfredo Velásquez need only show their family
relationship. They are not required to follow the procedure of Honduran inheritance law.
55.
At the hearing of October 2, 1987, Zenaida Velásquez Rodríguez, referred to four children
of her brother, Manfredo Velásquez, but in the document signed by the Commission and the
Government on January 23, 1989, only three children are mentioned. Nor was any proof of the
existence of a fourth child found in the Government's reply to point 5 of the request made by the
Secretariat of the Court on April 3, 1989 (supra 13). Should there be a fourth child, he would be
entitled to a proportionate share of the indemnity the Court has awarded to the children of the
victim.
VIII
56.
The Court now determines how the Government is to pay compensation to the family of
Manfredo Velásquez.
57.
Payment of the seven hundred and fifty thousand lempiras awarded by the Court must be
carried out within ninety days from the date of notification of the judgment, free from any tax
that might eventually be considered applicable. Nevertheless, the Government may pay in six
equal monthly installments, the first being payable within ninety days and the remainder in
successive months. In this case, the balance shall be incremented by the appropriate interest,
which shall be at the interest rates current at the moment in Honduras.
58.
One-fourth of the indemnity is awarded to the wife who shall receive that sum directly.
The remaining three-fourths shall be distributed among the children. With the funds from the
award to the children, a trust fund shall be set up in the Central Bank of Honduras under the most
favorable conditions permitted by Honduran banking practice. The children shall receive monthly
payments from this trust fund, and at the age of twenty-five shall receive their proportionate part.