92 during the conflictive period, was to “avoid creating any risk to the family that might endanger the life of any of them”. Lack of due administration of justice has caused a feeling of frustration in the family, one “of fear and uncertainty about [what] is happening”. The witness highlighted that for the family it is very important to obtain the body of the deceased person and to conduct funeral ceremonies, for the spirit of that person to rejoin its body, to complete the process of reuniting with his ancestors and to “close [for the deceased person and for the community] the cultural cycle: life and death”. In this regard, burials signify a space for festivity and joy, in which the relatives entrust things to the deceased person, add food for him to take to the relatives who have died before and to continue enjoying a relationship with his family. The witness stressed the existence of “a pedagogical circle […] in these meetings with the ancestors and this revitalizes and […] allows the continuation of an integrated culture, and for ethical and moral values to be internalized by grandchildren and children, [who…] are now to […] be nurtured by all that experience”. “[T]he serious damage is to the surviving family”, since the projection of Efraín Bámaca Velásquez in the surviving relatives has been hindered. The loss of Efraín as the elder son of a family of the Mayan culture, of the Mam ethnic group, has deprived his family of an economic mainstay and a figure of authority. d) Testimony of Manuela Alvarado, a Maya Quiché indigenous leader and former congresswoman in Guatemala Since early 1980, she was the head nurse in several health posts in the country, for which reason she was in close touch with what was happening in Guatemala. As a leader, her condition was similar to that of Mr. Bámaca Velásquez, since both started out from a “very adverse reality” as members of an indigenous people, for whom opportunities were not the same and language difference made it difficult to understand State policies that affected them, as well as to understand their rights. The peace processes were a “respite for Guatemalan society”, one that allowed many people to renew productive activities. In her case, in 1995 she was nominated as a congressional candidate in Quetzaltenango for the Frente Democrático Nueva Guatemala, and she was elected as a congresswoman for the 1996-2000 term. Although she did not personally meet Efraín Bámaca Velásquez, she was aware that he was involved in the political discussion of the peace process and that he was a leader of the guerrilla forces. Furthermore, based on her personal experience, she considered that “Mr. Bámaca could have attained a position in the political or productive life of the country or have played a leadership role in this process after the signing of the peace accord”, because he already had opted politically and the social causes that originated the war and the impunity continue to exist in Guatemala. She also knows that guerrilla leaders in similar circumstances to those of Mr. Bámaca Velásquez have been elected by the people as members of Congress.