57
b)
with regard to the other expenses, the Commission indicated in its first
brief that, on the day following the victim’s abduction, his wife took steps to
lodge a complaint about the fact before the State institutions, she started the
search, identified the body when it appeared, and made the burial
arrangements. The Commission also claimed that some time later she was
robbed and then decided to leave Guatemala. The Commission endorsed the
amounts indicated by the victim’s next of kin under this heading.
The State’s arguments
163. The State contested the claims and the calculations made by the next of kin
of Manuel de Jesús González López and the Commission, observing the following,
among other matters:
a)
regarding the victim’s loss of earnings, it indicated that no evidence
had been submitted to prove that the victim was an experienced mechanic
and that, to the contrary, his identity card established his occupation as that
of a laborer; accordingly, it requested that the minimum salary for the
construction and repair industry should be applied, which corresponded to
Q180.00 (one hundred and eighty quetzales) a month in 1988 for 14.6 years
as the life expectancy (from 29.1 to 43.70 years of age); and
b)
regarding the other expenses that the victim’s family had incurred, it
rejected the connection made by the Commission between the robbery
suffered by his surviving wife and the violations suffered by the victim, since
they were unrelated events. It also declared that the Court should apply the
principle of prudence, because it did not have sufficient documents or
evidence about the funeral expenses and the need for the victim’s wife to
move to the United States.
The considerations of the Court
164. Identity card No. 590279 of Manuel de Jesús González López establishes
December 29, 1958, as his date of birth and, according to evidence submitted to this
Court in the judgment on merits, he was detained by agents of the State on
February 11, 1988, and found dead on February 13 that year, which suggests that
the victim was 29.1 years of age at the time of the facts (supra 87.6.d).
165. The Court observes that although his identity card gives his profession as a
laborer, the victim’s death certificate and the birth certificates of his three children,
documents that are also issued by State institutions, state his occupation to be a
mechanic. This information concurs with the declarations of his wife, at both the
hearing on merits and the hearing on reparations. Lastly, this status is supported by
a certificate issued by Ramiro R. Velásquez on August 31, 1998, which establishes
that the victim worked for the company Gustavo Molina & Cía. Ltda. and that for the
month before his death, January 1988, he had earned a salary of Q598.82 (five
hundred ninety-eight quetzales and eight-two cents).
166. Based on these antecedents, the Court recognizes the amount of Q598.82
(five hundred ninety-eight quetzales and eight-two cents), equal to US$234.75 (two
hundred and thirty-four United States dollars and seventy-five cents), as the
monthly salary of a mechanic. The calculation will be made on the basis of 12
salaries a year, plus the corresponding annual bonuses, in accordance with
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