characteristics of this case, and in order to create awareness of the consequences of its facts,
senior State officials must attend the said act of acknowledgement.
302. The organization and characteristics of the said act must be agreed with the victims and
their representatives within the six months following notification of this Judgment. Since the
representatives alleged that not all the victims live in the village of Santo Domingo, which was not
disputed by the State, the latter must guarantee the presence of the victims who do not live in
Santo Domingo and wish to attend the said act, and must cover the necessary transportation
expenses.
b)
Publications
303. Although it was not requested by the representatives or the Commission, the Court considers
pertinent to order, as it has in other cases,435 that the State publish, within six months of
notification of this Judgment: (a) the official summary of this Judgment prepared by the Court,
once, in the official gazette; (b) the official summary of this Judgment prepared by the Court,
once, in a national newspaper with widespread circulation, and (c) this Judgment in full, available
for one year, on an official web site.
C.2. Rehabilitation measures
304. The representatives asked the Court to order the State “to grant the victims and their next
of kin medical and psychological treatment, free of charge and immediately, through its state or
private health care institutions specialized in attention to victims of violent acts; this medical and
psychological treatment required by the victims to be provided by collective, family or individual
treatments, based on the problems suffered by these people, ensuring that they are provided with
the most appropriate and effective treatment.”436 The representatives clarified that the medical and
psychological treatment of the victims must also be implemented “from a psychosocial perspective
[for] the violations that were declared and for the consequences that continue today.”437 The
Commission did not present specific arguments in relation to this measure of reparation.
305. The State indicated that, in relation to the requested measures of rehabilitation and
satisfaction, article 137 and ff. of Law 1448 (Victims Act), had created the integral health and
psychosocial treatment program for victims. It also referred to the social programs entitled “La
estrategia UNIDOS” and “Familias en acción,”; the former unites 21 State entities in the provision
of basic services with which the national Government hopes that the poorest families, including
those that have been forced to abandon their place of residence, will be able to overcome their
situation of poverty.438 In addition, the State indicated that it had provided urgent medical care to
those injured in Santo Domingo.
306. The State also argued that “immediately after the events and the subsequent displacement,
the Governor of the department of Arauca at the time summoned a meeting of the Cabinet and
435
Cf. Case of Cantoral Benavides v. Peru. Reparations and costs, para. 79, and Case of the Massacres of El Mozote
and nearby places v. El Salvador, para. 361.
436
The representatives added that: “[t]he said medical and psychological treatment must be provided for as long as
necessary and take into consideration the ailments of each of them, following an individual assessment, and be provided,
insofar as possible, in the centers nearest to their place of residence.”
437
In addition to the foregoing, the representatives indicated that: (a) “[i]t is possible to infer that the massacre, the
forced displacement, and the feelings of terror and anguish experienced in Santo Domingo on December 13, 1998, had an
impact on the physical and mental health of the victims and their next of kin, effects that have not been treated”; (b) “In
some cases, the bodies of the victims and their next of kin still bear the visible physical scars of shrapnel incrusted in their
body and other different bodily scars, added to the pain, sadness and impotence, among other feelings, that have not
received professional diagnosis, treatment and support.”
438
In this regard, the State indicated that “[t]he network [also] has a group of community workers, called social
promoters, responsible for identifying the families and supporting them in the implementation of a road map towards their
self-determination in order to overcome their situation (Family Plan).” The second program mentioned consists in “four of
the individuals on the list receive direct monetary support for the components of child nutrition and education […],
conditional on the family complying with certain commitments: in education, guaranteeing the school attendance of the
[children], and in health, by the children attending programmed appointments to control their growth and development.”
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