and include a request for forgiveness from the victim's family members, and (ii) urge the State
to guarantee that the judgment is published in the newspaper with the largest national
circulation, and access to it is available on the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
Guatemala, the Presidential Commission for the Coordination of Executive Policy on Human
Rights (COPREDEH), of the National Civil Police, the Ministry of the Interior and the
Penitentiary System. The Commission and the State have not made a statement on this
request.
238. The Court orders, as it has done in other cases, 195 that the State publish, within six
months from the notification of this judgment: (a) the official summary of this judgment
prepared by the Court, once only, in a newspaper with wide national circulation and in the
official gazette in a legible and adequate font size, and (b) this judgment, in its entirety,
available to the public on the official website for at least one year.
239. The State must inform this Court immediately once it proceeds to make each of the
publications ordered, regardless of the one-year term to present its first report established in
operative paragraph 17 of this judgment.
b) Transfer of the remains of Tirso Román Valenzuela Ávila to the cemetery of the
village of Caballo Blanco, department of Retalhuleu.
240. The representatives asked the Court to order the State to transfer the remains of
Tirso Román Valenzuela Ávila from the cemetery of La Gomera, Escuintla to the cemetery of
the village of Caballo Blanco in the department of Retalhuleu, so that funeral honors can be
carried out, with expenses to be paid by the State.
241. In a public hearing, the State accepted the request to take the relevant steps so that
the remains of Tirso Román Valenzuela Ávila can be transferred to the place requested by his
next of kin, and in the final written arguments, it indicated that “it has stated and reiterated
in different times, their availability to collaborate with the family of Tirso Román Valenzuela
Ávila in the exhumation and transfer of his remains, provided that they present a formal
request.” This, according to the State, “was not communicated to them in a timely manner by
the representatives, causing the unnecessary prolongation of a painful situation that is,
according to the details in the statements made by the same relatives of Mr. Valenzuela Ávila,
one of the reasons why they went to […] Court.”
242. The Court assesses positively that the State is willing to exhume and transfer the
remains of Mr. Valenzuela Ávila. Therefore, this Court orders the State to transfer the remains
of Mr. Valenzuela Ávila from the cemetery of La Gomera, Escuintla, to the cemetery of the
village of Caballo Blanco in the department of Retalhuleu, within a period of six months, after
verifying his identity, in coordination with his next of kin or their representatives. In addition,
the State must cover the expenses of the exhumation, transfer and funeral honors, by mutual
agreement with his family.196 For this purpose, the relatives of the victim or their
representatives must appear in person, as soon as possible, before the pertinent authorities
to coordinate said procedure.
195 Cf. Case of Cantoral Benavides v. Peru. Reparations and Costs. Judgment of December 3, 2001. Series C No.
88, para. 79, and Case of Perrone and Preckel v. Argentina. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs.
Judgment of October 8, 2019. Series C No. 384, para. 163.
196
Cf. Case of the Caracazo v. Venezuela. Reparations and Costs. Judgment of August 29, 2002. Series C No. 95,
paras. 122 to 124, and Case of Alvarado Espinoza et al. v. Mexico, supra, para. 300.
57