to return to their communities of origin.
346. In addition, given that the inhabitants of the said communities lost their homes as a
result of the facts of this case (supra paras. 175 to 178), this Court orders the State to
implement a housing program in the areas affected by the massacres of this case, under which
adequate housing is provided to the displaced victims who require this.511 The forcibly displaced
victims identified in Annex “D” of this Judgment who request this measure of reparation, or their
legal representatives, have one year from notification of this Judgment to inform the State of
their intention to be part of the housing program.
2)
Measures of rehabilitation
a)
Medical, psychological or psychiatric care for the victims
347. The Commission asked the Court to order the State to implement an adequate program
of psychosocial attention to the surviving next of kin.
348. The representatives requested that the State provide free medical and psychosocial
assistance to the surviving victims of the massacres and to the next of kin of the deceased
victims, so they can access a State medical center where they are provided with adequate
personalized attention to help them heal their physical and mental injuries resulting from the
violations suffered. This measure must include the cost of any medication prescribed. In
addition, when providing the treatment, the specific circumstances of each person must be taken
into consideration, as well as the needs of each of the victims. Additionally, the treatment must
be carried out after an individual evaluation, as agreed with each of them. Also, the medical
center where the physical and psychosocial care is provided to the victims and their next of kin
must be located in a place accessible from their homes.
349. The State accepted to provide health care services and psychosocial attention to the
surviving victims and the next of kin of the victims who are identified in this case. In addition, it
advised that, on February 14, 2012, it had installed a Family Health Community Team in El
Mozote “known as ECOS” for the next of kin of the victims of the massacres; it consisted of
medical and nursing staff, health promoters, a psychologist and a multi-purpose health worker.
This method of providing health care would allow general medical services, psychological care,
prenatal monitoring of pregnant women, family planning services, child health monitoring,
attention to the elderly, medicines, vaccines and other elements to be brought closer to the
population, based on comprehensive care during the person’s entire life cycle.
350. First, the Court appreciates the general initiatives taken by the State regarding the public
health care systems. Despite this, it considers it pertinent to indicate that the social services that
the State provides to individuals should not be confused with the reparations to which the
victims of human rights violations are entitled, based on the specific damage caused by the
violation. 512
351. Regarding the psychosocial impact and emotional consequences suffered by the victims,
expert witness Yáñez de La Cruz explained that “the massacre […] dissolved the social networks
in which the life project of both the individual and the community was inserted […]. There was a
loss of the collective subject that identifies an individual with the community, and there was a
significant impact on the collective dignity.”513 In this regard, she pointed out that the violence
took place in the village squares and churches and, just as it destroyed the land and the
animals, it also destroyed “the core of the collective way of life,” “the identity and symbols of the
511
Cf. Case of Masacre Plan de Sánchez v. Guatemala. Reparations and costs, para. 105, and Case of the Ituango
Massacres v. Colombia, para. 407.
512
Cf. Case of González et al. (“Cotton Field”) v. Mexico, para. 529.
513
Expert opinion provided by María Sol Yáñez De La Cruz before the Inter-American Court during the public
hearing held on April 23, 2012.
110
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