-39She commenced her employment with the Municipality of Lima on December 1, 1976 at the Dirección de Bienestar Social (Social Welfare Department) and was later relocated to the Dirección de Registros Civiles (Vital Statistics Registers Department). Her job was to manage the registration of entries of births, marriages, etc and the issuance of certificates within the jurisdiction of Lima. The Municipality dismissed her along with other 230 employees, upon being declared “redundant” as a result of a “wrongly termed” staff assessment process. She was not informed neither of the result of the assessment nor of what her shortcomings had been. As a result of her dismissal, she filed an appeal for legal protection through the SITRAMUN. After several months of litigation, she obtained a favourable judgment, which meant a great satisfaction for her, because she thought that “justice had been done and that [she] would go back to work, that [her] children could resume their education, and that [they] would be able to cover the pressing needs they [had].” However, the Mayor of Lima failed to comply with the court judgments ordering the “restoration of workers’ rights,” which caused in her “great frustration” and “impotence.” The dismissed workers had to resort to all-night public meetings and demonstrations, and they turned to the media, the National Congress, the Catholic Church and the Ombudsman. She felt anger and impotence, as in her country “there [was] no justice and the courts [were not] even capable of enforcing their own judgments.” She felt beaten and was “enraged” to know that the Municipality spent thousands of dollars on legal counsel to prevent the enforcement of judgments that could have changed her life. Her dismissal in October 1996 distabilized her financial and moral stability. In September 1999 she was diagnosed with a breast cyst, but she could not be treated, and in 2001 she was told she had breast cancer. The witness mentioned the difficulties she went through because she did not have social security, which forced her to purchase private health insurance. In July 2002, “when they learnt that she had to undergo surgery,” “she was paid her October, November and December 1995 salaries, which were in arrears.” She had to borrow money from her relatives to survive. Because she was dismissed at the age of 44, it was impossible for her to find a similar job or even a steady job. She was forced to sell cosmetics and food on the streets. She has also been unable to provide medical treatment to a sick daughter, and she is in “deep sorrow” for not having been able to pay for her two younger daughters’ higher education. There was a time in which “she wished she would die from her health problems and was terrified to leave her younger daughters helpless.” She had to resort to psychotherapy. The witness prays for “international justice to redress all the damage caused to her.” 2. Juan de Dios Berrospi-Pérez, alleged victim He commenced his employment with the Municipality of Lima on August 22, 1974. At the time he was dismissed he worked as Assistant Clerk in the Dirección de Ecología (Ecology Department), and his last salary was S/. 1,500, approximately 480 U.S. dollars today.”