10 40. In view of the above, appreciation should be expressed for the efforts that many State officials have made, before and currently, in favor of respect for human rights. It is worth recalling the contributions to the construction of the inter-American system of the illustrious Guatemalan jurist and diplomat, Carlos García Bauer. This professor of the Universidad de San Carlos was prominently involved in the preparation of the draft convention entrusted to the Inter-American Juridical Committee – of which he formed part – during the Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Santiago, Chile, 1959), and in the Specialized Conference from which the American Convention emerged in 1969. García Bauer chaired Commission II during this Conference, which was responsible for the Articles referring to “organs of protection and general provisions.” 41. During the 1969 Conference, the Guatemalan delegation proposed important elements: for example, the specific treatment of economic, social and cultural rights (Specialized Conference…, Actas y Documentos, op. cit., p. 269); the mission of the State in the observance of human rights and the complementary nature of the interAmerican protection system; the possibility of extending to individuals and groups legitimacy to present their cases before the Inter-American Court (id., p. 119), etcetera. It was García Bauer, Head of the Guatemalan Delegation, who proposed the name of the Convention (id., p. 438). It is also necessary to add the initiative adopted by 14 States, including Guatemala, which expressed, as I indicated above, “the majority sentiment expressed in the course of the debates on the prohibition of the death penalty, in agreement with the most pure humanistic traditions of our peoples,” and the solemn declaration of the “firm hope of seeing the death penalty eradicated from the American environment as of the present.” 42. The Court is aware of the recent actions of the State that entail the willingness to respect human rights and comply with the international commitments it sovereignly assumed. In this regard, it is worth mentioning, as an expression of this willingness, the acts of acknowledgement and solidarity with the victims of different events in which the President of the Republic has participated – in relation to the Myrna Mack case – and the Vice President – in relation to the Plan de Sánchez Massacre case. These are actions that contribute to the advancement of a cause shared by the States and the organs of protection of the inter-American system. Sergio García Ramírez Judge Pablo Saavedra Alessandri Secretary