10 directed at eliminating persons or groups of persons previously identified as targets of the military operations and with the aim of causing terror as a mechanism of social control; 42(7) the Guatemalan Army, based on the “Doctrine of National Security,” identified the members of the Mayan indigenous people as “domestic enemies,” as they deemed that they were or could be the social base for the guerrilla forces. These people suffered massacres and “scorched earth operations” that involved complete destruction of their communities, houses, livestock, harvests, and other means of survival, their culture, the use of their own cultural symbols, their social, economic, and political institutions, their cultural and religious values and practices; 42(8) the process of peace negotiations in Guatemala began in 1990 and was completed in 1996. The Government of the Republic of Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional de Guatemala (URNG), signed twelve agreements, with participation by Civil Society. One of these agreements, signed on June 23, 1994, dealt with “the establishment of the Historical Elucidation Committee regarding Human Rights violations and the acts of violence that have caused suffering among the Guatemalan population.” The Historical Elucidation Committee began its work on July 31, 1997 and delivered its report on February 25, 1999. Said Committee studied numerous massacres, including those of the Municipality of Rabinal, Department of Baja Verapaz in Guatemala; With respect to the village of Plan de Sánchez 42(9) the Municipality of Rabinal is one of the eight municipalities of the Department of Baja Verapaz, which is located in the central region of Guatemala. This Municipality includes the municipal capital or main urban area, fourteen villages and sixty hamlets. One of the villages of this municipality is Plan de Sánchez, located nine kilometers from the municipal capital, in the southern part of the Chuacús range and on the road toward the village of Concul; 42(10) the area is inhabited primarily by members of the Mayan indigenous people, specifically of the achí linguistic community; 42(11) since early 1982, the Guatemalan Army had a strong presence in the area of Rabinal, including the village of Plan de Sánchez and its neighboring communities. The military commissioners6 and the members of the army regularly asked the 6 The representatives of the victims and their next of kin in their brief with pleadings, motions, and evidence pointed out that “the position of Military Commissioner [Comisionado Militar] was established in 1939 by then President Jorge Ubico to facilitate oversight of the rural communities by the Army. In 1954 they became part of the Military Reserve, pursuant to the provisions of Decree 79. This Decree, which established the Department of Organization, Instruction and Training of the Military Reserve as a body under the Army Chiefs of Staff, regulated and defined as follows the tasks of the Commissioners: Article 1: 1. To act as Agents of the military authorities. 2. To carry out such military missions as they may be ordered to conduct... 3. To control and oversee the population. Article 2: The Military Commissioners and assisstants are members of the army when they are carrying out a mission ordered by the competent military authorities, and are therefore subject to military jurisdiction. […] the Military Commissioners played a key intelligence role in the rural areas. [...] The functions of the military commissioners were currently abolished by the Government of Ramiro de León Carpio, these persons continued to have enormous power and to carry out abusive acts against the population of rural Guatemala […].”