31
whose photo they showed her; iv) she told them she did not know those people; v) the
soldiers threatened to kill her and everyone in her community; vi) they hit her in the
abdomen with a weapon, to which she fell to the ground and lost consciousness and
subsequently they grabbed her by the hair and scratched her face, and vii) in that forum
of forceful coercion, alone and surrounded by eight armed soldiers, she was raped
consecutively by two soldiers who had requested information from her, while the other
soldiers watched the rape take place.
93.
On the other hand, from the circumstances pertaining to the situation of Mrs.
Rosendo Cantu, the Court has not found elements that would impair the credibility of her
statements. The alleged victim is an indigenous woman, and at the time she was a
minor, who was living in an isolated mountainous area, who had to walk several hours to
receive medical care for the physical harm suffered, and to file a complaint about a rape
before various authorities that spoke a language she did not command, that would, in all
probability, have negative repercussions in her social and cultural medium, such as the
possible rejection by her community. In this sense, she pressed charges and was
persistent with her claim, knowing that in the area in which she lives there is a
continuing presence of soldiers, some of whom had been criminally charged with
committing a serious crime.
94.
Likewise, the Court noted that the facts were made known to the National Human
Rights Commission by the victim. Similarly, apart from the various complaints to the
corresponding authorities, the alleged victim herself and her husband informed the facts
to the Constitutional Governor of Guerrero, asking for his intervention (supra para. 76).
These complaints correspond to the attempts made by the alleged victim to report to the
various authorities what she had suffered, to which, in accordance with the criteria of the
Court, strengthens the credibility of Mrs. Rosendo Cantú’s statement.
95.
Notwithstanding the aforementioned, the Court notes that the first time Mrs.
Rosendo Cantú appeared at a health care clinic after the event occurred, on February 18,
2002, (supra para. 75), she told the doctor that she was hit with military weapons, and
when asked if she had been raped, she said no.100 On the other hand, on February 26 of
the same year, she went to the Hospital of Ayutla were she also did not state that she
had been raped, rather she told the doctor that “10 days [ago], a piece of wood had
fallen on her abdomen, causing her extreme pain [there].”101 The Court considers that
the fact that she did not indicate that she had been raped in the two initial medical
consultations should be contextualized to the circumstances of the case and of the
victim. First, sexual assault is a type of crime that the victim does not tend to report.
This occurs specifically in indigenous communities, given the cultural as well as social
particularities that the victim must face (supra para. 70), in some cases, as in the
present, because of fear.102 Likewise, Mrs. Rosendo Cantú, at the time the facts occurred,
was a girl child who was forced to live an experience in which, in addition to being
physically and sexually assaulted, she received death threats against her community by
the soldiers who attacked her. Based on this, it is the criteria of the Court, that not
having told the first doctor that she was raped and not having indicated that she was
100
Cf. Clinical history of the Bernardino Rosendo family, supra note 74, folio 7756; testimonial statement
of the doctor that attended to Mrs. Rosendo Cantú on February 18, 2010, before the Investigation Officer of
the Special Military Public Prosecutor, on May 31, 2010 (case file of annexes to the final written arguments of
the State, tome I, folio 21916); testimonial statement of the doctor that attended to Mrs. Rosendo Cantú
carried out before the CODDEHUM on March 22, 2002 (case file of annexes to the application, tome I, folios
7731 and 7732).
101
Cf. Medical note issued by the doctor at the Ayutla General Hospital on February 26, 2002, supra note
77, folio 7624.
102
Cf. Of the psychiatric medical report of Mrs. Rosendo Cantú, carried out on March 11, 2002, within the
case file open with the NHRC, it states that “Mrs. [Rosendo Cantú] manifested that she is very afraid that
people like the [psychiatrist] look for her to speak with her, because she thinks they are going to take her to
jail, even though she cannot explain why,” (case file of annexes to the answer to the application, tome I, folio
7694).
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