70
Guillermo and Claudia Marcela, all with surnames Omeara Álvarez. It indicated that it also
violated Article 19 of the Convention, to the detriment of the latter three, who were minors at
the time of the events. It also indicated that the State did not analyze that the threats to
Carmen Omeara Miraval occurred against a. background of threats and intimidation against
witnesses and relatives of the victims. Based on the foregoing, the Commission argued that
the dispute in this case remains.
267. The representatives argued that the facts indicate that the members of the Omeara
and Álvarez families suffered multiple incidences of threats and intimidation, that in light of
the violent episodes and the deaths of their loved ones, each and every one of these threats
represented a credible and imminent risk to all members of these families. They pointed out
that despite “the risk they faced, and that the State was aware of and helped create, the lack
of protection for the members of these families was absolute. […] In this sense, the fear and
desolation caused by the attacks, threats and intimidation were accentuated, deepening the
situation of vulnerability, which lasted for a year and forced […] the forced displacement of
several members of the families”.
268. In addition, the representatives noted that “there is no dispute of the fact that, in the
early hours of October 22, 1994, the day after the attempt on the life of Héctor Álvarez
[Sánchez], Fabiola Álvarez [and] her three minor children, Elba Katherine, Manuel Guillermo
and Claudia Marcela Omeara Álvarez and Carmen Teresa Omeara Miraval, daughter of Noel
Emiro Omeara Carrascal and sister of Manuel Guillermo Omeara Miraval, forcibly left the city
of Aguachica to move to Bucaramanga as a means of to protect their lives.” They pointed out
that the State contributed decisively to creating the risk faced by the families, by collaborating
with paramilitary groups in the commission of crimes in Aguachica, as it had the opportunity
to learn that these people were in a situation of risk and it did not adopt measures that could
prevent the feeling of desolation and helplessness that led to the families’ displacement. Based
on the foregoing, they concluded “that the breach of the state obligation to guarantee the
rights of the victims through the adoption of measures to prevent forced displacement, [due
to the real situation of risk in which they found themselves,] resulted in violations of their
rights contained in Articles 22 and 11 of the American Convention.”
269. In relation to Article 22(1) of the Convention, the State acknowledged its international
responsibility “for [the] omission in the investigation of the alleged acts of forced displacement
of persons”, to the detriment of some relatives of the direct victims in this case. Regarding
the violation of Article 11(2) of the American Convention, the State did not make any
allegations. The State clarified that “its acknowledgment of responsibility does not cover the
obligation to protect in relation to any of the next of kin of the direct victims.”
B. Considerations of the Court
270. First, this Court considers it necessary, in light of the partial acknowledgment of
international responsibility made by the State, to establish that Colombia violated: (a) the
right to personal integrity and protection of the family (Articles 5 and 17299 of the Convention),
in relation to Article 1(1) of the Convention, to the detriment of the next of kin of the victims
of violent acts in the case, and (b) the rights of the child (Article 19300) in relation to Article
Article 17 of the Convention establishes, as pertinent, the following: “1. The family is the natural and
fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state. 2. The right of men and
women of marriageable age to marry and to raise a family shall be recognized, if they meet the conditions required
by domestic laws, insofar as such conditions do not affect the principle of nondiscrimination established in this
Convention.
300
Article 19 of the Convention establishes, “Every minor child has the right to the measures of protection
required by his condition as a minor on the part of his family, society, and the state.”
299