87 murder her. Furthermore, the motivation for the murder was political, due to the professional activities carried out by Myrna Mack Chang in connection with the internally displaced population. Likewise, the modus operandi to extralegally execute Myrna Mack Chang was that used by the Guatemalan intelligence services and, specifically, by the Presidential General Staff, at the time of the facts; and c) the extra-legal execution of Myrna Mack Chang was the consequence of a carefully prepared plan developed by the high command of the Presidential General Staff, which consisted of singling-out the victim, keeping watch on her, executing her, and covering up the direct perpetrators and the accessories insofar as possible and obstructing the administration of justice, whether directly or through subterraneous influences. Pleadings of the representatives of the next of kin of the victim 136. The representatives of the next of kin of the victim asked the Court to find that the State is responsible for the arbitrary deprivation of the right to life of Myrna Mack Chang and, therefore, responsible for violation of Article 4 of the American Convention. In addition to reiterating various pleadings of the Commission, said representatives pointed out that: a) planning and execution of the plan to murder Myrna Mack Chang was for political motives linked to her professional activity and can be ascribed to members of the Presidential General Staff of Guatemala, which coincides precisely with the patterns of selective extra-legal executions at the time; b) Myrna Mack Chang was not simply an anthropologist, and she was not murdered only for practicing her profession. She was targeted because she represented the expression and dissemination of the truth, especially regarding the repression campaigns of the Army in the rural sectors, the aim of which was to not leave evidence regarding those military actions, to avoid opposition and to avoid attracting international scrutiny; c) the statements of Noel de Jesús Beteta Álvarez, one of the direct perpetrators of the facts, the testimony of individuals who refer to the surveillance and execution of the victim, partial acknowledgment of responsibility by the State, public or judicial statements of high officials of the Guatemalan Government, the CEH Report, the REMHI Report, and the patterns of political repression at the time of the facts, provide conclusive grounds to affirm the institutional responsibility of the security forces the Presidential General Staff in the execution of the victim; and d) the manner in which Noel de Jesús Beteta Álvarez and the agents of the Presidential General Staff involved in the execution acted could not have occurred without the intervention and knowledge of the commanding officers at the institution. Various items of evidence in the case file point to the same conclusion: “the murder of Myrna Mack was committed by an agent of the State in his capacity as an active member of the Presidential General Staff, carrying out orders received from other officers of this advisory military body.” Pleadings of the State