municipality to contribute to operating expenses […]. It is clear that the treasury is empowered, but not obliged, to supply these additional funds.”414 169. In its decision on the motion of cassation lodged by the municipality of Cauquenes, the Supreme Court considered several arguments, including the essential structure of the Chilean State and municipal autonomy, to dismiss any obligation by the treasury to provide resources for the municipalities to pay the debts: […] the alleged obligation being ascribed to the national treasury is based on the assertion that, because the municipalities are entities belonging to the public sector and therefore take part in performing the duties that pertain to this organization, therefore they are constitutionally and legally under the responsibility of the President; it is not unreasonable to note that this contradicts the idea that the municipalities are in fact entities not subject to accountability or any oversight whatsoever by the President of the Republic.415 B.2.3.6. Conclusion 170. The Court notes that judicial remedies are not effective if, due to the particular circumstances of a case, they are illusory because the State does not provide the necessary means to execute the judgments that found them admissible or when there are unjustified delays in the decisions.416 The Court reiterates that, under the obligations contained in Article 25 of the Convention, public authorities cannot thwart the meaning and scope of judicial decisions or unduly delay their execution.417 In the case at hand, the lack of action by the courts, on their own motion, to process the enforcement of the labor verdicts, as well as the ineffectiveness of the means provided in the domestic legal system to bring about payment of the rulings against the municipalities, combined with the absence of budget rules requiring the State to provide the municipalities with funds to pay judicially sanctioned debts, led to a situation in which the 846 teachers were rendered defenseless and vulnerable despite their favorable ruling against the Municipalities of Chañaral, Chanco, Parral, Pelluhue, Vallenar and Cauquenes, and to date, they have not yet received full payment of the money owed to them. This amounts to a violation of the right to judicial protection because, in practice and due to failures in the domestic regulatory framework, the teachers did not have effective remedies to guarantee full, complete, swift, comprehensive execution of the judgments over the course of more than twenty-five years, as established in the obligations contained in Article 25(2)(c) of the American Convention. B.3. Reasonable period 171. More than twenty-five years on average have passed in the instant case, during which the court-ordered judgments against the municipalities on behalf of the 846 alleged victims have not been fully enforced. The Court has held in its consistent case law that a prolonged delay in a 414 Order by the Sixth Civil Court of Santiago, May 14, 2001, in the case Municipality of Chañaral v. National Treasury of Chile (evidence file, folio 1384). 415 Order by the Supreme Court, November 19, de 2003 (evidence file, folios 2192 to 2196). 416 Cf. Case of Ivcher Bronstein v. Peru. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of February 6, 2001. Series C No. 74, para. 137; and Case of the National Association of Discharged and Retired Employees of the National Tax Administration Superintendence (ANCEJUB-SUNAT) v. Peru. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of November 21, 2019. Series C No. 394, para. 131. 417 Cf. Case of Mejía Idrovo v. Ecuador, supra, par. 106, and Case of the National Association of Discharged and Retired Employees of the National Tax Administration Superintendence (ANCEJUB-SUNAT) v. Peru, supra, para. 131. 59