4 5. The communication of August 19, 2004, in which the Inter-American Commission forwarded the information requested and indicated that “the imminence of damage in the cases of Ronald Ernesto Raxcacó-Reyes, Hugo Humberto RuizFuentes, Bernardino Rodríguez-Lara and Pablo Arturo Ruiz-Almengor arises from the final nature of the judgments convicting them.” It also stated that, according to the relevant provisions of the laws of Guatemala, if no appeal for amparo was pending a decision, the judge for execution of sentences would indicate the date and time for executing the death penalty and that, “[i]n this context, the adoption of provisional measures by the Court is the appropriate means of avoiding the imminent irreparable damage and ensuring the appropriate processing of the petitions filed before the inter-American system.” 6. The note of the Secretariat of the Court of August 20, 2004, in which, on the instructions of the President, it requested the State to forward its observations on the request for provisional measures submitted by the Commission (supra having seen paragraph 1). 7. On August 24, 2004, the State transmitted its observations on the request for provisional measures submitted by the Inter-American Commission, and indicated that various actions promoted by the Government “guarantee the protection of the lives of those condemned to death, as regards suspending execution of the death penalty while the appeal for clemency is decided at the domestic level, so that sentences can be postponed or annulled by the exercise of the right to clemency.” In this respect, it stated that the execution of Ronald Ernesto Raxcacó-Reyes, Hugo Humberto Ruiz-Fuentes and Pablo Arturo Ruiz-Almengor had been suspended for five years and of Bernardino Rodríguez-Lara for seven years. The State also provided information on the measures being taken to reform the application of the death penalty, through the preliminary draft laws: “Annulment of the death penalty in the case of all crimes that contemplate this penalty in the Republic of Guatemala,” “Draft law annulling laws that contemplate the death penalty,” and “draft law on the signature and ratification of the Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty.” In addition, the State indicated that Messrs. Raxcacó-Reyes, Ruiz-Fuentes and Rodríguez-Lara had filed appeals for commutation of sentence before the Ministry of the Interior, which were pending a decision. The State also advised that, in the case of Mr. Ruiz-Almengor “[t]he appeal for review was pending a decision and the defense lawyer had not yet filed the appeal for clemency.” Regarding the appeal for clemency or commutation of sentence, the State indicated that this “is in force in Guatemala[; however,] a law is required regulating the procedure, process and body that should hear the appeal.” Finally, the State referred to the detention conditions of those condemned to death. CONSIDERING: 1. That Guatemala has been a State Party to the American Convention on Human Rights since May 25, 1978, and accepted the obligatory jurisdiction of the Court on March 9, 1987. 2. That Article 63(2) of the American Convention establishes that: In cases of extreme gravity and urgency, and when necessary to avoid irreparable damage to persons, the Court shall adopt such provisional measures as it deems pertinent in matters it has under consideration. With respect to a case not yet submitted to the Court, it may act at the request of the Commission.