11. The alleged victim's wife, after going to the place where he had been kidnapped and questioning a street seller who was there, 3 reported the kidnapping to the local police station and began the next day to look for Mr. Chitay Nech in the morgue and hospitals, without success. 12. According to the petition, Mr. Chitay's kidnapping was reported as well in the media on April 25, 1981, at a press conference given by high officials of the Guatemalan Christian Democratic Party to which the alleged victim belonged. 4 13. Fearing reprisals, Mr. Chitay's family refrained from inquiring about the status of the investigation into the kidnapping, because forced disappearances were common in Guatemala at that time, as were threats against people who reported them. In 1985 Juan Carlos Chitay Nech became a victim of forced disappearance; in 1988, Eleodoro Ordón Nech, husband of María Chitay Nech, was kidnapped and murdered, as was in 1990 Martín Chitay, all of them family members of the alleged victim. Consequently, it was not until October 14, 2004, that they dared seek justice again and tried to find out what had happened with the investigation of Florencio Chitay's disappearance. The habeas corpus application they filed on that date, however, was ruled irreceivable because there was no evidence that Mr. Chitay had been arrested. 5 14. Regarding the participation of Guatemalan army personnel in the events, the petitioners maintain that their participation can be deduced from Mr. Chitay's profile: he belonged to the Guatemalan Christian Democratic Party, and several members of the Municipal Council of San Martín de Jilotepeque had already been kidnapped and had disappeared. 6 Furthermore, the alleged victim had received between June and December 1980 many threats in writing to get him to give up his job and withdrawal from the cooperative peasant movement. As for Esmeterio Chitay Rodríguez, his son, the petitioners argue, the fact that he was only five years old at the time of the events should not detract from the validity of his testimony. 7 15. Concerning the possibility of bringing the case to the National Compensation Program, the petitioners contend that the program lacks the necessary legal stability to guarantee full compensation to the family for the disappearance of Mr. Chitay. Since the program was established, there has been no full compensation to the victims of the conflict, its regulations have been changed three times by the government, and the Congress has yet to include the program in a law. Furthermore, the purposes of the PNR do not include justice and uncovering the truth, which are a fundamental part of the remedies sought by victims. 16. The petitioners conclude that their claim is admissible because the internal remedies have been exhausted, the disappearance of the alleged victim has not been investigated, and his family has not been compensated to this day. B. Position of the State 3 According to Encarnación Chitay Rodríguez, when Esmeterio Chitay returned home after his father's kidnapping, "with my mother and other members of her family we went to the place where it had happened and asked about it, because the firewood seller was there, and he confirmed what my brother had said. In the morning we went to the police station, which is on Calzada San Juan, and reported the matter; hours later, police officers from the station went to the place, but when the firewood seller was asked about it, he said he had seen nothing." This testimony was cited in the petitioners' communication of October 20, 2005, received by the IACHR on October 25, 2005. 4 The petitioners cite press articles of April 25, 1981, in the following Guatemalan newspapers: La Hora, pp. 2 and 23; Prensa Libre, p. 2; El Gráfico, p. 8. 5 The Second Judge of the Lower Court Circuit for Criminal, Drug and Environmental Offenses ruled the habeas corpus application inadmissible, a decision of which Pedro Chitay was advised on November 23, 2004 6 The report by the Historical Truth Commission includes the following account: "The municipal Council of San Martín Jilotepeque was completely dismantled. The forced disappearance of Felipe Álvarez was followed by that of the First Councilman, Mr. Florencio Chitay Nech on December 10, 1980, and of the Second Councilman, Mr. Mario Augusto García Roca on March 6, 1981. Finally, the surviving members of the Municipal Council of San Martín Jilotepeque resigned in a body and asked for new elections to be held on January 8, 1981." Historical Truth Commission, Guatemala, "Memory of Silence," Volume VIII, cases presented in Annex II, case 707, (1999). 7 According to the petitioners, Esmeterio Chitay was unable to testify in court because he was five years old at the time of the events. 3