to the Presidency, entrusting Dr. Gonzalo Fernandez, the President’s Assistant with the principal responsibility for the distinct tasks involved in this huge undertaking. In order to facilitate these decisions, the President issued a Resolution by means of which he decided to carry out the pertinent investigations in order to advance in the clarification of the final destiny of these detained-disappeared citizens during the military dictatorship. In order to do so, he ordered the excavation of places identified by specific complaints as clandestine cemeteries, a task to be carried out with scientists from the universities and the cooperation of an Argentine team of forensic anthropologists. In addition, the Government ordered that military bases be entered in order to determine whether any remains of disappeared persons could be found. The Commanders in Chief of the three branches of the Armed Forces were ordered to prepare reports on the activities of their respective branches, in writing, during the period of the military dictatorship. The reports produced officially recognized the reality of the facts, admitting, for the first time, the existence of torture and of clandestine grave sites. 27. The excavations of these sites that served as clandestine cemeteries during the military dictatorship had two objectives: 1) to locate the remains of persons who had been assassinated; 2) to confirm, whether there had been an exhumation in these sites followed by the removal of the cadavers, who were removed in order to not leave any traces thereof, as the reports prepared by the Armed Forces maintained. The Armed Forces reported that in the process of the exhumation of the remains, difficulties existed in determining the exact place of burial which permits the conclusion that not all of the remains had been exhumed, since it was not possible to exactly determine which ones were exhumed and which ones were not exhumed. One of the priorities of this Government was to exhume the remains of Maria Claudia Gelman, by means of a large excavation in Battalion No. 14 of the Army, located outside Montevideo. The State notes that the memory of the disappeared mother was honored with a homage celebrated on June 6, 2005 in the Uruguayan Parliament. 28. As a result of the excavations carried out, the State explains that the remains of Maria Claudia Gelman were not discovered, however the remains of the disappeared citizens, Ubegesner Chávez and Fernando Miranda, who were assassinated while in detention, were recovered. Despite the efforts involved in these excavations that were carried out over a period of 14 months, the State indicated that it is committed to locating the remains of these individuals and restoring them to their family members. This commitment, the State reiterated, is an imperative and will lead to determining exactly the bitter and heartrending circumstances of the death of Maria Claudia. 29. The State concluded that the President had announced the exclusion of the Gelman case from Law 15.848. The Executive Branch on June 23, 2005 issued its opinion in response to a consultation made by the Supreme Court regarding the instant case. The Presidential Resolution expressly established that for the Executive Branch, the Gelman case is not included in Article 1 of Law 15.848 of December 22, 1986, criminal proceedings have not been extinguished and the Judiciary is competent to assume consideration of the case. The Court of Appeals however, filed the case, and the Government, affirming its respect for the independence of the Judiciary, stated that it did not share the decision of the Judicial Branch, reaffirming its determination to continue with the investigations to recover the remains of Maria Claudia Gelman (referring to declarations made on October 25, 2005 by Mr. Rodolfo Nin Novoa, the Vice President). IV. ANALYSIS OF ADMISSIBILITY A. Competence of the Commission ratione temporis, and ratione loci ratione materiae, ratione personae, 30. The petitioners are entitled, under Article 44 of the American Convention, to lodge complaints with the Commission. The petition names the alleged victims as being “Maria Macarena Gelman, Maria Claudia Gelman and Juan Gelman,” three individually identified persons, whose rights allegedly were violated by the Uruguayan State, under the terms of Article 1(2) of the American Convention. The Commission concludes that it has 7