Honoring El Mozote, El Salvador
Exhuming in El Mozote: the slow writing of the truth
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"And so, even though tardy, this process will reinitiate. I must indicate that I do this individually; I am not speaking for the State. Here there has been a lack of political will to comply with this international sentence. Here there have been obstacles and a lack of cooperation of some functionaries from diverse State institutions. Here there has been slowness and tardiness in the execution of complying with this sentence. And I include the judicial organ in this also, because they are not only responsible for scientifically identifying the cadavers, but also clarifying the truth regarding this deed in judicial processes to which these family members have a right. And this has been emphatically affirmed by the Inter-American Court in its sentence condemning the country."
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Florentin Melendez
First Magistrate of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of El Salvador
Ex-President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
"The search, location and delivery of the remains of the disappeared and murdered is a measure of essential satisfaction for the thousands of family members in Latin America and in other parts of the world, and implies the obligation of the States to implement this measure as the right to the truth, justice, and respect for the grief of their relatives.
The delivery of the remains is of enormous importance in virtually all cultures, and implies in some way the possibility of a closure to the grieving process, which has been frozen for a very long time in many cases. The impossibility of a funeral, according to the beliefs and rites of each culture, implies an enormous psychological effect for the relatives, which adds to the trauma experienced by the prolonged loss, and the absence of justice.
And on the other hand, the remains of the murdered people show traces of what happened to them, where, and how their bodies were treated, so their location and identification are a limit to the impunity of the perpetrators, but they also imply and have involved for that reason sometimes risks for family members.
Forensic Anthropology teams are fundamental instruments in those cases, as they were in the case of El Mozote.
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Alicia Neuburger
Psychologist, former teacher of the University of Buenos Aires and the University of Costa Rica, has been an expert before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in various cases, providing advice to several human rights organizations in
the region, and preparing witnesses and victims to testify before the Court and the Commission.
She has had a long career in clinical practice in both Buenos Aires, Argentina and San José, Costa Rica.
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Case of the Massacres of El Mozote and Nearby Paces vs. El Salvador
Judgment of October 25, 2012
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(Merits, reparations and costs)
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F. Right to know the truth
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297. The representatives affirmed that the right to the truth is an autonomous and independent right, and even though it is not declared explicitly in the text of the American Convention, it comprises the protections established in Articles 1(1), 8, 25 and 13 of the Convention. In this regard, they argued that, in the instant case, the State violated the right to the truth of the victims and their next of kin insofar as the massacres had been committed by State agents as part of a military strategy. Consequently, it was the State alone that possessed relevant information to establish the truth of what happened. However, it had abstained from providing this information to the next of kin of the victims killed, the surviving victims and Salvadoran society as a whole. In addition, after 1995, the State had not taken a single measure to establish the truth of what happened; therefore, they asked the Court to declare that El Salvador has violated the right to the truth to the detriment of the presumed victims in this case, which resulted in the violation of Articles 1(1), 8, 25 and 13 of the American Convention. In this regard, the Court reiterates its case law regarding the possibility that the presumed victims or their representatives may invoke rights other than those included in the merits report of the Commission (supra para. 182).
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Inauguration of the Inter-American Judicial Year 2016
Juez, Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni (Argentina); Juez, Humberto Sierra Porto (Colombia); Juez, Eduardo Ferrer Mac-Gregor Poisot (México), Vicepresidente; Juez, Roberto de Figueiredo Caldas (Brasil), Presidente; Presidente de la República Luis Guillermo SolÃs (Costa Rica); Secretario General de la OEA, Luis Leonardo Almagro Lemes; Juez, Eduardo Vio Grossi (Chile); Jueza, Elizabeth Odio Benito (Costa Rica); y Juez, Leoncio Patricio Pazmiño Freire (Ecuador).
At the FEV, we follow the work of the Honorable Inter-American Court of Human Rights (http://www.corteidh.or.cr/) and we share information on certain cases and publications of specific interest. We consider this institution to be of great importance for peace, justice and well-being in our hemisphere.
This video is of the Public Hearing of the Véliz Franco and others case vs. Guatemala, part 1, at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It is difficult to view from beginning to end, yet it essential to do so and to share it. Rosa Franco is an example of ethical leadership, courage and love.We are with you always, Rosa.