on to say, however, that the villagers' petition was inadmissible since it had been presented extemporaneously and because the jurisdictional remedies offered by the domestic courts had not yet been exhausted. The petitioners countered that they had attempted to exhaust the domestic remedies, but had been prevented from so doing by excessive procedural delays on the part of the state's judicial officers. Finding for the petitioners, the Commission declared the case admissible on 11 March 1999. On 9 August 2000, during (failed) negotiations between the state, the petitioners, and the commission with a view to reaching a friendly settlement of this case and others, President Alfonso Portillo admitted the state's "institutional responsibility" for the massacre. On 28 February 2002, the IACHR issued a resolution recommending that the Guatemalan government: Conduct a serious investigation to prosecute and punish those who perpetrated and masterminded the massacre. Make reparations (including but not limited to financial compensation) to the survivors of the massacre, to the next-of-kin of the dead, and to the village as a community. Take steps to ensure that similar incidents did not occur in the future. Two months later, after consulting with the petitioners, the Inter-American Commission referred the case to the contentious jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Guatemala first lodged three exceptions with the Court, arguing, inter alia, that the case was not admissible because the available domestic remedies had not been exhausted and that the scope of President Portillo's admission of responsibility had been misconstrued. At the Court's public hearing on 23 April 2004, however, the state withdrew those exceptions. It then repeated the admission of responsibility extended by Alfonso Portillo in August 2000 and admitted that it had violated the human rights enshrined in Articles 1, 5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 16, 21, 21, 24, and 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights. It asked the victims for their forgiveness and expressed its willingness to make full amends. Guatemala did not, however, address the charges of genocide levelled at it by the Commission in its application to the Court, since that particular crime against humanity was not covered by the convention. The Court accepted the state's admission of guilt, issued a judgement to that effect on 29 April 2004, and proceeded with the reparations phase. On 19 November 2004, the Inter-American Court issued its reparations judgement. In order to make full redress to the