4 Commissioner Gonzalo Sánchez Delgado, who “has publicly identified with the government supporters grouped in the Bolivarian circles” as its new director, and h. in compliance with the precautionary measures issued by the Commission, “the Venezuelan State through the Public Prosecutors’ Office commissioned the Twenty-Fourth National Prosecutors’ Office with full competence, and the Forty-fourth Prosecutors’ Office of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas. Nevertheless, the applicants (sic) argue that only Liliana Ortega has been summoned to make her statement before the Public Prosecutors’ Office on Tuesday, May 14, 2002, in the investigative proceeding entrusted to those Prosecutors’ offices. To date, there has been no progress regarding the complaints, despite insistence by Dr. Liliana Ortega, who has several times asked the Public Prosecutors’ Office to conduct an extensive investigation of the facts, providing new probatory elements. The Public Prosecutors’ Office has not summoned anyone to make their statements, nor has it begun investigative steps to identify those allegedly responsible, nor has it filed any formal action with respect to the facts set forth; therefore, the juridical situation of its action is in the preliminary stages, without having begun the criminal proceeding, despite the fact that seven months have gone by since the request for precautionary measures.” CONSIDERING: 1. The State ratified the American Convention on August 9, 1977 and, pursuant to Article 62 of that Convention, it recognized the contentious jurisdiction of the Court on June 24, 1981. 2. Article 63(2) of the American Convention provides that, in cases of “extreme gravity and urgency, and when necessary to avoid irreparable damage to persons,” the Court may, in matters it has under consideration, adopt such Provisional Measures as it deems pertinent, and in cases not yet submitted to the Court, it may act at the request of the Commission. 3. Pursuant to Article 25(1) and 25(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court, [a]t any stage of the proceedings involving cases of extreme gravity and urgency, and when necessary to avoid irreparable damage to persons, the Court may, at the request of a party or on its own motion, order such provisional measures as it deems pertinent, pursuant to Article 63(2) of the Convention. [w]ith respect to matters not yet submitted to it, the Court may act at the request of the Commission. [...] 4. Article 1(1) of the Convention states the obligation of the States Parties to respect the rights and freedoms recognized in that treaty and to ensure to all persons subject to their jurisdiction the free and full exercise of those rights and freedoms. 5. The background information submitted by the Commission in its request (supra, second and third Having Seen) demonstrates prima facie the existence of a situation of extreme gravity and urgency regarding the life and physical safety of Liliana Ortega, Yris Medina Cova, Hilda Páez (Gilda Páez), Maritza Romero, Aura