that made it possible to investigate the names of the signers by entering a signer’s national identity card number. They also contended that this browser function included accusation that signers had committed fraud and were traitors to the nation. In view of the petitioners, after the creation of this website, public employees and officials began to be pressured to disavow their signatures in the referendum or retract them in the process of challenge. According to the information provided, the signatures of more than one million citizens were challenged in this process. 13. The petitioners argued that, precisely in this particular context, Rocío San Miguel Sosa, Magally Chang Girón, and Thais Coromoto Peña were advised of the decision of the Chairman of the National Border Council to terminate their labor contract with said institution. According to the petitioners, of the 22 individuals who were employed at the National Border Council at that time, the only ones who appeared on the list that was released to the public by congressman Tascón as signers of the recall referendum petition on the term of office of the President of the Republic were Rocío San Miguel Sosa, Magally Chang Girón, and Thais Coromoto Peña and Jorge Guerra Navarro; and that those four persons were notified of the early termination of their contracts. 14. The petitioners asserted that the written dismissal notification did not state the reason for the action. They claimed, however, that at the time they were served the written notice, the Executive Secretary of the institution orally informed the alleged victims, separately, that their dismissals were the consequence of signing the petition for the recall of the term of office of the President of the Republic. The petitioners alleged that the offer was made to Mrs. Thais Coromoto Peña that the measure would be vacated in exchange for disavowing her signature on the day of challenge called by the National Electoral Council. They also contended that the dismissal of Mr. Guerra Navarro did not actually occur because he accepted the pledge to not validate his signature before the election authorities. 15. The petitioners alleged that on April 20, 2004, the Chairman of the CNE announced that more than one million signatures would undergo the process of challenge, noting that during the “day of challenge,” in addition to the validation of signatures, the signatures of any of the signers of the petition, who may have changed their minds, could be retracted. They indicated that the abovementioned day of challenge was convened by the CNE and was held on June 27, 2004. The petitioners noted that Rocío San Miguel, whose signature had been challenged, validated her signature on that occasion. They added that the actual presidential term recall referendum was held on August 15, 2004, as convened by the CNE, and that Rocío San Miguel Sosa, Magally Chang Girón and Thais Coromoto Peña participated in it. 16. The petitioners alleged that the referendum was followed by retaliation of those who signed and that, particularly, “at the end of 2004, Mrs. Rocío San Miguel was also expelled from the Advanced Air Force Academy and the Advanced Naval War School, where she had been serving as a professor.” Furthermore, her husband, an active-duty officer of the National Armed Forces, with the rank of " Aviation Colonel” had not been assigned to any position in the Military Aviation unit since August 18, 2004 as of the date of submission of the initial claim by the petitioners. 17. The petitioners asserted that on April 15, 2005, then President of the Republic, Hugo Chávez Frías, publically ordered Congressman Luis Tascón’s list to be “buried.” They further noted that on April 26, 2005, the Attorney General of the Republic commissioned Prosecuting Attorney Number 49 of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas to investigate the complaints of political discrimination; nonetheless, the alleged victims were never called by said prosecutor, even though a complaint had been filed by them since May 2004. 18. The petitioners asserted that on August 24, 2005, the Association for the Defense of the Signers of the Petition reported that there was a “second Tascón List” called the “Maisanta List” or “Maisanta Program,” which had been copied onto a compact disc and distributed throughout the different agencies of the Public Administration for discriminatory purposes. 19. As to the procedures followed by the alleged victims under the domestic legal system, the petitioners noted that on May 27, 2004, Rocío San Miguel Sosa, Magally Chang Girón and Thais Coromoto Peña filed charges with the Attorney General of the Republic of Venezuela regarding the facts that are the subject of 3