40
.
140. The Commission considered that a “reasonable means of protection” of possible
erroneous interpretations of the content of the mentioned political speeches, would have
been the realization of a clear and evident public condemnation to the possibly threatening
acts against the personal integrity of the directors, journalists, and other employees of the
station, in order to prevent aggressions against them. In fact, in its Special Report on
Venezuela of 2003 the Commission issued a specific recommendation to maintain the public
condemnation of the attacks against social communicators, in order to prevent future
attacks.113 The Commission also argued that another reasonable means of prevention would
have been “an effective compliance of the precautionary measures requested by the
Commission and subsequently of the provisional measures ordered by the Court.”
141. In this regard, the State argued that “the government of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela has always been firm and categorical in the condemnation of any act of violence
of any nature, and specifically, different institutions, bodies, and authorities of the national
government have condemned and repelled any act of violence against journalists and
employees of the media, as well as any type of attack on journalistic teams and physical
headquarters of the different communication firms.”114 At the public hearing the witness
Andrés Izarra stated that “[he has] condemned [the acts of aggression against journalists]
publicly, both as a journalist and as minister,” but that he did not remember dates and
circumstances in which he had done it. Additionally, the State indicated during the hearing
that “as the Commission itself acknowledged in the case of Perozo et al., the President of
the Republic has publicly expressed his most energetic condemnation of the acts of violence
against communication workers” and that those pronouncements “have not been limited to
the President of the Republic, but instead they have included the Executive Vice-President of
the Republic and the Ombudsman, among other high State authorities.”
142. The Court considers that, of the elements provided by the State to prove the
previous statements,115, the existence of public callings that prove a “firm and categorical”
condemnation of “any act of violence […] against journalists and media employees” cannot
be concluded. In the context of the facts of the present case, it is possible to consider that
the appropriate behavior of high public authorities with regard to acts of aggression against
journalists due to their role as communicators in a democratic society, would have been the
public manifestation of disapproval of those acts.
143. Besides the aforementioned, even though it is true that there is an intrinsic risk to
journalistic activity, the people who work for a specific social communication firm can see
the situations of risk they would normally face exacerbated if that firm is the object of an
official discourse that may cause, suggest actions, or be interpreted by public officials or
sectors of the society as instructions, instigations, or any form of authorization or support
for the commission of acts that may put at risk or violate the life, personal safety, or other
rights of people who exercise journalistic tasks or whoever exercises that freedom of
expression.
113
IACHR. Report on the Human Rights Situation in Venezuela, OAS/Ser.L/V/II.118doc. 4 rev. 2, December
29, 2003, paragraph 391.
114
It also argued that “we have adopted the measures established in our legal code to try to avoid any type
of attack against the social communication media firms and the people who work at them, which can be verified
with the series of measures adopted to comply with the precautionary measures agreed on by the Court in the
present case, including making several security bodies available for the protection of journalists and other people
dedicated to the activity of social communication, as well as of the physical headquarters and offices of the
communication firms.”
115
Cf. video (appendix 61 to the State’s final arguments) and press release from the Ombudsman of
December 10, 2002 (dossier of evidence, volume XXV, folio 9233).