3. Under international human rights law, provisional measures are not merely preventive, in that they preserve a juridical situation, but rather they are essentially protective, because they protect human rights, inasmuch as they seek to avoid irreparable damage to persons. Provisional measures are applicable provided that the basic requirements of extreme gravity and urgency and the prevention of irreparable damage to persons are met. Hence, provisional measures become a real jurisdictional guarantee of a preventive nature.3 To this end, it is essential that the provisional measures remain fully in force and produce their effects until the Court orders that they be lifted and notifies the State of the respective decision.4 4. The Court observes that the information provided recently by the representatives and the State refers specifically to the death of and injuries to inmates and persons present in the Penitentiary Center of the Central Occidental Region (Uribana Prison) on January 25, 2013, the date on which an inspection had been scheduled. Owing to the importance and urgency of the information presented, the Court finds it pertinent, in this Order, to refer only to the current situation in this prison. 5. The newspaper articles and information provided by the representatives of the beneficiaries (supra having seen paragraphs 3 and 5) concerning the events that occurred in the Uribana Prison on January 25, 2013, and the following days, reveal that: a) The situation arose because of an inspection carried out by the Bolivarian National Guard in order to disarm the prison population of the “Uribana Prison” completely; this had been ordered owing to a series of violent incidents between bands that had reached a climax on November 14, 2012, when an employee of one of the subcontractors working in the construction of prison buildings had been severely injured; b) On January 24, 2013, 12 all-terrain armored tanks were parked behind the prison by the Bolivarian National Guard; c) On the morning of January 25, 2013, a “controlled” inspection had begun in the presence of officials of the Custodial Rapid Response Group (GRIC) of the Ministry of People’s Power for the Prison Service, who were in charge of carrying out the count and the inspection, while the prisoners were in “the yard” waiting for the cell blocks to be inspected; d) The inspection resulted in a confrontation between the soldiers and the prisoners; e) The official figure of those who died was 56 prisoners, one evangelical pastor, and one member of the Bolivarian National Guard, while 95 people were injured – at least 59 of them were prisoners and 15 were members of the Bolivarian National Guard; many of the injured were transferred to the Antonio Prisons, Capital Detention Center El Rodeo I and El Rodeo II. Provisional measures with regard to Venezuela. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights de September 6, 2012, third considering paragraph. 3 Cf. Case of the “La Nación” newspaper. Provisional measures with regard to Costa Rica. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of September 7, 2001, fourth considering paragraph, and Matter of Millacura Llaipén et al. Provisional measures with regard to Argentina. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of November 21, 2012, fourth considering paragraph. 4 Cf. Matter of Liliana Ortega et al. Provisional measures with regard to Venezuela. Order of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights of March 1, 2005, tenth considering paragraph, and Matter of certain Venezuelan prisons, Capital Region Penitentiary Center Yare I and Yare II. Provisional measures with regard to Venezuela. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of September 6, 2012, fourth considering paragraph. 3