these provisional measures, inasmuch as they seek to avoid irreparable damage to persons. 9 9. Following the Order of the President and then of the Court (supra having seen paragraphs 1 and 2), the State should have adopted, immediately, any necessary measures to determine the situation and whereabouts of Mr. Natera Balboa and to protect his life and personal integrity. Nevertheless, the Court notes that the information provided does not show that the State has implemented any special measure to this end. Indeed, there is no record that the State has responded to the application for habeas corpus filed by the next of kin of Mr. Natera Balboa on November 16, 2009, because it proceeded to joinder it to the criminal investigation that was underway. The last information provided by the State in this regard is that, on December 20, 2009, the Public Prosecution Service had filed formal charges against ten members of the Bolivarian National Guard, three officials of the Ministry of the People’s Power for Interior Relations and Justice, as well as the former Director of the Venezuelan General Penitentiary for the crimes of aggravated continuing facilitation of evasion, corruption, and conspiracy to commit a crime, and that the preliminary hearing was pending. This information repeats information that had already been evaluated by the Court when issuing its Order of May 15, 2011. 10 The State has not provided information that would reveal subsequent actions, because at April 2012, the said preliminary hearing had not been held. 10. The representatives forwarded more recent information on the status of the proceedings and indicated that: (a) on May 11, 2011, the Appeals Court of the Criminal Judicial Circuit of Bolívar State had declared admissible the appeal filed by the representatives of the Public Prosecution Service against the judgment delivered on May 18, 2010, by the Fourth Court with Supervisory Powers of this Criminal Judicial Circuit, during the preliminary hearing, so that a new preliminary hearing had been ordered; (b) on August 2, 2011, the case was referred to the Fifth Court with Supervisory Powers; (c) on March 5, 2012, the court asked the Agenda Office for a date to hold the preliminary hearing; (d) on May 9 and 25, 2012, the Prosecution ratified to the court the request for a date to hold the preliminary hearing, and (e) on June 21, the hearing was scheduled for July 2, 2012; however, the hearing was postponed until July 26, and subsequently postponed again until August 20, 2012, when it was again postponed until September 17, 2012. Furthermore, they indicated that, “on several occasions, an attempt had been made to contact Eduardo Natera Balboa’s mother, but this was not possible because she had moved after receiving various threats.” In addition, they indicated that the State had not advised the representatives “of any action taken, not even by sending notes or invitations to hold a meeting.” Consequently, they asked the Court that, when reiterating to the State that these measures remained in force, it “emphasize that the case does not refer to an ‘aggravated escape’ as indicated in the State’s last report, but to a disappearance.” 11. In the Commission’s opinion, “the State has not taken the necessary measures to discover the whereabouts of Mr. Natera Balboa, and […] the domestic proceedings are being processed as if it was an ordinary proceeding, rather than an exhaustive and immediate search to respond to a situation of a possible forced disappearance.” In addition, the Commission reiterated its “profound concern with regard to the situation of the beneficiary, whose fate or whereabouts have still not been determined by the State of Venezuela,” and also due to the fact that “the only theoretically expedite judicial measure that the next of kin have, that is the application for habeas corpus, has been joindered to the criminal investigation.” 9 Cf. Case of the “La Nación” newspaper. Provisional measures with regard to Costa Rica. Order of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights of September 7, 2001, fourth considering paragraph, and Case of the Barrios Family, supra note 1, second considering paragraph. 10 Cf. Matter of Natera Balboa. Provisional measures with regard to Venezuela. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of May 15, 2011, fifth considering paragraph. 5