ORDER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS OF NOVEMBER 27, 2002 PROVISIONAL MEASURES REQUESTED BY THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO THE REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA LUISIANA RÍOS ET AL. V. VENEZUELA HAVING SEEN: 1. The November 27, 2002 brief and its appendices, in which the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Inter-American Commission” or “the Commission”) filed before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Inter-American Court” or “the Court”), pursuant to Articles 63(2) of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” or “the American Convention”) and 74 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission, a request for Provisional Measures in favor of Luisiana Ríos, Armando Amaya, Antonio José Monroy, Laura Castellanos, and Argenis Uribe, all of whom are employees of the television station Radio Caracas Televisión (hereinafter “RCTV”). In said brief, the Commission asked the Court to order the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (hereinafter “the Venezuelan State”, “the State” or “Venezuela”) the following: a. To adopt all necessary measures to protect the life and personal safety, and the freedom of expression demanded by the representatives of journalists Luisiana Rios, Armando Amaya, Antonio José Monroy, Laura Castellanos, and Argenis Uribe, with their approval, for them to be protected without interfering with their professional work as journalists. b. To conduct an extensive investigation of all aggressions against journalists Luisiana Rios, Armando Amaya, Antonio José Monroy, Laura Castellanos, and Argenis Uribe, with the aim of identifying, prosecuting and legally punishing, through bodies with jurisdiction, those responsible for said acts and their aiders and abettors. c. To adopt all necessary measures for government officials, authorities and sympathizers to abstain from all actions that might have as an effect aggression or intimidation against exercise of [the] right to freedom of expression as journalists and other social communication workers, as well as that of Venezuelan society as a whole. d. To, at the highest level of the Government of Venezuela, issue a categorical condemnation of the aggressions suffered by social communication workers in Venezuela. 2. The grounds argued by the Inter-American Commission for its request of Provisional Measures, based on the following facts: a. that the Inter-American Commission “has noted with deep concern that [in Venezuela] during the year 2002 there has been a progressive and significant increase of threats and attacks against journalists and especially against those who report on political events and demonstrations;” b. that during the in loco visit by the Commission to Venezuela in May, 2002, it received information that “journalists were the direct target of