2 7. The brief of August 22, 2007, whereby the Commission reported that “petition no. 298-07 is pending at the admissibility stage.” 8. The Secretariat’s letter of December 17, 2008, whereby, acting on the instructions of the President, it asked the representatives and the Commission to submit, by January 12 and January 19, 2009, respectively, clear information on whether the extreme gravity and urgency in the need to avoid irreparable damage that led to the adoption of the provisional measures in this matter still persisted. The representatives submitted the requested information on January 16, 2009, but the Commission has not done so. CONSIDERING: 1. That Venezuela has been a State Party to the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter, “the Convention”) since August 9, 1977, and that it recognized the contentious jurisdiction of the Court on June 24, 1981, in accordance with Article 62 thereof. 2. That Article 63(2) of the American Convention provides that “[i]n cases of extreme gravity and urgency, and when necessary to avoid irreparable damage to persons, the Court shall adopt such provisional measures as it deems pertinent in matters it has under consideration. With regard to a case not yet submitted to the Court, it may act at the request of the Commission.” 3. That Article 63(2) of the Convention turns the State’s adoption of provisional measures as directed by this Court into an obligation, inasmuch as, under the basic principle of the international responsibility of States as supported by international case law, States must comply with their conventional obligations in good faith (pacta sunt servanda).1 4. That, as far as provisional measures are concerned, the jurisdiction of the Court is dependent upon the existence of a situation of extreme gravity and urgency that might cause irreparable harm to persons. 5. That these measures were ordered based on the prima facie finding of a threat to Mr. Uzcátegui’s rights to life and humane treatment, considering that, between 2001 and 2002, he seems to have been the target of no less than seven death threats allegedly made by unidentified private parties or certain members of the “Lince” Military Group and the Armed Police Forces of the State of Falcón. Allegedly, such officials were somehow involved in the extra-legal execution of his brother, Néstor Uzcátegui, in January 2001. In this context, Mr. Uzcátegui was the victim of acts of harassment, raids, 1 Cf. Matter of James et al. Provisional Measures regarding Trinidad and Tobago. Order of the Court of June 14, 1998, sixth considering clause; Case of Caballero-Delgado and Santana V. Colombia, Provisional Measures. Order of the Court of February 6, 2008, fifteenth considering clause; and Matter of Millacura-Llaipén et al. Provisional Measures regarding Argentina. Order of the Court of February 6, 2008, ninth considering clause.