10
15.
Moreover, the Court notes that, owing to the telephone call that the beneficiary
José Ángel Alvarado Favela received on January 29, 2011, the members of the Alvarado
family left their homes and are in hiding for fear of possible harm to their life and
physical integrity (supra having seen paragraph 7(d)). The Court also takes into account
that those family members for whom this expansion of the measures is sought are the
spouses and children of the beneficiaries who are currently presumably in hiding as a
result of the said threat. In this regard, the Court recalls that, in its Order of November
26, 2010, when extending the present measures to certain next of kin of the
beneficiaries who have allegedly disappeared, the Court considered that the harassment
of some of the relatives of the said disappeared beneficiaries was of such a nature as to
extend to the other family members; particularly since all the beneficiaries proposed at
that time shared a home with some of the family members involved in the
investigations, as well as with their respective next of kin who had presumably
disappeared. From this, it could be inferred that the family members could potentially be
in danger. The Court agrees with the President in finding that those next of kin for whom
the expansion of the measures is sought on this occasion find themselves in the same
situation of potential risk as the next of kin who are presently beneficiaries. Additionally,
the Court takes note that the State has not opposed granting provisional measures to
the said proposed beneficiaries, but rather has expressed its “full willingness” to adopt
the provisional measures that are ordered in this regard (supra having seen paragraph
11(a)).
16.
The Court recalls that the requirement of urgency for the adoption of provisional
measures alludes to special, exceptional situations that merit and require immediate
actions and responses aimed at averting the threat. This refers to circumstances that, by
their very nature, imply imminent risk. The urgent nature of the threat gives rise to the
urgent nature of the response required to remedy it. Above all, this means that the
response should be immediate and, in principle, timely to deal with the situation, since
the lack of a response would constitute per se a danger.15 Also, in situations such as the
present one, the extreme gravity of the threat must be evaluated in function of the
specific context, mindful that if fundamental rights such as the right to life and to
physical integrity are jeopardized by this sort of threat, in principle, a context exists that
merits considering the adoption of protective measures.16 In the present case, the
irreparable nature of the harm that could occur relates to the rights to life and to
physical integrity of the beneficiaries’ next of kin.
17.
The prima facie standard of assessment and the application of presumptions in
the face of the need for protection have led the President and the Court to order
provisional measures on different occasions.17
18.
Based on the foregoing, the Court finds that the threatening phone call allegedly
received by the beneficiary José Ángel Alvarado Favela and his family’s difficult
subsequent decision to leave their homes and jobs and to remain in a secret location
reveal prima facie a situation of extreme gravity and urgency that justifies the expansion
of protective measures in order to avoid irreparable harm to the other members of the
family who are in the said situation. Consequently, the Court ratifies the President’s
decision and thus considers that the State must adopt the necessary measures to
15
Cf. Matter of the Capital Detention Center El Rodeo I and El Rodeo II, supra note 8, eighteenth
considering paragraph; Matter of Alvarado Reyes et al., supra note 7, forty-seventh considering paragraph, and
Matter of Mery Naranjo et al., supra note 3, eleventh considering paragraph.
16
Cf. Matter of the Capital Detention Center El Rodeo I and El Rodeo II supra note 8, seventeenth
considering paragraph; Matter of Alvarado Reyes et al., supra note 7, forty-seventh considering paragraph, and
Matter of Mery Naranjo et al., supra note 3, eleventh considering paragraph.
17
Cf. inter alia, Matter of the Monagas Judicial Detention Center (“La Pica”). Provisional measures with
regard to Venezuela. Order of the President of the Inter-American Court of January 13, 2006, sixteenth
considering paragraph; Matter of the Socio-educational Detention Unit, supra note 8, fifth considering
paragraph, and Matter of Mery Naranjo et al., supra note 3, thirteenth considering paragraph.