Velásquez stated: “we told them, we explained that the situation was very dangerous; my wife
even took a photograph of Claudina so that, based on this photograph, they could look for her,
but they refused and repeated that the famous 24 hours had to elapse.” Subsequently, they
went to PNC San Cristóbal 1651 Sub-Station and, at 8.30 a.m., the police finally made a written
report of the disappearance of Claudina Velásquez.209
126. Regarding these facts, the Court notes, first, that even though officials of the National
Civil Police arrived immediately following the telephone call from Claudina Velásquez’s parents,
they only accompanied them from the main guardhouse of one gated community to the
entrance to another, following which they told her parents that they would continue their patrol
and that they should wait to file the report. In view of the context of violence against women,
which the State was aware of (supra paras. 45 to 48), the response of the State authorities was
clearly insufficient given the possibility that Claudina Velásquez’s personal integrity and life were
in danger. This is because there is no record that they even asked for information and a
description that would have allowed her to be identified; they failed to undertake a thorough
and strategic search, coordinated with other State authorities, investigating the places where it
would reasonably have been most probable to find her, and they did not interview people who
could reasonably have had information on her whereabouts.
127. To the contrary, it is on record in this case that Claudina Velásquez’s parents were
themselves obliged to carry out the activities to search for their daughter that corresponded to
the State, such as going to the places where she might have been found, including the main
streets of Ciudad San Cristóbal, and the homes of people who might have known of their
daughter’s whereabouts; personally telephoning or interviewing people who might have had
information on her whereabouts, and making inquiries in hospitals and morgues as to whether
someone of their daughter’s description had been brought there.210
verification of violations of the obligation to investigate in the case of Claudina Isabel Velásquez Paiz (evidence file, folio
102).
209
Cf. Missing person report of August 13, 2005 (evidence file, folio 21); Resolution of the Ombudsman of July 20,
2006 (evidence file, folio 124), and Statement of Jorge Rolando Velásquez Durán before the Head Office for the
Prosecution of Crimes against Life and Integrity of January 24, 2006 (evidence file, folio 3872).
210
First, they went to the home of MTG, one of Claudina Velásquez’s girlfriends, because, before losing contact
with their daughter, she had indicated that she was with her. MTG then put them in touch with an unknown individual
who apparently had lent a cell phone to Claudina Velásquez at around 1.30 a.m., and had then seen her crossing
Boulevard San Cristóbal. Subsequently, Mr. Velásquez returned home and contacted several friends asking them to help
search hospitals and morgues, while Mrs. Paiz stayed at MTG’s home. After Mrs. Paiz returned home, several friends of
the family came round and, thereafter, helped them inquire about their daughter’s whereabouts.
Following the attempt to file the report at 5 a.m., Claudina Velásquez’s parents drove round the main streets of
Ciudad San Cristóbal as far as “Ciudad Peronia.” At approximately 6.30 a.m., they went to the home of one of her main
university friends, AUM, to inquire about their daughter’s whereabouts. She undertook to help them look for Claudina by
calling everyone with whom Claudina Velásquez had been in contact that night. Subsequently, her parents returned
home and remained there, contacting family members and friends to ask them to help in the search and to pray for their
daughter to appear.
In one of these calls, Jorge Velásquez spoke to his cousin and told him what had happened and that he was
waiting to file the missing person report with the Police. He also asked his cousin to do him the favor of inquiring in
hospitals and morgues whether they had received anyone with his daughter’s characteristics.
In addition, that same day, August 14, between 8.30 and 9 a.m., and in order to exhaust every possibility,
Claudina Velásquez’s parents went to Mariscal Zone 11, where they had lived for a long time. Mr. Velásquez went to the
home of his daughter’s former boyfriend, while Mrs. Paiz went to the home of a friend of both her daughter’s former
boyfriend and the presumed current boyfriend.
At around 9 a.m., Claudina Velásquez’s parents and their friends met up with Jorge Rolando Velásquez’s cousin,
who told them that he had not found anyone of the description of Claudina Velásquez in either the public or the private
hospitals. Then, Jorge Rolando Velásquez decided to call his daughter’s presumed boyfriend, who told him that on
leaving a party he had had an argument with Claudina Velásquez; that she had got out of his car and that he had tried
to follow her, but this was not possible because she took a pedestrian street. Finally, at around 10.30 a.m., they decided
to return to the home of MTG. However, before arriving there, they received a call from a friend of Elsa Paiz’s cousin
who told them that they were in the Zone 3 morgue and that there was a corpse with their daughter’s characteristics. At
around 11 a.m. Claudina Velásquez’s parents arrived at the morgue and identified the corpse.
46