-5- [...] 6. The beneficiaries of provisional measures or urgent measures ordered by the President may address their comments on the report made by the State directly to the Court. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights shall present observations to the State’s report and to the observations of the beneficiaries or their representatives. [...] 4. That Article 1(1) of the Convention establishes the general duty of States Parties to respect the rights and freedoms recognized therein and to ensure all persons subject to their jurisdiction the free and full exercise of those rights and freedoms. 5. That provisional measures are of an exceptional nature, that they are granted on the basis of the needs of protection and that, once ordered, they must be maintained so long as the Court considers that there continue to exist the basic requirements of extreme gravity and urgency and prevention of irreparable damage to the rights of the persons protected by said measures.1 6. That, according to the information furnished by the Commission, Ms. María del Rosario Guerrero-Gallucci, a member of the human rights group known as “Soldados de Justicia, Paz y Libertad en Cruzada contra la Impunidad” (Soldiers of Justice, Peace and Liberty Crusading against Impunity), has publicly denounced the police and state authorities of Guárico State for their alleged participation in some of the executions allegedly perpetrated by police officers of said state and is a witness in a criminal case brought by the Governor of said state against the director of a weekly magazine. She claims that she has been the target of attacks and threats since 2001, by reason of which a Control Court of Valle de Pascua ordered measures of protection, custody and police stationing, which expired at an uncertain date prior to April 19, 2006. Subsequently, on April 21, 2006, Ms. Guerrero–Gallucci and her husband, Mr. Adolfo Segundo Martínez-Barrios, were attacked with a firearm by at least one individual, who allegedly identified himself as a police officer of Guárico State. Each of them received three bullet wounds in different parts of their bodies, which caused them grievous harm. After this, they managed to escape from their aggressors, received medical care and abandoned Guárico State. 7. That the State is particularly obliged to protect those who work in nongovernmental organizations, as well as other groups or individuals who work to defend human rights, for their work constitutes a positive and supplementary contribution to the endeavors undertaken by the State in its role of guarantor of the rights of the people living within its jurisdiction.2 8. That on April 19, 2006, Ms. Guerrero requested the Superior Prosecutor of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Guárico State to urgently reinstate the measures of protection, since she feared for her life, because she was going to attend a hearing as an alleged victim in a trial for extortion allegedly involving police officers, and in 1 Cfr. Matter of Ramírez-Hinostroza et al. Provisional Measures. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of February 7, 2006, Considering clause No. 7. 2 Cfr. Matter of the Forensic Anthropology Foundation. Urgent Measures. Order of the President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of April 21, 2006, Considering clause No. 9, and Matter of Monagas Judicial Confinement Center (“La Pica”). Provisional Measures. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of February 9, 2006, Considering clause No. 14.