empower the State to stop adopting any other measures that may be necessary to comply with
the Court’s orders. 17
30. Based on the foregoing, the Court considers that the requests by the State to lift the
measures are inadmissible. Therefore, Venezuela shall adopt all the measures necessary to
implement at the domestic level the provisional measures ordered in favor of Nestor Caudi Barrios
and Víctor Daniel Cabrera Barrios. In this sense, the Court requires the State to submit detailed
and complete information on the measures it has adopted or will adopt in favor of the aforesaid
beneficiaries, within the term established in the operative part of this Order.
C) Regarding the facts related to the deaths of Víctor Tomás Navarro Barrios and Jorge
Antonio Barrios and the status of implementation of the provisional measures in favor of the
other beneficiaries
C.1) Arguments and observations of the parties and of the Commission
31.
On October 8, 2012 the representatives reported to the Court that on June 9 of that year
Víctor Tomás Navarro Barrios, aged 17 and a beneficiary of these provisional measures “lost his
life.” They stated that “[t]he incident occurred in the […] the city of Cagua in the state of Aragua,
at nine at night, as he was returning from visiting his cousin Víctor Barrios,” and that he “was
intercepted by two men who, without saying a word, fired three bullets at him which instantly
caused his death.” Subsequently, the representatives reported that “on December 15, 2012, Jorge
Antonio Barrios was murdered in […] the city of Cagua, [s]tate of Aragua”, as he rode a
motorcycle with his cousin, Víctor Daniel Cabrera Barrios. According to the representatives, they
were intercepted by a “stranger [who] in the middle of the street shot Jorge Antonio Barrios in the
back as he rode on the back of the motorcycle [and] at that moment […] fell to the pavement
lifeless.” The representatives alleged that Jorge Antonio Barrios was a key witness in identifying
those responsible for killing his father, Benito Antonio Barrios, in 1998.
32.
In response to the requests for information by the President of the Court (supra Having
Seen 6), the State reported that the “Thirty-second Prosecutor of the Attorney General’s Office
[o]f the judicial district of the State Aragua, is carrying out effective and pertinent procedures in
order to gather sufficient evidence to clarify the facts and to determine the relevant criminal
liabilities”, regarding the alleged murders of Víctor Tomás Navarro Barrios and of Jorge Antonio
Barrios. In this regard, the State reported on some of the specific procedures carried out for that
purpose, including technical inspections and photographic records at the scene of the incident,
medical-legal examinations and visual examination of the victims’ bodies, ballistic tests and
interviews with witnesses, such as Víctor Cabrera Barrios “who is a witness” in the death of Víctor
Tomás Navarro Barrios. Also, regarding both incidents, Venezuela reported that the Attorney
General’s Office “ordered the officers who secured the crime scene to be summoned and
interviewed.” In particular, regarding the presumed killing of Jorge Antonio Barrios, the State
reported that the Attorney General’s Office asked the relevant Court of Control to issue arrest
warrants against three persons and that the case is still in the investigation phase. In addition, the
State pointed out that “Jorge Antonio Barrios […] was not receiving measures of protection, given
that this citizen had no fixed abode.”
33.
As to the implementation of the provisional measures, the State reported that the measures
of protection “have been implemented as agreed with members of the Barrios family.” 18 It
17
Cf. Case of Guerrero Gallucci and Martínez Barrios. Provisional Measures regarding Venezuela. Order of the Court
of July 4, 2006, Considering para. 11.
10