52. In its 2001 Annual Report, the Office of the Venezuelan Ombudsman, referring to the state of Aragua, indicated that: “The most common modus operandi is: the person is summoned and comes forward voluntarily in the presence of witnesses; subsequently, he appears dead with several bullet wounds. The autopsies performed on some of the corpses that have been found reveal injuries and visible marks on parts of the body, which indicate the application of some type of physical torture before the individual was arbitrarily executed (ajusticiado). Psychological torture, death threats and the subsequent implementation of the threats are also common, together with the harassment of the victim’s family. […] Over the period [2000 and 2001], the Ombudsman’s Office handled 30 reports of extrajudicial executions that had taken place in presumed “confrontations with the police.” In addition, the forced disappearance of two persons was denounced before this Office; at the time the investigation was closed, their whereabouts remained unknown. The police force against which the most reports of presumed extrajudicial 56 executions have been filed is that of the state Aragua, with a total of 23 victims.” 53. Also, the 2006 Annual Report of the Prosecutor General, presented to the National Assembly on August 9, 2007, indicated that, over the period 2000 to 2007, there had been 6,405 cases of human rights violations, murders, confrontations or extrajudicial executions, regarding which there had only been 436 indictments. 57 54. Furthermore, expert witness Calixto Ávila stated that the Human Rights and Policy Commission of the Legislative Assembly of the state Aragua had summoned for questioning the commanders of the police force of the state Aragua owing to more than 40 reports of human rights violations. 58 Also, data collected by the Venezuelan NGO Programa de Educación-Acción en Derechos Humanos (PROVEA) indicated that, between October 1994 and September 1996, 272 deaths were recorded as a result of the illegal actions of police agents. 59 55. Consequently, the Court finds that the reports provided in the context of this case provide clear and convincing evidence that allow it to conclude that, in Venezuela, at the time of the facts of this case, there was an acute problem of police abuse in various states, including the state of Aragua. B. The threats received from police agents 56. On November 19, 1996, María Magdalena Mejías informed the media that, on one occasion, officer AAC 60 searched her home and told her that he was going to kill one of her sons and did not mind if she denounced him to the prosecutor of the Public Prosecution Service. 61 She reaffirmed this in a statement she made on April 22, 1997, before the Court of the Santiago Mariño and Libertador Municipalities, when she indicated that, on one occasion, agent AAC entered her home bearing a weapon and threatened to kill her son Eduardo Landaeta, alleging that he had been given orders to 56 Office of the Venezuelan Ombudsman, Annual Report 2001 (annexes to the motions and arguments brief, folio 3201). 57 Cf. 2007 Annual Report of the Prosecutor General (annexes to the motions and arguments brief, folio 6512). 58 Cf. Testimony of expert witness Calixto Ávila of January 29, 2014 (merits file, folio 891). 59 Cf. Annual Report of PROVEA from October 1994 to September 1996 (annexes to the motions and arguments brief, folios 5938 and 6014). 60 Hereafter the Court will refer to the persons prosecuted and/or involved as presumably responsible for the death of Igmar Landaeta and for the detention and death of Eduardo Landaeta by their initials, in order to protect their identity. The Court has been unable to discover the identity of AAC; however, from the evidence provided, there seems to have been an error in the name, as it appears to refer to AJCG, who was criminally prosecuted for the death of Igmar Landaeta and acquitted of the perpetration of this crime. 61 Cf. Newspaper article published in “El Periódico” on November 19, 1996, entitled “Suplico de rodillas” [I beg you on my knees] (attachments to the Merits Report, folio 9). 17