xxi.
On July 18, 2012, the Venezuelan media reported the death of another
inmate who it seems, “was trying to escape from Cellblock 3 where the
kidnapped inmates were being kept”. In addition, it indicated that the
conflict was aggravated due to the lack of water and food available to
the inmates of the facility;
xxii.
On July 21, 2012, the authorities informed that they had regained total
control over the prison after the “surrender of a minority group of
prisoners". They also reported the transfer of the inmate leaders to a
maximum security facility and,
xxiii.
On July 23, 2012, 117 inmates escaped. The authorities did not issue
an official list regarding the identities of the persons who were injured
or who had died during the intervention of July 21. In turn, the
relatives were protesting about the transfers, sustaining that among
the relocated inmates, there were persons who had nothing to do with
the recorded events over the past days.
e)
Finally, the Commission emphasized the current prison crisis in Venezuela
and indicated that the State has still not provided convincing responses. Instead
of improving the situation of extreme violence in Venezuelan prisons, it has
become worse due to the lack of the competent authorities of the Venezuelan
State adopting true and effective policies and measures aimed at solving this
situation.
3.
The legal arguments of the Commission to substantiate their request for
provisional measures, in which it pointed out that:
a)
The alleged violent events recorded since June 22, 2012, would raise the
number to a total of 28 deceased and more than 60 people injured in less than a
month, which prima facie proves the creation of a situation of extreme gravity and
urgency on the life and physical integrity of the beneficiaries of this request, who
have suffered serious acts against their rights to life and physical integrity while
being confined in a prison that, as such, is under the control of the State. The
available information indicates that the events of the months of June and July
2012 are not isolated. On the contrary, they indicate a situation of extreme and
exceptional violence that has been escalating over the last six months.
b)
From the information available, it can be deduced that the State of
Venezuela has not adopted effective measures to protect the life and personal
integrity of the possible beneficiaries. On the contrary, most of the deaths and
persons injured were perpetrated using knives or firearms, which proves that
trafficking of weapons exists inside the prison as well as a lack of effective control
exerted by the prison authorities.
c)
In similar situations of violence in Venezuelan prisons, the Court has
sustained that it is appropriate to grant and keep measures in favor of the
beneficiaries so as to avoid violent acts and the loss of lives and damage to the
integrity of all the people subject to the control of the State, and
d)
The situation of violence at Andina Region Penitentiary Center has become
extreme and, therefore, it is necessary for the Inter-American Court to intervene
through the means of provisional measures.
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