Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of February 2, 2007 Request for Provisional Measures filed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights regarding the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Matter of the Penitentiary Center of the Central Occidental Region (Uribana Prison) HAVING SEEN: 1. The brief of February 1, 2007 and its appendixes, whereby the Inter-American Commission (hereinafter, “the Inter-American Commission” or “the Commission”) filed a request for provisional measures with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (hereinafter, “the Inter-American Court” or “the Court”), 1 pursuant to Article 63(2) of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter, “the Convention” or “the American Convention”), Article 25 of the Court’s Rules of Procedure (hereinafter, “the Rules of Procedure”) and Article 74 of the Commission’s Rules, in order that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (hereinafter, “the State” or “Venezuela”) “protect the life of, and afford humane treatment to, the persons deprived of liberty at the Penitentiary Center of the West-Central Region known as “Uribana” (hereinafter […] “the Uribana Prison”) and all the people entering into such center, including relatives and other visitors”. 2. The alleged facts upon which the request for provisional measures filed by the Commission is based, to wit: a) The Uribana Prison is located in the city of Barquisimeto, in the State of Lara. As reported by the Commission, the Prison accommodated 1448 inmates as of January 25, 2007, although it only had capacity for 790. The prison is divided into minimum, medium and maximum security areas, and it has a watch wing and an appendix for female inmates. In addition, convicted inmates are kept together with those pending trial, and there is no appropriate separation between men and women. b) Internal custody is performed by civil officers, and external custody is under the charge of National Guard personnel. The prison clearly lacks an appropriate security control system to check the prevailing violent atmosphere, as the prison's entire population is controlled by eight 1 The original request was submitted to the Inter-American Commission on January 11 and 16, 2007 by Mr. Humberto Prado and Mr. Wilmer Linero (Venezuelan Prison Watch), Mr. Pedro Nikken and Mr. Carlos Ayala-Corao, and by Ms Ariela Peralta (CEJIL). Such request was recorded under number MP-1/07.