4 Caracas, and Caricuao, La Guaira, Maracay, Valencia, Barquisimeto, Guayana, Mérida, Maracaibo, and zones adjacent to the transportation terminal”; c. the disturbances consisted mainly in burning urban transportation vehicles and looting and destroying commercial properties; these events caused extensive damage to public and private property; d. on February 27, 1989, a sector of the Metropolitan Police was on strike, and consequently did not intervene promptly to control the disturbances. According to declarations of the then President of the Republic, published in the newspaper El Nacional of June 10, 1990, “at the beginning, there was no organized body to prevent or deal with what was happening”; in the same declaration he also said that “upon returning from Barquisimeto, when passing through the area of Caracas near the Presidential Palace called El Silencio, [he saw] the shattered shop windows; arriving at Miraflores, he called the Minister of Defense and ordered him to mobilize the troops”; e. the armed forces were entrusted with controlling the situation, and, to this end, about nine thousand soldiers were brought in from the interior of the country; these were young men of 17 and 18 years of age, recruited in February 1989. From statements made by senior Army officers, former Ministers of State and the former President of the Republic, it is clear that the armed forces were not prepared to assume control of public order and the young men who were sent were a danger to the life and physical integrity of the population, owing to their youth and inexperience. Similarly, it is evident that these young soldiers were equipped with assault weapons (7.62-mm light automatic rifles) to control the civilian population, and AMX-13 armored vehicles. The officers used 9-mm heavy-duty guns. f. on February 28, 1989, the Executive issued Decree No. 49, ordering the suspension of the following guarantees established in the Venezuelan Constitution: individual freedom (Article 60.1, 2, 6 and 10); right to immunity of domicile (Article 62); freedom of movement (Article 64); freedom of expression (Article 66); right of assembly (Article 71) and right to take part in peaceful manifestations (Article 115). According to the Commission, the constitutional guarantees were reestablished on March 22, 1989; g. during the 23 days that the suspension of guarantees lasted and, in particular, as of March 1, 1989, the Venezuelan armed forces were in control of the territory and the population; moreover, at first they imposed a curfew that obliged people to remain in their homes between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. h. during the state of emergency, the State security bodies, together with the Metropolitan Police, the National Guard and the Army, carried out a series of operations to repress acts of violence; i. according to official figures, the events of February and March 1989 left a balance of 276 dead, numerous injured, several disappeared and heavy material losses. However, this list was invalidated by the subsequent appearance of mass graves; j. as of February 28, 1989, a secret military plan entitled “Avila” was imposed on the civilian population. This plan was conceived during the 1960s