Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights May 28, 2010 Request for Provisional Measures regarding Venezuela Matter of COFAVIC Case of the Caracazo HAVING SEEN: 1. The brief of March 4, 2010, and its annexes, of the Center for Justice and International Law (hereinafter “CEJIL”) and the Committee for Next of Kin of the Victims of the Events of February and March of 1989 (hereinafter “COFAVIC”), acting as the representatives (hereinafter, “the representatives”), by which they submitted before the Tribunal a request for provisional measures, in conformity with Articles 63(2) of the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter, “the American Convention” or “the Convention”) and Article 27 of the Rules of the Court1 (hereinafter “the Rules”), with the goal that Venezuela (hereinafter “the State” or “Venezuela”) grant provisional measures in favor of “the representatives of the victims that make up the COFAVIC organization.” Specifically, they indicated that the beneficiaries of the measures would be Ms. Aura Rosa Liscano, President of COFAVIC; Hilda Rosa Páez, Executive Secretary; Maritza Romero Castro, Administrator; Yris del Valle Medina, Substitute President; and Liliana Ortega, lawyer for the victims. 2. The facts alleged by the representatives, upon which the request for provisional measures was based, inter alia: a) on June 23, 2009, in the webpage aporrea.org the “labor of COFAVIC was criticized for using international legal means;” b) on September 2, 2009, Mr. Mario Silva, a member of the national leadership of the Socialist Party of Venezuela and host of the show “La Hojilla”– transmitted by the official television station of the State – signaled that “they are using COFAVIC […] to accuse the president of criminalizing protests[,] of being a dictator.” Also, he said that COFAVIC “tried to charge for all the indemnities, to charge for them and to keep a percentage for themselves;” c) on September 21, 2009, the Prosecutor General of the Republic, “with the objective of criminalizing and disqualifying the victims, proceeded to read before the media […] the declarations made by the next of kin of the victims” and questioned that the victims “sa[id] to the media things that they must have said to the [P]ublic [M]inistry.” Altogether with that aforementioned, on March 1, 2010, Mr. Alejandro Castillo, Director of the Procedural Actions of the Public Ministry, expressed that “those who have not supported us are the members of COFAVIC;” 1 Approved by the Court in its LXXXV Ordinary Period of Sessions held November 16-28, 2009