In the El Caracazo Case,
the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
(hereinafter “the Inter-American Court” or “the Court”),
composed of the following Judges:

Antônio A. Cançado Trindade, President;
Alirio Abreu Burelli, Vice-President;
Máximo Pacheco Gómez, Judge;
Hernán Salgado Pesantes, Judge;
Oliver Jackman, Judge;
Sergio García Ramírez, Judge; and
Carlos Vicente de Roux Rengifo, Judge;

also present:

Manuel E. Ventura Robles, Secretary; and
Pablo Saavedra Alessandri, Deputy Secretary,

pursuant to Articles 29, 52(2), 55, 56(1) and 57 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court (hereinafter “the Rules of Procedure”) , in combination with Article 63(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” or “the American Convention”) and taking into consideration the provisions of operative paragraph four of the judgment on the merits of November 11, 1999, issues the instant Judgment on reparations.

I
COMPETENCE OF THE COURT

1. The Court is competent, pursuant to Articles 62 and 63(1) of the Convention, to decide on reparations, legal costs and expenses in the instant case, in view of the fact that the State of Venezuela (hereinafter “the State” or “Venezuela) ratified the Convention on August 9, 1977, and recognized the binding jurisdiction of the Court on June 24, 1981.

II
BACKGROUND

2. The instant case was filed with the Court by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Commission” or “the Inter-American Commission”) in its application of June 7, 1999. On November 11, 1999 the Court delivered its judgment on the merits of the case, in which it decided:

unanimously,

1. To take note of the acknowledgement by the State of Venezuela of the facts mentioned in the application and [to] declare that the dispute about these has ceased.

2. To take note, also, of the acknowledgement of responsibility by the State of Venezuela and, in accordance with the terms of this acknowledgement, [to] declare that the State violated the rights protected by Articles 4(1), 5, 7, 8(1), 25(1), 25(2)(a) [and] 27(3), in relation to Articles 1(1) and 2 of the American Convention on Human Rights, of the persons cited in paragraph 1 of this judgment, and in the terms established herein.

3. To take note, also, of the declaration of the State of Venezuela, with regard to the investigations initiated in order to identify, prosecute and punish those responsible for the facts mentioned in the application, and urge the State to continue them.

4. To initiate the procedure on reparations and costs and [to] authorize the President to adopt the necessary procedural measures.

III
PROCEEDINGS DURING THE REPARATIONS STAGE

3. On November 12, 1999 the President of the Court (hereinafter “the President”), pursuant to the provisions of operative paragraph four of the judgment on the merits, decided:

1. To grant the representatives of the victims or, where appropriate, their next of kin, up to January 12, 2000 to file their arguments and evidence to determine reparations and costs.

2. To instruct the Secretariat of the Court, once the term mentioned in the previous paragraph has expired, to forward all the briefs and evidence received to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

3. To grant the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights two months, from the date when the aforementioned briefs and evidence are received, to submit its observations on reparations and legal costs.

4. To instruct the Secretariat of the Court, once the term mentioned in the previous operative paragraph has expired, to forward to the State of Venezuela all the briefs and evidence submitted.

5. To grant the State of Venezuela two months, from the date the briefs and evidence mentioned in the previous operative paragraph are received, to file its observations and evidence for determination of reparations and legal costs in the instant case.

6. To summon the representatives of the victims or, where appropriate, their next of kin, as well as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the State of Venezuela, once the written stage of the proceedings has been completed, to a public hearing, on a date that will be notified at the appropriate time.

4. On January 10, 2000 the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin requested that the Court extend the term set by this Court for submitting their arguments and evidence another thirty days. The following day, the Secretariat of the Court (hereinafter “the Secretariat”), under instructions by the President, extended the term to February 12, 2000.

5. On February 12, 2000 the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin filed their brief with arguments and evidence on reparations and its appendices, and it was forwarded to the Commission and to the State on March 6, 2000. Said brief included a list of witnesses.

6. On May 1, 2000 the Inter-American Commission filed its written arguments and evidence on reparations and legal costs.

7. On July 7, 2000, the term to file its written observations on reparations and legal costs having expired on the 3d of that month and year, the State requested a sixty-day extension for said filing. That same day the Secretariat, under instructions from the President, granted the State an extension until August 18, 2000 to submit said brief. On August 1, 2000 the State once again requested a thirty day extension to send that brief. On the 9th of that month and year the Secretariat, under instructions from the Court, granted Venezuela an extension until September 18, 2000 to send the aforementioned brief.

8. On September 18, 2000 the State filed the brief with observations on reparations and legal costs and its appendices.

9. On November 21, 2000 the Court decided to order the State to submit all information it had regarding the next of kin of the following victims in the instant case: Héctor Daniel Ortega Zapata, Abelardo Antonio Pérez, Boris Eduardo Bolívar Marcano, Jesús Alberto Cartaya, Héctor José Lugo Cabriles, Elsa Teotiste Ramírez Caminero, Sabas Reyes Gómez, Jesús Rafael Villalobos, and Alís Guillermo Torres Flores. It also ordered the State to inform the next of kin, through several publications in the media (press, radio and television), that a judgment had been rendered on the merits in this case and that it was necessary for them to communicate with the Court for the reparations stage.

10. On January 18, 2001, Mrs. Nelly Marcano, the mother of victim Boris Eduardo Bolívar Marcano, contacted the Secretariat in view of a notice published in a Venezuelan daily. On the 24th of that month and year, the Secretariat sent that lady a note with information and documentation pertaining to the case.

11. On February 28 and March 5, 2001 the State sent a copy of the notices it published in the Venezuelan written press pursuant to the November 21, 2000 Order (supra para. 9), and it stated that its understanding of that Order was that the summons could be published in any media, so it ordered publication in the written press.

12. On March 6, 2001 the Secretariat, under instructions from the President, taking into consideration the November 21, 2000 Order of the Court, informed the State that it should publish the notice through other media (radio and television) and send the Court copies of the audio cassette with the radio broadcast and the video cassette with the television broadcast. On June 19, 2001 and February 28, 2002 the Secretariat reiterated to the State the order to submit the aforementioned audio and video cassettes, which have not yet been submitted at the time the instant Judgment is rendered.

13. On June 7, 2001 the State informed the Court that, on May 4 of that same year, it appointed Hermann Escarrá Malavé as agent for Venezuela in the instant case, in substitution of Raúl Arrieta Cuevas.

14. On June 18, 2001, after the notices were published in the press, the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin submitted several documents pertaining to several victims in the instant case and to processing of the criminal proceedings under domestic jurisdiction.

15. On September 3, 2001 the State informed the Court that it had appointed Jorge Dugarte Contreras as its agent, in substitution of Hermann Escarrá Malavé.

16. On September 12, 2001 the representatives of the victims and next of kin of the victims submitted a list of witnesses and expert witnesses, which was in accordance with their statement in this regard in their February 12, 2000 brief on reparations, and pointed out that due to the great number of witnesses it was difficult to cover the expenses for their travel to the seat of the Court, for which reason they requested that the latter appoint a representative to receive their testimony in Caracas, Venezuela.

17. On October 25, 2001 the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin filed a new list of 44 witnesses (of whom seven were new witnesses) and six expert witnesses. They also reiterated the request for their testimony to be received in Venezuela, and they requested that the Court order the expert witnesses to appear before the Court.

18. On November 6, 2001 the Inter-American Commission informed the Court that it had no objections to the persons listed nor to the object of the testimony of those offered as witnesses and expert witnesses by the representatives of the victims and of their next of kin. It added that it did not object to the examination of the witnesses taking place in Venezuela, as long as a Judge of the Court represented the Court to ensure immediacy of evidence and independence and impartiality of the examination.

19. On November 15, 2001 Venezuela informed the Court of “the decision of the Venezuelan State to annul the brief with observations and evidence on reparations and legal costs” filed on September 18, 2000. It added that the State had recognized the facts set forth by the Commission in section III of the application, during the public hearing held on November 10, 1999, as well as, and fully, its international responsibility in the instant case. The State also pointed out that it accepted the case law of the Court regarding reparations. Finally, it stated that Venezuela would provide whatever necessary information was requested by the Court and would “in good faith, accept the truthfulness of all information submitted by the applicants or their representatives, with prior sworn statements that the content of said information is truthful, so as to accelerate this case inasmuch as possible.”

20. On December 5, 2001 the Court reached the following decision regarding the testimony offered by the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin: it accepted the testimony of the persons offered as witnesses by the representatives in the October 25, 2001 brief who had already been listed in the February 12, 2000 brief on reparations and, as evidence to facilitate adjudication, it ordered the testimony of seven witnesses and six expert witnesses included in the first of said briefs (that of October, 2001) but not in the second (that of February, 2000) to be rendered. According to the decision of the Court, said testimony and expert testimony must be provided in writing, the content and their signatures being recognized by a notary public. Furthermore, the Court ordered that the testimony and expert reports be filed no later than March 6, 2002.

21. On February 4, 2002 the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin requested a sixty-day extension to file the testimony and expert reports. On the following day the Secretariat, under instructions of the President, granted an extension until April 5, 2001 to submit the respective documents.

22. On April 2, 2002 the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin requested a postponement of the filing of the reports of expert witnesses Jesús María Casal and Alicia Neuburger. That same day the Secretariat, under instructions by the President, granted an extension until the 11th of that same month and year.

23. On April 5, 8, 10 and 11, 2002 the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin submitted the testimony, all in writing and rendered before a notary public, of the following forty persons: Miguelina La Rosa, Rafael Castellanos, Mery Marina Castillo, Ana Jacinta Garrido, Catalina Ramos de Guevara, Braulio Ramón Guía Laya, Xiomara Hernández, Rosa Margarita Mederos, Francisco Moncada, Ingrid Ortega Zapata, Hilda Rosa Páez, Toribia Ojeda, Ivonne Josefina Pirela Chacón, María Teresa Rivas, Juliana Quintana, Iris Medina, Dilia Mendoza de Ramos, Deisy Crespo, María Encarnación Salazar Campos, Fredez Binda García Hernández, María Neria Guillén Pereira, Olga María Álvarez, Carmen Rufina Cabriles, Rosa Julia Aldana Bastidas, Nelly Marcano, Nelly Freitez, María Casilda Valero Suárez, Haydée Mavilu Blanco García, Maritza Romero, Judith Borjas, Ybelice Altagracia Ramírez, Marisol Montenegro Cordero, Aura Rosa Liscano Betancourt, Petra Bello, Fernando Enrique Pérez, Juan Carlos Suárez Sánchez, Emileidys Ferrán Cedeño, Henry Eduardo Herrera Hurtado, Gregoria Matilde Castillo, and Noraima Sosa Ríos. They also submitted the reports of expert witnesses Magdalena López de Ibáñez, Jesús María Casal and Alicia B. Neuburger. On April 12, 2002 the Secretariat forwarded the respective documents to the Commission and to the State, and granted them until May 20 of that same year to submit their observations.

24. On April 29, 2002 the Commission requested an extension of the term to file the observations mentioned in the previous paragraph and the following day the Secretariat, under instructions by the President, granted the Commission and the State an extension until June 14 of that same year.

25. On June 5, 2002 the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin informed the Court of the reasons why the testimony of Gervasia Cartaya, Beatriz Imelda Gómez, Rosa Flores de Torres, and Franco José Marcos Villabobos was not submitted, and they filed several additional documents.

26. On June 12, 2002 the Commission submitted its observations on the testimony and the expert witness reports supplied by the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin.

27. In its June 18, 2002 brief the State filed its observations on the aforementioned testimony and expert witness reports. Previously, in its brief of the 14th of that same month and year, the State had informed the Court that it was sending those observations.

28. On June 20, 2002 the Court ordered the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin, the Commission, and the State to submit their final written arguments on reparations and legal costs no later than July 22, 2002.

29. On July 5 and 16, 2002 the Secretariat, under instructions from the President, requested the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin, the Inter-American Commission, and the State to send certain documents and information, to facilitate adjudication. These were basically the birth certificates of certain victims or their next of kin, work certificates, medical certificates, reports on the legal minimum wage in force and the current bolívar to United States dollar exchange rate in Venezuela, life expectancy in that country, certificates on the situation of domestic administrative or judicial proceedings, including those of exhumation and identification of corpses buried in common graves, and details on modifications to Venezuelan penal legislation, both military and regular.

30. On July 17 and 19, 2002 the Commission requested an extension of the term to submit the evidence mentioned in the previous paragraph. On the 22d of that same month and year the Secretariat, under instructions from the President, granted the parties an extension until August 9, 2002 to supply the aforementioned evidence.

31. On July 22, 2002 the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin and the State filed their final arguments on reparations, legal costs and expenses in the instant case, and the Commission did so the following day.

32. On July 26, 2002 the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin filed a brief with several appendices pertaining to expenses allegedly incurred by the Center for Justice and International Law (hereinafter “CEJIL”) during processing of the instant case.

33. On August 2, 2002 the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin filed documents pertaining to the evidence to facilitate adjudication, requested on July 5 and 16 of that same year (supra para. 29). On the 13th of that same month and year they filed several documents regarding that evidence, as well as documents pertaining to the alleged expenses of the Comité de Familiares de las Víctimas de los Sucesos de Febrero - Marzo de 1989 (hereinafter “COFAVIC”) during the reparations stage.

34. On August 12, 2002 the Commission filed a brief regarding the evidence to facilitate adjudication, requested on July 16 of that same year (supra para. 29) and also stated that it endorsed the evidence submitted by the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin in response to the July 5, 2002 request.

35. On August 13, 2002, the State presented part of the information required as evidence to facilitate adjudication, requested on July 5 and 16, 2002.

IV
EVIDENCE

A) PROCEDURAL MATTERS PERTAINING TO THE EVIDENCE

36. Before examining the evidence submitted, the Court will consider certain aspects that, in light of the provisions of Articles 43 and 44 of the Rules of Procedure, are applicable to the specific case, most of which have been developed in its own case law.

37. According to the usual practice of the Court, during the reparations stage the parties must state, at the first opportunity granted for them to submit written statements, what evidence they offer. The discretionary powers of the Court, set forth in Article 44 of its Rules of Procedure, allow it to ask the parties to provide additional probatory elements, as evidence to facilitate adjudication of the case, without this possibility granting them a new opportunity to expand or complement their arguments or to offer new evidence on reparations, unless the Court should so decide.

38. The Court has repeatedly stated that the procedures followed before it are not subject to the same formalities as domestic proceedings, and that inclusion of certain elements in the body of evidence must be done paying special attention to the circumstances of the specific case and bearing in mind the limits established by respect for legal certainty and procedural balance among the parties.
39. Based on the above, the Court will examine and assess the set of elements that constitute the body of evidence in this case, following the rules of competent analysis, within the legal framework of the case.

B) DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE

40. As appendices to the February 12, 2000 brief on reparations, the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin submitted copies of 770 documents (supra para. 5).

41. As appendices to the brief with observations on the requests for reparations filed by the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin and by the Commission, the State submitted (on September 18, 2000) 139 documents and a videotape (supra para. 8).

42. With their June 18, 2001 brief the representatives of the victims and their next of kin submitted sixteen additional documents, after having communicated with several next of kin of the victims subsequent to publication of the notices by the State (supra para. 14).

43. In addition, the representatives of the victims and their next of kin submitted (between April 5 and 11, 2002) forty statements, all made in writing before a notary public (supra para. 23). These statements are summarized as follows:

1. Miguelina La Rosa, the mother of Miguel Ángel Aguilera La Rosa.

Miguel Ángel Aguilera La Rosa died at the age of twenty-three. He worked as an independent merchant selling books. With the income, he supported his wife and his daughters. At the time of the event, he earned the minimum wage. He helped the witness by means of weekly contributions, and the financial situation of her family would be better if he lived, because he was the son who helped her most. The witness retired the same year her son died, and the pension she receives is insufficient.

The victim’s father covered all the expenses of the vigil, but Miguel Ángel was buried in a borrowed plot. The witness had to recover the body from that place after seven months and buy one where his mortal remains could rest. She covered these costs from her social benefit payments. COFAVIC covered the expenses incurred searching for justice.

Due to the events, she began to lose her memory and had to receive psychological treatment, the cost of which was covered by two of her daughters. She prays a lot for her son and this helps calm her nervousness.

2. Rafael Castellanos, a brother of Armando Antonio Castellanos Canelón.

Armando Antonio Castellanos Canelón, who was twenty-nine, received a deadly bullet in the head. He was a blue-collar worker, a messenger and a bill-collector. He had a common-law spouse and two daughters, Daymiri Jugeni and Anabel Fabiana. He contributed to the income of his own family every week, being its only source of support and, since he turned eighteen, that of the mother of the victim himself. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage. The economic situation of the family would be better if the victim were alive, as his daughters have had to stop studying and now, like his common-law spouse, they have to work.

Two brothers of the victim, Rafael and Enodio, covered the expenses of the vigil, while COFAVIC covered expenses in pursuit of justice.

When the victim was wounded, he was with his brother Enodio, who was also wounded, and the next of kin therefore also had to pay for the medical treatment of the latter.

When he heard that his brother had been wounded, the witness left his house, saw his brother lying on the street and, when he lifted his head, he realized that part of his brother’s brain had been blown out. This is an image that he has not yet forgotten. The witness was very close to the victim, and therefore his death had a very strong impact on him. Enodio and Armando Antonio’s daughters also suffered very much from the loss of their next of kin.

3. Mery Marina Castillo, the mother of Luis Manuel Colmenares Martínez.

Luis Manuel Colmenares Martínez was single; he had no children and he worked at a factory. Previously he had worked as a policeman. He contributed fortnightly to household expenses. If he had continued to live, the mother would have stopped working. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage. As a consequence of the facts the husband of the witness left her.

She and Luis Manuel’s father covered the costs of the vigil, and COFAVIC covered expenses in pursuit of justice.

The witness suffered temporary amnesia and received psychological treatment. At night she woke up because she felt that her son was calling her. She continues to suffer insomnia. She has received medical care to date because she is prone to thrombosis. Like her husband, Adelmo Colmenares, she suffered very much during the days in which her son was at the hospital on the verge of death. What worsens the parents’ pain is impunity regarding what happened to their son.

4. Ana Jacinta Garrido, the mother of Juan José Blanco Garrido.

Juan José Blanco Garrido died at age seventeen. He was studying in secondary school, had just begun to work, was single, and had no children. The victim contributed weekly to household expenses. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

The family covered expenses of the vigil. They had to pay an employee at the morgue for him to give them the body of their son. COFAVIC covered all expenses in connection with the pursuit of justice.

Due to the events, the witness suffered nervous problems and was given time off from her job. It took her a long time to accept the fact that her son had died and she suffers due to impunity regarding the facts. She suffers uterine cancer, insomnia, and depression. The memories are still intact. All she hopes is that there be justice.

5. Catalina Ramos de Guevara, the mother of Daniel Alfredo Guevara Ramos.

Daniel Alfredo Guevara Ramos died at age seventeen, when he was studying in fifth year of secondary school and at the same time he worked with an uncle at a store, selling and loading merchandise. He was single and had no children. He used the money he earned to cover his own expenses. The witness would have hoped that, if her son had continued to live, the situation of the family would have improved, because he was studious and hardworking.

She and her husband covered the expenses in connection with her son’s vigil, while COFAVIC covered expenses in the search for justice.

When they heard of their son’s death, they went to the hospital where they were given no information, until a niece told them that their son had died. Due to the death of the victim, who was the eldest son, the father began to have problems at work, he was fired, and he left the witness, so she had to work as a seamstress to raise her two other children. The witness has not overcome the death of her son; she is pained by his absence; she suffers insomnia and depression. She has had to undergo a fibroma operation and since the death of her son she has high blood pressure. She is pained by the fact that there has been no justice after more than thirteen years.

6. Braulio Ramón Guía Laya, a brother of Pedro Gustavo Guía Laya.

Pedro Gustavo Guía Laya died when he was twenty-seven. Government officials did not allow the victim to receive assistance from his next of kin. He worked as a manual laborer, waterproofing roofs. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage. He had a daughter, Franci Araceli Guía. Since he turned eighteen, he helped his family on a weekly basis, and his was the main contribution they received. Pedro Gustavo’s daughter stayed with his mother, Baldomera Laya de Guía, and since he died, all the family has had to work at whatever they could, to come through.

The witness covered expenses in connection with the vigil, while COFAVIC covered all expenses regarding the search for justice.

Together with his brothers, the witness has covered expenses caused by their mother’s leg disease, which she began to suffer when she took care of the victim during the seventeen days he was hospitalized until his death. All the family has suffered the blow of losing Pedro Gustavo, especially the mother and the daughter of the victim who suffered insomnia and had to take sedatives. Due to lack of financial resources, they were unable to receive psychological treatment.

When he found out that his brother had been shot, he went home from work, and from there to the hospital. The seventeen days of agony of the victim at the hospital and his death were a calvary for him, for their mother and for the victim’s daughter, just as the lack of justice regarding his death has been. He still feels very uncertain about whether his brother might have been saved, if they had allowed them to help him. The witness has undertaken the responsibility of supporting their mother and his brother’s daughter. The death of his brother has caused great pain and a deep emptiness in him, and he still takes flowers to him regularly at the cemetery.

7. Xiomara Hernández, a sister of Mercedes Beatriz Hernández Daza.

Mercedes Beatriz Hernández Daza was 34 when she died from a bullet wound while at her home in the presence of her sisters and their parents, Oscar Hernández and Carmen Daza. She worked as a staff analyst for the National Nutrition Institute. She helped her parents financially with fortnightly contributions since she began to work at age nineteen. She was married and had a two-year old son, Guirvin Efraín González, whom she supported. At the time of the event she earned minimum wage.

The parents of the victim and her husband covered expenses in connection with the vigil. COFAVIC covered expenses during the search for justice.

At the time of the facts, the victim’s father was unemployed and the family was dependent on Mercedes Beatriz’s contributions. The victim lived at her parents’ house with her son. The witness was also wounded in a leg, and due to this she had to interrupt her university studies and work for a time. The impact of having witnessed her sister’s death is still strong.

At the time of the event, the witness was in her first semester at the university; she was emotionally blocked and this left her without the will to study. Currently the family has resigned itself and accepted the loss of her sister. However, they still suffer complications at night. The mother died a few years ago. None of the members of the family have received psychological treatment due to the difficult financial situation. The witness hopes that those guilty are punished.
8. Rosa Margarita Mederos, the mother of Crisanto Mederos.

Crisanto Mederos died when he was 37 years old. He was a master builder, and as hobbies he was a painter and a poet. He supported the witness and her children permanently. He was divorced and had three young children, Crisanto Bael, Leonor Pilar, and Sara Abigail. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage. The victim had many projects and was always very active, for which reason the situation of the family would have improved if he had not died. His demise was a “total calamity” for the family.

Crisanto supported the witness, and therefore when he died she had to rent out her house to cover living expenses and medicine. She cannot specify how much she spent on the victim’s burial, but she became indebted, and her other children helped her pay. COFAVIC covered all travel expenses, attorneys’ fees and processing fees before civil and military courts.

The reply by the State to the Inter-American Court humiliated her so much that she suffered a heart attack and is receiving medical treatment, which since then has cost her approximately six million bolívares. COFAVIC helped her obtain psychological counseling. When her son was killed she thought nothing else could be done because it was the military. She heard her son screaming when he was shot; the military made her lie down on the ground and did not let her help him. She has suffered depression, has felt disappointed and has kept away from people for a long time, because the death of a child is “an irrecoverable blow,” all the more so if it is violent and caused by the State. She still suffers insomnia. She and Crisanto’s children have suffered irreparable damage, in addition to denial of justice for more than thirteen years, because still no one has been found responsible for the homicide and the humiliation. She hopes that the proceeding before the Inter-American Court will allow justice to be attained for the deceased and missing persons, as well as identification of the bodies in the common graves.

9. Francisco Moncada, the father of Francisco Antonio Moncada Gutiérrez.

Francisco Antonio Moncada Gutiérrez died at the age of eight. At the time of his death, he was in third grade of basic education and being a minor he did not contribute material goods to the family. His death did not affect the financial situation of the family, but the latter would have improved in the future, because Francisco Antonio was a very intelligent and studious boy.

The witness covered burial costs. COFAVIC covered all expenses in connection with the search for justice.

The day of the facts, he took his wounded child to several hospitals but none would receive him. Since he did not receive adequate assistance, the child suffered much in his agony and he cannot forget this. The witness has received no psychological treatment. He and the child’s mother moved to another house, and afterwards they divorced due to the death of their child. His ex-wife Alicia Gutiérrez suffered very much, to the point that no one can mention the boy to her, nor can she attend the COFAVIC meetings; for this reason, neither he nor their daughters talk to her about the boy. His ex-wife has not gone to a psychologist because she has denied herself many things, she isolates herself and suffers in silence. Since the facts, he and his daughters have gradually gotten better. It also pains them that justice has not been served by the authorities. After a long time, he has accepted what happened. For thirteen years he has lived with permanent uncertainty regarding establishment of responsibility for the homicide.

10. Ingrid Ortega Zapata, a sister of Héctor Daniel Ortega Zapata.

Héctor Daniel Ortega Zapata died when he was twenty-three. He was a student, single, had no children, and contributed on a monthly basis to household expenses. He had worked as a mason since he was nineteen. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

The witness covered all expenses pertaining to the vigil, which she completed with what the neighbors gave. COFAVIC covered the costs of seeking justice, except for transportation costs to Caracas, which were due to the fact that the family lives in another State.

The witness attempted to pick the victim up from the street where he was lying, while the policemen were shooting, but they did not let her by to help her brother. At the hospital, she heard of Héctor Daniel’s death.

Other sisters of the victim who studied had to begin to work. The witness did not get a promotion at work, because she had trouble concentrating.

She and her son, whose pregnancy was in the sixth month at the time of the facts, have received psychological treatment, for which she has required medicine, paid for by herself. Her son is hyper kinetic and therefore has had to receive counseling by an educational psychologist. She filed the complaint regarding Héctor Daniel’s death and took a number of steps to this end. The victim’s mother, Ligia Zapata, who was in charge of the children’s education, has aged considerably since the event. The witness has been traumatized by the death of her brother because she had a very close relationship with him; she has suffered insomnia and depressions. All her hopes of justice lie in the inter-American system.

11. Hilda Rosa Páez, the mother of Richard José Páez Páez.

Richard José Páez Páez was seventeen when he received a deadly bullet. He was in fourth year of secondary school, single, and had no children.

Expenses in connection with the vigil were paid by contributions gathered among the community where the family lived, together with what the parents were able to contribute. COFAVIC covered expenses in the search for justice.

The witness worked taking care of children at her home, a job she had to leave after the event. She began to suffer gastritis and colitis, and had to pay for her medicine. Due to lack of financial resources, she has not received psychological treatment. She and her husband have suffered due to the unfair death of their son, who had many projects ahead of him. The witness suffered insomnia and continues to feel immense loneliness. During the time after the facts, the family members all slept together due to the fear and anguish they felt. The parents of the victim had sacrificed to pay for his education, so that he would have better opportunities in life, and they hoped that Richard José would contribute to household expenses as soon as he got a job. They have been asking for justice in the courts and with the Prosecutor’s Office for many years, to no avail. They trust that the Inter-American Court will render justice.

12. Toribia Ojeda, the mother of Carlos Elías Parra Ojeda.

Carlos Elías Parra Ojeda died at the age of twenty-seven. He was single and had no children. He worked as a messenger to support the family with 15,000.00 Bs. (fifteen thousand bolívares) weekly. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

The parents covered expenses in connection with the vigil, while COFAVIC covered expenses in the search for justice.

As a consequence of the facts, the father of the victim has suffered disorders, for which reason he has been hospitalized many times in the last seven years. The witness cannot work because of her age and the family’s only income is rental for their house.

Due to the financial situation of the family, the witness did not receive any psychological treatment. The victim was the eldest son. She suffers insomnia, depressions and continues to feel great sadness because she has experienced once and again the way in which her son was killed. Her only consolation is for justice to be served and for there to be no more impunity for those responsible.

13. Yvonne Josefina Pirela Chacón, an aunt of José del Carmen Pirela León.

José del Carmen Pirela León died at the age of sixteen. In 1990 the next of kin were given the body of the victim, after its exhumation from a common grave. He was single, had no children, studied in secondary school, and in his spare time worked as a craftsman. He had contribute on a weekly basis to household expenses for a year. At the time of the event, he earned minimum wage.

She covered expenses in connection with the vigil. COFAVIC covered expenses regarding the search for justice.

The victim was like a son to the witness, who raised and educated him. She had to seek psychological treatment due to the “total loss of control” she suffered; she was very anguished during the time in which José del Carmen was missing. Eight days after the victim’s disappearance, she heard of his death and burial in a common grave. During those days of uncertainty she searched for him in hospitals, at morgues and in jails. She felt no wish to live and was emotionally lost. Today, she still becomes disturbed when she sees groups of people. She has moved to another part of the country to forget. She has had to find a new job, because during the search for her nephew she could not go to work. She even took her younger child out of school for fear of losing him too. She has found support in COFAVIC’s work, but she still sufferers insomnia and is at risk of losing her eyesight in the right eye due to very high pressure. All she asks is for justice to be served.

14. María Teresa Rivas, the mother of José Vicente Pérez Rivas.

José Vicente Pérez Rivas died at the age of eighteen. He worked as a cold meats salesman, and he wanted to enter the Naval Academy. He was single and had no children. He contributed to household expenses on a weekly basis, and the family has missed this contribution since he died because the witness earned a low wage at the work she then had. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

Her husband covered the expenses in connection with the vigil. COFAVIC has covered expenses in the search for justice.

After the event, the witness stopped working and was hospitalized at a psychiatric clinic for three months. Her husband died, and now her livelihood comes from a pension. She wrote letters to her son as a way to give vent to her feelings. The witness has received psychological assistance and has required medication to date. She covers the cost of treatment, which amounts to 30,000.00 Bs. (thirty thousand bolívares). She suffers diabetes. She heard of her son’s death just a day after the event through her daughter Mayumi Pérez, who was with him at the time he was shot, and whom the military did not allow to help her wounded brother. For a long time, she did not want to live. Work at COFAVIC has helped her move ahead and share her grief with others. She has suffered insomnia and depression, and her only consolation is to hope that justice will be served with respect to her son.

15. Juliana Quintana, the mother of Jorge Daniel Quintana.

Jorge Daniel Quintana died at the age of sixteen. He worked by day as a “peddler” and studied in sixth grade in the evenings. He was single and had no children. He contributed regularly to cover household expenses, since he was twelve. The mother had requested “papers” for him to be able to work despite his young age. At the time of the event, he earned minimum wage.

She covered expenses in connection with the vigil from her savings. Expenses in the pursuit of justice have been covered by COFAVIC.

Due to her personal situation, the witness was fired from her job. One of the sisters of the victim has received psychological treatment, the cost of which was covered by the witness. When she heard of her son’s death, she went to look for him at the hospital and the following day they gave her his body at the morgue. During the vigil that night, the police once again started firing at their house because they thought there was a party. They were only able to bury Jorge Daniel two days after he died. There was no place prepared for the corpse, so she had to ask the persons responsible for burials to bury him somewhere else.

For over a year she suffered somatic disorders; she thought she heard her son’s voice and felt that he appeared before her. She suffers insomnia and depression, and is very much afraid for her other son every time he goes out to the street. Her greatest wish is to finally attain justice.

16. Iris Medina, permanent companion of Wolfgang Waldemar Quintana Vivas.

Wolfgang Waldemar Quintana Vivas died when he was twenty-seven years old from a bullet wound he received while he was at home. His next of kin took him into a clinic, where he was dead before entering.

He worked as a salesman at a bookstore and through his work he supported the witness, his daughter Luzdenny Estefanía and the mother of the victim, María Esperanza Vivas. His contributions were the basic means of support for the whole family. Wolfgang Waldemar had been working since he was fifteen. At the time of the event, he earned minimum wage. The financial situation of the family would have been better if the victim had survived, as he was the only family member who worked. Since then, the witness has had to work to support her daughter.

Expenses in connection with the vigil were covered by the family with the benefit payments of the victim for his work at the bookstore. Expenses in pursuit of justice were covered by COFAVIC.

The witness received both psychological and psychiatric treatment, and is still under psychological treatment. Her daughter also goes to the psychologist fortnightly.
The cost of these treatments is 40,000.00 Bs. (forth thousand bolívares) monthly and is covered by the witness. When she remembers the facts, she continues to feel much pain and anger, because for them their home was a safe place. The victim was seated, carrying his three-month old daughter when he was wounded, managed to place the baby in the crib and went downstairs, where he feel down, bleeding. The witness tried to cover the wound, but the pressure of the blood flow was so strong that she knew he was going to die. With the death of her companion, the witness lost all her hopes, her life project of developing a family, and she suffers depression. The suffering is intact, for her and for the mother of the victim, who also witnessed what happened. The witness was nineteen at the time of the event, and since then she has had to be both mother and father of her daughter. She still suffers due to impunity regarding the facts.

17. Dilia Mendoza de Ramos, the mother of Yurima Milagros Ramos Mendoza.

Yurima Milagros Ramos Mendoza died when she was twenty years old. She was the second daughter of the witness, and she studied human resources management at Fermín Toro de Barquisimeto University. She was very studious and had many aspirations. She was single, had no children, and did not work. The financial situation of the family would have improved very much if she were alive, because she was very close to her family and showed great solidarity. Once she graduated, the victim wanted to help her parents with money, travel, and give her father a pick-up truck.

The family covered expenses in connection with the vigil, and COFAVIC covered expenses in pursuit of justice.

She saw how her daughter bled to death in their very home, with her face mangled because the bullet hit her in the head. The family had to spend several hours next to their dead daughter because they could not leave the house due to the curfew. A neighbor, who worked for the government, helped them get a detail of the Technical Corps of the Judiciary Police to come, and they placed the victim in a plastic bag. The witness has attended roughly five psychological treatment sessions.

Due to the event, the family is in very bad shape, although they have found some consolation by sharing their experience with the next of kin of other victims, at COFAVIC. The mother has found some “spiritual comfort” but she felt that her life had ended with the death of her daughter, However, she has continued to suffer insomnia to date. Since then, she has been seeking ways to get her mind off that event; she works at home until dawn cleaning windows to avoid thinking about what happened. She feels unprotected and bitter. The father of the victim, Héctor Ramos, feels the same but suffers in silence. The hope of attaining justice has been a determining reason to continue.

18. Deisy Crespo, the wife of Iván Rey.

Iván Rey died when he was twenty-five years old. The agents of the State who killed him did not allow him to be taken immediately to the hospital. He worked as a carpenter and was married. Since they married, two years before, he supported the household. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

She covered expenses in connection with the vigil from the savings they had. COFAVIC covered expenses regarding the pursuit of justice.

The witness was seven months pregnant at the time of the event. Due to the events, she had to give birth by a cesarean section. Before that, her pregnancy became complicated, with bleeding, and she received medical treatment to withstand the months until the foreseen date of birth. The witness had to begin to work immediately after the child was born. She underwent psychological treatment.

She witnessed the shooting and death of the victim, as she was by his side at the time he was shot. Since the death of her husband, she has had to be both mother and father for her son Iván José Rey. The witness has been traumatized, suffers insomnia and depression. Her pain deepened with impunity over the last thirteen years.

19. María Encarnación Salazar Campos, the mother of Javier Rubén Rojas Campos.

Javier Rubén Rojas Campos was single and worked as a presser at a clothing factory. His corpse was buried without authorization of his next of kin and his body was identified and exhumed in 1990 upon a request by COFAVIC. At the time of the event the victim earned minimum wage and supported, through weekly contributions, his daughter Haymar Rojas Campos and the witness, who is in charge of the girl. The brother of the victim, Carlos Rafael, supports them financially.

Together with Carlos Rafael, she covered the expenses of the vigil. COFAVIC covered expenses in pursuit of justice.

The witness had to stop working as a consequence of the death of her son. In 1993 she fell ill to the point that she could no longer work. The cost of the medicine has been covered by the insurance that Carlos Rafael is paying for her. The day of the event, the witness was in the kitchen of their house with the daughter of the victim, when she heard shots nearby. Carlos Rafael was called and told that his brother had been killed. She came out and saw him lying on the floor, dead. Then they took him away and when they went to look for his body at the morgue they were told that it was too late because there was a curfew. The following day, they told them to come back to look for him on Friday. When they arrived that day, they were told that the military had taken him away. Afterwards, the family found out that their son had been buried in a common grave in the General Southern Cemetery. The witness feels somewhat more at ease since the mortal remains of her son were handed over to her in 1990.

She is aware that the government has sought to deny the existence of the daughter of the victim. The witness, Haymar Rojas Campos and Carlos Rafael Rojas Campos have been deeply affected emotionally and financially by the death of the victim. She continues to suffer insomnia and high blood pressure. Due to lack of resources, she has never received psychological treatment.

20. Fredez Binda García Hernández, the mother of Esteban Luciano Rosillo García.

Esteban Luciano Rosillo García was a student, and three months before he died he had graduated from the Naval Academy. He was single, and had a son whom he did not acknowledge because at the time of the events the acknowledgment procedure had not been completed. The victim contributed all his salary from the Naval Academy to household expenses. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

Due to the facts, the witness had to sell her car and became indebted to pay the expenses in connection with the vigil. COFAVIC has covered the expenses involved by searching for justice, except for transportation of the witness to Caracas.

The official who killed her son has openly said that he will “not pay a death” for his homicide. Her other children have seen and heard him say this. Therefore, her main desire is for there to be justice. The day of the facts, the older son went to inform the witness, thinking that his brother had only been wounded, but at the hospital they told them that he had died. The witness fainted, and since then she has unceasingly felt a deep sadness and a strong feeling of powerlessness in face of impunity.

The witness spent six months in a state of shock, taking tranquilizers. Since then, she began to sell cosmetics to support herself. All the family has been emotionally perturbed. The witness has lost the will to live, since the victim helped her more than anyone else in the household. She suffers insomnia and depression, accentuated due to impunity.

21. María Neria Guillén Pereira, the mother of Leobardo Antonio Salas Guillén.

Leobardo Antonio Salas Guillén died at the age of twenty-two. The body was buried in a common grave. His remains were located in 1990, exhumed and delivered to the next of kin. He worked as a the employee in charge of control in a parking lot. He was single and had no children. He contributed fortnightly to the expenses of the household, which included twelve members. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

The next of kin of the victim covered the costs of the vigil, without including transportation of the body from Caracas to the place of origin of the family in the State of Mérida. COFAVIC covered expenses involved in searching for justice.

The witness is a housewife and receives psychological and medical treatment. Sessions with the psychologist were at first four times a year, now twice a year. It was a traumatic experience to witness exhumation of corpses in the common grave to identify her son. She continues to suffer insomnia and depression. She especially wishes that justice be served because impunity has affected her severely.

22. Olga María Álvarez, the mother of Tirso Cruz Tesara Álvarez.

Tirso Cruz Tesara Álvarez died at the age of twenty-three. He worked as a messenger at a radio station, and had helped his father cover household expenses since he was approximately eighteen years old. He was single and had no children. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

The family covered expenses in connection with the vigil, while COFAVIC covered expenses involved in the search for justice.

The sisters of the victim had to delay their studies to work. Since he was the only male child, the family counted on his contributions. The father retired and receives minimum pension.

The parents of the victim were insured by Tirso through the firm where he worked. This insurance covered medical expenses, but they were no longer insured once the victim died.

The day of the facts she was called to the hospital where her son was, and when she arrived, he was unconscious. She spent nine days next to her son at the hospital, caring for him in his agony. After his death, she began to investigate the identity of the agent who had shot him, but they only told her his surname. She had to take medicine because she suffered insomnia. Every time she sees motorized people, she remembers her son. Her only hope is that those responsible are punished.

23. Carmen Rufina Cabriles, the mother of Héctor José Lugo Cabriles.

Héctor José Lugo Cabriles died at the age of twenty-seven. He was a mason, single, and had a daughter whom he had not acknowledged. He contributed income on a weekly basis to pay for his siblings’ studies since he was nineteen, and he contributed to household expenses. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

The family covered expenses in connection with the vigil. COFAVIC covered expenses in the search for justice.

She heard the news of her son’s death through a friend. She went to identify her son at the morgue, among many other bodies piled up there. Since the victim died, the brothers have had to stop studying and have had to work. Two years after her son’s death, the witness had to leave her job because she became ill. She still has expenses for medicine, but has not received psychological treatment due to the limited financial resources of the family. She has lost the will to live and has only remained alive because of her other small children. She suffers insomnia and depression. She only hopes for justice to be served.

24. Rosa Julia Aldana Bastidas, a sister of Benito del Carmen Aldana Bastidas.

Benito del Carmen Aldana Bastidas died at age 46. He was taken to the morgue on March 1, but his remains were never delivered to his next of kin. He worked in the security area of a firm. He was single and had three acknowledged daughters, Mayerling Margarita, Celeste Senaid and Jilka Josefina, all of them Aldana. He helped his mother financially with household expenses and medicine, and also his daughters, to whom he provided their main support, on a weekly basis. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage. The victim had contributed to his family since he was twenty years old.

There were no vigil expenses because the remains were never delivered. COFAVIC covered expenses in the search for justice.

The witness stopped working for two months to look for her brother. Since the victim had only been working at the firm where he was employed for two years, he would have had good prospects for professional growth within it.

The witness has suffered insomnia and depression due to the death of her brother, because she does not know where he is buried. She has not received psychological treatment. The mother of the victim had a heart condition and the symptoms of the illness worsened, which led to more frequent medical visits and an increase in consumption of medicine due to high blood pressure. The witness covered these expenses. The mother died a year after the victim’s death. The witness had to go to the morgue and to the Judiciary Police to identify her brother by means of photographs. She and the victim’s daughters continue to suffer from his absence and the uncertainty of not knowing where Benito del Carmen’s remains are. The only hope is that her brother’s remains be returned and that there be justice.

25. Nelly Marcano, the mother of Boris Eduardo Bolívar Marcano.

Boris Eduardo Bolívar Marcano died when he was twenty-two. He worked as an independent merchant selling clothes. His permanent companion was Carmen Sanoja Volcán and he had no children. He helped the witness with expenses weekly or fortnightly. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage. The financial situation of the family would have been better if he were alive, because his contributions alleviated the household’s situation.

There were no vigil expenses because the body was buried in a common grave, where they remain. COFAVIC has covered expenses in the pursuit of justice.

The witness was offered medial assistance at the hospital where she worked. She has had to cover the cost of medicine. She wants her son’s remains to be identified and delivered to the family. At first she could not believe that her son had died, because initially the Metropolitan Police had come looking for him at home and had taken him away to question him. Then she heard that they had him lying down on the street, she went to help him and the policemen told her to leave. The next day she heard on the radio that three youths had been found dead in the Guaire River. By the description she recognized her son and went to the Technical Corps of the Judiciary Police where a whole day passed without identifying him; they showed her pictures of her son. After spending several additional hours at those offices, she went home to unburden herself of her grief. She has not tried to recover her son’s mortal remains because she does not believe she can attain this with the government. The victim was her older son and she felt protected by him, as he was her only male child. She has suffered insomnia and loss of appetite, especially during the two years after the event.

26. Nelly Freitez, the mother of Julio César Freitez.

Julio César Freitez was wounded while he was on the street. He was studying accounting, was single and had no children. He did not work, but was about to begin an internship in the Caracas Metro. The victim would have helped with household expenses once he graduated. The witness had to stop working due to the events.

There have been no funerary expenses because the remains of the victim have not been delivered to the next of kin. COFAVIC covered the costs involved in pursuit of justice.

When the witness heard that her son was wounded, she went to look for him on the streets. She looked for a vehicle to take him to the hospital, for which she stopped a passing car. She spent all night at the hospital, witnessing her son’s agony until he died. After taking him to the morgue, she heard no more of him. She suffers very much because she has not been able to bury her son in a decent manner and because justice has not been served. It has been impossible for her to forget the events. Since the facts occurred, she has worked taking care of children at her home. She continues to suffer depression. She has received psychological assistance together with her other young children, who were severely affected by the event.

27. María Casilda Valero Suárez, a sister of Gerónimo Valero Suárez.

When he died, Gerónimo Valero Suárez was a blue-collar worker at a cauldron factory, and at the same time he worked as a blacksmith. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

The victim heard of the death of the victim and incurred funeral expenses, but his mortal remains were never delivered to her. For this reason she became indebted. Through COFAVIC, she received contributions to cover those debts. COFAVIC also covered costs in connection with the search for justice.

Since her brother’s death, the witness has had to take over responsibility for her mother, in addition to her two children, who have not been able to complete their primary education due to financial problems. She no longer has the financial support of her brother, who was the main provider for the household. Since he died, she had to go out and work.

The witness heard of her brother’s death at eleven p.m. She went out to the street to aid him, but he was already dead. Another brother, who was with Gerónimo, was not allowed to aid him. When the body was taken away, the brothers went to ask for it at the hospital, but they did not give it to them. The following morning the sister returned with the coffin, but they told her that they had already buried him in a common grave.

The family has not received psychological treatment for lack of financial means, especially because they have to cover the cost of medicine for the mother, who has a heart condition and continues to experience the situation again every time they mention circumstances pertaining to the victim. The witness and her mother continue to suffer insomnia and depression. What they want most of all is for justice to be served.

28. Haydée Mavilu Blanco García, a daughter of Jesús Calixto Blanco.

Jesús Calixto Blanco was mortally wounded when he was 54 years old. He worked as a messenger and had two daughters, the witness and Rayza Magali. He supported the whole family. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

There were no vigil expenses because the remains of the victim were not delivered to them, as he was buried in a common grave without the family being informed. COFAVIC covered expenses in connection with the search for justice.

They heard about the victim’s death over the telephone. Since then, Jesús Calixto’s daughters have had to work, and therefore they have interrupted their education. They have had to look after their mother, Ana Mary García, and themselves. At first the witness suffered problems with alcoholism, because she suddenly faced the change from having been a student to becoming the main provider for the family.

Her mother suffered insomnia, nervousness, and has required medication, paid for by the witness. All the family has suffered severe depression since then, worsened by the fact that they never found out the final whereabouts of the victim. The minimum comfort they hope to receive, with the help of COFAVIC, is delivery of the remains of the victim.

29. Maritza Romero, a sister of Fidel Orlando Romero Castro.

Fidel Orlando Romero Castro was a blue-collar worker; he was single, and had no children. He had contributed to household expenses on a weekly basis since he was seventeen. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

The family hired funerary services, but they were never used because the remains of the victim were never delivered to them. COFAVIC covered expenses in pursuit of justice.

A brother aided the victim and took him to the hospital, where he underwent an operation. After the operation, the next of kin thought that the victim was out of danger. His mother, Rosa Jacinta Castro, went to the hospital the following day to take care of him, but Fidel Orlando died that night. When she got back home, the mother fainted. The family expected the victim’s condition to stabilize. The witness lost her job seeking justice in the case of her brother and caring for her mother’s health. The latter, Rosa Jacinta Castro, also stopped working due to the steps they had to take in the case of her son, so they have had to divide some rooms from the house and rent them out.

The witness underwent psychological treatment for two years. She fought for the common grave where Fidel Orlando’s remains had been buried to be opened, and spent a lot of time at the cemetery while the grave was being opened. At that time she became pregnant and lost her daughter during the delivery, due to an infection caused by her presence at the exhumations. She still suffers very much due to the uncertainty regarding the whereabouts of the victim. She suffered insomnia and nightmares, as well as depression. One of her brothers, Oscar Alfredo, has had drinking problems since then and has refused to receive professional support. She asks that the facts in connection with Fidel Orlando be investigated.

30. Judith Borjas, an aunt of Roberto Segundo Valbuena Borjas.

Roberto Segundo Valbuena Borjas died at the age of twenty-two. He was a machine operator and had planned to attend college. He was single and had no children. He had come from the interior to live with the witness in Caracas. He had contributed on a weekly basis to the household for five years. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

The next of kin began to take the steps required to bury the victim and incurred funerary costs, but his mortal remains were never delivered to them. COFAVIC covered costs involved in seeking justice.

The witness was suspended from her job because she was busy seeking justice. For her, the victim was like a son. Roberto Segundo’s mother, Rubí Borjas, received medical treatment because she suffered a kidney condition due to hypertension caused by the events. The two of them covered treatment costs. The witness suffered precocious menopause. She continues to be affected when she knows that her sons and another nephew who lives with them have gone out to the street. To date, she continues to take tranquilizers. She has suffered insomnia and depression; sometimes she works until dawn to keep her mind busy. Her greatest grief is not having been able to bury the victim, for which reason her most intense wish is to be able to do this, and to attain justice.

31. Ybelice Altagracia Ramírez, a daughter of Elsa Teotiste Ramírez Caminero.

Elsa Teotiste Ramírez Caminero worked as a waitress; she was married and her children are Alejandro Idelfonso, Yovanny Manuel, Ydel Ramón, Elsa Julia and the witness. Her aunt Marisol Vitalina Caminero recognized the victim in some photographs. At the time of the event, the victim earned minimum wage. The victim’s income had served to pay for her children’s studies and to support the family over the last seven years. Aside from that, Elsa Teotiste made a contribution to her mother fortnightly, sometimes weekly.

There have been no vigil expenses because the victim was buried in a common grave and the remains have not been delivered to the next of kin. COFAVIC covered expenses incurred in pursuit of justice.

For the children, their mother was at the same time like a father. The older brothers had to stop studying and begin to work. Her aunt has taken charge of the other brothers. The younger brother of the witness received psychological treatment only nine months, the cost of which was 350,000.00 Bs. (three hundred and fifty thousand bolívares) and was covered by her aunt Marisol Caminero, and he no longer studies as a consequence of the trauma. What grieves the witness most is not having been able to bury her mother appropriately. She still feels great sadness; all the brothers feel unprotected because most of the family lives in the Dominican Republic, from where they came. The witness suffers depression. She hopes that justice is attained and that her mother’s remains can be taken to her country of origin.

32. Marisol Montenegro Cordero, a sister of José Ramón Montenegro Cordero.

José Ramón Montenegro Cordero was single and had no children; he worked as a mason and a painter. He supported his mother Nicasia Cordero and his younger brothers by means of contributions. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

There were no vigil expenses because the remains were never delivered to the next of kin of the victim. COFAVIC has covered expenses incurred in pursuit of justice.

The health of José Ramon’s mother, who already suffered high blood pressure and a heart condition, has worsened since then, and this has led to greater expenses in medicine and more frequent medical appointments. The witness feels very lonely since the death of her brother because he was the person to whom she felt closest; she suffers insomnia, depression, and she especially suffers due to impunity regarding the facts. The grief is the same, but to calm it she hopes to receive her brother’s remains.

33. Aura Rosa Liscano Betancourt, a sister of José Miguel Liscano Betancourt.

José Miguel Liscano Betancourt was twenty-one when he disappeared after leaving the house to play basketball. He worked as a file clerk at a firm and he attended an accounting course. He was single and had no children. He had contributed income to his family on a weekly basis for a year, and at home he helped support his younger brothers. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

The witness lost her job because of the steps she had to take to find out the whereabouts of her brother. She incurred transportation costs while searching for her brother. COFAVIC covered costs involved in seeking justice.

According to his friends, the night he disappeared he had left them to go home, which was about 150 meters away from where he left them. Since he had not arrived by nine p.m., his next of kin went out to search for him, but they were stopped by military agents. At six the following morning, after a sleepless night, all the family members went out to look for him at the hospitals, at the National Guard and at the Metropolitan Police, to no avail. The following day, they went to the city morgues but his name was on none of the entry records. The search lasted three months. The sister went to the Technical Corps of the Judiciary Police to report him as a missing person. The feeling of uncertainty remained until the Inter-American Commission informed her that “the State had answered [the Commission] that [her] brother was dead and buried on the same day” of his disappearance.

For lack of financial means, neither the witness nor her mother, Carmen Betancourt, have received psychological treatment. A couple of months ago COFAVIC undertook to cover the cost of professional psychological aid. The mother continues to await her son; she feels that he is alive. Both the witness and her mother have suffered very much over the last thirteen years due to the uncertainty caused by the victim’s absence. The mother continued to wash the victim’s clothes five years after his disappearance, and continued to keep daily food for him. The sister helped raise the victim, because the mother worked, so her relationship with José Miguel was like that of a mother and a son. She continues to suffer especially due to the uncertainty of not knowing the exact circumstances of the death of her brother and not having been able to bury him.

34. Petra Bello, the mother of Juan Acasio Mena Bello.

Juan Acasio Mena Bello disappeared on February 28, 1989. He worked as an upholsterer; he was single, lived with his common-law spouse Laura Margarita Marrero and had four children: Petra Zulay, Laura Josefina, Maribel Sugey and Jhonny Araujo. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage. He contributed to support the witness and their four children on a weekly basis. The witness stopped working for three months to concentrate on the search for her son, and his common-law spouse had to begin to work to support the children.

She has covered expenses incurred searching for the whereabouts of the victims, travel within the country and telephone calls. COFAVIC has covered costs involved in pursuit of justice.

The witness became ill due to the events and did not go to work for a time. She searched for her son everywhere, at the Technical Corps of the Judiciary Police, at the morgue, in the house where he worked, but did not find him. About eight months before she had lost her mother, and with the death of her son her suffering became even greater. Her most intense wish is to be able to bury her son in an appropriate manner. Her anguish has been due primarily to not knowing where Juan Acasio is, and this has affected the whole family, the victim’s children and his common-law spouse. The witness continues to suffer insomnia and has felt disturbed at night, when she feels that her son is going show up at the door of their house any moment. She has had medical expenses which have been covered by another son. All she wants is for justice to be served.

35. Fernando Enrique Pérez, a nephew of Abelardo Antonio Pérez.

Abelardo Antonio Pérez worked as a mason and he was a “cabillas” master in building projects at the time of his disappearance. With his work, he helped his mother, Oscarina Pérez, on an monthly basis, and paid for her personal expenses. He was single and had a daughter, with whom his next of kin lost touch. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage. He had helped his mother with household expenses since he was about twenty years old, and they miss his contributions since he disappeared. If he had lived, the financial situation of the family would have improved because it is a very united family and its members cooperated very much among themselves.

COFAVIC has covered all expenses caused by and related to disappearance of the victim and pursuit of justice.

There have been expenses especially for medicine required due to the nervousness of the victim’s mother. All the family suffered enormous despair, preoccupation and anguish. The victim’s mother was constantly anxious the first years; she still has the expectation that Abelardo Antonio will turn up alive. To date, his mother suffers insomnia, severe depression and nervousness. What is terrible is the uncertainty of not knowing whether the victim is alive or dead. The mother has felt doubt and hope over the last thirteen years, and she now hopes that those responsible are punished and that justice is attained.

36. Juan Carlos Suárez Sánchez, a brother of Andrés Eloy Suárez Sánchez.

Andrés Eloy Suárez Sánchez was born on September 22, 1956 and he disappeared on February 27, 1989. He had completed third year of secondary school. He worked as a carpenter and a confectioner, and had taken courses in confectionery, baking, and carpentry. He was single and had no children. He had contributed regularly to household expenses since he began working. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage. Even though his income was low, what he contributed helped the family. However, what grieves his family most is his absence.

COFAVIC has covered all expenses in connection with the efforts to determine the whereabouts of his brother and to attain justice.

The victim’s mother, María Antonia Sánchez de Suárez, receives psychiatric treatment at a cost of 180,000.00 Bs. (one hundred and eighty thousand bolívares) monthly, and takes tranquilizers. The most lasting feeling has been one of sadness and powerlessness in face of what happened, and also that of not being able to obtain justice because they are a very poor family. The greatest obstacle to understand what happened has been the uncertainty of not knowing where Andrés Eloy is, non-elucidation of the facts, and not having been able to bury the victim in an appropriate manner. The witness hopes that justice is attained and that his brother’s remains are located, to bury him according to his religious beliefs.

37. Emileydis Ferrán Cedeño, a sister of Jesús Salvador Cedeño.

Jesús Salvador Cedeño died at age twenty-seven. He studied law, worked as a legal adviser, and was single. After his death, the family found out that he had a child, whom he had not yet acknowledged. He had helped his mother, Sofía Cedeño, financially since he began to work, with monthly contributions. He also helped the witness study, and paid for his own education. At the time of the event he earned minimum wage.

There have been no vigil expenses because the remains of the victim have not been delivered to his next of kin. COFAVIC has covered the cost of legal actions, but since the family moved back to the city of origin, Marutín, its members incurred expenses due to travel and while staying in Caracas to take the necessary steps, since they had to return the apartment where the victim had lived.

The witness had to stop studying. The father suffered a mental disorder and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital; afterwards he continued to take medication. She covered all these expenses. Her father died four months after the victim’s demise. The witness began to work to support the other brothers who studied, as the mother could not support them on her own.

The witness heard what had happened from some friends. At that time she was seventeen, and she had to identify her brother among several dead persons who were piled up at the morgue. Afterwards she did not see him again, and they told her that he had been buried in a common grave. She had to inform the family of what had happened. The mother talked to a priest, seeking comfort, and the children tried to benefit from those conversations too. None of the family members have received psychological treatment. At first, the witness did not accept her brother’s death, she cried a lot, could not sleep, did not eat. Since then she has suffered gastritis. She was perturbed at night and suffered insomnia for a long time, as did her mother. The mother required injections with tranquilizers because she constantly expected to see her son come into the house. The mother died without knowing the final whereabouts of her son. Both the witness and her mother suffered very much due to impunity regarding the facts.

38. Henry Herrera Hurtado, a victim.

On February 28, 1989 he suffered a firearm wound which damaged his liver, intestines, and some vertebrae. At that time he worked at a furniture store as an assistant and earned minimum wage. He supported himself and made weekly and monthly contributions to his family. He is single and has no children.

His life has changed substantially because before he could support himself and since the facts he has no income and depends absolutely on a social security pension, which he began to receive two years after the event. He has suffered irreversible damage; he lost a kidney and ten centimeters of colon; he suffered liver damage; he has a post-operative wound, and has been left paraplegic, with partial paralysis.

He has had a number of expenses for diapers, catheters, medicine, travel, and still requires urinary catheters, but he does not have receipts. He received medical assistance from social security, while his family has covered the cost of medicine. COFAVIC covered expenses in pursuit of justice.

The witness has been severely hurt by the sudden and total change in his situation. He suffers depression and deep sadness. He is practically tied to his house, because to go out he needs help. The last three years he has been lying on a bed and his perception of what happened is that of a great fracture in the path of his personal realization. He has found some “comfort in spirituality,” but even so he feels that the facts have cut short his hopes of establishing a family and fending for himself.

39. Gregoria Matilde Castillo, a victim.

Gregoria Matilde Castillo was born on February 25, 1969 and was wounded in the left leg on March 1, 1989, when she was twenty-seven years old. Her leg was amputated at the hospital, and since then she has worn a prosthesis. She worked at a factory as a purse assembler, and she was studying to be a secretary. At the time of the event she earned minimum wage. She was single and had no children. She helped support the family. She had younger brothers who studied. At the time of the facts, the mother of the victim stopped working to take care of her, so both of their incomes were lost. Due to this, one of the younger brothers had to leave school. Currently she is married, has two children and continues to contribute income to the family, though less than before.

She has had expenses for medicine, crutches, and continues to look for an appropriate prosthesis. Social security only paid her for a year after the event, due to which she had to leave her job. Social security services were limited to certain medicine and to medical/hospital service. Since then, her father covered all expenses in connection with her treatment. COFAVIC has covered all expenses regarding the search for justice.

Since the facts, the witness cannot sleep with the lights off. It took two years for her to find a job, and she feels guilty because her younger brother had to leave school. She suffers insomnia, depression, and feels disturbed at night. She cannot see gatherings of people or a soldier on the street without getting nervous. She wanted to study biology at the university. She has received no psychological treatment because she cannot pay for it. More than anything else, she hopes that justice be served after thirteen years.

40. Noraima Sosa Ríos, a victim.

Noraima Sosa Ríos was born on April 4, 1954, and she was wounded in the right leg on February 28, 1989, at the age of 34, when she was inside her house. This leg was amputated at the hospital. She was single and had a son, who died in 1990. She worked as a secretary and contributed to household expenses on a monthly basis. At the time of the event she earned minimum wage.

COFAVIC has covered the costs involved in seeking justice.

After the event she had to buy two prostheses, one of which cost 50,000.00 Bs. (fifty thousand bolívares) and the other 1,560,000.00 Bs. (one million five hundred and sixty thousand bolívares). She has also had to cover the cost of medicine for rehabilitation. Furthermore, her left arm was disabled due to a vaccine applied because of the wounds, a disability that has been treated with therapy. However, the damage to the leg and arm is irreversible. She constantly has to spend on bandages, and now she has to buy a valve for her prosthesis. She has covered all expenses in connection with her treatment, but she cannot specify the exact amount spent.

The victim has also received psychological treatment because she suffered insomnia, and due to this she had to take medication. She continues to feel great anguish and suffers depression. She even has difficulty being alone because it reminds her of what happened. She has not been able to get a job because of the disabled leg and arm; also, if she gets a job she risks losing it because of the medical appointments. She has a problem of stricture in the esophagus, which does not allow her to ingest food well. She feels that all her future projects have been cut short, that her life, plans and dreams changed radically, for which reason she feels as if she were another person.

44. The representatives of the next of kin of the victims also submitted reports by three experts, Magdalena López de Ibáñez, Alicia B. Neuburger and Jesús María Casal, which are summarized below.

1. Magdalena López de Ibáñez, psychologist.

In all the cases that were evaluated, with slight nuances, the most frequent psychological effect is the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, which occurs when a person has experienced or witnessed events “involving deaths or threats to their physical safety or that of others,” and the person tends to experience the episode once again through various symptoms, such as intense psychological malaise or physiological responses when exposed to stimuli that remind him or her of an aspect of the episode; a feeling that the event could be happening at the present time (illusions, hallucinations or flashbacks); recurrent and intruding memories of the fact that cannot be voluntarily avoided; shunning places, activities, or persons that remind him or her of the traumatic event; restriction of emotional life and diminished interest in significant activities; difficulty falling asleep and remaining asleep; persistent irritability or fits of wrath and hyper vigilance vis-à-vis their environment, and sudden fright.

All these elements coexist with a deep depressive disorder in its various categories, significantly restricting the quality of the person’s life.

Individuals who suffer permanent disability, in addition to the aforementioned symptoms, suffer other physical disorders; devalued self-perception; very low self-esteem; forced dependence which increases anger; recurrent death thoughts or wishes; a feeling of a desolate future. Furthermore, there are major effects on their families, who must care for and support the patient.

Repression of anger and hopelessness of the victims and their next of kin, knowing that the system of justice has not functioned, brings fateful effects on physical and psychological health, impedes necessary mourning, and keeps the psychological wounds open. Psychosomatic disorders have been observed which may relate to protracted anger and anguish. These feelings become more acute in face of any figure of authority, in this case agents of the State, which increases the feeling of helplessness and vulnerability suffered by the individual, since those who caused the trauma are precisely those whose social function is to protect the population.

Significant differences are observed in connection with mourning processes in cases of natural death as compared to deaths resulting from external violence. When death is natural, mourning goes through its natural stages and is finally resolved through resignation and resumption of daily life relatively soon. In the case of forced disappearance, daily normality is hardly ever recovered, as mourning remains frozen in one of its stages, linked to rage and non-acceptance of the outcome. There are also feelings of guilt of the survivor together with the impossibility of an adequate closure of the process, for which reason those feelings are a recurrent source of grief and anguish.

The death of a child under conditions of external violence is one of the worst “stressors” that a human being can experience. The traumatic effect on the siblings takes place in two ways: due to the effects of grief and guilt, and the alteration of family dynamics as a whole, caused by the parents’ grief, as they are fixed in their memory of the missing child.

The emotional effects of such a trauma can worsen mental or physical illness. In these cases, both the victims and next of kin have shown various types of physical diseases and symptoms in a greater proportion than would be expected for the general population.

In the cases studied, the families were significantly affected in the allocation of intra-family roles and in the general dynamics of their members. Emotional pain due to the circumstances of the traumatic events (lack of information and denial by the bodies responsible, wandering among assistance centers, waiting at the morgue, etc.) created very intense ambivalent feelings. In the case of death or disappearance of the male figure (father, brother, son who was the household provider) they lost their economic status and even minimum subsistence conditions and support for future projects to improve the situation of the family. For survivors with permanent disabilities, the facts also involve loss of jobs, of spouses, and of personal independence, giving rise to a “situation of a dependent burden.”

In connection with the families of the victims who do not know the whereabouts of the latter, it is indispensable to establish the whereabouts, and it would be very important for reparation measures to allow them, when this has not yet been done, to identify the remains of their beloved ones with certainty, in some cases, and in others to be able to bury them in an appropriate manner. This will improve the process of overcoming symptoms of depression through adequate development of mourning.
Psychological treatment of the victims and their next of kin is necessary to overcome traumatic episodes, with the assistance of one or more mental health professionals (psychiatrist and psychologist). The cost of treatment depends on the time in therapy, which varies depending on the event and the patient’s pre-morbid functional level. Estimated time is one year, with weekly sessions at an approximate cost of US$30 to US$40 (thirty to forty United States dollars) per hour of treatment, that is, an average of US$1,500.00 (one thousand five hundred United States dollars) per patient per year.

The fact that the Court is hearing the case has allowed the victims and their next of kin to have hope regarding the real possibility of justice being served, and it has given them trust in the effectiveness of international bodies.

The expert witness recommends continuation of processes that seek to find or identify the missing persons, and of support to organizations such as COFAVIC, and also providing mental health care to the victims and their next of kin.

To supplement her general report, the expert witness submitted to the Court the individual psychological reports on victims Gregoria Matilde Castillo and Noraima Sosa Ríos, and of the following next of kin of victims: Hilda Rosa Páez, Petra Bello, Olga María Álvarez de Tesara, Catalina Ramos de Guevara, Dilia Mendoza de Ramos, Aura Liscano, Iris Medina, and Maritza Romero.

2. Alicia Neuburger, psychologist.

The victims who have suffered the type of violence involved in the facts of the El Caracazo case are deprived of liberty, physical integrity, safety, their life project and their own identity, as well as family ties. No psyche can tolerate that type of violence without severe subjective disorders. The usual consequences include partial or total loss of thought, lack of motivation, anguish crises, anxiety, various types of somatizations, emotional withdrawal, severe depression which can trigger suicide, and they can reach the point of psychotic dissociation, with delirium and hallucinations. Impotence with respect to the situation generates episodes of wrath. If it is known that those responsible were agents of the State, fear increases vis-à-vis the external world as a whole, especially of the authorities. Feelings of mistrust and skepticism toward State institutions appear or become more intense. Feelings of abandonment and defenselessness may be very intense and plunge those directly affected into a state of childish dependence with an ambivalent polarity of intense emotions: frustration-hate, powerlessness-challenge.

The fact that justice has not been served constitutes another wound on top of the previous wound for those affected. The psyche does not accept impunity, and if those responsible are not punished, the wrath will turn against the social body in charge of implementing justice, against the next of kin, or against the affected persons themselves. It is possible that the latter may suffer very severe disorders, which can lead to permanent incapacity or death.

The effects of permanent incapacity are depression, frustration, feelings of self-pity, and devaluation. This generates highly dependent ties, difficulties relating adequately to others, and loss of the capacity of enjoyment. There is a tendency toward isolation from the outside world. Having been caused by violent events, the incapacity to integrate into the new life situation becomes even more acute because the psyche is “incapacitated” to process the damage.

Currently, the concept of mind-body integration is widely accepted. When a person suffers a traumatic event, strength of the immunological system diminishes, which makes the individual more prone to contract illness. This is due to the fact that the psyche tolerates grief and anguish up to a limit. When that limit is surpassed, the psyche resorts to other mechanisms. One of them is to divert a major part of that anguish toward the body. This painful psychic energy then becomes physical disease. The malaise concentrates in the body and diminishes in the mind without the individuals realizing that this dissociation has occurred. This mechanism expresses itself both in less severe symptoms (migraines, gastritis, ulcers, dermatitis, gynecological disturbances in women, etc.) as well as in terminal diseases (cancer) and in cardiovascular conditions.

Extra-judicial execution causes severe effects on all surviving next of kin, although with differences that have to do with their ties with the victim, the moment of their life, and the age of the individual affected. It is quite difficult for normal mourning to follow execution. For this very reason, often the individual enters a psychopathological state of melancholia in which he or she remains in the past. Feelings of injustice and extreme powerlessness are added due to the impossibility of accepting the death, which impedes processing of the grief. The feeling of powerlessness isolates, sorrow and grief are enclosed, causing a psychological damage that can become chronic and is transmitted from one generation to another. There is emotional dissociation, which severely harms and causes deterioration of family bonds.

Forced disappearance generates intra-subjective damage to the family. It causes a sinister duality of thought. The “hope that he or she is still alive” is accompanied by the fantasy, and sometimes the certainty, of horrors suffered by the victim, and is transformed into the “hope that death has put an end to his or her suffering.” This doubt affects the future, turning it into a hopeless transitoriness. To consider a person dead when one did not see that individual die is, at a symbolic level, to have to kill him or her oneself. This is the most subtle and complex mechanism of psychological torture for all the next of kin. There is increased guilt, a loss of potentiality, greater mental and emotional disability which can lead to psychosis.

Allowing the next of kin to bury their victims is crucial for the mourning process to commence. The symbolic value of the ritual of vigil and burial is immense, because it indicates the passage between the past and the future, allowing them to bid farewell to someone who was alive and who no longer lives, and thus to begin the task of mourning. The dead person also has to be buried so that he or she does not return as a ghost in nightmares, hallucinations, paranoid anxiety, and delirium.

Progress in the investigations is indispensable to facilitate psychological rehabilitation of the next of kin and their re-integration into society.

Another unavoidable task is that of the medical-forensic team of identifying the persons buried in common graves. Knowing what happened is a fundamental step for the psyche to commence its task of repair.

Events such as the Caracazo cause psychopathological disturbances throughout the household group. The whole structure is affected. They generate sleep and eating disorders, as well as concentration and memory problems; addictions are renewed or worsened. The family becomes more vulnerable to daily problems and is more prone to the risk of accidents and diseases. If a male member of the family is lost, there is anguish regarding subsistence and the surviving member is overburdened with responsibility as head of the family. The young or adolescent son will have to undertake adult responsibilities for which he is not yet prepared. It the survivor is a woman, the situation is even more difficult because she also has to become a father. The surviving siblings must tolerate the ambivalence caused by the grief or guilt together with anger due to truncation of their projects regarding studies, couple relationships, etc. There may be patterns of psychological alteration, although the individual characteristics of each family must be taken into account.

Death of a child is the worst loss that people may suffer. Psychological problems tend to become chronic. Often the lack of tolerance of this fact generates suicidal behavior of one of the parents. For the mother, the situation is more difficult because of the symbiotic bond she had with the child during his or her early years.

Without psychological assistance, it is impossible to repair the psychological damage, because only psychotherapy allows those affected to remember and integrate the traumatic events in their life, enabling them to develop a new life project. Very often it is necessary for there to be a psychiatric complement, such as anti-depressant medication. Individual treatment alternating with family sessions is the recommended treatment; the number of sessions required will vary depending on the circumstances of each family. Approximate cost of treatment is US$ 50.00 (fifty United States dollars) per individual session, and US$ 65 to US$ 70 (sixty-five to seventy United States dollars) per family therapy session. Thus, the cost of treatment for an individual (reinforced by family sessions) is US$ 3,200.00 (three thousand two hundred United States dollars) per year.

The proceedings before the Inter-American Court play a key role in reparation, as this is the only way to obtain justice. By attaining an indispensable social reparation, the individuals affected can also attain psychological reparation and regain trust in human and social values.

The symbolic value of having rendered testimony in the proceedings before the Inter-American Court is crucial for restoration of psyche having suffered so much damage as those of the individuals affected, especially because they have made their statement in the public sphere, as this allows channeling and socialized processing of the existing hostility. It allows them to make publicly evident the arbitrarity, the horror and the suffering, and to express what they have kept private for so many years.

3. Jesús María Casal, attorney at law.

Violation of Article 8 of the American Convention by the State originated in the enormous difficulty the victims faced for their complaints and legitimate petitions regarding abridgements of human rights to be addressed by the courts. Access to justice was limited, first, by suspension of guarantees in connection with the events of February 27 and 28, 1989, as it was erroneously interpreted by police and military officials as a temporary disappearance of human rights in general. Second, by subsequent denial of abuse and the existence of common graves. Resistance of the State to undertake its responsibility did not allow an investigation to take place at a stage in which it was essential to gather evidence and clarify the events. This led to irregular burials conducted in a clandestine manner. Furthermore, the preliminary criminal investigation was secret, as set forth in the Code of Criminal Procedure then in force.

Steps taken to identify and attain the return of the buried corpses were unsuccessful, as only three of the 68 bodies found have been identified with support by Argentinean anthropologists. Subsequently, the process of identification was paralyzed. The last identification announced by the Government Prosecutor’s Office refers to three corpses, but independent experts were not asked to participate.

During the evidence gathering stage, the State has withheld evidence. After the entry into force of the Organic Criminal Procedure Code that eliminates the secret preliminary investigative phase called “sumario”, full access by the next of kin of the victims or their representatives to all records has not been ensured. To conduct a serious and complete investigation of the facts, it was necessary for the Executive to conduct an administrative or internal investigation of what happened so as to establish the origin of the orders that led to the summary executions.

No criminal or administrative responsibility has so far been established in any of the cases, whether pertaining to the facts that led to violation of human rights or to subsequent complaints with respect to acts by judges and prosecutors. The decision of the Supreme Court of Justice, in response to a request by the Attorney General, to hear the cases in connection with the facts of the case regarding alleged human rights violations, has only enabled ordering of the cases pending, but it has not yielded any tangible results. Currently, the files are in the hands of the Government Prosecutor’s Office.

The expert witness believes that acts of the legal bodies have caused a grave denial of justice.

With respect to the legal framework in force in Venezuela, the expert witness pointed out that the 1999 Constitution included in the constitutional order the main obligations derived from adoption of international human rights treaties. As an expression of guarantees of such rights, it established the obligation to investigate the crimes stated therein, and to punish those responsible as well as to ensure comprehensive reparation to the victims or their assignees. Nevertheless, the State has not fully complied with those obligations.

The Code of Criminal Procedure in force in 1989 set forth an inquisitive criminal procedure, lacking minimum due process guarantees. This has led the executive authorities to handle the development and outcome of criminal proceedings with excessively discretionary power, due to the secret nature, even with respect to the detainee and his or her attorney, of the charges during the preliminary investigative stage and absolute police control over the pre-trial proceedings during that stage. The Military Justice Code allowed the President of the Republic to forbid the opening of an investigation on crimes allegedly committed by members of the military or to dismiss charges in those already begun. This situation has partly been corrected through approval of the Organic Criminal Procedural Code and modifications to the Military Justice Code, now the Organic Military Justice Code. However, the later Code maintains exorbitant powers for the President of the Republic in the ambit of military jurisdiction. The Criminal Code, as amended in the year 2000, defines the crime of forced disappearance of persons, but does so in restrictive terms, as it only refers to the responsibility of whoever deprives someone of his or her liberty and “refuses to recognize the detention or to provide information on the whereabouts or situation of the missing person.” Summary execution is only considered under the general crime of homicide and the general aggravation of committing a crime with abuse of authority. Certain definitions of crimes refer only to acts or omissions by public officials that are contrary to liberty and humane treatment, among others. These shortcomings conspired against investigation of the facts because it was not possible to directly prosecute the crime of forced disappearance of persons or summary execution. The expert witness deems it necessary to modify the restrictive definition of the crime of forced disappearance of persons and to include in the Criminal Code the regulation of summary or arbitrary executions. However, he believes that the greatest difficulty for justice to be served is not the existence of an insufficient legal framework but rather official strategy.

The expert witness also deems that three aspects of military legislation hindered enjoyment of the rights enshrined in the Convention:

- Objective and subjective extension of military jurisdiction, which is given competence even when civilians are allegedly involved and without taking into account performance of military functions proper. This situation is contrary to the 1999 Constitution even though its enactment has not led to revision of Articles 123 and 128 of the Organic Military Justice Code. Intervention of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in military proceedings is restricted, as military legislation only foresees intervention by the Military Attorney General and the Military Prosecutors, who are furthermore appointed by the President.
- Breadth of powers of the Executive, and especially of the President, with respect to commencement or continuation of the investigation or the criminal proceeding, which allows crimes against human rights committed by the military to remain unpunished. The 1998 amendment of the Military Justice Code established a restrictive list of crimes in connection with which the high executive authorities could exercise such exorbitant powers, but this list continues to be very broad. It even places in the hands of those authorities decisions regarding prosecution of grave violations to International Humanitarian Law.
- Lack of precautionary mechanisms that ensure independence of military courts is a structural flaw of military jurisdiction which incapacitates it from dispensing justice in accordance with international human rights law. Military judges are appointed by the President of the Republic among active officers who, after they finish their appointment, go back to their habitual military tasks, which makes them vulnerable to intervention by their hierarchical superiors. Therefore, the witness deems that competence of the military courts should be restricted to the ambit of military discipline, that is, to hear breaches of military duties while in active service. Furthermore, appointment methods and the status of military judges should be modified to ensure their independence. It is likewise necessary to assign all military prosecutors to the Public Prosecutor’s Office and to establish that they are subordinate to the Attorney General of the Republic. The powers of the President of the Republic in connection with commencement or continuation of investigations or proceedings regarding crimes that go beyond the scope of military discipline should also be suppressed.

The National Police is divided into the Technical Corps of the Judiciary Police (now called the Scientific, Penal and Criminalistic Investigations Corps) and the Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services (DISIP). The former is in charge of aiding the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the courts in their investigative and criminal prosecution functions, and it is subordinate to the Executive. The latter is a political intelligence corps that investigates persons who are considered subversive or dangerous to the government, often applying unconstitutional measures. It is also not very transparent in its organization, methods, and resources. In the metropolitan area of Caracas there was also the Metropolitan Police, headed by an active military officer. The National Guard acted as military support to maintenance of public order.

Sporadically, the Metropolitan Police has organized courses on human rights for its staff, and the National Armed Forces and the Public Prosecutor’s Office have a human rights office. However, there is no systematic design of training plans for police staff regarding human rights. This explains the mistaken view that both the armed forces and even the judges and prosecutors of the Public Prosecutor’s Office had regarding the effects of suspension of guarantees.

The expert witness also believes that the Scientific, Penal and Criminalistic Investigations Corps should be subordinated, both organically and functionally, to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and that there should be a general separation between police and military corps.

The Forensic Medicine Service was subordinate to the Ministry of Justice. Its technical and human resources were scarce. Said situation remains unaltered. These shortcomings led to a collapse of the Caracas morgue in face of the volume of bodies transferred during the days of the events by the police and military forces. Lack of independence of the service led to the necessary precautions not being taken to subsequently identify the bodies, and also to responsibilities not being established. The expert witness therefore proposes that the Forensic Medicine Service be constituted as an autonomous institute ascribed to the Public Prosecutor’s Office and that it be assigned the resources required to perform its functions. The expert witness deems that minimum rules should be established to ensure common training of all police officials in the area of human rights and to ensure a disciplinary control mechanism within each police corps.

Even though the 1999 Constitution sets forth the duty of the State to comprehensively redress human rights violations, there are no legal procedures to ensure such reparations to the victims or their assignees. It is possible to file a complaint regarding patrimonial responsibility of the Administration for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage attributable to it, but a causal relation must be proven and, under certain assumptions, evidence of the culpable action by the official. To file a claim regarding said responsibility, it is indispensable that a prior administrative proceeding be exhausted. The subsequent judicial proceeding is exceedingly protracted.

The expert witness deems, finally, that in connection with violations of human rights, acts of symbolic reparation are crucial.

45. On June 5, 2002, the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin filed eleven documents in connection with several next of kin of the victims who had not appeared in the proceedings before the Court (supra para. 25).

46. On July 26, 2002, the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin filed seven documents pertaining to expenses allegedly incurred by CEJIL during the reparations stage of the proceedings before the Court (supra para. 32).

47. On August 2, 2002 the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin filed part of the evidence to facilitate adjudication of the case that was requested from them on July 5 of that same year, to which end they sent 59 documents, and a brief containing information regarding the evidence requested on July 16 of that same year. Likewise, on August 13, 2002 they sent six documents in connection with the evidence requested on July 5 and 16 of that same year, as well as 352 documents backing the alleged expenses incurred by COFAVIC during processing of the instant reparations stage (supra para. 33).

48. On August 12, 2002 the Commission filed a brief containing information on the evidence to facilitate adjudication, requested on July 16 of that same year (supra para. 34).

49. On August 13, 2002 the State filed, as evidence to facilitate adjudication, a report and two documents regarding the exchange rate of Venezuelan currency with respect to United States currency, and life expectancy statistics for Venezuela (supra para. 35).

C) PRESUMPTIONS

50. The Court will resort in the instant case to a set of presumptions that, for want of direct evidence, may be used because they are firmly rooted in what has been learned from experience, insofar as they are not weakened in this case by evidence to the contrary:

a) the presumption according to which all persons who disappeared in a context of violent events and who have been missing for many years are considered dead;

b) the presumption according to which all adults who receive income and have a family spend most of that income providing for the needs of its members;

c) the presumption according to which the next of kin of a deceased person cover the costs of his or her funeral;

d) the presumption according to which every person, from the time he or she attains majority, carries out productive activities and perceives, at least, an income equivalent to minimum legal wage in the country involved. The Court finds no reason to set aside this presumption even in cases where there is evidence that the victim performed only informal or unstable work or was unemployed at the time of the events-; and

e) the presumption according to which violations of human rights and a situation of impunity regarding those violations cause grief, anguish and sadness, both to the victims and to their next of kin.

D) ASSESSMENT AND USE OF THE EVIDENCE

51. In the instant case the State, as has been pointed out, acknowledged the facts set forth in the application –that is, the facts regarding the merits of the case- and recognized its responsibility in connection with them. The State unequivocally expressed this at the public hearing on the merits held on November 10, 1999, and in a subsequent brief, dated November 15, 2001.

52. By means of its September 18, 2000 and June 18 and 22, 2002 briefs, the State retracted from the statements mentioned in the previous paragraph, once again raising issues regarding the merits of the case. However, the Court deems that, in view of the estoppel principle, to which it has resorted several times in its case law, acknowledgment of the facts set forth in the application and recognition of responsibility regarding those facts, made by the State in the instant case, must be given full import. Therefore, the evidence being assessed in the framework of this judgment is that which seeks to establish the relevant facts in the reparations stage, that is, pertaining to the following issues: what was the damage caused, what reparations should be ordered, and who should be the beneficiaries of said reparations.

53. It should be stated that in its September 18, 2000 brief, the State commented on the reparations briefs of the representatives of the victims and the next of kin, as well as of the Commission. Nevertheless, in its November 15, 2001 brief, Venezuela asked that the September 18, 2000 brief with observations on reparations be “annulled”. As a consequence of this, the statements contained in the brief on reparations filed by the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin and that by the Commission, on matters such as composition of the families of said victims and their income and their contributions to cover the needs of the household, were no longer controverted by the State. While the State attempted to change that position in its June 18 and July 22, 2002 briefs, in which it questioned the arguments of its counterparts regarding reparations, the Court must give full import to the November 15, 2001 brief, in view of the estoppel principle.

54. Developing the precedents of its case law on this matter, the Court deems it relevant to establish that when the State does not respond to the reparations brief or application, or when it desists from the respective reply, this will constitute an indication in demonstation of the facts on which it remained silent or which the subsequently abandoned reply had addressed, so these facts will be considered proven insofar as no evidence appears that is capable of weakening them, and that other evidence is gathered which, without necessarily being conclusive, contributes to support their veracity.

55. For the purposes of the instant judgment and according to its usual practice, the Court has taken into account, first of all, that the criteria for assessment of the evidence by an international human rights court are broader than those applied by domestic courts, so it has a much greater degree of flexibility than the latter to assess, based on the rules of logic and on experience, the evidence submitted regarding relevant facts, and to resort, specifically, to indirect evidence –such as circumstantial evidence, indications and presumptions-. Despite the above, when it resorts to indirect evidence the Court takes care to examine whether the items of evidence are coherent, whether they corroborate each other, and whether they are in harmony with the whole body of evidence.

56. On the other hand, following the precedent of its case law on this matter, the Court brings to mind that “in proceedings on violations of human rights, the defense of the State cannot lean on the plaintiff’s impossibility to gather evidence that, in many cases, cannot be obtained without the cooperation of the State” and that “the State has control of the means to clarify the facts that took place in its territory.”

57. In the instant case, without detriment to what is stated in subsequent paragraphs regarding statements of the witnesses and their next of kin and expert witness reports, the Court accepts the probatory value of those documents submitted in a timely manner by the parties that were not disputed nor their authenticity questioned.

58. With respect to the reports submitted in writing by Alicia Neuburger and Magdalena López de Ibáñez on the psychological impact of human rights violations committed by the State on the affected individuals and families, and by Jesús María Casal on adequacy of Venezuelan juridical institutions and laws in light of the American Convention and other circumstances of the case, reports filed by the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin (supra paras. 23 and 44), the Court deems them useful insofar as they are in accordance with the object of the expert opinion, as ordered by the Court.

59. With respect to written testimony rendered by the three surviving victims and the next of kin of other victims, the Court also deems it relevant insofar as it is in accordance with the object stated by the party offering them and defined by the Court in the order to receive it (supra para. 20). The Court notes that, in general, statements by the victims and the next of kin of the victims are especially useful regarding reparations, insofar as they can provide very relevant information regarding the harmful consequences of the violations committed. Nevertheless, as the victims and the next of kin have a direct interest in the instant case, their statements cannot be assessed in an isolated manner, but rather as part of the body of evidence gathered in the proceedings.

60. The Court verifies, in turn, that in the instant case the statements of the victims and of other next of kin of victims, as well as the expert witness reports, were submitted to the proceedings by means of briefs. Their content and the signature of the individuals signing each statement or report were certified by a notary public. This, in itself, contributes to their credibility. Nevertheless, the Court will not consider the respective procedural items to be conclusive evidence –as was also stated in the previous paragraph, regarding the testimony of the victims and other next of kin-, but rather will assess their content within the context of the body of evidence and following the rules of competent analysis.

61. The documents submitted by the parties, whether with the brief on reparations (in the case of the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin), or with the brief with observations on reparations (in the case of the State), as they are subject matter of this stage of the proceedings and were supplied at the appropriate procedural time, will be assessed as evidence by the Court, under the appropriate terms. As regards the documents contributed as evidence to facilitate adjudication by the representatives of the victims and of the next of kin (supra para. 47) and by the State (supra para. 49), the Court deems them useful within the context of the body of evidence and will assess them under the appropriate terms.

62. It should be recalled that the body of evidence in a case is unique and indivisible and is formed by the evidence submitted during all stages of the proceedings, so the evidence supplied by the parties during the merits stage is also part of the probatory material that will be considered during the instant stage.

63. More precisely, the Court will apply the aforementioned criteria and elements of the body of evidence to establish as proven facts those relevant to the instant reparations stage, as follows:

a) it will consider that the homicides, disappearances, violations of the right to humane treatment and violations of the right to fair trial, to due process and to effective remedy, against the 44 victims in this case and their next of kin, as well as the responsibility of the State in this regard, have been duly proven as a result of the merits stage, as was established in the November 11, 1999 judgment; the general circumstances in Venezuela at the time these human rights violations occurred were also proven in the same way, including public order disturbance and the acts of violence that occurred in late February and early March, 1989, and other concomitant or subsequent facts, such as the use of common graves by the authorities and ineffectiveness of domestic judicial investigations regarding the violent events;

b) with respect to the dates of birth and death of the victims, as well as the circumstances of those deaths, and regarding the existence of persons who constituted the families of the victims, as well as the concrete kinship relations linking the latter to the former, the Court will base its decision on the information contained in the birth or death certificates issued by Venezuelan authorities. When such certificates are lacking, it will base its decision for the respective purposes on the reparations briefs filed by the representatives of the victims and their next of kin, or of the Commission, and on the content of other documents included in the body of evidence in accordance with what was stated above, such as the autopsy reports, baptism certificates, statements made before a notary public by the surviving victims and the next of kin of other victims, and the aforementioned reports of the three expert witnesses. In any case, the Court specifies that when certificates issued by domestic authorities are lacking, it will only consider these matters proven when several reliable probatory means concur; and

c) as regards the fact that the victims contributed to cover the financial needs of the members of their families, and the origin of the funds required to cover funeral expenses, the Court likewise bases its decision on the reparations briefs, on statements of the surviving victims and the next of kin of other victims before a notary public, on the presumption of an agreement according to which adults who receive income and have a family use a major part of that income to provide for the needs of its members, and on the presumption according to which the next of kin of a deceased person cover the costs of his or her funeral.

64. The Court will resort to the aforementioned criteria to assess evidence, to the end of establishing certain reparations, as follows:

a) as regards the general economic conditions of the victims and their next of kin, the characteristics of their economic activities and their level of income, the Court will base its decision on the aforementioned briefs on reparations, on the statements made before a notary public by the surviving victims and the next of kin of other victims, and on the presumption of an agreement according to which every person, once he or she attains majority, carries out economic activities and receives, at least, an income equivalent to the minimum legal wage in the respective country; and

b) as regards non-pecuniary damage caused in connection with human rights violations such as those which the instant case refers to, the Court will resort to the presumption according to which such violations and the development of a situation of impunity with respect to them, cause grief, anguish and sadness, both to the victims and to their next of kin.

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65. Despite having several times requested that the State supply them (supra para. 12), the Court has not received the cassette with the tape recording of the message which should have been broadcast on the radio nor the videotape of the message that should have been broadcast on television, according to the November 21, 2000 Court Order (supra para. 9). The fact that these tapes were n