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IACHR
Press Release
IACHR Deplores Murder in Venezuela of Ninth Member of the Barrios Family, a Beneficiary of Provisional Measures
January 18, 2013
Washington, D.C. – Washington, D.C.—The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) deplores the murder of Jorge Antonio Barrios Ortuño, the ninth member of that family to be killed in Venezuela.
According to information the Commission has received, the 24-year-old Jorge Antonio Barrios Ortuño was killed by an unknown individual on December 15, 2012, while he was traveling on a motorcycle in the El Huete neighborhood of Cagua, a city in Aragua state. Jorge Antonio Barrios Ortuño was a beneficiary of provisional measures handed down by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Eight other members of the Barrios family had been murdered before him, between 1998 and 2012.
The Inter-American Commission and Court have followed this situation through all applicable means, including requests for information, precautionary measures, provisional measures, admissibility and merits reports by the Commission, and the submission of the case to the Inter-American Court. However, the State of Venezuela has not adopted the measures necessary to protect the lives of the members of this family, which continues to fall victim to murders, arrests, searches, threats, and harassment. Nor has the State ordered effective investigations into these crimes, which remain unpunished.
On November 24, 2011, the Inter-American Court issued a judgment in the Case of the Barrios Family v. Venezuela, in which it determined the State of Venezuela's international responsibility for the extrajudicial executions of Benito Antonio Barrios and Narciso Barrios, and for the failure to fulfill its obligation to prevent the deaths of Luis Alberto Barrios, the minor Rigoberto Barrios, Oscar José Barrios, Wilmer José Flores Barrios, and Juan Barrios. The Inter-American Court also addressed the situation of impunity that exists with regard to the human rights violations committed against the Barrios family.
After the Inter-American Court issued its ruling, Víctor Navarro Barrios was murdered. That means that, even following the Inter-American Court's decision, and despite the provisional measures in effect, two more members of the family have been killed.
The Barrios family is being exterminated in the face of inaction by the State, which has ignored the entreaties, decisions, recommendations, and orders of the two bodies that comprise the inter-American human rights system.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
No. 6/13