CCPR/C/128/D/3018/2017
Márquez, their father, also a Venezuelan national, who was born on 11 September 1960 and
disappeared on 27 February 2015. The authors allege that the State party has violated Mr.
Mora Márquez’s rights under articles 2 (3), 6 (1), 7, 9, 10 and 16 of the Covenant. The authors
further allege that the State party has violated their own rights under articles 2 (3) and 7 of
the Covenant. The authors are represented by counsel. The Optional Protocol entered into
force for the State party on 10 August 1978.
The facts as submitted by the authors
2.1
The authors allege that enforced disappearances have been a practice in the State party
since the 1960s as part of anti-subversive efforts. Since the 1980s, the practice of enforced
disappearance has changed and become linked to the fight against ordinary crime. The
authors state that 122 cases of enforced disappearance were recorded between 2000 and 2015.
However, the authors allege that the enforced disappearance of Mr. Mora Márquez is not
linked to the fight against ordinary crime, but rather that his disappearance marks a return to
a repressive practice of politically motivated enforced disappearance.
2.2
Mr. Mora Márquez was a well-known regional leader of the Venezuelan
Revolutionary Party who had aired his political views on programmes broadcast on Radio
Horizonte, Radio Zamora and Radio Los Andes 1040, denouncing acts of corruption,
criticizing government policies and urging the population to organize in defence of their
rights.
2.3
Since August 2013, Mr. Mora Márquez had worked for the government of the State
of Mérida, in the Andes region in the western part of the country, as Secretary to the
Secretary-General of the government. Mr. Mora Márquez had denounced several state
government officials and personnel of the State-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela for
involvement in a network that was smuggling gasoline into Colombia. In that context, he had
provided the Governor and the Secretary-General of the government of the State of Mérida
with a dossier containing information on the individuals involved in the smuggling operation.
2.4
On 25 February 2015, Mr. Mora Márquez was intercepted near his home by armed
men, who arrived in a black pickup truck and threatened him with death. The authors indicate
that the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service used vehicles with similar characteristics.
Mr. Mora Márquez did not lodge a formal complaint concerning the threats made against
him, but he did tell family and friends about them. That same day, at 7.41 p.m., Mr. Mora
Márquez sent a text message from his mobile phone to several people, stating the following:
“Comrades, be warned, the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service has issued a warrant for
my arrest. […] they want to charge me for some allegations of corruption […] that I’ve been
making and they are trying to set me up.1 Beware.”
2.5
On the morning of 27 February 2015, Mr. Mora Márquez left his home for work; that
was the last time his children saw him alive.
2.6
On 2 March 2015, the authors were able to talk to their father by telephone for a
minute and a half and were told by Mr. Mora Márquez that “everything was fine”. The
authors tried repeatedly to communicate with their father after that, but to no avail.
2.7
On 4 March 2015, Mr. Mora Carrero received several text messages on his mobile
phone from his father’s mobile, indicating the following: “Working hard, knee to the earth,
as our immortal comandante taught us. AMM”; “I’m fine, will tell you more later. AMM”;
“I’m in a meeting with some comrades. AMM”. The authors indicate that these messages
aroused greater alarm, as they did not read like something their father would have written;
moreover, their father did not usually put his initials at the end of his messages.
2.8
On 5 March 2015, the authors filed a complaint of enforced disappearance with the
Agency for Forensic and Criminal Investigations of Mérida, which was registered under the
number K-15-0262-00618.
2.9
On 13 March 2015, the authors submitted a 23-page file on their father’s
disappearance to the National Assembly, and on 25 May 2015, they requested the National
Assembly’s Committee on Internal Policy to use its good offices to follow up on the matter.
1
2
In other words, they were trying to falsely implicate him.
GE.20-07124