Inter American Court Tackles Vargas Disaster Forced Disappearance Case
The Inter American Court in San José will close its summer sessions today dealing with a case of forced disappearance in Venezuela.

The court will review what is known as The Case of Blanco Romero and Others that occurred during 1999 Vargas State natural disaster.

The case hit the headlines in December1999 - January 2000, thanks to the investigative journalism by Vanessa Davies.

Three Vargas State citizens, Oscar Blanco Romero, Roberto Hernandez Paz and Jose Rivas Fernandez were arrested at their homes by army units sent out to prevent looting that had plagued the zone after heavy rains and mudslides cut the Vargas State coastline off from Caracas.

The men were supposedly passed on the State Political & Security (DISIP) Police, which declared it had no records of their arrest and nothing has been seen of the men since then.

PROVEA human rights group says in view of the fact that since February 2000 there has been no information on the whereabouts of the men and the State continues to deny their arrest, Venezuelan human rights groups have decided to take the case to international bodies.

The security officers, PROVEA claims, did not make themselves known to the men and their families or state the reason for the arrests, preferring to act in an arbitrary and illegal fashion.

AHRC judges will listen to the testimony of eye witnesses and experts
Last March the Inter American Human Rights Commission (IAHRC) in Costa Rica announced that it had accepted a complaint lodged by Venezuelan HR group (Cofavic) concerning the forced disappearance of Oscar Jose Blanco Romero during an army peace-keeping operation in Vargas State a week after December's natural disaster.

In a letter to the Venezuelan government confirming the decision, IAHRC insists that the government has the obligation to supply information leading towards clarifying the charges. If the matter isn't revolved, then case No.12, 256 will proceed to the Inter American HR Court in Washington.

Family members accuse paratroopers of bursting into Blanco's house on December 21 in Valle del Pino barrio slum (Caraballeda), allegedly searching for looters. According to patrol commander, Lieutenant Federico Jose Ventura Infante , Blanco and three other suspects were handed over to a State Security & Political Police (Disip) unit.

The Disip director at the time, Jesus Urdaneta Hernandez has failed to answer charges that Blanco and others disappeared while in the custody of the Disip. His successor, Captain (ret.) Eliecer Otaiza has been keeping investigations under wraps, despite President Hugo Chavez Frias' insistence that he will follow the case through to the bitter end.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel has told the United Nations HR Commission in Geneva that Venezuela is against unilateral assessments of HR status of individual countries ... "cooperation and not condemnation should be the word to be employed." Last year, Venezuela, for the first time, opposed a motion led by the US to condemn Cuba, Libya and Iran for their HR record.