The Comité de Familiares y Víctimas de los Sucesos de Febrero-Marzo de 1989 (Spanish: Committee of Relatives of the Victims of the Events of February-March 1989), commonly known as COFAVIC (also as the Committee of Relatives of the Victims of the Caracazo), is a Venezuelan non-governmental organization founded in 1989 in the aftermath of the Caracazo riots.
 | |
| Founded | 1989 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Liliana Ortega |
| Type | Non-governmental organization |
| Focus | Human rights |
| Headquarters | Caracas, Venezuela |
Region served | Venezuela |
| Website | cofavic |
History
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COFAVIC is a non-governmental organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights. It was founded in 1989 after the Caracazo, a series of riots in Venezuela that resulted in hundreds of deaths, and represented the victims before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.[1]
On 9 July 2009, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights lifted the provisional measures previously granted in favour of several members of COFAVIC. From that date on, the organization was subjected to threats and acts of harassment.[2]
Between 25 February and 1 March 2010, Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz accused COFAVIC of sending documents different from the pre-mortem information requested by the Public Ministry on the victims of the Caracazo, and stated that the NGO "had publicly opposed the actions of the Venezuelan State to comply with the IACHR ruling without providing further arguments". Likewise, on 26 February, Ombudswoman Gabriela Ramírez described COFAVIC as a "non-governmental organization that has recently turned into opposition".[2]
The World Organisation Against Torture described the statements as a campaign of discredit and disrepute, and asked the Venezuelan government to rectify its position.[2]
On 20 December 2016, after having published a report on 9 December on the killings in the states of Sucre and Miranda during October and November of that year, the COFAVIC website suffered a cyberattack. The attack may have been a reprisal for the publication of the report. On 20 March 2017, in the context of COFAVIC's participation in the 161st session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that month alongside other human rights defenders in Venezuela, its website suffered another cyberattack. The organization's staff was unable to administer or access its content for four hours until access was restored.[3]
See also
editReferences
edit- ↑ "Comité de Familiares de las Victímas – COFAVIC". Front Line Defenders (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 January 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Campaña de descalificación y desprestigio contra el COFAVIC, y en particular contra las Sras. Aura Liscano y Liliana Ortega". OMCT (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 January 2026.
- ↑ "Cyber-ataque contra COFAVIC". Front Line Defenders (in Spanish). 29 March 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2026.
External links
edit- Official website
- COFAVIC (15 February 2018). "Derechos sin revés: COFAVIC ha llevado a la Corte IDH seis casos de violaciones a los derechos humanos". Runrunes (in Spanish).