A/HRC/45/CRP.11 disappearance and demanding proof of life.1526 On 1 February 2019, Colonel Acevedo’s wife announced on Twitter that she had not known her husband’s whereabouts since 27 January 2019 and that she held the Government responsible for his physical and mental integrity. 1527 Mr. Iabichuela’s wife tweeted on 1 February 2019 that her husband had left his house on 26 January 2019 and she had not heard anything from him since. She asked the authorities for proof of life.1528 825. Lawyers representing Colonel Palomo visited the military tribunal on 30 January 2019 and requested information about Colonel Palomo’s whereabouts, but were not provided with informaiton.1529 826. On 31 January 2019, Minister of the Interior Néstor Reverol made a televised statement announcing that intelligence agencies had discovered a coup conspiracy by mercenaries and terrorists.1530 He said that Colonel Palomo had been captured early in the morning of 31 January 2019, near the José Antonio Páez highway, in the company of Colonel Acevedo and Mr. José Iabichuela Barrios. 827. The Minister of the Interior stated that the detainees had been carrying two AK-103 rifles, two satellite phones, 500 wristbands with “OC” initials (which he said referred to Operation Constitution).1531 Minister Reverol displayed these items, but did not present other information linking them with the arrested men. 828. The Mission reviewed the DGCIM investigation file, which recorded that at 4 p.m. on 31 January 2019, DGCIM tried to intercept a car near the José Antonio Páez highway, which they suspected contained Garcia Palomo. The car attempted to escape and a ten-minute chase ensued. The DGCIM unit then managed to detain him along with two passengers, Colonel Rommel Acevedo and Jose Iabichuela.1532 829. The DGCIM record stated that Colonel Acevedo and Mr. Iabichuela were detained in flagrante delicto. It also said that the serial number of the AK-103 weapons coincided with that of two guns that had been illegally taken on 21 January 2019 in an assault on a military unit in DESUR Petare. The document linked that operation to Colonel Palomo.1533 830. The accounts gathered by the Mission dispute this.1534 According to these accounts, the men were arrested on 27 January 2019, at approximately 3 p.m. At the moment of the arrest, they were unarmed and only Colonel Palomo and Colonel Acevedo were traveling in Colonel Acevedo’s car, having previously dropped Mr. Iabichuela off at Razetti Hospital in Barinas. 831. The arrestees claim to have been followed by a DGCIM vehicle along the José Antonio Páez highway and that shots were fired from the vehicle in their direction. After a brief chase, Colonel Palomo and Colonel Acevedo stopped the car and DGCIM officers arrested them. The officers were identified with DGCIM vests. 1535 Meanwhile, DGCIM officers intercepted an ambulance in which Mr. Iabichuela had been travelling. They seized him and put him in the same car as Colonel Acevedo and Colonel Palomo. 1536 1526 1527 1528 1529 1530 1531 1532 1533 1534 1535 1536 https://twitter.com/TAMARA_SUJU/status/1090544221738749952?s=20. https://twitter.com/VPITV/status/1092620675846676480?s=20. https://twitter.com/ElyangelicaNews/status/1092920026108186624?s=20. Mission Interview with Lawyer Emilio Bolívar in June 2020. YouTube Video, Luigino Bracci Roa, Néstor Reverol sobre captura de Oswaldo García Palomo, vehículo falso de FAES y sicarios, 31 January 2019, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wi7PePInGo&t=318s. Ibid. Act of Accusation, MP-35567-2019, on file with the Mission. Ibid. Mission Interview C3DD09 in June 2020, Document C3DD04 and C3DD07 on file with the Mission. Major Granko Arteaga of the Special Issues Unit of DGCIM. Documents C3DD04 and C3DD07, on file with the Mission. 171