67 measures in light of the facts under investigation, pretrial detention is rendered 225 disproportionate. 163. Because of the proportionality criterion, pretrial detention may not be used when the sanction applicable to the crime does not involve incarceration, nor when the circumstances of the case allow for the possible suspension of a future sentence. Consideration must also be given to whether, were a conviction to be issued, 226 the timing of events would allow some form of conditional or advance release. Likewise, any deprivation of liberty for the expression of an opinion, even as a 227 precautionary measure, is disproportionate and incompatible with the Convention. 164. The proportionality criterion is of particular relevance in light of the situation that exists in many of the States in the region, where there are pronounced 228 patterns of pretrial detention being used to detain people accused of minor offenses (including nonviolent crimes against property and small-scale drug dealing). On this situation, the WGAD has noted that such people “are kept in custody only to ensure that 225 ECHR, Case of Ladent v. Poland (Application No. 11036/03), Judgment of March 18, 2008 (Fourth Section of the Court), paras. 55 and 56. 226 IACHR, Report No. 86/09, Case 12.553, Merits, Jorge, José, and Dante Peirano Basso, Uruguay, August 6, 2009, para. 110. 227 IACHR, Application from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Case 12.554, Francisco Usón Ramírez, July 25, 2008, para. 179. 228 Regarding this point, see, for example: IACHR, Fifth Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Guatemala, Ch. VII, paras. 4, 7, 29, 34, 35, and 36; UN, Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Statement upon conclusion of its visit to Brazil (18 to 28 March 2013), available at: UN, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13197&LangID=E; Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, Report on the Visit of the SPT to Mexico, CAT/OP/MEX/1, published May 27, 2009, paras. 101 to 104 (“The criminalization of poverty”); IACHR Regional Meeting of Experts on Pretrial Detention, May 9 and 10, 2013, presentation by Dr. Elena Azaola, available in Spanish at: http://www.oas.org/es/cidh/ppl/actividades/prisionpreventiva.asp (citing the studies of Guillermo Zepeda); Report on the situation of people deprived of freedom in Mexico, pp. 19 to 22, presented at the hearing on the Situation of the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty in Mexico, 144th regular session, organized by Document, Analysis, and Action for Social Justice (Documenta), Legal Assistance for Human Rights (ASILEGAL), and the Institute of Human Rights Ignacio Ellacuría, S.J. of the Ibero-American University of Puebla, March 23, 2012, available in Spanish at: http://www.redtdt.org.mx/media/descargables/INFORMECIDH.PRIVADOS.LIBERTAD.pdf; Diego Portales University, Law School Human Rights Center, Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in Chile 2012 (Informe Anual sobre Derechos Humanos en Chile 2012), pp. 204 to 214; Paz Ciudadana Foundation and Open Society Foundations, Characterization of the Population in Pretrial Detention in Chile (Caracterización de la Población en Prisión Preventiva en Chile), 2011, available in Spanish at: http://www.pazciudadana.cl/wpcontent/uploads/2013/07/2011-03-2011_Caracterizaci%C3%83%C2%B3n-de-la-poblaci%C3%83%C2%B3n-enprisi%C3%83%C2%B3n-preventiva.pdf; and, with particular reference to drug policies, see, for example: Transitional Institute and Whola, Systems Overload: Drug Laws and Prisons in Latin America, 2010, available at: http://www.druglawreform.info/en/publications/systems-overload. With reference to drug policies, the Commission notes that the Declaration of Antigua Guatemala, “For a Comprehensive Policy against the World Drug Problem in the Americas,” states that “drug policies must have a crosscutting human rights perspective consistent with the obligations of parties under international law, including the American Convention on Human Rights and other applicable human rights instruments.” OEA/Ser.P AG/DEC.73 (XLIII-O/13), adopted June 6, 2013, para. 10.