Imprisoned opposition activist describes the brutality of prison life

“I have already been tortured and repressed, but I will not be silenced. My voice is the only one left to me.”

This is how Juan, a young man of about 20, begins his story. He has alleged that he was physically and psychologically tortured by Venezuelan security forces after his arrest in connection with the July 28 presidential election.

He was one of the hundreds of people arrested by the electoral authorities – who are mainly loyal to the government – during the protests after the announcement of the victory of the incumbent Nicolás Maduro.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) has not made the vote counts public and the Venezuelan opposition has called the official result fraudulent, noting that the vote count obtained with the help of election observers suggests a landslide victory for its candidate. Edmundo González.

Juan was released from prison in mid-November, a few days after Maduro asked the judicial authorities to “correct” the injustices that occurred during the arrests.

The BBC spoke to him via video call. For his safety, we have decided to withhold some of the details of his case and have changed his name.

The young man complained that many of the detainees are ill-treated, they are given “rotten food” and the most rebellious are locked in “torture rooms”.

He showed the BBC documents and evidence that corroborated his story, which coincided with other testimonies and complaints from non-governmental organisations.

Juan, an anti-government political activist, says that the election campaign and the days before the election were “marked with hope” and that many people wanted to vote for change.

But shortly after midnight that Sunday, the announcement of Maduro’s victory turned what had been a celebratory atmosphere for many into one of confusion and anger.

Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets to protest against a result they saw as fraudulent.

According to the opposition and international organizations, what followed was a police crackdown that resulted in the death of more than 20 demonstrators.

Maduro and some of his officials have blamed the opposition, “right-wing extremists” and “terrorist” groups for the deaths.

Gonzalo Himiob of the Venezuelan non-governmental organization Foro Penal says people were arrested “for celebrating the opposition’s declaration of Edmundo González as winner or for posting something on social media.”

“We also have cases of people who didn’t even protest, but for some reason they were around a protest and they were arrested,” he added.

Juan says that’s what happened to him.

The young political activist says he was running an errand when a group of hooded men caught him, covered his face and beat him, accusing him of being a terrorist.

“They planted Molotov cocktails and gasoline on me, and then they took me to a detention center,” he continued.

He was held in a prison in the interior of Venezuela for several weeks before being transferred to Tocorón, a notorious high-security prison 140 kilometers southwest of the capital Caracas.

There he would go through what he described as the worst experience of his life.

“When we arrived in Tocoron, they stripped us, beat us and insulted us. We were forbidden to raise our heads and look at the guards; we had to lower our heads to the ground,” says Juan.

Juan was assigned a small cell measuring three meters by three meters, which he had to share with five other people.

There were six beds divided into three bunks, and in one corner a septic tank and “a pipe that served as a shower”. That was the bathroom.

“In Tocoron I felt more like I was in a concentration camp than in a prison,” says the young man. He describes the beds as ‘concrete tombs’ with a very thin mattress.

“They tortured us physically and psychologically. They didn’t let us sleep, they always came to ask us to get up and stand in line,” he explained.

“We were woken up around 05:00 to line up behind the cell. The guards asked us to show our passes and numbers.”

He added that around 06:00 they would turn on the water for six minutes so that they could bathe.

“Six minutes for six people and only one shower, with very cold water. If you were last and didn’t have time to remove the soap, you were covered in soap all day.” he says

Then, he added, they waited for breakfast, which sometimes arrived at 06:00 and sometimes at 12:00.

Dinner was sometimes at 9:00 p.m., and sometimes at 2:00 a.m.

“Apart from waiting for the meals, there was nothing else to do. We were alone inside the small room and told stories. We also talked about politics, but in our mouths, because the guards would hear us and punish us.” “

Juan says that many of his fellow prisoners were depressed and acting like zombies.

“They gave us rotten food: scraps of meat that you would give to chickens or dogs or sardines that were already expired.”

Some detainees were beaten with their hands on their ankles or forced to “walk like frogs,” he says.

He describes “punishment cells” where those who held rebellious views, or who dared to talk about politics or make a phone call to their relatives, would be sent.

Juan says that he was in a punishment cell in Tocoron, and that he received only one meal every two days.

“It’s a very dark cell, one meter by one meter. I was very hungry. What kept me going was thinking about all the injustices that were happening and that one day I would get out of there,” he says.

Another torture cell is known as “Adolfo’s bed”, which Juan says is named after the first person to die there.

“It’s a dark room with no oxygen, the size of a vault. They put you in there for a few minutes until you can’t breathe and you pass out or you start banging on the door in desperation. They put me in there and I lasted. I thought I was going to die for a little over five minutes,” he recalled. .

The young man says that in this prison inmates have 10 minutes of exercise outside three times a week, but many stay in their cells.

Gonzalo Himiob of the Penal Forum says the conditions in Tocoro are “deplorable” and that they are violating the basic rights of detainees, such as access to a lawyer of their choice.

“They all have public defenders—the government knows that if it gives access to a private attorney who’s not a public servant, it can document all the due process violations that are going on.”

In October, United Nations (UN) experts reported serious human rights violations during the presidential election and subsequent protests, including political persecution, excessive use of force, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions by state security forces. related civil groups.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently investigating the Venezuelan government for possible crimes against humanity.

The Venezuelan government denies the accusations and says that this investigation “responds to the intention to instrumentalize the mechanisms of international criminal justice for political purposes”.

The BBC requested an interview from the Prosecutor’s Office about the allegations of abuse and torture of detainees, but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Juan was released in November, but according to data from the Criminal Forum, there were still 1,794 political prisoners in Venezuela as of December 30.

According to Juan, many of those arrested in Tocoro have placed their hopes on a date: the presidential inauguration of January 10, 2025.

It is the day that the opposition candidate Edmundo González, who lives in exile in Spain, has returned to Venezuela and said that he will take the position of president.

The opposition bases its claim to the presidency on the official votes it managed to collect with the help of election observers.

These tallies, which account for 85% of the total, have been uploaded to a website and analyzed by independent observers, who say they suggest a landslide victory for González.

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden met with González and called him the “real winner” of the Venezuelan election.

However, it is unclear whether Gonzalez, whose arrest warrants have been issued, plans to enter Venezuela or who would be sworn in, given that the National Assembly is dominated by Maduro loyalists.

However, Juan says that the prisoners detained in Tocoron are hoping for a change of government on Friday and that they will be released from prison.

Meanwhile, Maduro’s government has called talk of political transition a “conspiracy” and has threatened that whoever supports a change in leadership will “pay”.

Juan admits that he feels a certain guilt for being free when hundreds of people are still suffering in prison.

But he says he is eager to return to the streets to show his support for Edmundo González on January 10.

“I am no longer afraid of the Venezuelan government,” he explained.

“They were already accusing me of the worst crimes, terrorism for example, even though I am a young man who has done nothing but love his country and help those around him.”

“I’m not afraid,” Juan repeats, “if something happens to me” before admitting that he has left a written testimony in a safe place.

Illustrations by Daniel Arce-Lopez.