Dozens of relatives of political prisoners, prisoners who have just been released and human rights activists responded to the call made by the Venezuelan cardinal, Baltazar Porras, to celebrate this Saturday an act of protest and a commemorative mass near the El Helicoide prison, headquarters of the Bolivarian National Police and a well-known prison for political prisoners located in the central-west of Caracas.
The protesters chanted slogans such as “we are not afraid”; “they are all innocent, none of them are criminals”; “Freedom!” or “close the torture centers now.” Carrying portraits of well-known and not-so-well-known prisoners, they observed a minute of silence and sang the National Anthem. The religious service was offered by Father Numa Rivero, and the event organized by the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners of Venezuela, Clippve.
The concentration, made up of many desperate families, advanced one block, from Victoria Avenue to the doors of the prison complex, to confront the police officers who were protecting it. During the march, the uniformed men recorded the development of the demonstration with their phones, while the indignation and pain of the participants progressively increased. As tempers heated up, the organizers of the event briefly confronted the agents at the doors of El Helicoide, before taking a step back and ending the protest.
The march has developed after the releases of the last month, more than 600 according to the Government and just under 400 according to the NGOs. And in the hope of a general amnesty, of still uncertain scope, that could free hundreds of prisoners.
Among the participants in the rally, the amnesty bill, promoted by acting president Delcy Rodríguez and whose approval is led by her brother Jorge in the National Assembly, circulated by word of mouth. Although the reception was generally positive, several attendees lamented the delay in the release of the prisoners; the persistence of alternative legal measures instead of full freedom for those arrested; and comments abounded about those truly responsible for the national crisis and the repression. Speakers and protesters also expressed their disagreement with the terms in which the explanatory memorandum of the legal project under development has been drafted.
“Despite offering release figures that do not correspond to reality; despite the treatment by the authorities; despite the fact that we have received, from those in power, more suffering, pain and humiliation, we all remain very hopeful that our loved ones will be returned to us very soon,” said Diego Casanova, director of Clippve. “We are committed to continuing fighting until everyone returns. We want a true amnesty. Let the repression end and the torture centers in Venezuela be closed now.”
“I am here because I have a close friend, Nélida Sánchez, who has been imprisoned here in El Helicoide for two years. We come to demand her release,” says Estefany Alvarez, one of the protesters. “Her daughter has reported that Nélida has received cruel treatment and that has us very worried. She has not been able to see her, we do not know how she is, they do not receive her medicine. They harass her. It is psychological and physical torture”
Present at the event were the relatives of the prisoners of what is known as Operation Gideon, a failed incursion of military and volunteers organized from abroad in 2020 that sought to overthrow Maduro. They demanded to know not how their relatives are doing or if they receive the medicines they send them. They merely aspired to confirm if they were alive. “Faith of life, Gideon,” they cried. They showed a large banner with photos of some of the prisoners and denounced the terrible conditions in Fort Guaicaipuro, a feared maximum security military prison.
“There are too many people imprisoned unjustly; justice has to prevail. There can be no peace if there is no justice. We are all children of God. No one is saved from divine justice,” declared Daniela Abreu, who attended to demand the release of Perkins Rocha, a renowned lawyer and law professor, close to María Corina Machado’s movement. Rocha was arrested shortly after the July 2024 presidential election, in which Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner despite widespread accusations of fraud.
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