Relatives of political prisoners in Venezuela They met with representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office to denounce the delays in the application of the amnesty, and ask for answers for the critical health situation of the detainees.
The historical Amnesty Law promoted by the president in charge, Delcy Rodriguezcontemplates the dismissal of criminal cases of hundreds of political prisoners. Two months after its approval, several NGOs denounce delays in processing the benefit in court.
Nails 8,084 people have received amnesty, according to the deputy’s March assessment Jorge Arreazahead of the parliamentary commission that monitors the regulations.
“The amnesty is a mockery, it’s like giving up on all this. It was one more mockery to the people, it was to hope us, to get us up and then back down suddenly. And to excite them (political prisoners)”said Massiel Cordones, mother of José Ángel Barreno, detained since 2020.
The NGO Criminal Forumwho leads the defense of political prisoners, reported 454 detainees, of whom, 41 They are foreigners and 109 They are in the detention center The Rodeo Ion the outskirts of Caracas.
On Monday night, this figure grew with the arrest of the former political prisoner Luis Eduardo Perozoreleased in December before the amnesty, after a year and a half of confinement, and now under arrest again.
“When they grabbed him, they put their foot on his back and put a hood on him.”detailed to the AFP his mother, Yuraima Piñerowho still has no details of his whereabouts.
Earlier, relatives of detainees delivered a document to the Ombudsman’s headquarters detailing serious lung conditions, visible injuries and alterations in the mental health of the detainees. They demand that cases of missing persons and cruel treatment be taken into account.
Cordones said that the “tortures” are repeated in prisons like Fort Guaicaipuro, Yare and The Helicoid.
Inacio Da Costaexecutive director of the Ombudsman’s Officereported that they will address the complaints. “In two weeks we have already received more than 200 special cases that we are reviewing”said.
On Sunday, vigils were held in the country’s main prisons. “There are still more than 500 political prisoners in inhumane prison conditions”denounced from El Helicoide Sairam Rivas, a member of the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners in Venezuela.
At the end of January, Rodríguez announced the closure of the Helicoidwhich has been denounced by NGOs as a “torture center,” but to date dozens remain detained.
