Juan shows up for security under a fictitious name to talk about the hell he went through in one of Venezuela’s prisons and in its torture rooms. The so-called ‘Adolfo beds’. A story that It started after the July 28 elections and which was echoed by the BBC. And it is the story of a 20-year-old young man who does not let himself be broken. Furthermore, he has provided documentation that supports the veracity of his testimony and coincides with the statements of other prisoners.
The ‘terrorist’ label
He was one of the 1,800 people who, according to the NGO Foro Penal, were arbitrarily detained during the protests that occurred after the National Electoral Center (CNE) announced Nicolás Maduro as the winner, without providing the electoral records. Juan, although he is a well-known opponent, was not even protesting that day, but rather was on the outskirts of the demonstrations.
He was labeled a ‘terrorist’, like 2,229 others imprisoned since August, and several hooded men took him to a prison in the interior of Venezuela. He was there for several weeks, until they transferred him to the Tocorón prison. Popularly known for having been the detention center for the Aragua Train in the past. It was the oasis of this criminal group that could enjoy its facilities as a nightclub, bank, zoo and even an equestrian center. About 140 kilometers southwest of Caracas, this high-security prison has now changed its face.
A concentration camp
With his gaze always fixed on the ground, the welcome was marked by beatings and a routine in tiny spaces. Juan goes so far as to point out that his entire experience reminded him of being more a concentration camp like those of Pinochet.
They took him to a cell measuring three by three meterswhich he shared with five other people. With ‘cement tombs’ by beds that were piled up in three bunks. There were no clocks, and they had six minutes of water for everyone. They woke them up intermittently and could serve them breakfast at 6 in the morning or 12 noon. And the menu was rotten or expired food. The routine was boredom or beatings. At one point they were so disoriented that they tried to use the light rays to calculate the time.
Different modalities of martyrdom are reserved for the most rebellious. Juan describes that he was in ‘el tigrito’ of Tocorón. «It is a very dark cell and measures one meter by one meter. I was very hungry. “It makes me hungry just remembering it,” he tells the British media. There is also another cell known as ‘Adolfo’s bed’, after the first person to be murdered there.
A dark room without much oxygen, similar to a vault. The torture consists of being put to the test by putting you in that room until you can’t breathe, you despair, you scream for help and you end up fainting. Juan describes that he lasted just over five minutes. “While I thought I was going to die,” he declares.
lose fear
It would be on November 11 when Maduro ordered a review of the cases of post-election detentions to check if errors were made. Five days later, F225 people were released from prison, among them was Juan. The experience more than intimidates him made him lose all his fear that he had left.
“I’m sorry for my mother, my family and the people who love me, who always ask me to stay calm, but I will never stop fighting for the future of Venezuela,” he says. He, like other citizens, maintain that conviction, while a new phase begins that leaves an uncertain future for Venezuelans.
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