Leonel Azuaje committed suicide in his cell, or at least this is the cause of death announced by Attorney General Tarek William Saab through a tweet. Azuaje was one of the 80 detained through an anti-corruption operation andtaken over by the government of Nicolás Maduro.
(Read also: The creator of Chávez’s Twitter account, also imprisoned for embezzlement of PDVSA)
Azuaje was president of the state company Cartones de Venezuela, an institution that, like Petróleos de Venezuela, was being investigated for alleged embezzlement, although the amount has not yet been revealed by the State.
“I have commissioned national prosecutors 50 and 67 to investigate the unfortunate suicide of citizen Leoner Azuaje Urrea in his place of confinement,” the prosecutor wrote through his Twitter account.
I have #commissioner to prosecutors 50 and 67 Nac for #investigate the unfortunate suicide of the citizen Leoner Azuaje Urrea in his place of confinement: #instructing to the criminal unit #PM next to #CICPC: to advance the technical inspection, interviews and legal autopsy.
—Tarek William Saab (@TarekWiliamSaab) April 20, 2023
Azuaje was presented in a court within the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Sebin) on April 19, together with Ysmel Serrano and Salem Hassoun Atrach, the latter related to the PDVSA plot.
dead in custody
It is not the first time this has happened. As of October 2022, there were 11 political prisoners who died in state custody, and although the case of Azuaje cannot be called “political” at the moment, it takes on relevance due to the media coverage of the case.
The government has exhibited the detainees through the state channel Venezolana de Televisión. Wearing orange clothing, they have entered their presentation and imputation hearings.
-March 12, 2015 Rodolfo Pedro González died at Sebin in Caracas.
-September 17, 2017 Carlos Andrés García died, he was a councilor for Guasdualito, in Apure state.
-November 30, 2017, Army Lieutenant Rafael Arreaza died in an alleged escape attempt.
– October 8, 2018, councilor Fernando Albán dies at Sebin in Caracas, who fell through a window of the organization.
-December 12, 2018 “due to health complications” the former Oil Minister Nelson Martínez dies.
-June 29, 2019, Captain Rafael Acosta Arévalo dies. It is presumed that torture was the cause of death.
-February 5, 2019, the young Virgilio Jiménez dies after presenting a “hemorrhage with dehydration and liquid evacuations”.
-August 14, 2020 the rancher Pedro Pablo Santana dies of medical complications.
-January 3, 2021, the indigenous Salvador Franco died.
-August 29, 2021 Police officer Gabriel Medina dies, accused of planning an attack against Diosdado Cabello.
-October 12, 2021, General Raúl Isaías Baduel dies.
Who was Azuaje?
According to his Twitter profile, he was a mechanical engineer, graduated from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), with a specialization in management engineering at the Metropolitan University. He was also a university professor and defined himself as a Chavista.
According to the Poderopedia portal, since 2018 he was on the board of Cartones de Venezuela in 2018, after the National Superintendency for the Defense of Socioeconomic Rights (Sundde) ordered a temporary occupation of the company, located in Carabobo.
ANA MARIA RODRIGUEZ BRAZON
WEATHER CORRESPONDENT
CARACAS
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