The 20 political prisoners who have just been released in Venezuela are relieved to be back on the streets, but they still do not know what their legal status is and what the limits of the alternative measures that have been granted to them are. Several of these civil activists were informed that they were being released after having faced harsh sentences as a final sentence, in most cases accused of terrorism, sedition and treason.
In the midst of the rejoicing over the unexpected return home – some of them had been sentenced to up to 16 years in prison – the recently released prisoners are very aware that they have become a bargaining chip in the midst of a framework agreement that surpasses them, and that is why they are often reluctant to tell their stories.
“There are about 20 prisoners who were able to be released in the agreement that allowed Alex Saab to be released,” explains lawyer Alonso Medina Roa, specialized in human rights, involved in this process. “There is enormous uncertainty about their procedural status, what their future is. There has been no clarity in the courts. Through the green roads we have learned that they have a presentation regime, every 15 days, which we will take care of now that the year begins.”
A student leader who preferred not to identify himself and who learned of this measure of grace after facing harsh conditions of confinement, assures that, despite the sentence, he always had the conviction that he was going to be released. “I set my goal of 2025 with the completion of the electoral cycle,” he says. Regarding his life in prison, he explains that it's all about money. “Whatever you need you have to pay to the guards, to the custodians. I was detained in La Yaguara with common prisoners, with them I got some surprises because we were able to organize ourselves. I was tortured during interrogations, although I must say that after the fact the treatment was no longer hostile,” he says.
For Joel García, defense lawyer for some of these political prisoners, the criteria used by the Chavista Government to release prisoners to the detriment of others is not coherent. “In Venezuela there are still about 300 political prisoners, including civilians and military. In October five of them left, two of whom were defended by me, such as Roland Carreño and Juan Requessens. As of December, 10 Americans were released, along with the six union leaders convicted last year of conspiracy. On the 23rd John Alvarez leaves. Many other prisoners were hopeful of measures for them, but there is nothing concrete about future releases. “It is not due to the length of confinement or the seriousness of the cases.” García assures that in the surrounding groups of this case, it is said that in the medium term the release of about 15 or 20 more people could be considered.
One of the union leaders sentenced to 16 years in prison accused of terrorism, Néstor Astudillo, does want to give his name: “I was taken prisoner for reasons of political persecution. I am not afraid of the Government. “Venezuela is experiencing a dictatorship disguised as democracy.” Held with common prisoners, Astudillo spent four months in jail.
When they were sentenced on charges of terrorism last August, the attorney general, Tarek William Saab, justified the measure because people like Astudillo, alleged union leaders according to the press, “are neither registered in social security as employees, nor “They belong to no union, nor did they ever work as a union struggle, nor did they present evidence of supposedly being union leaders in the trial itself.”
Astudillo recounts his arrest: “I was taken to a basement of the DGICIM – General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence -, I was in some underground dungeons at the beginning, isolated. They didn't beat me, but that is a clandestine center and I know of other political prisoners who have been tortured, like Captain Acosta Arévalo. Common prisoners are extorted, tied up. They did not physically attack us, but rights are violated, water and sunlight are charged, everything is paid for, food is not guaranteed, everything must be paid for. The prison system in Venezuela is de facto privatized.”
Another activist who preferred not to identify himself says that he is “happy to be with the family, at home, but with enormous uncertainty.” “We don't know what the future holds, but we will continue our fight in the country,” he adds. That feeling of not knowing is repeated in all of them.
“We are on the street in a process of uncertainty, legally that is our situation: 16 years in prison, even though they released us,” says Astudillo. “We are waiting for them to inform us. I never had any doubts that he was not going to be imprisoned for those 16 years. I was convinced that a political agreement was approaching, our fight has been political. We managed to break with the prison routine, we made proposals, we worked, we were listened to by the other prisoners. We do not bow down to this regime. Now we will continue defending democracy, the fight against injustice from our spaces.”
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