Jailed opposition activist describes brutality of prison life

“They have already tortured and repressed me, but they will not silence me. My voice is the only thing I have left.”

This is how Juan, a young man of about 20 years old, begins his story. He claims that Venezuelan security forces physically and psychologically tortured him after being detained in connection with the July 28 presidential election.

He was one of many hundreds of people arrested during protests after electoral authorities, dominated by government loyalists, announced that the current president, Nicolás Maduro, had won.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) did not make the counts public and the Venezuelan opposition has described the official result as fraudulent, pointing out that the counts it obtained with the help of electoral observers suggest an overwhelming victory for its candidate. Edmundo González.

Juan was released from prison in mid-November, days after Maduro called on judicial authorities to “rectify” any injustice in the arrests.

The BBC spoke to him via video call. For your own safety, we have decided to hide some of the details of your case and have changed your name.

The young man alleges that many of the detainees are mistreated, given “rotten food” and that the most rebellious are locked up in “torture chambers.”

He showed the BBC documents and evidence that corroborate his story, which coincides with other testimonies and with the complaints of non-governmental organizations.

Juan, an anti-government political activist, says the election campaign and the days leading up to the election were “marked by hope” and many people were eager to vote for change.

But the announcement of Maduro’s victory shortly after midnight that Sunday turned what for many was an atmosphere of celebration into confusion and anger.

Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets to protest against a result they described as fraudulent.

The opposition and international organizations say what followed was a police crackdown that led to the deaths of more than 20 protesters.

Maduro and some of his officials, in turn, have blamed the opposition, the “extreme right” and “terrorist” groups for the deaths.

Gonzalo Himiob of the Venezuelan non-governmental organization Foro Penal says people were arrested for simply “celebrating the opposition’s declaration of Edmundo González as the winner, or for posting something on social media.”

“We also have cases of people who were not even protesting, but for some reason were near a protest and were arrested,” he added.

Juan says that’s what happened to him.

The young political activist says he was running an errand when a group of hooded men intercepted him, covered his face and beat him, accusing him of being a terrorist.

“They planted Molotov cocktails and gasoline on me and then took me to a detention center,” he continued.

He was held in a prison in the interior of Venezuela for several weeks until he was transferred to Tocorón, a famous high-security prison about 140 kilometers southwest of the capital, Caracas.

There he would live what he describes as the worst experience of his life.

“When we arrived at Tocorón, they stripped us naked, beat us and insulted us. They forbade us to raise our heads and look at the guards; we had to lower our heads to the ground,” says Juan.

Juan was assigned a small cell measuring three meters by three meters, which he had to share with five other people.

There were six beds arranged in three bunk beds, and in one corner there was a septic tank and “a pipe that served as a shower.” That was the bathroom.

“In Tocorón I felt more like I was in a concentration camp than in a prison,” says the young man. He describes the beds as “concrete tombs” with a very thin mattress.

“They tortured us physically and psychologically. They didn’t let us sleep, they always came to ask us to get up and get in line,” he explains.

“They woke us up around 5:00 to line up behind the cell. The guards asked us to show our passes and numbers.”

He adds that around 06:00 they turned on the water for six minutes to be able to bathe.

“Six minutes for six people and only one shower, with very cold water. If you were the last one to arrive and you didn’t have time to wash off the soap, you were covered in soap for the rest of the day,” he says.

Then, he adds, they waited for breakfast, which sometimes arrived at 6:00 and other times at 12:00.

Dinner was sometimes at 9:00 p.m. and other times at 2:00 a.m.

“Apart from waiting for food, there was nothing else to do. We could only walk inside the small cell and tell stories. We also talked about politics, but in low voices, because if the guards heard us, they would punish us.”

Juan says that many of his fellow prisoners were depressed and acted like zombies.

“They gave us rotten food: scraps of meat like they would be given to chickens or dogs, or sardines that were already expired.”

Some detainees were routinely beaten or made to “walk like frogs” with their hands on their ankles, he says.

It describes “punishment cells” where those considered the most rebellious would be sent, or those who dared to talk about politics or ask to call their relatives on the phone.

Juan says that he had been in one of the punishment cells in Tocorón, and that he had only received one meal every two days.

“It’s a very dark cell, one meter by one meter. I was very hungry. What kept me going was thinking about all the injustices that were happening and that one day I would get out of there,” he says.

Another torture cell is known as “Adolfo’s bed,” Juan says, in honor of the first person to die there.

“It’s a dark, oxygen-deprived room, the size of a vault. They put you in there for a few minutes until you can’t breathe and you pass out or you start banging on the door in desperation. They put me in there and I held on.” In just over five minutes I thought I was going to die,” he recalls.

The young man says that in this prison inmates have 10 minutes to exercise outdoors three times a week, but many simply remain in their cells.

Gonzalo Himiob, from Foro Penal, describes the conditions in Tocorón as “deplorable” and says that fundamental rights of the detainees are being violated, such as having access to a lawyer of their choice.

“Everyone has public defenders; the government knows that if it allows access to a private attorney who is not a public official, he or she can document all the due process violations that are occurring.”

In October, United Nations (UN) experts reported serious human rights violations committed in the run-up to the presidential elections and during the protests that followed, including political persecution, excessive use of force, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions by part of the State security forces and related civil groups.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently investigating the Venezuelan government for possible crimes against humanity.

The Venezuelan government denies the accusations and says that this investigation “responds to the intention to exploit the mechanisms of international criminal justice for political purposes.”

The BBC requested an interview from the Public Prosecutor’s Office about the allegations of mistreatment and torture of detainees, but at the time of this publication it had not received a response.

Juan was released in November, but according to figures from the Penal Forum, as of December 30 there were still 1,794 political prisoners in Venezuela.

According to Juan, many of those detained in Tocorón have pinned their hopes on one date: that of the presidential inauguration on January 10, 2025.

It is the day that opposition candidate Edmundo González, who has been in exile in Spain, has said that he will return to Venezuela and assume the presidency.

He bases his claim to the presidency on the official vote counts that the opposition managed to gather with the help of election observers.

These counts, which represent 85% of the total, have been uploaded to a website and reviewed by independent observers who say they suggest a landslide victory for González.

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden met with González and called him the “true winner” of the Venezuelan elections.

However, it is unclear how González, for whom authorities have issued an arrest warrant, plans to enter Venezuela, nor who would swear him in, given that the National Assembly is dominated by Maduro loyalists.

However, Juan says that the prisoners held in Tocorón hope against hope that on Friday there will be a change of government and their release from prison.

Meanwhile, Maduro’s government has called any talk of a political transition “a conspiracy” and threatened that anyone who supports a change of leader “will pay for it.”

Juan admits to feeling a certain sense of guilt for being free when hundreds of his “comrades continue to suffer” in prison.

But he says he is determined to return to the streets to show his support for Edmundo González on January 10.

“I no longer fear the Venezuelan government,” he explains.

“I have already been accused of the worst crimes, such as terrorism, even though I am just a young man who has done nothing but love his country and help those around him.”

“I’m not afraid,” Juan repeats, before admitting that he has left some written testimony in a safe place “in case something happens to me.”

Illustrations by Daniel Arce-López.