Amnesty International Report 1997 - Venezuela

Dozens of prisoners of conscience were detained during the year. Scores of people, including children, were extrajudicially executed in the context of police and army operations ostensibly aimed at combating crime. At least 25 prisoners burned to death in a prison in Caracas. Torture and ill-treatment by the security forces were widespread and some people died as a result of torture. Prison conditions remained extremely harsh. Most perpetrators of human rights violations continued to benefit from impunity. Some constitutional guarantees, including the right not to be arrested without a warrant, remained suspended in areas bordering Colombia, where a growing military presence was accompanied by reports of systematic human rights violations by the Venezuelan security forces (see Amnesty International Report 1996). The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on torture carried out their first visits to the country in May and June respectively. In September, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights required Venezuela to pay compensation to relatives of 14 fishermen killed by the army in El Amparo, Apure state, in 1988 (see Amnesty International Report 1993). Dozens of prisoners of conscience were detained for short periods for their peaceful activities; many were tortured and ill-treated. In April, Antonio Espinoza, a community activist, was arrested without a warrant in Valencia, Carabobo state, by members of the Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención (DISIP), Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services. He was detained for five days before being released without charge. Nelson Bracca, an activist in Caracas, was arrested in June by hooded members of the DISIP and the Policía Técnica Judicial (PTJ), Judicial Technical Police, who raided his home without search or arrest warrants. He was detained in a police station for seven days, where he was forced to stand for prolonged periods. In July, human rights defenders Jorge Nieves and Leticia Echenique, members of the Comité para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (CODEHUM), Committee for Human Rights Defence, a non-governmental organization based in Guasdualito, Apure state, were arbitrarily detained by members of the DISIP when they went to a local police station to enquire about the safety of a prisoner arrested the previous day. They remained in detention for a day before being released without charge. In October, Juan Bautista Moreno, president of CODEHUM, was arrested, together with four other human rights defenders, following a raid on his home by members of the DISIP. They were arrested for displaying a poster of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights literature, which the officials claimed were "subversive". They were detained for seven days before being released without charge. Scores of people, including children, were extrajudicially executed by the security forces. In January, Jesús Bladimir Lizardo Ortíz, an inmate in the Retén de Catia, a prison in Caracas, was shot dead by a prison warder. In April, José Antonio Clavijo Rodríguez and 17-year-old Alejandro Campos Orsini were shot dead in Caracas in circumstances suggesting they may have been extrajudicially executed. They had received anonymous death threats because of their grass-roots activities. Eye-witnesses claimed that the perpetrators were linked to the security forces. In May, 13-year-old Lian Jonathan Cáseres Herrera was shot in the head at close range and killed by a member of the Policía Metropolitana, Metropolitan Police, while he was walking with two friends in a street in Caracas. Witnesses prevented the perpetrator from planting a weapon on the victim in order to claim he had died in a shoot-out. The police officer was suspended pending the outcome of his trial, which was continuing at the end of the year. In June, Carlos Perdomo and John Calderón were arrested during a Metropolitan Police operation in Caracas. Their arrest was filmed by a television crew. Both were seen, alive and unharmed, being taken away in a police vehicle. Hours later their bullet-riddled bodies were transferred to a morgue in Caracas. Those responsible were briefly detained before being released without charge. On 22 October, at least 25 male inmates, including a 17-year-old, were burned to death in La Planta prison in Caracas, after members of the Guardia Nacional (GN), National Guard, locked them into an overcrowded cell and threw tear-gas canisters into it, which set it on fire. Three members of the GN were arrested and were awaiting trial at the end of the year. The widespread use of torture and ill-treatment by the security forces, including the army, continued to be reported, and those responsible continued to benefit from impunity. Victims included men, women and children. Torture was systematic in the region bordering Colombia, where the Venezuelan security forces responded to incursions by Colombian armed opposition groups with widespread repression against the civilian population, whom they suspected of collaborating with such groups. Beatings, suspension from wrists or ankles for prolonged periods of time, near-asphyxiation with plastic bags, electric shocks and mock executions were used to extract confessions from suspects and to intimidate detainees. Confessions extracted under torture continued to be accepted as evidence by the courts. State attorneys regularly failed to act effectively on complaints of torture and official forensic doctors frequently avoided documenting cases of torture. Medical treatment for detainees who had suffered torture continued to be unavailable. Five grass-roots activists – Miguel Antonio del Duca Mosquera, Jonathan Sojo Avilés, José Francisco Saavedra Ruza, José Manuel Fuentes and Araciel González – were tortured following their arrest on 13 June by members of the PTJ in Caracas. During the first three days of their detention they were held incommunicado in the Comisaría del Oeste, a police station, where high-ranking police officers subjected them to beatings, electric shocks and prolonged suspension by the wrists in order to extract confessions. They remained in detention, without medical care, until their release on bail between 21 June and 2 July. Children were also tortured by the police and scores were detained in cruel, inhuman or degrading conditions. Arnold Blanco, aged 15, was arrested in July at his home in Petare, by the Municipal Police of Sucre, for alleged drug abuse. He was transferred to the División de Menores de la PTJ, a PTJ detention centre for young offenders in Cochecito, Caracas, where he was brutally beaten by warders, as a result of which he suffered fractured ribs. He received no medical care. Dozens of other children, some as young as 10, were also held in the PTJ detention centre and many of them were tortured by the police. Some people died in custody reportedly as a result of torture. For example, Francis Zambrano was arbitrarily arrested by members of the Metropolitan Police in early April. He was transferred to a police station in Caracas, where he died following prolonged beatings and semi-asphyxiation. Those responsible were not brought to justice. In the so-called "zonas de seguridad fronteriza", border security zones under military jurisdiction, where some constitutional guarantees remained suspended, scores of people were detained at random by the security forces and tortured during interrogation. In January, José Anicaso Rojas was arbitrarily arrested at his home in Guasdualito, Apure state, by members of the PTJ. He was taken to a local police station and subjected to prolonged suspension by the wrists, semi-asphyxiation and beatings in order to extract a confession. He was released without charge after eight days in detention and admitted to hospital. On 17 February, members of the GN investigating a Colombian guerrilla attack raided several houses in the community of La Victoria, Apure state, including that of Yosaida Martínez Rolón. She was arbitrarily detained, beaten, threatened with rape, and held in custody until 21 February. In April, Samuel García, Eleuterio Duque and José del Carmen Vergel were detained at an army road-block in Sector Balsal, Apure state. They were blindfolded and subjected to beatings, mock executions and electric shocks during interrogation. They were released without charge after four days in detention. In October, Laurentino Rolón Santander, a Colombian national, was arbitrarily arrested in Guasdualito, Apure state, by the Dirección de Inteligencia Militar, Military Intelligence Directorate. He was held incommunicado for four days and subjected to beatings and electric shocks during interrogation. He was then deported to Colombia. Those responsible for the torture of dozens of people in Cararabo, Amazonas state, in 1995 were not brought to justice (see Amnesty International Report 1996). Prison conditions remained extremely harsh, often amounting to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Despite the government's acknowledgment that systematic human rights violations were taking place in prisons throughout the country, the authorities failed to take steps to improve prison conditions. Serious overcrowding, extremely poor sanitary conditions and lack of adequate medical care led to a number of deaths from diseases such as tuberculosis. In October, several thousand inmates held in three prisons in Caracas carried out a peaceful demonstration, including a hunger-strike, demanding better prison conditions, a speeding up of their court proceedings and full investigations into the massacre of the 25 inmates of La Planta prison (see above). The whereabouts of Julio Rafael Tovar and Juan Vicente Palmero, who "disappeared" in 1995 following their arrest by members of the security forces, remained unknown, and those responsible were not brought to justice (see Amnesty International Report 1996). Scores of people continued to be imprisoned under the Ley de Vagos y Maleantes, Law of Vagrants and Crooks, despite government promises to repeal the law. The law permits administrative detention for periods of up to five years, without judicial appeal or review (see Amnesty International Report 1996). In July, José Antonio Landaeta Gatica was arrested without a warrant in Barquisimeto, Lara state. During his arrest he was brutally beaten by members of the state police, reportedly for coming from another state and being unemployed. He was denied medical treatment and remained imprisoned under the Law of Vagrants and Crooks. An Amnesty International delegation, led by the organization's Secretary General, visited the country in July to present a memorandum to the Venezuelan Government, addressed to President Rafael Caldera, of the organization's concerns and recommendations. It included calls for the abolition of the Law of Vagrants and Crooks; an urgent improvement in prison conditions; the implementation of a law to prevent and punish torture; and an end to impunity for the perpetrators of human rights violations. The government dismissed Amnesty International's findings and concerns as "biased and unfounded".