Amnesty International Report 1996 - Venezuela

Dozens of prisoners of conscience were detained during the year. The widespread use of torture by the security forces continued to be reported and at least one person "disappeared" in custody. Prison conditions remained extremely harsh. Dozens of people were killed in the context of police operations ostensibly designed to combat crime and may have been extrajudicially executed. In July President Rafael Caldera announced the reinstatement of full constitutional guarantees in most of the country. Some guarantees had been suspended in 1994, purportedly to help prevent social disturbance and combat corruption in the context of a deepening economic crisis (see Amnesty International Report 1995). Suspended constitutional guarantees were not restored in several border areas. Peaceful grass-roots activists continued to be detained as prisoners of conscience. In March at least 80 activists, including human rights defenders, were arbitrarily arrested in several parts of the country for their peaceful activities by members of the Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención (DISIP), Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services. They were held in incommunicado detention for short periods before being released without charge. Scores of people continued to be imprisoned under the Ley de Vagos y Maleantes, Law on Vagrants and Crooks, despite government promises to repeal the law which government and judicial authorities have acknowledged infringes the Constitution and international human rights treaties ratified by Venezuela, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The law permits administrative detention for periods of up to five years without judicial appeal or review. Six students were detained under the law in October after a peaceful demonstration. Carlos José González, Osman José Colina Hernández, Guillermo Tamayo Rivas, Juan José Villamizar, Luis Gerónimo Velásquez and José Vargas Pérez were detained by members of the Guardia Nacional (GN), National Guard, who raided the premises of Carabobo University in Naguanagua, Valencia, Carabobo state. They were held in conditions that amounted to ill-treatment for nine days, then released without charge. Prisoners of conscience detained in previous years continued to be held, including Henry Landino Contreras, who was arrested in 1993. Pedro Luis Peña Arévalo and José Luis Zapata, who were arbitrarily detained for their homosexuality in 1992 under the Law on Vagrants and Crooks, also remained imprisoned (see Amnesty International Report 1995). The widespread use of torture and ill-treatment by the security forces continued to be reported, and those responsible continued to benefit from impunity. Victims included men, women, children and disabled people. Methods of torture included: beatings; suspension from wrists or ankles for prolonged periods; near-asphyxiation with plastic bags; electric shocks; and mock executions. Torture was used extensively by members of the police and army to extract confessions from suspects and to intimidate detainees. Such confessions 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 the victims of torture continued to be unavailable or grossly inadequate. Among the scores of cases of torture reported were those of Julio Rafael Tovar, Carlos Ramón Apoto, Eduardo Manuel Farfán and 15-year-old Angel Jaidar Iruiz, who were arrested by members of the GN in January in their homes in Caicara del Orinoco, Bolívar state. They were beaten and nearly drowned in front of several members of the community, including relatives. They were then transferred to a local police station where they were subjected to further beatings; mock executions; semi-asphyxiation with plastic bags containing caustic substances; suspension from the wrists; and electric shocks. A state attorney reportedly witnessed the torture but failed to intervene. Three of the victims were seriously injured, but they were reportedly denied medical treatment. They remained in prison, on charges based on their forced confessions, at the end of the year. The fourth, Julio Rafael Tovar, "disappeared" in custody. The arresting officers claimed that he had escaped and jumped into the Orinoco river. Those responsible were not brought to justice. In February and March, 23 peasants, including two women and a 14-year-old boy, were arrested in their homes in Cararabo, Apure state, by members of the navy. They were all interrogated about an attack by Colombian guerrillas on 26 February against the local Venezuelan navy garrison during which eight armed forces personnel were killed. The peasants were reportedly subjected to beatings, electric shocks, semi-asphyxiation, mock executions and threats using trained dogs. Juan Vicente Palmero, one of the detainees, reportedly died under torture, although his body was never recovered. The other 22 detainees were released without charge in April. Although the Defence Minister announced an investigation into the incident, those responsible were not brought to justice. In November Daniel José Urbano Frisneda, a physically disabled man, was arrested by members of the GN in Catia, Caracas, and beaten before being transferred to a local police station where he remained in incommunicado detention for six days in extremely harsh conditions and was denied medical treatment. He was allegedly forced to sign blank statements before being transferred to the Retén de Catia, a prison in Caracas where conditions were notoriously harsh and where he remained at the end of the year, reportedly held under the Law on Vagrants and Crooks. Prison conditions continued to deteriorate and often amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Although the government acknowledged the lack of security for prison inmates, serious overcrowding and extremely poor sanitary conditions, they failed to act to reform the prison system. Few of those responsible for gross human rights violations in previous years were brought to justice. For example, those responsible for the torture of at least 41 people arrested by the army in Zulia in 1993, and the torture of four community activists detained in Valencia in 1994, had not been brought to justice by the end of the year (see Amnesty International Reports 1994 and 1995). Most of the officials responsible for the killings of at least 108 prisoners in the prison of Sabaneta, Maracaibo, in January 1994 (see Amnesty International Report 1995) also continued to enjoy impunity. Dozens of people were killed by members of the police during operations ostensibly aimed at combating crime and may have been extrajudicially executed. In January José Ricardo Monsalve, 17-year-old Yorki José Mujica and José Luis Hernández were killed by members of the Policía Metropolitana, Metropolitan Police, who raided their homes without search warrants. José Luis Hernández was reportedly extrajudicially executed for having witnessed the killing of the other two victims. Those responsible were not brought to justice. In March Richard López Paz, a university student, was shot dead at close range by a member of the state police of Aragua during a demonstration in Aragua. A police officer was remanded in custody for the killing. In April Alexander Arias was shot dead at close range by members of the GN who had asked him for his identification card during a raid on a neighbourhood in Caracas. Witnesses and relatives of the victim later received threats from police officials warning them not to demand an investigation. Those responsible were not brought to justice. In August César Eduardo Martínez Pérez was arrested together with two others by members of the DISIP in the streets of Caracas. His body was later found bearing signs of torture, but officials claimed he had died in a shoot-out. Those responsible were not brought to justice. Most law enforcement officers responsible for killings in previous years continued to benefit from impunity. For example, no one was brought to justice for the extrajudicial execution of six prisoners who escaped from Centro Penitenciario de Aragua, a prison in Aragua, in January 1994; or for the killings of three Yukpa Indians in Zulia in February 1994; or for the killing of Sergio Rodríguez Yance, a human rights activist, in 1993; or for the massacre of at least 63 inmates in the Retén de Catia prison in 1992 (see Amnesty International Reports 1993 to 1995). Amnesty International met the Minister of Foreign Affairs during his visit to London in March and expressed con-cern about human rights violations in Venezuela. The organization called for the reinstatement of all constitutional guarantees suspended the previous year; for the abolition of the Law on Vagrants and Crooks; and for an end to impunity benefiting the perpetrators of serious human rights violations. While the Minister expressed the government's willingness to end human rights violations, the authorities failed to take effective steps to address the organization's concerns.