The CASLA Institute presented this Friday at the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) the annual report on Crimes Against Humanity in Venezuela, which compiles the chains of command and the methods of torture used by government security officials against political prisoners.
Tamara Suju, executive director of CASLA, an organization for human rights and watchdogs of the state of democracy in Latin America, said at the presentation of the report that with field work they have managed to identify torturers and establish chains of command that begin at high levels of the executive of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
“There is no way to tell anyone that Nicolás Maduro is not fully implicated in committing crimes against humanity, because officials respond directly to him and call him and tell him what is happening,” said Tamara Suju.
The investigation is part of the technical and evidentiary support that will be used in the process before the International Criminal Court against the government of the South American country for systematic human rights violations and crimes against humanity.
The investigation period runs from January 2021 to the beginning of this year and has been prepared based on interviews with internal informants from the government of Nicolás Maduro, who have testified anonymously.
The organization has identified people within the security and intelligence apparatus who have inflicted torture on political prisoners, and with this the chains of command have been established, which range from defense ministers commanded by the president of the republic to intermediate positions. until reaching the perpetrators, according to the report.
“Because there is fear about the scope of international justice,” said the lawyer, who also presented, in a series of slides, the methods used, which range from the use of instruments for electric shocks, submission to low-temperature confinement, deprivation of food and hydration, even mock executions to instill terror in the victims.
The American Mattew John Heath is one of the Americans imprisoned in Venezuela, arrested in September 2020 and accused of “conspiracy against the homeland”, crimes that usually impute nationals of the oil country.
The detainee’s mother, Konnie Haynes, said at the presentation of the report that not a day goes by without her “breaking tears” when she hears about the conditions in which her son is in Venezuela and the means of torture used by his captors. .
The Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, who accompanied the presentation of the report, said that it reflects that “the world cannot get used to the stories of misery, torture and horror that Venezuelans experience,” and highlighted the evidence that the report on the methods used.
“This report also presents evidence on the participation of the Cuban regime and reveals the close coordination in the chains of command,” Almagro said.
Researchers from the CASLA Institute have delved into the methodologies and how the participation of Cuban agents has been put into practice in Venezuela, with techniques that are designed so that, in the event that someone identified by the intelligence services is not found, proceed to capture of relatives to generate pressure and achieve arrests, but not before also torturing the relatives.
For the researchers, it is clear that the chains of command come from the head of the government, President Nicolás Maduro, downwards, and that the established communications indicate that there is a “high level” of coordination.
At least “for the capture of high-ranking soldiers” President Maduro is informed directly before proceeding with the arrests, according to lawyer Suju.
On the participation of Cuba as part of the mechanisms of torture through its agents in Venezuela, the team of the human rights organization plans to prepare a report in the coming months to file a lawsuit before the International Criminal Court against the Caribbean island to answer for his participation in torture in Venezuela.
The governments of Cuba and Venezuela have not ruled on these accusations, but in the case of the oil country, their apparatus has received information about the ongoing process in the International Criminal Court.
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