José Félix Maíz was arbitrarily detained in June 2021 in an alley in the Los Mangos sector, in the La Vega parish, within the framework of the operation called “Gran Cacique Guaicaipuro”, with which they were looking for alleged members of the gang of ” El Koki”, who was the leader of one of the criminal groups that operated at Cota 905
The Committee for the Rights of the People of La Vega denounced that this January 31, José Félix Maíz, one of the five young people detained after a police operation in La Vega, in June 2021, died to find the leaders of the gang of Carlos Revette, aka “the Koki”.
“It is with deep sadness, anger and indignation that we announce that José Félix Maíz, one of the five young men from La Vega unjustly detained for more than a year and a half and without a sentence, suffered a respiratory arrest last night and died today,” it reads. in it release.
In the brief, the Committee recalled that Maíz was detained in the San Nicolás alley in the Los Mangos sector, La Vega parish in Caracas, within the framework of the operation called “Gran Cacique Guaicaipuro”, with which they were looking for alleged members of the gang of “The Koki”, who was the leader of one of the gangs that operated at Cota 905.
Maíz was detained “when he was going to buy a kilo of rice for his children” with a dollar that he had earned “by helping some families in his community to carry water.”
The young man was charged in the same case as Darwin Rivas Polanco, who was arrested inside his home, also in La Vega. Both were transferred to the Police Coordination Center of La Quebradita, belonging to the PNB, where they were asked for foreign currency in cash to be released. By opposing, the troops simulated an alleged confrontation in a wooded area, the Committee highlighted.
The two young men were charged with the crimes of illicit arms and ammunition trafficking and criminal association. On November 21, 2021, they were sentenced to six years in prison for another crime, illegal possession of weapons.
In May 2022, the Sixth Court of Appeals revoked the sentence and a new trial began, which was interrupted twice due to the failure of the police officers to testify and a medical permit from the judge in the case. The sentence in the case was set for January 26, but six days before, José Félix Maíz was transferred to the Domingo Luciani hospital, after being rejected in three other health centers, due to serious health problems that led to his death. .
The young man was diagnosed with tuberculosis, sepsis (generalized infection), pancytopenia, a condition that decreases the production of red and white blood cells and platelets; in addition to organic wear and a type of candidiasis that affected his mouth and digestive tract.
“In this more than a year and a half of struggle we have met with police officers, prosecutors and judges, who privately acknowledge feeling pressured in this case, even knowing the innocence of our boys,” said the Committee, which demands the freedom of the other four young people arrested in La Vega during the operation “Gran Cacique Guaicaipuro”.
The NGO announced that next Friday, February 3, they will gather in the vicinity of the Palace of Justice, starting at 11:00 am, “to express our pain, our complaints, and assert our demands.”
With information from Radio Fe y Alegría News
Post Views: 481
