Four of the five political prisoners with completed sentences were transferred from the Ramo Verde prison to an unknown location last Monday, November 3. Student Wilder Vásquez went through a similar situation last year, when he was taken from Sebin El Helicoide and taken to El Rodeo I prison, where he remains detained.
The served sentence is not synonymous with freedom in the case of political prisoners. This is the situation currently faced by five detainees for political reasons – four soldiers and one civilian – who, despite completing the sentence imposed by a court, have not seen their release ticket executed.
The student Wilder Vásquez and the lieutenant colonels Pedro Garrido Guillén, Deibis Mota Marrero, Víctor Soto Méndez and Carlos Peña Palmentieri have served the established years of prison, but to date the execution courts have not issued the corresponding measures or the detention sites have refused to execute them.
Likewise, all of these political prisoners have been transferred from the prison where they served their entire sentence to other places. Vásquez was taken from Sebin El Helicoide and taken to the El Rodeo I prison in April 2024, while the soldiers were transferred from the Ramo Verde prison to an unknown location last Monday, November 3, after being informed that they would be taken to court.
International business student Wilder Anderson Vásquez Velásquez served his entire sentence two years ago. The young man was sentenced to five years in prison by Judge Hennit Carolina López, after being accused of “covering up the crime of terrorism” in the drone case, as the alleged assassination attempt against Nicolás Maduro on August 4, 2018 was known.
Vásquez was arrested on August 11, 2018 by Sebin officials and was transferred to Helicoide. The then Minister of Communication Jorge Rodríguez presented him under the alias “Capo”, and accused him of keeping Henryberth Rivas, one of the alleged architects of the operation, under protection.
In the case of Vásquez, it was up to the 8th Execution Court to issue the release ticket, but to date it has not been finalized. His lawyer did not have access to the file, no copies of documents were received and he was not allowed to learn about the ballot that had allegedly been sent to the president of the circuit. There was also pressure with an appeal for protection that was declared inadmissible.
On April 4, 2024, Wilder Vásquez was part of the group transferred to the maximum security prison of El Rodeo I. He has been a victim of isolation and last December his visits were suspended for 15 days along with other political prisoners. He is still waiting for Judge Yesenia Azuaje to issue the ticket or execute the release order, if it has been issued.
Lieutenant Colonel Pedro Garrido has also been awaiting the execution of his release from prison for a year and nine months. Since January 11, 2024, the Seventeenth Court on Execution Functions had to order his release.
Garrido was accused of “operation Europe 2020”, as an alleged conspiracy to reveal military secrets and strategic sites was called. He was arrested on January 8, 2020, in the state of Táchira, by officials of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (Dgcim), although the minutes set it as January 11.
The Fourteenth Trial Court of the Caracas Metropolitan Area sentenced the lieutenant colonel to four years in prison for “instigation of rebellion and disobedience.” He was held in the National Center for Military Prosecutions (Cenapromil) Los Teques, better known as the Ramo Verde prison, until last Monday. His release must be executed by the Seventeenth Execution Court.
Lieutenant colonels Juan Carlos Peña Palmentieri, Deibis Mota Marrero and Víctor Soto Méndez served their sentence on September 9, 2025, according to the wife reported of the latter. But the group was taken out of Ramo Verde with all their belongings under the argument that they would be taken to court to be released. They never arrived.
A lawyer comments that the First Military Court of Execution, to which the case corresponds, “did not dispatch nor has it practically dispatched since the date that coincides with the judicial recess, which does not apply to criminal courts, and yesterday (Tuesday, November 4) was no exception.”
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Lieutenant Colonel Deibis Mota Marrero
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Lieutenant Colonel Víctor Soto Méndez
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Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Peña Palmentieri
Mota, Peña and Soto, along with Lieutenant Colonel Igbert Marín Chaparro, were arrested in different proceedings in March 2018 and were accused in military courts for the alleged crimes of instigation of rebellion, against military decorum and treason.
The Third Military Control Court of Caracas only admitted the first two accusations and on December 16, 2020, it convicted them. In February 2023, the Criminal Chamber of the TSJ ratified the conviction after rejecting the appeals of his lawyers.
The four soldiers have denounced that in their cases not enough evidence was presented to demonstrate the alleged conspiracy in which they are linked. They have also pointed out the various tortures to which they have been subjected in different detention centers.
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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