Image source, BBC Mundo
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- Author,
- Author’s title, BBC News World
- Report from, Caracas
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Reading time: 6 min
In the surroundings of El Helicoide, the prison that perhaps best represents the prisoner rapes reported against the Venezuelan government, the atmosphere is gloomy.
“Free my son, please,” cries Mrs. Carmen Farfán, who claims to be the mother of a detainee, José Gregorio Reyes, about whom she has not heard anything since he was allegedly arrested in Maturín, a city in eastern Venezuela.
Tears run down his face. At his side is Narwin Gil, sister-in-law of Reyes and sister of his wife, Marilyn del Valle Gil, who also cries inconsolably.
Both claim that agents from the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) detained the couple and a friend in November of last year and that they have not heard from them since. They don’t even know if they’re still alive.
On Thursday, the president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Jorge Rodríguez, surprised with the announcement that the new interim government led by his sister, Delcy Rodríguez, would immediately release “a significant number of Venezuelans and foreigners.”
Since that day, groups of relatives of some prisoners have gathered outside El Helicoide, in the west of Caracas, and other prisons in Venezuela in the hope of seeing their loved ones leave.
Some are people like Farfán and Gil, who simply do not know anything about their loved ones or why they were imprisoned, but others are familiar faces, relatives of people considered by human rights groups to be political prisoners.
Aurora Silva, wife of opposition leader Freddy Superlano, waits with uncertainty for news of her husband.
He goes every day to the Rodeo 1 prison, on the outskirts of Caracas, to keep vigil and try to obtain information. Finally, after 18 months without hearing from him, this Sunday he reported that he was able to see him through a glass.
He tells BBC Mundo that Superlano’s arrest on July 30, 2024 after an armed persecution is part of what he describes as a political persecution that intensified after the opposition politician defeated the family of former president Hugo Chávez in 2021 in the regional elections in the state of Barinas, considered the cradle of Chavismo.
Nicolás Maduro‘s government it became a symbol of repression. ” loading=”lazy” width=”800″ height=”450″ src=”aspect-ratio:800 / 450″ class=”css-1seqhu9″/>
Image source, BBC Mundo
He denounces that Superlano remains incommunicado, without access to visits or private defense, and that the lack of information generates deep distrust, although the family maintains hope for his release after recent official announcements.
“My daughters have not seen their father for more than a year or know if he is okay; that is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” she says.
More than 800 people are considered political prisoners by the human rights group Foro Penal.
Several days after the official announcement, only about 20 people had been released, according to Gonzalo Himiob, vice president of Foro Penal.
Among those released are five Spanish citizens, including human rights lawyer and journalist Rocío San Miguel.
“Another reason to fight”
From a wealthy neighborhood in eastern Caracas, another relative awaits his father’s release.
Ramón Guanipa, son of Juan Pablo Guanipa — a prominent opposition leader and close collaborator of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, María Corina Machado — tells BBC Mundo that he took the first available flight from Maracaibo, in the west of the country, to Caracas when he heard the news.
He says that he was excited to reunite with his father, whom he has not seen for months. But that didn’t happen.
“When they tell you that they are going to free your family, everything else becomes small,” he says. “You feel defeated, but at the same time you find another reason to fight. I (now) fight so that they really do what they say they are going to do.”
Image source, BBC Mundo
US President Donald Trump, who took credit for the releases, wrote on social media on Saturday: “Venezuela has begun the process, in a BIG way, of freeing its political prisoners. Thank you! I hope these prisoners remember how lucky they were that the United States stepped in and did what needed to be done.”
However, Ramón Guanipa suggests that the US president is probably unaware that so far very few have been released.
“I want to thank President Trump for the pressure he has exerted. He has been our greatest ally in this situation,” he says.
“But I want to tell you not to be fooled and to keep the pressure on these people. Trump thinks everything is going well. It is not (…) The release of 20 says nothing.”
The Venezuelan government has not commented on the pace of the releases, and the Attorney General’s Office rejected an interview request from BBC Mundo.
“The lack of information generates a lot of anxiety”
The announcement of the releases is seen as the first test of the extent of Trump’s influence in Venezuela, following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro by the United States on January 3.
Interim President Delcy Rodríguez has suggested that she is open to cooperation with the US administration, although her public statements have repeatedly condemned any form of foreign intervention.
Ramón Guanipa said that he has only been able to visit his father once since his arrest. Juan Pablo Guanipa went into hiding after being accused of terrorism and treason for challenging the result of the 2024 presidential election.
The government’s announcement came a day after Trump assured that authorities would close El Helicoide, the most feared prison in Venezuela.
El Helicoide was originally conceived as a shopping center and was once a symbol of the country’s oil prosperity, but became synonymous with political repression under the mandate of Nicolás Maduro.
Image source, EPA
Opposition activists have assured that the release of political prisoners is an “urgent” step for any possible transition.
However, the limited number of those released so far has raised doubts about the government’s intentions and questions about the level of cooperation with the United States.
Gonzalo Himiob, vice president of the Penal Forum, tells BBC Mundo that it is “very difficult” to know what is really happening.
“In the prisons they have told us that they are waiting for instructions and that apparently there will be a significant number of releases,” he says.
“But the lack of information generates a lot of anguish in the relatives and the truth is that no one knows how this story is going to end,” he adds.
Meanwhile, in front of El Helicoide, relatives continue waiting.
Some pray, others shout the names of their loved ones. They all share the same uncertainty.
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