CARACAS — He Nicolás Maduro regime prohibited Andreina Baduel, daughter of the former Minister of Defense (2006 – 2007), General Raúl Baduel, from visiting her brother, the political prisoner Josnars Adolfo Baduelin a common prison on the outskirts of Caracas, which has been denounced as a “new concentration and torture center.”
Through her account on X, the activist indicated that the ban is in retaliation for the complaints of human rights violations of his brother and the more than 40 political prisoners who were transferred to the El Rodeo Judicial Confinement Center, a maximum security prison known as Rodeo I, located in the Zamora municipality of Miranda state (center-north).
“The argument is because supposedly by denouncing the human rights violations and the conditions to which he is being subjected in Rodeo I, I am ‘inciting hatred’“said the daughter of the former minister, who died in State custody on October 12, 2021, in the cell she shared with her son Josnars Adolfo Baduel in El Helicoide, considered the largest torture center in Latin America.
New regime torture center
During recent weeks, relatives of political prisoners denounced the illegal transfer of their relatives from the headquarters of the Bolivarian Military Intelligence Service (SEBIN), known as “El Helicoide” and “La Tumba”, and the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence. (DGCIM), under deception, without their lawyers and relatives having knowledge.
“In Venezuela there is a new torture center called El Rodeo I”declared Andreina Baduel, after denouncing to the Public Ministry (MP), at the service of the regime, the inhuman conditions to which the detainees taken to the maximum security center are subjected.
“Imagine living in isolation, with a restricted diet and without physical contact with your loved ones. This is the reality of the political prisoners in Rodeo I,” wrote Baduel in X.
In his message he demanded justice and freedom for those who have been persecuted for opposing the Chavista regime. “No human being deserves to be treated this way!”he stressed.
According to the relatives of the detainees, in this detention center they are subjected to prolonged isolation, exposure to high temperatures, unhealthy spaces and confined to 2×2 meter cells. Also I know restricted eating, physical activity, physical contact and they have access to water for only two minutes a day.
“I couldn’t keep quiet”
Josnars Adolfo Baduel has been detained since May 2020 for his alleged participation in the so-called “Operation Gedeón”, a maritime military incursion along the coasts of the Vargas state, current La Guaira state (central-north), which intended overthrow Nicolás Maduro. He is charged with the crimes of terrorism, criminal association and treason.
Andreina Baduel points out that her brother, who is being subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment, “He has lost between 6 or 8 kilos” since they transferred him to El Rodeo I, on April 4. Furthermore, he added that he suffers from a medical condition “due to the torture to which he was subjected” since his arrest, for which he requires four operations.
“I couldn’t keep quiet about a situation like this. That is why we denounce that they are isolated in 2×2 cells, with restrictions on hydration, food and medicine. They have a cement bed, a mat and a latrine. They don’t allow anything in,” the activist told the NGO Espacio Público.
Caso family Baduel
Raúl Baduel, former Minister of Defense of Hugo Chávez, was arrested on April 3, 2009 and convicted in 2010 for alleged theft of money from the FANB and abuse of power. After six years and eight months in the Ramo Verde military prison, in 2015 he was granted conditional freedom with a restriction on leaving the state of Aragua (north-central), a ban on making statements to the media, and a reporting regime.
However, when he was close to serving his sentence and being released, the general turned adversary of Chavismo was accused of treason and instigation of rebellion, for which he was detained again in 2017 at the headquarters of the Bolivarian Service of National Intelligence (SEBIN) in Plaza Venezuela, Caracas, known as “La Tumba”, where he suffered cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
From there, he was transferred to El Helicoide, where he died three days later in the cell he shared with his son, Josnars Adolfo Baduel, who had requested urgent medical attention, without receiving answers.
While his other son, Raúl Emilio Baduel, a former Chavismo politician, is in exile after spending four years in prison for participating in the 2014 anti-government protests, in which more than 40 people died, according to official reports. “Being Baduel is not a crime”Andreina Baduel emphasizes in her social media publications.
Source: With information from social networks / DLA Editorial Staff
