Venezuelan prisons are places of suffering, where prisoners face torture, hunger, illness and constant violence. A situation that is aggravated by the lack of official information to the relatives of the detainees, who live in constant anguish, not knowing the whereabouts or condition of their loved ones.
The NGO Foro Penal Venezolano (FPV) and other organizations have recorded 301 people deprived of their liberty for political reasons. In addition to 102 arrests so far this year, related to the opposition’s electoral campaign for the July 28 elections, led by María Corina Machado, to promote the presidential candidacy of Edmundo González Urrutia.
In an interview with the newspaper The National, Venezuelan sociologist Tulio Hernández addressed the psychological and emotional aspects that affect the victims of the siege and abuses of the Venezuelan opposition by Chavismo.
“There are detainees who are often not allowed to receive visits, and this is postponed for weeks or even months. The systematic denial of family visits can be seen as a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and, in some cases, could even be considered torture, depending on the severity of the psychological and emotional impact,” emphasized the columnist, who currently resides between Madrid and Bogotá, after being threatened with prison by the Chavista dictatorship.
“I have no doubt that a political prisoner who is not allowed family visits or to appoint his own lawyers is being held captive three times and unjustly,” he added.
—What psychological and emotional effects can prisoners experience when they are deprived of family visits and the possibility of appointing lawyers?
—I have not done any field research on the subject, but I have no doubt that a political prisoner who is not allowed family visits or to appoint his own lawyers is being held captive three times and unjustly.
First, because generally, at least in the Venezuelan regime, the detainee has not committed any crime or offence, but is rather a prisoner of conscience, someone who has been imprisoned, generally without due process, for dissenting from the authoritarian regime that governs his country.
Second, because even prisoners convicted of flagrant crimes have rights, they are protected by international agreements and national laws, which must be respected. If, in addition to being imprisoned, which is already a suffering, you are prevented from contacting your family or friends, you obviously have to enter an emotional state of despair, disorientation and imbalance because human beings, even the most hostile, are essentially gregarious, sociable, we need others to be able to recognize ourselves as people.
And third, because in a non-democratic regime, if you have to submit to a public defender, if you cannot choose your own lawyer, you know that you are exposed to a biased, partial defense, and you cannot trust him. So, the anxiety is magnified because you know that you are condemned a priori and without any possible defense.
—How does the inability to visit prisoners and the lack of direct communication with them impact their families? What emotional and social effects can these families suffer?
—It is a tragedy. When a family member is imprisoned, for whatever reason, not just political, it is a suffering. But, in addition, if you cannot see them, and in some cases not knowing where they are being held, it creates a grief similar to that of death, of their disappearance. It is a torment, especially for parents, children and siblings. It is a form of punishment, of torture, of permanent anguish, which tears you apart internally and makes your daily life a torment.
—From a sociological and human rights perspective, what implications does the restriction on family visits and the denial of the possibility of appointing lawyers for the justice system have on the public perception of the legality and fairness of the prison system in Venezuela?
—Well, it is simply an act of violation of the most basic human rights, of perversion, of the absence of a democratic penitentiary system, in accordance with the law. An expression of barbarism and, I would say, of cruelty, cruelty and sadism.
—Are there studies or comparisons with other contexts or countries where similar restrictions have been implemented? What have been the results and lessons learned in those cases?
—Internationally, there are many researchers who have devoted themselves to the comparative study of penitentiary policies, focusing basically on the issues of security, infrastructure, environmental conditions, health, social reintegration, and respect for rights. But in the Venezuelan case it has been very difficult because of the government’s refusal to allow access to places of confinement, and because, as in the case of Venezuela under “21st Century Socialism,” there is no autonomy of powers, and the Prosecutor’s Office and the justice system are not independent, as they are supposed to be in a democracy, it is very difficult to carry out reliable studies.
However, all the studies I know of point to three conclusions: one, that like many Latin American countries, in Venezuela we have one of the worst prison systems on the planet, characterized by overpopulation, that is, overcrowding, unhealthy living conditions, the absence of rehabilitation activities and the high number of homicides due to internal disputes.
Two, because the justice system is so slow and bureaucratic, many of those arrested spend years waiting for a trial, and when the trial comes, the sentence is less, sometimes two or three years, than the time they spent behind bars waiting for the legal process.
And, three, in the case of political prisoners in Venezuela today, other terrible conditions are added: torture that is no longer just physical (I am referring to beatings, asphyxiation mechanisms, electric shocks to the genitals, which they still do), but psychological and morally destructive through sexual violations. Above all, a technique brought by the Iranians, allies of Chavismo, which consists of a man, a henchman, raping another man rectally, raping a political prisoner, and doing it in front of his girlfriend, or his wife, who is forced to watch the scene so that it is clear to her what power is all about.
There are people who have been detained, or rather, we should say kidnapped, who have told me how, in order to torture them, they are used for a whole week with loudspeakers playing music at unbearable decibels or very bright spotlights, so that the prisoner cannot sleep or does not know when it is day and when it is night. It is very difficult to survive in these conditions, not to lose one’s sanity. But thanks to their inner strength and their democratic convictions, after these sufferings, many of them have been affected but not defeated. And many have also dedicated themselves to spreading the word in other countries, in a very effective way, about what is experienced – the horror of torture, even murder – in many Venezuelan prisons specialized in the imprisonment of political activists, NGOs and human rights defenders.
Source: With information from El Nacional
