Torture in Venezuela has been a consistent phenomenon throughout its history. The authoritarian Nicolas Maduro regime has been widely documented for acts of torture and violence towards real or perceived opponents of the Maduro government, mainly detainees. The General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) is known to operate a torture centre in its headquarters in Caracase, known as the Casa de los Sueños ().
Various dictatorships from the Spanish colonial era into the twentieth century utilized torture against common criminals and political opponents. In the twentieth century, torture was common during the dictatorships of Juan Vicente Gómez and Marcos Pérez Jiménez. Torture also took place occasionally during Venezuela's democratic period, particularly during social outbursts, such as during the Caracazo and the 1992 coup attempts.
Into the twenty-first century, torture reached levels that had not been seen since the Marcos Pérez Jiménez dictatorship in the 1950s. During the crisis in Venezuela, the United Nations, Organization of American States, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Foro Penal documented acts of torture and violence towards real or perceived opponents of the Maduro government, mainly detainees,Venezuela's Brutal Crime Crackdown: Executions, Machetes and 8,292 Dead including by state institutions such as the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN).
Recent decades Under the Bolivarian governments, levels of torture occurred that had not been seen since the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez. Following the election of Hugo Chávez, human rights in Venezuela deteriorated. According to Universidad Metropolitana in 2006, "the inquisitorial process" that was abolished in the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence returned to Venezuela. By 2009, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights released a report stating that Venezuela's government practiced "repression and intolerance". Human rights activist and criminal lawyer Tamara Sujú started documenting cases of torture in Venezuela as early as 2002.
Hugo Chávez administration
In 2003, three military men linked to the opposition military officers in the Plaza Altamira during the 2002-2003 general strike were killed. Zaida Peraza (28) Darwin Argüello (21), Ángel Salas (21) and Félix Pinto (22), were found in two different locations on the outskirts of Caracas with signs of having been tortured, bound hand and foot, and having been killed with a shotgun at point blank range. The leader of the group, Enrique Medina Gómez, stated that several witnesses saw how the soldiers, along with two women accompanying them, were detained and forced to board two pick-up trucks by men dressed in black and with their faces covered with balaclavas.
During the 2004 protests, the Bolivarian National Guard detained Carlos Izcaray on 1 March, a conductor of the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra in a demonstration in which he was not participating. He was tortured and threatened to be killed.
On 17 December 2009, Judge María Lourdes Afiuni was detained at the National Institute for Female Orientation (INOF), a women's prison on the outskirts of Caracas, after releasing of Eligio Cedeño. On 1 July 2015, she described to the court that she was subject to sexual assault in prison, as a result of which she had to undergo a hysterectomy and reconstruction of her sexual organs and bladder, as well as the amputation of one of her breasts that was 25% necrotic as a result of a kick given with a military boot by one of her guards.Afiuni rompió el silencio y habló en el juicio
Nicolás Maduro administration 2014 protests
During the presidency of Nicolás Maduro, torture in Venezuela increased even further. Amnesty International said that torture by Venezuelan authorities against demonstrators was common during the 2014 Venezuelan protests. The Human Rights Watch report entitled "Punished for Protesting", following research conducted in March during the protests, describes that those who were detained by government authorities were subjected to "severe physical abuse". These included "beatings with fists, helmets, and firearms"; "electric shocks or burns"; "being forced to squat or kneel, without moving, for hours at a time", "being handcuffed to other detainees, sometimes in pairs and others in human chains of dozens of people, for hours at a time" and "extended periods of extreme cold or heat". It also documented that "many victims and family members we spoke with said they believed they could be victims of reprisals by police, guard members, or gangs sympathetic to the government if they reported the abuses."
By late February 2014, the NGO Foro Penal declared that it documented at least 33 cases of torture whose victims formally denounced before prosecutors and judges the abuses to which they were subjected. Gonzalo Himiob, a director of the organization, declared that the abuses were "continuous and systematic" and that Venezuelan authorities, including the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) were "generally accused of beating detainees, in many cases severely, and many people have indicated that the security forces have robbed them, taking their cell phones, money and jewelry". The torture included beatings, electric shocks, and asphyxiation, as well as psychological torture. The detainees would be denied access to lawyers and would be forced to sign a document stating that they had been assisted by defense lawyers. Foro Penal also reported that during torture, victims wounds were wiped with rags doused in gasoline.
A Panel of Independent Experts appointed by the Secretary General of the Organization of American States documented several cases where detainees suffered abuse during both their arrest and detention afterwards and did not have access to medical treatment while in custody. On 13 February 2014, during his arrest in Valencia, Carabobo state, Jorge León and his companions were severely beaten with the butt of guns, helmets and kicks. Jorge suffered a skull fracture and rupture of the left eardrum with loss of cerebrospinal fluid as a result of the blows. When they were detained on 24 February and during their transfer, Andrea Jiménez and a companion were threatened with rape, death and dismemberment, insulting them with the terms "guarimberos", "squalids" and "bourgeois". During their detention from 12 March 2014 in Barquisimeto, Lara state, Keyla Brito and her daughter Karkelys were stripped naked in the National Guard 47th detachment, being beaten and insuted. In another case, on 19 March 2014, a member of the Bolivarian National Police pointed a gun at Gloria Tobón's head during a protest in Táchira state, while another officer told him to "kill that bitch". Upon arresting her, troops poured vinegar in her face and beat her. Robert González and eight of his companions were arrested while protesting on 21 April 2014 in La Victoria, Aragua state, being detained for four days. During their confinement, they were beaten and threatened, including threats of death and disappearance. They were subjected to asphyxiation by tear gas canisters, as well as food, water and sleep deprivation several times.
A former official of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) told the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela that its director, , was directly involved in torture within the agency during the protests. Among other alleged ill-treatment, he reportedly placed plastic bags on protesters, or poured water on them, and beat them to extract information.
Student protesters were tortured sometimes to force them to say that they participated in a joint plan with foreigners to overthrow the Venezuelan government. In addition to torture, students have denounced sexual violence by the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB).Gravísima denuncia: Con un fusil soldados violaron a estudiante en Carabobo Protester was beaten and sodomized with an automatic rifle by National Guardsmen, forensic tests after his detention corroborated the assault. Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz initially dismissed the complaint, saying "Do you believe that a person who has been raped (...) could sit in the presentation hearing?". However, the Public Ministry's Office announced on 11 April that it was charging three security officers for inflicting cruel treatment on Carrasco and other demonstrators.
The director of Foro Penal, Alfredo Romero, asked both the opposition and the Venezuelan government to pay attention to the unheeded calls on human rights violations.
The Attorney General's Office reported that it was conducting 145 investigations related to human rights abuses and that 17 security officials had been detained in connection with these events. President Maduro and other government officials accepted that human rights abuses had occurred, but said that these were isolated cases and not a systematic pattern.«Fiscal Ortega: "En Venezuela no existen presos políticos"», video en el sitio web YouTube. La fiscal general de Venezuela, Luisa Ortega Díaz, habla con el periodista Ismael Cala acerca de las personas detenidas durante las manifestaciones en Venezuela. The Venezuelan government opposed when opposition parties called for a debate on torture in the National Assembly, saying "the violent ones are not us, the violent ones are in an opposition group".
Ombudswoman Gabriela Ramírez asked to distinguish torture from "excessive or disproportionate use of force", arguing that torture happened when used to extract confessions.
In November 2014, Venezuela appeared before the United Nations Committee Against Torture over cases between 2002 and 2014, which criticized the Venezuelan National Commission for the Prevention of Torture for being biased in favor towards the Venezuelan government. The Committee had also expressed concern with "beatings, burnings and electric shocks in efforts to obtain confessions" that occurred during the 2014 Venezuelan protests and that of the 185 investigations for abuses during the protests, only 5 individuals had been charged. The Committee also said that "of the 185 investigations carried out by the Public Prosecutor's Office for cruel treatment, only 5 charges have been brought, and the 2 investigations for torture are still ongoing. The Committee is concerned that, according to the information received, a large number of the persons concerned did not report the facts for fear of reprisals and some were allegedly threatened after reporting them".
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan E. Méndez stated on 11 March 2015 that Venezuela had ignored requests for information and that he had made "conclusions based on the lack of response" and "concluded that the government violated the rights of prisoners", further saying that the Maduro government failed "with the obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish all acts of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment".
La Tumba La Tumba (The Tomb), one of the headquarters and prisons of SEBIN, has been used for white torture and some of its prisoners have attempted suicide. Conditions in La Tumba have resulted with prisoner illnesses, though Venezuelan authorities refuse to medically treat those imprisoned. Bright lights are continuously left on and prison cells are set at near-freezing temperatures.
On 2 March 2015, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued precautionary measures of protection in resolution 6/2015 in favor of Lorent Saleh and Gerardo Carrero in response to the request made on 8 July 2013 by Tamara Sujú on behalf of the Foro Penal in which she asked the agency to require the Venezuelan government to protect the life and personal integrity of Saleh and, later in the proceedings, also the protection of Carrero for the violation of his human rights.