A recently released 20-year-old Venezuelan man, identified only as “Juan,” has described his harrowing experience of physical and psychological torture at the hands of Nicolás Maduro’s regime. Juan, who was unjustly detained following the controversial and widely condemned July presidential election, spoke to the BBC about the inhumane conditions he endured during his imprisonment in the aftermath of the fraudulent election results.
According to Juan’s testimony, he was subjected to routine beatings, deprivation, and extreme psychological torment during his time in detention. His account serves as a chilling reminder of the lengths the socialist government is willing to go to to suppress dissent and maintain control over the population.
The U.N. estimates that more than 2,400 people were detained in the wake of the election, with at least 27 killed during the unrest. Foro Penal, a Venezuelan human rights organization, has confirmed that 1,800 of these detentions are political, and at least 23 individuals remain unaccounted for.
Juan’s ordeal began when he was running an errand and was intercepted by a group of hooded men. He was accused of terrorism and incitement to hatred, charges often used by the regime to silence its critics. “They planted Molotov cocktails and gasoline on me,” Juan said. After the arrest, he was taken to a detention center where he endured physical violence and was later transferred to the notorious Tocorón prison, known for housing both political prisoners and dangerous criminals.
At Tocorón, Juan and other detainees were stripped of their clothes, beaten, and subjected to degrading treatment. “We were forbidden to raise our faces and look at the guards,” Juan recalled. “We had to lower our faces to the floor.” In this grim environment, he and five other men were forced to share a small, overcrowded cell, measuring just three meters by three meters. Conditions inside the cell were deplorable: the prison was filthy and unsanitary, and inmates were given little privacy.
Juan compared the conditions of Tocorón to the horrors of historical concentration camps. “More than a prison, in Tocorón I felt like I was in a concentration camp,” he said, emphasizing the psychological and physical toll that the deprivation of basic human needs took on him and his fellow prisoners. Juan described the regime’s tactics of breaking the will of inmates through sleep deprivation, constant interrogation, and the overwhelming sense of helplessness created by the inhumane conditions.
Among the most harrowing forms of torture that Juan endured was being placed in a “suffocation cell,” a space reportedly used to force inmates into states of extreme distress. Known colloquially as “Adolfo’s bed,” after the first person who died in it, the suffocation cell is designed to deprive prisoners of air, inducing panic and suffocation. “They put you in there for a few minutes until you can’t breathe and pass out or start banging on the door in desperation,” Juan explained. “I lasted a little over five minutes. I thought I was going to die.”
Juan was released from prison in mid-November after the Maduro regime reportedly ordered a “review” of some detainees’ cases. Juan is now required to report to a terrorism court in Caracas every 30 days, and his family remains fearful for his safety.
“I don’t want him to go out anywhere alone,” his father told the BBC. “I’m constantly afraid of what they’ll come looking for.” The family’s fear underscores the ongoing atmosphere of intimidation and repression that continues to affect those who challenge the Maduro regime. Despite his release, Juan’s future remains uncertain, and his life is still under threat as the regime’s persecution of dissidents continues.
