Blog de Valentina Oropeza

In the Venezuelan prison Rodeo I there is a place known as “the time machine”.

It is a “hermetic underground cistern”, where detainees are forced to “remain naked and in absolute darkness” for days or even three months, according to the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela.

I interviewed Juanita Goebertus Estrada, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, who listened to relatives of Rodeo I prisoners during the organization’s first official visit to Venezuela in 18 years.

In 2008, then-President Hugo Chávez expelled HRW from the country for accusing his government of weakening democratic institutions.

When the delegation spoke to the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, about the time machine and the fourth floor, where abuses are also committed, she replied that in Rodeo I there were cameras on all floors.

“On the fourth floor there are no such cameras,” he was told.

Rodríguez then wrote to the Minister of Penitentiary Services, in the middle of a meeting, to ask what was happening on that floor.

At the same time, the government says that this year at least 1,046 people were released and 12,000 received procedural benefits. And this Tuesday, Rodríguez called for the reform of the Law against Hate, which has served as a legal framework for political persecution.

What struck me most about the interview is that organizations persecuted and prosecuted for years recognize “positive changes” and see a “window of opportunity” towards democratization.

However, they warn that the repressive apparatus is on “pause”: it has not yet been dismantled.

For the time being, the relatives no longer have to enter hooded to visit the prisoners of Rodeo I.