The National Human Rights Observatory denounced that justice in Venezuela is used against the rights of political, civilian and military prisoners

The National Observatory for Human Rights (ONDDHH) is constantly reporting on the situation of Venezuelan political prisoners and those detained who have their human rights and due process violated. There are aberrant cases of people being detained because they are relatives of another prisoner or of someone whom intelligence agencies intend to apprehend or extradite: this is how Captain Rivas Jiménez, brother of Colonel Piligra Jiménez, and the spouses Marrufo Delgado are arrested because María Auxiliadora is Delgado's sister Tabosky.

“In Venezuela, the violation of human rights has worsened in recent years, becoming one of the most critical scenarios in the complex crisis that the country is going through. Numerous human rights violations resulting from the regime's policies and the excessive use of force by the security forces, as well as the misuse of the justice system, constitute a mechanism of political persecution”, emphasizes the Observatory.

Among the political prisoners advocated by the Observatory is Angelo Moisés Rosales Santos, who is being held in Rodeo II, suffers from hepatitis and has not received medical attention. “Angelo's life is at risk, he must be checked by a doctor and given due attention immediately,” demands the Observatory, who has among its members prominent jurist Theresly Aida Malavé Wadskier.

“From ONDDHH we demand respect for the rights of political prisoners: Gabriel Barros, Giulliany Espinoza, Alberto Polo, Robert Salas, Juan Ubencio, Larry Briceño, Luis Mariño, Dirimon Pernía, Luis Mariño, Alayeto Bigott, Dixon Jiménez. We continue to raise the demand for respect for the human rights of Venezuelans and work on the documentation, denunciation and dissemination of their violations in the country.”

Recently, a group of relatives of political prisoners stood in front of UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) headquarters in Chacao, Caracas, accompanied by political leaders and former deputies Juan Pablo Isidoro Guanipa Villalobos and Yajaira Haydee Forero Peñaloza to demand the release of civil political prisoners and military, through an Amnesty Law. “We cannot allow political prisoners to go into oblivion. We have to be permanently acting on the basis of their full freedom,” Guanipa said.

Several cases have been decided in express trials. In the Honor and Glory cases, Operation David and Operation Gideon, they have called for rapid hearings. The brother of detainee Jesús Castro said that “they received them on March 22, 2022, 4:00pm, for the hearing of the trial; despite having no evidence against them or anything, there was a pause in the trial that will follow next week.”

The Marrufo

Juan Carlos Marrufo Capozzi and his wife Maria Auxiliadora Delgado Taboski have dual nationality, he Italian and she Spanish; they were arrested by Operation David, led by GNB captain Juan Carlos Caguaripano Scott when he stormed Fort Paramacay. On March 19, 2018, the DGCIM goes home, steals everything it finds and detained them; the Public Prosecutor's Office found no evidence against them, even though they were detained for seven months with a release ballot, until they were released on October 2, 2018, although 24 hours later they were arrested again.

It has never been determined what evidence exists against them, whom the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) accuses of financing terrorism, and association to commit crimes, implicating them in the case of drones, occurred on August 4, 2018, when an assassination attempt against Nicolás Maduro occurred.

Marrufo marriage advocate Lucila Hurtado has denounced the violation of human rights and due process of the couple. The Human Rights Observatory has also pointed out that the cause of the couple “is paralyzed in the 1st Court of Trial Against Terrorism, cessation of overcrowding and cruel and inhuman treatment”.

The real reason is that they keep them to pressure Osman Alexis Delgado Tabosky, brother of Mary Help of Christians, to surrender. Nicolás Maduro has publicly assured that Osman Alexis is the financier of Operation David and the assassination attempt against him, assuring that the retired soldier, who lives in the US, bought and sent the drones in addition to offering $50 million to those involved.

The then Minister of the Interior and Justice, General (GNB) Néstor Luis Reverol Torres, said Delgado Tabosky would have been seized property, which would have served to finance the assault on Paramacay and the purchase of the drones. Among the properties are two hospitals under construction in Carabobo, a farm, several small companies, a rehabilitation center in Aragua and commercial premises.

The assets of Delgado Tabosky and the Marrufos were appropriated by the intelligence agencies, both the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and the DGCIM. Even SEBIN occupied the offices of the regional channel Dat TV, owned by Delgado Tabosky's father, also the Elohim clinic, from which computers and other equipment from the Imaging area were taken. Likewise, in Valencia they raided the Presalud headquarters that provided medical services.

He is active captain

The first time that Captain William Andrés Rivas Jiménez was arrested, it was shortly after the operation, on September 19, 2020, that the Integral Defense Operational Zone started against the alias Ferley camp of the FARC Tenth Front in Apure state, from which four soldiers and one guerrilla were killed; the captain was chief of Military Unit 9202 Escamoto of La Charca, Rafael Urdaneta parish, Apure state, and was told of having sabotaged the Operation.

Colonel Benigno Antonio Medina Valero, the Fourteenth Military Judge of Control of Guasdualito, leaves him imprisoned for the crimes of Aggravated Smuggling, Concussion and Association; in time the charges are dropped and he admits the charges of disobedience, leaving him free.

Time passes until on May 14, 2021, they arrest their brothers: Colonel Luis Augusto Piligra Jiménez, president of Dairy Los Andes and Pedro Álvarez Jiménez. Inexplicably, after 14 days, Captain Rivas Jiménez was arrested again, and he was charged with the same crimes as the previous year by the Military Court of Guasdualito; thus it remains in the hands of the Terrorism Tribunal headed by Judge Claudia López.

Rivas Jiménez has had a full release order, since November 15, 2021, but he has been imprisoned for five months in the former La Planta prison, even though he is an active soldier and that is a detention center for foreigners. “That day I told Judge and Prosecutor Farik Mora that I was tortured, but they ignored that complaint,” the captain told the court.

The Ministry of Penitentiary does not carry out the freedom ordered by the Terrorism Court, so the defense of Rivas introduces a habeas corpus, to which they never responded. Although Rivas appears in the case of Colonel Hector Luis Parra Longart, commander of the 921 BC “Manuel Cedeño”; captain Jonathan Gómez Ospina, of the 92nd Brigade of Caribes Tcnel. Marcelo Gomez; SM3 Samuel de Jesús Brito Guerrero, S1 Jose Manuel Reyes Nelo, Second Sergeants Omar Jose Moreno Rodriguez, Wilver Estermy Hernandez Rojas, Erika Yolanda Irumbe Silva, and Anderson Javier Rivero Rivero. They all served prison in the Ramo Verde military jail and all were released in September 2021, only Captain Rivas is in a civilian center and is still in prison.

Rivas, when the DGCIM stops him, they take two vehicles away from him, but only one was placed in the file. The other one now appears in someone else's name without the captain selling it to anyone. The one they included in the file, they stole his box and engine.

On December 23, 2022, when faced with a complaint about the illegal deprivation of Rivas, the Prosecutor's response was that the case was brought by Attorney General Tarek William Saab. Having full and unrestricted release by order of the Court, Captain Rivas Jiménez remains in detention.

Laura Lara

The National Observatory for Human Rights denounces that Laura del Carmen Lara Soza, “was unfairly detained by SEBIN officials and detained at the headquarters of El Helicoide for 1 year and 2 months, and then transferred to INOF, where she has been for 7 months and still remains. The case is before the First Special Court against Terrorism and presents a significant procedural delay given that it has been deferred eleven times, therefore the preliminary hearing has not been held”, adding that his human rights have been violated.

The TSJ, when it published the decision of the Special Court against Terrorism associated with corruption and organized crime, handed down Alexis Ramón Riera Lugo, director of the Enrique Tejera Hospital in Carabobo, deprivation of liberty for alleged extraction and embezzlement; Juan Carlos Yáñez Viera was indicted for the same crimes in addition of his own malicious embezzlement, while Rafael Antonio Mendivelso and Laura del Carmen Lara Sosa, for extractive smuggling, terrorism and association.

They were charged with extraction smuggling for trying to sell Remdesivir ampoules, used for the treatment of COVID-19, in dollars. Riera Lugo, in addition to being director of the Tejera Hospital, was director of the Carabobeño Institute Foundation for Health (Insalud) and regional director of Health. Mendivelso was with his cousin Antonio José Amell Castillo, a Colombian doctor and resident at Tejera Hospital, when he was arrested a week earlier trying to sell the Remdesivir ampoules. Lara Sosa is implicated for being the owner of the vehicle in which Amell Castillo moved to deliver the medicines.

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