Venezuela jails 19 women for political reasons

According to data published this Monday by the non-governmental organization Foro Penal (FP), 19 women are imprisoned for political reasons in Venezuela, including the human rights activist Rocío San Miguel and the Portuguese-Venezuelan Carla da Silva, a graduate of the Faculty of Administration.

“There are currently 263 political prisoners in Venezuela: 19 women and 244 men, 116 civilians and 147 military, all adults,” the NGO explains on its account on X, formerly Twitter.

In the same social network, FP points out that “since 2014, there have been 15,818 political arrests in Venezuela,” two of them last week, Rocío San Miguel and Carlos Salazar Lares, detained in a store in Nova. Esparta after recording a video in which he criticized businessman Alex Saab, recently released by the United States and current president of the International Center for Industrial Investment (CIIP) in Venezuela.

“The Criminal Forum has provided free assistance to more than 12,000 released detainees and other victims of human rights violations. In addition to political prisoners, more than 9,000 people continue to be arbitrarily subjected to measures restricting their freedom,” explains FP on ICS.

Human rights activist Rocío San Miguel, 57, was detained on February 9 at Simon Bolivar de Maiquetia International Airport, north of Caracas, as she prepared to leave the country accompanied by her daughter.

Rocío San Miguel is also a specialist in security, defense and military affairs and president of Controlo Cidadao, a non-governmental organization that analyzes the obligations of the Venezuelan state under the Rome Statute and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Regarding the descendant of the Portuguese Carla da Silva, Foro Penal recalls that “she has a higher administrative education, is a Portuguese-Venezuelan citizen” and has been detained “for political purposes since May 5, 2020.”

In October 2023, FP unsuccessfully petitioned Venezuelan authorities to release a young woman of Portuguese origin.

“Carla da Silva is one of the political prisoners in Venezuela. She was arbitrarily detained on May 5, 2020 and is being held in El Helicoid. [prisão em Caracas]in this place, which is so famous because there are several political prisoners there,” the FP director said in a video posted on the Internet.

Alfredo Romero also reported that the Portuguese-Venezuelan woman “was preventively imprisoned for more than three years, that is, without sentencing.”

“According to our law, he should be free, because no one in Venezuela can be prevented from being imprisoned for more than three years,” he said.

On the other hand, philosophy professor Miriam Marrero, mother of Carla da Silva, said that her daughter “is a political prisoner kidnapped by the regime.”

“In my house there is an empty place at the table, in the bed, and when I wake up in the morning, I cannot wish my daughter good morning or blessing, because she was kidnapped, tortured, simply because she was a piece of exchange,” details he said. that Carla da Silva reported that she was tortured by three members of the Special Action Force (FAES).

According to the Venezuelan press, Carla da Silva was detained during a children’s party, where she met a woman who was allegedly involved two days earlier in a conspiratorial operation known as “Operación Gideon” (a naval attack by former soldiers).

FAES representatives took the woman, of Portuguese and Venezuelan origin, to La Quebradita (west of Caracas), where she was interrogated and not allowed to return home.

After 20 days, family members managed to find out that Carla da Silva had been detained and where she was.

According to the Efecto Cocuyo portal, Carla da Silva was tortured for two days, tied up and a plastic bag put over her head, while she was beaten. The cell phone was checked and she was subjected to a polygraph test.