Accusations of torture, sexual violence and inhuman conditions: the freezing testimonies of Venezuelans expelled by the United States and incarcerated in Salvador shake Caracas. Venezuela has opened an investigation against Salvado and Nayib Bukele president, after the 252 repatriation of his nationals held for four months in the huge high security prison Cecot, built to accommodate the members of the Salvadoral gangs.
These migrants were arrested and then expelled without trial by the American authorities in March, under a law of 1798 on “foreign enemies”. Washington suspected them of belonging to the feared Venezuelan Criminal Gang Tren in Aragua, classified as a terrorist organization. Their detention in Salvador took place in conditions denounced as inhuman by Caracas.
Some 80 prosecutors mobilized
“We decided to open an official investigation,” the Venezuelan attorney general said Tarek William Saab on Monday at a press conference in Caracas on Monday. He accuses Nayib Bukele and members of his government of crimes against humanity. Calling the International Criminal Court and the UN Human Rights Council to act, he says that 80 prosecutors were mobilized to question migrants on their return.
One of the most striking testimonies is that of Andry Hernandez Romero, 32 -year -old hairdresser and make -up artist: “We have undergone torture, physical and psychological assaults. I was sexually abused by the Salvadoral authorities themselves. On the images published by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, he talks about a detention where you thought was “never seeing” his family.
Total non-compliance with human rights
The stories converge: cells without light or ventilation, prolonged isolation, spoiled food, water unfit for consumption, prohibition of contact with a lawyer or their loved ones, and the use of rubber bullets against prisoners. A treatment that the Venezuelan prosecution calls “systematic attacks”.
Our human rights file
The return of migrants is part of a last minute agreement concluded between Caracas and Washington. In exchange for their release, the Venezuelan authorities released ten American citizens and residents detained in their own prisons, as well as 80 alleged political prisoners. According to Jorge Rodriguez, president of the Parliament and negotiator on the Venezuelan side, “the negotiations were only with the government of the United States”. And to add, by targeting Bukele: “It has never come to mind to speak to the clown. »»