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U.S. State Dept. comments about torture in

Venezuela from earlier this year (report on 2004):

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41778.htm

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

The Constitution prohibits torture and the holding of detainees
incommunicado, provides for the prosecution of officials who instigate or
tolerate torture, and grants victims the right to medical rehabilitation;
however, security forces continued to torture and abuse detainees. Abuse
most commonly consisted of beatings during arrest or interrogation, but
there also were incidents in which the security forces used near-suffocation
and other forms of torture.

PROVEA reported that between October 2003 and September, it received 58
complaints of torture and 491 regarding cruel, inhuman, and degrading
treatment. From January to June, Red de Apoyo received 30 complaints from
alleged torture victims.

The Government did not ensure independent investigation of complaints of
torture. COFAVIC questioned the Attorney General's ability to oversee
neutral investigations, because he was an active member of the President's
political party and a former vice president in the current Government. Human
rights groups also asserted that the Institute of Forensic Medicine, part of
the CICPC, was unlikely to be impartial in the examinations of cases that
involved torture by CICPC members. Few cases of torture resulted in
convictions.

The Human Rights Ombudsman documented 7 complaints of torture and 17 of
abuse during the disturbances from February 27 to March 5 (see Section
2.b.). Many of the complaints were reported to prosecutors, but no arrests
had been made as of year's end. COFAVIC reported nine cases of torture, with
an identifiable pattern throughout the country. There were no arrests
associated with these cases. For example, on March 1, National Guard troops
detained Carlos Eduardo Izcaray, a National Symphony cellist, near a violent
street protest. According to AI, Izcaray was beaten repeatedly, given
electric shocks, exposed to tear gas in a confined space, had tear gas
powder smeared on his face, and was threatened with death.

Reports of beatings and other humiliating treatment of suspects during
arrests were common and involved various law enforcement agencies.

In March, the soldiers who arrested Carlos Zambrano and beat him to death (s
ee Section 1.a.) also raped his girlfriend.

In November, police arrested three ex-police officers as suspects in the
November 18 killing of prosecutor Danilo Anderson. Lawyers for the three
accused the police of torturing the three men after illegally detaining
them. All three were arrested days after being reported missing. The torture
allegations included the use of electric shock, sensory deprivation, and
psychological torture. A judge ordered an investigation into the allegations
of torture, but no arrests had been made by year's end.

Prison conditions were harsh due to scarce resources, poorly trained and
corrupt prison staff, and violence by guards and inmates. The prison
population was at 118 percent of capacity; 22 of the country's 32 prisons
were overpopulated, some severely, according to the Ministry of the Interior
and Justice. Severe overcrowding in some prisons constituted inhuman and
degrading treatment. Prisoners often complained of food and water shortages.

Inmates often had to pay guards and other inmates to obtain necessities such
as space in a cell, a bed, and food. Most prisoners obtained food from their
families, by paying prison guards, or in barter with other prisoners. Many
inmates also profited from exploiting and abusing others, especially as
convicted murderers and rapists often were held with unsentenced or
first-time petty offenders. Trafficking in arms and drugs fueled
gang-related violence and extortion. Prison officials often illegally
demanded payment from prisoners for transportation to judicial proceedings
(see Sections 1.d. and 1.e.).

The Government failed to provide adequate prison security. The National
Guard and the Ministry of Interior and Justice have responsibility for
exterior and interior security, respectively. The Venezuelan Prison
Observatory (OVP), a prison monitoring NGO, estimated that interior guard
force had only one-tenth the required strength. Violence between gangs was
common, with shootouts and riots common occurrences. From January through
December 31, the OVP recorded 327 deaths and 655 injuries in the prisons.
Security forces committed some of the killings in prisons (see Section
1.a.), but most inmate deaths resulted from prisoner-on-prisoner violence,
riots, fires, and from generally unsanitary and unsafe conditions. Prisoners
also died as a consequence of poor diet and inadequate medical care.

On August 5, prisoners in the Barcelona prison staged a "blood strike,"
inflicting wounds on themselves, to protest prison conditions.

Women inmates were held in separate prisons, where conditions generally were
better than those in the men's facilities. Security forces and law
enforcement authorities often imprisoned minors together with adults, even
though separate facilities existed for juveniles. Because reform
institutions were filled to capacity, hundreds of children accused of
infractions were confined in juvenile detention centers where they were
crowded into small, filthy cells, fed only once a day, and forced to sleep
on bare concrete floors. Pretrial detainees were not held separately from
convicted prisoners.

The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, and such visits took place during the year.