Venezuela's 'Helicoide' prison synonymous with torture of dissenters

Now Venezuelans are rejoicing because interim president Delcy Rodriguez has announced its closure -- another gesture of reform after the United States ousted Nicolas Maduro.

"Freedom, freedom, freedom," people with relatives in the prison shouted after Rodriguez announced Friday plans for a general amnesty and the closing of the prison.

Rodriguez said she would convert this place synonymous with suffering into a sports, cultural and shopping facility.

Formerly Maduro's vice president, Rodriguez has quickly moved in less than four weeks in power to overhaul Venezuelan society in ways sought by the United States, earning high praise from President Donald Trump.

She has started releasing some of the hundreds of political prisoners that rights groups say have been held in Venezuela.

Relatives of these people and advocacy groups say the process is too slow and dispute the government's figures for how many are now free.

- 'Synonymous with sadness' -

Construction of the Helicoide began in the 1950s under the rule of dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez. 

It was supposed to represent Venezuela as a country on the rise, its oil wealth fueling development. Plans for the building became an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

But it never even opened as the shopping center it was meant to be, with a five-star hotel and a helicopter pad. 

And after decades sitting empty, after 1986 it was occupied by Venezuelan intelligence -- most recently by the much-feared SEBIN agency.

"All of us Venezuelans know what the word Helicoide means. It is synonymous with sadness, with a lot of torture," said Raidelis Chourio, 39, who has a brother in another prison in Venezuela.

Victor Navarro, head of an NGO called Voices of Memory, worked up a virtual visit to the prison and took it on tour to some 20 countries, even showing it at the International Criminal Court.

It features accounts from prisoners and audio of men screaming as they are tortured with electrical shocks.

Navarro himself was held at the Helicoide for five months in 2018. He describes it as the worst torture center anywhere in Latin America.

"I witnessed torture and I was a victim of it," he told AFP in 2023. "They stuck a loaded gun in my mouth."

The International Criminal Court is investigating the prison for possible crimes against humanity under Maduro's rule. 

The United Nations has reported arbitrary arrests and cases of torture and forced disappearances in relation to the notorious facility.

The authorities denied these allegations, and Maduro once called the prison a "moral reference point."

His government also offended many Venezuelans last year by shooting off fireworks from the prison at the start of the Christmas holidays. This was seen as a cruel provocation.

The government also built a basketball court there for a professional team linked to the security services.

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