A jailed opposition activist describes the brutality of prison life

“I've already been tortured and repressed, but I won't be silenced. My voice is all I have left.”

This is how Juan, a young man in his 20s, begins his story. He claims he was physically and psychologically tortured by Venezuelan security forces after he was detained in connection with the July 28 presidential election.

He was one of many hundreds of people arrested during protests after electoral authorities – which are dominated by government loyalists – declared incumbent President Nicolas Maduro the winner.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) did not make the results of the vote public, and the Venezuelan opposition described the official results as fake, saying that the results obtained with the help of election observers suggested a landslide victory for its candidate. Edmundo Gonzalez.

Juan was released from prison in mid-November, days after Maduro called on judicial authorities to “correct” all injustices in detention.

The BBC spoke to him via video call. For his own safety, we have decided to withhold some of the details of his case and have changed his name.

The young man claimed that many of the detainees were mistreated, given “rotten food” and the most recalcitrant were locked up in “torture rooms”.

He showed the BBC documents and evidence that corroborated his story, which coincided with other testimonies and with complaints from non-governmental organisations.

Juan, an anti-government political activist, said the election campaign and the days leading up to the election were “marked with hope” and many people wanted to vote for change.

But the announcement of Maduro's victory shortly after midnight that Sunday turned what had been a celebratory mood for many into confusion and anger.

Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets to protest a result they described as fraudulent.

The opposition and international organizations claim that the ensuing police crackdown left more than 20 protesters dead.

Maduro and some of his officials have in turn blamed the opposition, “extreme right” and “terrorist” groups for the deaths.

Gonzalo Himiob of the Venezuelan NGO Foro Penal said people were arrested just for “celebrating the opposition's declaration of Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner or for posting something on social media.”

“We also have cases of people who didn't even protest but for some reason were close to protesting and were arrested,” he added.

Juan says that's what happened to him.

The young political activist says he was running an errand when a group of hooded men accosted him, covered his face and beat him, accusing him of being a terrorist.

“They doused me with Molotov cocktails and gasoline and then took me to a detention center,” he continued.

He was held in a prison in the interior of Venezuela for several weeks until he was transferred to Tocoron, a notorious high-security prison about 140 km southwest of the capital, Caracas.

There he would go through what he describes as the worst experience of his life.

“When we arrived in Tokoron, they stripped us, beat us and insulted us. We were forbidden to look up and look at the guards; we had to lower our heads to the floor,” says Juan.

Juan was assigned a small cell measuring three meters by three meters, which he had to share with five other people.

There were six beds arranged in three bunks, and in one corner there was a septic tank and “a pipe that served as a shower”. It was the bathroom.

“In Tokoron, I felt more like a concentration camp than a prison,” says the young man. He described the beds as “concrete tombs” with a very thin mattress.

“They tortured us physically and mentally. They didn't let us sleep, they always came to ask us to get up and line up,” he explains.

“We were woken up around 05:00 to line up behind the cell. The guards made us show our passes and numbers.

He adds that around 06:00 they turned on the water for six minutes so that they could bathe.

“Six minutes for six people and only one shower, with very cold water. If you were the last one there and didn't have time to get the soap off, you're covered in soap for the rest of the day,” he says.

Then, he adds, they waited for breakfast, which sometimes arrived at 06:00 and other times at 12:00.

Dinner was sometimes at 21:00 and sometimes at 02:00.

“Besides waiting for food, there was nothing else to do. We could only walk around the small cell and tell each other stories. We also talked about politics, but quietly, because if the guards heard us, they would punish us. “

Juan says many of his cellmates were depressed and acting like zombies.

“They gave us rotten food – meat scraps like you'd give chickens or dogs, or expired sardines.”

Some detainees were routinely beaten or made to “walk like frogs” with hands on their ankles, he said.

He described “punishment cells” where those considered the most disobedient, or those who dared to speak about politics or request a phone call to relatives, would be sent.

Juan says that he was in one of the punishment cells in Tocoron and that he was only given food once every two days.

“It's a very dark cell, one meter by one meter. I was very hungry. What kept me going was the thought of all the injustices that were happening and that one day I would get out of there,” he says.

Another torture cell is known as “Adolfo's bed,” Juan says, after the first person to die there.

“It's a dark, oxygen-deprived room the size of a vault. They put you in there for a few minutes until you can't breathe and pass out or start banging on the door in desperation. They put me in there and I lasted just over five minutes, I thought I was going to die,” he recalled.

The young man says that in this prison, the prisoners have 10 minutes to exercise outside three times a week, but they very much just stay in their cells.

Gonzalo Himiob of the Foro Penal described the conditions in Tocorón as “deplorable” and said that the basic rights of detainees, such as access to a lawyer of their choice, were being violated.

“They all have public defenders — the government knows that if they allow access to a private attorney who is not a public servant, he or she can document any due process violations that occur.”

In October, United Nations (UN) experts reported serious human rights violations committed in the run-up to the presidential election and during the protests that followed, including political persecution, excessive use of force, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions by forces of state security and related civil groups.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently investigating the Venezuelan government for possible crimes against humanity.

The Venezuelan government denies the allegations and says this investigation “corresponds to the intention to instrumentalize the mechanisms of international criminal justice for political purposes”.

The BBC requested an interview with the prosecution regarding allegations of ill-treatment and torture of detainees, but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Juan was released in November, but there are still 1,794 political prisoners in Venezuela as of December 30, according to Foro Penal data.

According to Juan, many of those detained in Tocoron have pinned their hopes on one date: that of the inauguration of the president on January 10, 2025.

It's the day opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who lives in exile in Spain, has announced he will return to Venezuela and take over as president.

He based his claim to the presidency on the official results of the vote, which the opposition was able to gather with the help of election observers.

Those results, which amount to 85 percent of the total, have been uploaded to a website and reviewed by independent observers who say they suggest a landslide victory for Gonzalez.

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden met with Gonzalez and called him the “real winner” of the Venezuelan election.

But it is unclear how Gonzalez, for whom authorities have issued an arrest warrant, plans to enter Venezuela or who will swear him in, given that the National Assembly is dominated by Maduro loyalists.

However, Juan says the prisoners held in Tocoron are hopeful despite hope that on Friday the government will change and they will be released from prison.

Meanwhile, Maduro's government has branded any talk of a political transition a “conspiracy” and threatened that anyone who supports a change of leader “will pay for it”.

Juan admits he feels some guilt about being free when hundreds of his “comrades are still suffering” in prison.

But he says he is determined to return to the streets to show his support for Edmundo Gonzalez on January 10.

“I am no longer afraid of the Venezuelan government,” he explains.

“They have already accused me of the worst crimes like terrorism, even though I am just a young man who has done nothing more than love his country and help those around him.

“I'm not afraid,” Juan repeats, before admitting that he left a written testimony in a safe place “in case something happens to me.”

Illustrations by Daniel Arce-Lopez.