Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has warned of the “inhumane situation” faced by political prisoners held in the Torocón prison in the state of Aragua, where up to nine inmates have reportedly attempted suicide in recent days.
Machado attributed these attempts “to the ruthless treatment they suffer and the depression this has caused.” “The food is very scarce, rotten, and full of worms; visits are increasingly shorter, phone calls to their families have been reduced, and the ability to clean themselves is almost nonexistent,” the leader of Vente Venezuela said.
The opposition leader, who noted that in the last year at least six citizens have died “in the custody of Nicolás Maduro’s regime,” has thus issued a warning to the international community, to which she has once again appealed for help.
The NGO Foro Penal estimates that there are at least 815 political prisoners in Venezuelan prisons, although this count includes cases of opponents whose whereabouts are unknown.
