Despite repression, "Venezuela is worth the sacrifice," Maurizio Ottaviani says.
ALICIA DE LA ROSA | EL UNIVERSAL
Saturday March 15, 2014 12:00 AM
"The soldiers were inflamed by hate and bloodlust. They were totally out of control. It's like when animals are unleashed; like when a pack of hunting hounds is set on a prey, chasing it until they catch it, then savaging it until it is shot. They attacked like vicious dogs." Santa María University student Maurizio Ottaviani (20) thus describes his terrible ordeal at the hands of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB).
Ottaviani was one of the 41 people caught in an ambush set up by National Guard soldiers driving motorcycles, in the Altamira neighborhood of Caracas -an anti-government stronghold- on the evening of 28 February. Excessive use of force by the security forces against demonstrators was denounced by Venezuelan human rights organizations, such as the Citizens Equity and Rights Foundation (Fundeci), the Due Process Foundation (Fundepro), the Human Rights Center at Andrés Bello Catholic University (CDH-UCAB), the Venezuelan Criminal Forum association of human rights lawyers, the human rights committees of the Venezuelan opposition umbrella group Unified Democratic Panel (MUD) and of Santa María University.
"I was peacefully demonstrating near the Torre Británica building in Altamira. Just as I turned towards the highway, a group of National Guard soldiers on motorcycles rumbled towards me. I tried to flee, but on seeing them circling me, I froze making no attempt to resist. Four guardsmen came at me; they robbed me of my backpack, and started beating me up, trying to force me to the ground. When they knocked me down, my first instinct was to curl up in the fetal position in an attempt to protect myself. They brutally kicked me on the stomach and on the back. I reached out to block the blows and left my face unprotected. One of them stamped his boot heel onto the right side of my face," says Ottaviani, an international relations student. After being held for 37 hours at a courthouse, he was taken to a clinic where he was diagnosed with conjunctival hemorrhage damaging 80% of his right eye.
On seeing Ottaviani's mangled face, the guards stopped beating him and tied him up with plastic handcuffs. They loaded him onto a motorcycle and drove him off to a GNB bus parked on the Altamira highway interchange, where they held him for hours with other detained protesters. "I was scared; I thought they were going to kill me. The soldiers sought to inflict terror upon us during the hours we spent on the bus, threatening us with asphyxia by tear gas," Ottaviani recalls. But his resolve remains intact. "I want to take to the streets again, but a judge took away my right of assembly. I'll never give up the fight. Venezuela is worth the sacrifice," he says.
Acts of torture and cruel treatment
A report released by the Human Rights Center at Andrés Bello Catholic University (CDH-UCAB) gives an account of 400 cases of detained protesters, as of 7 March, in the Greater Caracas area alone. The report identifies specific patterns of abuse by members of State security forces in locations like Universidad avenue (February 12), San Antonio de Los Altos (February 19), Los Castores (February 25), and Altamira square (February 28).
"Most detained protesters were held incommunicado; authorities did not record statements attesting to the mental and physical condition of the detainees; protesters report having been robbed of cash and cell phones. Most denounce having been subjected to physical abuse (beatings, pellet shooting) and psychological abuse (death or rape threats)," the report notes.
The report points out that the facilities used as detention centers "are completely inadequate," highlighting the case of the Command of the Bolivarian National Guard in La Dolorita (northeast of Caracas) where 18 youth were held for two days in one room, without a bathroom, ventilation, sleeping mats or food."
From those arrested at Urdaneta avenue, (downtown Caracas) 16 denounce having been subjected to acts of torture and cruel treatment while held at the Scientific, Criminal and Forensic Investigation Agency (Cicpc) headquarters in Parque Carabobo. "They were forced to remain on their knees keeping their trunk upright for hours. They were beaten up and doused with gasoline."
They disfigured my son's face
Luis Gutiérrez, a student at Central University of Venezuela, was taking part in a demonstration in San Antonio de Los Altos (Greater Caracas) on February 19 when he was arrested.
According to his mother, Katiuska Pietro, law enforcement officers beat him up so badly "causing multiple broken bones to his face, leaving it completely disfigured. He had to undergo reconstructive surgery."
The court was moved to the hospital in Los Teques (Greater Caracas) for Gutiérrez's hearing. He was released pending trial and must appear before court every 45 days, as reported by the Human Rights Center at Andrés Bello Catholic University (CDH-UCAB).
Ill-treated and robbed
Human rights lawyers, Elenis Rodríguez, the director of Fundeci, and Jackeline Sandoval, the president of Fundepro, along with a group of aggrieved youth, appeared before the Attorney General's Office to complain that the youth were not only beaten and vexed, but also robbed by security forces.
Ana Karina Triana (20), a marketing student, is one of such complainants. She was arrested by the GNB on Altamira square, as she was walking home with a friend. "I heard people shouting for us to run away, and I tried to, but oil on the pavement made it slippery. A guardsman grabbed me by the hair, loaded me onto a motorcycle and drove me off to the Altamira highway interchange. On arriving there, I was bludgeoned on the head with a tear gas grenade launcher. I was stunned," she says.
She was robbed of her backpack. As she was pushed into the BNG bus she saw two girls (Shakira Casal and Lisbel Sanguino) in handcuffs, surrounded by a dozen soldiers. "The girls were screaming because some of the military were spanking and groping them. I remained calm, yet the guardsmen yelled threats at me: ‘We're going to rape you, dirty bitch,' they kept saying."
Daniel Alejandro Rodríguez (20), a student at Nueva Esparta University, and Juan Pablo De Haro (20), a store worker, were beaten up by the GNB in Altamira on February 28.
Rodríguez was taken to a hospital "after a guardsman bludgeoned him on the head with a rifle." He was robbed of his cell phones. "The national guards who beat me up left bruises all over my body," De Haro says. He too was robbed of his backpack.
Shot in the genitals
Moisés David Guánchez (19) was sent home by his boss at a restaurant in La Cascada shopping mall (Greater Caracas) where he works, in view of the unrest of March 5. "When he left the mall, national guardsmen came at him. They fired a load of pellets at him. He was wounded in the groin, in the right buttock, and in one arm," says María Esperanza Hermida, a coordinator at Caracas-based human rights organization Provea.
Mónica Díaz, Guánchez's mother, says her bleeding son "was lifted onto a motorcycle, but the local residents started yelling at the GNB, calling for the young man to be taken to the hospital in a car. He was rushed to Victorino Santaella hospital where he underwent surgery," Hermida said.
Guánchez's is the first case in which the Office of the Ombudswoman requested an investigation into the actions of the national guard. The court acquitted and discharged him.
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