Anthropology Student Detained and Tortured: The Case of John Álvarez in Venezuela

2023-11-02 17:21:29

For more than two months, the anthropology student at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), John Álvarez, He is detained in a police cell of the Bolivarian National Police, in La Yaguara, Caracas.

Alvarez was tortured and was subjected to forced disappearance by those who deprived him of his freedom. In addition, they linked him to the case of the six union members arrested and sentenced to 16 years in prison for alleged acts of conspiracy.

Wendelin Peña, mother of the university student, said in an interview with Cocuyo Effect that last week Álvarez was delicate healtha situation generated due to the torture to which he was subjected during his arrest.

“The weekend was in poor health, he decompensated quite a bit, he was dehydratedthe altered values, such as tension and sugar, thank God he recovered a little from what happened to him over the weekend,” said Peña on November 2.

After the torture, Álvarez has had his left leg with an injury that goes from the gluteus to the knee, has partial loss of vision in the eye left and problems kidney.

Despite all the medical conditions he presents, the university student has not been taken to receive specialized medical care.

“We are waiting for them to grant us the permits to do his medical checkup,” said the mother of the young Ucevista.

Peña added that the permits for John to be taken to a specialized medical service continue to be managed through his defendingheaded by lawyer and human rights defender Joel García.

“I saw him (John) yesterday, today I have to visit him at 12:00 pm, but he was more stable, with treatment for vomiting and to control blood pressure and sugar,” he said.

Threats to Álvarez’s girlfriend

Los relatives Álvarez has also been victims of those who keep the university student detained.

On October 30, officials from the Directorate of Strategic and Tactical Actions (Daet), the police body of the PNB, threatened the student. Elaine EcharryÁlvarez’s girlfriend, when she was leaving classes at the UCV.

“Leaving the university, some officials “They approached her and asked for her ID, she gave them her university card and they told her that she was the terrorist’s girlfriend and that she was next,” Álvarez’s mother told Cocuyo Effect.

Student detention

Alvarez was arrested on August 30 by a commission belonging to the PNB, which also subjected him to forced disappearance.

The anthropology student, after being disappeared, was a victim of torture: They beat him with a bat, gave him electric shocks and threatened him with a rifle.

The torture and cruel treatment of Álvarez was reported before the Public Ministry and the Ombudsman’s Office, but the young man’s relatives still have no answers.

Despite the cruel treatment to which he has been subjected and his multiple illnesses generated by the terrible torture, the ucevista hopes that the law be followed and he trusts that he will be released at his next presentation hearing.