Carlos is a musician and farm laborer from Altagracia de Orituco. He left to go live in Caracas, but he was in town visiting his family when Operation Trueno began.

This story is part of an investigation produced by InSight Crime and the Venezuelan human rights organization Defiende Venezuela that exposes the abuses of the Venezuelan security forces and tells the stories of their victims. Explore these stories and the full human rights report here.

Carlos was out when the police came looking for him at his mother’s house. Officers told his relatives they were there to kill him, and they arrested his sister and mother.

He waited until night then fled Altagracia de Orituco. He walked to the town of Taguay, then caught a bus to Caracas.

Carlos was waiting for a bus to take him to the Colombian border when he was arrested at the bus station in Caracas, even though the officials had no warrant.

The police officers put a hood over Carlos’ head and bundled him into a car. They took him to a beach, where they held his head under water while interrogating him about Tren del Llano. He told them he had nothing to do with the gang.

The police took Carlos to a large house on the outskirts of Caracas, where they tortured him in the basement. The officers hung him from the ceiling by a rope attached to handcuffs behind his back. 

Officers swung him around by pliers jammed into his nose. They used a severed cable to apply electric shocks to his testicles. They suffocated him by placing a hood laced with insecticide over his head. And they pushed a pistol into his ribs and threatened to kill him.

After applying makeup to cover his wounds, the police officers filmed Carlos’ “confession.” They demanded he denounce a wealthy local rancher he had worked for as a Tren del Llano collaborator.

After the torture sessions, Carlos was bound and gagged and chained to the base of a bed. He slept on the floor while the shift guard slept on the bed.

The national police chief announced Carlos’ arrest, labeling him a “highly dangerous member of the Tren del Llano gang.” Only then did his family understand Carlos had been arrested.

Without being able to communicate with his family or a trusted lawyer, Carlos was taken to a court late at night five days after his arrest. He was brought before a specialist terrorism judge and charged with arms trafficking, financing terrorism, and criminal conspiracy. 

Carlos was placed in pretrial detention and moved to a police jail in Caracas, where he was placed in a cell with 81 other people. There, he received a message from Tren del Llano: they knew he was cooperating with the police, so they were going to kill him.

In May 2023, Carlos’ family received a message from Carlos’ Facebook account. It contained a series of images of his case file, along with a voice message saying they would kill Carlos as soon as he was transferred to a common prison.

After multiple deferrals, Carlos’ trial finally began a year and a half after his arrest. While it is by law a public hearing, his family was often barred from entering the courtroom and made to wait outside in the street deep into the night. 

On May 6, 2022, Carlos’ brother recorded a verbal complaint with the Public Ministry’s Office of Attention to Victims in Matters of Protection of Human Rights. On June 22, he then filed a formal complaint with the ministry’s General Directorate for the Protection of Human Rights, denouncing the Carlos’ detention and torture. To date, no action has been taken in the cases.

In 2023, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued a resolution recognizing Carlos as a victim of arbitrary detention and stating it considered him to have been subjected to torture in the days following his detention.

Carlos is one of the thousands of victims of security forces abuses documented in Venezuela by human rights organizations.

If you value this work, please consider making a donation.

We want to continue working with local partners to expose crime and corruption and to tell compelling stories. In order to do that we need your support. You can make a single donation or become a regular donor if you wish to support our work.

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When Terror Swept Through Guárico, Venezuela

This story is part of an investigation produced by InSight Crime and the Venezuelan human rights organization Defiende Venezuela that exposes the abuses of the Venezuelan security forces and tells the stories of their victims. Explore these stories and the full human rights report here.

Explore the series

Carlos is a musician and farm laborer from Altagracia de Orituco. He left to go live in Caracas, but he was in town visiting his family when Operation Trueno began.

This story is part of an investigation produced by InSight Crime and the Venezuelan human rights organization Defiende Venezuela that exposes the abuses of the Venezuelan security forces and tells the stories of their victims. Explore these stories and the full human rights report here

Scroll to continue

Carlos was out when the police came looking for him at his mother’s house. Officers told his relatives they were there to kill him, and they arrested his sister and mother.

He waited until night then fled Altagracia de Orituco. He walked to the town of Taguay, then caught a bus to Caracas.

Carlos was waiting for a bus to take him to the Colombian border when he was arrested at the bus station in Caracas, even though the officials had no warrant.

The police officers put a hood over Carlos’ head and bundled him into a car. They took him to a beach, where they held his head under water while interrogating him about Tren del Llano. He told them he had nothing to do with the gang.

The police took Carlos to a large house on the outskirts of Caracas, where they tortured him in the basement. The officers hung him from the ceiling by a rope attached to handcuffs behind his back. 

Officers swung him around by pliers jammed into his nose. They used a severed cable to apply electric shocks to his testicles. They suffocated him by placing a hood laced with insecticide over his head. And they pushed a pistol into his ribs and threatened to kill him.

After applying makeup to cover his wounds, the police officers filmed Carlos’ “confession.” They demanded he denounce a wealthy local rancher he had worked for as a Tren del Llano collaborator.

After the torture sessions, Carlos was bound and gagged and chained to the base of a bed. He slept on the floor while the shift guard slept on the bed.

The national police chief announced Carlos’ arrest, labeling him a “highly dangerous member of the Tren del Llano gang.” Only then did his family understand Carlos had been arrested.

Without being able to communicate with his family or a trusted lawyer, Carlos was taken to a court late at night five days after his arrest. He was brought before a specialist terrorism judge and charged with arms trafficking, financing terrorism, and criminal conspiracy. 

Carlos was placed in pretrial detention and moved to a police jail in Caracas, where he was placed in a cell with 81 other people. There, he received a message from Tren del Llano: they knew he was cooperating with the police, so they were going to kill him.

In May 2023, Carlos’ family received a message from Carlos’ Facebook account. It contained a series of images of his case file, along with a voice message saying they would kill Carlos as soon as he was transferred to a common prison.

After multiple deferrals, Carlos’ trial finally began a year and a half after his arrest. While it is by law a public hearing, his family was often barred from entering the courtroom and made to wait outside in the street deep into the night. 

On May 6, 2022, Carlos’ brother recorded a verbal complaint with the Public Ministry’s Office of Attention to Victims in Matters of Protection of Human Rights. On June 22, he then filed a formal complaint with the ministry’s General Directorate for the Protection of Human Rights, denouncing the Carlos’ detention and torture. To date, no action has been taken in the cases.

In 2023, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) issued a resolution recognizing Carlos as a victim of arbitrary detention and stating it considered him to have been subjected to torture in the days following his detention.

Carlos is one of the thousands of victims of security forces abuses documented in Venezuela by human rights organizations.

If you value this work, please consider making a donation.

We want to continue working with local partners to expose crime and corruption and to tell compelling stories. In order to do that we need your support. You can make a single donation or become a regular donor if you wish to support our work.

$
$
$

Your contribution is appreciated.

When Terror Swept Through Guárico, Venezuela

This story is part of an investigation produced by InSight Crime and the Venezuelan human rights organization Defiende Venezuela that exposes the abuses of the Venezuelan security forces and tells the stories of their victims. Explore these stories and the full human rights report here.

Explore the series

Credits

Illustrations and colorization: Juan José Restrepo
Investigation: Ezequiel A. Monsalve Fernandez, Hjalmar D. Soler Zambrano
Texts: James Bargent
Creative direction and art direction: Elisa Roldán

Layout and effects: Belmar Santanilla
Editing: Mike LaSusa, María Fernanda Ramírez, Lara Loaiza
Graphic design: Juan José Restrepo, María Isabel Gaviria, Ana Isabel Rico
Social media: Camila Aristizábal, Paula Rojas, Daniel Reyes