Maduro opponents report torture, abuse in Venezuela: HRW

Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro say they have been arrested for their political activities and subjected to torture including brutal beatings and electric shocks, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. At least 21 opposition activists have been arrested since May, and most report being tortured or otherwise abused in custody, said the New York-based rights group. Some of those arrested said they were forced to confess to crimes they did not commit or threatened with rape or murder, said the group, which based its findings on interviews, court documents and police records. With oil-giant Venezuela's economy pushed to the brink of collapse by the crash in global crude prices, Maduro is fighting off opposition efforts to make him face a recall referendum. Opponents have sought to rally mass protests to pressure the leftist leader. The authorities have responded by arresting opposition figures. Human Rights Watch called on the Organization of American States to step up pressure on Maduro's government to investigate alleged abuses and release prisoners who have been arbitrarily detained. "Without strong regional pressure, the Venezuelan government may well believe that it can get away with brutal and authoritarian punishment for dissent," the rights group's Americas director, Jose Miguel Vivanco, told a press conference in Buenos Aires. He said Venezuela is currently holding some 90 political prisoners. The report, presented in the Argentine capital, documents 21 cases. They include that of 20-year-old student Jose Gregorio Hernandez Carrasco, who was arrested for alleged violence against the security forces at a protest in Caracas on May 18. "He was beaten and tortured and finally agreed to sign a confession because his abusers threatened to rape him," said the report. "The torture included applying electric shocks, covering his head with a plastic bag to choke him and placing a stick on his rectum and threatening to rape him. "Hernandez Carrasco remains in detention and subject to criminal prosecution, despite the fact that the attorney general's office failed to present any credible evidence against him," it said. Maduro's government denies holding political prisoners.