Name: Gerardo Carrero
Arbitrarily detained: May 8, 2014
Released: December 31, 2016
Place of confinement: El Helicoide
Occupation: Student
Gerardo was arbitrarily detained when the security forces of Nicolás Maduro’s regime dismantled the camp where a group of students, including himself, were standing in peaceful protest in front of the UNDP headquarters.
A court charged him with lesser possession of drugs, incitement to disobedience of laws, obstruction and obstruction of public roads. His hearing was deferred several times, violating all his civic rights.
Gerardo was in the torture center The Tomb, where he suffered serious harassment that put his health at risk. In prison, he lost 14 kilos, with only 26 years. The isolation and torture led him to suffer attacks of fever of up to 40 °, in addition to 28 abscesses on the skin.
He spent his last days of seclusion in El Helicoide, in a cell 3×5 meters. In protest against his situation and that of other political prisoners, Gerardo wrote a letter to Nicolás Maduro, accompanied by a hunger strike. The punishment response of his custodians was to hang him by the arms to a wall without touching the ground for a full night.
On December 31, 2016, he was released along with other political prisoners. They received as a restrictive measure a ban on leaving the country and an obligation to appear before the courts every 15 days. He should never have been imprisoned.
