Human Rights
Former Venezuelan oil manager turned whistleblower denounces torture in Maduro's prisons
Alfredo Chirinos denounced that the judge in charge of his case, Carol Bealexis Padilla, who he says witnessed the torture, but ignored it.
April 9, 2023 11:30pm
Updated: April 9, 2023 11:30pm
A former manager of the Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) state sponsored oil enterprise says he endured torture in a Venezuelan prison where he was incarcerated for several years after he accused the entity of engaging in acts of economic corruption.
“They burned my face, they kicked my ribs… and do you know what I was thinking at that moment?" asked Alfredo Chirinos during last week's episode of the Vladimir a la Carta program with Venezuelan journalist Vladimir Villegas.
"I was thinking of all the friends with whom I argued saying that, in this process, the torture had already ended.”
"I apologize to them (my friends) here, because they were friends that I even lost for imposing my belief that torture had ended here," he said in the interview, after having received full release for serving the sentence to which he he had been convicted of alleged espionage.
The former manager denounced that the judge in charge of his case, Carol Bealexis Padilla, witnessed the torture imposed by the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM), but ignored them.
“I lasted 4 hours face down getting kicked, [enduring] a chemical that skinned my face. The judge (Padilla) saw me like this the day they arraigned me and when I showed her all the blows, she told me that it didn't matter. So, it is a system of corrupt Mafias that have taken refuge in all State entities,” he said.
@Vladivillegastv le hace la siguiente pregunta a Afredo Chirinos:
— Frontosa Burundi 😎 (@kal1mancastillo) April 5, 2023
📝¿A tí te TORTURARON?
La respuesta que da Alfredo Chirinos da TERROR, yo pregunto, que ¿pasa en este pais?.
Mis respetos a estos valientes, saquen ustedes mismos las conclusiones. pic.twitter.com/STfp7l0IdU
Judge Padilla was in charge of the First Special Court of First Instance in Control Functions and with competence in Terrorism.
She was the one who issued the arrest warrant against opposition politicians Julio Borges, Juan Requesens and Fernando Albán, who died at the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN).
Chirinos highlighted that both Padilla and Judge José Mascimino Márquez García, currently detained and accused of a corruption scheme, have been responsible for the cases of several political prisoners.
“It is a corrupt system (…) There are countless cases handled by these two judges and you see a pattern. Most of the cases, the first crime they are charged with is terrorism, so that it falls into these two courts that simply follow orders,” she explained.
Chirinos, who worked as manager of PDVSA Specialty Operations, was arrested in 2020 and sentenced to 5 years in prison in 2021, along with his partner Aryenis Torrealba, former manager of PDVSA Crude Oil Operations.
They were accused of disclosing or supplying data or information provided for in article 55 of the Organic Law on National Security.
