Bogota, Colombia – On January 30, Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodriguez announced an amnesty proposal that would free hundreds of political prisoners in Venezuela.
In her speech, she also said there were plans to close the infamous prison known as El Helicoide in Caracas.
“We have decided to transform the El Helicoide facility, currently used as a detention center, into a sports, social, cultural and commercial center for police families and the surrounding community,” Rodríguez confirmed in his speech.
Over the past few years, this massive building in Caracas has served as the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and the Bolivarian National Police (PNB).
Following recent announcements about the “rebranding” of the country’s most feared prisons, a deeper debate has emerged about whether a place associated with systematic torture can be redefined.
open wound
Prison, suffering and a tireless fight for justice characterized Andreina Baduel’s life. In 2021, her father, general and former Minister of Defense Raúl Isaías Baduel, passed away within the cold walls of El Helicoide.
“He died there in state custody due to a lack of medical attention that led to him being blamed and ignored,” she said. Latin America Report.
General Baduel became the first Hugo Chávez ally to rebel against his policies. After being considered a hero and serving as Minister of Defense, he was hunted and targeted by the enemy for years and spent his final days without a chance to regain his freedom.
“The most painful part is that he died in the arms of my brother Josnars. He too has been detained and remains in custody (he was transferred from El Helicoid to El Rodeo l in 2024). It’s an open wound… My brother has been in arbitrary detention for over four years and has been a victim of physical and mental torture,” said Andreina Baduel.
Andreina is one of the leaders of the Committee for the Liberation of Political Prisoners (Klibe), and her story is not the only one associated with this prison. Dozens of other families are suffering along the same path as hers.
A 2022 Human Rights Watch report detailed how prisoners at El Helicoid were subjected to torture, including electric shocks and waterboarding. Additional findings by the Venezuelan NGO Justicia, Encuentro y Perdón (JEP) found that in April 2025, dozens of detainees with serious health conditions were still not receiving adequate medical care.
Over the past few years, some survivors of the massive prison have shared grim stories of their experiences.
“It makes me want to die. Víctor Navarro, a Venezuelan activist who was detained and released in 2018, told CNN: “You’re there, and you know it… you’d still rather be dead than there.“
“Direct ridicule”
Delcy Rodriguez’s proposal to turn prisons into shopping malls, sports stadiums and cultural centers is also being rejected by activists and students across the country.
“El Helicoide will go down in history as the most terrifying torture center in the history of this country,” said Octavio González, one of the leaders of the student movement at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). “It symbolizes fear, horror, evil and death. And we will forever remember this place as a place that should never have existed.”
Instead of a commercial center, Gonzalez is advocating a complete transformation of the site. “I believe the building should be destroyed and replaced with some sort of memorial to the people who died there… a monument to the dignity of those who were detained or died behind bars at that location.”
Gonzalez’s call for a memorial is consistent with Andreina Baduel’s views. She also argues that “El Helicoide can only take on new meaning if it truly becomes a place of historical memory, a place where what happened is acknowledged and thereby never happens again.”
The recent decision announced by Delcy Rodríguez can be considered an important step in the healing process in Venezuela, where repression often takes precedence over the common good.
But this extraordinary building still exists and remains a living image of suffering that will remain for decades to come.
“When we hear proposals to turn it into a shopping mall or a cultural center, we see it as a direct mockery of the victims. We cannot just put a fancy facade on a wall that still contains the screams of those who were tortured,” Baduel concluded. “For us, that building is not about architecture, it’s about the place where they took our loved ones from us.”
Featured Image Description: Helicoid Prison.
Featured Image Source: Damián D. Fossi Salas via Flickr
