27 soldiers imprisoned in Charallave prison begin hunger strike

On Monday, October 21, 27 soldiers imprisoned in the Center for Military Prosecutions and Penalties (Cepropemil) of Charallave, Miranda state, began a hunger strike to demand security inside the cells after receiving threats from common prisoners and guards.

The detained soldiers reported that They received threats of kidnapping by common prisoners and intimidation from the custodians of the detention centeraccording to Sandra Hernández, wife of the detained sergeant Luis Bandres.

Hernández blamed General Luis Marcel Ojeda Araujo, director of the center; Colonel José Manuel Bello Pérez; and Major Adán Andre Abad Zambrano, for anything that may happen to her husband and the other detainees.

Relatives fear for the lives of the soldiers imprisoned in Charallave

The wife of Third Sergeant Major Geomer Martínez, detained for the Cotiza case, explained that The insecurity situation in the center increased after the detainees protested to request medical attention for a detained police officer who fell from a bunk bed.

The guards indicated that the detainees would receive “a little surprise” for having protested, according to Martínez’s wife.

On the other hand, Dilienyi Escalona, ​​sister of second sergeant Édgar Jesús Díaz Cárdenas, another of the officials detained in Cepropemil, also made a video in which she holds the center’s authorities responsible for the life of her relative and the other prisoners. .

Escalona revealed that on October 17, a riot occurred in which common prisoners tried to attack the detained officials and threatened them with a second riot.

The 24 soldiers detained in Charallave revolted in January 2019 and tried to forcibly take over the command of the National Guard of Cotiza to ignore Nicolás Maduro in the midst of a wave of anti-government demonstrations, but due to the failure of their movement, they received penalties up to 15 years in prison.