Luis de la Sotta, the Peruvian-Venezuelan political prisoner tortured by the Nicolás Maduro regime

In three years and nine months, Molly de la Sotta (60) has seen her brother three times. The first two were in September 2018, five months after the arrest of Luis de la Sotta (50), who allegedly instigated the rebellion against Nicholas Maduro days before the elections that gave the dictator re-election. Through him, and from the confinement in one of the basements of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (Dgcim) of CaracasLuis rejects the accusations. There, while he awaits a trial that seems never to begin, torture has been his daily bread.

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That September, Molly saw her brother in a military green jumpsuit that smelled of urine and other unavoidable substances when one is cloistered with five people in a 3×2 meter room with no bathroom. She hugged him and taking advantage of the fact that they were very close to her, Luis spoke to her in a low voice, very close to her ear. He told her that this was the room in the Dgcim in which he was forced to live.

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Molly felt the need to denounce the torture. She too was afraid of retaliation. She was not wrong: although making the case public allowed her brother to receive a visit from his lawyer, in secret, Luis paid to seek justice. “In response, they put him in the ‘coffin’, a 60×60 cm torture room, so narrow that it is impossible to bend over. You have to stand up and they left him handcuffed with his hands behind his back. He could hardly breathe”, Molly maintains.

It could be worst. According to her, the denunciations also managed to stop these attacks.

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The third visit was in January 2019. Luis had been changed from cell: to a room with 60 people and a bathroom. Later, upon request, Molly brought him bottles of water and plastic bags, where the inmates relieved themselves. The day she gave them to him, she found out that her brother had known El tigrito and El cuarto de los locos. “He was in first place for the first four days after his arrest. There, four hooded men beat him with wood, gave him electricity, suffocated him with bags, put tear powder in his eyes, restricted his food, bathroom, family visits and communication with his lawyer. They then brought him before the court and he denounced the torture. In retaliation and for 32 days, they took him to the second place, a place so dark that his hands could not be seen, and they beat him to make him plead guilty “. Although he looked pale, Molly remembers, at least Luis was no longer wild-eyed and had gained a little weight.

Today, Molly —a Peruvian who lived almost her entire life in Venezuela— makes the complaints from the United States. She cannot return to the country of the plains, although she has an invitation. Through the intercession of a journalist, a video of her recounting the case of her brother, Luis de Ella, went viral on social networks. Outraged, Hannover Guerrero, then director of the Dgcim and reputed torturer, spoke with his mother. He called her a liar and that, to confirm her mistake, he was waiting for her in the country. In 2020, Guerrero was promoted to deputy commander and chief of staff.

Luis de la Sotta, captain of the Armed Forces. of Venezuela and a political prisoner. (Source: Molly de la Sotta)

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the scream in the sky

Complaints about the state of health of ship captain and political prisoner Luis de la Sotta have reached the highest levels. His case appears in a report from the United Nations Human Rights Councilas well as in another of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS). But it was not enough. Not even being a Peruvian citizen (the De la Sottas are the children of a Peruvian couple who migrated to Venezuela in the 1960s), Molly accuses, has earned him the support of the national chancellery. “I’ve been left alone with my brother’s case. We are asking that they demand his release and repatriation to Peru. In all this time, the Peruvian consul in Venezuela has not even visited him”.

I met with @MollyDeLaSotta sister of Cap de Navío Luis Humberto de la Sotta, political prisoner of the dictatorship #Venezuela. We are concerned about Cap’s poor health, and that he continues to be subjected to mistreatment and torture. We demand your freedom #OEAconVzla pic.twitter.com/U4yeLTrqtc

— Luis Almagro (@Almagro_OEA2015) July 15, 2018

Still, he doesn’t give up. It is so evident to him that the accusations against Luis have no head or tail that he is shocked. She says that the Dgcim keeps him imprisoned because a lieutenant — who later fled the country — signed a statement in which he said he had heard De la Sotta and other people talk about a conspiracy that was going to take place a few days before the presidential elections. . “But there is no evidence that this meeting took place. The Dgcim interprets a testimony as if it were an investigation”. That is not the worst. “He and a Venezuelan opposition leader are accused of conspiring with the United States and Colombia to prevent elections. but she is free”.

Why the cruelty with De la Sotta? Molly has a clear answer: “It is revenge. He denounced that his boss, Edward Ojeda Sojo, used military personnel to build his beach house. He also claimed that he was stealing food from the troops and called him a thief. Later, Ojeda was promoted and given a high position”.

Luis, despite the fact that it was a bad idea, never put up with this type of behavior. Before, Molly says, they punished him by sending him to the border for four years, after he denounced corruption in a Venezuelan arms company.

Sara de la Sotta, mother of Navy Captain Luis Humberto de la Sotta, a military officer detained at the DGCIM, speaks about the torture that has been carried out on her son #3Jul pic.twitter.com/IAgxx3AkgF

— Dayana Krays (@Dayanakrays) July 3, 2019

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A hopeless future

While fighting for her brother’s freedom, Molly has met people like her, military relatives who became political prisoners. From those conversations, he discovered a pattern: in the hearings before the same judge they are accused of treason against the country, instigation of rebellion and going against military decorum, whatever is necessary for the sentence to exceed 30 years. It is to scare. Then, the magistrates lower the sentence to between 5 and 10 years if the defendants plead guilty. That is why Luis is in the hell of those who do not give their arm to twist and denounce the torture.

“TO all accuse them of the same. But since they have no way to blame them legally, they apply these early penalties”.

The last photo taken of Luis de la Sotta. One day before his kidnapping, his mother took a picture of him. (Source: Molly de la Sota)

In January and after two years of insistence, Molly found out that the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention he will take Luis de la Sotta into account, and that he will ask for his release. But it will surely take time. “I have realized that the world does not care about human rights. Less than ten people who decide on 193 countries work pro bono in that office. But it doesn’t matter, I have patience”.

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Source: Elcomercio