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I wanted to start this presentation with two images
The first of the reality of my country's prisons
which is just what you just saw: like an undeclared civil war
The second image is of a symphony orchestra of prisoners
serving as letter of presentation of the current government
but in which only involves a few thousand inmates
However, the situation in my country is that there are about 35 prisons
with a prison population of about 45,580
Of which nearly 65% are prosecuted prisoners
So when I was invited to speak in this room
I agreed because I wanted to come to talk with you about these issues
But I do this as if I am seeing on the second floor
my brothers, who are in prison, watching me.
I am a person who spent eight years in the prisons of my country
I know the cold bars
And the first thing that greeted me when I arrived at the jail
were some letters written in blood saying
"Welcome to Fantasy Island, where all your nightmares will come true."
In my country, unfortunately there is no humane treatment of people in prison.
What exists is a social cleansing
and today when I wanted to bring multiple images and pictures to share with you
I couldn't get them out of my country for fear of being apprehended at the airport
So I had to do some things to share with you these concerns
Iriwin [Cotler] spoke of Nelson Mandela.
Nelson Mandela said that
"One cannot judge a nation by how it treats its most illustrious citizens,
but by the treatment it metes out to its most marginalized"
which are the prisoners
and he knows what he says since he spent 27 years in prison.
I think neither the right or left or center-left governments
have understood anything about how the situation is in the country's prisons. 0:04:53000,0:04:56.000 nor how to think about or how to treat the problem.
I believe that prisons in the world have failed,
and unfortunately they have not emphasized the services that prisons are supposed to provide.
So while I speak, I imagine as in this second floor my brothers of prison are seeing me
while I tell you that in my country there is a death penalty
a death penalty that is not written in our laws
but a death penalty that exists because of the corruption, arms trafficking, drug trafficking
Which is composed by prison officials
by National Guards, and internal groups that maintain this situation
with the complicity of the authorities, either the executive, judiciary and prosecutors
The fact that I am sharing these concerns with you, makes me as a traitor to my country.
I am not considered a person seeking justice for the prisoners in my country or Latin America. 0:05:52.000,0:05:60.000 You just cannot talk about the issues to which the human rights defenders are exposed today. 0:05:60.000,0:06:05.000 I am under provisional measures issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Currently Venezuela want to be separated of the inter-American system of protection of human rights.
Simply saying that it is interference in the domestic sector
and that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has been influenced against Venezuela.
The Human Rights Commission is simply a mechanism for victims,
and human rights defenders are in the first line.
Hopefully the civilization of the countries understand that.
Because human rights defenders are always inconvenient for any type of government,
because we dare to say what many people do not say because of certain interests.
So, here I just want to take this opportunity to draw the attention of all governments,
whether in Norway or in all countries of the European Union.
Be aware of Venezuela
Watch out for its human rights defenders.
Be aware of its political system
and just not let continue what has been happening for the last 14 years.
14 years where we have a prison population of nearly 45,000 inmates
with prison population is armed
and when I denounce this situation in different instances and in different countries,
they simply show the image you saw at the beginning: the symphony orchestra of prisoners.
that idea is not bad, but there are structural conditions that should be tackled.
It is regrettable that with so much oil we have
and our prisoners sleep on the floor, eat with their hands, they aren't categorized, not properly treated with respect
and they operate illegal businesses inside the prisons where they move more than twenty million dollars annually,
this money is shared between the authorities and armed inmates.
They plan kidnappings, extortion, so always in the investigation it says "calls came from the jail."
And if the calls come from prison, it means the acts are complicit with the prison authorities.
I think that given the situation that we have created in the present moment,
not only in Venezuela but in Latin America with armed groups,
I think it is important that countries that are part of groups [international], or they want to belong to organizations
or to be recognized by the international human rights, they must meet some parameters.
In my country, during the 13 years of current government
more than 5,066 people have died in prison, and 14,460 have been wounded
and unfortunately no one is responsible for the deaths that occur daily in our prisons.
When a person is arrested for committing a crime
he is immediately in the hands of the State.
In the hands of the state his life should be protected, he must be treated properly.
until the end of his imprisonment.
This is simply the process of rehabilitation of persons deprived of liberty for certain reasons.
But unfortunately it does not meet these parameters,
we have what is called "the failure of the prison"
and unfortunately what we have is an every day death penalty in the prisons of our country.
Venezuela is currently facing the Inter American Court of Human Rights for several cases of massacres in the prisons.
To ensure that witnesses testify before the Inter American Court and the Inter American Commission
we must carry out various actions with international organizations
in order to put the victims in these instances where they cant tell the truth
and make the case of the damage they have suffered, that they should be compensated
and that offenders be placed in the hands of justice.
The prisoner in my country as well has to seal his lips, he has to whip himself,
he has to cut his own body,
in the act of simply asking for justice, demanding trial in a reasonable time,
and asking not to be moved to a different prison because his life may be at risk,
and that the very person whose life is in the hands of the state, who's under the protection of the state,
has to ask for justice is a fragrant violation of all fundamental rights.
This currently exists and happens continuously and steadily
and we have not seen the United Nations nor the Inter American system for the protection of human rights
issue a warning to Venezuela for the protection of human rights of persons deprived of liberty.
It is very difficult to ask for respect for a person in prison,
when these events happen in my country, 400, 200 or 15 inmates die,
15 at the least.
This can only be described as a social cleansing,
but to the eyes of many around the world 0:11:12.0000:11:19.000 the only thing they see is a symphony orchestra prison, in the dissemination of this in were they are making an impossible effort that,
unfortunately, leaves any country around the world in dire straits that is not attacking the underlying structural problem.
The point it is not disrespect the human condition,
but to treat with respect the human condition.
There is a thought of Fiodor Dostoyevsky that says:
"prison is hell because hell is not to be able to love."
I leave you all a very large reflections with my presence in this country, here in Oslo,
and I hope that it inspires concerns for my country,
so they know that there is a representative speaking out about the situation that all prisoners of my country are suffering,
because there is not about some living well, others living badly, others living regularly.
Is about these people living as human beings, with respect,
simply letting these person seek respect and when they return to society they be embraced by the community in that manner. 0:12:15.000.0:12:16.000 Thank you.