How is the helicoids, the most atrocious prison of the Maduro regime and where it is presumed that Edgar Zambrano was imprisoned?

"We were surprised by the SEBIN, refusing to leave our vehicle, they used a crane to force us directly to the helicopter, we, the Democrats, continue to beat us"Edgar Zambrano writes from the inside of his armored car. The vehicle was forcibly transferred to the headquarters of the Chavista intelligence service, and the president of the National Assembly is thus transformed – while resisting – in the reporter of his own kidnapping.

It was his last message, and since then, nothing is known of him.. The dictatorship did not bring it to justice … Although the connivance of the judiciary with the regime is proven, its transfer before a judge would at least have served to verify his state of health.

It is no coincidence that Zambrano was transferred to Helicoide. The prison is known to be the destination of political leaders, journalists and activists. taken in the middle of the night, ordinary citizens arrested during demonstrations against the regime, but criminal criminals also arrive there. Many times, their loved ones spend days without knowing what their fate is until they realize that they have taken them to the dreaded helicoid.

The headquarters of SEBIN is the cruelest prison of the regime, and it is located in the south-central region of Caracas, between the communities of San Pedro and San Agustín del Sur. It was born as an architectural icon and eventually became the most feared detention and torture center of the dictatorship.

According to journalist Veda Everduim, Infobae, the helicoidal avant-garde building began to increase for recreational purposes in the 50's, during the era of Venezuela's economic boom due to the oil boom. It would be a large shopping center, with heliport, club, exhibition hall, park, hotel, 300 shops and lifts transported from Vienna to Caracas … But its construction has been delayed due to financial problems.

Finally, in 1984, the Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services (DISIP) almost lost its facilities. Chavismo then transformed the Bolivian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), whose offices now occupy the upper floors of the helicoid. with those of the Bolivarian National Police (PNB). Between the two forces, they turned the building into a scary center for imprisonment and torture of political prisoners.

The penitentiary, or the dungeon of Nicolás Maduro's regime, as some people call it, He has seven ovals. The sixth of them, occupied by SEBIN, includes cells, desks, isolation rooms and small spaces that look like bathrooms but are used for torture.

Lorent Saleh, a human rights activist, knows what he is talking about when he describes the helicoid as an old, sordid building. He was kidnapped there for four years after taking part in the Maduro protests in 2014. For Saleh, Between its walls reign depravation, extortion and torture. In the first interview, he granted leaving the formidable structure of concrete, published by The world, defender of human rights He said about the prison: "It was noise, dirt, overpopulation, depravity, political prisoners and opponents were mixed up with suspected criminals and 200 common law prisoners (…) 'helicoide is the pure expression of economic, at levels that no one can imagine'.

In this prison, terror does not affect only Venezuelans. Strangers like Joshua Holt, a Mormon missionary of American origin, also suffered behind the walls of Helicoid. Holt, arrested in 2016 and released in May 2018, had lost 27 pounds and was suffering from bronchitis, scabies, kidney stones and hemorrhoids. He did not receive medical care, only an injection of painkillers. Meanwhile, his wife was tortured to force her to sign a confession against him. She refused and in exchange, she was shocked with a taser and her fingers were placed in a sharpener. "It was the closest hell (…) we are lucky to be out alive," said the American during an interview from his home in Riverton. , in Utah.

What happens inside the walls is hidden by military discipline – and punishment. The jailers of the regime do not reveal what happens there. Is his deepest fear to be in one of his cells …