Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (left) next to his wife, Deputy Cilia Flores (right), during his radio program "Con Maduro de Repente," on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. Photo: Presidential Press.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, has stated that Venezuela must deepen its move towards a prison system that rehabilitates human beings to educate and protect them and all of society.
During the head of state’s radio program “Con Maduro de Repente,” this Tuesday, June 11, the president directed these instructions to the newly appointed minister of the penitentiary service, Julio García Zerpa, who took the position last Monday. President Maduro said that the penitentiary system has to be changed and rebuilt. “Last year we dealt certain blows. We said, Tocorón is over, as well as Tocuyito, we have ended the rule of the gang leaders,” he said, referring to the state returning control of those penitentiaries to the nation from gangs.
“We have to put an end to corruption, we have to train a new generation of custodians,” he added. “It cannot be that a detainee has to pay a bribe for a custodian to take him to a bathroom. That can’t be, Julio!” he continued, addressing the minister of the penitentiary service. “If they have to transfer him, they don’t transfer him because the detainee didn’t have the money to pay these bandits, these corrupt custodians, and this creates procedural delays.”
“There will be honest people among the custodians,” the president detailed, “and my message to those honest people is to resist! A new stage has arrived. We already dealt a blow to the gang leaders, now we are going to restore order, so that the prisons are places of stability, respect for human rights, and rehabilitation.”
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The new minister for penitentiary service, Julio García Zerpa, said that today, Venezuela is one of the safest countries in Latin America. “We have made great progress in our justice system,” said the minister. “Today, our 44 penitentiary centers, and our over 400 preventative centers in the country are in the hands of the state. There are no gang leaders, there are no drugs, there are no weapons, and the people should know about this! Now, we are going to a stage of deepening the work.”
He highlighted that the systematization of processes is currently being evaluated, since these are delayed by checkpoints and corrupt officials who allow this to happen, explaining that this deepening includes the optimization of the video-conference hearing, creating digital records of those placed in custody and the study of other methods that allow the national penitentiary system to be perfected with the technological resources that exist in the country.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU
