 | This article needs to be updated. (May 2022) |
| El Helicoide | |
|---|---|
| Caracas, Venezuela | |
 | |
| Coordinates | 10°29′22″N 66°54′36″W / 10.4894°N 66.9099°W |
| Type | Office building, prison |
| Site information | |
| Owner |  Government of Venezuela |
| Operator |  SEBIN |
| Controlled by | Ministry of Interior, Justice and Peace |
| Condition | In service |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1961 |
| In use | 1984 |
| Events | Crisis in Venezuela |
El Helicoide is a building in Caracas, Venezuela owned by the Venezuelan government and used as a facility and prison for both regular and political prisoners of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN).[1] In the shape of a three-sided pyramid, it was originally constructed as a shopping mall, but never completed.[1]
During the Nicolás Maduro administration, El Helicoide became a high-profile prison for political detainees where systemic torture and human rights violations have taken place.[1] Prisoners have reported "people being beaten, electrocuted, hung by their limbs, forced into stress positions and forced to plunge their face into a bag of faeces and breathe in".[2]
- ^ a b c Velandia, Karenina and Charlie Newland (24 January 2019). "El Helicoide: From an icon to an infamous Venezuelan jail". BBC News. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
- ^ Graham-Harrison, Emma (15 September 2017). "Downward spiral: how Venezuela's symbol of progress became political prisoners' hell". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 March 2019.