Published at: 19/06/2024 09:00 PM

This was stated by the Minister of Internal Relations Carlos Andrés Pérez

(Clarín, July 21, 1962)

• Within the framework of the doctrine of Romulo Betancourt, called “New Democratic Era”, also known as “shoot first and find out later”, the then Minister of Internal Relations, Carlos Andrés Pérez, at a press conference convened in his office, confessed that “this is a government that does not torture, only that there are times when political detainees resist and then the police, perhaps due to their bad education, beat the detainees and cause them bruises... Also when a statement, those in charge of the investigation apply force to obtain it...”
• On this subject, the journalist for the Clarín newspaper asked: “Is this what is called grade 33?”
• “You could call it that,” the minister replied.
• “How can this be avoided?” , the journalist asked. Pérez's response was that “if you watch the international news, shown in movie theaters, you'll notice that in other, more advanced countries, when it comes to disbanding a demonstration, the guards use force... not that I want to excuse the methods used here, but that's the way it is”.
• The journalist insisted: “Doctor: On several occasions it has been seen that when officers make an arrest, they hit the detainee with the roll or the revolver. Why?” Pérez replied: “This is due to what I said before, about the ill-disposition of the police when making an arrest. Because of this, the detainee shows signs of mistreatment...”
• Later, Minister Pérez continued to confirm the official version of the suicide in a SIFA cell of the labor leader, José Gregorio Rodríguez.
• Everything was denied by the wife of the deceased, who was an eyewitness to the torture, before her husband was thrown backwards from a sixth floor at the headquarters of that police force.
• Rodríguez presented, according to the forensic report of the Internal Policy Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, knife wounds, internal organ ruptures and signs of torture inflicted by agents of that police force. So it was a false hypothesis of suicide or accidental death.

Mazo News Team