23
afternoon, Detention Center of Catia was supplied with water. There was no water
during the whole day, but at five thirty, water would start running and sewage would
start leaking into these cells. The four floors had no sewer system to carry sewage
into the gorge right next to the prison. The water would flow into this basement,
where approximately 450 men lived; a place that could house a maximum of eighty
people. Then the sewage would fill the room and they had to take all the excrement
outside the hall, that is, take it to the door, forming a knee-high mound of
excrement which would normally stay there for days and weeks. It is easy to imagine
the smell that came from it, and the flies and all kinds of animals which surrounded
that area.
Inside Detention Center of Catia “the strongest dominated the weakest.” This was
condoned by prison officers. In addition, this type of dominance was represented
graphically by branding inmates who served as slaves. There were two types of
slavery: labor slavery and sexual slavery. Labor slaves were branded with a burner,
like cattle brands, which identified who owned the slave, i.e. who was the head
prisoner of the hall. If they were branded on the buttocks, they were sexual slaves.
VII
PROVEN FACTS
60.
In accordance with the acknowledgment of liability made by the State (supra
para. 51), the Court finds the following facts to be proven:
a)
On the facts surrounding the events
60(1) The events giving rise to the instant case took place amidst extreme political
unrest. On November 27, 1992, there was a second attempt at a coup d’état against
the administration of the then President Carlos Andrés Pérez. The rising was carried
out by a civilian-military group formed by high-ranking officers of the four branches
of the Armed Forces and several civilian opponents.
60(2) The city of Caracas was particularly affected by the intense bombing targeting
specific places such as the Palacio de Miraflores (the seat of government), the
Helicoide and the Police Command Center. Disturbances spread across several areas
of the city. The insurrection was crushed by the government on the same day,
November 27, 1992, forcing the surrender, escape and subsequent asylum in Peru of
over a hundred people who participated in the revolt.
b)
On the “Retén e Internado Judicial de Los Flores de Catia” (Detention
Center of Catia)
60(3) The “Retén e Internado Judicial de Los Flores de Catia” (Detention Center of
Catia), located in the west of Caracas, was composed of a small two-story building,
housing administrative offices; an area of workshops, storage rooms, a dining room
and a medical facility for inmates; and a building consisting of two 5-story towers,
which housed the prison cells, called North Tower and South Tower, divided by an
interior yard known as ‘barrio sucio’ (dirty neighborhood). The towers were
connected together by five corridors distributed between the second and the third
floor. Each floor was referred to as a hall.
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