A/HRC/45/33 having served their sentences fully; 61 have substitute measures; and 41 have been released. The status of the remainder varies. 58. The Directorate General of Military Counter-intelligence arrests took place during the day either at the arrestee’s workplace or military base, or upon convening the arrestee to a meeting at which they were detained. In some cases, Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence officials did not identify themselves and often covered their faces and/or used aliases. The arrests took place at different places around the country. Arrestees were brought to Caracas, either directly to Directorate premises in Boleíta, or first passing through one of several unofficial or clandestine “safe houses” for hours or days. 59. The Directorate General of Military Counter-intelligence has used unofficial or clandestine facilities increasingly since 2018. The mission documented 24 cases of torture taking place in these facilities in 2018 and 2019. The mission was able to identify six such sites on the basis of information provided by victims, lawyers, family members and organizations, the details of which appear in the long report. 60. Officials of the Directorate General of Military Counter-intelligence failed to present arrest warrants and/or failed to explain the reason for detention. In a number of cases, there was a discrepancy between the date of the victim’s last known whereabouts and the official date of detention or the official date on the arrest warrant. The official record usually placed the date of detention within 48 hours of the initial appearance, purportedly to appear to be in compliance with the period established by law. 61. In each of the cases investigated, within hours or days of arrests, high-level government authorities made public declarations related to the arrest, damaging the detainees’ right to the presumption of innocence. 62. Once detained, arrestees’ whereabouts were unknown for periods ranging from a few days to over a week. They were not permitted to call family members or lawyers to inform them about their detention or whereabouts. When relatives approached authorities at the Directorate General of Military Counter-intelligence to inquire about the whereabouts of the victims, they were either provided with no information, or knowledge of their location was denied. The mission has reasonable grounds to believe that these amount to short-term enforced disappearances. 63. The mission examined 77 cases in which military personnel and associates were tortured in the custody of the Directorate General of Military Counter-intelligence. Acts of torture usually occurred during interrogations, shortly after arrest while detainees were held incommunicado and before the initial court appearance. Some were also tortured during later periods of detention in Boleíta. 64. Questions put to detainees suggest that the acts were carried out to extract a confession, to obtain information regarding the participation of others in alleged conspiracies and/or to punish the detainee. Cases reviewed by the mission suggest that methods used by agents of the Directorate General of Military Counter-intelligence to inflict pain have evolved between 2014 and 2020, with a marked increase in levels of violence since 2017. 65. The mission found numerous acts of torture and other ill-treatment, including heavy beatings; asphyxiation with toxic substances and water; stress positions; prolonged solitary confinement in harsh conditions; sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and forced nudity; cuts and mutilations; electric shocks; use of drugs to induce confession; and psychological torture. 66. Some of these acts resulted in serious and/or permanent physical injury, including loss of sensory or motor functions, reproductive injuries, miscarriage, blood in urine and broken ribs. These acts also resulted in severe psychological trauma and depression. Former captain Rafael Acosta Arévalo died in the custody of the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence. The mission has reasonable grounds to believe his death was the result of torture. 67. In three cases investigated by the mission, the Directorate General of Military Counter-intelligence perpetrated acts of sexual or gender-based violence against military detainees during interrogation in order to degrade, humiliate or punish them. Female and male officials of the Directorate General of Military Counter-intelligence subjected 8