A/HRC/45/CRP.11
project to launch an organization called Brave Heart Foundation (Fundación Corazón
Valiente) with a female friend of his to assist homeless youth in Venezuela. Mr. Navarro
requested a grant from the United States Government, which he did not receive. Mr. Navarro
told the Mission that he did receive some personal donations from people at the US
embassy.1026
492. C2EE09 also grew up in Caracas in similar socio-economic circumstances. She began
participating in demonstrations in 2014 and was detained when security forces evicted protest
camps on 8 May 2014, and again on 23 June 2017, when FAES officers broke into an
apartment she shared with friends demanding to know where hidden weapons were. The
FAES officers did not present arrest or search warrants. 1027
493. According to C2EE09, FAES officers planted evidence in the apartment after their
arrest and photographed her and her friends with weapons that did not belong to them,
including some kind of a grenade.1028 C2EE09 told the Mission that FAES officers had taken
a kitchen knife from the apartment, which later appeared in photographs on the Interior
Ministry webpage, as items seized from people committing acts of terrorism. 1029
494. The detainees spent around five days in a FAES detention centre in Maripérez
neighbourhood, Caracas, after which they were presented before a military tribunal, and then
sent to Ramo Verde Military Prison. CCEE09 spent 45 days in Ramo Verde, before her
release with non-custodial measures.1030
495. In late 2017, she joined Mr. Navarro to work with Brave Heart, organizing events and
supporting Mr. Navarro’s activities, while continuing to appear monthly at the military
tribunal, awaiting her preliminary hearing.1031
“Resistencia Altamira” Detentions
496. On 22 and 23 January 2018, Plaza Tres Gracias in Caracas was the scene of protests
during which some demonstrators clashed with police, throwing stones and Molotov
cocktails.1032 On 23 January 2018, FAES detained five young men, including one known as
“El Tigre”,1033 who had been filmed shouting obscenities and threatening to rape a female
1026
1027
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
116
Ibid.
Mission Interview with C2EE09 in June 2020.
News of the arrest was published on the website of the Ministry of Internal Relations, Justice and
Peace. Though the news item has since been deleted, photographs of the detainees can still be found
on the site’s archives. See, for example, http://www.mpprijp.gob.ve/wpcontent/uploads/2017/06/FAES-detuvo-a-siete-personas-por-actos-terroristas-en-Los-Palos-Grandes5.jpg The Minister of Internal Relations, Justice and Peace, Néstor Reverol, also tweeted images of
the group from his personal account, available here:
https://twitter.com/NestorLReverol/status/878933289167343616/photo/1
Ministry of Internal Relations, Justice and Peace, http://www.mpprijp.gob.ve/wpcontent/uploads/2017/06/FAES-detuvo-a-siete-personas-por-actos-terroristas-en-Los-Palos-Grandes4-600x300.jpg
Mission Interview with CCEE08 in May 2020.
Mission Interview with C2EE09 in June 2020.
See, for example, video at: La Iguana TV, Bombas molotov y piedras: Encapuchados prendieron las
guarimbas así en Plaza las Tres Gracias, 22 January 2018, available at:
https://www.laiguana.tv/articulos/80354-tres-gracias-plaza-piedras-molotov-guarimbas/; El
Cooperante, Manifestantes protestaron en alrededores de la plaza Las Tres Gracias: ‘Por un nuevo
país’, 23 January 2018, available at: https://elcooperante.com/por-un-nuevo-pais-manifestantesprotestaron-en-los-alrededores-de-la-plaza-las-tres-gracias/?platform=hootsuite; El Dia, Unión
Europea sanciona funcionarios de Maduro, 23 January 2018, available at: https://eldia.com.do/unioneuropea-sanciona-funcionarios-de-maduro/ ;
https://twitter.com/ElPitazoTV/status/955792262394449920;
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