08.11.18: Unaired Footage

Mere hours after the Maduro regime aired footage on television allegedly showing imprisoned National Assembly deputy Juan Requesens implication Julio Borges in Saturday’s drone attack, a second video of the young politician leaked onto social media. A set of two images were also leaked, showing what appear to be Requesens’ feces-stained underwear.

The video and images were leaked by a journalist by the name of Alberto Rodriguez, who said that they were given to him by some of Requesens’ captors.

The second video raises even more questions about the conditions under which Requesens is being held, and what type of torture he might have suffered to produce the clip that the regime aired on television.

In the second video, a visibly distraught Requesens is seen for a few short seconds. He spins in place for the camera in response to orders from the man recording him, presumably one of his captors. Requesens is stripped to the waist, and his boxers are stained with feces. His eyes are sunken, and surrounded by dark circles.

Below, the video:

While it is not yet known exactly where Requesens is being held since he was arrested on Tuesday, he is widely believed to be in the El Helicoide, the regime’s most notorious prison. Run by the regime’s political police, the SEBIN, El Helicoide is known by those who have survived its horrors as “La Tumba” [The Tomb].

Former inmates have detailed horrific tails of sadism from the SEBIN guards, and the torture that goes on in the prison has been documented by international and domestic human rights and media organizations.

Following the Maduro regime’s release of the Requesens video in which he allegedly implicates Primero Justicia (PJ) chief Julio Borges in Saturday’s drone attack, the reaction from social media users, media personalities and politicians alike was overwhelmingly in favour of Requesens, who was widely believed to have been tortured into speaking on camera for the regime’s whims.

Julio Borges was among the first to speak on the first Requesens video, saying that he stood by Requesens, and calling the video released by the regime a “farce”. He said:

I ask the whole country to stand in solidarity with [Juan Requesens], the great fighter, the viciousness of the regime against him and his family has been criminal. Today we will respond to the farce that [Jorge Rodriguez] and [Maduro] have put on.

Isturiz: Video, Images of Requesens Released by “Rats” to “Confuse the People”

Aristobulo Isturiz, a high ranking official with the PSUV party and former vice president, reacted to the leaked video and images of Juan Requesens during a speech in Carabobo state this afternoon.

During his speech, Isturiz said that the people responsible for leaking the images were “rats” who are out to confuse people. Isturiz said:

They [the regime’s critics] are going to manipulate [the Requesens] story in the media to confuse the people. Yesterday, one of the deputies who is detained and who is giving up information, that deputy got some of his pictures put up on social media so that our people would say, “Oh my, poor him!”. The rats! There’s no other word for the: rats, because it was his own relatives who put those images [on social media] so that people would get confused and turn against Maduro and the revolution.

Isturiz said that revolutionary faithful had to “keep an eye out” for such tactics, and remember that the Bolivarian revolution “respects human rights”.

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