Venezuela moves political prisoners from El Helicoide, NGOs demand info

On June 3, 2026 the Venezuelan government transferred a group of political detainees known as the “last political prisoners” from the El Helicoide detention centre to various other prisons across the country. Rights organisations, including the Comité por la Libertad de los Presos Políticos (Clippve) and the NGO Foro Penal, said no official information has been released about the identities or new locations of the transferred inmates.

Clippve warned that “vaciar celdas no es cerrar El Helicoide” (emptying cells is not closing El Helicoide) and condemned the move as an attempt to normalise repression. Foro Penal’s vice‑president Gonzalo Himiob demanded that authorities provide precise details on the prisoners’ whereabouts, citing Venezuelan law that treats the failure to disclose such information as a possible crime of forced disappearance. Both groups called for transparency to protect the detainees’ rights and to prevent illegal detentions.

The lack of official data has sparked concern among families and human‑rights observers, who fear the transfers could mask continued abuses within the penal system.