Fear mixed with sorrow at the funeral of Edilson Torres, a policeman and government critic who died in custody just before Venezuela began releasing political prisoners following the toppling of strongman Nicolas Maduro.
Torres, 52, who was jailed for daring to criticize Maduro, died a week after the Venezuelan leader was toppled in a deadly US military raid. What remains of the regime in Caracas is now under pressure to free political detainees.
“I had a lot of faith that I was going to get my brother back alive,” Torres’s sister Emelyn Torres told AFP through tears at his wake.
But it was not to be.
Dozens of friends, relatives and police colleagues gathered on Monday at Torres’s home in Guanare, in the northwest of the Latin American country, to bid him an emotional farewell.
Despite Maduro’s ouster, there was a palpable sense of dread among the mourners. Most of them whispered among themselves, not daring to speak out as the strongman’s cronies remain in power.
One exception was Cirilo Fernandez, the dead man’s uncle, who told AFP he believed his nephew had died a “violent” death and feared he was in danger too.
“I am devastated,” he said.
“My nephew worked for 20 years as a police officer and that meant nothing in the end. I feel powerless about what is happening here in Venezuela.”
– ‘There are others’ –
On Monday, the government in Caracas announced it had freed 116 more people jailed under Maduro — many for taking part in protests after his disputed 2024 election.
UN experts and the opposition said only about 50 prisoners have been freed so far out of the 800-1,200 that human rights groups estimate are being held.
Relatives have been camped out at prisons for days, becoming increasingly restless as loved ones have failed to appear.
His family said Torres was detained last December for sending messages critical of the Maduro government, and charged with treason.
On December 4, his birthday, officers “showed up and asked us where he was,” recalled Torres’s daughter Edilmar, 17.
He wasn’t home, so they waited for his return, then told him they needed help fixing an air conditioner — a trade he engaged in on the side.
That night, Edilmar tried calling her father, but he had left his phone at home.
Two officers came back for the phone and told Edilmar that her father was under arrest “because they had found some messages in those (WhatsApp) groups of the police, where they spoke badly of the government.”
After that “I didn’t hear anything more from my dad,” the teen told AFP, her voice trembling.
Authorities later told the family Torres died in hospital of a heart attack.
Edilmar fought to keep her composure while she and her brother, 15, put out food for the mourners.
But when the casket arrived, led by a procession of motorcyclists, she broke down.
The coffin was set up in the living room, draped with the Venezuelan flag, and mourners filed past to look on Torres’s face one last time.
“It’s not just him, there are others,” said Cirilo, the uncle.
Torres was laid to rest on Tuesday.
