The Venezuelan non-governmental human rights organization Justice, Encounter, and Forgiveness (JEP) said this week that the Venezuelan socialist regime’s largest and most infamous torture complex, the Helicoide (“The Helix”), remains operational despite the regime’s claims.
The Helicoide is a structure in southern Caracas’s San Agustín parish built in the 1950s during the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, originally conceived as the world’s first drive-thru shopping mall. The plans never materialized following Pérez Jiménez’s downfall in 1958 and the building remained unfinished.
The Venezuelan socialist regime turned the facility into what has been largely described as the largest torture center in Latin America. Following the arrest of socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces on January 3, “acting President” Delcy Rodriguez announced that the Helicoide would be shut down and “transformed” into a “cultural center” for local residents of San Agustín.
On Tuesday, over three months since the “shutdown” announcement, JEP explained that the Helicoide remains operational and at least 25 political prisoners are still unjustly detained in the complex.
“We understand that international statements are based on prior institutional commitments and information, but the reality of human rights demands that we compare these announcements with the actual situation of the people affected,” the statement read in part.
“Behind every statistic are families who are still waiting for answers today; therefore, it is not possible to consider a facility closed as long as there are citizens deprived of their liberty inside,” the statement continued.
JEP called upon the international community and organizations to continue monitoring the situation — calling all relevant authorities for transparency regarding the actual status of the Helicoide and the 25 political prisoners still detained at the center.
Hours after JEP published its statement, the organization further denounced that “unusual movements” were reported at the Helicoide, including reports about possible transfers of political prisoners at the complex to other unspecified locations.
“These events raise serious questions and reinforce the perception that last-minute decisions are being made to respond to pressure and international scrutiny, rather than to genuinely correct the reported violations,” JEP’s statement read.
“In the face of this situation, we reiterate that the 25 people deprived of liberty for political reasons who remain in the Helicoide must be released immediately,” the statement continued. “Their transfer to another detention center does not constitute a solution nor represent progress in human rights matters. What is required is their full and unconditional release.”
Following Maduro’s capture, the Venezuelan regime began releasing hundreds of political prisoners unjustly detained across several Venezuelan prisons — including former police officers that spent over 23 years imprisoned.
Although hundreds of political prisoners have been released in the first months of 2026, the Venezuelan non-government organization Foro Penal detailed on Wednesday that the Venezuelan socialist regime still holds at least 404 political prisoners as of Monday, June 1 — including at least one child aged between 14 and 17 years old.
Foro Penal’s Director, Alfredo Romero, warned in a Thursday morning social media post that Jackson Vera, a political prisoner who has spent three years unjustly detained at the Helicoide on spurious “terrorism” and “treason to the homeland” charges, was transferred to the La Planta prison in Caracas.
Romero also detailed that an unspecified number of women detained at the Helicoide have now been spread across in some of Venezuela’s female detention centers.
The Colombian news channel NTN24 reported that the transfer of the political prisoners from the Helicoide occurred a day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress during a hearing that the detention center has been shut down. Speaking with NTN24, JEP’s cofounder Martha Tineo denied that the torture center was closed.
“What we do see is that decisions continue to be made with no regard for human dignity, with no consideration for those human beings who are deprived of their liberty,” Tineo told NTN24.
The Helicoide‘s already harrowing track record as the Venezuelan regime’s largest torture center for political prisoners became more outrageous in the final years of Nicolás Maduro’s rule. In 2024, during Maduro’s rule, the Venezuela regime built a basketball court inside the Helicoide‘s top dome. The ruling socialists also used the structure to launch fireworks in October to mark the start of Maduro’s mandatory early “Christmas season” in Venezuela.
In December 2025, during the last days of his rule, Maduro revealed in a mandatory regime broadcast that a maternal and child health center had been inaugurated inside the Helicoide.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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