A kidnapped sailor

By: Luis Gonzales Posada - 27/03/2023

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On May 18, 2018, a long nightmare began for the captain of the Venezuelan Navy, Luis de la Sotta Quiroga, second commander in Turiamo Bay, Aragua state, Peru, according to article 52 of the Constitution, because his parents They were born in the country and for this reason the consulate in Caracas issued birth certificate No. 70695414.

That unfortunate day, eight heavily armed individuals entered his office, without a warrant, taking him out in handcuffs, to transfer him to a gloomy basement of the Military Counterintelligence Directorate in Caracas, where they deposited him in a room without light, ventilation, or hygienic services.

According to the dramatic account of his sister, Molly de la Sotta, the Navy officer arrived with his wrists torn from the pressure of the shackles, adding that “they threw him to the ground and beat him with sticks. Four men tortured him into talking about the alleged plot. They put a hood on him and used tear gas; they practiced mechanical suffocation with plastic bags.”

Later he added that “he spent 32 days without leaving there, without seeing the light, or speaking to anyone. They applied physical and psychological torture, telling him that they were going to do something to the family.”

At another time, he recalls that "he slept and ate on the floor, like an animal, because the food was thrown to the ground, where he also did his physiological needs."

De la Sotta has been in mortal danger several times. According to relatives, “she suffers from chronic diarrhea, which appeared after suffering from COVID-19. When he gets stressed he produces triglycerides, so a cardiologist needs to check him out and do a stress assessment on him. He also needs a nephrologist because he has grade 1 chronic renal failure ”and the human rights defender, Tamara Sujú, maintained that the officer“ presents paralysis of both kidneys and is very delicate ”.

A report from the Directorate of Forensic Sciences of Caracas on December 27, 2022, diagnosed that he suffers from “arterial hypertension; familial hypertriglyceridemia; concurrent renal lithiasis; hyperuricemia; grade 1 chronic renal failure and peripheral hematuria”.

The same report recommends that "you should be in a place free of stress and overcrowding to avoid dependence on drug treatment given chronic insomnia and dependence on sedatives and hypnotics," as well as "strict medical treatment to avoid complications such as myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accidents and aggravation of chronic renal failure”.

Despite having protection from the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Res.75/2018. Precautionary measure 862-18) and that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions has requested his release (A/HRC/ WGAD/2021/49), De la Sotta suffers almost five years of infamous captivity without being prosecuted, contrary to the provisions of the Venezuelan Penal Code itself, which says that preventive detention cannot exceed two years.

This serious situation has also been warned by the Congress of the Republic and the Ombudsman's Office, and since January of this year the First Supranational Criminal Prosecutor specialized in Human Rights of the Public Ministry has launched an investigation into the torture of our compatriot.

In this context, the relatives of the Navy officer have asked our ambassador in Venezuela and the consul in Caracas to visit him and manage his transfer to the hospital, an unsuccessful effort because the authorities do not respond to our request, arguing that De la Sotta is not Peruvian.

Should we expect the Navy officer to die in a gloomy dungeon of the Venezuelan Military Counterintelligence Directorate, an organization designated as responsible for crimes against humanity (A/HRC/51/UN Independent Mission)?

De la Sotta's family has sent a moving letter to Minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi, requesting that our Foreign Ministry intervene at the highest political and diplomatic level to prevent a tragedy from occurring, a demand that we share.

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».