For years, the Helicoide building in central Caracas stood as one of the darkest symbols of Nicolás Maduro’s rule. What was once designed in the 1950s to be a futuristic shopping mall became a prison where Venezuela’s intelligence services locked away political opponents, tortured them, and tried to break them. Now, after Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces and his transfer to New York to face trial, that nightmare is finally beginning to end.
President Donald Trump announced that Venezuela’s notorious “torture chamber in the middle of Caracas” is being closed under the authority of interim president Delcy Rodríguez. While officials in Caracas have not yet issued a formal decree, political prisoners are being released and international media are showing families reunited outside the Helicoide. It is one of the first visible signs that the machinery of fear built by the Maduro regime is starting to collapse.
What the Helicoide Was and How It Became a Prison
The Helicoide was originally meant to symbolize Venezuela’s bright future. Built as a spiraling shopping center that would allow cars to drive up through stores selling clothes, toys, and jewelry, it was even featured at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. But after political turmoil and economic decline, the building was abandoned and later taken over by Venezuela’s intelligence service.
As Maduro tightened his grip on power and protests spread during Venezuela’s economic collapse, the Helicoide became a holding center for dissidents. The Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, known as Sebin, filled it with student leaders, labor organizers, journalists, military analysts, and opposition politicians. According to international observers, it became a place of systematic abuse, not justice.
Who Was Tortured There
The victims were not criminals in any normal sense. They were people who challenged the regime or simply spoke out.
Villca Fernández, a student leader, was arrested in 2016 and chained in a dark room for two years. When he arrived, an agent told him, “Welcome to hell.” He later watched other inmates being hanged upside down, beaten, and suffocated with tear gas.
Dylan Canache was just 16 years old when he was taken there in 2018 for joining antigovernment protests. He was beaten for refusing to read a forced confession and locked in a tiny cell with 16 others who had to use plastic bags as toilets.
Victor Navarro was accused of terrorism and had a gun shoved in his mouth as agents demanded names of supposed conspirators. He was beaten and thrown into dark rooms filled with rats and cockroaches.
Rocío San Miguel, a respected military analyst, and Enrique Márquez, a former opposition politician, were among the many high profile political prisoners held there. They were released this week.
Since 2014, more than 18,000 politically motivated arrests have taken place under Maduro’s government. Thousands of those detainees passed through places like the Helicoide.
The Tortures Used Inside the Helicoide
Beatings with Wooden Paddles
Prisoners were often forced to strip naked and then beaten on their buttocks and legs with wooden paddles. The blows were so severe that many could not stand or walk afterward. This punishment was used against political detainees who refused to confess or who were accused of disobedience.
Hanging Prisoners Upside Down
Former inmates described seeing fellow prisoners hung upside down for long periods. Blood rushed to their heads, causing extreme pain and disorientation. This method was used to terrify detainees and to make them feel helpless, especially those who were seen as leaders inside the prison.
Tear Gas in Overcrowded Cells
Guards released tear gas into cells packed with dozens of prisoners. People struggled to breathe as the gas burned their eyes and lungs. Some fainted. This was a form of collective punishment meant to break morale and force compliance from everyone inside.
Tiny Windowless Cells
Some prisoners were locked in cells barely larger than a bed. They spent days or weeks without sunlight or contact with the outside world. Roberto Marrero, a former political prisoner, said his entire cell was about the size of a king size bed. This isolation caused severe psychological harm.
Threats with Firearms
Interrogators sometimes placed guns in prisoners’ mouths while demanding information. Victor Navarro recalled this as one of the most terrifying moments of his captivity. The threat of immediate execution was used to force detainees to name others or sign false confessions.
Filthy and Inhuman Conditions
Detainees were often kept with dozens of others in tiny rooms, forced to relieve themselves in plastic bags in front of everyone. Some were threatened with being thrown into a cell called Guantánamo where political prisoners were mixed with violent criminals. The goal was to humiliate and degrade.
Rats and Insects as Torture
Some prisoners were thrown into dark rooms infested with rats and cockroaches. Navarro said he could feel insects crawling over his body as he lay there in fear. This was designed to push people to the edge of panic and despair.
Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces changed everything. With the dictator now facing trial in New York, his regime lost its central figure of fear and control. President Trump said the operation that took Maduro involved cutting power across much of the country and deploying more than 150 aircraft. Afterward, Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president.
Trump said, “They have a torture chamber in the middle of Caracas, and now it’s being closed.” His administration has made clear that ending torture and freeing political prisoners is a central demand.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado has accused Rodríguez of being one of the architects of torture and repression. Still, the release of prisoners and the apparent shutdown of the Helicoide suggest that the old system is breaking under pressure.
Former prisoners see hope for the first time in years. Roberto Marrero said, “The Helicoide became a symbol of terror, of the power of the dictatorship.” He believes it will be closed and that political prisoners will be freed.
Mario Torres, whose father was arrested for defending labor rights, said, “We now have hope that there will be a change for all political prisoners.”
Human rights groups like Amnesty International and the United Nations have long documented the torture, arbitrary detention, and disappearances tied to the Helicoide. They are calling for real accountability, not just symbolic closures.
The horrors of the Helicoide were not an accident. They were the natural result of a socialist totalitarian system that failed to provide prosperity, freedom, or dignity. When an economic system collapses and a government rules by fear instead of consent, torture becomes a tool of control.
Maduro’s regime could not survive without crushing dissent. So it built prisons like the Helicoide to punish those who spoke out. That is why this place became a factory of human suffering.
The closing of these torture chambers marks the end of one of the most shameful chapters in modern history. It is a reminder of what happens when power is unchecked and ideology is enforced with violence. For the victims and their families, it is also the beginning of a long road toward justice and healing.
