- The lawyer specialized in the defense of human rights, especially those of people deprived of liberty in Venezuela | Photo: EFE
The non-governmental organization (NGO) A Window to Freedom reported on Saturday, August 24, about the death of its general coordinator Carlos Nieto Palma.
The human rights lawyer was also the founder of an NGO dedicated to monitoring penitentiary institutions in Venezuela and defending the rights of prisoners.
Nieto Palma graduated from the Santa María University in 1984 with a degree in Law and later specialized in human rights at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) in 1999 and at the Simón Bolívar Andean University in Quito (Ecuador) in 2003.
The lawyer also worked as a professor at several universities in the country and as a lecturer on human rights issues.
Due to his work denouncing prison conditions in Venezuela, Carlos Nieto Palma had a precautionary measure of protection issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
His work in A Window to Freedom
Carlos Nieto Palma founded the NGO Una Ventana a la Libertad on December 10, 1997 with the aim of defending and protecting the human rights of people deprived of liberty in Venezuela.
The lawyer worked from the beginning with the journalist Carol Carrero in the organization of forums, talks and reports on the situation of the Venezuelan penitentiary system. Some of the events that motivated the creation of the NGO were the massacre in the La Planta prison in 1996 and the implosion of the Catia prison in 1997, both symbols of the precariousness of the penitentiary system at that time.
In recent years, the organization has been documenting and reporting on overcrowding in police cells and the lack of transfers of detainees to appropriate detention centers.
The NGO has explained in its reports that the conditions of detention in preventive cells are not the most suitable for keeping inmates for a long time.
Carlos Nieto Palma suffered attacks in his role as a defender
On several occasions, Nieto Palma has publicly and formally denounced the attacks and harassment he suffered for his work as a human rights defender.
On December 10, 2012, the lawyer reported an attempt to intimidate him by officers of the National Guard and the Bolivarian National Police, who allegedly tried to take him into custody by force.
In 2015, she received threats for her work from Iris Varela, then Minister of Penitentiary Affairs. This situation was rejected by various Venezuelan NGOs.
The most recent incident of this type occurred in March 2024, when the activist reported that his home, located in La Tahona, Baruta municipality, had been vandalized. The criminals broke the locks and messed up the rooms; at that time, the defender was traveling to the state of Nueva Esparta.
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2024-08-25 03:34:32
