The tragedy of Pedro Naranjo Machado is almost unimaginable. After deserting the army in Venezuela and requesting asylum in the United States, this young Venezuelan lieutenant is now in the Ramo Verde military prison after the Biden Administration handed him over to the Venezuelan dictatorship, in a move that is being widely questioned by activists and organizations that defend human rights.
This controversial deportation, which occurred last week, went practically unnoticed due to the attention garnered by the exchange of dictator Nicolás Maduro’s frontman, Alex Saab, for a dozen U.S. citizens imprisoned in Venezuela and another 24 political prisoners.
According to an extensive report by El Mundo, the story of Lieutenant Naranjo demonstrates that the relationship between Joe Biden and Nicolás Maduro is experiencing a golden moment after Washington partially lifted sanctions on the Chavista regime in key economic sectors and also began a negotiation process to exchange prisoners.
El Mundo report that a Venezuelan soldier who deserted to help his father flee to America (his father is a former political prisoner) was deported from the US back to Venezuela and is now imprisoned in Ramo Verde. https://t.co/1bP93NO5UL
— CNW (@ConflictsW) December 23, 2023
The Naranjo tragedy is particularly complicated. The lieutenant was handed over to Caracas despite being the son of a general who was a political prisoner for three years and whom he had to escort to the United States after deserting his post.
According to El Mundo, Naranjo’s surrender represents an “obvious twist to the protection granted for years to Venezuelan opponents. Also of non-compliance with the defense of human rights.”
The Spanish media detailed that the lieutenant, who was in a detention center for undocumented immigrants in Louisiana, was deported to Venezuela on one of the many migrant flights between the U.S. and Venezuela. These flights began last October, within the framework of the intangible Barbados agreements between the regime and the opposition.
According to the report, Naranjo and his father escaped Venezuela a year ago and had no luck in any of the countries they arrived in.
First, in Colombia, they were rejected by the Government of Gustavo Petro, an ally of Maduro. Later, in Mexico, the authorities refused to assist them.
Faced with this situation, father and son decided to cross the Rio Grande on October 4, after crossing the southern border, to surrender to the U.S. authorities and claim asylum and seek protection.
Lieutenant Naranjo’s father, Major General Pedro José Naranjo Suárez, who was a political prisoner for three and a half years, did obtain asylum. But his son is now being held in Ramo Verde, the same prison where opposition leader Leopoldo López was imprisoned for more than three years.
Ramo Verde is the only military prison in Venezuela and is located in Los Teques, Miranda, near the capital Caracas. Various reports indicate that in this prison the security forces of the Maduro regime carry out torture and other crimes against humanity.
The handover of Lieutenant Naranjo to the Biden administration has been strongly questioned by human rights defenders and organizations that defend international standards.
Ernesto Ackerman, president of the organization Independent Venezuelan American Citizens (IVAC), told the EFE agency that the young lieutenant qualified for asylum due to “credible fear.” This fear is due to the serious risk that his life is in danger in Venezuela for being the son of a soldier who was imprisoned for three years and is a politically persecuted person by the Chavista regime.
“He arrives in a democratic country, with the hope that they will give him asylum and they hand him over to a boss,” Ackerman said.
Likewise, Tamara Suju, a renowned human rights lawyer, denounced that “what happened to the Venezuelan lieutenant deported by the Biden government is unacceptable and inhumane.”
“He fled the country (with his father) after having been tortured (the general) and after crossing two countries related to the regime,” he stated.
