Venezuela detainees say they’re being beaten, tortured in police custody

After enduring several minutes of beatings with fists and clubs, Erick Izaguirri, 27, was expecting the worst when he was dragged into an outpost of Venezuela’s National Guard.“They started to say, ‘Take his pants off, let’s stick the rifle in him,’ ” the anti-government protester recounted during an interview last month at a Caracas university where he studies law.　 He stubbornly resisted their attempts, which he thinks prevented him from being raped, but it didn’t save him from being beaten for another 40 minutes. More…