French Citizen Held Prisoner In Venezuela Details Ordeal In Detention, Including Being Drugged And Sexually Attacked

A French citizen detailed the ordeal he went through throughout five months of detention under the Venezuelan regime.

Camilo Pierre Castro, a 41-year-old yoga teacher, was abducted in June after seeking to renew his visa. His whereabouts were unknown until being included in a list of foreign hostages kept by the Caracas regime.

#ÚLTIMAHORA El ex rehén francés Camilo Castro reveló las torturas sufridas mientras estuvo secuestrado por el chavismo en Venezuela https://t.co/aGElnbDAJ1 pic.twitter.com/DpXY4FsR0I

— Monitoreamos (@monitoreamos) January 19, 2026

Speaking to local activist Emanuel Figueroa, Castro, who was released in November last year, said he was taken to a basement, where he spent his first night.

He described "three toilets with overflowing feces, which had been there for weeks or months." "There were hundreds of cockroaches and rats. They told me 'here's where you'll shower.'"

Castro went on to say he was kept in a cell where "at least two other people had been." "My first night was terrible. I couldn't breathe well. There was a lot of humidity, it was very hot and smelled like feces. Cockroaches were crawling over my body," he added.

Elsewhere in the account, he said an agent began doing "psychological tricks on me, seeking for me to confess." "I was drugged and sexually abused. There was a woman who touched in my private parts and also hit me."

Many of those kept in Venezuelan prisons have given similar accounts. There are currently close to 800 political prisoners still kept in the country despite the Caracas regime announcing massive releases following the capture of authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by the U.S. earlier this month.

Foro Penal reported that it has documented 777 political prisoners nationwide, following 143 releases recorded between Jan. 8 and late Monday. No new releases have been confirmed since Saturday.

"These releases do not amount to full freedom," said Alfredo Romero, the group's director, in a video statement posted online. "We continue to wait for the total release of political prisoners, because excarceration does not mean these people are truly free." He said many of those released remain subject to restrictions, including bans on leaving the country and, in numerous cases, prohibitions on speaking to the media.

Families of detainees have maintained vigils outside prisons since Jan. 8, sleeping near detention centers as they wait for official information about further releases and the legal status of their relatives, as Infobae reports. The arrests stem largely from the period following the July 28, 2024 presidential election, after which more than 2,400 people were detained, according to official figures.

Clippve, a separate Venezuelan human rights group, told La República on Monday that the situation may be broader. Its spokesman, Diego Casanova Maita, said more than 1,345 people remain "arbitrarily" detained, including children and teenagers. "They have no access to due process. They are detained without judicial warrants and without prosecutors present," he said.

• Hundreds Of Political Prisoners Still Held in Venezuela As Releases Stall, Local Rights Monitor Says

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