Published at: 27/05/2026 09:00 PM

(Clarín and Latest News, June 2, 1962)

• On May 25, 1962, José Gregorio Rodríguez was arrested, together with his wife, by the armed gangs of Democratic Action (AD) and tortured to his death on the 26th, a victim of political persecution unleashed against him by Rómulo Betancourt.
• In the interrogation room of the General Directorate of Police (DIGEPOL), he was atrociously tortured. Even though he was alive and in handcuffs, he was thrown into the void from the fourth floor of the police headquarters to simulate suicide.
• The then deputy and president of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV), Gustavo Machado, complained to the parliamentary chambers that “he was tortured to death and, after he perished in the ordeal, he was thrown through one of the DIGEPOL windows to make it look like a suicide.”
• This complaint, contained in the final report of the Internal Policy Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, based on medical-forensic reports and endorsed by several deputies, shattered the alleged suicide that Rómulo Betancourt and his police minister Carlos Andrés Pérez wanted to manufacture.
• His wife, Barbarita Blanco de Rodríguez, was initially present at the torture and then, from an adjoining cell, she heard up close the screams of her husband when he was beaten. José Gregorio's body had 50 injuries caused by knife weapons.
• Doctors Eduardo Mancera Gallegos, Héctor Marcano and Molina Martí, responsible for investigating the causes of his death, were able to determine that it occurred as a result of the brutal beating inflicted. The kidneys were completely destroyed, as were the liver and some ribs had clear signs that he was hit with plastic-lined black jack.
• At the time the body was lifted off the pavement, José Gregorio Rodríguez was handcuffed. His body fell on his back and had a six-centimeter deep wound on his forehead.
• When questioned before the National Congress, the Minister of Internal Relations, Carlos Andrés Pérez, repeatedly maintained that the detainee committed suicide.
• However, in the midst of the interpellation, carried out by the Committee on Internal Policy, there were convincing facts and evidence in the face of which Pérez fell silent.
• Faced with all these allegations, the minister, surrounded by questions, unable to articulate any coherent answer, argued that the arrested union leader was “a highly dangerous criminal”.
• Those newspapers that denied the official version of “suicide” and revealed the true truth were raided and shut down, meaning: Clarín, La Hora, La Extra and Izquierda.
• The final report of the Internal Policy Committee of the Chamber of Deputies determined that José Gregorio Rodríguez died at the hands of DIGEPOL agents. The autopsy revealed that his body had multiple fractures, ruptured liver, kidneys and internal detachment of other vital organs.

Mazo News Team