Venezuela: Human rights groups are viewed with suspicion by both left and right in a bitterly polarised country, reports Michael McCaughan in Caracas
David Izcaray, a cellist for Venezuela's symphony orchestra, paused to watch street battles between opposition protesters and members of the National Guard in Caracas last month. As the fighting intensified, Mr Izcaray walked away but was stopped by a soldier who ordered him into an army vehicle. Seconds later, he was lying on the floor of a truck. "One of the soldiers rubbed a chemical substance in my hair and set fire to it," he said, before being accused of throwing stones at the police.
Several hours later Mr Izcaray was taken to a detention centre where officials applied electric shocks, causing second-degree burns. Later that night he was released, but only after signing a statement he didn't read.
When President Hugo Chavez was elected in December 1998 he inherited a fragile democratic system sustained by a judicial system which was a byword for corruption and violence. The "Ley de Vagos y Maleantes" allowed police to lock up anyone without visible means of support and police could hold suspects for eight days without access to a lawyer.
"The first three days were dedicated to torture," said Mr Alfredo Ruiz, spokesman for Venezuela's Justice and Peace Support Network, a human rights organisation. "The next five days were spent healing the wounds before presenting the suspect to the courts."
President Chavez signed up to the International Criminal Court and approved sweeping legislation to improve the plight of criminal suspects. Mr Chavez restored constitutional rights which had been suspended in border areas and decreed that cases involving army troops could be tried in civilian courts.
However, little changed in practise as Mr Chavez failed to change the modus operandi of security forces accustomed to total impunity, with torture a routine instrument of police interrogation.
As President Chavez implemented agrarian reform laws and deepened his social programmes, the country became more polarised and street agitation turned to outright subversion in April 2002, when he was briefly ousted in a coup.
At least 20 people were killed, most of them targeted by snipers on rooftops. The deaths were divided evenly between pro- and anti-Chavez activists.
When Mr Chavez returned to power, he promised dialogue and reconciliation but there was no serious investigation into the sniper deaths. The crime scene was ignored and forensic tests proved inconclusive as neither side trusted officials left in charge of the investigation.
The culture of impunity remains in place throughout the country as the government has tallied 62 deaths of supporters in rural areas, most of them murdered in land disputes. While Mr Chavez controls central government, a number of opposition governors enjoy control over security forces deployed to prevent farmers from acting on foot of land titles issued in their favour.
The opposition Coordinadora Democratica has began proceedings against Mr Chavez for crimes against humanity, accusing the government of launching "a systematic attack on the civilian population that opposes the government, gravely violating their human rights."
A 300-page dossier has been sent to The Hague, detailing 40 deaths, 20 cases of torture and other abuses blamed on the government.
The tense political climate has generated a situation in which everyone involved in the judicial system, from human rights groups to supreme court judges, are labelled pro- or anti-government, and their statements accepted or rejected in that light.
"We have been denounced by Chavez as US stooges while the opposition have accused us of protecting the government," said Mr Ruiz. The Support Network has publicly denounced the Chavez administration for praising the heavy-handed tactics of the security forces during last month's disturbances.
The main aim of Mr Ruiz's organisation is to push for legislation to punish torture. "Each year we draw up proposals and each year we are ignored by the government," he concluded.
In the latest case, a group of army soldiers suffered serious burns two weeks ago when a fire began in a locked room where they had been held for minor infractions of army discipline. One of the soldiers died on the same day as Mr Chavez described the burns as "trivial". In line with every other case, there are two versions of what happened. In one case the recruits were deliberately set on fire for signing a referendum against Mr Chavez. The official version states that one of the soldiers, wanting to end the detention, set fire to a mattress, sparking the deadly fire.
The only certainty is that the upcoming investigation is unlikely to change anyone's mind on the matter.