Aliángel, the teenager with schizophrenia imprisoned for “terrorism” in Valencia

Aliángel Rodríguez is a teenager of just 15 years old, with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, who is behind bars, accused of terrorism, incitement to hatred, criminal association and resistance to authority. He returned to the country just eight months ago and today his mother recognizes that there is not a day in which she does not regret having returned to Venezuela.

He is the second son of María Alejandra. Angelito, as she calls him, has been detained since July 29. From his house he saw some kind of fireworks in the distance and went out to see them. A block later, police officers detained him. Four months later, he is still detained at the PMV headquarters, near the La Concha bomb.

María Alejandra’s loneliness is felt. She is only accompanied by her tears, which are many, a two and a half year old little boy that she is raising, convinced that his real mother does not love him, and two Pitbull dogs that guard the house and them.

Eight years ago she and Aliángel went backpacking in Ecuador, but returned to Venezuela. Three years later they had to go to Chile. Their eldest son was sick with his kidneys and they came to his aid. Although the young man received adequate treatment, the transplant was not achieved in time. His mother couldn’t help him because her kidneys weren’t good and his brother wasn’t a match.

The decision was made. His son’s body was to rest in Venezuela, his country, to which he wanted to return to establish a business here with his mother. Eliángel did not want to return, but María Alejandra insisted.

Today he cries with regret for not having listened to Aliángel. Her first son is buried in Venezuela, but the second is imprisoned for a crime he did not commit and she is alone, in a small house in the Valle Verde sector, in Los Caobos, with her little 2 and a half year old son and two dogs. .

He is the second son of María Alejandra. Angelito, as she calls him, has been detained since July 29 – El Carabobeño

It is a story that affected Aliángel, because his older brother was like his father, they were inseparable. The young man suffers from bipolar disorder and, after confinement, has developed episodes of schizophrenia that have not been treated. María Alejandra is not allowed to take the medications she requires to treat her pathology, which worsens every day.

Aliángel in the Carabobo boxing team

In Venezuela, Aliángel decided to move forward and focused on sports. The young man is a member of the Carabobo team in the boxing discipline and has represented the state on two occasions.

The memories of his achievements were stored in his phones, now destroyed after the action of police officers, who detained him near his home on July 29.

That day, Aliángel was at home at noon when some friends with whom he played sports arrived. Around 2:30 pm they began to see colored lights, yellow, blue and red, and decided to go out. His mother sensed danger and went out to look for him. He didn’t get it.

The young man is a member of the Carabobo team in the boxing discipline and has represented the state on two occasions – El Carabobeño

On the third day, María Alejandra had even looked for her son in the morgue. He had gone to the Valencia Municipal Police headquarters in Plaza Bolívar five times and they always denied him being there. An acquaintance, however, informed him that he was indeed at the site and that his leg was broken.

That afternoon he received a call from the Valencia Palace of Justice, informing him that Aliángel would be tried for terrorism. When she arrived, she found her son with a broken leg, purple ribs, an unrecognizable face, and a boot marked on his face. “The police beat my son savagely and brutally and said very ugly things to him.” Despite the beating, Aliángel did not record the video, taking responsibility for anything.

Eliángel does not understand what happened at that moment or what is happening now. He asks his mother what is a fascist? What is a terrorist? “He has never been interested in politics.”

This lack of understanding, helplessness and hopelessness have taken a toll on their health. Aliángel has had seizures several times, has frequent seizures as a result of schizophrenia, and has tried to end his life on two occasions.

His mother is afraid that he will try again. After the recent releases, especially that of one of the children who shared the cause and prison with him, Aliángel has been very depressed. Without medication and with the panic caused by being locked up, his condition has been worsening.

In addition to this, his mother, who is a kidney patient and must undergo periodic dialysis, does not have the resources to bring him food every day. She cannot work because of the illness and the child’s father died in an accident when he was three years old.

One day visit

When talking about “Angelito”, María Alejandra’s face lights up: “The day I go to visit him, I get up early, take two pills to endure the pain in my kidneys all day and I become beautiful. I put on makeup, put on a girdle so he doesn’t notice the fluid retention I have, and prepare something tasty for him to eat. When he comes out he comes with such a beautiful smile, running and hugs me.

“He shows me the drawings he makes for me, the letters he writes to me on food containers, the drawings he makes on any piece of paper.” They are memories that her mother treasures and that she shows to those who visit her.

The letters that Aliángel writes to his mother from prison – El Carabobeño

The letters that Aliángel writes to his mother from prison – El Carabobeño

At home Aliángel is also very collaborative. He cleans, makes arepas, spends some time with his mother and then goes to the field to play soccer. At 5:00 he religiously practices his boxing.

The indolence

The proceedings before the Public Defender have been unsuccessful. The lawyer Kerly Pérez demanded that they hand over the original documents, which in the case of Aliángel certify the disorders he suffers from. Today he only answers that we have to wait.

The request he made before a judge in Caracas to allow him to provide treatment to his son, which is with special medicines, was also unsuccessful. “He responded that he didn’t have time to waste on those things.”

On October 2, María Alejandra was taken out of the Palace of Justice during the preliminary hearing, the one in which they tried to convince the children to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of six years and eight months. Aliángel chose to go to trial, but in his case, this stage of the process has not begun.

A plea to Maduro for the freedom of Eliángel

Today María Alejandra implores Nicolás Maduro to make good his word to free the political prisoners, to take children into account. «They are about to lose their lives, because they do not want to continue living, because they are desperate to be in a place they should not be. My son is not a terrorist. I am a mother as you say, I am a people. Mr. President, I am a people and my son is a child who has a special condition, who does not have to be there. “Look for evidence of those who really did harm, but let those who are innocent go with their families.”

«You brought Christmas forward, but what Christmas can I have without my son in the house. Put your hand on your heart, a mother is asking you, I’m not a politician, I barely know how to read, but I don’t understand why there is so much cruelty towards these imprisoned children who are going through the same thing that my son, who is barely 15, is going through. years. Do you know what my son told me? “That he preferred to be dead than to be imprisoned!”

María Alejandra sells sweets to obtain the resources that will allow her to bring food to Aliángel and her little son. She hopes to have Angelito home soon to begin a new stage in her life, the one that today she feels is lost behind the bars of the PMV command in La Concha.