A federal judge in Miami, US, ordered Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and allies to pay $153 million (more than R$780 million) to Carlos Marrón, a political prisoner who had been detained for 878 days and alleged by authorities of the country have been tortured.
Alongside Maduro, Judge Federico A. Moreno sentenced members of Venezuela’s civil and military society, the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the Cartel de los Soles.
According to the Argentine portal Infobae, the group was convicted of contempt for not responding to court demands. All of the defendants must split the amount of compensation determined by the judge, which will later be divided between Marrón, his wife and children.
In order for the decision to be fulfilled, the Miami court ordered the confiscation of the assets of the litigants.
Still, according to Infobae, the Venezuelan had exiled to the United States, but decided to return to his country in 2018 when he discovered his father had been arrested by local authorities for allegedly trying to disrupt the country’s economic order country with a website to destroy .
Marrón’s arrest was even discussed by the UN Human Rights Council, which concluded that the plaintiff had been arbitrarily arrested for allegedly running a website that published the illegal market exchange rate between the Venezuelan bolivar and the American dollar.
Disclosing operations of this type is considered a crime in Venezuela, which Marrón claims he has not done, despite owning the website dolarpro.com. According to him, the website’s domain was acquired to be sold later and that is actually being negotiated at the moment.
In 2010, a presidential decree made it illegal to publish anything other than the official exchange rate. However, opponents believe this parallel market exchange rate is being used as a bribe by government officials.