The move is among several measures the acting president has touted since Maduro’s capture – yet critics say it erases Venezuela’s long history of repression
It was designed in the 1950s to be the world’s first “drive-through shopping centre”, a futuristic structure with more than than two miles of ramps looping past 300 shops, as well as cinemas, a hotel, a private club, a concert hall and a heliport.
But the building was never completed, and under the regimes of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, spaces envisioned as shops were turned into cells, and El Helicoide became Venezuela’s most notorious torture centre for political prisoners.
Now, under US pressure, acting president, Delcy Rodríguez – who previously oversaw the prison as Maduro’s vice-president – has announced plans to shut down El Helicoide and turn it into a cultural centre.
The giant structure, which looms over central Caracas, will be turned into a “sports, cultural and commercial centre for police families and neighbouring communities”, Rodríguez said on Friday.
