Engels Puertas
Engels Puertas is a lawyer and human rights defender. For more than six years he has been defending people who have been incriminated in unjust and unproven criminal proceedings. Engels is also a member of the legal team of the organisation 100% Estrogen, where he works on the defence of cases with a gender perspective. He also directs the organisation Iniciativa Para Una Justicia Igualitaria (Initiative for Equal Justice), together with lawyer Juan Carlos Barroeta.
In the past, He has been a victim of arbitrary detention and torture for his human rights work, in particular the right to legitimate defence of the victims he defends, and has faced threats and criminalization for his work.
HRDs have been working under restrictive policies for many years: the Maduro administration has continued the work begun by Chávez in restricting civil space and delegitimising HRDs, repeatedly accusing them of undermining the Venezuelan democracy with the alleged collaboration of the United States. HRDs are discredited and criminalised by state-controlled media (television, radio, print media) on a weekly basis.
