for more than three decades, el helicoide has housed the headquarters of the venezuelan intelligence servicen as the sebin, an agency which reports directly to the president and has the reputation of acting with impunity, facing allegations of human rights abuses... arbitrary detentions, corruption and intimidation. today, it is hard to find any dream in el helicoide. the building reflects this downward spiral of fortunes. it is a modern icon sitting inside a sea of shanty towns. what we are confronted with is economic decline, political polarisation, authoritarianism, embedded in this building that has had an absolute 180 degrees change in fortunes. rosmit mantilla is someone who knows the building well. a well—known lgbt rights and political activist, he was arrested for doing 2014 protests and accused of helping to finance them, a charge he denies. as the protest continued, more prisoners were taken into el helicoide. working at the prison during this time were two prison guards who have agreed to speak to bbc. interviews with those inside the venezuelan secret police are rare, and we can

and that's why i was sort of there i got a look daily when we arrived at the hotel the venezuelan intelligence service was waiting for us they asked us to go with them for an interview it was the only thing they said. now are foreign journalists have been arrested many venezuelans are accusing western media of painting the wrong picture and destabilizing the country and one of those that had sweets is a former u.n. special reports wahoo visits of venezuela in twenty seventeen and he compares the western media's coverage of the door to the reporting that led to the two thousand and three invasion of iraq and he calls it propaganda but despite that the committee to protect journalists this week called on that as well is to stop blocking news outlets and internet and it says on january the twenty third security forces raided at least three news newsrooms in southern venezuela took at least one television outlet off homeless case of reporting equipment and forced members of the press to delete their material the ongoing ongoing crisis is going to be continuing so do follow us on the news with all those up

venezuelan people are in his immediate security forces made up of cuban. >> so the minutes around madero, like our secret service, are cubans not venezuelans ? >> that is my understanding in the assessment of the situation. >> venezuelan intelligence security services are so corrupt, so sporadic that he can't even count on his own personal safety in his bed at night on his own people? >> that's a fair assessment as i understand. >> how partisan go throughout the venezuelan security and intelligence services? does nicholas madero have to depend on cubans and russians on the streets to beat his own people to keep them in line ? >> i'm not beyond what i characterize, i'm not aware the details but we watch closely. we have seen reporting of russian security forces being flown in. we are looking for evidence of how that will play out. and certainly this is an area that has her focus as well of all of our partners in the agency. >> that was another point that you mentioned, you said you can't speak of cuba's presence in venezuela, let me stop myself, can you estimate in a setting how many cuban security and intelligence officers there are in minnesota ? >> i don't have that number, i would take that for the record. >> is it fair to say

intelligence forces for his continuation in office? >> senator, i think it is a good sense of where the loyalty of the venezuelan people, security forces made up of cubans. >> the men that surround maduro, secret service are cubans, not venezuelans? >> that is my understanding and assessment of the situation. >> that as well as intelligent security services are so corrupt, incompetent, disloyal, sporadic, maduro cannot even count on his own personal safety in his bed at night. on his own people? >> that is a fair assessment as i understand, center. >> how far to go throughout the venezuelan security and intelligence services? does nicolas maduro have to depend on cubans and russians on the street to beat his own people beat his own people to keep it in line? senator beyond what i characterize, i am not aware of the details, we watch that closely, we see reporting of russian security forces being flown in, we are looking for evidence of how that will play out and certainly, this is an area that has our focus as well as all of our partners at the interagency. >> that was another thing you mention come you can't speak of the cuba president and venezuela, let me sum as a. can you estimate in this setting

comes after venezuelan officials arrested members of what they called a terrorist group of plotting to assassinate madeira. north we're going to be moving believe is here our intelligence services revealed a new congress previously planned against the legitimate and constitutional government of the president of venezuela nicolas maduro information obtained by intelligence bodies pointed to a group of killers hired from colombia to commit selective perception ations regions politicians and military leaders. joining us now from the venezuelan capital caracas latin america editor lucien human and it's certainly been a day of some fast moving developments is there a sense that these opposing forces in venezuela could increasingly come to some sort of confrontation. hello merriam well it certainly is sounds that way it's very murky there are too many moving parts here there are some governments that are trying to bring both sides to the negotiating table to have some kind of a dialogue but there's no indication at this hour that either side is any closer than they were yesterday or last month or last year to reaching any sort of a settlement and right now the opposition is feeling m

service, are cubans, not venezuelans? >> that is my understanding and assessment of the situation. >> so venezuela's intelligence security services are so corrupt, so incompetent, so disloyal, to sclerotic that maduro cannot even count on his own personal safety in his bed at night on his own people? >> that's a fair assessment as i understand, senator. >> how far does that go throughout the venezuelan security and intelligence services? does nicolas maduro have to depend on cubans and russians on the streets to beat his own people to keep them in line? >> senator, i'm not beyond the -- what i characterize, i'm not aware of the details, but we watch that closely. we've seen reporting of russian security forces being flown in. we are looking for evidence to how that will play out and certainly this is an area that has our focus as well as all our partners in the inner agency. >> that was another point you mentioned. you said you can't speak of cuba's presence of venezuela -- let me stop myself. can you estimate in this setting how many cuban security and intelligence officers there are in venezuela? >> sir, i don't have th