future Venezuelan president Rómulo Betancourt, Jaime Lusinchi and Luis Herrera Campins. Lusinchi was jailed for two months in 1952 and was beaten with a sword. According to Human Rights Watch, the Carlos Andrés Pérez administration also tortured and executed opponents with a judicial branch that largely ignored abuses by his government. The Caracas Metropolitan Police [es] and DISIP were used as tools to persecute dissenters. Following the 1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts, a crackdown on alleged plotters resulted in accusations of torture by those arrested. During the Bolivarian Revolution, levels of torture occurred that had not been seen since the dictatorship of Pérez Jiménez. Following the election of Hugo Chávez, human rights in Venezuela deteriorated. By 2009, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights released a report stating that Venezuela's government practiced "repression and intolerance". In November 2014, Venezuela appeared before the United Nations Committee Against Torture over cases between 2002 and 2014, which criticized the Venezuelan National Commission for the Prevention of Torture for being biased in favor towards the Bolivarian government. The committee had also expressed concern with "beatings, burnings and electric shocks in efforts to obtain confessions" that occurred during the 2014 Venezuelan protests and that of the 185 investigations for abuses during the protests, only 5 individuals had been charged. United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan E. Méndez stated on 11 March 2015 that Venezuela had ignored requests for information and that he had made "conclusions based on the lack of response" and "concluded that the government violated the rights of prisoners", further saying that the Maduro government failed "with the obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish all acts of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment". During the presidency of Nicolás Maduro, torture in Venezuela increased further. In La Tumba, one of the headquarters and prisons of SEBIN, has been used for white torture and some of its prisoners have attempted suicide. Conditions in La Tumba have resulted with prisoner illnesses, though Venezuelan authorities refuse to medically treat those imprisoned. Bright lights are continuously left on and prison cells are set at near-freezing temperatures. During the 2017 Venezuelan protests, more than 290 cases of torture were documented by the Organization of American States. Human Rights Watch has documented over 350 cases of torture and abuse. Methods include severe beatings, cutting the soles of the feet with razors, partial asphyxiation, withholding food and medication, and electric