La Rotunda was one of the most famous prisons in Venezuela at the beginning of the 20th century. Its rise to fame occurred during the government of dictator Juan Vicente Gómez, due to the methods of painful torture and poisoning applied to political prisoners and the inhumane conditions to which they were subjected. It was known as the last resting place of the opponents of the Gómez government because, generally, they only left the prison Death.^[1]

La Rotunda was built in 1844 in Caracas, south of the Hospital de Caridad de Hombres, during the presidency of Carlos Soublette.

The construction of the jail was completed in 1854, during the government of José Gregorio Monagas.

The building was located in the place where the Plaza La Concordia is Today.

The name of the prison derives from the circular shape of the building, based on the model created in the 18th century by the Englishman Jeremiah Bentham, called panopticon.

Almost 90 years after its construction, the prison was demolished to eliminate any vestige of the cruelty and barbarism of the Gomecista regime.

Hence the name of the square that occupies its place, Plaza La Concordia, as an attempt to forget one of the darkest eras in the history of Venezuela. ^[2][3]