Freddy Bernal

Freddy Bernal is the ex-mayor (2004–2008) of the Libertador Municipality in Caracas, Venezuela and a member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

Prior to becoming a politician, the BBC says he "commanded a notorious metropolitan police elite corps known as the Z Group". In October 2014, President Nicolás Maduro made Bernal head of a newly created presidential commission concentrated on police reform. President Maduro stated that the goal of the commission led by Bernal was to review both CICPC and the Bolivarian National Police.

The BBC described Bernal as President Hugo Chavez's "most trusted mayor in Caracas", adding that the "opposition regard him as ultra-revolutionary". Bernal was also a leader of the Bolivarian Circles.

In a 18 March 2015 interview with Globovisión, Bernal was asked "Can a homosexual be a police officer?" to where he replied, "Yes ... so long as they don’t manifest their sexual preference publicly. Because imagine if a police officer that might want to wear a pink shirt, or wear lipstick. I think that that, at least in Venezuela, I don’t know in other places, doesn’t go with our culture. He then attempted to clarify, stating "I have nothing against sexual diversity ... But they couldn’t manifest it publicly, because it goes against the structure of what a police officer should be." Bernal's remarks raised concerns of homophobia in Venezuela among the Venezuelan and the international LGBT communities.