Activists and campaigners have been suffering since December 2024 within the infamous El Helicoid prison in Venezuela’s capital.
Fifteen days before Christmas, Venezuelan politician and campaigner Jesus Armas was bundled into a car in Caraca around 9pm after visiting a coffee shop.
Almost 12 weeks later, his family, friends and fellow campaigners are still seeking his release.
During this time, the socialist regime in the country of oil-rich South America tightened its opposition with a new vitality after facing internal and external condemnations of Maduro and his party.
Human rights groups in both Venezuela and abroad have reported a sharp rise in objections and opposition oppression following the heated and contested elections in July.
Shortly after the vote, the administration arrested more than 2,000 protesters, sparking international condemnation.
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Restraint and arbitrary arrests continue. This is how Armas was taken away on December 10th.
After being stolen from the streets of the capital, he was bubbly erected into a secret detention center, and none of his family or friends knew where he had been for a week, his lawyer, Genesis Davila, told The Epoch Times.
“Seven days later he was taken to a prison where his girlfriend could talk to him, when he told her he was tortured for being tied to a chair with a plastic bag over his head,” Davila said.
He also appeared in custody in shutdown court via video link and was charged with an unspecified crime. Davila says his legal team is unable to access the court dockets due to the lawsuit and doesn’t know exactly what those claims are.
An experienced campaigner who studies in the UK and has connections with American organizations, including the McCain Institute and the Obama Foundation, remains separated from friends and family by El Helicoid, Caracas’ infamous prison.
Almost three months later, none of Armas’ family, friends or legal representatives have seen him.
Talking to the Epoch Times, his friend Alexandra Panzarelli, a professor of political science at New York City’s New School of Social Studies, said that in the days before Armas was taken, she begged to come to the US to join her for his safety.
“The last time I spoke, I honestly asked Jesus to come here with me for a while, but being an only child. He wanted to be with his parents, so he wanted to be with his girlfriend, Sailam,” Panzareli said. “But most importantly, he was a politician and knew that he had this obligation to be with his people and those who trusted him.”
President Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan, in Caracas, Venezuela, on January 22, 2021. Matias Delacroix/AP Photo
Panzarelli says he believes Armas is particularly targeted by the regime due to his political skills in mobilizing people in low-income areas of Karaka.
His adduction has come in the midst of political upheavals in Venezuela, which has been under the control of Venezuela’s Unified Socialist Party since 2007. It is the first under Hugo Chavez, the successor and current president of Nicolas Maduro, who took office in 2013.
Unlike previous Venezuelan presidential elections, government officials have not announced the number of votes. However, the opposition coalition has released tally sheets from more than 80% of the country’s electronic voting machines, indicating that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has won twice as many votes as Maduro.
The results and subsequent inauguration of Maduro have not been recognized by many countries and international organizations, including the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.
Describing the current state of Maduro’s preservation of power, Davila states: It’s like a wounded animal that becomes more dangerous as it gets threatened. ”
Panzarelli said the election had hit the government, but now it appears there is little chance of a change in Caracas’ power, saying that the government “dodged the bullet.”
“I think we were very close this last time, but for now there is no possibility of an end to the administration and this point,” she said. “I think they’ve regained stability and a lot of people who were fighting them are now in asylum or prison.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) President Donald Trump (C) and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses (R) during a Cabinet meeting held at the White House on February 26, 2025. AP
Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on social media platform X: “Today, in accordance with the @Potus directive, I am providing foreign policy guidance to end all Biden-era oil and gas licensings that have embarrassingly funded the illegal Maduro administration.”
Washington also issued rewards of up to $25 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Maduro and Venezuela’s Home Ministers.
“In the first month after the election, authorities conducted more than 2,000 arrests, adding to hundreds already voluntarily detained before July 28th, according to official figures. All of these arrests and ongoing detention are estimated to be part of the Maduro government’s long-standing policy of suppression against recognition of objections,” human rights groups said in a report released last November.
The UN report also revealed increased harassment, crime and other restrictions on the work of human rights groups, journalists and others.
“In light of both the patterns of behavior outlined in the previous report and state policies, and both the victim profiles and official statements by senior state representatives, this mission has a reasonable basis to believe that a crime of persecution on political grounds was committed during the period covered by that order,” the report said.
Panzarelli said he hopes Armas and all other political prisoners will be released.
“I really pray for that, not religious people, but I really hope that they will be released,” Panzarelli said. “I think it’s a great opportunity to attract attention from people overseas, Venezuelans in exile, as well as well as well as well as well-known politicians and leaders. This is something that’s not over.”
