Caracas Chronicles

#NowWhatVenezuela keeps you informed about what’s happening deep inside la patria—from headline-making events to underreported stories that provide the clearest picture of our reality. This report is published weekly.

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Maritime smuggling to Trinidad claims more victims

Kimberly, a 25-year-old from Táchira, had traveled back home to introduce her 11-month-old baby to her family and take her 8-year-old daughter, who lived with her grandmother, back with her. She had settled in Trinidad and Tobago, where the UNHCR counts 31 thousand Venezuelans residents—though the real number is likely much higher. On Wednesday, February 19, Kimberly and her two daughters set out for Trinidad from Pedernales, the closest coastal point in Venezuela to the island nation, located at the northern tip of Delta Amacuro. More than 20 people boarded the boat with them.

But they never reached their destination. Kimberly’s daughters were found dead, as confirmed by their grandmother in La Nación. Another Venezuelan woman, aged 26, was also reported dead. The rescue operation—conducted by police, military personnel, and local residents—began on Thursday, February 20, when relatives assumed the boat had sunk. Around 15 people were rescued, including Kimberly, but at least six remain missing, per reports from Tane Tanae.

“This happens with the complicity of authorities involved in migrant smuggling,” said former Venezuelan prosecutor Zair Mundaray on X, a known critic of the Maduro regime. “These incidents frequently occur in Delta Amacuro. People keep fleeing the chaos created by the government. Human trafficking networks remain highly active, and no real investigation takes place.”

Lizeta Hernández, who has governed Delta Amacuro for 16 years, blamed the departures on so-called “false claims” that everything is wrong in the country and that Maduro is a dictator, according to Qué Pasa en Venezuela. She added that authorities would go after the gangs responsible for these journeys.

More context: The most recently reported shipwrecks between Trinidad and the Delta occurred in April and October 2021, resulting in 13 confirmed deaths and 29 missing persons. In the latter case, only two people survived after departing from Trinidad in a small peñero boat.

Contempt for life in the birthplace of José Gregorio Hernández

This week, the Vatican signed the decree for the canonization of José Gregorio Hernández, the “doctor of the poor” and Venezuela’s first Catholic saint. José Gregorio was born in the town of Isnotú, in Trujillo. In the same state, local media reported deaths in police custody due to a humanitarian crisis that has been unfolding in the state’s detention centers for months.

Reinaldo Araujo, a leader of Vente Venezuela in Trujillo arrested in January 9, died of a heart attack at the Valera Police Coordination Center Number 2 (CCP2), which belongs to the state police. He had hypertension and was denied medical care.

One day earlier, also in Valera, a common inmate died while being held at the local CICPC office. Diario de los Andes reported that Keudis Hernández, a tuberculosis patient, died in a hospital from pneumonia. He was the second inmate to die in that hospital after an “emergency” transfer from the same CICPC facility—just a month ago, Gregory Colmenares, a former PSUV party activist in Trujillo, died under similar circumstances.

These reports surfaced shortly before the death of former Transport Minister Fernando Martínez Mottola at his home in Caracas. Martínez Mottola was one of the most important opposition negotiators and operatives in recent years. He had spent nine months in the Argentine embassy before the regime allowed him to return home in December 2024 after giving a statement at the Public Ministry.

Why it matters: Families of inmates in Valera describe “inhumane and overcrowded” conditions at the CICPC detention center. They accuse the chief officer of denying medical care to prisoners. Runrunes had reported on the spread of tuberculosis in Trujillo’s jails four months ago, specifically in the facility where Araujo was detained. The jail has only three cells, and inmates are forced to sleep “on the floor, standing up, or in makeshift hammocks.”

How chavismo picks candidates for the May elections

The PSUV has scrapped internal party elections as a method for selecting candidates for governors, state lawmakers, and national deputies—a process that was still in place for the 2021 regional elections, despite the usual logistical irregularities and voter intimidation. This time, Tal Cual reports that candidates will be nominated in communal assemblies, and the ruling elite will decide who can run. Diosdado Cabello admitted that Maduro (& Co.) will handpick candidates in “strategic territorial points,” which likely include key states such as Miranda, Carabobo, Zulia, and Barinas.

Recommended reads:

• El Estímulo: Héctor Rodríguez, Minister of Education, bans carnival queen contests in schools across the country.
• El Pitazo: How HIV spreads in La Guajira and victimizes the Wayuu through stigma, misinformation, and taboos.
• Runrunes: Nelson Piñero, a leader of the Encuentro Ciudadano party, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for criticizing Maduro on social media. He suffers from severe health issues and has not received treatment since late 2023.
• Correo del Caroní: 54 members of Voluntad Popular resign in Bolívar to protest the party’s decision to abstain from the May elections.