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 digest is published weekly.

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Introducing CLIPPVE

Traditional politics in Venezuela has been at a standstill for months. With the opposition discouraged and under siege, no discourse or leadership has been able to revive it. Meanwhile, the movement for the release of political prisoners has gained momentum, becoming the main front for denouncing the regime’s abuses. Its representatives constantly remind the public that their children, parents, siblings, and partners remain behind bars—and that the next victim could be anyone. They work to track where prisoners are being held, document their conditions—how they sleep, what they eat, how many days they go without seeing sunlight or receiving visits—and expose the torture, collective trauma, and the regime’s ongoing repression. They ensure that people do not forget what happened on July 28 or that Venezuela was already a dictatorship long before that.

“We aim to consolidate a national movement of political prisoners’ relatives with its own identity—one that contributes to freedom, justice, and the preservation of historical memory, with the firm goal of ensuring that Venezuela always remains a democracy,” says Sairam Rivas.

Rivas was a political prisoner herself, jailed from May to September 2014 following the protests of that year. She has stepped forward in the Comité por la Libertad de los Presos Políticos de Venezuela (CLIPPVE) since her partner, Jesús Armas, was kidnapped on December 10, 2024. Sairam has taken on the role of spokesperson for his case while also caring for Jesús’ parents. He was tortured in a clandestine SEBIN safe house and interrogated about the whereabouts of several opposition leaders. Armas, a former councilman in the Libertador municipality, worked on the María Corina Machado and Edmundo González campaign last year.

In Tocorón prison alone, there are more than 300 political detainees living under unbearable conditions, as denounced by CLIPPVE: punishment cells where inmates sleep on the floor, and meals consisting of rotten, raw, and insect-infested food.

“Like him, more than 20 political prisoners remain in total isolation, with no visits or contact with their families,” Rivas tweeted this week. Alongside other activists and prisoners’ relatives, she also sheds light on lesser-known cases that are all too common in Venezuela’s political prison system. One such case is that of Jonathan Bravo, a dentistry student in Coro with ADHD. He was beaten and forcibly taken from his home before being charged with terrorism and incitement to hatred. According to El Nacional, prosecutors accuse him of being involved in a plot to kidnap Falcón governor Víctor Clark and are seeking a 10-year sentence.

CLIPPVE also includes Aurora Silva, the wife of Freddy Superlano, and Andreína Baduel, the daughter of former Defense Minister Raúl Isaías Baduel, who died in custody. Andreína’s brother, Josnar, is imprisoned in Rodeo 1 and requires multiple medical procedures due to the torture he has suffered over the years. Alongside 75 others, the regime links him to the failed Macuto landing in 2020 (Operación Gedeón), in which exiled Venezuelan soldiers and two American mercenaries participated.

Why it matters: This movement includes dozens of women who have become activists, hitting the streets every week to visit prisons and prosecutors’ offices, organize vigils, and guide the families of newly detained victims. CLIPPVE is not the first organization of its kind. Before it, there was ALFAVIC—the Alliance of Families of Victims of the 2017 protest cycle—and several other groups representing victims of extrajudicial executions, many of which have spent over a decade fighting for justice despite the exhaustion and sacrifice it entails.

More information: In Tocorón prison alone, there are more than 300 political detainees living under unbearable conditions, as denounced by CLIPPVE: punishment cells known as tigritos, where inmates sleep on the floor, and meals consisting of rotten, raw, and insect-infested food. “The number [of insects in the food] is so high that it is impossible to remove them completely,” reports Runrunes.

Take note: The reality of political prisoners and their families—long predating July 28—is thoroughly documented in No te olvides de mí: Historias de presos políticos olvidados en Venezuela, a book by Kaoru Yonekura, a long-time contributor to our blog. It is available on Amazon through this link and in bookstores in Venezuela.

Now what with the Unitary Platform?

Omar Barboza resigned this Thursday as Secretary-General of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), a position he had held since May 2022. The political coalition is now officially without a spokesperson, with Barboza stating that it has become impossible to find consensus or work toward a strategy agreed upon by all parties following the events of July 28 and the Maduro regime’s calls for regional elections and constitutional reform. Barboza is a founding leader of Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT), a party that will participate in the regional elections Maduro has scheduled for May.

“My current role has been reduced to insignificant administrative tasks,” Barboza said. “Given the current political climate, I have concluded that my role as Executive Secretary is no longer useful in achieving an agreement that keeps us united during such a complex moment.”

Why it matters: Earlier this week, Stalin González, also from UNT, publicly questioned whether the PUD still has a reason to exist, given the deep disagreements among opposition actors over the “path forward” for anti-chavismo.

“I don’t agree with the idea that we should just sit back and wait for something to happen from abroad. We need to fight on all fronts—there’s an opportunity to reorganize on May 25,” González said in an interview, as reported by Efecto Cocuyo. Tomás Guanipa, from the rogue faction of Primero Justicia, also spoke of seeking “new instruments for a broad unitary alliance like the MUD once was, or like UNT.”

More information: Stalin González claims his party can deploy between 12,000 and 13,000 polling station observers for the May mega-elections. However, the real challenge will be convincing people to participate after the regime cracked down on dissent, both after July 28 and throughout the election campaign.

Recommended reads:

• Correo del Caroní: In Bolívar, the company Avante Bureau Shipping conducted the region’s first oil spill response drill.
• El Pitazo: A former GNB commander from Barquisimeto has been arrested in the U.S. after victims recognized and reported him when he appeared as an extra in a TV series. A young man detained in 2013, after the Capriles-Maduro election, recounts the torture he and others suffered under the command of Lt. Col. Rafael Quero.
• El Pitazo: Polichacao detainees subdued their guards to demand transfers to other prisons and respect for their human rights.
• El Carabobeño: Diosdado Cabello claims that “the people” will elect eight lawmakers for Guayana Esequiba in the May 25 elections.