The Bolivarian National Intelligence Service is the premier intelligence agency in Venezuela. SEBIN is an internal security force subordinate to the Vice President of Venezuela since 2012 and is dependent on Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. SEBIN has been described as the political police force of the Bolivarian government.
La Tumba is an underground detention facility of a tower in Caracas, Venezuela, that serves as the headquarters for the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN). It was initially designed as offices for the Caracas Metro.
Bassil Da Costa was a Venezuelan university student, killed during the 2014 protests against the Venezuelan government, the first death of the wave of protests. Da Costa was a marketing student at the Universidad Alejandro de Humboldt in Caracas.
Nicolas Ernesto Maduro Guerra is a Venezuelan politician and the son of the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. He was appointed as Head of the Corps of Special Inspectors of the Presidency and Coordinator of the National Film School of Venezuela by his father. He was also elected by the PSUV party congress in 2014 to be the delegate of El Valle Capital District.
The 2017 Venezuelan protests were a series of protests occurring throughout Venezuela. Protests began in January 2017 after the arrest of multiple opposition leaders and the cancellation of dialogue between the opposition and Nicolás Maduro's government.
Foro Penal is a Venezuelan human rights organization that provides legal assistance pro bono to people subject of arbitrary detentions and their relatives. The organization is composed of regional coordinators for each state in Venezuela, pro bono lawyers on a national level and a network of over five thousand volunteers, non-lawyer activists, known as "active defensors".
On 27 June 2017, there was an incident involving a police helicopter at the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) and Interior Ministry in Caracas, Venezuela. Claiming to be a part of an anti-government coalition of military, police and civilians, the occupants of the helicopter allegedly launched several grenades and fired at the building, although no one was injured or killed. President Nicolás Maduro called the incident a "terrorist attack". The helicopter escaped and was found the next day in a rural area. On 15 January 2018, Óscar Pérez, the pilot and instigator of the incident, was killed during a military raid by the Venezuelan army that was met with accusations of extrajudicial killing.
On 4 August 2018, two drones detonated explosives near Avenida Bolívar, Caracas, where Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, was addressing the Bolivarian National Guard in front of the Centro Simón Bolívar Towers and Palacio de Justicia de Caracas. The Venezuelan government claims the event was a targeted attempt to assassinate Maduro, though the cause and intention of the explosions is debated. Others have suggested the incident was a false flag operation designed by the government to justify repression of opposition in Venezuela.
Juan Requesens, a deputy of the Venezuelan National Assembly, was arrested as a suspect in the Caracas drone attack, an alleged assassination plot on the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The circumstances of his arrest and detention are controversial, and irregularities surround the legal proceedings. Requesens was imprisoned in El Helicoide from his arrest on 7 August 2018, with allegations of torture to coerce a confession, and delays impeding the legal process and hearings until his release on 28 August 2020.
The attack on Fort Paramacay, was a military assault carried out in the morning of Sunday, August 6, 2017, between 3:50 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. in the Venezuelan town of Naguanagua, Carabobo.
Torture in Venezuela has been a consistent phenomenon throughout its history. Various dictatorships from the Spanish colonial era into the twentieth century utilized torture against common criminals and political opponents. In the twentieth century, torture was common during the dictatorships of Juan Vicente Gómez and Marcos Pérez Jiménez. Torture also took place occasionally during Venezuela's democratic period, such as during the Caracazo and the 1992 coup attempts.
Fernando Alberto Albán Salazar was a Venezuelan–Colombian activist, lawyer, politician, and prominent figure within the Justice First opposition party. Albán served as a councilman of the Libertador Municipality of Caracas from 2012 until his death in office in 2018.
Lorent Enrique Gómez Saleh is a Venezuelan activist. Since 2011, Saleh has participated in several activities in defense of human rights and has been repeatedly detained by the Venezuelan authorities. In 2014, he was deported from Colombia and handed over to officials of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN). Until 2018, he was being held in La Tumba, in Plaza Venezuela, Caracas, during which time his hearing had been postponed 52 times. On 12 October 2018, he was released by the Venezuelan authorities and exiled to Spain, where he arrived the next day after landing at the Madrid–Barajas Airport.
Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera is the former director of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and former major general of the Venezuelan army. He is known for being a main conspirator during the failed 2019 Venezuelan uprising.
Golpe Azul, also known as Operation Jericho, was an accusation by the Venezuelan government that resulted in the arrest of several people, including the metropolitan mayor of Caracas Antonio Ledezma. The accusation consisted in an alleged coup d'état plan against the presidency of Nicolás Maduro, which reportedly would take place on 12 February 2015 and would have several targets in Caracas. The name of the plan refers to the blue uniform of the Venezuelan Air Force in which several suspects were officers.
Rafael Ramón Acosta Arévalo was a Venezuelan military officer with the rank of corvette captain of the Venezuela Navy. Acosta Arévalo was victim of forced disappearance and tortured by agents of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) during his detention after being accused by the government of Nicolás Maduro of "conspiring to carry out an attempted coup d'état". Acosta Arévalo died as a result of injuries suffered after being tortured while in detention in the Military Hospital of the Army Dr. Vicente Salias Sanoja. The news of his death caused great impact in the media and the condemnation of both national and international authorities.
The Popular Revolutionary Alternative is a Venezuelan Chavista political coalition made up of socialist and leftist parties critical of the administration of Nicolás Maduro.
Luis Carlos Díaz Vázquez is a Venezuelan journalist and cyberactivist. He has worked at the Instituto Radiofónico Fe y Alegría, the Centro Gumilla and newspapers such as El Nacional and Tal Cual, as well as a radio host at Circuito Unión Radio, and served as a member of the editorial board of SIC magazine. Luis Carlos was arbitrarily detained in 2019 by agents of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) during the nationwide blackouts of that year, being declared by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. He was released the following day with precautionary measures and his case was archived in 2021, suspending such measures.
Wilmer José Azuaje Cordero is a Venezuelan politician that has served as deputy in the National Assembly for Barinas state and as a Barinas regional deputy.
Enforced disappearances in Venezuela have been characterized by being of short duration, occurring mainly during the administration of Nicolás Maduro. In 2018, there were at least 200 cases of enforced disappearances, and in 2019 at least 524 cases, with an average duration of five days. According to Foro Penal and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the short duration of the disappearances have been intended to avoid the scrutiny that could come with large-scale and long-term detentions. A 2019 report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded that enforced disappearances had been used In Venezuela as a method by the government to censor opponents and instill fear. The Venezuelan constitution prohibits enforced disappearance, even in states of emergency.
