Venezuela is entering one of its most repressive periods in years, rights watchers say, as President Nicolás Maduro faces increasing isolation and an expanded U.S. military presence in the Caribbean.
October saw the highest level of repression since bilateral tensions began, with 54 people detained, many linked to opposition leader Maria Colina Machado, according to Venezuelan human rights group Provea.
“This is a policy aimed at instilling fear in Venezuelans,” said NGO coordinator Marino Alvarado, warning of deteriorating prison conditions, overcrowding and punishment for political detainees.
The Bente Venezuelan human rights commission told CNN that 2025 marks a transition from large-scale repression to “surgical” and targeted repression.
Orlando Moreno, who heads the commission, said the government was using political kidnappings and selective detention to “decapitate opposition leaders” and warned that this strategy could escalate further if the military confrontation with the United States escalates.
“The goal now is not to fill prisons, but to neutralize organizing power by eliminating mobilizing voices,” Moreno said. “The law is being used as a political weapon.”
Vente Venezuela reported one case of arbitrary detention every 32 hours in 2025, with 232 cases recorded to date, 143 of which involved members of the movement. In 2024, there were an average of six arrests per day for a total of 2,500 arrests. Both groups agree that October was the most repressive month of the year, coinciding with Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize win and increased U.S. pressure on Maduro.
Moreno said at least seven military personnel, including a division commander, were recently detained, but CNN could not independently verify these arrests. He alleges that some officers were targeted because they refused to film loyalty videos to Mr. Maduro. He also accused the government of engaging in “hostage diplomacy,” using Venezuelan and foreign political detainees as bargaining chips.
He added that reports of torture, isolation, and inhumane conditions continued in detention centers across the country, despite complaints from the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission, which has documented ongoing cases of torture and due process violations.
The Venezuelan government has previously insisted that detainees’ human rights and due process are respected, dismissed international reports of arbitrary detention as “interventionist” and called the allegations “irresponsible, biased and highly polarizing.”
The case of the Hernández-Castillo family is emblematic of this climate of repression in Venezuela, where several members of the family have reportedly been taken and detained without due process.
On November 19, at night in western Caracas, men in subway uniforms (some of whom were members of the Bolivarian National Police, members of the Organized Crime Division, and others without identification) forced their way into the home of 16-year-old Samanta Sofía Hernández Castillo.
Relatives who reported the incident to the NGO Freedom Committee for Political Prisoners said the men threatened her grandparents with guns before taking the teenager without explaining where or why. Her family still has no information regarding her whereabouts.
“We hold Interior and Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello responsible for the persecution that our family is facing,” Samanta’s mother, Amber Castillo, said in a video posted on social media. She expressed concern for her daughter’s physical and emotional safety and called the incident a “kidnapping.”
Two days later, the family learned that Samanta’s 19-year-old sister Aranza had also been detained in Maracaibo. The girls’ mother said she visited multiple detention centers after receiving unofficial tips, but authorities denied the girls were being held there.
The two young women are the sisters of Lt. Cristian Hernández, who fled the country saying she was being persecuted on conspiracy charges. Cristian’s wife, Meikelis Borges, was also detained and gave birth in a women’s prison, where she remains detained with her newborn. According to Foro Penal, she was arrested while pregnant on January 29, 2025, and charged with conspiracy along with her husband. Her family said she was denied a private attorney and was assigned a public defender.
Pressure on the family began even earlier. The girls’ uncle, farmer Henry Castillo, was also taken on January 24 for unknown reasons, the family said. They consider him a victim of enforced disappearance.
CNN has reached out to the prosecutor’s office for comment and is awaiting a response.
The Hernández-Castillo incident is not an isolated one. On November 16, Dr. Margie Orozco, 65, was sentenced to 30 years in prison, the maximum penalty under Venezuelan law, for treason, incitement to hatred, and conspiracy.
Provea and her relatives said it all followed an audio message she shared urging people to vote in the 2024 presidential election.
CNN cannot access the messages, but her son, Walter Lewis, said his mother wanted to “make a difference in this country.” He said a neighbor, who is also a local government representative, reported her and police arrested her without a warrant on the night of August 5, 2024.
Mr Provea said such “disproportionate” sentences showed how the justice system was being weaponized against political targets. Alvarado noted that a temporary drop in arrests in early November was clearly an attempt by the government to signal a willingness to engage in dialogue with Washington, but added that such a lull would not last long. Several detainees were released during this period, including French national Camilo Castro and Venezuelan businessman Noel Alvarez.
CNN has contacted the Department of Home Affairs, Justice and Peace and the Attorney General’s Office for comment on the incidents mentioned in this article, but has not received a response.
Meanwhile, the Venezuelan people continue to navigate pressures on two fronts, both internal and external, amid deep uncertainty about the country’s future.
