Venezuela's Political Prisoners Left in the Dark After Devastating Earthquakes

Less than 48 hours after two earthquakes struck Venezuela on 24 June 2026, the human toll was still being counted. The first tremor hit at 6:04 pm, registered a magnitude of 7.2; the second struck 39 seconds later, at 6:05 pm, registered a magnitude of 7.5. More than a minute and a half of shaking destroyed hundreds of buildings and homes across the country. Venezuela has declared a state of national emergency.

This report was filed from Caracas, as aftershocks continued and relatives of political prisoners demanded information from Venezuelan authorities about conditions inside the country’s prisons.

In the early hours of 25 June, the Comité por la Libertad de los Presos Políticos de Venezuela (Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners in Venezuela, CLIPPVE) issued its first alert about the lack of official information on more than 580 political prisoners in its database, including foreigners and dual citizens from Colombia, Spain, Argentina and México.

Family members had been waiting for more than six hours with no news. Later, in an update, CLIPPVE reported that some family members had received a brief phone call from their detained relatives.

For Diego Casanova, activist and CLIPPVE monitoring officer, the only positive note is that, as of the time of writing this article, no deaths or injuries have been reported inside any prison. 

‘In general, there is no official information from the detention centres, and unofficial information is scarce. We know that political prisoners are not being told about the Venezuelan situation after the earthquakes. Yesterday [25 June], we had five relatives of political prisoners who were missing; thankfully, they have been found and are alive. Unfortunately, we learned that some relatives of another political prisoner died at Aragua state and another one lost his family home in La Guaira state. We are monitoring, verifying, and reporting, doing what the authorities are not doing’, he told FairPlanet.

Having received no response from officials at the Rodeo I maximum security prison, the relatives, who had been camping outside the facility since 8 January 2026, tried to find out how the detainees were doing by any means available.

Hiowanka Ávila, sister of political prisoner Henryberth Rivas and coordinator of Camp Rodeo I, told FairPlanet:

‘Outside, we lost electricity and phone signal. In the darkness, we climbed the hill from where we could hear what we believe was the courtyard of this detention centre, and we heard noises, people speaking through loudspeakers. We assume they had been taken out to the courtyard. Around 3:00 am we stopped hearing them. That is how we knew they were alive, and that should not have been the case.’

At the time of writing, there was no official information about the status of political prisoners held in the Internado Judicial Región Capital Rodeo II, III, IV (Rodeo II, III, IV prisons); Internado Judicial de Carabobo (Tocuyito prison); the Centro Penitenciario de la Región Capital Yare (Yare prison); or the Centro de Formación para Hombres Nuevos ‘Simón Bolívar’ (La Planta prison), and their condition could not be independently verified.

What could be confirmed is that, according to relatives consulted, no evacuation drills or emergency briefings for natural disasters had been conducted in any of the detention centres, not even in the hours after the earthquake, as aftershocks continued. For now, the safety and integrity of political prisoners depends entirely on whatever protocols the prison authorities choose to implement.

Ignell Marín, sister of the prominent military officer and political prisoner Igbert Marín Chaparro, told FairPlanet what her brother said during his visit on 27 June: ‘It's outrageous that they're also incarcerating our desire to serve. There are so many of us here, both military and civilians, who could do something about this tragedy.’

The Right to Call

Henryberth Rivas had been held at Rodeo I since April 2024. More than two years later, the earthquake gave him a reason to make his first ever phone call - though it lasted only 30 seconds. He used it to call his girlfriend, who had fled Venezuela fearing reprisals. 

Yanmarys Antón had a slightly longer call. Her sister, political prisoner Carla Antón, managed to contact her from Ramo Verde military prison, Yanmarys told FairPlanet:

‘I don’t know how, but my sister managed to get in touch with me - they did not put the call officially through Ramo Verde. We were only able to talk for three minutes. She was crying desperately; she thought she was going to die trapped inside without seeing us. She told me that everyone was shouting “Help! Help!” and visits were suspended.’

Female political prisoners held at the Instituto Nacional de Orientación Femenina (National Institute of Female Orientation, INOF) were also able to contact their families, but visits were suspended until further notice, citing security reasons.

All of these calls were made on 25 June - more than 14 hours after the earthquakes struck. During that entire time, political prisoners had been held incommunicado, with authorities failing to activate any alternative channels of communication.

The Right to a Safe Space

Relatives camped outside Rodeo I still do not know whether the relevant authorities have inspected the prison’s infrastructure.

Massiel Cordones, mother of Army lieutenant and political prisoner José Ángel Barreno, told FairPlanet: ‘The boys are extremely worried. Relatives who were allowed a visit today [Friday, 26 June] say they are being held in the corridor rather than in their cells, and under heavy guard.’

The opacity surrounding Rodeo I has been a feature of the prison from the outset. Although it is a public facility, its construction plans were never made public. The detention centre did not even have an official name when the first prisoner transfers took place in 2024. Even now, political prisoners are not permitted to describe the interior of the facility during family visits — they are hooded when moved from their cells to the visiting room.

Risks are also significant at Ramo Verde: according to social media reports, the walls of the fifth floor of the main building are cracked and debris is visible. Although the robust complex was built as part of dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez's modernization plan, little is known about its maintenance and renovations during the 26 years of chavista rule.

At the Centro de Procesados y Penados Militares Guaicaipuro (Guaicaipuro Military Processing and Convicting Center) the situation was causing greater fear. Mireya Sequera, mother-in-law of political prisoner Willian Paredes fears that prisoners will be kept in the underground cells known as ‘the cage’ - a remodelled cell that began operating in 2024, whose ceiling is a metal grate through which guards walk to monitor detainees.

Meanwhile, at INOF, a prison opened in the early 1960s, there is visible damage to the walls and floors. A relative of a political prisoner, who asked to remain anonymous, told FairPlanet: ‘We were told that the firefighters came to inspect, but none of the women inside saw them. We really don't know what happened there.’

Casanova warned that the political prisoners are not only vulnerable as victims of a natural disaster. Their families agreed with him that long before this earthquake, they were already victims of institutional malice and negligence. At this moment, when attention is focused on the emergency, CLIPPVE families fear that the political prisoners could begin to be pushed into the background.

‘Keeping political prisoners in the public eye now presents a much greater challenge, and CLIPPVE continues to call for solidarity actions. We insist on the freedom of all political prisoners; some have release orders and others have been granted amnesty, but they remain detained. We also demand the suspension of court appearance requirements because of transportation difficulties. We cannot stop, especially in the face of this tragedy’, Casanova concluded.