CNN– Venezuela is entering one of its most repressive periods in years, rights monitors say, as President Nicolás Maduro faces mounting isolation and an expanding US military presence in the Caribbean.
According to the Venezuela human rights group Provea, October saw the highest level of repression since the start of the bilateral tensions, with 54 detentions of people, many of whom linked to opposition leader María Corina Machado.
“This is a policy designed to instill fear among Venezuelans,” said Marino Alvarado, the NGO’s coordinator, who warned about worsening prison conditions, overcrowding, and punishments against political detainees.
The human rights committee of the opposition movement Vente Venezuela told CNN that 2025 has marked a shift from mass crackdowns to “surgical” targeted ones.Orlando Moreno, who leads the committee, said the government is using political kidnappings and selective detentions to “decapitate opposition leadership” — a strategy he warned could intensify if the military standoff with the United States escalates.
“Now the goal isn’t to fill prisons; it’s to neutralize organizing power by removing voices that can mobilize people,” Moreno said. “The law is being used as a political weapon.”Vente Venezuela reports that in 2025 there has been one arbitrary detention every 32 hours, with 232 documented cases so far — 143 involving members of their movement. In 2024, the average was six arrests a day, totaling 2,500. Both groups agree October was the most repressive month, coinciding with Machado receiving the Nobel Peace Prize and a spike in US pressure on Maduro.Moreno said at least seven military officers, including a division general, were recently detained, though CNN could not independently verify these arrests. He claims some officers were targeted after refusing to record loyalty videos for Maduro. He also accused the government of “hostage diplomacy,” using political detainees — Venezuelan and foreign — as bargaining chips.
He added that reports of torture, isolation, and inhumane conditions continue across detention centers, despite appeals from the UN 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 and has dismissed international reports on arbitrary detentions as “interventionist,” calling the allegations “irresponsible, biased, and deeply polarized.”A sequence of family disappearances
The case of the Hernández Castillo family is emblematic of this climate of repression in Venezuela, with several family members reportedly taken and held without due process.
On November 19, men wearing metro uniforms — some identifying themselves as Bolivarian National Police officers, others as members of the Organized Crime Division, and some without identification — forcibly entered the home of 16-year-old Samanta Sofía Hernández Castillo at night in western Caracas.According to relatives, who reported the incident to the NGO Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners, the men threatened her grandparents with firearms before taking the teenager without explaining where or why. Her family still has no information about her whereabouts.
“I hold Diosdado Cabello, the Minister of Interior and Justice, responsible for the persecution our family is facing,” said Samanta’s mother, Ámbar Castillo, in a video posted on social media. She expressed concern for her daughter’s physical and emotional safety, calling the incident a “kidnapping.”Two days later, the family learned that Samanta’s 19-year-old sister, Aranza, had also been detained in Maracaibo. Their mother said she has visited multiple detention centers after receiving informal tips, but authorities denied the girls are being held in those locations.Both young women are sisters of Lieutenant Cristian Hernández, who fled the country after saying he was being persecuted on conspiracy charges. Cristian’s wife, Maykelis Borges, was also detained and gave birth at a women’s prison, and remains held along 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 says she was denied a private lawyer and assigned a public defender.
The pressure on the family began even earlier: the girls’ uncle, agricultural producer Henry Castillo, was also taken on January 24 for reasons the family says are unclear. They consider him a victim of enforced disappearance.
CNN contacted the Public Prosecutor’s Office for comment and is awaiting a response.
Harsh sentencing raises alarm
The Hernández Castillo case is not isolated. On November 16, Dr. Marggie Orozco, 65, was sentenced to 30 years in prison — the maximum penalty under Venezuelan law — on charges of treason, incitement to hatred, and conspiracy.According to Provea and relatives, it all followed an audio message she shared, urging people to vote in the 2024 presidential elections.
CNN does not have access to the message, but her son, Walter Ruiz, said his mother wanted to “achieve change in the country.” He said a neighbor, who is also a local government representative, reported her, and police arrested her without a warrant the night of August 5, 2024.Provea says such “disproportionate” sentences show how the justice system is weaponized against political targets. Alvarado noted a brief dip in arrests in early November — an apparent attempt by the government to signal openness to dialogue with Washington — but added that such lulls are short-lived. A few detainees, including French citizen Camilo Castro and Venezuelan businessman Noel Álvarez, were released during that period.CNN contacted the Ministry of Interior, Justice and Peace and the Attorney General’s Office for comment on the cases mentioned in this story but has not received a response.
Meanwhile, Venezuelans continue to navigate pressure on two fronts — internal and external — amid deep uncertainty about the country’s future.
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It’s an American propaganda for taking Venezuela oil, it could be any Caribbean resources they want, this is propaganda machine that makes it sound like they are the good guys and you the evil one, because presently the citizens of Venezuela has volunteered to take up arms to defend their country, and so that’s far from the truth that Maduro is repressing them.
What is the difference here when the USA is killing people to assume to be in drug trafficking without due process. What is the difference when ICE is picking up people and transporting them to a prison in EL Salvador with due process. I mean the world leading democracy is not setting a good example either.
@Eldread: that isn’t a propaganda…Yes Maduro have thousands of supporters willing to die for him..But at same times have millions against him, his government, and socialist ideology..Of course he have the Army under control, and that’s why he is using that power to dominate the masses, but any attempt of any person trying to protest against him..Is being suppress quickly..Isn’t a USA Narrative, in the reality..That’s how Socialist society work..Everything with them and nothing against them..0 Tolerance to opposition. Ask Venezuelans living here in Antigua that doesn’t like Maduro why they left Venezuela years ago.
Also as Cuban ask me why I have to leave Cuba when I got a chance in 2013 and Antigua was so bless for me that allow me to stay here and have a better life over here than in Cuba.
I always like to hear you people farcical comment about USA being interested in oil.
@Carlos
Im also Cuban and i read the comments of this Elread pretty often. Who ever is behind is poorly informed about the reality inside Venezuela and Cuba. All his comment is full of ignorance. @Elread: Majority of Venezuela hate but hate a lot MAduro and his colleagues that are holding the power. Venezuela is a huge country, and of course is pretty easy find 1 or 2 millions people that love Maduro. But in the same land they have Millions that doesn’t like Maduro. They have elections last Year in July and he lose. The opposition make an historic trick. They collect every single report that was coming out from each electoral table and show them to the public. (In Venezuela each table at the end print a report of how was the result of the voters, each party get same report and they submit one copy to the National Electoral Board.) All original copies of those reports was scanned and posted in a Web site, and it show that Maduro lose, he refuse that, he claim himself a winner, but he never show to the public his copy of same reports that his party members receive after each electoral table close the counter of votes.
He dominate the National Army, and is pretty easy find in his minority followers (over 1 million people) Brainwashed mens and women that want to fight for him. They are the one having the guns. The opposition at same time..( Millions and millions more) are unarmed and they can’t fight Maduro regime, their voices are being suppressed quickly. Any leader of the opposition is being targeted quickly and forced to leave the country, or jail.
You are against USA? That’s fine.. Today Millions of Venezuelans want USA to kick Maduro butt, they want USA to come and get rid of all this Generals that love to point guns to the population to keep it under control of the Socialist Party.
@carlos you’re spreading miss information again, socialism doesn’t mean authorism it’s different things and Maduro isn’t the same as Chavez and undermined the things he did even though Chavez was more revolutionary they are not any more socialist than Europe countries like Norway also correct me if I’m wrong Chavez didn’t do the same oppression Maduro does even though he was attempted to be overthrown twice. Without socialism we wouldn’t have any politics that protect the labour workforce or even basic things like minimum wage.
You can talk about the censorship or bad things government do but saying it’s apart of the society is ridiculous especially when it’s something what is used in monarchy society and capitalist societies like Russia exist and America is actually going down that line
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What Maduro is doing or has done doesn’t mean another country should invade them which never ended well for countries they have done in past and yes America is doing it for oil… Well more than oil their are doing it for money since María Corina Machado openly says she will sell everything to foreign investment including oil, gold, gas and other minerals
@Young Antiguan Communist: That socialist ideology protect workers? AWTJYT…List ignorance Boy..I’m from Cuba, if you think in Cuba the labor is better protected than Antigua and any other Capitalism economy..You are tooooooo ignorant but toooooo ignorant in that Matter that are trying to tell me as Cuban that live 33 years in Cuba than the Socialist society treat better the work force better, and the population have better opportunities in a socialist society. I don’t know what trash of book did you read or what dream did you have that make you have that conclusion. Don’t try to argue with me wich society is better because you only have experience over here I have experience in both. Norway isn’t by far a socialist society, don’t confuse having a Respected Government Workers that manage pretty well the Financial of the Government of Norway and they spend the money wisely, with socialist. IF NOBODY steal, money is enough, even here. In socialist society you are the slave of the Socialist Party in power and their leader. YOU can’t talk against them in any ways. No tolerance. Is pretty easy to be a Socialist in a Capitalism Society, but is impossible to be a Capitalist in a Socialist society. Don’t even try to argue about Socialism..Go and pack your bag and live first for 10 years in Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, North Korea, China, as a citizen..Don’t bring money, start from 0 being a worker from the government and getting the salary rate they offer and work condition let see if you survive 1 year. I came to Antigua and being a cook I got in 6 moths the same salary that I earned in Cuba in 12 years. In a free market society, only a Black person can be a millionaire, only a woman can be a millionaire. Look at the work..In wich type of society you can find Wealthy Black? None in Cuba, None in China, None in Venezuela, None in Nicaragua, None in North Korea, None in Vietnam, None in Russia, None in Iran. SO PLEASE move on, and trash those books of Socialism..You are comparing a real society like Free Market (Capitalist ones) with Ideal society, a dream that you can find only in books.
Ahh by the way, in Socialist society the only Wealthy people are the one on top of the Party, the ones that enjoy the privilege of lavish life are their family and relatives. Castro Family are the sole owners of Cuba they are the untouchable ones.
@ARP I’m not trying to tell you about live in Cuba but I can tell you that you don’t know what socialism is I said Norway isn’t more socialist than Venezuela because Norway resources(oil. gas and forestry) are public owned like what Venezuela known for. First socialism can be in my opinion policies that are for the majority of people not profit.
When the free market was unregulated they argued they should let kids work instead of going school, and that minimum wage would impact the ability to allow the free market to dictate the value of wage things you don’t even think about today, they fought against union in some case violently like the battle of blair mountain, or today with amazon firing workers for discussing to join a union. All the workers right can be part of a socialist backing.
Schools weren’t public and free they were only for the elite since education wasn’t important for workers, very simple things you don’t even think of went against the free market for the betterment of the people to progress sociality communist argued that housing was a right and created social housing and public land in the USSR which even non socialist countries follows that limited on land like Singapore or Barbuda for one close to home.
Cuba has it issues so I’m sure the economic crisis caused from the embargo caused problems which could cause government corruption I’m willing to listen to you on that but something like Russia socialist is wrong which your should know since in the 33 years you lived in Cuba you should have lived through knowing when the USSR fell and the strengthening of the Cuban embargo which restricted ships from doing business with them if they didn’t make a big deal out of losing their biggest trade partner which kept Cuba from being in a situation isolated like it is today.
The wage comparing Cuba and Antigua isn’t one to one since the cost of living is so different it has to be adjusted. Going and live in China would an enjoyable experience not a treat this government literally have scholarships to both China and Cuba, I know nothing about Nicaragua but I doubt it’s worst than El Salvador and Venezuela isn’t really socialist and is going to possibly be bombed, north Korea is definitely the closest to what movies picture communism as but other than the Kim obsession life there is not that bad it’s actually surprising what they did with basically no trade which should be studied. Castro passing on the leadership to Raul isn’t rare in counties having leaders from the same family unless you’re talking about something else or other people I don’t know any other Castro’s being in government since Raul.
I don’t know why black millionaires being a measure of success in Asian countries where black population is probably in the thousands and most there are probably students in mostly China. Should we use millionaires in Japan, Philippines and South Korea as measure of the success of their societies, just like the standard of living in them, the government approval rating or the progress made by them in the last couple of decades for the people?
Correction at @APS not ARP
@Young Antiguan Communist: OMG..Boy trash your books now because you are trying to tell me in wich society is better. You are making conclusions in base of Headlines of the news that you follow, but I have the experience on the field. The restrictions of people in Cuba are 100% from Cuba government. All Cu an that are not a toe sucker of Castro family can tell you that. Embargo is the propaganda that Cuba use to justify the misery. They are pretty good selling that propaganda. Before Casto took over in 1959 what do you think Cuba was? Cuba was a rich country. You don’t even have power plan in Antigua and no roads over here and Cuba have beautiful cities with a huge infrastructure, roads, railways, power plants, 158 big sugar factories island wide, we produce over 80 % of our food..And was a total decline since then until today. They don’t let Cuban do better, we have thousands of restrictions from the government to do better. If one day we can sit together I will give you a list of just 100 things that the government prohibit to Cubans and if after that you still thinking that Cuba is in bad shape now due “Embargo”. Then you lose even respect for yourself. BECAUSE is those restrictions someone put it here in Antigua, you will be the first fighting them.
Please stop using Nordic countries like examples of Socialist society because they are not. Their economy is 100 % free market policies. Don’t confuse people in charge of the government being good at it and doing pretty good social programs, and spending wisely the Budget of their country with Socialism..They aren’t and they don’t want to be.
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