Thanks to all the persons who took action and sent a letter to the Permanent Mission of Venezuela in Geneva, calling on authorities to disclose Carlos Correa’s fate and whereabouts and release him. His organisation, Espacio Público, informed us some minutes ago that Carlos had been indeed arrested and has now been released from detention.
Carlos Correa is a renowned human rights defender. On 7 January 2025, he was disappeared by hooded people. On 15 January, a prosecutor informed Carlos’ family that he was indeed detained by State security forces but could not confirm the charges and his whereabouts. On 16 January, Carlos was finally released from detention and able to reunite with his family.
Other human rights defenders such as Javier Tarazona, Rocio San Miguel, Carlos Julio Rojas, and Kennedy Tejeda remain in arbitrary detention.
As explained in a public statement signed by ISHR and more than 80 organisations, the Venezuelan State is increasingly harassing and persecuting human rights defenders in an attempt to silence their work and their demands for respect for civil and political human rights in the aftermath of the elections of 28 July 2024.
ISHR will continue to support Venezuelan human rights defenders and partners, and call for the release of all human rights defenders arbitrarily detained.
