Yosida Vanegas was accused of the alleged crimes of terrorist financing and criminal association. His daughter reported that during the judicial process, the authorities postponed the preliminary hearing on seven occasions due to lack of transfer of others involved or administrative failures.
The non-governmental organization Justicia, Encuentro y Perdón confirmed on the night of Wednesday the 4th the release of Yosida Vanegas, 69 years old, one of the oldest political prisoners in the country.
«Today we welcome with open arms Yosida Vanegas, a mother whose only “crime” was being that: a mother. “A caring, loving mother, who returned to Venezuela with the deep desire to accompany and care for her son, Juan Carlos Monasterios, a political prisoner since 2018,” projection the NGO on social networks.
Vanegas remained confined in the National Institute for Women’s Guidance (INOF). She was arrested on August 15, 2023 when she decided to return to Venezuela to accompany her son, sergeant and political prisoner Juan Carlos Monasterios.
The woman was detained on the border of the Táchira state with Colombia. She was missing for several days, where she was transferred first to the headquarters of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (Dgcim) in San Cristóbal, and then to Boleíta, in Caracas. In these centers, her relatives have denounced, she was subjected to psychological torture, insults and cruel treatment.
Vanegas was accused of the alleged crimes of terrorist financing and criminal association. His daughter reported that during the judicial process, the authorities postponed the preliminary hearing on seven occasions due to lack of transfer of others involved or administrative failures.
The defense maintained that Vanegas, a retired woman, could not finance terrorist activities.
Yosida Vanegas’ health has suffered a serious deterioration in the INOF, due to degenerative osteoarthritis, hypertension and severe anxiety depression that he had already suffered since 2021. In addition, he had intestinal polyps with constant rectal bleeding, a condition for which he did not receive the specialized medical care required within the prison facility.
The NGO celebrated his release “with hope, and at the same time we recognize the deep damage that was caused to him. We hope that he can heal, rehabilitate and rebuild his life, and that one day there will be truth and reparation for everything he has experienced.
They also hope that this freedom “multiplies in the hundreds of women who are still imprisoned for political reasons, and in all the people who await justice.”
During Wednesday, several releases of political prisoners held in Yare II, El Rodeo II, the INOF and the Tocorón and Fénix Carabobo prisons were recorded. According to JEP, from January 8 to Wednesday, February 4, 371 people have been confirmed released from prison.
Today we welcome with open arms Yosida Vanegas, a mother whose only “crime” was being that: a mother.
A caring, loving mother, who returned to Venezuela with the deep desire to accompany and care for her son, Juan Carlos Monasterios, a political prisoner since 2018.
The…
— Justice, Encounter and Forgiveness (@JEPvzla) February 5, 2026
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
Post Views: 22
