The Surgentes collective reported that two UCV thesis students and two audiovisual producers were arrested after taking a photo of the facade of the Tocorón prison, which houses political prisoners arrested after the 2024 protests.
The collective Emerging denounced this Friday afternoon the arbitrary detention of two students from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) and two audiovisual producers outside the Tocorón penitentiary center (Aragua state), after being approached by guards and officials of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin).
In a press release, Surgentes identified Noel Cisneros, Katiuska Castillo Vásquez, Ingrid Briceño Venegas and Marcela Hernández Guerra as those detained.
Cisneros and Castillo are thesis students at the UCV School of Arts. The group explained that both “were carrying out pre-production work for their special degree work” and – apparently – took a photo of the façade of the prison, which after an intervention in 2023 to dismantle the Aragua Train was used as a place of confinement for political prisoners after the 2024 protests.
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Surgentes indicated that around 11:00 am they were approached by prison guards, their identity cards were taken away and they were told that “they had to wait because they would be interviewed.” After six hours “waiting outside the prison” they were arrested by Sebin officials.
The group insisted that since 3:45 in the afternoon “we know nothing about them,” so they asked the Venezuelan authorities to release the group immediately. They also asked the representatives of the UCV to intercede for the young people and the audiovisual production companies that accompanied them.
According to the Penal Forum, as of October 27, there were 875 people deprived of liberty for political reasons throughout the country, including four teenagers. The majority are civilians detained after the presidential elections.
*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.
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