Event Summary
On 31 October 2025, news broke of the arrest of four students and audiovisual producers near the Tocorón Penitentiary Center, one of the most well-known detention facilities in the country, located in Aragua State in central Venezuela. The four students had taken some photographs of the prison’s façade as part of their thesis project when they were detained.
According to information shared on social media by human rights defenders and international organizations, the students were approached by the prison’s security personnel, who confiscated their identification documents and equipment, and informed them they would be subjected to questioning. They were later transported in patrol vehicles belonging to the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN), and their whereabouts remained unknown.
Human rights organizations and defenders later announced the release of all four students on 3 November 2025, after nearly three days in detention, during which their families had no knowledge of their location.
A similar case occurred during the last week of October, when a crime reporter was reportedly approached by unidentified individuals near his residence in Caracas. According to accounts gathered by journalists’ unions and human rights organizations, the journalist was released several days after his detention.