ProtectDefenders.eu has received information on the enforced disappearance and possible arbitrary detention of Mr. Eduardo Torres. The defender is a labor lawyer who has been a member of the Venezuelan Program for Education-Action in Human Rights (PROVEA), an organization that is member of FIDH. The General Coordinator of PROVEA, Mr. Oscar Murillo, was also subjected to threats.
On May 13, 2025, in a statement via Instagram, the Attorney General of Venezuela, Mr. Tarek Wiliam Saab accused Mr. Torres of connections with a conspiracy plot to generate violence during the elections scheduled for May 25. He gave no further details of Mr. Towers or about the agents who arrested him. Mr. Torres was last see on May 9, while a legal team of PROVEA was negated any information on whether the defender had been arrested by the Venezuelan state.
We were informed that Mr. Torres has repeatedly been subjected to threats and harassment by police officers from the Venezuelan State. Like the rest of the PROVEA team, it is a beneficiary of precautionary protection measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) due to the multiple threats, criminalization and harassment against its work in Venezuela.
We had also received information that on 7 January 2025, Mr. Carlos Correa, a former PROVEA co-ordinator, had been intercepted in the center of the capital Caracas by hooded officials. His whereabouts remained unknown for several days before he was released on 16 January 2025.
The arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance of Mr. Eduardo Torres is a violation fundamental rights recognized in the Venezuelan Constitution and in the international treaties to which Venezuela is a party, such as respect for due process, individual freedom and physical and moral integrity.
This alert is part of a worrying trend of repression against HRDs occuring two weeks prior to the national and regional elections scheduled for 25 May 2025, exemplifying a systematic attempt to silence all critical voices committed to human rights and democracy in the country. This repression has been ongoing since the general election in 2024, that has resulted in the detention of human rights defenders such as lawyer and woman human rights defender Rocío San Miguel.
ProtectDefenders.eu has also been informed about the worrying state of Press Freedom in the country. Journalism is heavily restricted in Venezuela. Reporters are often beaten or threatened in the course of their work during elections or political conflicts. As President Maduro controls both the attorney general’s office and the ombudsman’s office, neither helps to guarantee the safety of journalists, with the result that physical or verbal violence against them is seldom investigated. The post-electoral repression and arrests of media professionals were justified by the Attorney General’s Office, and the ombudsman remained silent about these abuses.
Venezuela ranks 160 out to 180 in RSF 2025 World Press Freedom Index.
