Dorothy

The Venezuelan prisoners’ rights group Foro Penal estimates that more than 400 people are currently detained in the country for political reasons.

Venezuela to free 300 prisoners this week, top lawmaker says - Reuters Venezuela to free 300 prisoners this week, top lawmaker says  Reuters

The demonstrators, mostly college students, briefly blocked a highway in Caracas as they blamed Venezuela’s government for the deaths of Víctor Hugo Quero, whose detention was considered politically motivated, and his elderly mother, Carmen Navas. As the students chanted, they also carried a large banner with Navas’ photo.

“What it stirs up in Venezuelans, in the Venezuelan youth, is rage, man,” student leader Miguel Ángel Suárez said of the deaths.

Navas, 82, died 10 days after Venezuela’s prisons agency announced in a statement that Quero died in July after being hospitalized while in custody. The government withheld the information even as Navas demanded proof of life as she visited detention centers, courthouses and government agencies seeking the whereabouts of Quero, who had been detained since January 2025.

The case immediately drew the outrage of human rights organizations, members of Venezuela’s political opposition and relatives of other political prisoners.

Security forces pushed back protesters who tried to break police ranks with canisters of tear gas before they could reach Congress or the presidential palace. Dynamite blasts rumbled, forcing staffers and lawmakers to evacuate. “Homeland or death, we will win!” demonstrators chanted, ripping shop doors off their hinges and setting fire to looted sofas used as barricades.

“Small things have been accumulating - the wage issue, the economic crisis, dirty gasoline that people say is ruining their cars, diesel shortages,” said Veronica Rocha, a Bolivia political analyst. “There’s a huge portion of the population that feels orphaned politically. They don’t trust anyone anymore, and because of that, anything can happen.”

Over the past 16 days, the protest tactic has stranded around 5,000 trucks on highways, leaving supermarket shelves empty and hospitals without some medical supplies. Critics say it’s a perverse way to protest economic pain - business chambers report the blockades cause over $50 million in losses a day.

But the crisis continues, worrying the wider region. Eight allied Latin American governments, from Chile to Costa Rica, released a joint statement rejecting “any action aimed at destabilizing the democratic order.” Neighboring Argentina said it would start a weeklong humanitarian airlift to alleviate shortages in the country.

The United States, now rebuilding relations with Bolivia after years in which Morales defined the country in opposition to Washington, said it supported Paz’s efforts “to restore order for the peace, security and stability of the Bolivian people.” The State Department issued an alert this week urging U.S. citizens traveling to Bolivia to be vigilant.

Morales marshaled the latest march from his hideout in Bolivia’s remote tropics. He has been holed up in the highlands for the past year and a half, evading an arrest warrant on charges relating to his sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl. He says the allegations are politically motivated.

But Morales’ enduring influence “is only one piece of the puzzle,” Rocha said. “If the government wants to survive politically, it will have to make drastic changes.” DeBre reported from Ushuaia, Argentina.