“Venezuelan tyranny could release a political prisoner every day and still never be done,” Venezuelan journalist Rory Branker wrote on his X account in December 2024. The post coincided with the announcement of a round of political prisoner releases, which included a group of journalists who had been detained during protests against President Nicolás Maduro's contested reelection in July 2024.
Two months later, on Feb. 20, 2025, national intelligence agents arrested Branker at his home in Caracas.
Branker has been the editor of one of the most widely read digital media outlets in the country, La Patilla, for over 10 years, and also the content director of El Farandi, an entertainment news site.
La Patilla reported that after the arrest, unidentified officers returned to Branker's residence to seize three laptops and three cell phones.
After a week with no public information on his whereabouts, Diosdado Cabello, minister of Interior, Justice and Peace, confirmed on his weekly television program that Branker was in custody, accused of extortion for the publication of false news. As of now, his family is unaware where he’s being detained.
The National Press Workers' Union (SNTP for its initials in Spanish) and other human rights organizations have denounced the revolving-door nature of political prisoner detentions, including those of journalists, saying they serve as a form of "punishment as warning."
"What matters to the regime is continuing to have political prisoners, as they use them as bargaining chips and pressure-release valves," Génesis Dávila, attorney and founder of the human rights organization Defiende Venezuela, told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). "They release prisoners during Christmas so it appears as a 'gift' from a benevolent regime or grant releases in the middle of 'negotiations' to show they are 'making concessions.'"
Data appear to support this perspective. According to information compiled by the Venezuelan Institute for Press and Society (IPYS, for its initials in Spanish) and analyzed by LJR, 16 journalists were detained in Venezuela between 2024 and 2025.
Of those, half remain in prison, while the rest have been released. According to the SNTP, five of the releases took place during the Christmas season: Yousnel Alvarado, Paúl León, Daysi Peña, Ana Carolina Guaita and Fernando Chuecos.
"A clear example of this revolving-door effect is the case of journalist Roland Carreño," Marianela Balbi, executive director of IPYS Venezuela, told LJR. "He was imprisoned for three years, from 2020 to 2023. He was released as part of negotiations, and now, in the context of the elections, he has been jailed again."
IPYS Venezuela, in its 2024 Annual Report: “The Captive Press: Terror, Silence, Prison and Exile,” says the imprisonment of journalists is a brutal form of censorship, usually politically instrumentalized as "punishment as warning."
The report also says imprisoning journalists deepens collective skepticism and despair about Venezuelan citizens' legitimate aspirations to restore democratic freedoms in the country.
"Punishment as warning also helps [the regime] control internal pressure," Dávila said. "If I imprison one journalist, the others will be afraid to do their jobs. No one wants to be next."
LJR spoke with two Venezuelan journalists who, fearing retaliation, preferred to remain anonymous. Both said these detentions have made them reconsider whether to continue practicing journalism. For now, they choose not to sign their articles with their bylines and maintain a low profile on social media.
Self-censorship is not the only consequence. According to the IPYS report, 22 journalists were forcibly displaced after the presidential elections on July 28.
In other words, journalists were forced to leave their places of residence after facing threats or physical or verbal attacks (11 cases), receiving information about an arrest warrant against them (six cases), or being warned of a possible detention (five cases).
Furthermore, reports of the revocation of the passports of at least 40 journalists and human rights activists following the presidential elections in July 2024 have also been considered an effective way to neutralize and silence critical voices, according to human rights group Laboratorio de Paz.
According to Balbi, none of the detentions of journalists have adhered to judicial due process. Therefore, she said, these are cases of arbitrary or forced detentions.
In March, crime reporter Román Camacho was detained after covering the homicide of a person in the José Félix Ribas neighborhood of Petare, in the Venezuelan capital. According to SNTP, Camacho was charged with the alleged crimes of "incitement to hatred, obstruction of justice and dissemination of false news" and was released 48 hours later.
"Families are not given any information, lawyers are not allowed, and journalists are charged with crimes such as terrorism," Balbi said.
Indeed, 11 of the 16 journalists detained between 2024 and 2025 have been charged with terrorism and incitement to hatred, according to the IPYS records.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has warned that Venezuela led Latin America and the Caribbean in journalist imprisonments in 2024, surpassing Nicaragua and Guatemala, where similar cases have been recorded.
"We have never had this number of detained journalists before, never," Balbi said. "Journalists defend the right to press freedom, the right to information, the right to free expression and access to information—all of which are civil and political rights. Therefore, all detained journalists can be considered political prisoners."
