Maria Oropeza – the woman who has been held in detention in Venezuela for a year without charges or explanation?
Exactly one year has passed since the regime in Venezuela abducted and imprisoned political activist Maria Oropeza without any explanation or charges. This 31-year-old activist was a coordinator in the liberal party Vente Venezuela and president of the Venezuelan branch of the women’s libertarian organization LOLA (Ladies of Liberty Alliance).
Oropeza actively participated in protests against the socialist regime of Nicolás Maduro after the July 28, 2024 elections, in which, according to official results, Maduro won by a wide margin. The opposition and foreign observers refuse to recognize the results, claiming the elections were unfairly rigged and voters were deceived. The regime responded to the civilian protests with repression—arresting thousands of demonstrators, often without charges. Maduro’s opponent, independent candidate Edmundo González Urrutia—who was backed by the entire opposition—had to flee to Spain to avoid arrest.
Her arrest occurred during a series of so-called “Operation Knock Knock” raids, where state agents without police insignia illegally broke into the homes of activists and took them away to unknown locations. During a live stream on Instagram, someone knocked on her door. In the video, she can be heard asking who they were, why they had come, and whether they had a court warrant. “I haven’t done anything, you can’t come in!” she said, but they broke in violently without answering and took her away. It wasn’t the police but the state intelligence service. They had secured the entire street beforehand so that no one could hear her cries for help. Weeks later, state television broadcast their own edited version of her live stream, complete with music playing “One, two, Freddie’s coming for you.” This was meant to frighten anyone daring to raise their voice against the regime.
According to party colleagues, Oropeza has been one of the louder opponents of the regime for the past seven years and expected this might happen to her. Nevertheless, despite numerous opportunities to leave the country, she chose to stay and fight for freedom in Venezuela. They say she is “a true patriot.” She had hoped that as long as she didn’t break the law, the regime would have no excuse to arrest her. She was wrong.
A year later, Oropeza is still imprisoned without any charges and without the right to a lawyer. Her family tirelessly demands answers from the state authorities, and despite criticism from foreign diplomats, she, along with thousands of other political prisoners in Venezuela, has no rights whatsoever.
It should be noted that in January, just before the inauguration of the old-new president Maduro, after a civilian protest, the president of Vente Venezuela, María Corina Machado, was kidnapped in a similar way. At that time, newly elected U.S. president Donald Trump, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and several other world leaders reacted, forcing the authorities to release her while pretending they had no knowledge of the abduction. After being released, Machado published a video vowing she would not stop criticizing the regime and demanding new elections, saying: “This proves that it is the regime that fears us, not we who fear them.”
Vente Venezuela is the strongest opposition party in the country. Their platform advocates for freedom of speech, press, and trade; privatization of state companies and property; release of all political prisoners; and aligning Venezuela with the U.S. and other Western democracies. State media label them as fascists. In last year’s elections, the party was not allowed to put forward its own candidate because the state had previously banned all well-known members from running—a decision upheld by the Constitutional Court, which the opposition and Western countries have contested. As a result, the party supported independent candidate González Urrutia. After the elections, the opposition claimed Urrutia had won, while the government insisted the victor was the Socialist candidate, longtime president Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro has been in power in Venezuela since 2013, when he succeeded “revolutionary” Hugo Chávez. Chávez first came to power in 1998, promising sweeping reforms and a “third way,” which many leftists in the West called “21st-century socialism.” After his election victory, he organized a referendum in which Venezuelans changed the Constitution. The new Constitution included numerous socialist policies—guaranteeing free healthcare, education, jobs, and housing. By 2008, Chávez had fully nationalized all vital enterprises and resources, media outlets, and mines. That’s when the first problems began—inflation became a constant and was already over 30 percent by 2009.
Things quickly snowballed, leading to long queues for essential goods, which were becoming increasingly scarce. After Chávez’s death, his successor implemented nationwide disarmament and then repression. By 2017, inflation had exceeded 1,000 percent, and the currency had lost all value. The government crushed large protests by hungry citizens by deploying the army in the streets. Since then, every election has been rigged, and political opponents have been expelled from the country or imprisoned under accusations of working for the U.S., the so-called national enemy. Authorities blame local hardships on American sanctions. World leaders have repeatedly criticized the Venezuelan regime, but apart from imposing economic sanctions, they have done nothing concrete.
Meanwhile, thousands of political prisoners languish in jail, hoping for change. Venezuela needs international help because its people are disarmed and powerless, while the authorities grow ever more repressive.
Let me quote an article Maria Oropeza wrote in 2019, titled Socialism is a Fraud:
“They taught us that the rich were against us; today they are the rich, and we are the poor.
They told us about the indigenous people; today they massacre our Pemon people.
They said they would take away the means of production from the people; they expropriated everything and drove it to bankruptcy.
They told us about equality; today mothers spend long hours in lines to buy flour.
They spoke of free education; today the dropout rate exceeds 40%.
They promised free healthcare; today people die in hospitals due to a lack of medicine and staff.
They talked about ecology, yet their mafia destroyed our forests in search of gold.
They claimed to love children; today most of our children go to bed without food.
They claimed to care for the elderly; today they wait in endless lines to receive a pension that isn’t enough to buy blood pressure medicine.
They spoke of civic power; today anyone who rebels against them is guaranteed prison, forced exile, or a grave.
They talked about the working class; today doctors and teachers earn less than six dollars a month.
They spoke of freedom of expression; they shut down free media, persecuted, jailed, and even killed journalists for doing their job.
They talked about the self-determination of peoples; today we have a mixture of Cuba, China, and Russia.
They promised us freedom; today more than 4,000,000 Venezuelans have fled these borders—by plane, bus, and on foot.
They deceived every person who not only voted for them but trusted them, again and again. They hoped their plan would succeed and push Venezuela forward, but the damage done now seems irreversible.
They acted like powerful beasts, mocking everyone, deliberately causing hunger and the death of millions of Venezuelans. After 20 years, the mafia shows no sign of ending.”
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