The executive director of Espacio Público, Carlos Correa, was intercepted in downtown Caracas by alleged hooded officials on the afternoon of January 7, 2025, according to witnesses, and his whereabouts are still unknown at 8:30 am on January 8.
Correa was intercepted by five alleged hooded officials, without identification, who forced him to get into a brown van without license plates on Avenida Bolívar in Caracas, near the Palace of Justice.
Espacio Público’s legal team went to the headquarters of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN), in Plaza Venezuela, to that of the Military Counterintelligence Directorate (DGCIM), in Mariperez, to try to find out his whereabouts, but the officials present denied that Correa was being held in their cells.
Since 2002, Correa has led the civil association Espacio Público, an organization that promotes and defends human rights in Venezuela and the region, with an emphasis on the rights to freedom of expression, association and access to information.
Over the past 20 years, Correa has been the target of physical and verbal attacks by spokespeople and officials of the ruling party for constantly denouncing its practices and human rights violations.
In December 2010, supporters of the ruling party physically attacked and threatened the director of Espacio Público in the vicinity of the Federal Legislative Palace, then controlled by the ruling party majority in Parliament. Correa was hit in the head by an object and was threatened with death.
In November 2014, the former president of the National Assembly (AN), Diosdado Cabello, accused Correa without evidence of having “hidden interests” for denouncing the human rights situation in Venezuela. He also criticized Correa’s participation in international human rights forums and organizations, where he often exposes the national situation.
Recently, Nicolás Maduro mentioned Correa in a television broadcast on the public media system, harassing him for his work as an activist in a threatening tone. Correa has promoted the defense of the right of association in a context of persecution of organizations and people defending human rights.
Carlos Correa is a communicator who graduated from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. Since his beginnings as a professional, Correa has promoted community participation and the exercise of freedom of expression, starting his career at Radio Fe y Alegría, an organization that he later led.
In that space, Correa trained community journalists, introduced communities to the media, and coordinated educational programs with a focus on human rights. Later, between 2001 and 2006, he worked at the NGO Provea, reaching the position of general coordinator.
As a journalist, university professor, researcher at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello and human rights defender, Correa has been characterized throughout his professional life by fully defending the human rights of all people and denouncing the constant violations that take place in the country.
We demand that the Venezuelan State and the authorities inform us about his whereabouts, that each and every one of his fundamental rights be guaranteed, and that his integrity be fully respected. Reporting and defending human rights is not a crime.