Nicolás Maduro’s regime has intensified its repression to the point of crossing the threshold of authoritarianism and openly adopting practices that configure a totalitarian order. Today it no longer pursues only the traditional opposition but also attacks critical voices from within its own ideological spectrum. A regime that for decades has maintained an explicitly leftist discourse, proud of its ties with governments such as Cuba and Nicaragua, has unleashed a new wave of arrests, harassment, and persecution. Examples include lawyer María Alejandra Díaz and activist Marta Lía Grajales, who confirm that in Venezuela a logic of absolute control has been installed, where all criticism is criminalized.
A Pattern with Precedents
Repression against internal voices is not new within chavismo. Already under Hugo Chávez, cases of political purges against former allies turned dissidents were documented, such as General Raúl Isaías Baduel, former Minister of Defense, who was imprisoned in 2009 after expressing criticism of the government. He died in custody.
Tareck El Aissami, one of chavismo’s most powerful figures, disappeared for months, was accused of corruption, and imprisoned in 2023—evidence that not even historic cadres are safe from the regime’s settling of scores.
Rodrigo Cabezas, Chávez’s former Minister of Finance, was sidelined and harassed after denouncing the economic collapse and Maduro’s corruption, later being detained illegally.
The long list also includes other active chavistas such as Juan Barreto, Nicmer Evans, and Andrés Izarra, among others. These precedents show that chavismo has never tolerated internal dissent. But what is happening today under Maduro is deeper: it is no longer about isolating political or military leaders, but about criminalizing the defense of human rights and trade union autonomy—even from those who once supported the so-called “revolution.”
Díaz and Grajales: The New Stage of Repression
María Alejandra Díaz, constitutional lawyer and former Constituent Assembly member, was sanctioned and suspended after filing an appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice questioning the transparency of the July 28, 2024, presidential election. Persecuted, she was forced to take refuge for seven months in the Colombian Embassy before finally leaving the country with international support.
Marta Lía Grajales, a Colombian-Venezuelan activist with the NGO SurGentes, was arbitrarily detained in August 2025 while participating in a peaceful protest. She was charged with “hate” and “conspiracy,” provoking condemnation from the United Nations, Amnesty International, and international leftist organizations.
These are not the only arbitrary detentions of leftist voices—they are merely the most visible. The list is significantly longer.
The Offensive Against Trade Unionism
As if the harassment of critical chavistas were not enough, Maduro has announced the restructuring of the Venezuelan labor movement, with the aim of subordinating it directly to the State and the ruling party. This measure seeks to dissolve trade union autonomy, neutralize any form of independent workers’ organization, and replace it with structures controlled from Miraflores.
Control over unions—historical spaces of resistance and defense of labor rights—constitutes a decisive step toward totalitarianism. Repression no longer targets only political opponents or social activists but also aims to eliminate any form of autonomous organization within civil society, a condition indispensable for any democratic system.
The political and ideological circle around power is progressively narrowing. Alongside human rights organizations, unions, and other civil society actors, today it is critical leftist figures—those who once aligned with Chávez’s project, or who still defend it—who have become clear victims of political repression against dissent in Venezuela. Their “betrayal” has been to distance themselves from Maduro’s system and to refuse to remain silent in the face of a regime determined to cling to power at any cost.
From Authoritarianism to Totalitarianism
If under Chávez repression was selective, under Maduro it has become generalized. The use of ambiguous laws such as the Law Against Hate, the criminalization of protest, and the capture of independent trade unionism consolidate a totalitarian model that does not tolerate dissent, not even within the chavista movement itself.
Repression against Díaz and Grajales, combined with the attempt to absorb the labor movement, shows that in Venezuela there is no longer room for criticism or autonomous social organization. The regime’s message is clear: absolute loyalty or persecution. Chavismo has moved from an authoritarianism that punished select dissidents to a totalitarianism that seeks to suffocate all autonomous spaces in society.
Today, Venezuela faces not only the repression of critical voices but also the attempt to eliminate social and union pluralism, seeking to install a State-party across the entire sphere of politics and even private morality. In this context, the defense of human rights and international solidarity are indispensable. Silence amounts to legitimizing the consolidation of a totalitarian regime in the heart of Latin America.