In August, activist and engineer Jesus Armas attended a vigil for Venezuela’s political prisoners: some who had been swept up in a recent postelection crackdown and others who had languished in jail for years.
The then-37-year-old listened to impassioned speeches, gazed at posters emblazoned with the faces of those behind bars, and silently lit a candle in their honour.
But four months later, on December 10, Armas was carted off to prison himself.
Witnesses saw hooded men seize him from a cafe in the capital Caracas and bundle him into a silver vehicle with no licence plates. For days, no one knew where he was. Only in mid-December did his family discover he was in government custody.
Now, his loved ones are among those attending vigils, wistfully lighting candles for him.
“We feel incomplete. Every day is exhausting,” said his girlfriend, Sairam Rivas.
She described Armas as an affectionate person who loves music and helping people. “It’s distressing to have a person who is missing, to never be able to see them, to not know how they are or what conditions they are in.”
In the lead-up to this month’s inauguration of President Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela released hundreds of political prisoners, many rounded up in last year’s post-election unrest.
But human rights groups warn this does not signal an easing of Venezuela’s repression. New prisoners, including Armas, have been added to the state’s collection of detainees.
“The effect is a revolving door,” said Genesis Davila, a lawyer and founder of Defiende Venezuela, a human rights organisation that presents evidence of rights violations to international organisations like the United Nations.
Venezuela has not stopped arresting political dissidents, she explained. “The government is just being more selective about who it takes.”