Isolated for Months: Venezuelan Journalist Carlos Julio Rojas Finally Receives First Visit

November 18, 2025 – Venezuela – 

Venezuelan journalist and activist Carlos Julio Rojas, who has been held in the custody of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) at the infamous “El Helicoide” prison complex, received his first family visitation after more than four months of in-isolation confinement. His relatives reached him on 18 November 2025 and reported that his condition was stable, following a period of incommunicado detention.

Rojas was detained in April 2024 under a sweeping case in which authorities accused him of association, terrorism, conspiracy, and attempted assassination of President Nicolás Maduro. From the outset, his whereabouts were uncertain, and the international community flagged his case as one of many indicative of Venezuela’s crackdown on press freedom.

During his prolonged isolation, Rojas lacked access to legal counsel and contact with his family. Records submitted to the Inter‑American Commission on Human Rights documented that he was held under incommunicado conditions and isolated in a cell without adequate ventilation or sunlight. The visitation is therefore a critical albeit belated development in a detention process that rights groups say demonstrates acute human-rights violations.

The isolated detention of a journalist poses specific concerns for freedom of expression, pointing to how state actors may use incarceration not only to punish dissent but to sever the vital connection between independent reporters and public accountability. The restoration of visitation rights, while necessary, does not address the structural deprivation of legal representation, media contact, or transparency in the legal process.

Press-freedom organisations have condemned the broader pattern in Venezuela where journalists are subjected to criminal charges for their work and held in harsh conditions, often without information on their status or health for extended periods. Rojas’s case has come to symbolize the shrinking civic space for independent journalism in the country. The visitation might ease some immediate pressure, but it also highlights the long and uncertain road ahead to justice and full access to due process.

Reference – 

https://www.ntn24.com/noticias-judicial/permiten-visita-al-periodista-carlos-julio-rojas-tras-cuatro-meses-aislado-en-el-helicoide-590722

Jailed Venezuelan journalist Carlos Julio Rojas receives first visit after four months in isolation