Juan Requesens | |
|---|---|
 Requesens in 2017 | |
| Deputy of theNational Assembly forTáchira | |
| In office 5 January 2016 – 8 August 2018 | |
| Member of theCommission on Domestic Policy [es] | |
| In office 18 January 2017 – 8 August 2018 | |
| President of theCommission for Social Development and Integration [es] | |
| In office 18 January 2017 – 30 January 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Miguel Pizarro |
| Succeeded by | José Manuel Olivares |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Juan Carlos Requesens Martínez (1989-03-17)March 17, 1989 (age 36) |
| Political party | Primero Justicia |
| Other political affiliations | Democratic Unity Roundtable |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Central University of Venezuela |
Juan Requesens Martínez is a deputy of theVenezuelan National Assembly, elected in 2015 and sworn in on 5 January 2016. He was a student leader at theCentral University of Venezuela (UCV), and a leader of student opposition protesters during the2014 Venezuelan protests. He led marches opposing theGovernment of Venezuela underPresidentNicolás Maduro, seeking "to turn the student rebellion into a broader social movement".[1]
Requesens wasarrested in August 2018[2] but was released on 28 August 2020.[3] In 2022, he was charged eight years in prison for his alleged participation in theCaracas drone attack.[4] He was released in October 2023 in a deal between the Venezuelan government and the United States after the latter nation agreed to easesanctions on Venezuela.[5]
In 2011, Requesens was elected the student president of theCentral University of Venezuela (UCV),[6] where he began his political endeavors, studyingpolitical science.[7][8] Requesens began demonstrations against the Venezuelan government in January 2013 when he helped organize a joint protest of students from UCV andAndrés Bello Catholic University.[9] He was still the president in 2014, becoming a leader for the mass protests that year, and facing threats after another student leader at theUniversidad Nacional Experimental del Táchira was killed.[1] At UCV, he usedTwitter to hold student debates,[10] andThe Washington Post noted he was a talented public speaker.[1]
Requesens said in 2014 that his political idol was former Venezuelan presidentRómulo Betancourt, who is known as the "father of Venezuelan democracy".[1] According toThe Washington Post, he is a "social democrat" who believes in "equality of opportunity" and a "market economy with social goals".[1]
Requesens frequently used technology to organize people; the 12,000 Twitter followers he had at the beginning of 2014 had increased to 450,000 by March, and he was able to assemble protests against the government from his cellphone.[1]
The main demands of Requesens' movement were for the release of protesters who had been jailed and justice for protesters killed and allegedly tortured. After rising to notoriety in early 2014, Requesens was pressured by the Venezuelan government to encourage violent protestors to stand down, particularly in the state ofTáchira where the violence broke out. He was also asked to attend meetings with President Maduro, but refused because of the human rights abuses; he then requested that if a meeting were to be held with Maduro, that it would be broadcast live on television.The Washington Post said that Requesens "insist[ed] that Maduro free jailed protesters and meet other preconditions" before he would meet with him.[1] He believed then that asking for Maduro's removal as president was a "dead end" and said that the "strategy of escalating confrontation will just give the government the chance to discredit us and continue with more repression".[1] According toThe Washington Post, he was more likeHenrique Capriles in "tone and strategy", and more moderated than the "hard-line wing" of opposition fromMaria Corina Machado andLeopoldo López.[1]
Shortly after he was elected in 2015 to the National Assembly, Requesens' sister,Rafaela Requesens, and a friend, Eladio Hernández, were kidnapped by unknown parties in the state ofTáchira.[11]
Requesens was assigned to the National Assembly Commission for Social Development and Integration. In April 2016, amid teaching strikes, Requesens andMiguel Pizarro volunteered to work on the Education Law bill — which had not been developed in over a decade — to raise teachers' minimum wage and bring standards into law.[12] By 2016, Requesens was calling for Maduro's resignation.[13]
Requesens attempted to run for Governor of Táchira, the state for which he was already a deputy, in 2017. However, the electoral commission refused to accept pre-candidates to the ballot, and so votes in his favor were not counted, something he spoke against in the Assembly the day after the vote.[14][15]
In early 2018, Requesens was part of the faction of the Assembly that formed a coalition called theFrente Amplio Venezuela Libre to ask for free elections in the country, and for Maduro to leave, saying that the opposition and country has to move forward civilly.[16]
Requesens andJuan Pablo Guanipa were briefly detained on 30 November 2017 when they tried to cross the border to Colombia.[17] In May 2018, Requesens was one of the politicians to step in when press personnel were being attacked by guards outside the parliamentary buildings, fighting with the soldiers;[18] the same day, Requesens andCarlos Paparoni were attacked and held down when trying to come to the defense of journalists outside the Supreme Court.[19] He rejoined street protests the next day, rejecting elections due later in the week.[20]
Requesens was back on the street in 2017, now as an elected deputy. In April 2017, Requesens was with other young protestors marching on the Ombudsman's office when he was attacked, along with another deputy. He was hit in the head and received deep cuts on his face. According toJosé Manuel Olivares, Requesens had to have surgery to fix broken bones including his nose and jaw, and to stitch up his forehead. The march had been calling for the resignations of the Justices of the Supreme Court.[21]
In June 2017, Requesens was again attacked, this time by members of theBolivarian National Guard — though he referred to them as "colectivos" in an interview onUnión Radio [es] — who then threw him down a sewer drain, as well as stealing from him and others.[22] TheColombian government issued a communication denouncing the excessive use of violence, especially against politicians, and sought to remind Venezuelan military officials that their Constitution requires them to prevent unnecessary violence towards protestors.[23]
On 7 August 2018, Requesens had given a speech in Venezuela's National Assembly blaming Maduro for causing unrest in the nation.[24][25] In this speech, he used the saying, "I refuse to give up":
"I refuse to give up, I refuse to kneel in front of those who want to break our morale. Today I can speak from here, tomorrow I do not know. What I want to reaffirm is that we are going to continue doing everything we can to take Nicolás Maduro out of power."[25]
Requesens was arrested that day by theBolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN). He was detained as a suspect in theCaracas drone attack, an alleged assassination plot on the Venezuelan PresidentNicolás Maduro. The circumstances of his arrest and detention are controversial,[26][27] and irregularities surround the legal proceedings.[28] He was imprisoned inEl Helicoide since his arrest,[29] with allegations of torture to coerce a confession,[a] and delays impeding the legal process and hearings.[30] He was sentenced to 8 years in prison in August 2022.[31]
Requesens' detention has been condemned by the National Assembly – as well as international diplomats, politicians and organizations – and large protests have been held in Venezuela demanding that he be freed.[b] His relatives and fellow politicians have stated that they believe he was arrested for criticizing Maduro.[32] The National Assembly condemned the detention of Requesens as aforced disappearance.[33]
TheTwitterhashtag "#YoMeNiegoARendirme" – Spanish for "I refuse to give up" – became a popular slogan for his case,[34][35] and a creed for the opposition.[25]
In 2022, Requesens was sentenced to eight years in prison for his alleged role in theCaracas drone attack.[4] Placed on house arrest, Requesens was later released in October 2023 when PresidentJoe Biden reached a deal with the Maduro government to ease itssanctions on Venezuela.[5]
Requesens' father is a doctor, his mother is an English teacher, and his sister,Rafaela Requesens, is an activist.[1] Requesens is married to Orianna Granati,[36] and they have two young children.[25]
Si tengo que estar preso por defender a los que no tienen salud, por defender a los chamos de la resistencia, por defender a los venezolanos, voy a estar 20.000 veces preso porque lo volveré a hacer.
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