VOC Launches New Venezuelan Witness Project Film

Stephanie Salazar Landaeta is a human rights lawyer from Venezuela. After her country was ensnared by socialism under Hugo Chávez, her once prosperous home spiraled into oppression, poverty, and the slow erasure of democracy. Stephanie refused to remain silent and watch her nation wither under authoritarian rule. She founded the student movement Giro 58, and in 2010, participated in Operation Libertad, an initiative to defend democracy and human rights.

Chávez died in 2013 but socialism would remain when successor, his Nicolás Maduro, sized power and quickly dragged the Caribbean nation further into a state of authoritarian control. As Maduro intensified his attack on civil society and human rights advocates, Stephanie knew that she had to take a stand, regardless of the price.

In 2017, Stephanie joined the growing Venezuelan resistance movement and took to the streets to demand the resignation of Maduro. In response, regime agents raided her home, abducted her from her family, and imprisoned her in El Helicoide, the National Intelligence headquarters and brutal political prison. While in captivity, Stephanie was subjected to physical torture, psychological torture, and violations of basic rights.

Bear witness to Stephanie Salazar Landaeta’s courageous story of oppression, resistance, and the fight for democracy in Venezuela.