Mileidy Mendoza and Sandra Rosales stood vigil at detention gates in Caracas as a police officer called names into the night, according to the Associated Press report by Regina García Cano. The two women said they risked everything in the monthslong campaign to press for the release of men held for what Venezuela and other officials described as political motives—detentions that they said also changed their families’ lives.
The AP reported that Mendoza and Rosales were among wives and mothers who turned a dead-end street in Caracas into a tent city after authorities detained their husbands. In February, the government announced it would release political prisoners, and the women joined that moment in the hope that their loved ones would be among those freed. Mendoza and Rosales said their husbands were not called even as 17 inmates were released hours around Valentine’s Day.
According to the AP, the women’s protest began after a Jan. 3 U.S. military operation that the report describes as attacking Venezuela and capturing then-President Nicolás Maduro. Five days later, the AP said, Venezuela announced an intended release of prisoners under language that said it was “intended to seek peace,” without naming the detainees or specifying who would be freed first. Under that announcement, about 150 protesters—mostly wives and mothers—set up outside the doors of jails and prisons suspected of holding political detainees.
Mendoza, 30, and Rosales, 37, told the AP about how their husbands’ arrests unfolded and how authorities denied basic access early on. The AP said Mendoza learned of her husband, Eric Díaz’s, arrest from a friend and that authorities did not allow her to speak with him while refusing to acknowledge his detention. It said officials later accused Díaz of plotting to detonate a bomb in a public plaza in Caracas, and that Diosdado Cabello promoted the allegation. The AP reported that Rosales said her husband, Dionnys Quintero, was accused of involvement in the same bomb plot and that he also was not allowed to call her.
As the AP described, when the men were not freed after the government’s announced intention, Mendoza and other women said they refused to leave, setting up a makeshift camp outside the station where Díaz was being held. The group expanded over time, and the AP reported that Rosales and Mendoza became close friends, with Rosales described as steady and rational while Mendoza was described as more fiery in escalating chants and slogans. The tent city received help for daily needs, including water and electricity to charge phones, as well as access to restrooms, the AP reported.
The AP also reported that international pressure tied to the protests led Venezuela to grant the women permission to visit their loved ones. It said that during the Jan. 27 visit, the women encountered their husbands—described as pale and having lost weight—and two detained women, who wore neon green uniforms. The AP reported that the men wore baby blue, a color the women said authorities used to link prisoners to María Corina Machado’s political party, while the government had accused Machado’s movement of involvement in the bomb plot.
During the monthslong vigil, the AP reported that the women said they met with lawmakers considering a bill to grant amnesty to political prisoners. They also described organizing paperwork with the court and speaking with lawyers, while holding vigils and praying. The report said 10 of the women went on hunger strike; Mendoza told the AP that the group described themselves as “war dogs,” and the AP reported that Rosales lasted two days without food while Mendoza fasted longer before being taken to a hospital after heart palpitations and dehydration.
Hope, the AP said, shifted after releases extended into the early hours of March 7, when the camp chanted “Freedom!” as 25 men were freed. The report described the moment as bittersweet for Mendoza and Rosales because the women said their husbands remained behind bars. The AP reported that after families reunited, the tent city largely emptied by sunrise as they learned their husbands had been transferred to a prison outside Caracas. It described that prison as harsher than the earlier police station setting, and it said the women eventually ended the vigil on the 64th day before returning two weeks later for another visit.
Finally, the AP reported that on April 5, which it identified as Easter, Mendoza and Rosales were able to bring family members for a visit that focused on life and family updates. The report described Mendoza bringing her son and daughter and Rosales escorting her two daughters and son, with the women also bringing special food items and treats. It said they described the reunion as filled mostly with conversations about family and school and dentist appointment updates, and it said the visit ended with hugs and tears that the AP described as farewells rather than returns home.