SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Starting July 1, 2026, SAR no longer publishes reports for the incidents that it records. SAR continues to monitor and record incidents that will be used in the annual Free to Think report. This page provides a record of incidents reported up to that date. Learn more about the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.

Date of Incident: October 24, 2025

Attack Types: Killings, Violence, Disappearances

Institution(s):Central University of Venezuela

Region & Country:Americas | Venezuela

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On October 24, 2025, suspected security forces abducted Javier Cisneros, a law student at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) and youth leader of the Vente Venezuela party, from his home.

In a video denouncing his disappearance, Cisneros’ mother stated that her son was taken by armed men during a “violent” operation conducted without a warrant or identification. Cisneros suffers from active tuberculosis and there was no information regarding his whereabouts or medical needs for over 24 hours. He was released the following day.

In a press statement, the Federation of University Centers at UCV (FCU) noted that Cisneros had previously been arrested in 2024 during election campaign activities. Other members of Vente Venezuela across the country had been arrested in weeks prior. The detention came amid a rise in political prisoners and increasing criminalization of student activism in Venezuela following the contested election of President Nicolás Maduro to his third term in July 2024.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about the disappearance of a student in apparent retaliation for their exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association — conduct that is expressly protected by international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Venezuela is a party. State authorities have a responsibility to refrain from arrests and detentions that restrict or retaliate against student expression. In addition to the harm to the immediate victim, detentions that target student expression undermine academic freedom and democratic society generally.

Sources:
*This incident was identified by Aula Abierta, a member of the Coalition for Academic Freedom in the America’s Monitoring Working Group.
https://contrapunto.com/nacional/derechos-humanos/profesores-universitarios-exigen-la-libertad-inmediata-del-estudiante-javier-cisneros/
https://www.instagram.com/p/DQSk16Sj0Uc/?igsh=bGZ4a2JzcXNwOXFm https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQPYWzYDu0Z/?igsh=bW4za3Y3NmZqc2Rp https://eldiario.com/2025/10/24/denunciaron-detencion-arbitraria-dirigente-juvenil-javier-cisnero/