Marvinia Jiménez

Incident and aftermath

On 24 February 2014, Jiménez was traveling between her workshop and home when she came across members of the Venezuelan National Guard repressing a demonstration. Jiménez began to take photos of the event with her cell phone and was then confronted by members of the National Guard. A woman belonging to the National Guard, Josneidy Nayari Castillo, threw Jiménez to the ground, hit, kicked and beat her with a helmet, then had her transported to a government facility where she was supposedly abused further.

Following the incident, Jiménez was accused of resisting arrest, assaulting the officers, property damage, inciting disobedience and was ordered to report every 30 days. The woman of the National Guard who had assaulted Jiménez was released on 14 March and as of nine months after the incident in December 2014, had not been prosecuted for any wrongdoing. Other officers involved have not been identified.

Activism

Following the incident, Jiménez began to speak at demonstrations against the government. Jiménez also became a member of the Committee of Victims Against Repression in Venezuela. On 24 June, she spoke at a demonstration called the "March for Independence" in Altamira organized by the Movimiento Estudiantil, where individuals such as María Corina Machado, Freddy Guevara and many other Venezuelans gathered to demand the release of students who were arrested. At the gathering, she also called on Venezuelans to show a large number in protests so "national government authorities are aware of rejection felt by the population".