Darvinson Rojas

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Darvinson Rojas Sánchez (born 2 July 1994) is a Venezuelan journalist who has worked on the Monitor de Víctimas project, gathering data about violent attacks, and has reported on the COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela. On the night of 21 March 2020, around 8:32 p.m., he live‑tweeted that special forces arrived at his Caracas home and asked him to follow them to their command, saying they had received an anonymous tip about a COVID-19 case and would explain more if he opened the door. For about half an hour they pressed him to go with them; at 9:04 p.m. they broke down his door and at 9:10 p.m. his social media link disappeared. He had been saying the agents were trying to break in without a warrant. He was arrested by the Venezuelan National Police and about fifteen armed special‑forces officers. His parents were detained as well, and their computers and mobile phones were seized; they were later released. The detention was linked to Rojas’s recent reporting on the spread of the coronavirus in Venezuela. The detention was criticized by human rights groups, with José Miguel Vivanco of Human Rights Watch and Érika Guevara-Rosas of Amnesty International noting that Rojas had investigated how the pandemic was being covered and was reporting more cases than the government admitted. On 24 March, the SNTP said that Rojas had been presented in tribunals illegally and clandestinely. After 12 days in detention, Darvinson Rojas was released on 3 April 2020 under precautionary measures.