Politics/News
Venezuelan Brigadier General Héctor Hernández Da Costa Calls Daughter After Over Two Years of Phone Isolation
Held at the El Rodeo I prison, the officer was granted five minutes to speak with his daughter, marking an end to two years and eight months without direct phone contact.
Brigadier General Héctor Hernández Da Costa spoke by telephone with his daughter, Loredana Hernández, from the El Rodeo I prison facility, ending a two-year and eight-month span without direct voice communication between them. The phone call, which lasted five minutes, became public after his daughter shared the audio recording across digital platforms, documenting their first conversation since 2024.
According to consulted sources, during the brief exchange the officer explained that prison authorities granted him a five-minute window to place a call, which he chose to use to contact his daughter. In the distributed audio, the general conveyed encouragement, blessings, and expressions of pride, while the activist accompanied the release of the recording with a public demand for her father's release and an end to his detention.
Hernández Da Costa has been held since August 13, 2018, following his arrest by the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence in connection with alleged drone detonations during a presidential event on Caracas's Avenida Bolívar. Documented findings noted that a formal arrest warrant was issued four days after his detention, prompting assessments from United Nations mechanisms, including the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2020 and the Fact-Finding Mission. On August 4, 2022, the First Special Trial Court with jurisdiction in Terrorism concluded the case, delivering a verdict that encompassed seventeen defendants.
Héctor Hernández Da Costa is a Venezuelan brigadier general whose military career halted with his 2018 arrest, having spent years in detention subject to prolonged communication bans. His daughter, Loredana Hernández Barboza, has maintained sustained advocacy for his rights and those of other detainees, directing complaints before domestic and international bodies. Meanwhile, the El Rodeo I penitentiary functions as a custodial facility holding political and military prisoners, remaining under scrutiny by human rights observers over detention conditions and prolonged isolation practices imposed on inmates.
