Jennifer Osuna
| Jennifer Osuna | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jennifer Carolina Osuna Márquez |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Venezuelan |
| 🎓 Alma mater | National Experimental Polytechnic University of the Armed Forces (UNEFA) |
| 💼 Occupation | Hostess |
| Criminal status | Sentenced to 16 years and 9 months in prison; held at the Instituto Nacional de Orientación Femenina (INOF) |
Jennifer Carolina Osuna Márquez is a Venezuelan hostess who worked for more than a decade at the presidential palace in Caracas, attending to ministers and senior military officers. In December 2020 she was arrested by the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM), accused of involvement in an alleged plot to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro. She and her lawyers say she was tortured into giving a false confession, by means including beatings, waterboarding, sexual abuse and threats against her family. Her trial, which human-rights observers described as marked by serious irregularities, ended in 2022 with a sentence of 16 years and 9 months in prison.
Background
Osuna studied at the National Experimental Polytechnic University of the Armed Forces (UNEFA). At age 23 she joined the staff of the presidential office at Miraflores Palace as a hostess on the night shift, working from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. and during state functions. Over ten years she served ministers, vice-ministers, senior military officers and visiting dignitaries—among them Uruguayan President José Mujica during the 2011 CELAC summit.[1]
Arrest and alleged torture
On 19 December 2020 a co-worker, the waiter Dani Castillo, brought a piece of shrapnel to Miraflores hoping to identify it. On the way, officers of the Special Action Forces (FAES) stopped him, searched him and, according to later testimony, demanded a bribe in U.S. dollars to drop a charge of carrying "war weaponry". Unable to pay, Castillo was detained and handed over to the DGCIM. That afternoon Osuna was arrested while on duty at Miraflores, hooded and handcuffed.[1][2]
According to Osuna's testimony, at least six officers beat her at the palace, in the presence of an Army captain identified by the alias "Santiago", in an effort to make her confess to selling explosives to Castillo and joining a plot against the president.[1][3][4] She has said the officers pulled out clumps of her hair and scalp, drawing blood. She was driven in a van to a safe house in El Hatillo and held standing for some four hours before being transferred to the DGCIM's Office of Special Affairs (DAE) in Boleíta. There, she says, agents replaced the black hood on her head with a wet one to suffocate her ("submarine" torture), beat her with their feet and with books, sexually assaulted her, threatened her relatives and told her they had dismembered her three-year-old daughter. She was then taken to a cell known as "La Pecera" ("the Fishbowl"), where she says she remained for four to six days while menstruating.[1]
At a preliminary hearing on 21 December 2020 she appeared with bloodstains from her scalp, from menstruation and from other detainees. She was charged with terrorism, criminal conspiracy and illegal trafficking of ammunition; she has said that after the hearing she was driven to a warehouse and subjected to electric shocks.[1]
Imprisonment
In April 2021 Osuna was transferred to the women's prison Instituto Nacional de Orientación Femenina (INOF) in Los Teques. While ill with COVID-19 she spent 27 days in an infirmary area together with an inmate suffering from tuberculosis. She slept on the floor and her meals consisted of beans or rice. Food, water and toiletries brought by her family did not reach her during that period. She has since reported persistent daily vaginal bleeding and pelvic pain over more than a year without proper medical examination.[1]
Human-rights groups have described her trial as flawed.[3][4] Prosecution witnesses from the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) testified that they had no facility in which to keep the alleged explosives and had therefore destroyed them, so that no physical evidence was ever produced. The terrorism charge was dropped, but on 20 July 2022 Osuna was convicted of illegal trafficking of explosives and conspiracy and sentenced to 16 years and 9 months in prison.[1][3] All other defendants in the case were also convicted at first instance.[3]
Personal life
Osuna had a relationship with Army Captain Alfredo Peña, with whom she has a daughter; Peña was arrested on the same day, 19 December 2020.[5] Her father died while she was in custody; the authorities did not allow her to attend the funeral.[6]
See also
- Emirlendris Benítez
- María Auxiliadora Delgado
- Political prisoners during the Bolivarian Revolution
- Human rights in Venezuela
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Yonekura, Kaoru (3 March 2023). "Jennifer Osuna: la azafata de Miraflores". La Gran Aldea (in español). Retrieved 27 November 2025.
- ↑ Barráez, Sebastiana (7 February 2023). "Un militar venezolano relató cómo funcionarios de inteligencia lo torturaron y crearon un falso intento de magnicidio". Infobae (in español). Retrieved 28 November 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Mozo Zambrano, Reynaldo (26 February 2024). "Con Rocío San Miguel suman 26 las mujeres presas por razones políticas en Venezuela". Efecto Cocuyo (in español). Retrieved 28 November 2025.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Barráez, Sebastiana (21 November 2023). "Diez mujeres que llevan años detenidas por informes amañados de inteligencia en Venezuela". Infobae (in español). Retrieved 28 November 2025.
- ↑ Barráez, Sebastiana (24 April 2022). "La burlona respuesta del jefe de Inteligencia venezolano a un capitán detenido". Infobae (in español). Retrieved 28 November 2025.
- ↑ Yonekura, Kaoru (10 December 2023). "Entre enero 2018 y septiembre 2023, 492 mujeres han sido detenidas por motivos políticos en Venezuela". La Gran Aldea (in español). Retrieved 27 November 2025.
External links
- Cárcel de Los Teques – INOF: un cementerio de mujeres vivas (PDF) (Report) (in español). Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones. May 2024.
- "Las presas políticas de Nicolás Maduro". La Hora Digital (in español). 12 March 2024.
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