His wife, Mariana González, confirmed the release and described the process as a “stoic and very difficult struggle,” also expressing her hope that Rafael's full freedom would come “sooner rather than later.”
Mariana González de Tudares, daughter of Edmundo González Urrutia, reported this Thursday that, after 380 days of arbitrary detention and more than a year in a situation of enforced disappearance, her husband Rafael Tudares Bracho returned home during the early morning hours.
González described this process as a “stoic and very difficult struggle,” and expressed her hope that Rafael's full freedom would come “sooner rather than later.” She also expressed special gratitude for the support received since January 7, 2025, the date the detention began.
In this regard, she expressed her appreciation to the team of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights based in Panama, for their constant monitoring and advocacy in the case within their humanitarian mandate.
“It has been a stoic and very difficult struggle for more than a year, in which we finally achieved Rafael's release, and we hope, sooner rather than later, for his full freedom, to which he is entitled. At this time, I am especially grateful to each and every person who has supported me humanly in the fight for his freedom since January 7, 2025,” González wrote on her X social media profile.
The gratitude extended to her family, including her children, and to the friends who accompanied her throughout the struggle, as well as to the families of victims of enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, and unjustly imprisoned individuals, who are still awaiting the freedom of their loved ones.
González concluded her message with words of faith and solidarity towards those who are going through similar situations: “I will always carry them in my heart and they will be present in my prayers.” “God, our Lord, thank you for never abandoning us.” “Holy Father, John Paul II, thank you for being my guide in these last days,” she concluded in her post, which she accompanied with a white ribbon.
Opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia had demanded “immediate answers” on Tuesday following his daughter's complaint about alleged extortion linked to her husband's release.
In a statement released on Monday, Mariana González stated that she had been the victim of extortion by individuals who warned her that she had to “force” her father—currently exiled in Spain—to “renounce his opposition struggle and cause” to secure Tudares' release.
González Urrutia expressed on the social media platform X that the “gravity of these events and all the ‘legal’ irregularities demand immediate answers.” He also detailed that his daughter reported three instances of extortion, in which the detention of Rafael Tudares “was deliberately used as a tool of pressure to force political decisions.”
In June 2024, Mariana González maintained that Rafael Tudares Bracho “was unjustly caught up and is a victim” of a political conflict that also led Edmundo González Urrutia to go into exile in Spain in September 2024. From exile, González Urrutia claims the presidency of Venezuela, asserting that he was the true winner of the presidential elections.
Tudares' arrest occurred on January 7, 2025, three days before Nicolás Maduro's inauguration for a third consecutive six-year term. On the same day, human rights defender Carlos Correa and former opposition presidential candidate Enrique Márquez were also arrested, but they were later released.
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