Venezuelan activist María Oropeza live-streamed her own arrest by Maduro’s security forces

As Venezuelan agents smashed through Maria Oropeza's door on Aug. 6, 2024, she calmly documented her most recent moments of freedom on an Instagram livestream.  “They’re arbitrarily entering my house. There is no search warrant. They’re destroying the door … I’m asking for help, from anyone who can,” the 30-year-old lawyer and activist told her social media following as since-arrested dictator Nicolas Maduro's thugs closed in. Oropeza is one of more than 800 political prisoners still behind bars in Venezuela -- despite pledges from acting president Delcy Rodríguez and her brother Jorge, the head of the country’s national assembly, to free a “significant number” in an effort to “seek peace” after the US military operation that captured Maduro Jan. 3