Rafaela Requesens

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Rafaela Requesens

Requesens being interviewed in 2018

Rafaela María Requesens Martínez
Born
June 12, 1992 (age 27)
Caracas, Venezuela
Venezuela
Citizenship
Spain[1]
Alma mater Central University of Venezuela
Family Juan Requesens (brother)
Rafaela Requesens (Spanish pronunciation: [rafajˈela reˈkesens], born Caracas, June 12, 1992)[2] is
a former President of the Federation of the Students Center of the Central University of
Venezuela (FCU–UCV), an organiser of student protests in Venezuela, and an activist in
the country. She was a prominent figure of the 2017 Venezuelan protests, along with her
brother, Juan Requesens, and has since become a prominent democracy activist.

Contents

• 1 Early life

• 2 Student politics and movements

• 2.1 2019 elections

• 3 2017 protests
• 4 Arrest and political activism

• 5 2019 protests

• 6 References

• 7 External links

Early life[edit]
Requesens attended high school at the Los Riscos school. [3] She was a flamenco dancer
for fifteen years from the age of six, and wanted to pursue this as a career before facing
injury due to being overweight, ultimately resulting in knee surgery after a rigorous
exercise program.[3] While she was still dancing, her brother convinced her to go to
university, and she chose to study Political Studies at the Central University of
Venezuela (UCV), starting in 2010. It was after her injury, which occurred during a year
out, that she became interested in politics. [3] She said in a 2017 interview that going to
UCV was "the best thing that had happened to [her]". [2]
After three years at university, she took a year off to study at the Culinary Institute of
Caracas, but quickly returned to classes at UCV, saying this was because it is where her
passions lay.[2][3]
Requesens had five tattoos in 2017, getting her first tattoo aged 17, and has a lip piercing.
When criticised for these, she has reminded people that there are politicians who are
visibly tattooed, like Miguel Pizarro in Venezuela. Her favorite baseball team is Caribes de
Anzoátegui.[2]
She also took part in the 2014 Venezuelan protests with her brother, though was not a
notable figure.[4] In retrospect, she has said that during these protests she was "itching" to
go out and experience it, fearlessly throwing things without really acknowledging the reality
of the situation. She also said that she believes her student movement is a generation
below her brother's, and that they have some criticisms of the 2014 protests. [3]
In 2015, Requesens was kidnapped by unknown parties along with a friend of her brother,
Eladio Hernández. The kidnapping occurred in the state of Táchira, for which her brother
had just been elected the Representative, and was politically motivated to alarm or attack
the politician.[5]

Student politics and movements[edit]

Requesens speaking to journalist Luz Mely Reyes shortly after being elected in February 2017
 TSJ protest on March 31, 2017, led by Requesens

Requesens became the president of the Federation of Students of Central University on

February 17, 2017, with her platform Creo en la U[niversidad] ("I believe in the
U[niversity]"), and was very quickly active in protests and politics. She became only the
second female student to hold the position.[6] The elections were contentious, but
externally. A few days earlier, on February 14, the Venezuelan courts had ordered the
suspension of university-wide elections; the UCV votes went ahead "hoping to send a
message" to the government.[6] Additionally, detractors were throwing tear gas canisters
during the voting, ultimately entering one building with tear gas bombs and gasoline before
burning the place.[6] In 2017, UCV had 31,762 students in 11 faculties and 44 schools. [7]
Requesens named her brother, a former president of the student foundation, as one of her
political inspirations.[8] Still, she has said that he was not her main reason for entering
politics.[3]
Her first protests as student leader came a month and a half after her election and were
staged against the dismissal of Supreme Court judges and corruption in regional elections.
[4] One article states that she "went from organizing recreational activities, such as football

caimaneras, to leading a generation". This article gave her the epithet "tirapiedras",

meaning "stone-thrower", invoking the nickname to highlight her grassroots progression.[3]
During the protests in 2017, she became more committed to activism, being thrust in with
her student position, saying she had previously been "carried away by sentimentality and
ideals" but in early 2017 saw young people murdered. As a comparison, she added that "in
[early] 2018, Venezuela [was] much calmer", which was "frustrating", but allowed her to
"get up, go to college" whilst working as a student politician. [9] In November 2018,
Requesens gave an interview where she was staying in Madrid, saying that the crisis in
Venezuela had caused an exodus of students and staff at UCV, which was almost "empty".
At this point, she considered the state of higher education in Venezuela "comatose". [10]
On May 26, 2017, Requesens spoke at a memorial mass for students killed during the
protests, held at the Aula Magna.[3] Later in the day she spoke about regret and pressure
as a leader, using language evocative of war, saying that "[y]ou have to take these
measures, knowing that there are going to be risks, but that it can be positive for the
people who will come after. It is difficult to see, that you summon your comrades and they
end up injured by the repression of the state. It's so lousy, because you told them what
was to be done and they go because they are 'ride-or-die' and want to fight for their
country. But it's your responsibility and it hurts." [3] Around this time, UCV adjunct professor
and student politician Alfredo García said that he and Requesens "[do] not only participate
in protests, but also provide support in giving [the students] political direction". [11]
Representing the students of UCV, Requesens has taken some strong stances, including
on national and international scales. In May 2018, during the process of the presidential
election, she announced that the University would be among the bodies that did not
officially recognise the election or its results as legitimate. In one statement shortly before
the election, she explained that "there isn't the conditions that would allow you to go
through the process [of challenging the election] because we are facing a dictatorship". [7]
In May 2019, Requesens spurred student protests demanding autonomy for universities.
On May 1, the rectory of the Sucre campus of Universidad de Oriente was violently
occupied by Chavistas who began defacing it. Requesens visited the campus in support
and issued a call "to the university community across the country" to protest because she
perceived the government influence to be "taking our offices today and affecting university
autonomy".[12] She also led student walkouts at UCV in May 2019 after the university stated
that classes would be ongoing despite a large number of deaths from the 2019
Venezuelan protests; medical students at the university joined in walkouts for their patients
who they couldn't treat due to lack of resources. The university security accompanied the
students marching down Los Ilustres to protect them from the police and national security.
[13]

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