Karen Palacios Pérez is a Venezuelan clarinetist who was part of the National System of Orchestras and the National Philharmonic of Venezuela. Palacios had her contract with the Philharmonic Orchestra canceled for having signed in the recall referendum organized by the opposition led

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

in 2017 and later detained for denouncing it on her

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account. Palacios was released on 16 July 2019.

Career

Palacios was a student at the Pedagogical Institute of Caracas and developed her career from the age of 11 in the National System of Orchestras and as a member of the National Philharmonic of Venezuela. In 2017, Karen signed in favor of the

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

organized by the opposition led

; she was later notified that her contract with the Philharmonic Orchestra was canceled because her political position was not convenient for the orchestra. Palacios denounced the incident on her Twitter account and it went viral. Later, she participated in the Chúo Torrealba program and was interviewed in El Nacional.The clarinetist started to receive attacks and threats on social networks and during that year's protests her tweets began to be cited, where she expressed anger at the situation and at the abuse of the security forces, being accused of instigating violence.

Detention

On 1 June 2019, Palacios was detained by officials from the

Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence The General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence ( es, Dirección General de Contrainteligencia Militar, DGCIM) is the military counterintelligence agency of Venezuela, whose function is to prevent intelligence or espionage internally and ...

(DGCIM) at her residence in Carrizal, Miranda state. According to her relatives, the officials posed as teachers of the orchestra and told her that they would take her to the Victim Attention Center, located in the Miraflores presidential palace, and she was accompanied by her mother. Once in the vehicle, she was informed that she would be detained at the DGCIM headquarters in Boleíta, "for inquiries." Palacios was charged with the crime of instigation to hatred and was detained in the National Institute for Female Orientation (INOF), in

Los Teques Los Teques ) is the capital of the state of Miranda and the municipality of Guaicaipuro Municipality. It is located in the capital region of north-central Venezuela. More specifically, southwest of Caracas, 10° 21' 00" N latitude and 67° 02' 3 ...

, Miranda state, and confined to a highly dangerous cell, despite having a release order dated from 18 June. In court, her mother was asked not to make her daughter's case public because "it was going to be resolved soon." A month later, the defense of the clarinetist was assumed by the pro bono NGO Foro Penal. Palacios was released on 16 July 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palacios, Karen Venezuelan musicians 21st-century clarinetists Venezuelan torture victims Venezuelan prisoners and detainees Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Prisoners and detainees of Venezuela

Career

Detention

See also

References