Dirty Laundry and Chocolate Bars: How Venezuelan Prisoners Smuggled Messages Out of Jail

Published: March 5, 2026
The English Chronicle Desk
The English Chronicle Online

In Venezuela, political prisoners held in notorious jails such as El Helicoide developed inventive ways to maintain contact with their families amid brutal conditions and enforced isolation, authorities and former inmates say. Detainees and their loved ones describe a system of smuggling handwritten notes hidden inside chocolate bar wrappers and on everyday items of clothing, an improvised communication network that helped sustain bonds despite extreme repression.

El Helicoide, a concrete complex in Caracas once intended as a shopping centre but repurposed by state security forces, became a symbol of imprisonment and repression under President Nicolás Maduro’s government. Hundreds of political detainees have been held there for years, often without clear charges, adequate legal representation or regular contact with family, according to interviews with recently released prisoners.

Former political prisoner Ángel Godoy told the BBC that the most painful aspect of detention was the loss of connection with his family. After his arrest, he spent long periods without any contact with loved ones, a tactic detainees say was used to break spirits and isolate individuals from external support. When visits were eventually allowed, they were limited and strictly controlled.

To overcome these barriers, families developed covert methods of passing messages. Godoy’s wife, Adriana Briceño, hid notes to her husband in the wrappers of chocolate bars and other small items sent into the jail, writing loving and encouraging messages to sustain his morale. Godoy responded by inscribing messages on soiled laundry — old T‑shirts and garments — that were taken out of the facility during permitted exchanges. These handwritten words carried personal sentiments, such as encouragement for their son and expressions of love, and became cherished tokens of contact.

Other detainees, including rights activist Javier Tarazona, described harsh punishment cells infested with vermin and prolonged isolation designed to disorient prisoners by depriving them of daylight and routine. Tarazona said that authorities also tried to pressure family members behind the scenes, at times with threats to detain relatives if prisoners did not comply with demands to cooperate with statements against other activists.

Human rights groups such as Foro Penal have documented systemic abuses in Venezuela’s detention system, including arbitrary arrests, lack of due process and restricted access to legal counsel for political detainees. Although more than 600 prisoners have been released since January, according to rights advocates, many remain behind bars and families continue to seek information about their fate.

The improvised messages on chocolate wrappers and dirty laundry became, for many prisoners and relatives, more than simple notes — they were symbols of resistance, human connection and defiance against a system that sought to sever personal ties. Former inmates and their families describe the exchange of these hidden notes as a rare lifeline in an environment where official communication was virtually nonexistent.

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