Rafaela Requesens

[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.[5] 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.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.[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.[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".[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.Two weeks before the vote, members of the Electoral Commission had been kidnapped and their offices at La Floresta were bombed with tear gas, coming in a spate of increasing violence.[15] Requesens, as well as the other members of her party including leader and candidate David Sosa, then made broad accusations that the opposing student group was involved in the "sabotage" and contained "representatives of the dictatorship", adding that to elect them would be to choose "death, prisoners, and corruption".[21] Even into July 2017, Requesens continued to state that the government "would not manage to intimidate students" – at this time, the armed forces were directly fighting back in universities.When the National Guard barricaded the campus in full attack gear, throwing tear gas when students tried to escape, Requesens announced that they were being treated "like criminals [...] for no reason".[22] It was in this week that Requesens' direct counterpart, the president of the FCU at José Antonio Anzoátegui Territorial University [es], was shot dead in his campus office.[4] She was also interviewed by Voice of America about a protest towards the end of June 2017, called Trancazo Nacional (National Roadblock), organised by the Democratic Unity Roundtable.Requesens called it a "positive example" of the change she was trying to bring to the country, because it engaged many different people in peaceful rebellion, and celebrated that during a student trancazo, Caracas and other cities had effectively been shut down for up to four hours, from a combined effort of walkouts and roadblocks.We will act as mobilizers and promoters, we will carry the message as an organised group of local people and in the streets of the whole country.Requesens described her protest leadership philosophy in an interview, saying "[y]ou have a responsibility for the image they see of you.[41] The day after, on 11 January, Requesens spoke at the open cabildo organized as the first step in a plan to oust Maduro, where she represented the students of Venezuela along with Marlon Díaz.