Rafaela Requesens

Rafaela Requesens (Spanish pronunciation: [rafajˈela reˈkesens]; born June 12, 1992, in Caracas) is a Venezuelan activist and student leader, former president of the Federation of the Students Center of the Central University of Venezuela (FCU–UCV) and an organiser of student protests in Venezuela. She was a prominent figure of the 2017 Venezuelan protests, along with her brother, Juan Requesens, and has since become a prominent democracy activist.

Requesens attended high school at the Los Riscos school. 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. 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. She said in a 2017 interview that going to UCV was "the best thing that had happened to [her]".

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.

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.

She also took part in the 2014 Venezuelan protests with her brother, though was not a notable figure. 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.

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.

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. 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. Additionally, detractors were throwing tear gas canisters during the voting, ultimately entering one building with tear gas bombs and gasoline before burning the place. In 2017, UCV had 31,762 students in 11 faculties and 44 schools.

Requesens named her brother Juan Requesens, a former president of the student foundation, as one of her political inspirations. Still, she has said that he was not her main reason for entering politics.