Alirio José FERNÁNDEZ RODRÍGUEZ

On 15 May 2024, writer, editor and professor Alirio José Fernández Rodríguez received a threatening phone call from an unknown number, which he believes was state sanctioned. As a result, Fernández Rodríguez told PEN International that he decided to destroy all the papers related to the novel he had been writing, including chapters and handwritten notes, fearing for his and his family’s life. In the novel, he included the real names and stories of high-ranking public, political, military and intelligence officials, including from the state oil and gas company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). PEN International has worked with Fernández Rodríguez to save the novel. 

Fernández Rodríguez believes that the reason for the threats against him is that he worked for PDVSA Gas and Pequiven, the state petrochemical company, between 2015 and 2018 without being part of the official party. In June 2018, Alirio resigned from his position as a manager at Pequiven because, after a change in senior management, he realised that his mobile phone was being tapped. He had also discovered microphones in his office. Alirio Fernández Rodríguez subsequently left Venezuela in October 2024. 

Member of PEN Venezuela, Alirio Fernández Rodríguez is a writer, editor, professor, and cultural journalist for digital and international media such as Letras libres, Papel literario, Carátula magazine and Casapaís magazine, and Prodavinci. He has a degree in education, language and literature. He is the founder of the pioneer project of Digital Humanities in Venezuela www.narrativasinteractivas.com. In 2022, he created a well-regarded mapping of Latin American writers.