Jan set out on his trip to Venezuela on August 10, 2024, departing from Paris, where he made a brief stop with a friend to experience the atmosphere of the Olympic Games. He then flew via Lisbon to Caracas, planning to stay in Venezuela for a month. He remained in Caracas for only about two days, as the atmosphere there was tense following the presidential elections on July 28, 2024. Afterwards, he focused exclusively on visiting tourist destinations — mountains, rivers, waterfalls, beaches, and similar places. Throughout his journey, he regularly uploaded photos and videos to a cloud storage, which his family now has full access to. He traveled alone, hiring local guides only occasionally in higher-risk areas, and stayed in regular contact with his family and friends during the trip.

At the end of August, he experienced health problems and was examined at a hospital in Puerto Ayacucho. He planned to spend the last week of his stay visiting indigenous communities and the region of the Atabapo and Orinoco rivers. He informed his family that he would be out of phone signal for several days and would contact them afterwards. That was on September 5, 2024, around 9:30 a.m. local time (3:30 p.m. CET), when his family communicated with him for the last time.

At that time, Venezuelan soldiers arrested him in his guesthouse room in San Fernando de Atabapo, where he was staying. For several days, nothing seemed unusual about Jan not communicating. However, when he did not make contact on the planned day of his departure, September 12, 2024, and later failed to arrive at the meeting point with his friends in Zurich on the morning of September 14, it became clear that something was seriously wrong. For several hours, his parents were overcome by the most dreadful thoughts about what might have happened to him in the jungles of the Amazon.

For many months, neither the family nor diplomatic services had any information about where Jan and the other foreigners were being held. The Venezuelan authorities did not communicate and failed to respond to any diplomatic notes, appeals, or inquiries. The family sent several letters through various channels to President Nicolás Maduro, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, and the President of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez — all without any response.

Confirmed reports about the location where the foreign hostages were being held came only from the first released Americans in February 2025. Jan and the other foreigners are detained in the Ministry of Interior’s prison, Rodeo I, in the state of Miranda. They are kept two per cell, in concrete rooms measuring 2 by 5 meters. Since December, they have been allowed into the prison yard twice a week for one hour, and since May, five times a week for one hour. None of the letters that the family sent to Jan through Czech or Venezuelan diplomats ever reached him. Jan has no information about what is happening outside the prison. After nine months of imprisonment, on May 15, 2025, Jan was granted a five-minute phone call with his parents. A second ten-minute phone call with his family was allowed on October 10, 2025, the day before his birthday.

Jan Darmovzal graduated in Sports Management from Masaryk University in Brno and later pursued law studies at the University of London in Singapore. During his studies, he completed an internship at the Singaporean law firm Gateway Law Corporation and also collaborated with the Law Society of Singapore under the Pro Bono scheme. After a year, he interrupted his studies and worked as a swimming coach at Marsden Swim School in Singapore.

After returning to the Czech Republic, Jan completed his law studies at the University of London through distance learning. He then worked for the state agency CzechTrade until 2023. Jan has a long-term interest in international relations. He participated in a volunteer charity program in the West Bank, where he taught schoolchildren English and physical education. Since 2019, he has been a member of the Active Reserves of the Czech Armed Forces.

Jan is a passionate traveler and athlete. He often combined his trips abroad with sporting events such as marathons, long-distance triathlons, aquathlons, and high-altitude trail runs. He also worked briefly as a diving instructor in Mozambique, and sailing is another of his passions. During his stays abroad, he focused on learning foreign languages — he speaks English, Spanish, Italian, German, and Arabic, and is currently learning Portuguese and Persian. In several countries, he also briefly taught English.