He led marches opposing the Government of Venezuela under President Nicolás Maduro, seeking "to turn the student rebellion into a broader social movement".

[7][8] Requesens began demonstrations against the Venezuelan government in January 2013 when he helped organize a joint protest of students from UCV and Andrés Bello Catholic University.

[1] Requesens frequently used technology to organize people; the 12,000 Twitter followers he had at the beginning of 2014 had increased to 450,000 by March, and he was able to assemble protests against the government from his cellphone.

After rising to notoriety in early 2014, Requesens was pressured by the Venezuelan government to encourage violent protestors to stand down, particularly in the state of Táchira where the violence broke out.

[1] He believed then that asking for Maduro's removal as president was a "dead end" and said that the "strategy of escalating confrontation will just give the government the chance to discredit us and continue with more repression".

[1] According to The Washington Post, he was more like Henrique Capriles in "tone and strategy", and more moderated than the "hard-line wing" of opposition from Maria Corina Machado and Leopoldo López.

According to José Manuel Olivares, Requesens had to have surgery to fix broken bones including his nose and jaw, and to stitch up his forehead.

[21] In June 2017, Requesens was again attacked, this time by members of the Bolivarian National Guard — though he referred to them as "colectivos" in an interview on Unión Radio [es] — who then threw him down a sewer drain, as well as stealing from him and others.

[28] He was imprisoned in El Helicoide since his arrest,[29] with allegations of torture to coerce a confession,[a] and delays impeding the legal process and hearings.

[31] Requesens' detention has been condemned by the National Assembly – as well as international diplomats, politicians and organizations – and large protests have been held in Venezuela demanding that he be freed.

[4] Placed on house arrest, Requesens was later released in October 2023 when President Joe Biden reached a deal with the Maduro government to ease its sanctions on Venezuela.