Photographs by Adriana Loureiro Fernandez

Simon Romero and Adriana Loureiro Fernandez accompanied Dr. Diablo and his crew as they practiced their dark art of shaming debtors.

To reach Dr. Diablo’s sanctum, I descended into the basement of a complex of Brutalist towers, its concrete walls heavily stained by decades of vehicle exhaust and tropical humidity.

“Welcome to Purgatory,” proclaimed a sign above a commanding statue of a winged demon.

Swords and antique pistols bedeck the shelves of the windowless room. An illustrated Bible on a book stand was opened to the Flemish Baroque artist Anthony van Dyck’s painting “The Brazen Serpent.”

“I like to make a strong first impression,” said Rodrigo Herrera, arguably Venezuela’s best-known debt collector, as he splashed on some cologne.

His premise is simple: Individuals and companies hire him to collect debts ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars. As Dr. Diablo, he then uses public humiliation to pressure deadbeats into paying up. Many do after his “Anti-Debtor Mobile Squad” ambushes them, often at work.

This entourage includes a pitchfork-wielding right-hand man clad as the devil; a female “diablita” in demon horns, skintight pants and a sequined red boa; and Mr. Herrera himself in dark sunglasses, a black suit and a flame-adorned necktie.

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