Venezuela Releases Some Political Prisoners, 1,800 Remain
The prisoners were jailed for protesting the highly contested official election results in July. Following their release, they’ll be subject to “precautionary measures.”
HAVANA TIMES – Dozens of political prisoners from different Venezuelan prisons have been released, according to the NGOs Foro Penal Venezuela [“Venezuela Criminal Forum”] and the Committee for the Freedom of the Political Prisoners. Those released were detained following protests over the bogus official results of Venezuela’s July 28 presidential elections.
Alfredo Romero, director of Foro Penal posted on Instagram that 50 young adults had been released from the Tocoron penitentiary in Venezuela’s Aragua State. All those released will be subject to “precautionary measures.”
We should recall that there are over 900 political prisoners in Tocoron, whose arrests are the result of the post-electoral situation,” Romero’s post added.
Meanwhile, the Committee for the Liberation of Political Prisoners in Venezuela stated that the jail known as Tocuyito in the state of Carabobohad released 14 prisoners, while 10 were released from the San Francisco de Yare jail in Miranda State on Saturday, November 16.
Yet another NGO, Fundehullan, shared a photo of Luis Alarcon, 22, who has diabetes and was one of those freed from the Tocoron jail.
Similarly, the Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones [“Venezuelan Prison Observatory”] confirmed the release of a group of prisoners from the woman’s prison La Crisalida in Miranda State, without offering numbers. The organization also indicated that the released women remained under precautionary measures.
Opposition comments on the political prisoners’ release
Several Venezuelan opposition leaders hailed the release of this partial group of political prisoners. “Today, these innocents are in the embrace of the mothers and families who fought valiantly for their release, without giving up. They never should have been prisoners, and all should leave in full freedom,” former governor Henrique Capriles stated on his X social network.
He also affirmed that there remain “many others who were arrested only for being members of the opposition.” He added: “We must continue being the voice of those who are still behind bars, enduring the most difficult moments of their lives.”
Andres Caleca, former president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, expressed joy for those released and their families. At the same time, he stated that he felt “great indignation” for those who are still in prison. “Neither gratitude nor forgiveness. Their imprisonment violated their Constitutional rights, due process, human rights, and a number of laws of the Venezuelan Republic,” he posted.
Similarly, former governor Cesar Perez Vivas posted on the same social network that the “struggle of democratic society” had forced the authorities to release these people. Former deputy Delsa Solorzano added that the release “doesn’t erase the pain suffered, much less the very fact of unjust imprisonment.”
“There’ll be justice in Venezuela when not one political prisoner is left,” she asserted.
Around 1800 political prisoners remain in Venezuela
On November 15, Tarak William Saab, Venezuela’s attorney general, announced that his office had asked the courts to review 225 cases of detentions – out of the much larger total – stemming from the July 28 presidential elections. Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s regime imprisoned an estimated 2,400 people when protests broke out over the highly questionable official results of that election.
In a speech broadcast on Venezuela’s VTV government channel, Saab explained that this decision was made “after exhaustive investigations, based on new indicators and relevant evidence,” and in coordination with the courts.
Several NGOs and opposition parties coincided in identifying around 1,850 political prisoners in Venezuela due to the presidential elections and the protests against Maduro’s announced reelection, or arrested later in police operations. Among these prisoners are 69 minors, and dozens of women and soldiers, almost all of them accused of terrorism and conspiracy.