One year after the arrest, the families of those imprisoned in Venezuela report the release of some of the political prisoners. The regime releases supporters of anti-election protests.
At least 87 people detained during protests in Venezuela after the 2024 presidential election were released from prison on Thursday after a year and a half. This was announced by groups for the protection of human rights, TASR informs, according to a report by the AFP agency.
- Venezuela released 87 political prisoners after the presidential election.
- The protests broke out after the announcement of Nicolás Maduro’s victory.
- As of the 2024 election year, more than 700 people remain detained.
- Political tensions are rising over US interventions in the Caribbean.
- The US has struck Venezuelan structures over alleged narco-terrorism.
“On the morning of January 1, mothers and relatives reported new releases of political prisoners from the Tocorón prison in the state of Aragua,” in northern Venezuela, the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners said on social media. The release of 87 people was also confirmed by the Venezuelan human rights group Mothers’ Committee for the Defense of Truth.
This is the second release of a group of prisoners in the past week. On December 25, the Venezuelan government announced the release of 99 prisoners, which it called “a concrete manifestation of the state’s commitment to peace, dialogue and justice.” Human rights group Foro Penal said it was able to confirm the release of only 61 prisoners in this case.
Hundreds remain in prisons
Protests in Venezuela erupted after presidential elections in July 2024, in which Nicolás Maduro won, according to published results. He has been in the presidential office since 2013. However, the opposition claims that the winner of the election was its candidate Edmundo González Urrutia. During the protests against Maduro’s re-election, 28 people died and around 2,400 were detained by the police. Official data shows that the authorities have released more than 2,000 people so far. More than 700 people continue to be held in Venezuelan prisons for political reasons.
The aforementioned two dismissals occurred at a time of tension between Venezuela and the United States. US forces have been attacking ships in the Caribbean and Pacific since September. The attacks have claimed more than 100 lives, many of them fishermen.
On December 16, US President Donald Trump announced a blockade of “sanctioned oil tankers” sailing from Venezuela. Trump says Caracas, under President Nicolás Maduro, is using money from oil sales to fund “narco-terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.” Trump also announced this week that the United States had struck and destroyed a dock in Venezuela that was allegedly used as a drug loading dock for smugglers’ ships. It was the first American strike on the territory of Venezuela.
