In what officials called a “goodwill gesture,” the Venezuelan government has started releasing detainees deemed political prisoners by human rights organizations. Five of Spain’s citizens, including one dual national, have been freed, according to the country’s foreign ministry. Rocio San Miguel, a rights activist, is believed to be one of them.
The action follows the US’s lightning-fast raid on Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, on Saturday that resulted in Nicolas Maduro, the country’s president, being charged with narcotics trafficking in New York. The United States has consistently demanded that political prisoners in Venezuela be released, particularly at times of increased repression related to elections or protests.
On state television, Jorge Rodriguez, the President of Venezuela’s National Assembly and the brother of the country’s acting president Delcy Rodriguez, declared that “a significant number” of prisoners will be released right away. However, he did not say how many or who would be released.
Only a small number of the hundreds of political prisoners incarcerated in Venezuelan prisons are believed to have been freed thus far. According to Jorge Rodriguez, “national unity and peaceful coexistence” were the reasons behind their release by the interim administration.
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