Jan 9 (Reuters) – Nine people considered political prisoners by a leading Venezuelan rights group had been released by Friday afternoon as part of an effort praised by U.S. President Donald Trump, the group said, with families of others anxiously waiting to hear if their relatives would also be freed.
Human rights groups, international bodies and opposition figures – including Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, who has several close allies imprisoned – have long demanded the release from Venezuelan jails of some 800 people they consider political prisoners.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social earlier on Friday that he had canceled a second wave of attacks on Venezuela following cooperation from the South American nation, and that Venezuela was releasing “large numbers of political prisoners.”
Both Venezuela’s top lawmaker Jorge Rodriguez, the brother of acting President Delcy Rodriguez, and Trump said the releases are a gesture of peace.
There is no official list of exactly how many prisoners will be released nor who they are.
The releases come during a week of political turmoil in Caracas after the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro, his arraignment in a New York court on narcoterrorism charges, the swearing-in of interim President Delcy Rodriguez and the announcement that the U.S. would refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of crude oil stuck in Venezuela under U.S. sanctions.
For years, Venezuela’s opposition and human rights groups have said the government uses detentions to stamp out dissent. The authorities have consistently denied that and have said the prisoners were rightfully jailed for committing crimes.
The families of both prominent and little-known detainees gathered outside prisons on Friday, or visited multiple detention centers in an attempt to discover the location and status of their loved ones.
Leading local rights group Foro Penal estimates that after the releases this week there are 811 political prisoners still being held in the country. That figure includes more than 80 foreign detainees, including two from the United States and one with American residency.
Five Spanish citizens, including Venezuelan-Spanish rights activist Rocio San Miguel, were the first confirmed releases on Thursday. They arrived in Madrid the following day.
Also released late on Thursday were former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Enrique Marquez, journalist Biagio Pilieri and soldier Larry Osorio, said Alfredo Romero, the director of Foro Penal. Opposition member Aracelis Balza was released on Friday.
“We are waiting to hear what the authorities here have to say. I found out through social media that they were releasing people,” said Gregory Trejo, as he waited outside El Rodeo prison in Guatire, near capital Caracas, for news of his father, Jose Gregorio Trejo, detained for nearly a year.
“For there to be a democratic transition in a democratic country, there cannot be political prisoners, and we demand the release of all those who are in all detention centers,” said Soraida Gonzalez, who was awaiting the release of her son Jose Miguel Estrada.
Among prominent detained figures are opposition politician Juan Pablo Guanipa and lawyer Perkins Rocha, both close allies of Machado; Rafael Tudares, son-in-law of the opposition’s former presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez; opposition Voluntad Popular party leaders Freddy Superlano and Roland Carreno; and Javier Tarazona, director of an NGO that tracks alleged abuses by Colombian armed groups and the Venezuelan military.
(Reporting by Reuters, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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