(AFP) – Venezuela said Monday it had freed dozens more political prisoners as rights groups questioned the numbers and family members clamored for speedier releases after the US military ouster of long-term autocrat Nicolas Maduro. Under pressure from Washington, the government in Caracas last week said it would free people jailed under Maduro — many of them for taking part in protests after his contested 2024 reelection. Relatives have been camped out at prisons ever since and have grown increasingly restless as their loved ones have failed to appear.
Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez, despite being a staunch Maduro ally, is negotiating on several fronts with Washington, which is looking to take advantage of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. On Sunday, Trump said he was open to a meeting with Rodriguez and said his administration was working “really well” with hers. US envoys visited Caracas on Friday to discuss reopening Washington’s embassy there seven years after diplomatic ties were severed.
On Monday, Venezuela said 116 political prisoners had been released in recent hours, though opposition and rights groups report lower figures. A total of around 50 people have been freed since last Thursday, according to an AFP tally based on figures from NGOs and the opposition. The government said those freed had been jailed for “acts related to disrupting the constitutional order and undermining the Nation’s stability.” Human rights groups estimate there are between 800 and 1,200 political prisoners in Venezuela.
Over the weekend, Trump celebrated the initial releases and said he hoped the freed prisoners “will remember how lucky they got that the USA came along and did what had to be done.” Experts mandated to a UN fact-finding mission said in a statement Monday the number of people freed so far, about 50 by its own count, “falls far short of Venezuela’s international human rights obligations.” Pointing to the “widespread and systematic use of arbitrary detention as a tool of repression” in Maduro’s Venezuela, it urged the “immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.” The government in Caracas said a review of prisoner files was ongoing.
– A long wait –
Frustration was growing among about 40 relatives still camped out Monday outside El Rodeo prison, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Caracas. Rights NGO Foro Penal said 15 people had been released from the facility, but family members told AFP they were whisked away through a back exit without seeing the loved ones waiting for them. “Other families are telling us that they’re taken to a place near El Rodeo, asked to remove their uniforms, given civilian clothes, and even sprayed with perfume,” said Daniela Camacho, who was waiting for her jailed husband Jose Daniel Mendoza. Mendoza’s father, Manuel, had driven six hours to be at the prison for his son’s release and said his patience was running low. “We simply ask that they (the authorities) keep their word,” he said. “It’s already been four nights waiting out in the open air, suffering.”
At the Vatican, Pope Leo on Monday received Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. She had lived in hiding for over a year after the 2024 election that her candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia is widely considered to have won. Many were stunned when Trump ruled out Machado serving as Venezuela’s interim leader and instead accepted Maduro cronies remaining in power. Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year and dedicated it to Trump, who has made no secret of his frustration at being passed over for the award. Machado’s meeting with the pope came ahead of a visit to Washington this week, where the opposition leader is to meet Trump. Chicago-born Leo called for Venezuela’s sovereignty to be respected in a speech to diplomats on Friday.
– Ahiana Figueroa and Patrick Fort –
© 2024 AFP
