CARACAS: At least 87 people detained during protests sparked by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro´s 2024 election victory claim were released on Thursday after a year-and-a-half behind bars, rights groups said.
“On the morning of January 1, mothers and relatives reported new releases of political prisoners from Tocoron prison in Aragua state” in northern Venezuela, the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners wrote on social media.
The Committee of Mothers in Defence of the Truth also confirmed the releases. Both groups said 87 prisoners were freed. This is the second such gesture in a week by the embattled Maduro administration, which is in US President Donald Trump´s crosshairs.
On December 25, Christmas Day, the government announced the release of 99 prisoners in what it called “a concrete expression of the State´s commitment to peace, dialogue and justice.”
Foro Penal, a leading Venezuelan rights NGO, said however it was only able to verify the release of 61 prisoners in that case. Maduro´s widely disputed claim to have won a third six-year term in 2024, despite the opposition publishing results apparently showing a convincing victory for their candidate, sparked mass protests.
Twenty-eight people were killed in the unrest and around 2,400 people arrested in an ensuing police crackdown. Over 2,000 people have since been released, according to official records, but over 700 people are still believed to be held for political reasons.
Maduro has been anxious to show a more conciliatory side recently, faced with the threat of military action from the Trump administration. Trump accuses Maduro of backing drug trafficking, terrorism and other crimes.
Since August, he has ramped up pressure on Caracas, ordering a massive naval deployment in the Caribbean, greenlighting a barrage of strikes on suspected Latin American drugs boats, seizing tankers containing Venezuelan oil, and ordering an informal closure of Venezuelan airspace.
Trump this week also announced that US forces had carried out strikes on a docking area for alleged Venezuelan drug boats, in the first apparent land strike of the military campaign. Venezuela accuses the United States of trying to effect regime change in Venezuela in order to get its hands on the country´s oil supplies.
