prisoners

Jan. 9 (UPI) — Venezuela’s government has begun to release Venezuelan and foreign political prisoners, less than a week after its former head, Nicolas Maduro, was seized in a U.S. military operation.

It was unclear how many prisoners were released on Thursday, but among them was former National Assembly vice president and opposition leader Enrique Marquez.

Henrique Capriles, a deputy of the National Assembly, posted a video of Marquez and Biagio Pilieri, a former deputy of the National Assembly, embracing loved ones in the street after being released from prison.

“This is one more step toward justice and the future,” Capriles said in the caption to the video posted to X.

“Freedom for political prisoners! We want to see all of them embracing their loved ones.”

The center-right Primero Justicia party also said Venezuelan-Spanish human rights lawyer and activist Rocio San Miguel was among those released.

Spain’s foreign ministry confirmed in a statement of its own that five nationals — including one with dual nationality — were released on Thursday and were preparing travel to Spain.

“The Spanish Government extends its congratulations to these citizens, their families and friends,” the ministry said, adding that Minister Jose Manuel Albares had spoken to all of them personally.

“Spain, which maintains fraternal relations with the Venezuelan people, welcomes this decision as a positive step in the new phase Venezuela is currently undergoing.”

The United States and human rights organizations have called on Venezuela to release political prisoners for years.

According to Venezuelan NGO Foro Penal, there were 806 political prisoners in the country as of Monday.

Many arrests were conducted amid mass protests that erupted in the country in 2024 following Maduro, Venezuela’s authoritarian president, winning a third term in office in an election that was widely disputed.

The release comes after the United States arrested Maduro in a surprise military operation on Saturday and brought him to the United States on charges of narcoterrorism.

The capture has cast uncertainty over the future of the country, with key institutions still controlled by members of the Maduro regime and the Trump administration signaling a potentially long-term plan to rebuild Venezuela into a stable South American partner.

Second release of prisoners related to 2024 election protests seen as possible conciliatory move from Maduro.

The government of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has released dozens of prisoners held for protesting his disputed victory in the country’s 2024 election.

The release of at least 87 prisoners comes as the administration of United States President Donald Trump has continued its pressure campaign against Caracas.

It was the second release within a week, in what some observers have viewed as an effort by Maduro to strike a more conciliatory tone, even as he has accused Trump of seeking to topple his government and seize Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

Two rights groups, the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners and the Committee of Mothers in Defense of the Truth, confirmed the release on Thursday.

“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.

Venezuela’s government had previously announced the release of 99 prisoners on December 25, calling it “a concrete expression of the State’s commitment to peace, dialogue and justice”.

However, Foro Penal, a leading Venezuelan rights group, said afterwards it was only able to verify the release of 61 prisoners at the time.

Maduro claimed victory in the July 2024 vote, maintaining he had secured a third six-year term. The opposition has alleged widespread fraud, publishing results later verified by independent experts showing that Edmond Gonzalez had won by a landslide.

Gonzalez ran in place of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado after she was banned from standing in the election. Machado recently emerged in Oslo, Norway, after spending months in hiding.

The disputed vote prompted widespread protests across the country, resulting in at least 28 deaths and thousands of arrests.

Official records show that at least 2,000 people have since been released, while more than 700 people are still believed to be held for political reasons.

The disputed election has, in part, undergirded the Trump administration’s pressure against Maduro, whom they have accused of running a drug trafficking operation that aims to destabilise the US.

The Pentagon has surged military assets off the coast of Venezuela since August, with Trump earlier this week revealing the first attack on Venezuelan soil targeting a dock allegedly used to load drug boats earlier this week.

The US has also blockaded sanctioned oil tankers entering and exiting Venezuela, while simultaneously carrying out strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, in what rights groups say amount to extrajudicial killings.

More than 100 people have been killed in the strikes so far.

From exile, Machado has vocally supported the US pressure campaign. She has been more circumspect on strikes on Venezuelan territory, while maintaining that Venezuela has been “invaded” by “terrorist groups” and “drug cartels”.

Venezuela experts have warned that many opposition groups in the country oppose US military action.

Red ribbons and Palestinian flags were seen in London at a vigil calling for the release of thousands of Palestinians being held without charge in Israeli prisons. The vigil focused on Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, who’s been held for nearly one year. Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic was there.