The Committee of Mothers in Defense of the Truth reported this Thursday on the release of 87 people who had been detained in Venezuela in the context of the protests that broke out after the 2024 presidential elections, when President Nicolás Maduro was proclaimed re-elected for a third term.
In a press release, the group indicated that The releases occurred during the early hours of this January 1 at the Tocorón prison, in the state of Aragua.a center where a good part of the people who were detained during the demonstrations were held.
“This achievement, which fills us with joy, is, however, insufficient. It is a limited freedom, because they continue in court and with precautionary measures, and many other of our relatives still continue to be arbitrarily deprived of liberty,” the committee said in the text.
Releases in Venezuela
The new releases are added to those already reported on December 25, when the committee reported 71 and the government said there were 99.
NGOs, such as the Penal Forum, however, spoke after the “verification” of more than 60.
The relatives’ committee said that the fact that the releases have been “resumed is the product of the struggle of hundreds of mothers and relatives who have mobilized, for more than a year, to demand justice and who have found in their wake the solidarity of people and popular organizations.”
“Injustice continues to affect hundreds of families throughout the country. That is why, from the Committee of Mothers in Defense of Truth, we insist that the country needs a general amnesty that grants full freedom to all people arbitrarily detained for political reasons,” the group reiterated.
Last October, the mothers of the detainees indicated that the release process had remained suspended since March 2025, so they then requested a review of their children’s cases.
After the presidential elections of July 28, 2024, a crisis broke out in Venezuela, as a result of the controversial re-election of Maduro, proclaimed by the electoral body – controlled by officials related to Chavismo -, and the complaint of “fraud” by the majority opposition, which claims the victory of Edmundo González Urrutia.
In this context, more than 2,400 people were arrested – most of them released – and accused of being “terrorists”, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, although several NGOs and opposition parties defend them as innocent and assure that they are political prisoners.
Maduro’s Executive assures that the country is “free of political prisoners” and that those designated as such are imprisoned for the “commission of terrible punishable acts.”
