The relatives of political prisoners in Venezuela are spending 24 hours this Friday waiting for the release of their loved ones, after the government of the president in charge, Delcy Rodríguez, ordered the release of a “significant number” of these detainees, in what is interpreted as its first opening action in the face of redoubled pressure from the United States.
Until now, the government has not published an official list detailing the number and names of those released, so several NGOs, as well as the largest opposition coalition, have verified the release of between 8 and 11 people, compared to the 811 political prisoners counted by Foro Penal.
At noon this Friday, relatives continued searching for information, after spending the night outside detention centers such as Rodeo I, in Miranda state, and El Helicoide, the Caracas headquarters of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service, where Efe found that many had already left.
“We have already waited a long time. Waiting a little longer is not going to take away our anxiety nor our vigilance that this process takes place fully and absolutely,” Martha Cambero, wife of the political scientist and director of the Punto de Corte media outlet, Nicmer Evans, told Efe from El Helicoide.
According to him, the officials who guard the jail are waiting for the release tickets. Meanwhile, other relatives are seeking information about the place of detention of their loved ones.
Mireya Martínez told Efe that her nephew Víctor Borges was arrested on November 26, but that to date she does not know where he is.
“We are here without any certainty, but with all the faith that this will be definitively resolved. We hope so, we trust that it will really come out now in the next few hours,” he added.
The announcement of the releases came after US President Donald Trump mentioned on Tuesday the alleged closure of a “torture chamber” in Caracas, amid the pressure it exerts on the Rodríguez government, after the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, an operation that left at least a hundred civilian and military deaths.
The released
Organizations such as Foro Penal and the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners have reported the release of the Spaniards Andrés Martínez Adasme, José María Basoa, Miguel Moreno Dapena and Ernesto Gorbe Cardona.
Also that of the Spanish-Venezuelan activist Rocío San Miguel; Sergeant Major Larry Osorio Chía; former presidential candidate Enrique Márquez; and that of Biagio Pilieri, political activist and collaborator of the opposition leader María Corina Machado.
For his part, the executive secretary of the Democratic Unity Platform, Roberto Enríquez, told Efe that among the 11 released prisoners reported the opposition coalitionThe eight mentioned above are found, in addition to the Italian Luigi Gasperín, the lawyer Alejandro Rebolledo and Aracelis Balza, an activist from Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela.
