Representative Iris Varela denied that there are political prisoners in the country and asserted that the only two detained for these reasons are Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores. “They were kidnapped for no reason by the North American government,” he insisted, and asked that those who had committed a crime “pay” and that there be no release for them.
The releases of political prisoners announced by the ruling party on January 8 remain a sensitive and opaque issue because the data offered by the authorities do not coincide or have not been able to be verified by human rights organizations. Although they claim that more than 800 people have been released since December, there is a lack of public information to support these numbers.
The first vice president of the National Assembly, Pedro Infante, stated “that the cases continue to be evaluated and this benefit of release will continue to be given.” This statement was made during the session this Tuesday, January 27.
Deputy Luis Augusto Romero (Avanzada Progresista) asked in Parliament “that the releases continue” and celebrated that these measures are being granted to political prisoners because “they have allowed the reunion of Venezuelan families.” However, he insisted that “there are still many detainees in circumstances that have to do with hate crimes or for situations that do not have a sentence, that have not been prosecuted.”
Romero specifically demanded that Ernesto Paraqueima, former mayor of the Simón Rodríguez del Tigre municipality, Anzoátegui state, who was arrested in May 2023 for alleged hate crimes, be released from prison. At the same time, he requested the same measure for Yandir Loggiodice, national leader of the Zulia state for the Central Political Evolution party (EPC), arrested in July of last year.
“Both should be benefited with a precautionary measure, with a procedural benefit that allows them to finish their judicial process in their homes, if they could not receive full freedom,” he stated.
The family and defense of Yandir Loggiosays he needs brain surgery urgent because he has had a valve implanted since he was six months old, which has already completed its useful life and requires immediate surgical replacement to avoid irreversible damage or a fatal outcome.
Luis Augusto Romero insisted that the message of reconciliation and national unity transmitted by the authorities has “to be fed with facts”; hence requested freedom for all political prisonersespecially for those who need health care.
After the announcement of a “significant number” of releases, offered by the President of Parliament, Jorge Rodríguez, relatives of political prisoners remain vigil and camping outside different prisons waiting for the freedom of their loved ones.
Although the Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, assured that the national authorities are not victims “of pressure, of any nature” to grant precautionary measures to the detainees, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who said that he will be in charge of Venezuela until there is a transition, indicated that the releases in Venezuela will continue quickly: “This rate is expected to increase in the coming weeks, he wrote on his social network Truth Social.
*Read also: Trump assures that releases of political prisoners will accelerate in the coming days
Representative Iris Varela denied that there are political prisoners in the country and asserted that the only two detained for these reasons are Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores. “They were kidnapped for no reason by the North American government,” he insisted.
«There are people who are deprived of their liberty, who want to label them as political prisoners only because they are active in a party. “That does not give them the characteristic or character of being a political prisoner,” added the deputy and asked that those who have committed a crime “pay.”
Until January 26, the Penal Forum had verified a total of 266 releases of political prisoners since the 8th of this month and were verifying the latest ones announced. These numbers leave out a total of 542 people, taking into account the 808 releases announced by Cabello.
Investigative Police Law reform project approved
The National Assembly also approved this Tuesday the Partial Reform of the Law of the Statute of the Function of the Investigative Police, in its second discussion.
“This law seeks to regulate all internal functioning,” said Infante when delivering the document to Commissioner Douglas Rico, director of the Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations Corps.
On the other hand, 21 groups of parliamentary friendship with Paraguay, represented by Jeison Guzmán and Aurora Paredes; Dominican Republic, chaired by Timoteo Zambrano and vice president Juan Valdez; Honduras, with María Rosa Jiménez as president and deputy María Vizcarrondo as vice president; Panama, with Rodolfo Crespo and César Pérez.
Azucena Jaspe and María Carrasquel remained for Ecuador. The other friendship groups were established with Peru, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Bolivia, Guatemala, Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Suriname, Dominica, Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, Haiti and Egypt.
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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