The interim government of Venezuela announced this Thursday the first releases of detainees for political reasons, including foreign citizens, in a gesture that marks the beginning of a new stage after the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by US forces on January 3.
Both are in New York, where they face drug trafficking charges, while the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, seeks to “consolidate national cohesion” in the midst of an unprecedented crisis for the country.
First releases under the interim
The president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, reported that “a significant number” of people began to be released from this very moment, although he avoided specifying the exact number.
“For peaceful coexistence, the Bolivarian government together with the State institutions has decided to release a significant number of Venezuelans and foreigners,” he declared from the Legislative Palace.
The measure occurs in a context of high political and social tension, after the US military operation in Caracas that left more than a hundred dead and injured, according to Venezuelan authorities. Among them, 32 Cubans were killed.
Rodríguez stressed that the releases do not respond to negotiations with extremist sectors, but rather to a unilateral effort by the interim government to strengthen national unity.
Immediate reactions
Lawyer Alfredo Romero, director of the NGO Foro Penal, celebrated the news on the X network: “Good news! We already know of some people on the road to freedom, including foreigners.”
Foro Penal currently counts 806 prisoners for political reasons in Venezuela, of which 175 are military.
In parallel, the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners asked relatives to verify directly in the detention centers, such as the El Rodeo I and El Helicoide prison, that the releases are actually taking place.
El Helicoide, headquarters of the Venezuelan intelligence service in Caracas, has been designated by human rights organizations as a “torture center.”
Madrid ponders the gesture
The announcement was welcomed by governments and international actors. The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, confirmed the release of five Spanish citizens and described the gesture as “a necessary step to promote dialogue and reconciliation among Venezuelans.” Those released are José María Basoa, Andrés Martínez Adasme, Miguel Moreno Dapena, Ernesto Gorbe Cardona and the Spanish-Venezuelan Rocío San Miguel.
Rodríguez thanked the mediation of figures such as the former Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the government of Qatar, who heeded the call of the interim president.
The position of the interim government
Delcy Rodríguez, who took office after Maduro’s capture, reaffirmed that the decision seeks to consolidate peace and national sovereignty. “We have an awareness of what freedom is for the people of the world. That clear awareness has to call us to work in national unity so that Venezuela, in this complex moment, advances towards a future of development, peace and tranquility,” he said.
The president maintained that cohesion among Venezuelans is the only way to confront external aggressions and guarantee the future of the next generations.
“In the context of the current situation in the country, the president of the National Assembly indicated that this measure seeks to strengthen the national union in the face of external aggressions recently suffered,” highlighted a report from the channel. Telesur.
The releases represent the interim government’s first significant political move since Maduro’s capture. Analysts consider that the measure seeks to send signals of openness and reconciliation, both to the international community and to internal sectors that demand guarantees of respect for human rights.
Rodríguez assured that the names of the released people will be disclosed in the next few hours, once the administrative protocols are concluded.
