Venezuelan opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia denounced this Tuesday that “the mass release of prisoners” announced by the Venezuelan regime five days ago “is not being carried out in the announced terms.”
The official spokesperson for the two exiled Venezuelan politicians stated in a statement that “the figure of 116 released from prison, released by the regime on Monday, January 12, does not correspond to reality,” since “human rights organizations have only been able to verify that of 56 people” so far.
Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly and brother of the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, announced last Thursday – five days after the United States’ incursion into the oil country – a “significant number” of releases.
Subsequently, the Venezuelan Government assured yesterday that 116 people had already been released, but this information “does not correspond to reality,” according to opposition leaders.
Also read: Act of ‘moral restitution’ the release of political prisoners: María Corina Machado
Venezuelan opposition demands political releases
In addition, Machado and Urrutia denounce the mistreatment that “the lists of people who will be released have not been published nor have the relatives been notified about the release process,” which is why “hundreds of them remain vigil camped in front of the detention centers, spending money they do not have and putting their own health at risk.”
“Every day in prison counts. The life and health of hundreds of people is at stake,” the text adds, in reference to the recent death in captivity of Edison José Torres Fernández, 52, who is “the eighth political prisoner to die in State custody since the elections of July 28, 2024.”
Venezuelan opposition leaders insisted today that “there can be no transition with political prisoners, nor can there be freedom in Venezuela as long as there is only one person persecuted for political reasons” and called for “the immediate, complete, unconditional and verifiable release of all political prisoners.”
With information from EFE
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