Venezuela\u2019s leading prisoner rights organization said dozens of prisoners were released over the weekend, as the U.S. continues to pressure the acting government to free hundreds of dissidents jailed during the administration of ousted leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.<\/b>
\nVenezuela\u2019s leading prisoner rights organization said Monday that dozens of prisoners were released over the weekend, as the United States continues to pressure the acting government to free hundreds of dissidents jailed during the administration of ousted leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.
Alfredo Romero, president of Foro Penal, said in a post on X Monday that 266 \u201cpolitical prisoners\u201d had been freed since Jan. 8, when Venezuela\u2019s acting government promised to release a \u201csignificant number\u201d of prisoners in what it described as an effort to promote national reconciliation. At least 100 of these prisoners were released over the past two days, according to figures published by the group.
Maduro was captured by the United States in a raid on Jan. 3, and was replaced by Vice President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, a longtime ruling party insider, who is now the nation\u2019s acting president.
According to human rights groups, prisoners released this weekend included an opposition activist, a human rights lawyer and a journalism student who was imprisoned in March after he published complaints about his hometown\u2019s sewage system, and was charged with \u201cinciting hatred.\u201d
However, at least 600 dissidents remain detained in Venezuela, according to Foro Penal, including several members of the Vente Venezuela party, led by opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mar\u00eda Corina Machado.
On Friday acting President Rodr\u00edguez said that her administration had freed more than 620 prisoners adding that she would ask the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to verify the release lists.
Human rights groups in Venezuela have accused the government of inflating the number of prisoners that have been freed.
Outside Venezuela\u2019s prisons, relatives of detainees have held regular vigils to demand the release of those still behind bars.<\/p>\n