At least 70 political prisoners have been released this Saturday

At least 70 political prisoners detained in the framework of the protests who exploded in Venezuela against the questioned re-election of President Nicolás Maduro in July were released this Saturday, after the announcement of a review of 225 judicial cases, reported NGOs and relatives who expect more releases.

“So far at least 70 political prisoners have been released,” said the director of the NGO Foro Penal, Alfredo Romero, on social networks.

The releases are occurring in four prisons in the center of the country: Las Crisálidas and Yare III, in Tocorón and Tocuyito, Romero said.

Some 50 “young adults” detained in Tocorón received precautionary measures, ten were released in Yare III, and the rest between Las Crisálidas and Tocuyito, he indicated.

There is no official information on the releases.

More than 2,400 people were arrested during the demonstrations that left 28 dead and almost 200 injured, according to data from the prosecutor’s office. Among those detained were 164 teenagers, of which 69 remain behind bars.

Relatives waited early in the morning outside the prisons, after rumors of releases circulated on social networks.

«Today we came because we found out on the networks»declared to the AFP Alexandra Hurtado, 47, while waiting with about 50 people in front of Yare III, wearing a shirt with the photo of her son Oscar Escalona, ​​23, and the message: “He is not a terrorist, he is innocent.”

«It is a rise and fall of emotions. It’s like in motherhood waiting to give birth,” adds Michell Hurtado, the young man’s aunt. “We are pushing,” adds the mother.

Case review

In Las Crisálidas, another group also waited for the release of detained women.

«These four months have been horribleseeing my daughter crying in the corners. (…) I told her mom is coming,” he told the AFP Junior, a 34-year-old chef who did not give his last name and was waiting to find out if his wife would be released.

The prosecutor’s office announced on Friday the review of 225 cases of detainees after a call from the Maduro who asked to “rectify” if there was “some procedural error”. The entity did not specify which cases would be examined.

Maduro was proclaimed winner of the July 28 elections without the details of the scrutiny being known yet. The opposition, led by María Corina Machado and her presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, denounced fraud.

«Whoever has been responsible for criminal actions subject to a link as a direct participant in them will be punished, will be sanctioned; “Whoever has not had such responsibility in the midst of an investigation will be subject to a review of the measure,” Attorney General Tarek William Saab said on Friday.

The prosecutor’s office also promised to continue reviewing cases after meeting with several relatives of prisoners who last week asked for releases before Christmas.

«Repressive crisis»

Hundreds of relatives have protested demanding “justice” by ensuring that their detained loved ones were not demonstrating at the time they were arrested. They have also reported torture and mistreatment.

On Monday, a group of relatives plans to hold a “vigil” in front of the prosecutor’s office to continue their demand for more releases. “There are not 225, there are more than 2,000 young people unjustly detained!”reads the call to the event.

According to the Penal Forum, which denounced a “repressive crisis”, as of Thursday there were “1,976 political prisoners” in Venezuela.

This is the «highest number of political prisoners in the 21st centuryand the highest number of political prisoners in the entire American continent,” he noted.

The opposition has denounced that the detainees are in “inhumane” conditions and that they have been denied medical care. An opposition activist died on Thursday in the custody of the authorities due to a heart problem, associated with complications from diabetes.