Since the announcement from the Constituent Assembly yesterday afternoon that the Maduro regime would free as many as 80 political prisoners, 42 individuals have been freed. It is not clear what conditions have been attached to the prisoners’ release, but Constituent Assembly president Delcy Rodriguez suggested yesterday that the individuals may be given house arrest.
The head of the Foro Penal Venezolano (FPV), Alfredo Romero, pointed out this morning that at the same time that the regime was releasing the prisoners, it arrested two other individuals on political grounds.
While the Maduro regime is attempting to paint the prisoner release in the best possibly light by suggesting that it is evidence of Maduro’s benevolence, Romero put the news in perspective:
#Dec24 even with the releases from yesterday and today, we still have the highest number of #politicalprisoners of any Christmas [in Venezuelan history]. Improvement will come by releasing all prisoners and not jailing any more, not just by releasing a few.
The head of the Vente Venezuela (VV) political party, Maria Corina Machado, gave her take on the prisoners’ release through her Twitter account this morning. She said:
This is how terrorists “free” hostages. We welcome [the released prisoners] with excitement and admiration, and with yet another reason to get rid of these tyrants once and for all for what they have done to these brave Venezuelans.
La Patilla has a list of the names of the 42 released prisoners here. There are now approximately 226 political prisoners in Venezuelan jails.
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