Caracas/Venezuelans gathered this Sunday in several cities in their country to ask for the release of political prisoners, after the opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, María Corina Machado, held a call in more than 120 cities around the world.
In Caracas, dozens of people gathered in front of the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin), known as El Helicoide, where they raised banners to demand democracy in Venezuela and displayed photos of political prisoners along with family members, political activists and NGO representatives.
Human rights defender Sairam Rivas stated that the Government of Venezuela cannot talk about reconciliation as long as “El Helicoide continues to operate as a torture center.”
Rivas recalled that, next week, relatives of political prisoners will spend four months in permanent vigil outside several prisons in Venezuela, where they have been since January after authorities announced the release of a “significant number” of people, which generated expectations of releases that remain until today.
We are demanding the release of all political prisoners so that they can be fully free, like all citizens.
For his part, Diego Casanova, an activist from the NGO Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners, asked not to forget the political prisoners in Venezuela, where he assured that the “policies of terror and persecution” remain “intact.”
From Maracaibo, in the state of Zulia (northwest), Jorge Bocourt, coordinator in the city of Vente Venezuela, Machado’s party, condemned that free thought is considered a “criminal act” in the country.
“We are demanding the release of all political prisoners so that they can be fully free, like all citizens, to exercise their constitutional rights,” Bocourt said in statements to EFE.
The activist assured that the Government in charge of Delcy Rodríguez “is settling in” to “gain time” and remain in power, which is why he advocated for a transition with “free and fair” elections to guarantee the “rescue of democracy in Venezuela”, although to date the country’s authorities have left the electoral issue in the background and have prioritized the economy.
According to the NGO Foro Penal, in Venezuela there are 454 political prisoners, among them 41 foreigners or those with dual nationality.
On this Sunday, the Vente Venezuela Communication team registered concentrations in more than 150 cities in countries such as Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, as well as the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Panama, Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia, Peru and others.
According to the NGO Foro Penal, there are 454 political prisoners in Venezuela, including 41 foreigners or those with dual nationality, when an amnesty law limited to certain crimes and specific periods of time is still in force in the country.
The Government of Venezuela usually exchanges terms and affirms that there are “political prisoners” in the country, while ensuring that they are imprisoned for committing crimes, a position that is rejected by various non-governmental organizations and opposition parties.
The Venezuelan authorities have reported more than 8,000 amnestied people, of which the vast majority had restrictive measures of freedom, but an official list has not been published with the identities of those benefited by this law, which was approved in February.
