Venezuelan opposition says government freed 13 jailed in post-election crackdown

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – Venezuelan opposition leaders and civil society groups said on Sunday that the government released 13 people jailed in a crackdown by the government of President Nicolás Maduro following last year’s disputed elections.

Venezuelan authorities did not immediately confirm the releases, but opposition leaders like Henrique Capriles celebrated on social media, calling it a “step forward for those behind bars.” He said eight people were freed, while five more were released under house arrest.

“Today, several families have been reunited with their loved ones. We know that many remain, and we will not forget them; we continue fighting for them all,” he wrote in a post on the social media platform X, with a video of one of those released embracing their loved ones.

It comes more than a year after the tumultuous South American nation once again erupted following July presidential elections. Electoral authorities declared Maduro victor of the presidential elections, but refused to share key documents known as “actas” evidencing the count. The results were rejected by the international community and opposition members.

In its wake, street protests erupted, leaving 28 dead, 220 injured and at least 2,000 detained, according to official figures.

The Venezuelan civil society organization Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners said those detained were release “as a result of pressure by victims, organizations, citizen campaigns and international institutions.” The organization wrote on social media that they had “physically and psychologically deteriorated” and that many were returning home with “open wounds.”

It added that around 1,000 people continue in detention “for political reasons”, while other organizations say the number is a bit lower.

Venezuelan authorities deny the detention of opponents for political reasons, instead claiming they are part of plots to destabilize the government.

The releases come just weeks after a prison exchange between Venezuela, and the American and Salvadoran governments, which kept some 200 Venezuelan deportees in dire conditions in a prison for gangs in El Salvador. In exchange for the deportees returned to Venezuela, Maduro’s government freed 10 jailed Americans. In the exchange, American Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a number of Venezuelan “political prisoners and detainees” were also released from Venezuelan prisons.