MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuela's interim administration releases 24 potitical prisoners

Foro Penal confirmed early Tuesday that 24 individuals — including two Italian nationals — were freed from the La Crisálida and El Rodeo I prisons

Hundreds of relatives of the Venezuelan Bolivarian regime's political prisoners remained outside the various detention facilities into the early hours of Tuesday. Still, only 24 of them were released in the end, whereas human rights groups such as Foro Penal insist some 800 of them remain incarcerated.

Foro Penal confirmed early Tuesday that 24 individuals — including two Italian nationals — were freed from the La Crisálida and El Rodeo I prisons, amid significant discrepancies between official government figures and those provided by independent monitors.

While the Ministry for Prison Services, under the interim administration of Delcy Rodríguez, claimed on Monday that 116 individuals had been freed, human rights groups tell a different story. Foro Penal had verified only 56 releases overall since Maduro's fall, while the opposition Democratic Unity Platform (PUD) of Edmundo González Urrutia recorded 73.

“There is impatience and discontent, but also hope,” said Aurora Silva, wife of detained former deputy Freddy Superlano, told reporters outside El Rodeo I. “We hope that in the next few hours... all political prisoners will be released, because very few have been released so far.”

Additionally, the NGO Justicia, Encuentro y Perdón (JEP) issued a public demand via social media, calling for the process to be handled with “full transparency, verifiable information, and without delays,” particularly after the death of 52-year-old police officer Edison José Torres Fernández was confirmed. He passed away in custody over the weekend from an alleged cardiac arrest.

In this scenario, relatives of the remaining 800+ prisoners expressed fear that more deaths are inevitable if the process remains stalled.

The Ministry for Prison Services stated that the releases were a result of a “comprehensive review of cases” initiated after the fall of the Maduro government, much to the disbelief of the international community.