MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuelans rally in more than 120 cities worldwide demanding release of political prisoners

According to the latest report from Foro Penal as of April 27 there were 454 people detained for political reasons in the country

Dozens of cities in Venezuela and more than 120 gathering points around the world joined on Sunday a global day of mobilization called by Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace laureate María Corina Machado to demand the release of political prisoners and to bring international visibility to the country's human rights situation. The rallies took place simultaneously at noon Caracas time and included events across the Americas, Europe, and other regions with significant Venezuelan diaspora communities.

In the Venezuelan capital, dozens of people gathered in front of the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin), known as El Helicoide, where they held up banners with photographs of political prisoners alongside family members, activists, and representatives of non-governmental organisations. Human rights defender Sairam Rivas said the acting government of Delcy Rodríguez could not speak of reconciliation while “El Helicoide continues operating as a torture centre.” Rivas recalled that next week relatives of political prisoners will mark four months of permanent vigil outside several prisons in the country, a protest started in January after authorities officially announced the release of a “significant number” of detainees, an announcement that generated expectations that have yet to be fulfilled for many prisoners.

The Comando Con Venezuela, Machado's organising team, set up more than 20 gathering points within Venezuelan territory and registered rallies in at least 150 cities across the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Panama, Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and other countries. Spain alone hosted twelve rallies, spread across Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Tenerife, and other cities. Machado has been outside Venezuela since December, when she traveled to Norway to receive her Nobel Peace Prize medal, after spending a year in hiding to avoid arrest by Venezuelan authorities.

According to the latest report from Foro Penal, one of the main legal defense organizations for political prisoners in Venezuela, as of April 27 there were 454 people detained for political reasons in the country, including 41 foreign nationals or those with dual citizenship. The NGO detailed that 410 are men and 44 women, that 186 are military personnel, and that only 164 have been convicted, while 290 remain detained without sentencing. The figure represents 19 fewer cases than the previous report of April 21, reflecting recent releases but leaving the matter far from resolved. Machado, for her part, maintains that the actual figure exceeds 500 detainees when both civilians and military personnel are counted.

Rodríguez's acting government approved in February a Law of Amnesty under which, according to official data, more than 8,000 people have benefited, although no official list of names has been published. The National Assembly repealed the law on April 23, a decision the European Parliament censured on Thursday in a resolution urging the Council of the European Union not to lift sanctions on Venezuela until the country adopts “significant measures toward a peaceful transition to democracy,” a text MercoPress covered in its Thursday edition.