Venezuelan authorities this weekend freed 225 people who were detained in protests against the disputed re-election of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in July, the prosecutor’s office said on Saturday.
The releases were “granted and executed for people prosecuted for the violence that occurred after the 28 July elections,” the office said in a statement, after prosecutors launched a large-scale review of their cases.
Human rights group Foro Penal had independently confirmed the release of 107 people by Saturday evening. More than 2,400 people were arrested during the unrest that followed the re-election of Maduro, which the opposition claims was fraudulent.
Photo: AP
The violence left at least 28 dead and nearly 200 people injured, prosecutors said.
The detainees included 164 minors, 69 of whom remain behind bars.
Members of the armed forces escorted down a pedestrian bridge those who were released from the prison in Tocuyito. Some of the detainees kneeled and raised their arms after going down the stairs. Two detainees helped a third one who could not walk on his own and later collapsed into the arms of a relative as they sobbed.
“My son, thank you, Lord, thank you,” a woman said as she hugged her son with one arm and lifted the other to the sky.
Images shared online by the Venezuelan Prison Observatory showed women tearfully hugging loved ones outside another prison.
The group described the releases as a “victory” and demanded that all who remain in prison for their roles in the election and activities in its aftermath be freed.
“I feel pretty good, I’m glad to be back on the street,” said Alexis Jose Ocho, 64, who was freed from the Yare 3 prison in north-central Venezuela.
“They treated us well in the prison, but the bad thing was the national police, when they arrested us, they kicked us,” he added.
Detainees’ relatives flocked to the prisons where they were being held after reports of the release began circulating on social media.
Alexandra Hurtado, 47, waited in front of the Yare 3 prison wearing a shirt with a photograph of her son Oscar Escalona, 23, and the phrase: “He’s not a terrorist, he’s innocent.”
The detainee’s aunt Michell Hurtado stood next to her.
“It’s a roller coaster of emotions. It’s like you are in a maternity ward waiting to give birth,” she said.
Additional reporting by AP
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
RSS