Keys to Releasing Political Prisoners
- Uncertainty marks the situation of hundreds of people imprisoned in Venezuela for political reasons.
- Since then, there have been more arrests and also new complaints from relatives of people arrested before the fall of the now former ruler, Nicolas Maduro, who until...
- "As the formal declaration was made that there were going to be releases, on january 8, we have received more than 600 people who had previously not dared...
“`html
Uncertainty marks the situation of hundreds of people imprisoned in Venezuela for political reasons. It is not known how many there are exactly, because each human rights organization carries its own records and because the figure is dynamic, above all from january 3,2026.
Since then, there have been more arrests and also new complaints from relatives of people arrested before the fall of the now former ruler, Nicolas Maduro, who until that moment had not presented their cases.
“As the formal declaration was made that there were going to be releases, on january 8, we have received more than 600 people who had previously not dared to report out of fear or fear of reprisals.As the days have passed, we have reviewed, discussed and analyzed the cases, incorporating them into the lists. As of January 25, with the 109 releases that we have verified, there are still 734 prisoners for political reasons in venezuela,” he told DW. Gonzalo Himiob, vice president of the NGO Foro Penal. “And people have been leaving, but others have entered,” he continues.
The anguish of uncertainty
In recent weeks, the ruling party has announced different figures of release of prisoners but does not publish lists with their names. Family members cannot know if their loved ones will be the next to leave the prisons.
“They live in constant uncertainty, which re-victimizes people imprisoned or being released and their entire family. We already have 16 days of watches in front of the detention centers in the metropolitan area, because the families do not have certainties. That causes them great anguish,” Óscar Murillo, general coordinator of the human rights organization Provea, explains to DW.
“With the releases, the ruling party manages the narrative in such a way that it implies that it is indeed not that these people are not criminals, but that they want to make a gesture of peace,” says Gonzalo Himiob. “At the same time, it implies that yes, they have political prisoners, but the Government will never recognize that it has political prisoners, among other things, because the systematic incarceration of people for political re