NGO Reports More Than 600 Political Prisoners Remain in Venezuela After Recent Releases

The Venezuelan NGO Foro Penal, which handles legal defense for political prisoners, stated on Monday that over 600 such individuals are still detained in the country. This follows the verification of 444 releases by the organization since January 8, when the interim government initiated a liberation process.

“There are still more than 600 people,” said Alfredo Romero, the NGO’s president, while speaking outside the National Bolivarian Police command known as Zone 7 in Caracas. There, ten female relatives of political prisoners have been on a hunger strike since Saturday.

Romero, accompanied by a Foro Penal team, visited the location to support these individuals, who are also chained in protest, and to offer legal aid. He noted that additional cases have been added to the list of political prisoners, as some families had not reported them due to fear or lack of information about their detention locations. The NGO does not classify cases as releases if the individuals remain under house arrest after leaving a detention center.

On February 8, opposition figure Juan Pablo Guanipa, a former deputy linked to Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, and Perkins Rocha, legal advisor to the main opposition coalition, were freed from prison along with other political activists. However, Rocha is under house arrest, as is Guanipa, who was re-incarcerated on the same day for allegedly violating his precautionary measures. Last Tuesday, his family confirmed he was placed under house arrest at his home in Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia state in the northwest.

On February 6, Parliament President Jorge Rodríguez, a Chavista, pledged to free “all” prisoners once an amnesty law is approved, which he expected by last Friday at the latest. Nevertheless, the Chavismo-controlled legislature postponed the second and final debate on the law from last Thursday to this week due to disagreements over one article. The Parliament head reported 17 releases at Zone 7 on Saturday.

These releases and the amnesty discussions are occurring amid a “new political moment” declared by interim leader Delcy Rodríguez, who took office after the United States captured Nicolás Maduro in a military operation in Caracas last January.