Venezuela releases 60 post-election prisoners on Christmas

Venezuelan authorities on Thursday released at least 60 prisoners who had been arrested during 2024 protests against President Nicolas Maduro's reelection, a human rights NGO said.

Tumultuous post-election demonstrations followed when Maduro won a third term in July 2024 polls, despite accusations of fraud. Some 2,400 people were arrested but nearly 2,000 have since been released.

In Venezuela, there are at least 902 political prisoners, according to the most recent count by Foro Penal, another local NGO.

The latest releases began early on Christmas Day, according to the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners, an advocacy group made up of rights activists and relatives of political prisoners.

"We celebrate the release of more than 60 Venezuelans, who should never have been arbitrarily detained," committee head Andreina Baduel told AFP.

"Although they are not entirely free, we will continue working for their full freedom and that of all political prisoners."

The release conditions of the prisoners were unclear. AFP requested details from the Prosecutor's Office but there was no immediate response.

According to relatives' accounts, the detainees were held at the Tocoron maximum-security prison in Aragua state, about 134 kilometers (83 miles) from the capital Caracas.

"We must remember that there are more than 1,000 families with political prisoners," said Baduel, whose father Raul Isaias Baduel, a general who died in prison in 2021, was a former ally of the late president Hugo Chavez.