Diosdado Cabello, secretary general of the PSUV. Photo: Con el Mazo Dando.
Cabello denied any links to NGOs in carrying out the prisoner releases.
The secretary general of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, reported this Monday that to date, 808 citizens who committed crimes in the country have been released from detention and, after a thorough review, have been set free.
“A decision was made that is not new, it dates back to December, involving a number of people who were detained, and we are counting on them getting to work, not that they continue guarimbeando, not that they continue killing people, burning people alive, or promoting intolerance, and those kinds of things,” he stated.
He emphasized that this action was suggested by President Nicolás Maduro. “We are carrying out a review requested by Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and requested by President Nicolás Maduro for coexistence and peace in this country, internally.”
Cabello made the information public during the customary press conference of the ruling party, where he denied any connection with NGOs in carrying out the releases. “No NGO has anything to do with any release,” he said. “I tell this to the families: when Foro Penal, when Provea sends you an invoice to charge you, do not pay them anything because they have nothing to do with these decisions.”
In this regard, he described as extortionists and blackmailers NGOs that are seeking to take credit for the releases and attempting to bill families for the supposed procedures. “There is no list here proposed by an NGO, but they want to charge the families; they are mafiosos, they are extortionists. We did not meet with any NGO for this,” said Cabello.
In this sense, he warned the families of detainees “not to let themselves be deceived or extorted.”
“They have nothing to do with the so-called NGOs, which for the most part are centers of extortion and blackmail against the families of detainees,” he added. “Whoever has a lot of money, let them pay them. But they did nothing for the release of their relatives.”
“We have insisted that there are no political prisoners here,” added Cabello. “There are people who committed crimes and they are being reviewed… whoever committed homicide, no [they will not be released]; drug trafficking, no; pedophilia, no.”
On the other hand, he stated that the government said it will request the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to verify the list of releases. “Here, there are people who committed crimes and they are being reviewed,” said Cabello. “We have nothing to hide… The acting president said it: let the High Commissioner come.”
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Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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Cameron Baillie is an award-winning journalist, editor, and researcher. He won and was shortlisted for awards across Britain and Ireland. He is Editor-in-Chief of New Sociological Perspectives graduate journal and Commissioning Editor at The Student Intifada newsletter. He spent the first half of 2025 living, working, and writing in Ecuador. He does news translation and proofreading work with The Orinoco Tribune.
