Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez announces at a press conference the decision to release several national and foreign prisoners, January 8, 2025. Photo: Facebook/National Assembly of Venezuela.
The Venezuelan government, in collaboration with other state institutions, has decided to release a significant number of Venezuelan and foreign nationals from prison, in order to contribute to national unity and peaceful coexistence. This was announced by the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, on Thursday, January 8.
“These release processes are underway right now. Consider this gesture by the Bolivarian government, with its broad intention to seek peace, as part of the contribution that each and every one of us must make to ensure that our Republic continues its peaceful existence and pursuit of prosperity,” Rodríguez said in statements to the press.
He also expressed his gratitude to those who have always stood by the people of Venezuela to defend their right to life, self-determination, independence, and peace. He made special mention of former Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who for the past 10 years has been working with the Venezuelan government for national coexistence.
Jorge Rodríguez, who is also the national secretary of the National Council for Sovereignty and Peace, thanked the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the government of the Kingdom of Qatar, and the Venezuelan state institutions that “promptly responded to the call of the Bolivarian government under President in-charge Delcy Eloína Rodríguez.”
On the other hand, he clarified that the Venezuelan government does not hold talks “with any extremist sector, since they are the negation of politics,” but instead maintains an open dialog with political institutions, political parties, and other political organizations that abide by and adhere to what is established in the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. In this regard, he reiterated that the release from prison “is a unilateral gesture by the Venezuelan government” in its pursuit of peace.
On January 1, the Ministry for the Penitentiary Service announced the release of 88 individuals who had been detained “for crimes committed in the context of violent actions by extremist sectors following the July 28, 2024, electoral process.” A week earlier, the same office had announced the release of another 99 detainees “as a concrete expression of the Venezuelan State’s commitment to peace, dialogue, and justice.”
Venezuela’s Judiciary Releases 88 People Imprisoned for July 2024 Post-Electoral Violence
Some names of prisoners released
On Thursday afternoon, Venezuelan newspaper Últimas Noticias published the names of Venezuelans and foreigners released.
Following the announcement by the national authorities, five Spanish prisoners were released: four with exclusively Spanish nationality and the fifth with dual Spanish-Venezuelan nationality. The released prisoners are the Spaniards Andrés Martínez Adasme, José María Basoa, Miguel Moreno, and Ernesto Gorbe, and Spanish-Venezuelan Rocío San Miguel.
Similarly, Venezuelan citizens Javier Tarazona, former presidential candidate and former CNE vice president Enrique Márquez, and lawyer Perkins Rocha were also released.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
