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Venezuela’s government has moved to release some arrested in the post-election crackdown, but continues to pressure the opposition.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government has freed 103 people imprisoned following the country’s disputed July elections, which the opposition accused Maduro of stealing.
The citizen security service, headed by Minister Diosdado Cabello, announced this Thursday the release of the prisoner through a written statement.
He explained that Maduro had ordered the government to review “all cases related to acts of violence and crimes committed within the framework of the elections.”
The 103 prisoners were released during a 72-hour period, from Tuesday to Thursday. The service explained that his release was in addition to the “precautionary measures” granted to other detainees on November 26.
These “precautionary measures” also allowed the release of 225 prisoners but required them to appear in court once every 30 days, according to the attorney general’s office.
Despite such gestures, the government has rejected calls from the opposition and regional leaders to release data that could validate Maduro’s victory.
In the hours after the July 28 election, the Venezuelan electoral authority declared Maduro the winner of a third term, even though pre-election polls showed him trailing opposition leader Edmundo González by a seemingly insurmountable margin.
But critics immediately seized on the fact that officials in several key areas refused to release paper vote counts, a standard part of the electoral process in Venezuela.
Thousands of protesters flooded the streets in cities including the capital, Caracas, and the opposition released data that it said showed González won handily.
However, both the Venezuelan electoral authority and the country’s supreme court, which critics say is packed with loyalists, confirmed Maduro’s victory. And the government responded with harsh repression against both protesters and opposition members.
At least 28 people were killed and nearly 200 injured as security forces clashed with protesters across the country. Government figures indicate that around 2,000 people were arrested.
The opposition, which faced arrests and a series of candidate disqualifications even before the vote took place, has continued to face pressure since. Earlier this week, an opposition party called Vente Venezuela said three of its regional leaders had been detained.
González himself fled abroad to Spain in September, where he was granted asylum. “My departure from Caracas was surrounded by acts of pressure, coercion and threats,” he said at the time.
Opposition figures have also sought refuge in the Argentine embassy in Caracas, after arrest warrants were issued for them after the elections.
This week, Argentina’s government once again accused the Maduro government of harassing the opposition group seized inside the embassy, which includes four men and two women.
Embassies and consulates are considered “inviolable” spaces under international law, and local authorities are generally prohibited from entering without prior permission.
“The Venezuelan government has not only denied the safe conduct that would allow their safe exit but has adopted totally unacceptable harassment actions,” said Argentine Foreign Minister Gerardo Werhein, in statements before the Organization of American States (OAS) this week. .
“Asylum seekers are subjected to water cuts, electricity cuts, restrictions on the entry of food and the constant presence of security forces in the vicinity of the diplomatic headquarters.”
