Caracas releases leave two different prisoner counts
Venezuelan rights group JEP verified releases after Friday's government-opposition talks, but its own accounts put the number leaving prison at 29 and 39. It said 17 of the people in its tally were outside its political-prisoner register under its criteria for the charges against them. Another account reports 39 releases, while Foro Penal is checking cases individually. The political-prisoner register may change by a different amount from the release total, leaving the final count unsettled.
Geopolitics··Midday
A Friday-night release, two totals
Venezuelan prisoners left detention centres between Friday, 25 September, and Saturday after the interim government and opposition held a second round of talks. The public accounts carried by El Diario and Al Jazeera both report 39 releases linked to the round. Rights group Justicia, Encuentro y Perdón, which tracks detentions and checks individual exits, supplied the count. Eight women accused of narco-terrorism in 2021 were among those reported freed; this describes the charge, not a finding that it was proved. The talks proceeded with Washington's approval. The release total matters because it marks a tangible result from negotiations that have otherwise moved slowly, while leaving a separate question about how many political prisoners remain on rights groups' registers.[1], [2]
Names verified while the count is checked
The JEP material carried by El Diario also contains a lower figure. Its embedded post, published on Saturday morning, says the group had directly verified 29 people leaving prison overnight. The page's lead gives 39. JEP said 17 of the people in its verification were not on its political-prisoner register under its criteria for the charges brought against them; exclusion did not diminish the importance of their release. The group said it was still checking cases and would update its total. Foro Penal, another Venezuelan legal-rights organisation, was conducting its own case-by-case check before a full balance. Its vice-president Gonzalo Himiob confirmed that Frank Cabañas left El Rodeo IV in Miranda state and Miguel Castillo Cedeño left Ramo Verde, where he had been held since June 2019. Other groups also reported that Justo Daza, Cosme Alcalá, Juan Fredd Acosta, Juan Torres and Leonardo Chirinos were freed; they were linked to Operación Gedeón, an alleged 2020 attempt to overthrow Maduro. These are named exits even though the overall totals are not yet reconciled.[1]
The talks behind the exits
Al Jazeera's account puts Foro Penal's latest published total at 344 political prisoners as of 18 September, down from 391 on 10 August. Its report also places six of the 39 released people among those accused of working with the United States in a 2020 attempt to overthrow Nicolás Maduro. That accusation is not a judicial finding in the retained account. An amnesty law enacted in February under US pressure has been followed by releases at a slow pace, and families have continued protesting outside the US embassy in Caracas and El Rodeo I prison. JEP said it would keep demanding freedom for people still held. Foro Penal's next balance will show which newly released people were counted in its earlier total; the number who left prison cannot simply be subtracted from 344.[2]
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