Venezuela released citizens and foreigners from its prisons on Thursday in what a top government official described as a gesture to “seek peace” less than a week after former President Nicolas Maduro was captured by US forces to face federal drug-trafficking charges in New York.
Jorge Rodriguez, brother of Acting President Delcy Rodriguez and head of the National Assembly, did not specify who they would be releasing or how many people would be released. But he said the release of prisoners “is happening right now”.
Venezuelan authorities have freed political prisoners before, but the releases on Thursday were the first ones since Maduro was deposed.
Human rights groups were encouraged by the releases, but it was not clear yet whether this might represent the early stages of a government in transition or more of a symbolic effort to please the Trump administration, which has allowed Maduro’s loyalists to stay in control.
While a group of journalists, lawyers and human rights activists were freed on Thursday, the number of prisoners to be released remained unclear.
“Consider this a gesture by the Bolivarian government, which is broadly intended to seek peace,” Rodriguez said in an announcement publicised on television.
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