14 Political Prisoners Released in Venezuela

At least 14 political prisoners, including eight teenagers, who had been detained after the presidential elections on July 28, have been released by Venezuelan authorities, a local non-governmental organization (NGO) reported today.

"We have verified 14 releases of political prisoners, post-election, including eight teenagers," announced Alfredo Romero, president of the NGO Foro Penal, on the social network X.

According to the organization, the releases took place as of Tuesday night.

The NGO Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners (CPLPP) also confirmed the releases based on information gathered from family members.

"They are all innocent people who should never have been arrested. We embrace their families who never lost hope or stopped demanding their release," the CPLPP also stated on the social network X.

According to the CPLPP, the releases took place in the states of Anzoátegui (east of Caracas), Lara (west) and Miranda (south of the capital).

According to the organization Foro Penal, Venezuela had, as of Tuesday, 1,913 people imprisoned for political reasons.

Last November, the Venezuelan Public Prosecutor's Office announced that it would review the cases of 225 of the 2,400 people who were detained following protests against the results of the presidential elections of July 28, in which President Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner and re-elected for a third consecutive six-year term.

On November 12, Maduro asked local authorities to review the legal proceedings of teenagers detained in the post-election protests, acknowledging the possibility that some kind of procedural error had occurred.

The Venezuelan opposition and many countries have denounced electoral fraud and demanded that the voting records be presented for independent verification.

The opposition claims that its presidential candidate, former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, obtained almost 70% of the vote in the election. Last November, the United States recognized Edmundo González Urrutia as the elected president of Venezuela.

The election results were contested in the streets, with demonstrations repressed by security forces, with authorities reporting more than 2,400 arrests, 27 deaths and 192 injuries.