only nine of 811 have been released

More than 24 hours after the announcement by the president of the Venezuelan Parliament, Jorge Rodriguezthat, as a gesture to “consolidate peace”, “a significant number of people” would be released, the main NGOs that record the number of detainees for political reasons speak of just nine confirmed releases.

According to the local organization Foro Penal, this is “a little more than 1%” of the total number of political prisoners which amounts, according to his particular count, to 811of which 87 are foreign nationals, including two Americans.

The wait and uncertainty that has marked the struggle of all the relatives has also been the mark of the release process that has just begun and whose lack of information or an official list of beneficiaries The measure led fathers, mothers, brothers, children and even pets to spend the nights of Thursday and Friday on the outskirts of Helicoide – where it is estimated that there are more than 50 political prisoners – and other penitentiary centers throughout the country.

Gladys Rosales is one of those who anxiously awaits the release of her daughter Emirledrindris Benítez, arbitrarily detained since August 5, 2018 and sentenced to 30 years in prison in the center of the National Institute of Women’s Guidance of Los Teques, on the outskirts of Caracas.

She and her other daughter have spent the last two days between the prison where Emirlendris is detained and the Helicoide. They have spent their money on tickets to get there and on food to wait for news.

“Let all those poor boys released unjustly imprisoned because that is not done. What they have done with my daughter and with all those poor people is not done, and up there there is a God who is seeing all those injustices that these people are doing,” said Gladys.

The first releases after the announcement of the head of Parliament and brother of the president in charge, Delcy Rodríguez, were confirmed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, who reported that four Spanish citizens and a woman of Venezuelan-Spanish nationality had already been released and were traveling to Madrid. The five released They arrived at the Madrid-Barajas Airport this Friday.

These are the Basque tourists Andrés Martínez Adasme, José María Basoa Valdovinos, the Canarian Miguel Moreno, the Valencian Ernesto Gorbe and the Spanish-Venezuelan Rocío San Miguel, activist and leader of the NGO Control Ciudadano who was detained for almost two years in El Helicoide.

The winner of the July 2024 elections, Edmundo González, denounced this Saturday that the regime has only released 1% of political prisoners, while families continue waiting, full of uncertainty.

“Human rights are not administered with delays or opacity,” González has warned on social networks, “prolonged waiting generates anguish, re-victimizes and deepens the damage already caused by arbitrary detentions and processes without guarantees.”

The first releases awakened hope that was ignited on January 3, with the American bombing, in the homes of each political prisoner. Many undertook journeys of up to six hours to reach the entrance to the prisons where their loved ones are being held.

a long night

While in El Helicoide people were accompanied by media and many citizens, in other prison facilities further away from the Venezuelan capital such as Rodeo I, Yre III and Tocorle, All located in central states of the country and neighbors of Caracas, each of those who were waiting for a political prisoner hugged another who shared the same situation.

Each arrival of a family member was accompanied with hugs and tears. All those who approached were not going to protest to demand releases or to claim any violation of the detainees’ guarantees.

For them it was a different meeting, one to “wait for freedom”as commented by Margaret Baduel, one of the daughters of General Raúl Isaías Baduel, who died in State custody, and sister of the political prisoner Josnars Adolfo Baduel.

But instead, they only happened four other releasesthose of political leaders Biagio Pillieri y Enrique Marquez, of the Second Sergeant Major of the National Army Larry Osorio and of the citizen Aracelis Balza.

Calculated by police officials so as not to unleash euphoria among those waiting outside the prisons, those released were secretly removed and handed over to their relatives in other places.

Citizens and the organizations that support them condemn the wait to which they have been subjected and describe it as “a form of psychological torture” and “cruel treatment” for people who have been waiting for months and even years or decades for justice for their loved ones.

“This wait, under precarious conditions, represents an extension of the victimization that the regime exerts on the emotional environment of the detainee,” said the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons of Venezuela, which assures that those released so far are 13.

To make up for the lack of official information, networks, word of mouth and help among those affected have been the way to survive the anxiety of the last few hours.

“What we want is an answer (…) They tell us that they are going to release so many and not others. “Tell us what they are going to do with our people!” is the plea of ​​Rosangela Morales, sister of political prisoner Ricardo David Fonseca, detained since 2020 and linked to an alleged military coup.

She and most of the relatives of the soldiers involved in this case live in regions distant from Caracas and to wait for their releases they have had to sleep in transport stations, go to the bathroom in wooded places or receive charity from someone from Caracas. But, despite the difficulties, he says that Everyone will continue waiting for the freedom they long for their loved ones..