Venezuela prisoner releases: rights groups report differing totals as election calls grow

Venezuelan rights groups have reported new prisoner releases, with Foro Penal publishing a verified list of 20 people freed between 25 and 26 September. Other groups have reported higher totals, leaving the scale of the releases unsettled. The distinction matters to families seeking news of detainees and to those assessing the interim government’s reconciliation effort.

The releases came amid renewed calls for elections after interim President Delcy Rodríguez met US President Donald Trump in New York. The Venezuelan government had made no statement about the latest releases when the BBC reported on them, and had not said whether they were connected to that meeting.

What the groups have verified

Foro Penal said it had verified the release of 20 political prisoners. Its published list gives each person’s name, last detention centre and arrest date; the group said all 20 were Venezuelan nationals. It said releases were corroborated progressively from Friday 25 September into Saturday 26 September, and that it was continuing to check further cases and other people’s judicial status.

Among those on Foro Penal’s list is Miguel Alberto Castillo Cedeño, whose recorded arrest date is 21 June 2019. The list also names Franks Williams Cabaña Andara, arrested on 13 September 2017. Their inclusion identifies two long-held detainees whose releases the organisation says it verified; its 20-person list is a record of confirmed cases at that stage, rather than a stated final total for every release.

Justicia, Encuentro y Perdón, or JEP, initially said it had verified about 29 releases, according to EFE. It said 17 people among those released were outside its political-prisoner register under the organisation’s criteria for classifying cases. That qualification concerns how JEP keeps its register; it does not remove those people from the reported release count.

A later Al Jazeera/AFP report dated 27 September put JEP’s count at 39 releases. The 20 names verified and published by Foro Penal, EFE’s early range of 20 to 30, JEP’s initial figure of about 29 and its later figure of 39 are snapshots from different checks and times. The available reports do not reconcile them into one definitive total of political prisoners freed.

Dialogue and election demands

EFE reported that the releases followed a second round of political dialogue between the government and opposition. It also reported that the ruling side had said political prisoners were not discussed at the talks. The sequence establishes when the releases occurred, but the reporting does not establish that the dialogue brought them about.

The opposition coalition Plataforma Unitaria Democrática told EFE it had counted 33 political-prisoner releases since 21 August. That is a cumulative figure spanning more than a month, rather than a count of only the late September releases. The coalition called for further releases through a public and transparent process.

The BBC reported that Rodríguez’s administration had previously released hundreds of prisoners as part of a reconciliation effort, but that releases slowed in April after she said the scheme was coming to an end. The new cases therefore follow a period in which the pace of releases had itself become a point of criticism from opposition and rights groups.

Election demands form another part of the political context. The BBC reported renewed opposition calls for a vote after Rodríguez’s meeting with Trump. Rodríguez told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that elections would take place in Venezuela, but did not give a date. The BBC also reported that opposition vote tallies disputed the 2024 result, which had declared Nicolás Maduro the winner.

Questions that remain

The government’s lack of a statement leaves the reason for this round of releases unconfirmed. Neither the proximity of the political talks nor the meeting in New York establishes a cause. The reporting also does not establish whether everyone released has full freedom or remains subject to judicial restrictions. Foro Penal’s continuing case checks may clarify the names and status of additional people.