UPDATE 1-Venezuela rights activist freed from notorious jail amid prisoner release

Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced a proposed "amnesty law" for hundreds of prisoners in the country, and said the infamous Helicoide detention center in the ⁠capital Caracas, which rights groups have long denounced as the site of prisoner abuse, will be converted into a center for sport and social services. Foro Penal says it has verified more than 300 liberations of political prisoners since the government announced the new series of releases on January 8.

Venezuelan rights activist Javier Tarazona has been freed in a prisoner release, legal rights group Foro Penal ‌said on Sunday, the latest high profile liberation in a weeks-long process that families of the detained say has moved too slowly. Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced a proposed "amnesty law" for hundreds of prisoners in the country, and said the infamous Helicoide detention center in the ⁠capital Caracas, which rights groups have long denounced as the site of prisoner abuse, will be converted into a center for sport and social services.

Foro Penal says it has verified more than 300 liberations of political prisoners since the government announced the new series of releases on January 8. It added on X on Sunday that several others had been released alongside Tarazona from ​the Helicoide. Tarazona is the director of FundaRedes, which tracks alleged abuses by Colombian armed groups and the Venezuelan military along the countries' border. He was arrested in July 2021, accused of ‍terrorism and conspiracy.

"After 1,675 days, four years and seven months, the day we've so wished for has arrived, my brother Javier Tarazona is free," Tarazona's brother Jose Rafael Tarazona said on X. "The freedom of one is hope for all." Government officials - who deny holding political prisoners and say those jailed have committed crimes - have given a much higher figure of releases, of more than 600, but have not been clear about the timeline and appear to be including ⁠releases from previous ‌years. The government has never provided an official ⁠list of how many prisoners will be released nor who they are.

Families of prisoners say the releases have progressed too slowly, and Foro Penal says more than 700 political prisoners remain jailed, an updated count including prisoners whose fearful ‍families had not previously reported their detentions. Families and rights advocates have long demanded that charges and convictions against detainees who are considered political prisoners be wiped. Opposition politicians, dissident members of the security services, journalists ​and rights activists have long been subject to charges like terrorism and treason, which their families say are unjust and arbitrary.

The proposed amnesty law could affect hundreds of ⁠detainees who remain behind bars in the South American country, as well as former prisoners who have already been conditionally released. Among the long-time advocates of releases and amnesty is Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who has ⁠several close allies imprisoned.

Many relatives of detainees - both well-known and lesser-known - have gathered outside prisons, even sleeping there, or have visited multiple detention centers in an effort to find out where their loved ones are being detained. The recent releases were announced after the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro and his arraignment in a New York court on narcoterrorism charges, which he ⁠denies. Among prominent still-detained figures are opposition politician Juan Pablo Guanipa and lawyer Perkins Rocha, both close allies of Machado, and opposition Voluntad Popular party leader Freddy Superlano. Those released so far ⁠include Rafael Tudares, the son-in-law of former opposition presidential ‌candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who was jailed for over a year, during which he was sentenced to 30 years on terrorism charges which his family has roundly denied.

A 2022 United Nations report claimed state security agencies subjected detainees at the Helicoide, originally designed as a mall, to torture. ⁠The government rejected the U.N.'s findings. The Venezuelan communications ministry, which handles all press queries for the government, did not immediately ‍respond to a request for comment.

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