Venezuela frees first of 80 opponents in good will move
enezuelan authorities late Saturday began releasing some of those detained during demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government, a goodwill gesture to the opposition at the end of a politically torrid year.
Delcy Rodriguez, the president of the assembly and head of its Truth Commission investigating the protests, said that Christmas was “a moment of reconciliation” as she announced the decision to release around 80 people, AFP reported.
Among the first freed was Alfredo Ramos, mayor of the northwestern municipality of Iribarren, who was arrested late July and handed a 15 month sentence, and a dozen police officers from Chacao municipality, an opposition stronghold of Caracas.
State television showed image of Rodriguez meeting with the group.
“You go back to jail for the medical check and then you go home to spend Christmas with your families,” she said.
“I feel happy for my freedom,” Ramos told journalists upon his release. “It was a hard test, quite difficult.”
Venezuela, which is located on the northern tip of South America, was the scene of months-long violent protests earlier this year. That unrest was caused by political differences as well as acute shortages of food and medicine.
The opposition Democratic Union Roundtable (MUD) coalition says it wants the government to open a “humanitarian corridor” to allow food and medicine into the crisis-hit country and guarantee “fair” presidential elections in Venezuela next year.
The government, for its part, has called on the opposition to work for the lifting of US sanctions, which Caracas sees as a main reason for the shortages in the country.
Some 125 people died in the clashes and hundreds more were injured. The violence also led to arrests and caused widespread economic damage.
Maduro has repeatedly accused the United States of orchestrating a plot to topple his government. He accuses Washington of sabotaging the economy of the country with the largest oil reserves in the world, causing shortages and dissatisfaction. He has also accused the US of inciting unrest by openly siding with the opposition.