Venezuela frees first 80 activists
CARACAS: Authorities on Saturday released some of those detained during demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government, a rare 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.
Among the first freed was Alfredo Ramos, mayor of the northwestern municipality of Iribarren, who was arrested in July and handed a 15-month sentence, and a dozen police officers from Cha- cao municipality, an opposition stronghold here.
State television showed images of Rodriguez meeting the group.
“You go back to jail for the medical check and then go home to spend Christmas with your families,” she said.
“I feel happy for my freedom. It was a hard test, quite difficult,” Ramos said upon his release.
But, he also lashed out at his sentence, saying it was an arbitrary, unjust detention as he committed no crime.
The fate of those imprisoned has been a subject of negotiations between the government and opposition in the Dominican Republic, as both sides seek a solution to the country’s grave political and economic crisis. A third round of talks is set for Jan 11 and 12.