Venezuela frees more anti-Maduro activists

Campaigners allege list is inflated and many of those freed are not political prisoners

Venezuela was freeing a second group of jailed opponents of President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday after admonishing them for alleged violent crimes against the socialist government.

The releases followed the reelection of Maduro in a vote last month that was condemned by Western nations as a farce cementing an autocracy in the South American Opec member.

Casting them as a peace gesture, the government said 40 activists were being released on Saturday, after 39 were freed on Friday.

Opposition charge

Many had participated in protests against Maduro in 2014 and 2017 that turned violent killing around 170 people.

Campaigners say the government inflated the list of releases by adding the names of some people who had already been freed and others who are not political prisoners.

The best-known among Saturday’s releases were politicians Wilmer Azuaje and Gilber Caro, plus Raul Baduel, the son of a dissident former general, opposition sources said.

Friday’s releases included Angel Rivas, a former army general, and Daniel Ceballos, former mayor of the restive city of San Cristobal. “Death to tyranny, long live liberty!” he said as he left jail late on Friday.

The releases have not included militant opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, the best known of Maduro’s detained critics. He was one of two popular rivals to Maduro who were barred from standing as candidates in the May 20 election.

“They should never have been in prison,” opposition leader Julio Borges said of Saturday’s releases via Twitter.