While welcoming the release of more than 100 prisoners of conscience, HRF calls on the Delcy Rodríguez dictatorship to immediately and unconditionally release the remaining 600 innocents who remain wrongfully imprisoned, many of whom have endured torture. World democracies must increase the pressure on Rodríguez’s de facto regime for all prisoners to be freed and for a transition to democracy to follow.
Over the weekend, the NGO @ForoPenal confirmed the release of more than 100 prisoners of conscience, bringing the total number of those released since Jan. 8 to 266. However, more than 600 prisoners of conscience remain unlawfully behind bars.
Among those released is Kennedy Tejeda, a lawyer and human rights defender for Foro Penal who was arbitrarily detained amid the regime’s brutal crackdown following the July 2024 elections. Tejeda was detained at a detention center, where he was checking on the status of others who had been arbitrarily detained for protesting the regime’s electoral fraud.
While this release is welcome news, some Venezuelan prisoners of conscience are not yet free. Rocio San Miguel, a prominent human rights defender who was recently released, remains barred from speaking publicly as a condition of her release imposed by the regime.
