The Venezuelan government on Tuesday authorized the release of another 54 political prisoners, all military personnel, according to information confirmed by relatives of the detainees and support groups such as the Coalition for Human Rights and Democracy. Three of those released are women. According to data provided by Foro Penal official Gonzalo Himiob, most of them were part of the so‑called Operation White Armband, an alleged military conspiracy denounced by Venezuelan intelligence agencies four years ago. They had been held at Ramo Verde prison and the National Institute for Female Rehabilitation (INOF).

Seguir leyendo

El gobierno venezolano ha autorizado este martes la excarcelación de otros 54 presos políticos, todos militares, de acuerdo a información que pudo ser confirmada por familiares de los detenidos y algunas organizaciones vinculadas, como la Coalición por los Derechos Humanos y la Democracia. Tres de los presos excarcelados son mujeres. De acuerdo con la información suministrada por el directivo de la ONG Foro Penal, Gonzalo Himiob, la mayoría de ellos formó parte de la llamada operación Brazalete Blanco, una presunta conspiración militar denunciada por los organismos de inteligencia del gobierno venezolano hace cuatro años. Permanecían en la cárcel Ramo Verde y en el Instituto Nacional de Orientación Femenina, INOF.

Seguir leyendo

El poderoso ministro venezolano del Interior y de Justicia, Diosdado Cabello, ha lanzado este lunes un balde de agua fría sobre cualquier expectativa que lleve a una negociación liderada por María Corina Machado. Después de que la líder de la oposición se ofreciese a negociar con el chavismo, uno de los tres pilares que sostienen la cúpula chavista, ha dejado claro que no será con ella.

Seguir leyendo

Those were turbulent times. It was November 2024 and Nicolás Maduro was holed up inside Miraflores Palace, the Venezuelan presidential residence. When any foreign leader hinted to him that it might be time to leave power, he answered with a single word: “Never.” The police and intelligence services under his command detained thousands of people who had taken to the streets to protest the electoral fraud that Chavismo had perpetrated in plain view of the world. Protesters had pulled down bronze statues of Hugo Chávez across the country. Prisons were overflowing. The nation was on the brink of rebellion or a bloodbath — or both.

Seguir leyendo

The National Assembly of Venezuela, controlled by Chavismo, has taken a step toward ending the state monopoly over the electricity service, which has been in crisis with blackouts and other problems for two decades. A draft reform to the Organic Law of the Electric System and Service was approved in first reading; it is aimed at opening the field to private capital within a framework of long-term concessions.

Seguir leyendo

María Emely Delgado crossed paths with Carmen Navas several times this year: at the offices of the NGO Foro Penal, at the Public Ministry, and once at the El Rodeo prison on the outskirts of Caracas. Delgado is 63 years old, Navas was 82. Both were looking for their sons, who disappeared after being arbitrarily detained. Carmen Navas died 10 days after finding her son Víctor Hugo in a cemetery. She had spent 16 months searching for him. María Emely has still not found Jorgen. “You have to be in these shoes to know what this is like,” says the retired teacher, who has been wearing them for almost two years. “Her son had been missing for less time than mine; with Jorgen I’m now coming up on 22 months without news of him.”

Seguir leyendo