US urges Venezuela to release remaining political prisoners

The US has urged Venezuela to release the remaining political prisoners being held in the South American country.

More than 1,000 political prisoners have been freed since US forces seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a military raid on Caracas on 3 January and took him to New York, where he faces trial on drug-trafficking and torture charges.

But Venezuelan prisoners' rights group Foro Penal says 322 people remain in detention.

The release of political prisoners has long been a demand made by Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.

Machado, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025, returned to Venezuela on 25 October after living in exile for almost a year. One of her first meetings was with relatives of political detainees.

Many of those in detention were arrested in the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) - which is dominated by government loyalists - declared the incumbent, Nicolás Maduro, the winner of the election even though copies of the voting tallies collected by the opposition and verified by independent media suggested that the opposition candidate had won.

The Carter Center, which had sent independent observers to Venezuela, also said that the election "could not be considered democratic".

Kaynak: BBC News World RSS (Açık Basın / Haber Servisi)