CARACAS, (Reuters) – Five people jailed in Venezuela, including two opposition leaders, were released yesterday, the opposition’s chief negotiator with President Nicolas Maduro’s government said.
Journalist Roland Carreno of the opposition party Popular Will, jailed in Venezuela, former legislator Juan Requesens, of Justice First, who was kept under house arrest, and three other people were released in the middle of the night, Gerardo Blyde said on his account on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Blyde also posted a picture of himself with Carreno he said was taken in Caracas.
Maduro’s government has not yet reacted to the confirmation by the opposition chief negotiator.
On Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration eased Trump-era sanctions on the Venezuelan oil and gas industry in response to an election deal reached between the Venezuelan government and the opposition.
Carreno, a former director of operations for Popular Will, was arrested in October 2020 and was on trial on charges of conspiracy and “financing terrorism in efforts to destabilise the country”.
Former deputy Requesens, had been under house arrest in Caracas since August 2020 after being in prison for more than two years as he was investigated for the explosion of two drones in 2018 at an event attended by Maduro.
For years, the opposition has urged the government to free over 200 people that NGO Foro Penal, recognised by the Organization of American States, considers are political prisoners.
