Families protest detention of Venezuelan activists, demand their release

Dozens of relatives and friends of Venezuelan opposition leaders, human rights defenders and others detained for their political activities protested Saturday outside a notorious prison in the capital to demand the immediate release of their loved ones.

The demonstration outside Helicoide prison in Caracas comes during mounting pressure on the government of acting President Delcy Rodriguez to release all people whose detentions months or years ago have been linked by their families and nongovernmental organisations to their political beliefs. Her government last month announced it would free a significant number of prisoners, but families and human rights watchdogs have criticised authorities for the slow pace of the releases.

Rodriguez last month also promised to close Helicoide, where torture and other forms of physical and psychological abuse of prisoners have been extensively documented. She said the facility, which was initially built to be a mall, would be turned into a cultural, social and sports centre for police forces and adjacent neighbourhoods.

Those gathered Saturday outside the facility included political activists released from prison over the past month. They joined families and friends in prayer before marching about two blocks to reach the doors of Helicoide, where they sang Venezuela's national anthem and chanted "Freedom! Freedom!"  "We, as family members, and I personally on behalf of my husband, Freddy Superlano, feel this is a mockery, a lack of respect," Aurora Silva, whose husband is a former lawmaker for the opposition, said. She was referring to the pace of releases since they were announced on January 8 by Rodriguez's brother and National Assembly leader, Jorge Rodriguez. "Releases have been carried out piecemeal, and I believe that's only prolonging the suffering of all the families outside the detention centres."  Silva's husband is being held at a facility outside Caracas.

The ruling party-controlled National Assembly this week began debating an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners. Such an amnesty is a central demand of the country's opposition and human rights activists, who have so far reacted only with cautious optimism and with demands for more information on the contents of the proposal.

Jorge Rodriguez on Friday posted a video on Instagram showing him outside a detention centre in Caracas and saying that "everyone" would be released no later than next week, once the amnesty bill is approved.

"Between next Tuesday and Friday at the latest, they'll all be free," he said from the location where the loved ones of detainees have spent weeks waiting for their release.

Delcy Rodriguez, who was sworn in as acting president after the capture of then-President Nicolas Maduro by the US military, has expressed hope that the law will help "heal the wounds left by the political confrontation" since the rise to power of the late Hugo Chavez, the self-proclaimed socialist leader who governed Venezuela from 1999 to 2013.