Venezuela's interim presidency announced on 8 January that it would release an "important number" of political detainees in a gesture of appeasement it insisted was unrelated to any U.S. pressure. The announcement was made by the Speaker of parliament Jorge Rodríguez (the interim president's brother), who also thanked three intermediaries - Brazil's president, a former Spanish prime minister and the state of Qatar - presumably for their role in the release of foreign detainees. Numbers however were scarce nor was there any loosening of the regime's police-state tactics on the streets. The rights group Foro Penal had counted 806 such prisoners as of 5 January, CNN reported on 8 January, while the few released early on appeared to be foreigners and some politicians. U.S. President Donald J. Trump wrote online on 9 January that the regime was freeing "large numbers of political prisoners," with a collaborative attitude that had avoided further U.S. strikes on the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment