CARCAS: Venezuela’s head of parliament on Friday promised the speedy release of remaining political prisoners during a meeting with their relatives in which he promised to correct the government’s “mistakes.”
“By Friday (February 13) at the latest they will all be free,” Jorge Rodriguez, a former member of ousted leader Nicolas Maduro’s inner circle, told prisoners’ families outside the notorious Zona 7 detention center in Caracas.
“We are going to rectify all the mistakes that have been made.”
It was not clear whether he was referring to all remaining political prisoners — estimated to number around 700 by rights groups — or only those being held at Zona 7.
The meeting came a day after National Assembly members gave their initial backing to a draft amnesty covering the types of crimes used to lock up dissidents during 27 years of socialist rule.
