Venezuela Releases 5 Prisoners Following Deal With Opposition

Venezuela's government released five prisoners Thursday night, after a deal was struck between the opposition and President Nicolas Maduro-led administration.

The opposition's head negotiator, Gerardo Blyde, revealed the names of the released individuals on X, formerly known as Twitter, which included Roland Carreno of the opposition party Popular Will and former legislator Juan Requesens of the Justice First party, along with three others.

Blyde also shared a photo with Carreno, noting that he was released at 11:50 p.m.

However, Venezuela's government has not officially announced the names of the freed prisoners yet.

The Venezuelan government and the opposition made a deal Tuesday to ensure the presidential elections will be held in the second half of 2024 and will be internationally monitored.

As part of another election deal, the United States on Wednesday eased some of the oil and gas sanctions against Venezuela.

The United States Treasury has issued "General Licenses authorizing transactions involving Venezuela's oil and gas sector and gold sector," and was "removing the ban on secondary trading" in debt securities.

The U.S. has also granted Venezuela time till November end to lift bans imposed on presidential candidates. Furthermore, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the administration to release all "wrongfully detained" and political prisoners.

United States Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian A. Nichols, said Thursday three citizens of the U.S. were wrongfully detained in Venezuela -- Eyvin Hernandez, Jerrel Kenemore, and Joseph Ryan Cristella.

While Hernandez was a Los Angeles public defender, Kenemore was a Texas computer programmer. Both were arrested early in 2022 on the charges of entering Venezuela from Colombia illegally.

Cristella, on the other hand, was arrested in September last year on the charges of crossing the border from Colombia. However, family members of all three people have denied these charges.

Before Maduro, Hugo Chávez had served as the president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013.

In June, María Corina Machado, who was among the favorites to win the opposition's presidential nomination, was banned from holding public office for 15 years.

Many international bodies including the European Union, Human Rights Watch and the Organization of American States have since condemned this move.