Venezuela Opposition Says 5 ‘Political Prisoners’ Released
- Release comes after Vatican-mediated talks started Sunday
- Opposition says it’s still planning to advance with agenda
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, right, looks at Vatican's pontifical council for social communications, Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli as he gives a speech at the meeting between Venezuela's government and opposition leaders for Vatican-backed talks, in a bid to defuse the country's political crisis, in Caracas on October 30, 2016.
Photographer: Carlos Becerra/Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesVenezuela’s opposition alliance said late Monday that the government of Nicolas Maduro released five opposition figures from jail in what could be the first sign of a political thaw after Vatican-mediated talks started up on Sunday.
“The first political prisoners have been liberated,” opposition alliance general secretary Jesus ‘Chuo’ Torrealba said in a post on his Twitter account, naming Carlos Melo, Marco Trejo, Andres Moreno, Andres Leon and Coromoto Rodriguez.