 "Human rights activist Javier Tarazona (R) is greeted by his brother Jose Rafael Tarazona (L) and lawyer Omar de Dios Garcia after his release from prison at La Candelaria church in Caracas on February 1. (AFP)")
A prominent Venezuelan human rights activist was freed on Sunday after spending more than four years in detention at a Caracas prison. He later said his time behind bars was marked by intense suffering. His release comes as his case moves forward within a broader political prisoner amnesty under international pressure.
“The message remains the same: four years and seven months in prison did not silence the truth. The truth set me free,” Javier Tarazona told AFP in an interview, hours after being released from the Helicoide prison, where he was held on charges including terrorism and treason.
The 43-year-old said he spent “1,675 days in a dark place,” adding: “It cannot be possible for this kind of case to keep happening.”
Scenes outside church in Caracas
To cries of “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” and applause from Catholic faithful, he was taken from prison to the forecourt of a Caracas church.
Released outside the church – authorities often do not free inmates in front of prisons – Tarazona was reunited with his brother and his mother, Teresa de Jesus Sanchez Garcia, 71.
Then came Omar de Dios Garcia, an activist arrested while accompanying Javier Tarazona on July 2, 2021. The Tarazona brothers and De Dios, who at one point shared the same cell for four months, embraced for a long time.
“Javier is free at last,” his brother Rafael told AFP.
The men prayed together and then left, as the faithful at La Candelaria church clapped.
“People are applauding out of a great longing for freedom, out of hope for reunions among Venezuelans, out of joy,” Javier Tarazona said.
“People fervently wish that we can embrace one another with joy, with enthusiasm. Without fear.”
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The dissident’s release marked the latest step by Venezuela’s interim President, Delcy Rodriguez , to free political prisoners. She has been under pressure from Washington to free prisoners after the US ousted Nicolas Maduro on January 3 and declared it is in effect running the South American country.
He was freed two days after Rodriguez announced the closure of Helicoide and a general amnesty law.
This followed less than a month after US forces attacked Caracas and seized Maduro, whisking him and his wife, Cilia Flores, away to New York to face US drug-trafficking charges.
Prisoner figures
One of Venezuela’s most prominent jailed dissidents, Tarazona is among roughly 1,000 political prisoners, some of whom are gradually being freed as Venezuela seeks reforms after many years of authoritarian leftist rule.
The rights group Foro Penal says there are still 711 political prisoners held in Venezuela.
The government has started to release some, but relatives of those detained and rights groups say the process is too slow. The amnesty is expected to speed things up.
Tarazona is a major opposition figure in Venezuela. Amnesty International and other human rights groups had been calling for his release.
Tarazona, director of the rights NGO Fundaredes, had been imprisoned since July 2021. Besides treason and terrorism he was accused of incitement to hatred.
He is known for his role in reporting clashes between military forces and guerrilla groups along the porous 2,000-kilometer (1,240-mile) Colombia-Venezuela border.
Fundaredes had accused the Maduro government of harboring Colombian guerrilla leaders in Venezuela.🇻🇪