Guatire (Venezuela), 10 January (LaPresse/AP) – Second night of vigil for families of political prisoners in Venezuela outside various detention centres across the country to demand the release of their loved ones. By late Friday evening, five Spanish citizens, two political activists and two high-profile members of the opposition had been released. An impromptu support group formed outside the “El Rodeo” prison, a notorious facility in the city of Guatire, about an hour east of Caracas. Foro Penal, a Caracas-based organisation that defends prisoners, said that as of Friday morning, only nine of the 811 people it claims are being held in Venezuela for “political reasons” had been released. The Venezuelan government denies the existence of political prisoners.
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