Jan 8 (Reuters) - Venezuelan-Spanish rights activist Rocio San Miguel has been freed in a prisoner release in theSouth American country, one source in the Spanish government and another in the Venezuelan opposition said on Thursday.
The release of San Miguel, an expert on topics including security, defense and Venezuela's military, was the first confirmed liberation after Venezuela's top lawmaker Jorge Rodriguez said earlier in the day that a significant number of both foreign and Venezuelan prisoners would be freed in the coming hours.
The liberations come during a week of political turmoil for Caracas, after the U.S. ouster of President Nicolas Maduro, his arraignment in a New York court on narcoterrorism charges, the swearing in of Interim President Delcy Rodriguez and announcements that the U.S. would refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of crude oil stuck in Venezuela under U.S. sanctions.
The U.S. Senate advanced a resolution on Thursday that would bar President Donald Trump from taking further military action against Venezuela without congressional authorization, paving the way for further consideration in the 100-member chamber.
Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, who has several close allies imprisoned, has repeatedly demanded releases.
Venezuela's opposition and human rights groups have said for years that the government uses detentions to stamp out dissent and silence critics and that arbitrary legal proceedings against activists, journalists, opposition politicians and others increased ahead of, during and after disputed 2024 elections, which the opposition and some international observers say the opposition won by a landslide.
Attorney General Tarek Saab and others in the government haverepeatedly denied that Venezuela holds political prisoners, withSaab saying those detained were arrested for various crimes.
San Miguel was detained in February 2024 at Maiquetia international airport near capital city Caracas, an arrest widely condemned on social media by opposition politicians and human rights groups.
Venezuelan authorities said they arrested some 2,000 people for their role in protests after the election anddespite several mass releases, leading local rights group Foro Penal estimates there are 863 political prisoners in the country, including people arrested before the vote.
That figure includes at least 86 foreign detainees, some of whom are facing criminal charges, from the United States, Spain and other countries.
Spain's Foreign Ministry said in an earlier statement it welcomed the release of five Spanish citizens, one of whom holds dual nationality, who are now preparing to travel to Spain, but did not give names. It added the releases were "a positive step in the new phase that Venezuela is entering."
(Reporting by Reuters and Corian Pons and Aislinn Lang in Madrid)
