Venezuela frees more political prisoners amid post-Maduro talks

Venezuela freed dozens more political prisoners Friday, the government said, in a sign of progress in talks to reconcile the nation following Nicolas Maduro's ouster.

The Foro Penal rights group, which advocates for the release of alleged political prisoners, said six women had been released, including one accused of participating in an assassination plot against Maduro.

The government meanwhile said 131 people had been granted "alternative measures from incarceration," under the "Program for Peace and Democratic Coexistence."

AFP reporters witnessed scenes of tearful joy outside the El Rodeo I prison in Guatire, 50 kilometers (31 miles) east of the capital Caracas, as several former prisoners reunited with their families.

The move comes a day after opposition figure Dinorah Figuera vowed to fight for the release of political prisoners in formal talks with the interim government.

A first round of the US-brokered talks kicked off last week and wrapped up on Wednesday. The joint statement issued by both sides afterward did not address the issue of political prisoners.

Maduro, who had led Venezuela since 2013 with an increasingly authoritarian bent, was widely accused of arresting political opponents and other activists, often on trumped-up charges of coup plotting.

In the weeks after Maduro was seized by US forces, the interim government -- led by his deputy Delcy Rodriguez and under deep pressure from Washington -- allowed hundreds of prisoners to be freed.

Rodriguez also pushed through a historic amnesty law in February.

Before Friday's release, Foro Penal said more than 350 political prisoners remained behind bars.

"Political prisoner Emirlendris Benitez and five other women have been released," Foro Penal director Alfredo Romero said on X.

Benitez was among dozens of people arrested after an incident in 2018, in which two drones packed with explosives flew towards then-president Maduro as he addressed a military parade in Caracas.

The drones blew up, injuring seven soldiers.

Benitez, then four months pregnant, was arrested alongside her partner Yolmer Escalona. The couple denied involvement in the plot, but were both eventually sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Human rights groups have said that Benitez was tortured during her detention, leading to a miscarriage and partial paralysis.

In 2022, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called for her immediate release.

The reconciliation talks between the government and opposition are being led by Figuera and interim president Rodriguez's brother, National Assembly chief Jorge Rodriguez.

Notably absent from the table is exiled opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, who has said she will not stand in the way of the process.

Many Venezuelans are hopeful that the transition talks will lead to democratic elections, after Maduro's wins in 2018 and 2024 polls were rejected by the opposition and many foreign nations as fraudulent.

Maduro and his wife are being held in a New York prison as they await federal trial on drug trafficking and other charges.