Relatives of detainees, activists, and human rights organizations gathered this Sunday, September 28, in front of the Italian embassy in Caracas to demand the release of political prisoners in Venezuela. The mobilization is part of the #CanonizaciónSinPresosPolíticos campaign, which seeks to raise awareness of the crisis and call on Pope Leo XIV for his mediation with Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
The organizers delivered an open letter to the Vatican describing the canonization of José Gregorio Hernández and Carmen Rendiles, scheduled for October 19, as “a unique opportunity for freedom, peace, and reconciliation.”
María Corina Machado: “Intercede for each of our kidnapped heroes”
Opposition leader María Corina Machado supported the campaign and called for international solidarity:
“Today we raise our voice to demand a canonization without political prisoners. We ask His Holiness, Pope Leo, and all people of good will around the world to intercede for each of our kidnapped heroes,” she expressed in a message shared on social media.
Machado emphasized that Venezuelans are fighting “for freedom, for justice, for truth, and for family” and urged that the country’s most important religious event in recent history not be overshadowed by repression.
823 political prisoners according to Foro Penal
According to figures from the Foro Penal, there are currently 823 political prisoners in Venezuela. The Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners (Clipp) promoted the digital initiative for citizens inside and outside the country to sign the document addressed to the Pope.
The text denounces “arbitrary detentions,” prolonged isolation, forced disappearances, and mistreatment, practices that—according to relatives and NGOs—affect not only opposition leaders but also citizens from various social backgrounds.
International resonance and diplomatic pressure
The campaign also involves foreign governments. NGOs confirmed that among the prisoners are at least seven citizens with Italian nationality. Italy’s Foreign Ministry has already managed the release of two Italian-Venezuelans in August and is maintaining negotiations for other detainees.
Activists like Andreína Baduel specified that the letter is part of a set of actions that will be deployed before the canonization, seeking to leverage the symbolism of the religious event to demand guarantees for fundamental rights.
The regime denies the existence of political prisoners
Despite the denunciations, Maduro’s regime and the prosecutor’s office insist that there are no political prisoners and that all detainees face proceedings for common crimes.
Human rights organizations reject this argument and maintain that it is retaliation for exercising dissent.
The relatives emphasized that celebrating “the jubilee of hope and the canonization without political prisoners would be a gesture of immense will and a historic step toward peace.”
Source: Infobae