Venezuela frees more political prisoners

Bloomberg

A group of 40 political prisoners in Venezuela were expected to be released on June 2, a day after President Nicolas Maduro granted conditional freedom to at least 39 people.
The group includes at least six members of the opposition Voluntad Popular party, lawmaker Adriana Pichardo said.
It doesn’t include the party’s founder, Leopoldo Lopez, though National Assembly lawmakers Gilber Caro and Renzo Prieto are said to be among those being released.
Two of those due to be let go — Raul Emilio Baduel and Gregory Sanabria — were held in jails in the countryside and Caracas. Friday’s group included the former mayor Daniel Ceballos, imprisoned since 2014 for allegedly encouraging violent protests in his home state.
The political prisoners in the first group slated for release include some arrested during anti-government rallies over the past three years amid pitched confrontations with state security forces and Maduro’s militant supporters. Others are tied to an attack against lawmaker Teodoro Campos on April 2 while he toured downtown Caracas with former presidential candidate Henri Falcon, according to a list of names shared by Supreme Court President Maikel Moreno.
“In the next hours we will continue working on measures of this kind relating to other people,” Constituent Assembly President Delcy Rodriguez said in a televised address before an audience in Caracas that featured political prisoners set to be freed. “This is the first step towards what Venezuela should be, as we move away from hate and intolerance.”
The announcement followed Maduro’s internationally condemned re-election on May 20, and as the government tries to stave off sanctions that have cut into the nation’s financial lifeline and targeted the regime’s top leaders.
Maduro, speaking after the prisoners’ release, said he wants to expand his policy of “pacification” as part of a process of national reconciliation and dialogue.