Star Metro - Prominent Venezuelan activist released after over four years in jail

This was the latest step by interim president Delcy Rodriguez to free prisoners under pressure from the United States after it ousted Nicolas Maduro on January 3 and declared it is in effect running this country.

To cries of "Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!" and applause from Catholic faithful, the 43-year-old dissident was taken to the forecourt of a Caracas church after being released from Helicoide prison.

"Javier is free at last," his brother Rafael told AFP.

Javier Tarazona, one of Venezuela's most prominent jailed dissidents, is among roughly 1,000 political prisoners, some of whom are gradually being freed as Venezuela seeks reforms after many years of authoritarian leftist rule.

Released outside the church -- authorities often do not free inmates in front of prisons -- Tarazona was reunited with his brother and his mother, Teresa de Jesus Sanchez Garcia, 71.

Then came Omar de Dios Garcia, an activist arrested while accompanying Javier Tarazona on July 2, 2021. The Tarazona brothers and De Dios, who at one point shared the same cell for four months, embraced for a long time.

The men prayed together and then left the church, as the faithful at La Candelaria church clapped.

"People are applauding out of a great longing for freedom, out of hope for reunions among Venezuelans, out of joy," Javier Tarazona told AFP. "People fervently wish that we can embrace one another with joy, with enthusiasm. Without fear."

He was freed two days after Rodriguez announced the closure of Helicoide and a general amnesty law.

This in turn came less than a month after US forces attacked Caracas and seized Maduro, whisking him and his wife Cilia Flores away to the United States to face US drug-trafficking charges.

"The message remains the same: four years and seven months in prison did not silence the truth. The truth set me free," said Tarazona, who was incarcerated for 1,675 days.

Tarazona is a major opposition figure in Venezuela. Amnesty International and other human rights groups had been calling for his release.

The rights group Foro Penal says there are still 711 political prisoners held in Venezuela.

The government has started to release some, but relatives of these detainees and rights groups say the process is too slow. The amnesty is expected to speed things up.

Tarazona, director of the rights NGO Fundaredes, had been imprisoned since July 2021. Besides treason and terrorism he was accused of incitement to hatred.

He is known for his role in reporting clashes between military forces and guerrilla groups along the porous 2,000-kilometer (1,240-mile) Colombia-Venezuela border.

Fundaredes had accused the Maduro government of harboring Colombian guerrilla leaders in Venezuela.

US President Donald Trump says he is now running Venezuela and has allowed Rodriguez to be interim leader so long as she toes Washington's line -- in particular granting US access to Venezuela's vast oil reserves.

Rodriguez has quickly moved to overhaul Venezuelan society in ways sought by the Trump administration.

"The closure of the Helicoide does not solve the problem of injustice in this country. If closing the Helicoide means erasing a memory, I believe we have to work to ensure it does not happen again," Tarazona said.

O.Ouellet--SMC