Venezuela frees 99 prisoners detained after post-election protests

Dec 26 (Reuters) - Venezuela freed 99 people jailed after last year’s election protests, the prisons authority said on Thursday, but rights groups said they believed the figure was lower despite growing pressure from Washington on President Nicolas Maduro.

The U.S. has amassed a huge military presence in the Caribbean, killed dozens in strikes on boats near the Venezuelan coast it alleges were carrying drugs, and seized two fully-loaded Venezuelan crude tankers. President Donald Trump has said it would be smart for Maduro to leave power.

Hundreds of people in Venezuela's capital Caracas and other parts of the South American nation took to the streets after the July 2024 presidential election, banging pots and pans and blocking roads, demanding the opposition be declared victors.

At least 2,000 people were arrested in post-election violence, according to the government, whose top prosecutor in the following moments announced the release of several groups of detainees, including dozens aged under 18.

Venezuela's electoral authority and Supreme Court said Maduro had won the election and that the protests sought to undermine his victory for a third six-year term.

Late on Christmas Day, the penitentiary services ministry said on social media that authorities had "decided to evaluate each case individually and grant precautionary measures in accordance with the law, which has led to the release of 99 citizens."

It said the group had been detained "for their participation in acts of violence and incitement to hatred following the 2024 election day."

The Committee for the Freedom of Social Activists, a local NGO, said on X that this "number does not correspond to reality."

Penal Forum, another NGO, said they had only been able to confirm the release of 45 people - 27 men, 15 women and three teenagers, who had been "arbitrarily detained for political reasons."

"We continue to verify other possible cases," it said.

Maduro's government says it does not have political prisoners but rather "imprisoned politicians" who seek to destabilize the country.

Earlier in December, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva that repression of civic space in the South American nation had intensified, stifling people's freedoms as journalists, activists, opposition figures and humanitarian workers face threats, harassment and arbitrary detention.

(Reporting by Reuters staff; Editing by Howard Goller)