Venezuelan opposition leader son-in-law released after 380 days in detention

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Rafael Tudares Bracho, the son-in-law of Venezuelan opposition figure Edmundo González, was released on Thursday after being held incommunicado for more than a year, said his wife, Mariana González, daughter of the former presidential candidate.

The release comes just two months after Tudares was sentenced to 30 years in prison and occurs amid a recent wave of political prisoner releases announced by the acting government of Venezuela after former President Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces to face drug-trafficking charges.

“After 380 days of unjust and arbitrary detention — having endured more than a year of the inhumane reality of enforced disappearance — my husband Rafael Tudares Bracho returned home this morning,” González said on X. “It has been a stoic and profoundly difficult struggle.”

Tudares Bracho was arrested just days before Maduro’s inauguration for a third term. His wife denounced the legal proceedings as a sham, noting that his trial took place in a single 12-hour session on Nov. 28, resulting in convictions for “conspiracy, terrorism, and criminal association.” It was not until Jan. 16 that Mariana González was granted her first 25-minute visit with her husband since his arrest.

The release of Tudares Bracho comes as families of Venezuelan prisoners hold vigils outside prisons and demand the release of nearly 800 imprisoned critics, journalists and members of the opposition still detained in the South American nation.

As of Tuesday, Venezuela’s leading prisoner rights organization, Foro Penal, had verified the release of 145 people it considers “political prisoners.” Around 775 more remain in detention, according to the organization’s leader, Alfredo Romero.

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