Venezuela releases 48 detainees under prisoner swap deal

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FILE PHOTO: Relatives of political prisoners hold balloons during a vigil outside the headquarters and detention centre of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) known as "Helicoide", in Caracas, Venezuela April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gaby Oraa/File Photo
CARACAS (Reuters) -Forty-eight Venezuelans detained by their own government have so far been released under the terms of a prisoner exchange agreed with the United States, legal rights advocacy group Foro Penal said on Monday.
The U.S. said last week that 80 people would be released from Venezuelan jails as part of the prisoner exchange, which saw the return home of over 200 Venezuelans detained in a notorious El Salvador prison.
A total of 57 people it classes as political prisoners have been released from Venezuelan jails, Foro Penal said on X, including 48 Venezuelans and nine Americans or U.S. permanent residents.
A tenth American released in the swap had not been counted as a political prisoner, the NGO added.
"We regret the absence of an official list that allows us to verify with more precision," the group said, adding that some lists in circulation have included people not classed as political detainees, people who had already been released and even prisoners who have died. "At Foro Penal we remain in coordination with families working to verify other cases."
The communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment about who is set to be released and whether any of them will be subject to house arrest or other alternatives to detention.
The main opposition coalition in Venezuela has cheered the release of the prisoners.
But the coalition said on Sunday nearly 1,000 people remain jailed in Venezuela for political reasons and 12 others have been arrested in recent days, in what it called a "revolving door" for political prisoners.
The Venezuelans who had been detained in El Salvador were sent there from the United States in March after U.S. President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang without normal immigration procedures.
The deportations drew fierce criticism from human rights groups and a legal battle with the Trump administration. Family members and lawyers of many of the men deny they had gang ties.
The former detainees arrived near Caracas on Friday, where some reunited with their families, but they have not yet returned to their own homes.
Yajaira Fuenmayor, the mother of former El Salvador detainee Alirio Guillermo Belloso, said on Sunday afternoon from her home in Maracaibo that she was preparing him arepas, traditional corn cakes, as a welcome.
"I can't stop thinking of the hunger my son went through. I have a salad ready, some grilled arepas because he loves them, and there is fish in the refrigerator to fry," she said.
The government has said the men will be medically evaluated and interviewed about their time in El Salvador before being released.
(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Julia Symmes CobbEditing by Rosalba O'Brien)