Alejandro Pena Esclusa has said he needs cancer treatment while awaiting trial, and the court’s decision came four days after President Hugo Chavez urged authorities to allow parole or house arrest for inmates with serious health problems. Chavez made the remarks shortly before leaving for Cuba to undergo his own cancer treatment.
Pena’s wife, Indira Ramirez, said her husband’s lawyer informed her of the court’s decision.
“We hope that he’ll be home in the next few hours,” she told the Venezuelan television channel Globovision.
There was no immediate comment from Venezuelan authorities about Pena’s release.
Pena heads Fuerza Solidaria, a small conservative organization that opposes Chavez and other leftist Latin American governments while advocating free-market economics.
He was arrested on July 12, 2010, and charged with hiding explosives and weapons in his home. Pena has called the charges bogus and politically motivated. At the time of his arrest, his wife accused authorities of planting the explosives in a drawer of their 8-year-old daughter’s desk.
Pena has been jailed for the past year at the headquarters of Venezuela’s intelligence agency in Caracas. He has said he underwent surgery for prostate cancer one month before his arrest last year and requires additional cancer treatment.
Chavez’s opponents have been demanding access to medical care for Pena and seven other inmates with health problems, describing them as “political prisoners.”
The others include five former police officials who have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 17 to 30 years for their alleged roles in killings during a protest march that preceded a short-lived 2002 coup against Chavez. The former officials, who insist they are innocent, suffer from ailments ranging from glaucoma to cancer.
Another government opponent, former police official Jose Sanchez, has hypertension and other health problems. He is serving a 19-year sentence for homicide.
Government opponents also cite the high-profile case of Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni, who has been detained since 2009 for conditionally releasing banker Eligio Cedeno, who was charged with corruption. Chavez had demanded a stiff sentence for Afiuni, but she was granted house arrest earlier this year after she said doctors had detected irregularities in her breasts and bladder.
During a Cabinet meeting Saturday, Chavez said a priest friend had mentioned concerns about the health of some inmates.
“Here in Venezuela there are no political prisoners,” Chavez said, adding that what the country does have are some “imprisoned politicians.”
Chavez said all prisoners who have shown that they have a serious illness, whether those singled out by the opposition or others, should be granted permission to return home for “all the medical treatment they need.”
