Venezuelan opposition figure freed: assembly member

Venezuelan authorities have released opposition figure Yon Goicoechea after his arrest 14 months ago for allegedly possessing explosives, a National Assembly member said early Saturday.

Deputy Juan Andres Mejia declared the news on Twitter, also announcing the release of a local mayor who had spent 13 months in detention.

“Today Delson Guarate and Yon Goicoechea are reunited with their families. We cannot forget the injustice and suffering they have gone through,” he wrote.
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Goicoechea, a 32-year-old lawyer, was detained in August 2016 on charges of possessing explosives he allegedly planned to detonate at protests against President Nicolas Maduro.

After leading mass protests in 2007 against the late President Hugo Chavez, Goicoechea returned to crisis-stricken Venezuela in July 2016 after living nearly four years in the United States and Spain.

He is a member of the opposition party led by Leopoldo Lopez, who is under house arrest.