Dozens of people held a vigil outside the Attorney General’s Office in Caracas on Wednesday, calling for the release of political prisoners—one day after Amnesty International (AI) reported a “surge” in enforced disappearances following Venezuela’s presidential elections nearly a year ago.

In 2024, protests erupted after President Nicolás Maduro’s controversial re-election on July 28, amid widespread allegations of fraud. Official figures reported 27 deaths and 2,400 arrests during the unrest.

With balloons, prayers, candles, and photos, families of the detainees demanded a review of the cases—some still under trial—and called for their release, as has occurred with about 1,900 previously detained individuals. Prosecutors have promised to meet with families next Tuesday.

“We need to keep the pressure on (…) and get a more concrete and secure response, because if there is no answer by Tuesday, we will gather again,” said Sorangel Arguinzones, whose 25-year-old son Jesús Jiménez was arrested in Mérida (west) 11 months ago. He is being held in Tocorón prison, one of the facilities designated for protesters, and is accused of “terrorism.” Jiménez, a former scientific police officer, is described by his mother as innocent.

“We have to stay in prayer and ask for our boys’ freedom (…) it’s been almost a year now,” added Karina Martínez, whose brother Daniel has been detained since January, following Maduro’s swearing-in.

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“My brother says: I’ve never been involved in politics,” she said.

Maduro was declared re-elected by the pro-government electoral authority without presenting the detailed vote count, as required by law.

In its report released Tuesday, Amnesty International warned of a “surge” in enforced disappearances over the past year. Of the 15 cases recorded, 11 people remain missing with their whereabouts and conditions still unknown.

Mexican marines seized half a ton of cocaine off the coast of the southern state of Oaxaca and arrested four people transporting it on a boat, authorities reported Wednesday.

The Mexican government has increased drug seizures and arrests amid pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to curb the flow of illicit substances into the United States, especially the deadly fentanyl.

The Secretariat of Public Security said in a statement that the drugs, packed in 14 bundles, were confiscated during a maritime surveillance operation, although the exact date was not disclosed. The shipment was valued at 130 million pesos (about 6.9 million dollars).

Since October 1, 2024, when President Claudia Sheinbaum took office, 45 tons of cocaine have been seized at sea, the Secretariat indicated.

On July 12, Trump threatened to impose 30% tariffs on Mexico starting August 1, accusing the country of failing to stop cartels “that try to turn all of North America into a drug trafficking playground.”

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The special prosecutor appointed by the Mexican government to investigate the case of the 43 disappeared students from the Ayotzinapa rural teachers’ college in 2014 has resigned, President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Wednesday.

The Ayotzinapa case has become a symbol of the more than 120,000 disappearances in Mexico, most of them since 2006, when the government launched a controversial military anti-drug operation.

Rosendo Gómez, who was appointed by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018–2024), decided to step down, the president said.

“It was his decision, saying ‘I have completed a term,’ and he chose to retire,” Sheinbaum stated during her usual morning press conference.

Mauricio Pazarán, who has worked in Mexico City’s prosecutor’s office and joined the Attorney General’s unit investigating the case last May, will replace him.

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Sheinbaum had previously indicated in May that the families of the 43 students had requested the replacement of the special prosecutor.

The students disappeared on the night of September 26, 2014, in the city of Iguala, Guerrero, in southern Mexico. They had traveled there to seize buses to take them to Mexico City for a protest.

During President Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration (2012–2018), authorities presented the so-called “historical truth,” claiming the 43 students were massacred by drug traffickers in collusion with the Iguala police.

However, these findings were dismissed by President López Obrador and experts from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) who investigated the case.

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