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The government of Venezuela announced on Thursday that it will release a “significant number” of imprisoned Venezuelans and foreigners as a gesture to consolidate peace and coexistence, five days after the U.S. military intervention in the South American country and the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro.
“These release processes are happening from this very moment,” declared Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly and brother of interim president Delcy Rodríguez, to the press. He pointed out that the decision responds to a desire to consolidate "peaceful coexistence among all, regardless of political, religious, economic, or social background."
Rodríguez, a close collaborator of the deposed Venezuelan leader, did not specify how many people would be released.
Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed in a statement the release of five Spaniards, “one of them a dual national citizen, who are preparing to travel to Spain” assisted by the Spanish embassy in Caracas, stating they receive “this decision as a positive step in the new stage that Venezuela is in.”
Foro Penal, one of the most prestigious civil organizations in Venezuela, said that as of December 29 there were 863 people detained in the South American country “for political reasons.” Authorities deny the existence of “political prisoners” and accuse the detainees of conspiring to destabilize the government.
In a post on X, the director of the forum, Alfredo Romero, said the releases were “good news” in a country that has been shaken by political unrest in recent days.
“We will be verifying every release. We already know of some people on the path to freedom, including foreigners,” noted Romero.
After the National Electoral Council (CNE), a collegiate body with a pro-government majority, declared Nicolás Maduro the winner of the 2024 presidential elections —amid questioning by the opposition and the international community— opposition sectors alleged fraud, leading to street protests, repression, arrests, and reports of human rights violations. At least 2,000 people were detained then, according to official figures.
The U.S. government and the country’s opposition have demanded the release of opposition figures and government critics.
Margareth Baduel, a relative of a prisoner, was waiting with other people outside El Rodeo prison, located in the central state of Miranda, about 30 kilometers from Caracas, which has been under the scrutiny of human rights organizations.
“We are very anxious for these releases; some have already taken place, mostly at El Helicoide... There are more than 120 political prisoners. We are here, mostly family members, waiting for God to bless us with this good news,” said Baduel. El Helicoide operates in one of the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and were originally short-stay dungeons, but that changed.
Pedro Durán, brother of a prisoner, stated: “What can I say? I am happy, I just arrived in the country and received this incredible news that it will finally happen: the release of these people deprived of liberty.”
In Argentina, friends and family of Argentine detainees in Venezuela are gathering at a brick-walled community center in Buenos Aires, the country's capital, praying and waiting for news of the release of their loved ones. Greetings and laughter alternated with tense silence.
Among those waiting was María Alexandra Gómez, the Venezuelan girlfriend of Nahuel Agustín Gallo, an Argentine non-commissioned officer who entered Venezuela from Colombia more than a year ago to visit his in-laws and never returned. Gallo’s continued detention has intensified the already high tension between both countries. The Venezuelan prosecution claims that Gallo is being held on terrorism charges, something his family flatly rejects.
Gómez told The Associated Press that they are confident that the news of the release will be given to them this Thursday.
“If it’s not today, may it be as soon as possible, because we have fought very hard for a very long time to be living this moment, to be living the moment in which the prisons of Venezuela are opened,” added Gómez, 33, hugging her 2-year-old son, Víctor, and wearing a shirt calling for Nahuel’s release.
When asked if the government would be talking to all opposition sectors —including the one led by opposition figure and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado— Jorge Rodríguez, president of the legislature, stated that dialogue exists with sectors outside of extremism.
“We are talking to political institutions, to political parties, and to organizations with political purposes that abide by and adhere to what is established in the Constitution of the Republic,” the legislator noted, without mentioning Machado, whose whereabouts remain unknown.
Hours after the U.S. attack, the opposition leader stated on her social media that Maduro “is facing international justice for the heinous crimes committed against Venezuelans and against citizens of many other nations.” She added that in the 2024 presidential elections, Edmundo González Urrutia was elected as the legitimate president of Venezuela and “must assume his mandate immediately.” "Today we are prepared to assert our mandate and take power.”
Trump has said for his part that the United States will administer the country and that Machado lacks the “support” or “respect” to lead Venezuela.
Hours later, via her social media, in a message addressed to the families of the released prisoners, Machado stated that “the truth, which was persecuted and silenced for years, manages to break through from arbitrariness, cruelty, and fear."
For many years, “even decades, their families have held the fierce weight of a conviction that was not in any file. Nothing brings back these stolen years, nothing erases long nights or irreparable absences,” but with the releases, “what we always knew is recognized, that injustice will not be eternal,” she noted.
“We will not rest until all prisoners are free and the entire Venezuela can embrace in full democracy and Liberty,” she affirmed.
Maduro was captured in the early hours of January 3, along with his wife Cilia Flores, in a daring U.S. military operation in Caracas and subsequently transferred to U.S. territory, where both appeared on Monday before a court in New York to face the narcoterrorism charges for which they are accused by President Donald Trump’s administration. The deposed leader pleaded not guilty.
Last Monday, meanwhile, Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as president replacing Maduro before the National Assembly, which has an overwhelming pro-government majority. Constitutionally, she was first in the line of succession.
The former vice president and foreign minister under Maduro, among other prominent positions, took the oath as “interim president” for an indefinite period, because an “absolute absence” of the socialist leader was not declared, which would force, according to legislation, the holding of elections “within the following 30 consecutive days.”
Rodríguez is at the head of a group of high-ranking officials of the Maduro administration who now seem to control Venezuela.
[Publicidad]