GUATIRE, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela on Thursday released a number of jailed high-profile opposition figures, activists and journalists, both citizens and foreigners, in what the government described as a “peace-seeking” gesture less than a week after former President Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces on drug-trafficking charges.
US President Donald Trump, who has pressured Maduro’s allies now leading the country to fulfill his vision for the oil-rich nation’s future, said the release came at the request of the United States. In the Fox News interview Thursday night, Trump praised the government of Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, saying, “they’ve been great … Everything we’ve wanted, they’ve given us.”
Jorge Rodríguez, the interim president’s brother and the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, said a “significant number” of people would be freed, but late Thursday it was still unclear who or how many people would be freed. The US government and Venezuela’s opposition have long called for the widespread release of imprisoned politicians, critics and members of civil society. The Venezuelan government insists it is not holding prisoners for political reasons.
“Consider this a gesture by the Bolivarian (Venezuelan) government, which is generally aimed at seeking peace,” he announced.
High profile releases
Among those released was Biagio Pilieri, an opposition leader who was part of the 2024 presidential campaign of Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, according to Foro Penal, a prisoner advocacy group based in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. Enrique Márquez, a former electoral authority and candidate for the 2024 presidential election, was also released, the organization said.
Videos posted by journalists on social media show Márquez and Pilieri hugging their loved ones on the streets outside the prison. A video showed Márquez beaming and making a video call to family members, saying, “Soon I’ll be with you all.”
Five Spanish nationals – including Venezuelan-Spanish lawyer and human rights activist Rocío San Miguel – were also released in the afternoon, and as the night wore on, reports emerged of more detainees walking free. Relatives who waited for hours outside a prison in Guatire, about an hour east of Caracas, briefly chanted: “Libertad! Libertad!” meaning “Freedom! Freedom!”
Venezuela’s government has a history of releasing people imprisoned for political reasons — including real and perceived opponents — at times of high tension to signal openness to dialogue. Thursday’s releases were the first since Maduro’s ouster.
Human rights groups and members of the opposition were encouraged by the move, although it was not yet clear what it represented — whether the growing pains of a transitional government or a symbolic opening to appease the Trump administration, which has allowed Maduro loyalists to stay in power while exerting pressure through crippling sanctions.
“Nothing brings back the stolen years”
For opposition leader Machado — whom Trump rejected by endorsing Rodríguez to lead the transition — the gesture was “an act of moral restitution.”
“Nothing brings back the stolen years,” she said in an audio message from exile to the families of the freed prisoners, urging them to take comfort in knowing that “injustice will not last forever and that truth, though badly wounded, ultimately prevails.”
Alfredo Romero, president of Foro Penal, expressed cautious hope “that this is really the beginning of dismantling a repressive system in Venezuela … and not a simple gesture, a charade to free some prisoners and incarcerate others.”
Despite a widespread crackdown in the wake of the scrupulous 2024 election — in which authorities said they detained more than 2,000 people — Venezuela’s government denies there are any wrongfully detained prisoners, accusing them of plotting to destabilize Maduro’s government.
Romero’s organization said that as of December 29, 2025, there were 863 people detained “for political reasons” in Venezuela.
The Spanish government said on Thursday that five of its nationals, including San Miguel, had been released from detention in Venezuela and would soon return to Spain.
Speaking to Spanish broadcaster RNE, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares identified the other freed Spanish nationals as Andrés Martínez, José María Basoa, Ernesto Gorbe and Miguel Moreno.
Two of them, Martínez and Basoa, were arrested in Venezuela in September 2024 and accused of plotting to destabilize Maduro’s government as Spanish spies – charges vehemently denied by Spain.
Spanish newspaper El País reported on Thursday that another released prisoner, Gorbe, was arrested in 2024 on charges of overstaying his visa.
Families wait outside the prison
As news of the release broke Thursday, inmates’ families rushed to prisons across the country, seeking information about their loved ones.
Pedro Durán, 60, was among those hoping to be reunited with his brother Franklin Durán as he waited outside the prison in Guatire. Durán said his brother was detained in 2021 on charges of trying to overthrow Maduro’s government – a charge his family denies.
Durán, who lives in Spain, heard rumors on Wednesday that the government might release a number of detainees and immediately bought a plane ticket from Madrid to Caracas to find his brother.
“I have no words to express the emotion I feel,” said Durán. “We feel a lot of hope… We’re just waiting now.”
Despite the anticipation, the fear persists.
“Of course, everyone here is very scared, but what more could (the government) do to us than they haven’t already done,” he added.
“A Bargaining Currency”
Ronal Rodríguez, a researcher at the Venezuelan Observatory at Rosario University in Bogotá, Colombia, said the government releases prisoners at politically strategic times.
Last July, Venezuela released 10 jailed US citizens and permanent residents in exchange for the repatriation of more than 200 Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador, where they were being held in a prison built to house criminal gangs.
“The regime uses them as a bargaining chip,” he said of the Venezuelan prisoners. It will be telling to see not only how many people the government releases, he said, but under what conditions and whether the releases include anyone high-profile.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration sought to assert its grip on Venezuelan oil, seizing a pair of sanctioned oil tankers and announcing plans to ease some sanctions so the US can oversee the sale of Venezuela’s oil worldwide.
Both moves reflect the administration’s determination to make good on its effort to control the next steps in Venezuela through its vast oil resources. Trump promised after Maduro’s capture that the US would “run” the country.
Trump said late Thursday that Machado could visit Washington next week and meet with her.
“I understand she’s coming sometime next week and I’m looking forward to greeting her,” Trump said in the Fox News interview with Sean Hannity. “And I heard she wants to do that.”
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Carablos, Isabel DeBre, said report and Sumanabos, Isabel. Janesky reported from Mexico City.
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