GUATIRE, Venezuela (AP) \u2014 Venezuela released a number of imprisoned high-profile opposition figures, activists and journalists \u2014 both citizens and foreigners \u2014 Thursday in what the government described as a gesture to \u201cseek peace\u201d less than a week after former President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro was capture.<\/b>
\nVenezuela released a number of imprisoned high-profile opposition figures, activists and journalists \u2014 both citizens and foreigners \u2014 Thursday in what the government described as a gesture to \u201cseek peace\u201d less than a week after former President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro was captured by U.S. forces to face drug-trafficking charges.
President Donald Trump, who has been pressuring Maduro allies now leading the country to fold to his vision for the future of the oil-rich nation, said the releases came at the request of the United States. In the interview on Fox News on Thursday night, Trump praised the government of acting President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, saying: \u201cthey’ve been great. . Everything we\u2019ve wanted, they\u2019ve given us.\u201d
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Jorge Rodr\u00edguez, brother of the acting president and head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, said a \u201csignificant number\u201d of people would be freed, but as of late Thursday night it was still not clear who or how many people would be released. The U.S. government and Venezuela’s opposition have long demanded the widespread release of imprisoned politicians, critics and members of civil society. The Venezuelan government insists it doesn\u2019t hold political prisoners.
\u201cConsider this a gesture by the Bolivarian (Venezuelan) government, which is broadly intended to seek peace,\u201d he announced.
Among those released was Biaggio Pilieri, an opposition leader who was part of Nobel Peace Prize winner Mar\u00eda Corina Machado\u2019s 2024 presidential campaign, according to Foro Penal, an advocacy group for prisoners based in Caracas. Also released was Enrique M\u00e1rquez, a former electoral authority and candidate in the 2024 presidential election, the organization said.
Videos posted by journalists on social media show M\u00e1rquez and Pilieri embracing loved ones on the streets outside the prison. One video showed M\u00e1rquez beaming and video-calling family members, saying, \u201cSoon I will be with you all.\u201d
Five Spanish citizens \u2014 including the prominent Venezuelan-Spanish lawyer and human rights activist Roc\u00edo San Miguel \u2014 were also released in the afternoon and, as the night wore on, reports trickled out of more detainees walking free. Relatives who waiting for hours outside one of the prisons on the outskirts of Caracas briefly chanted, \u201cLibertad! Libertad!\u201d
Venezuela’s government has a history of releasing people imprisoned for political reasons \u2014 including real and perceived opponents \u2014 during moments of high tension to signal openness to dialogue. The releases on Thursday were the first since Maduro was deposed.
Human rights groups and members of the opposition were encouraged by the move, though it wasn\u2019t clear yet what it represented \u2014 whether the growing pains of a government in transition or a symbolic overture to placate the Trump administration, which has allowed Maduro\u2019s loyalists to stay in power as it exerts pressure through crippling sanctions.
For opposition leader Machado \u2013 whom Trump has snubbed by endorsing Rodr\u00edguez to lead the transition \u2014 the gesture was \u201can act of moral restitution.\u00a0\u00bb
\u201cNothing brings back the stolen years,\u201d she said in an audio message from exile addressed to families of released detainees, urging them to take comfort in the knowledge that \u201cinjustice will not be eternal and that the truth, though badly wounded, eventually prevails.\u201d
Alfredo Romero, president of Foro Penal, expressed cautious hope \u00ab\u00a0that this is indeed the beginning of the dismantling of a repressive system in Venezuela . and not a mere gesture, a charade of releasing some prisoners and incarcerating others.\u201d
Despite a widespread crackdown during the tumultuous 2024 election \u2014 in which the government said it detained 2,000 people \u2014 Venezuela’s government denies that there are prisoners unjustly detained, accusing them of plotting to destabilize Maduro\u2019s government.
Romero’s organization said that as of Dec. 29, 2025, there were 863 people detained in Venezuela \u201cfor political reasons.\u201d
The Spanish government said Thursday that five of its citizens, including dual national San Miguel, had been released from custody in Venezuela and would soon return to Spain.
Speaking to Spanish broadcaster RNE, Spanish Foreign Minister Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares identified the other Spanish nationals released as Andr\u00e9s Mart\u00ednez, Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Basoa, Ernesto Gorbe and Miguel Moreno.
Two of them, Mart\u00ednez and Basoa, were arrested in Venezuela in September 2024 and accused of plotting to destabilize Maduro\u2019s government as Spanish spies \u2014 allegations vehemently denied by Spain.
Spain\u2019s El Pa\u00eds newspaper reported Thursday that another freed detainee, Gorbe, was arrested in 2024 on allegations of overstaying his visa.
As the news of the release broke Thursday, families of detainees rushed to prisons across the country, seeking information on their loved ones.
Pedro Dur\u00e1n, 60, was among those hoping to reunite with his brother Franklin Dur\u00e1n as he waited outside a prison in the town of Guatire, around 25 miles (43 kilometers) outside of Caracas. Dur\u00e1n said his brother was detained in 2021 on charges of trying to overthrow Maduro\u2019s government \u2014 an accusation his family denies.
Dur\u00e1n, who has been living in Spain, heard rumors on Wednesday that the government could release a number of detainees and immediately bought a plane ticket from Madrid to Caracas to find his brother.
\u201cI don\u2019t have words to express the emotion I\u2019m feeling,\u201d Dur\u00e1n said. \u201cWe\u2019re feeling a lot of hope . We\u2019re just waiting now.\u201d
Despite the anticipation, fear persists.
\u201cOf course everyone here is very scared, but what more could (the government) do to us that they haven\u2019t done already,\u201d he added.
Ronal Rodr\u00edguez, a researcher at the Venezuelan Observatory at the University of Rosario in Bogot\u00e1, Colombia, said the government releases prisoners at politically strategic moments.
In July last year, Venezuela released 10 jailed U.S. citizens and permanent residents in exchange for the repatriation of over 200 Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador, where they had been held in a prison built to house criminal gangs.
\u201cThe regime uses them like a bargaining chip,\u201d he said of prisoners in Venezuela. It will be telling to see not only how many people the government releases, he said, but also under what conditions and whether the releases include anyone high-profile.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration sought to assert its control over Venezuelan oil, seizing a pair of sanctioned tankers transporting petroleum and announcing plans to relax some sanctions so the U.S. can oversee the sale of Venezuela\u2019s petroleum worldwide.
Both moves reflect the administration\u2019s determination to make good on its effort to control the next steps in Venezuela through its vast oil resources after U.S. President Donald Trump pledged after the capture of Maduro that the U.S. will \u201crun\u201d the country.
Trump on Thursday night said that Machado may be visiting Washington next week and that he may be meeting with her.
\u201cI understand she\u2019s coming in next week some time and I look forward to saying hello to her,\u201d Trump said in the Fox News interview with Sean Hannity. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve heard that she wants to do that.\u201d
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Associated Press reporters Jorge Rueda and Ariana Cubillos in Caracas, Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires and Suman Naishadham in Madrid contributed to this report. Janetsky reported from Mexico City.
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Follow AP\u2019s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/latin-america<\/p>\n