Venezuela releases imprisoned political figures and activists, which Trump says the United States has requested

Jorge Rodriguez, the acting president’s brother and speaker of Venezuela’s National Assembly, said a “large number” of people would be released, but as of late Thursday night, it was not clear who or how many people would be released. The US government and the Venezuelan opposition have long called for the widespread release of imprisoned politicians, critics and members of civil society. The Venezuelan government insists it does not hold prisoners for political reasons.

“Consider this a gesture on the part of the Bolivarian (Venezuelan) government that broadly aims to achieve peace,” he declared.

High-profile versions

Among those released is Biagio Belleri, an opposition leader who was part of Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado’s 2024 presidential campaign, according to Foro Penal, a prisoner advocacy group based in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. The organization said that Enrique Márquez, a former electoral official and candidate for the 2024 presidential elections, has been released.

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Videos posted by journalists on social media show Marquez and Belleri embracing their loved ones in the streets outside the prison. One of the videos showed a beaming Marquez calling his family members via video, saying: “Soon I will be with all of you.”

Five Spanish nationals – including prominent Venezuelan-Spanish lawyer and human rights activist Rocío San Miguel – were also released in the afternoon, and as night fell, reports leaked of more detainees walking free. Relatives who waited for hours outside a prison in Guatier, about an hour east of Caracas, briefly chanted: “Libertad! Libertad!” Meaning “Freedom! Freedom!”

Sergio Contreras, head of the NGO Refugees Without Borders kisses the head of Refugees Without Borders member Elsie Quijada as they await the arrival of Venezuelan-Spanish human rights activist Rocio San Miguel and other Spanish nationals, who were freed during a prisoner release in Venezuela, at Adolfo Suarez Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, January 9, 2026. Photo by Susana Vera – Reuters

Venezuela’s government has a history of releasing people imprisoned for political reasons — including real and perceived opponents — during moments of high tension to signal openness to dialogue. Thursday’s releases were the first since Maduro’s ouster.

The move has encouraged human rights groups and opposition members, though it was not yet clear what it represented — whether the growing pains of a government in transition or a symbolic show of appeasement from the Trump administration, which has allowed Maduro loyalists to remain in power while applying pressure through stifling sanctions.

“Nothing brings back stolen years.”

For opposition leader Machado — whom Trump snubbed by endorsing Rodriguez to lead the transition — the gesture was an “act of moral reparation.”

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“Nothing brings back the stolen years,” she said in an audio message she sent from exile to the families of released detainees, urging them to take comfort in the knowledge that “injustice will not last forever and that the truth, despite its deep wounds, will triumph in the end.”

Alfredo Romero, president of Foro Pinal, expressed cautious hope that “this is truly the beginning of the dismantling of the oppressive regime in Venezuela… and not just a gesture, or a charade to release some prisoners and imprison others.”

Despite a widespread crackdown in the wake of the turbulent 2024 elections — in which authorities said they detained more than 2,000 people — the Venezuelan government denies the existence of unjustly detained prisoners, and accuses them of conspiring to destabilize Maduro’s government.

Romero’s organization said that as of December 29, 2025, there were 863 people detained in Venezuela “for political reasons.”

The Spanish government announced Thursday that five of its citizens, including dual national San Miguel, have been released from custody in Venezuela and will soon return to Spain.

Speaking to Spanish radio RNE, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albarez identified the other Spanish citizens who were released as Andres Martinez, José María Pasoa, Ernesto Gorbe, and Miguel Moreno.

Two of them, Martinez and Pasoa, were arrested in Venezuela in September 2024 and accused of conspiring to destabilize Maduro’s government as Spanish spies – allegations strongly denied by Spain.

The Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Thursday that another released detainee, Jorbi, was arrested in 2024 on charges of overstaying his visa.

Families waiting outside prisons

As news of their release emerged on Thursday, families of detainees rushed to prisons across the country to obtain information about their loved ones.

Mariana Gonzalez, daughter of former presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, stands outside the Rodeo I prison where her husband is being held, in Guatier, Venezuela, Thursday, January 8, 2025, after National Assembly Speaker Jorge Rodríguez said the government would release Venezuelan and foreign prisoners. Photography by Mathias Delacroix/AP

Pedro Duran, 60, was among those hoping to be reunited with his brother Franklin Duran as he waited outside the prison in Guatier. Duran said his brother was arrested in 2021 on charges of trying to overthrow Maduro’s government, an accusation his family denies.

Duran, who lives in Spain, heard rumors on Wednesday that the government might release a number of detainees, so he immediately bought a plane ticket from Madrid to Caracas to find his brother.

“I have no words to express the emotions I feel,” Duran said. “We feel a lot of hope…we’re just waiting now.”
Despite the anticipation, fear remains.

He added, “Of course everyone here is very afraid, but what more can (the government) do to us, which it has not already done.”

“bargaining chip”

Ronal Rodriguez, a researcher at the Venezuelan Observatory at the University of Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia, said the government releases prisoners at politically strategic moments.

In July last year, Venezuela released 10 imprisoned US citizens and permanent residents in exchange for the return of more than 200 Venezuelans who had been deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador, where they were being held in a prison built to house criminal gangs.

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“The regime uses them as bargaining chips,” he said of prisoners in Venezuela. He said it would be important to know not only how many people the government has released, but also under what circumstances and whether the releases include anyone high-ranking.

The Trump administration on Wednesday sought to assert its control over Venezuelan oil, seizing a pair of sanctioned tankers transporting the oil and announcing plans to ease some sanctions so the United States can oversee the sale of Venezuelan oil around the world.

Both moves reflect the administration’s determination to make good efforts to control Venezuela’s next steps with its vast oil resources. Trump pledged after Maduro’s arrest that the United States would “run” the country.

Trump said Thursday night that Machado may visit Washington next week and that he may meet with her.

“I know she’s coming sometime next week, and I look forward to saying hello to her,” Trump said in a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity. “And I heard she wanted to do it.”

Associated Press reporters Jorge Rueda and Ariana Cubios in Caracas, Isabel Debre in Buenos Aires and Suman Nishadham in Madrid contributed to this report. Janetsky reported from Mexico City.