Venezuela’s acting president pledges to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez said Wednesday that her government will continue to release prisoners held under former President Nicolas Maduro in what she called a “new political moment” since he was ousted by the United States earlier this month.

That appeared to be an understatement for Maduro loyalists who are now tasked with appeasing an unpredictable US president, who has said he will “run” Venezuela, while also consolidating power in a government that has long opposed US intervention.

Rodriguez opened her first news conference since Maduro’s capture by US forces with a conciliatory tone. Speaking to reporters from the red carpet at the presidential palace in the capital, Caracas, she provided assurances that the process of releasing detainees – a move said to have been made at the request of the Trump administration – “is not over yet.”

The veteran lawyer and politician proposed, “A Venezuela that is opening up to a new political moment, and allows… political and ideological diversity.”

The Venezuelan Human Rights Organization estimates that about 800 political prisoners remain detained. This number includes political leaders, soldiers, lawyers and members of civil society.

“Great conversation”

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he had a “great conversation” with Rodriguez, their first since Maduro was arrested and flown to the United States on January 3 to face drug trafficking charges.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during the bill signing in the Oval Office. “And I think we get along very well with Venezuela.”

Unlike previous speeches to her domestic audience that echoed Maduro’s anti-imperialist rhetoric, Rodriguez did not mention the United States — or the astonishing pace at which relations between the two countries are developing.

But she criticized organizations that defend prisoners’ rights. She pledged “strict” enforcement of the law, and credited Maduro with initiating prisoner releases as a sign that her government does not intend a wholesale break with the past.

“Crimes related to the constitutional order are being assessed,” she added, in an apparent reference to detainees being held on what human rights groups say are politically motivated accusations. “Messages of hate, intolerance and acts of violence will not be allowed.”

She took no questions and was flanked by her brother and National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, as well as hardline Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello. She said Cabello was coordinating prisoner releases, which had drawn criticism for being too slow and secretive.

Walking on a tightrope

Trump enlisted Rodriguez to help secure US control over Venezuelan oil sales despite punishing it for human rights abuses during his first term. To ensure that his orders are carried out, Trump earlier this month threatened Rodriguez with “a situation perhaps worse than that of Maduro,” who is being held in a Brooklyn prison.

Maduro has pleaded not guilty to drug-related charges.

By endorsing Rodriguez, who has served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, Trump sidelined María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her campaign to restore democracy in the country. Machado is scheduled to meet with Trump on Thursday at the White House.

After a long career running Venezuela’s revered intelligence service, managing its vital oil industry and representing the revolution started by the late Hugo Chavez on the world stage, Rodriguez is now walking a tightrope, navigating pressure from both Washington and fellow hardliners who control the security forces.

“On the one hand, the regime wants to send a message inside Venezuela that it still has complete control and that the United States does not dominate,” said Ronal Rodriguez, a researcher at the Venezuela Observatory at the Universidad del Rosario in Colombia. He added, “On the other hand, this sends a message at the international level that there is gradual progress through the release of political prisoners. They are playing a game.”

Read more: Venezuelans in the United States are torn between joy and anxiety after Maduro’s ouster

These tensions were evident in her speech on Wednesday, which focused solely on the issue of prisoner releases. Foro Penal, Venezuela’s leading prisoner rights organisation, has verified the release of at least 68 prisoners since its interim government raised hopes of a mass release with a promise to release a “large number” of prisoners.

Foro Penal reported that at least ten prisoners were released on Wednesday, including political activist Nikmer Evans. The opposition leader’s party announced that Machado’s campaign staffers Julio Balza and Gabriel Gonzalez, whose detention was deemed political, were released on Wednesday.

Different numbers

Earlier this week, Rodriguez’s government released several American citizens, as well as Italian and Spanish citizens and opposition figures.

But Maduro was the first to initiate the prisoner release process, Rodriguez insisted, apparently backing away from White House claims that the prisoners were released due to US pressure. She said that Maduro oversaw the release of 194 prisoners last December because he “was specifically thinking about opening areas of understanding, coexistence and tolerance.”

It claimed that its interim government had released 212 detainees, without providing any evidence. Foro Pinal estimates that more than 800 prisoners remain detained in the Venezuelan prison system for political reasons, and has criticized the government’s lack of transparency.

Rodriguez did not address those complaints. Instead, she criticized “self-proclaimed NGOs” as having “tried to sell lies about Venezuela.”

“There will always be those who want to fish in troubled waters,” she said, and tried to present her first press conference as an attempt to counter false narratives and “allow the truth to be revealed.”

Associated Press writers Isabel Debre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Megan Janetsky in Mexico City, and Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.