{"id":401299,"date":"2026-01-09T05:19:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T05:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/401299\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T05:19:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T05:19:07","slug":"venezuela-begins-releasing-political-detainees-to-consolidate-peace-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/401299\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela begins releasing political detainees to \u2018consolidate peace\u2019 | Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five days after the US seized Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>, Venezuela has announced it is releasing an \u201cimportant number\u201d of detainees in what the congressional president characterised as a gesture to \u201cconsolidate peace\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is unclear how many people are being freed. Human rights organisations working in the country estimate that Venezuela<\/a> holds between 800 and 1,000 political prisoners, most of them detained for taking part in protests after the 2024 election, widely believed to have been stolen by Maduro.<\/p>\n

The head of Venezuela\u2019s national assembly, Jorge Rodr\u00edguez, the brother of the acting president, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, said the move was a \u201cunilateral gesture to reaffirm our unbreakable decision to consolidate peace in the republic and peaceful coexistence among all\u201d.<\/p>\n

Venezuela\u2019s opposition leader, Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, hailed the move, saying it showed that \u201cinjustice\u201d would not prevail in the country. \u201cThis is an important day because it shows what we have always known: that injustice will not last forever and that truth, although it be wounded, ends up finding its way,\u201d she said in an audio message published on social media.<\/p>\n

Former opposition candidate Enrique M\u00e1rquez was among those released from prison, according to an opposition statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all over now,\u201d M\u00e1rquez said in a video taken by a local journalist who accompanied him and his wife, as well as another opposition member Biagio Pilieri, who was also released.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s foreign ministry also confirmed the release of five Spanish nationals, one of them a citizen with dual nationality, who it said were \u201cpreparing to travel to Spain with assistance from our embassy in Caracas\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpain, which maintains fraternal relations with the Venezuelan people, views this decision as a positive step in the new phase Venezuela is entering,\u201d the ministry said.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s foreign minister, Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares, told the public broadcaster RNE that the dual national was Roc\u00edo San Miguel<\/a>, a Spanish-Venezuelan lawyer, activist and human rights defender who was detained in February 2024 and accused by the regime of treason, conspiracy and terrorism in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate Maduro.<\/p>\n

Before Venezuela\u2019s announcement, estimates suggested there were more than 40 foreign nationals detained in the country, including about 20 Spaniards and five US citizens, among them James Luckey-Lange, 28, who disappeared in December and was being held at military counterintelligence headquarters in Caracas.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Donald Trump said Venezuela had \u201ca torture chamber in the middle of Caracas that they\u2019re closing up\u201d, without elaborating. In recent days, speculation has centred on the Helicoide de la Roca Tarpeya, an iconic structure inaugurated in 1956 as an avant garde shopping centre and later turned into a prison and torture site under Chavismo.<\/p>\n

El Helicoide de la Roca Tarpeya in Caracas, Venezuela. Photograph: Jes\u00fas Vargas\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Martha Tineo, the general coordinator of the NGO Justicia, Encuentro y Perd\u00f3n (Justice, Encounter and Forgiveness, or JEP), which monitors political detentions in Venezuela, said she had confirmed that some sections of El Helicoide are being vacated.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the Helicoide complex is vast. It not only houses the prison where political detainees are held, but also administrative offices of the Bolivarian National Police, and those are the areas that are being cleared \u2026 So we might assume that over the coming days \u2013 hopefully within a week, or however long it takes \u2013 we may indeed see the closure of that immense torture centre, but for now, that is not happening,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

JEP estimated that there were 1,017 political prisoners before Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s announcement. By 10.30pm UK time on Thursday, the organisation had confirmed only \u201caround eight or perhaps 10 political prisoners\u201d, but said it would not disclose names to avoid raising anxiety among families who have been waiting for months \u2013 and in some cases years \u2013 for news of their loved ones.<\/p>\n

The announcement of the detainees\u2019 release is being treated with caution by activists. In the days leading up to the US operation, the regime said it would release 187 people \u2013 99 on Christmas Day<\/a> and 88 on New Year\u2019s Day \u2013 but organisations were able to independently verify the release of only a portion of that total.<\/p>\n

Although she has so far confirmed only a few releases, Tineo remains hopeful. \u201cThe information we have is that it is very likely that many releases will take place \u2013 or at least that is what has been said [by the regime],\u201d she said, adding that the release process, which involves legal procedures, can take time, potentially days when dealing with large numbers of people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why we have been calling for composure and calm, to keep us united in both hope and vigilance,\u201d Tineo added.<\/p>\n

Alfredo Romero, the head of Foro Penal, an NGO that estimates there are still 806 political prisoners in Venezuela, posted that by early evening he had only been able to confirm five releases. \u201cWe expect the freedom of all political prisoners, not partial and conditional gestures,\u201d he wrote, referring to the fact that many people freed in recent months were granted only conditional liberty, subject to precautionary measures such as travel bans, mandatory court appearances and restrictions on speaking to the media about their cases.<\/p>\n

At a press conference announcing the decision, Jorge Rodr\u00edguez \u2013 who many believe is now effectively running the country alongside his acting-president sister \u2013 said that \u201cwithin a few minutes\u201d the public would learn \u201cthe nature of the people who are receiving the benefit of release\u201d, something that had still not happened hours later.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIn order to contribute and collaborate in the effort that all of us must make for national unity and peaceful coexistence, the Bolivarian government, together with the institutions of the state, has decided to free an important number of Venezuelan and foreign individuals, and these release processes are taking place from this very moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsider this gesture by the Bolivarian government, with its broad intention of seeking peace, as the contribution that all of us must make so that our republic can continue its life in peace and in pursuit of prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five days after the US seized Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, Venezuela has announced it is releasing an \u201cimportant number\u201d of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-401299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}