\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t By Martina Jaureguy and Facundo Iglesia. Cover image: Venezuelans in Buenos Aires hold a sign saying \u201cVenezuela I want you to be free\u201d during 2024 elections. By Anita Pouchard Serra<\/p>\n
The head of Venezuela\u2019s National Assembly, Jorge Rodr\u00edguez, announced on Thursday the release of a \u201csignificant number\u201d of Venezuelans and foreign nationals who have been held in the country\u2019s prisons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
International human rights groups have consistently accused the country of holding political prisoners.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor peaceful coexistence, the Bolivarian government, together with state institutions, has decided to release a significant number of Venezuelan and foreign nationals,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez said in a press conference at the Venezuelan Assembly.<\/p>\n
His announcement comes five days after members of the United States military attacked military facilities in the Caribbean country, seized then-President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, and took him to New York in an intervention that shocked the world.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The prisoner release] is a unilateral gesture of peace and was not agreed upon with any other party,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez said, adding that the prisoners were being freed \u201cas we speak.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over 900 political prisoners \u201cMy understanding is that the process of issuing release tickets has already begun, but we don\u2019t have confirmation that the first release has been carried out yet,\u201d Oscar Murillo, who coordinates human rights organization PROVEA, told the Herald. \u201cIt is very likely for that to happen today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murillo said that the organization estimates 400-500 prisoners could be released, \u201csince there are over 900 people arrested for political reasons in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chavista governments \u2014 named after Maduro\u2019s predecessor and mentor, Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, whose political movement has ruled Venezuela since 1999 \u2014 have made similar statements in the past. However, Thursday\u2019s announcement has been interpreted as a result of the U.S. intervention in Venezuela on Saturday.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters who asked about the release of political prisoners that the U.S. government had not \u201cgotten to that yet\u201d and that the administration was focused on \u201c[fixing] up the oil.\u201d However, on Tuesday, during a 90-minute speech to House Republicans in Washington, he called Maduro \u201ca violent guy\u201d who tortured and \u201ckilled millions of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a torture chamber in the middle of Caracas that they\u2019re closing up, but he\u2019s tortured people,\u201d he said, in an apparent reference to El Helicoide, a high-profile pyramid-shaped prison and torture center that has become an emblem of Maduro\u2019s repression.<\/p>\n
Since Monday, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, a Maduro loyalist who was vice-president, has been ruling the country with Trump\u2019s endorsement. Delcy is the sister of Jorge, who made Thursday\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n
Following Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s announcement, Vente Venezuela, the political party led by opposition leader Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, demanded \u201cfreedom for all political prisoners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Argentine prisoners in Venezuela There are currently two Argentine men considered to be political or arbitrary prisoners in Venezuela: Nahuel Gallo and Germ\u00e1n Giuliani. According to Foro Penal, a human rights institution focused on political prisoners, there is also an Argentine-Venezuelan detainee.<\/p>\n
Military police officer Nahuel Gallo was arrested in December 2024 while trying to enter Venezuela from Colombia. He said he wanted to visit his partner and son, but was accused of espionage as part of an alleged plot against the Venezuelan government. In January 2025, authorities released videos of Gallo to show he was alive and well, but did not disclose where he was being held.<\/p>\n
You may also be interested in: Insults, arrests, and an embassy siege. A look at the Milei-Maduro relationship<\/p>\n
The Argentine government has repeatedly demanded Gallo\u2019s release.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Germ\u00e1n Giuliani arrived in Venezuela in April 2025 for a work trip. He was arrested on May 23. His family says they haven\u2019t heard from him since December 21 and that he was arrested for having an Argentine accent. He was accused of being \u201ca terrorist, drug-trafficker and mercenary,\u201d his wife, Virginia Rivero, told TN news channel.<\/p>\n
In September, rights watchdog Human Rights Watch and the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners in Venezuela nonprofit released a report stating that many political prisoners were not allowed phone calls or visits, even from their family, sometimes for a year or more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lack of communication and denial of visits has become a form of torture,\u201d the organizations wrote.<\/p>\n
Most of the 19 cases the organizations analyzed were in the Helicoide.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Argentine senator Patricia Bullrich called the releases \u201cgreat news,\u201d adding that the government wants Gallo and Giuliano \u201cback home with their families.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is happening thanks to the decision and action of the United States and Nicol\u00e1s Maduro being imprisoned,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Martina Jaureguy and Facundo Iglesia. Cover image: Venezuelans in Buenos Aires hold a sign saying \u201cVenezuela I want you to be free\u201d during 2024 elections. By Anita Pouchard Serra The head of Venezuela\u2019s National Assembly, Jorge Rodr\u00edguez, announced on Thursday the release of a \u201csignificant number\u201d of Venezuelans and foreign nationals who have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":24321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1442,54,330,7286,6968,306],"tags":[2188,183,6965,7285,6966,904],"class_list":["post-24320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-human-rights","category-latin-america","category-nicolas-maduro","category-political-prisoners-in-venezuela","category-us-strike-on-venezuela","category-world","tag-human-rights","tag-latin-america","tag-nicolas-maduro","tag-political-prisoners-in-venezuela","tag-us-strike-on-venezuela","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}