Venezuela releases dozens of prisoners in 2 days, hundreds more still detained

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s leading prisoner rights organization said Monday that dozens of prisoners were released over the weekend, as the United States continues to pressure the acting government to free hundreds of dissidents jailed under ousted leader Nicolás Maduro.

Alfredo Romero, president of Foro Penal, said in a post on X that 266 “political prisoners” had been freed since Jan. 8, when Venezuela’s acting government promised to release a “significant number” of prisoners in what it described as an effort to promote national reconciliation. At least 100 of these prisoners were released over the past two days, according to figures published by the group.

Maduro was captured by the United States in a raid Jan. 3 and was replaced by Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, a longtime ruling party insider, who is now the nation’s acting president.

“I am pleased to report that Venezuela is releasing its Political Prisoners at a rapid rate, which rate will be increasing over the coming short period of time. I’d like to thank the leadership of Venezuela for agreeing to this powerful humanitarian gesture!” U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post.

According to human rights groups, prisoners released this weekend included an opposition activist, a human rights lawyer and a journalism student who was jailed in March after he published complaints about his hometown’s sewage system and was charged with “inciting hatred.”

However, at least 600 dissidents remain detained in Venezuela, according to Foro Penal, including several members of the Vente Venezuela party, led by opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado.

On Friday, Rodríguez said that her administration had freed more than 620 prisoners, adding that she would ask the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to verify the release lists. On Monday, Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said in a news conference that 808 prisoners had been freed since December.

Human rights groups in Venezuela have accused the government of inflating the number of freed prisoners, while officials claim nongovernmental organizations are merely trying to undermine state credibility. Cabello said Monday there “were no political prisoners” in Venezuela. “Only people who committed crimes.”

Outside Venezuela’s prisons, relatives of detainees have held regular vigils to demand the release of those still behind bars.

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