Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez said Wednesday that hundreds of people have been released from government detention since December.
Some 194 releases took place in December 2025 under her predecessor Nicolás Maduro, she said in her first briefing to the press from the Miraflores Palace, “and as of today we can say that the total number of releases planned for these days has reached 406.”
It is not clear whether all 406 prisoners have already been released from custody.
However, Gonzalo Homiob, vice president of Foro Penal, a group that tracks prisoner releases in Venezuela, told CNN that since the government announced its new release effort on January 8, following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro by US forces, only 76 prisoners had been released.
After the raid on Maduro, US officials demanded that Venezuela release its political prisoners, according to a source familiar with a Trump administration briefing with key lawmakers earlier this month.
Both the Venezuelan opposition and foreign governments have long accused Maduro’s government of taking political prisoners, though Caracas has dismissed international reports on arbitrary detentions as “irresponsible, biased” and “interventionist.”
Rodríguez added on Wednesday that Venezuela is in a “new political moment, that allows for understanding from divergence and from political and ideological diversity, but it must be with respect.”
“It must be with respect toward others, it must be with respect for human rights,” Rodríguez said. “Messages of hate, intolerance, and acts of violence will not be allowed.”
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