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Political prisoners freed in Venezuela as country vows to ‘rescue Maduro’
Venezuelan authorities released at least seven people, including Virgilio Laverde, youth coordinator for Machado’s Vente Venezuela party
Venezuela continued releasing political prisoners on Saturday, including a member of opposition leader María Corina Machado’s party, a week after President Nicolás Maduro was captured by US forces.
Venezuelan authorities released at least seven people, including Virgilio Laverde, youth coordinator for Machado’s Vente Venezuela party in the southern state of Bolívar, the human rights organization Foro Penal confirmed on X.
The release of political prisoners is one of the opposition’s main demands following the capture of Maduro on Jan. 3 and President Donald Trump’s claims that the US is running the oil-rich Latin American country.
Venezuela’s National Assembly head Jorge Rodríguez said on Thursday that a significant number of prisoners would be released as a gesture of peace. About two dozen people have been released so far, while Foro Penal estimates there are more than 800 political prisoners in the country.
Among the first prisoners released are Biagio Pilieri, a former lawmaker and Machado ally; Enrique Márquez, a former vice president of the opposition-led National Assembly and electoral authority, and five Spanish citizens.
Trump hailed the prisoner releases on Saturday, saying in a post on social media, “I hope those prisoners will remember how lucky they got that the USA came along and did what had to be done.”
Relatives of some political prisoners held a vigil with candles and photos of the detainees outside the infamous El Helicoide prison in Caracas.
Nicaragua also freed 20 political prisoners Saturday morning after increased pressure from the US, according to the Spanish newspaper El País — more prisoners than Venezuela has freed thus far.
“He remains strong”
During an event at a food market on Saturday, acting President Delcy Rodriguez said Venezuela won’t stop condemning Maduro’s detention. “We will not rest until we have President Maduro back; we are going to rescue him,” she said, without mentioning the new releases of prisoners.
The US issued a security advisory Saturday warning Americans in Venezuela about reports of armed militia groups “setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for evidence of US citizenship or support for the United States.”
Trump said he had canceled a second wave of attacks on Venezuela following cooperation from the South American nation, with American diplomats visiting Caracas, the country’s capital.
Maduro’s son, lawmaker Nicolas Maduro Guerra, said at a ruling party event on Saturday that his father’s lawyers had told him that he is doing fine. “A man they couldn’t defeat by any means, they had to use disproportionate force, but they didn’t defeat him. He remains strong,” Maduro Guerra added.
The US president signed an executive order on Saturday to safeguard Venezuelan oil revenue held in US Treasury accounts, shielding the funds from the Latin American country’s creditors and preventing its seizure to satisfy debts or other legal claims. The US may also remove some sanctions as early as next week to help facilitate oil sales, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters.
On Friday, major US oil executives expressed caution about Trump’s push for them to spend at least $100 billion to rebuild Venezuela, with the head of Exxon Mobil Corp. calling the nation currently “uninvestable.”
