The Venezuelan government announced on Monday that 116 political prisoners have been released from prison “in recent hours,” framing the move as part of an effort to placate Donald Trump more than a week after the U.S. capture of President Nicolás Maduro, who was seized along with his wife in a U.S. operation and brought to the United States.
However, human rights groups and opposition figures in the Latin American country say the actual number of detainees freed is significantly lower. The son of one detained opposition leader warned Trump that the government “is trying to deceive him.”
Maduro steps down from helicopter on way to court in New York
On Thursday, Venezuela said it would begin releasing detainees considered political prisoners by rights groups — both Venezuelan and foreign nationals — as a “gesture of goodwill,” in the wake of Maduro’s capture and his arraignment in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges. The U.S. alleges that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores — who was also arrested in the American operation — used Venezuela’s state apparatus to amass huge profits by trafficking thousands of tons of cocaine.
Trump said the release of prisoners in Venezuela was done at the request of the United States and praised the government of interim President Delcy Rodríguez. “They’re great, they gave us everything we wanted,” he said of Rodríguez and her ministers.
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Opposition leader María Corina Machado, US President Donald Trump, interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez
(Photos: Lev Radin/Shutterstock, Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB / AFP, Omar Havana/Getty Images)
The Venezuelan government denies that it holds political prisoners in its detention facilities. In a statement from the Bureau of Prisons, it described the 116 released detainees as individuals whose “liberty was removed due to acts related to undermining constitutional order and endangering the nation’s stability.” The statement followed three days of reports from human rights groups about delays in the releases. The organization Foro Penal reported Monday that only 41 prisoners have actually been freed so far, with 24 released overnight.
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Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro transferred to court in New York
(Photo: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
According to Foro Penal, around 800 political prisoners were held in Venezuelan jails at the start of 2026. Their release has been a longstanding demand of the opposition, human rights organizations and international bodies. Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado — who is scheduled to meet with Trump this week — has been one of the most prominent voices calling for the release of detainees, including several of her close allies.
Machado, who fled Venezuela for Oslo in a covert operation, was in the Vatican on Monday, where she met Pope Leo. She asked the pope “to intervene on behalf of those detained and disappeared” in Venezuela. Although Trump has so far preferred to cooperate with Rodríguez and her government, and disappointed the opposition by saying that new elections in Venezuela are not currently necessary, Machado told the pope that “the victory over evil is near."
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Families of political prisoners wait outside prison for their loved ones' release
(Photo: Ariana Cubillos/AP)
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Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado meets Pope Leo at the Vatican
(Photo: Vatican Media / AFP)
The son of one Venezuelan opposition leader, Ramón Guanipa, warned Trump that Venezuela’s government is trying to mislead him and is not fulfilling its commitment to free a significant number of political prisoners at this stage. Ramón told the BBC that Trump is unaware that Venezuela has so far released only about 40 political prisoners from its prisons. “I want to tell Trump not to let them deceive him, and that he needs to keep pressing them,” Ramón said of Venezuelan government officials.
“I want to thank President Trump for the pressure he is exerting — he is our greatest ally in this situation,” the opposition leader’s son told the BBC. However, he cautioned the U.S. president that, contrary to expectations, the pace of releases has not been adequate at this time.
Following the Venezuelan government’s weekend announcement of a mass release of political prisoners, family members gathered outside prisons, waiting for the release of their loved ones.