Venezuela announces release of significant number of local and foreign prisoners

By Martina Jaureguy and Facundo Iglesia. Cover image: Venezuelans in Buenos Aires hold a sign saying “Venezuela I want you to be free” during 2024 elections. By Anita Pouchard Serra The head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, announced on Thursday the release of a “significant number” of Venezuelans and foreign nationals who have been held in the country’s prisons.  International human rights groups have consistently accused the country of holding political prisoners. “For peaceful coexistence, the Bolivarian government, together with state institutions, has decided to release a significant number of Venezuelan and foreign nationals,” Rodríguez said in a press conference at the Venezuelan Assembly. His announcement comes five days after members of the United States military attacked military facilities in the Caribbean country, seized then-President Nicolás Maduro, and took him to New York in an intervention that shocked the world. “[The prisoner release] is a unilateral gesture of peace and was not agreed upon with any other party,” Rodríguez said, adding that the prisoners were being freed “as we speak.” Over 900 political prisoners “My understanding is that the process of issuing release tickets has already begun, but we don’t have confirmation that the first release has been carried out yet,” Oscar Murillo, who coordinates human rights organization PROVEA, told the Herald. “It is very likely for that to happen today.” Murillo said that the organization estimates 400-500 prisoners could be released, “since there are over 900 people arrested for political reasons in the country.” Chavista governments — named after Maduro’s predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chávez, whose political movement has ruled Venezuela since 1999 — have made similar statements in the past. However, Thursday’s announcement has been interpreted as a result of the U.S. intervention in Venezuela on Saturday. On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters who asked about the release of political prisoners that the U.S. government had not “gotten to that yet” and that the administration was focused on “[fixing] up the oil.” However, on Tuesday, during a 90-minute speech to House Republicans in Washington, he called Maduro “a violent guy” who tortured and “killed millions of people.” “They have a torture chamber in the middle of Caracas that they’re closing up, but he’s tortured people,” 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’s repression. Since Monday, Delcy Rodríguez, a Maduro loyalist who was vice-president, has been ruling the country with Trump’s endorsement. Delcy is the sister of Jorge, who made Thursday’s announcement. Following Rodríguez’s announcement, Vente Venezuela, the political party led by opposition leader María Corina Machado, demanded “freedom for all political prisoners.” Argentine prisoners in Venezuela There are currently two Argentine men considered to be political or arbitrary prisoners in Venezuela: Nahuel Gallo and Germán Giuliani. According to Foro Penal, a human rights institution focused on political prisoners, there is also an Argentine-Venezuelan detainee. 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. You may also be interested in: Insults, arrests, and an embassy siege. A look at the Milei-Maduro relationship The Argentine government has repeatedly demanded Gallo’s release. Lawyer Germán Giuliani arrived in Venezuela in April 2025 for a work trip. He was arrested on May 23. His family says they haven’t heard from him since December 21 and that he was arrested for having an Argentine accent. He was accused of being “a terrorist, drug-trafficker and mercenary,” his wife, Virginia Rivero, told TN news channel. 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.  “The lack of communication and denial of visits has become a form of torture,” the organizations wrote. Most of the 19 cases the organizations analyzed were in the Helicoide.  Argentine senator Patricia Bullrich called the releases “great news,” adding that the government wants Gallo and Giuliano “back home with their families.” “This is happening thanks to the decision and action of the United States and Nicolás Maduro being imprisoned,” she said.