At the time of his arrest by U.S. forces earlier this month, Nicolas Maduro still held more than 800 political prisoners in Venezuelan detention facilities according to the independent Venezuelan human rights organization Foro Penal. His removal from power provides the United States with an opportunity to press Venezuela’s current leadership to unconditionally release all Venezuelan political prisoners, as well as foreign citizens held without access to due process of law.
Any reluctance to expedite these releases would signal that the current de facto authorities are either unwilling to fully cooperate with the United States or are unable to influence the vast network of political actors and security forces responsible for the detentions. Given their own deeply vested interests in the highly corrupt system that Maduro maintained, Venezuela’s interim leadership is also likely do the bare minimum to test how seriously the United States remains committed to neutralizing Venezuela’s underlying sources of criminality and instability.
The release of Venezuela’s political prisoners is crucial to setting the stage for an eventual transition to democracy in Venezuela, the best path forward for the country’s long-term stability and prosperity. It would mark a real break from Maduro’s vicious crackdown on freedom of speech, assembly, and association that saw upwards of 18,000 Venezuelans arrested for political reasons from 2013-2026.
Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly and the brother of Venezuela’s de facto president Delcy Rodríguez, raised hopes when he announced on Jan. 9 the government would free a “significant number” of Venezuelan political prisoners and detained foreigners as a gesture of goodwill and national unity. Yet days later, the current government’s ability and willingness to deliver on this promise appear vastly overstated.
Venezuelan authorities claimed over 400 individuals have been released, but this number is questionable. Venezuelan human rights organizations that have methodically tracked arbitrary detentions including Foro Penal, the Venezuelan Program for Education and Action on Human Rights (PROVEA), and the Committee for the Freedom of Social Advocates and Political Prisoners had only independently verified the release of 84 to 102 individuals who had been imprisoned for politically motivated reasons as of Jan. 15.
Among the first to be released after the announcement were five Spanish citizens who were promptly flown out of the country to Spain. This included Rocío San Miguel, a dual national of Venezuela and Spain and leader of a Venezuelan think tank that advocated for civilian control of the military, which the Bush Institute has previously highlighted. However, Venezuela’s prison authorities have not published the names of prisoners to be released nor provided information to family members.
Since Rodriguez’s announcement last Friday, the families of many political prisoners have held vigils outside of prisons, praying and waiting anxiously in case their loved ones are ultimately among the released. In some locations, student groups and human rights defenders have joined in a demonstration of conviction and bravery considering that regime leaders have continued to mobilize security forces and colectivos of locally organized gangs under an emergency decree that authorizes the arrest of anyone they accuse of collaborating with the United States’ military operation.
The Rodríguez government has used Maduro’s removal as a pretext for cracking down further on Venezuelan citizens. During an inauguration ceremony for Delcy Rodriguez, 14 journalists trying to cover the event were detained without charges, including one affiliated with CNN who was later deported. In the Caribbean city of Barcelona, police even arrested and held for several days 15 minors playing a game associated with the upcoming season of Carnival, accusing the young people of celebrating Maduro’s capture, inciting hate, and treason.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Venezuelans remain detained, imprisoned on exaggerated charges of terrorism, treason, coup plots, and inciting hate despite never facing trial, including prominent human rights advocates like Javier Tarazona and democratic opposition members like Jésus Armas. The United Nations has condemned Venezuela’s prison system for deplorable conditions, systematic torture, and culpability for crimes against humanity.
Human rights groups had also long cautioned that their own tally of Venezuelan political prisoners reflects an undercount because family members of the detained often fear that denouncing an arbitrary detention could lead to harsher treatment for their loved ones or other reprisals. Indeed, within the past week as hopes have begun to overtake those fears, more than 300 families have approached Foro Penal asking the organization to review previously unreported cases.
The Venezuelan government appears to remain defiant about releasing political prisoners. Jorge Rodríguez has even singled out the dedicated efforts of internationally recognized Venezuelan human rights organizations that have painstakingly collected and independently verified evidence of arbitrary detentions during the past two decades. On Jan. 13 in comments inside the National Assembly, he accused Foro Penal of paying families to file false accusations in an attempt to smear their reputation.
Progress has been made in the confirmed release of several U.S. citizens. The Maduro regime repeatedly engaged in hostage diplomacy by arbitrarily detaining U.S. citizens and permanent residents, as well as other foreigners, in attempts to extract concessions via bilateral negotiations with countries that criticized his regime. But as long as Venezuela’s interim leadership continues to aggressively detain individuals under arbitrary charges such as alleged spying, terrorism, and plotting against the government, all foreign citizens in Venezuela will remain at risk.
The United States has distinguished itself as a beacon for freedom by working to secure the release of political prisoners and foreign citizens arbitrarily detained by dictatorships around the world. To demonstrate that the United States is committed to seeing Venezuela transition back to democracy, U.S. leadership should make clear to Venezuela’s de facto authorities that the release of all Venezuelans and foreign citizens imprisoned without charges for political reasons is a top U.S. priority.
This outcome is measurable and should be closely monitored for full compliance. The State Department should turn to independent Venezuelan human rights and nongovernmental organizations that have already accomplished the painstaking research of documenting arbitrary detentions to establish a comprehensive list of Venezuelan political prisoners.
Seeing all of Venezuela’s political prisoners restored to freedom will set the country on the path towards a more enduring democratic transition and restore hope and freedom to the Venezuelan people.
