Venezuela says it is releasing an 'important number' of political prisoners

( NBC )

Venezuela has begun releasing political prisoners, a move that could be the first sign the new government is bending to pressure from the United States on the issue.

The head of Venezuela's National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, announced Thursday that the government was freeing an "important number" of prisoners as part of a “unilateral gesture to maintain the peace.”

Venezuela holds 800 to 900 political prisoners, according to rights groups, most of them swept up under the leadership of Nicolás Maduro, whom U.S. forces captured Saturday.

Rodríguez did not offer details as to who would be released or by when.

Diego Casanova, who works on behalf of the families of political prisoners, complained that no official list of those who had been chosen to be freed had been released.

But news and images trickled out.

In a video shared by a Venezuelan journalist, an emotional Enrique Márquez, a prominent opposition politician, can be seen being hugged on a street. A short ways behind him fellow politician Biagio Pilieri, an opposition party leader and lawmaker who had been critical of the government, is also warmly embraced.

The Spanish government confirmed that at least some detainees had been let go. Five Spaniards — one of them a dual national — were preparing to travel to Spain, it said in a statement on X.

Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, told Spanish broadcaster RNE the five include Rocío San Miguel — a Venezuela-Spanish human rights attorney who was detained in February 2024 at an airport near Caracas. The others are Andrés Martínez, José María Basoa, Miguel Moreno and Ernesto Gorbe.

Basoa and Martinez were arrested in 2024, accused of being terrorists and undercover agents for Spain, which Spanish authorities denied, according to Spanish newspaper El País. The mens’ families claimed they had entered Venezuela as tourists.

Gorbe, who was living in Venezuela, was arrested in 2024, accused of being in the country illegally because his visa expired, and Moreno was arrested in June while on a treasure hunting vessel exploring waters claimed by Venezuela, El País reported.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement about the prisoners’ release: “This is one example of how the President is using maximum leverage to do right by the American and Venezuelan people.”

The South American country has imprisoned several Americans over the years. It released six detained Americans in January 2025 after President Donald Trump's envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, held talks with Maduro in Caracas.

Families of those imprisoned and opposition groups have been calling for such a move and putting pressure on the American government for their release.

María Constanza Cipriani, wife of Perkins Rocha, an imprisoned personal adviser to opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, said she did not know whether her husband was to be released and felt overwhelming anxiety.

"My heart is in my mouth," she told NBC News. "I am very tough, but this situation makes my hair stand on end."

Rocha was detained in August 2024 after Maduro won elections that were widely believed to be illegitimate. He was held incommunicado in the infamous Helicoide prison in Caracas for a year, during which Cipriani did not see or speak with him. He has not been allowed a private legal defense.

During remarks Tuesday, Trump seemed to refer to the Helicoide prison when he said Venezuelans “have a torture chamber in the middle of Caracas that they’re closing up.”

"My heart began to fill with hope," Cipriani said of hearing about Trump's remarks.

"I am waiting to receive the call, hoping that Perkins is on the list of those who will be released," she added. "And if he's not, I know it will happen soon anyway because his only sin has been fighting for the truth."