US Presses Venezuela to Free Remaining Political Detainees
Washington urged Caracas to release the 322 political prisoners still held after a wave of releases following a U.S. raid.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Venezuelan Foreign Minister Oliver Blanco on Monday and called for the immediate release of the remaining political prisoners, the State Department said.
The appeal comes after a U.S. operation on 3 January that seized President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas and transferred him to New York for trial on drug‑trafficking and torture charges. More than 1,000 political prisoners have been freed since that raid.
According to the Venezuelan prisoners’ rights group Foro Penal, 322 people are still detained. The United States highlighted that number in the Monday discussion, linking it to broader reforms aimed at “free, fair, and credible elections.”
Opposition leader María Corina Machado — a 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who returned from exile on 25 October — has long demanded the release of political detainees. One of her first meetings after returning was with relatives of those still behind bars.
Many of the current detainees were arrested in the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election, which the government‑controlled National Electoral Council declared a victory for Maduro despite opposition‑sourced tallies suggesting otherwise. The Carter Center, which sent observers, said the election “could not be considered democratic.”
A United Nations fact‑finding mission later reported that, in the months following the vote, the Venezuelan government orchestrated “a harsh repression against persons perceived as political opponents or simply because they express dissent or critical views against the authorities.”
Following the U.S. seizure of Maduro, his vice‑president Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president, a move backed by the Trump administration. Opposition parties, however, have expressed impatience with the pace of reforms.
In its statement, the State Department reaffirmed U.S. support for President Trump’s three‑phase plan: “stabilisation, economic recovery and political reconciliation, and democratic transition.” The United States remains focused on pushing Venezuela toward those milestones.
