Venezuela releases dozens of political prisoners as election calls grow

Venezuelan authorities have released a slew of political prisoners, human rights groups say, days after the nation's interim leader met US President Donald Trump in New York.

Among those released in the early hours of Saturday morning was Wilder Vasquez, who was handed a five-year sentence in 2018 over claims he was plotting to kill former President Nicolás Maduro.

Opposition figures have renewed calls for free elections after interim President Delcy Rodriguez held talks with Trump, who captured Maduro earlier this year, at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

Her administration previously released hundreds of prisoners as part of a reconciliation effort following Maduro's seizure.

However, these releases slowed to a trickle in April after Rodriguez said the scheme was "coming to an end".

Venezuela's government has not made any statement concerning the latest releases, nor has it indicated whether they were the result of her conversation with the US president.

Gonzalo Himiob, vice-president of rights group Foro Penal, said "a significant number" of political prisoners had been released on Saturday morning from several of Venezuela's detention centres.

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Foro Penal confirmed the release of Miguel Castillo Cedeño, who it said had been arbitrarily detained since June 2019.

Also released was Frank Cabañas, who rights groups say had been held in prison for nine years after being linked to the death of a police officer. Foro Penal said he was the only suspect who remained detained, despite family members reporting that he was suffering health problems last year.

Opposition and human rights groups have said Maduro's government used the detention of political prisoners to stamp out dissent and silence critics for years.

Rodriguez has sought to frame her interim government as more permissive of political dissent while currying favour with the US. The prisoner release scheme was a key concession by her administration to the US.

However, her decision to end the scheme attracted criticism from opposition and rights groups. Foro Penal said it was stopped with less than half of the nation's political prisoners released.

Rodriguez's government continues to deny dissidents are jailed. It has cast the release of prisoners as a gesture of goodwill and reconciliation.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, a minister closely associated with Maduro's authoritarian rule, called the interim president's meeting with Trump "a great triumph of the diplomacy of peace".

But opposition voices expressed their disapproval over the meeting, viewing it as a snub of their calls – that the US has previously endorsed – for swift elections.

Pedro Mario Burelli, a former Venezuelan state oil company executive and opposition commentator, called the two world leaders "the shameless puppet and her unscrupulous and undignified puppet-master", adding: "Little has changed in Venezuela under Washington's clumsy and selective oversight."

Venezuela's last elections, held in 2024, in which Maduro was declared the winner, were widely disputed as rigged. Opposition tallies suggested their candidate, who stood after Machado was barred from running, had won by 70% of the vote.

Despite this, the Trump administration backed Rodriguez, Maduro's former vice-president, as his successor rather than opposition leader María Corina Machado after Maduro was seized and put on trial on drug charges in January.

Analysts at the time cast this decision as the US choosing short-term stability in Venezuela until elections could be held.

Rodriguez used her UN General Assembly speech on Thursday to reiterate that there "will be elections in Venezuela", without specifying when.

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