Venezuela said on Thursday it's releasing a "significant number" of citizens and foreign nationals from its prisons, in a decision described as a gesture to "seek peace" less than a week after former President Nicolas Maduro was captured by U.S. forces to face federal drug-trafficking charges in New York.
Jorge Rodriguez, brother of acting President Delcy Rodriguez and head of the National Assembly, did not specify who they would be releasing or how many people would be released. But he said the release of prisoners "is happening right now."
The Spanish government announced on Thursday the release of five Spanish citizens in Caracas. While the embassy is coordinating their return to Spain, officials have not yet specified a departure date.
The Penal Forum, a human rights organization in Venezuela, said that as of Dec. 29, 2025, there were 863 people detained in Venezuela "for political reasons."
In a post on the social platform X, director of the forum, Alfredo Romero, said the liberations were "good news" in a country that's been wracked by political turmoil in recent days.
"We will be verifying each release," Romero wrote. "We already know of some people on their way to freedom, including foreigners."
"Consider this a gesture by the Bolivarian government, which is broadly intended to seek peace," Rodriguez said in an announcement publicized over TV.
Ronal Rodriguez, a researcher at the Venezuelan Observatory at the University of Rosario in Bogota, said the government periodically releases prisoners at politically strategic moments.
Little movement was immediately seen outside one of Venezuela's most notable prisons, where a number of the detainees are held.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration sought to assert its control over Venezuelan oil, seizing a pair of sanctioned tankers transporting petroleum and announcing plans to relax some sanctions so the U.S. can oversee the sale of Venezuela's petroleum worldwide.
Both moves reflect the administration's determination to make good on its effort to control the next steps in Venezuela through its vast oil resources after U.S. President Donald Trump pledged after the capture of Maduro that the U.S. will "run" the country.
