Caracas (AFP) – Venezuela on Thursday began releasing a “large number” of political prisoners, including several foreigners, in an apparent concession to the United States after its ouster of ruler Nicolas Maduro. The releases are the first since Maduro’s former deputy Delcy Rodriguez took over, with the backing of President Donald Trump, who says he is content to let her govern as long as she gives Washington access to oil.
Former Venezuelan opposition candidate Enrique Marquez — who opposed Nicolas Maduro in the contested 2024 presidential election — was among those released Thursday. “It’s all over now,” Marquez said in a video taken by a local journalist of him and his wife, accompanied by another released opposition member Biagio Pilieri. The White House credited Trump with securing the prisoners’ freedom. “This is one example of how the president is using maximum leverage to do right by the American and Venezuelan people,” Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to AFP.
Trump broadened his threat to drug traffickers in a Fox News interview that aired Thursday night, saying he would target cartels in land strikes. The US military has already destroyed at least 31 vessels in maritime attacks in the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean, killing at least 107 people. “We are going to start now hitting land with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico,” Trump told broadcaster Sean Hannity.
Interim leader Rodriguez’s brother, parliament speaker Jorge Rodriguez, said “a large number of Venezuelan and foreign nationals” were being immediately freed for the sake of “peaceful coexistence.” He did not say which prisoners would be released, nor how many or from where. Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado hailed the announcement, saying in an audio message on social media: “Injustice will not last forever and…truth, although it be wounded, ends up finding its way.” Trump told Fox he plans to meet with the Nobel Peace Prize winner “next week.”
Renowned Spanish-Venezuelan activist Rocio San Miguel was among five Spanish citizens freed, according to Spain’s foreign ministry. She was imprisoned since February 2024 over a purported plot to assassinate Maduro, which she denied. Security was stepped up Thursday afternoon outside the notorious El Helicoide detention center in Caracas, used by the intelligence services to jail political and other prisoners. Families gathered outside on Thursday for news of their loved ones. “I’m nervous. Please God let it be real,” the mother of a detained activist from Machado’s party told AFP.
On Tuesday, Trump had told Republican lawmakers that Rodriguez’s administration was closing a “torture chamber” in Caracas but gave no further details. His remarks had sparked speculation that Venezuelan authorities had agreed to close El Helicoide. Venezuelan rights NGO Foro Penal estimates over 800 political prisoners are in the country’s jails.
Maduro was seized in a special forces raid accompanied by airstrikes, operations that left 100 people dead, according to Caracas. US forces took Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores to New York to face trial on drugs charges. Trump said the US would “run” the Caribbean country for a transitional period and tap into its oil reserves for years.
Delcy Rodriguez insisted Thursday her country was “not subordinate or subjugated.” “Nobody surrendered. There was fighting for the homeland” when the US forces attacked, she said during a ceremony for the Venezuelans killed. Thousands of Maduro’s supporters waving red flags rallied in Caracas on Thursday, demanding his release. Meanwhile, the US Senate on Thursday took a major step toward passing a resolution to rein in military actions against Venezuela, but it is expected to face resistance in the Republican-dominated House.
Oil has emerged as the key to US control over Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven reserves. Trump announced a plan earlier this week for the United States to sell between 30 million and 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude, with Caracas then using the money to buy US-made products. Delcy Rodriguez defended the planned oil sales to Washington, saying on Wednesday they were not “unusual.”
On the streets of Caracas, opinions were mixed. “I feel we’ll have more opportunities if the oil is in the hands of the United States than in the hands of the government,” said Jose Antonio Blanco, 26. Trump is scheduled to meet oil executives on Friday. Trump has warned Rodriguez she will pay “a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro” if she does not comply with his agenda. “Her power comes from Washington,” Venezuela’s former information minister Andres Izarra told AFP in an email. “If Trump decides she’s no longer useful, she’ll go like Maduro.”
© 2024 AFP
