Venezuela released dozens of prisoners in a goodwill effort that the government announced last week, but families of detainees outside prisons in Caracas said the releases have come only in “a trickle,” leaving many loved ones waiting with limited information.
On Monday, Yaxzodara Lozada said she woke up freezing after sleeping on a sidewalk outside a prison, hoping her husband—an officer detained on Nov. 17—would be among those freed. She said she had not seen him since his arrest and that no reason was ever given for detaining him.
Families began gathering outside prisons Thursday after the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez pledged to free a significant number of prisoners in what it described as a gesture to “seek peace.” The government, however, did not identify which prisoners were being considered or provide a number of releases, prompting rights groups to search for clues and families to keep waiting anxiously.
As of Monday afternoon, Foro Penal, an advocacy group, said it had verified the release of 49 prisoners. The group said among those confirmed freed were people holding Italian, Spanish, Argentine, Israeli and Colombian citizenship.
The U.N.-backed fact-finding mission on Venezuela welcomed the releases, but said in a statement that the amount released in recent days “falls far short” of the “immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.” Human rights organizations have estimated that more than 800 people are imprisoned in Venezuela for political reasons.
Jenny Quiroz described the gap between government statements and families’ reality as her relatives waited for information. She said her husband was detained on Nov. 26 at his pharmacy in Caracas for allegedly criticizing the government in a WhatsApp group, and she said she and others have lived through what she described as 48 days without knowing whether he eats, whether he is isolated, or whether he is being tortured psychologically or physically.
Quiroz said she wanted President Donald Trump to know that the information he is receiving about prison releases “is not 100% true.” Over the weekend, Trump said the releases came at Washington’s request, and on Saturday he wrote on Truth Social that “Venezuela has started the process, in a BIG WAY, of releasing their political prisoners.”
Also Monday, the White House confirmed that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado is set to meet with Trump at the White House on Thursday. The AP report said the promised releases were tied to a broader message the Venezuelan government has tried to convey following upheaval in the country.
While commerce and daily life have resumed, including malls, schools and gyms reopening a week after a “stunning” U.S. attack led to the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro, families and rights monitors have criticized the release effort as arriving too slowly. Relatives outside prisons stretched and looked for water after spending the night on the ground, even as cars passed to drop off students at a school adjacent to one of the detention sites.
As Venezuela tried to project normalcy, the government deployed security forces to public schools around the country for the first day of classes since the holiday break. Some students walked the streets of Caracas alone and others were accompanied by adults.
During a school tour broadcast on state television, acting President Rodríguez said her country is “actively resisting” the Trump administration while adding that “we’re writing a new page in Venezuelan history.” Preschool teacher Ángela Ramírez said the Jan. 3 attack did not come up in her classroom, saying, “I didn’t address it because I didn’t notice the interest and a need in them to know what’s going on,” and that “They are happy to be back at school.”