CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez pledged Wednesday to continue freeing political prisoners and described the country as entering “a new political moment” at her first press briefing since former President Nicolás Maduro was seized by U.S. forces and flown to the United States to face federal drug-trafficking charges.

President Donald Trump said separately he had spoken with Rodríguez in what he called a “great conversation” — their first since Maduro’s capture on Jan. 3. “We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during a bill signing at the Oval Office. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

Rodríguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, faces competing pressures from the Trump administration — which has both sanctioned her for human rights violations and endorsed her as acting president — and from hard-line colleagues who control Venezuela’s security forces, as human rights organizations say more than 800 political detainees remain held.

Briefing at the palace

Addressing journalists from a red carpet at the presidential palace in Caracas, Rodríguez opened with a conciliatory tone. The process of releasing detainees — a move reportedly made at the behest of the Trump administration — “has not yet concluded,” she said, pitching “a Venezuela that opens itself to a new political moment, that allows for … political and ideological diversity.”

A Venezuelan human rights organization estimates about 800 political prisoners remain detained, including political leaders, soldiers, lawyers and members of civil society.

Foro Penal, Venezuela’s leading prisoner rights organization, had verified at least 72 prisoners freed since Rodríguez’s interim government raised hopes for a mass release. On Wednesday, Foro Penal reported the release of at least a dozen people held for political reasons, including political activist Nicmer Evans and journalist and opposition member Roland Carreño. Campaign staffers for opposition leader María Corina Machado — Julio Balza and Gabriel González — were also freed, Machado’s party announced.

Rodríguez was flanked at the briefing by her brother and National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who she said was coordinating the releases. She took no questions. The releases have drawn criticism from human rights groups for being too slow and secretive.

Rodríguez’s position carries significant constraints on both sides. Trump, who sanctioned her for human rights violations during his first term, has enlisted her to help secure U.S. control over Venezuela’s oil sales. Earlier this month, Trump threatened Rodríguez with “a situation probably worse than Maduro” to ensure her cooperation.

In endorsing Rodríguez, Trump has sidelined Machado, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition who won a Nobel Peace Prize last year for her campaign to restore the nation’s democracy. Machado is scheduled to meet with Trump on Thursday at the White House.

“The regime, on one hand, wants to send a message within Venezuela that it still has complete control and the United States isn’t dominating,” said Ronal Rodríguez, a researcher at the Venezuela Observatory at Colombia’s Universidad del Rosario. “On the other hand, internationally it’s sending a message of gradual progress with the release of political prisoners. … They’re playing a game.”

Disputed tallies

Rodríguez insisted at her briefing that Maduro had initiated the prisoner release process, saying he oversaw the freeing of 194 prisoners in December because he “was thinking precisely about opening spaces for understanding, for coexistence, for tolerance.” Without offering evidence, she claimed 406 prisoners had been released since December — a figure Foro Penal’s count of more than 800 still held appears to dispute.

She also criticized organizations that advocate on behalf of prisoners’ rights, calling “self-proclaimed nongovernmental organizations” out for having “tried to sell falsehoods about Venezuela.”

“Messages of hatred, intolerance, acts of violence will not be permitted,” she said.

Maduro has pleaded not guilty to the drug-related charges. He is being held at a federal jail in Brooklyn.