Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez released several prominent opposition figures from prison on Sunday, according to the Associated Press, including Juan Pablo Guanipa, described as a close ally of Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado. The releases followed what the AP described as lengthy politically motivated detentions and came as Rodríguez faced mounting pressure to free hundreds of people whose detentions have been linked to their political activity.
As freed prisoners left facilities, some relatives who had been waiting outside prisons joined them and chanted “We are not afraid! We are not afraid!” before marching a short distance, the AP reported. Within hours of his release, Guanipa told reporters that “I am convinced that our country has completely changed,” and said the next step was for Venezuelans “to focus on building a free and democratic country.” The AP reported that Guanipa had spent more than eight months in custody.
Foro Penal, a prisoners’ rights group based in Venezuela, confirmed the release of at least 30 people on Sunday, according to the AP. Among those freed, the AP said Machado’s political organization stated that several of its members were released, including María Oropeza, who livestreamed her arrest by military intelligence officers as they entered her home with a crowbar. The AP also said Machado’s attorney, Perkins Rocha, was among those freed.
Machado, who remains in exile after leaving Venezuela in December, posted after Sunday’s releases on X: “Let’s go for the freedom of Venezuela!” The AP said Guanipa and Oropeza, along with others who were released within hours of each other, later visited detention centers in Caracas to call for the release of all prisoners detained for political reasons. Oropeza told reporters outside Helicoide, which the AP described as a notorious prison where she was held after her August 2024 detention, that it was “bittersweet happiness” because “many are still imprisoned,” and said they walked out for “the liberation of our beloved Venezuela and for the liberation of all political prisoners.”
Guanipa’s release also revived attention on accusations that had been used to justify his detention. The AP reported that he was detained in late May and was accused by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello of participating in an alleged “terrorist group” plotting to boycott an election held that month. The AP said Guanipa’s brother Tomás rejected the accusation, saying the arrest was meant to crack down on dissent and arguing that “Thinking differently cannot be criminalized in Venezuela.”
The Sunday releases came after Rodríguez’s government began freeing prisoners days after she was sworn in as acting President following the Jan. 3 capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro by the U.S. military. The AP said Rodríguez’s government started releasing prisoners days later, and also reported that Rodríguez’s government announced Jan. 8 it would free a significant number of detainees, a central demand of the opposition and human rights groups with U.S. backing—while critics said the pace had been slow. The AP added that the National Assembly, controlled by the ruling party, began debating an amnesty bill this week that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, and that the opposition and nongovernmental organizations responded with cautious optimism alongside calls for more information about the proposal.
The AP also connected the timing to international involvement. It said Delcy Rodríguez and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk spoke by phone in late January, and Türk’s spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani, said in a statement that Türk “offered our support to help Venezuela work on a roadmap for dialogue and reconciliation in which human rights should be at the centre” and then “deployed a team” to Venezuela. With the amnesty debate underway and international attention focused on prisoner releases, rights groups and families have continued to press for a faster and more transparent process, even as at least 30 detainees were confirmed freed on Sunday.