Latest information on politics in Venezuela and Spain.
Venezuela’s promise last week to release a “significant number” of political prisoners has fallen far later than most expected, as hundreds of families continue to wait agonizingly for the release of their loved ones.
As of Monday night, the government had released only 56 of the more than 800 people said to have been arbitrarily detained for political reasons, according to human rights group Penal Forum.
This number is less than half of the 116 people reported by Venezuelan authorities, who have not released the identities of those released or from which detention centers they were released.
Venezuela on Thursday began releasing high-profile prisoners, including opposition politicians, at the request of the United States. The paper said the move was a gesture “seeking peace” with Washington, days after the US military captured President Nicolas Maduro in a bold military operation.
On Tuesday, officials told CNN that Venezuela had released at least four Americans imprisoned in the country. This is the first confirmed release of a detainee from the United States since the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro. CNN previously reported that at least five Americans have been detained in Venezuela in recent months.
CNN has reached out to the U.S. State Department and the Venezuelan government for additional comment.
The Venezuelan government said the prisoners’ release was part of a review of the case that President Maduro began “voluntarily” and is currently continuing under the authority of acting president Delcy Rodríguez.
The United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela said on Monday it welcomed the release of the information, but said the numbers fell “far short” of Venezuela’s human rights obligations. The statement called for the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained and highlighted the trauma that their families are also experiencing.
“Relatives must be provided with clear and timely information about the fate, whereabouts and legal status of their loved ones, and guaranteed visits and regular visits,” the mission said.
Families of Venezuelan detainees called on the country’s authorities to release political prisoners “without pettiness or sectarianism” at a press conference with human rights groups on Tuesday.
“We demand the complete and unconditional release of all political prisoners, not just a certain number,” said Aurora de Superlano, wife of opposition figure Freddy Superlano, one of hundreds of detainees who have not yet been released.
“We are applying the necessary pressure and carrying out the necessary actions within our national capacity. All our efforts are aimed at contributing to the freedom of all political prisoners in our country,” he told reporters in Caracas.
For days, families of prisoners have camped outside the detention center, desperately waiting for news of their loved ones.
Some lit candles, held protest signs and knelt to pray for their relatives.
Many are calling on the government to provide evidence that those detained are still alive by allowing video calls or showing recent photos.
Everis Cano, the detainee’s mother, called on Venezuela’s legislative leader and acting president to empathize with the families.
“Héctor Rodríguez and Delcy Rodríguez, put your hands on your hearts. What would you do if they were your family? Because they just took President Nicolás Maduro away and you wanted proof that he was alive. And if you want the president’s human rights to be respected, what about Venezuelans? What about us?”
Calls for proof of life grew this weekend after authorities confirmed the death of at least one prisoner.
Prosecutors announced on Sunday that an active-duty National Police officer who had been imprisoned since December 11 died on January 10. The prosecutor’s office said authorities determined that Edilson Jose Torres Fernandez, 52, who was in custody, had a “sudden health crisis.”
“He was immediately transported to the medical center, where he arrived with vital signs and received timely treatment. However, he suffered a stroke and then cardiac arrest, which caused his death,” the prosecutor said.
Torres was detained for sharing messages “critical of the regime,” according to the Committee for Free Relatives of Political Prisoners.
The Peace Research Institute criticized the government, saying Torres could have been released and received treatment. “He’s probably still alive today,” he said on social media.
Petra Vella, a relative of one of the detainees, called on the government to be more transparent.
“If we can’t issue this certificate of survival, and that’s the only thing we’re asking for, please give us the opportunity to access the facility and see our relatives,” she said.
Adding to family frustrations, authorities have not released the identities of those released, and civil society groups are attempting to confirm the number and names of those involved.
In response to CNN’s investigation, the prosecutor’s office said that “at this time” there is no official list of people released from prison.
Amnesty International has also expressed concern about the lack of information.
“Many of these people are victims of enforced disappearances. We have no news about them, but we hope that these releases will shed light on the conditions they have been in for months in some cases,” Erika Guevara Rosas, the group’s global director of research, advocacy and policy, told CNN.
Among the first to be released last week were former presidential candidate Enrique Marquez and businessman and former Venezuelan lawmaker Biajo Pillieri, who had been held at the notorious El Helicoid detention center. El Helicoid Detention Center is a large, unfinished shopping mall in Caracas that currently serves as a prison and secret police headquarters.
But human rights groups claim many prominent human rights defenders remain locked up in prison or have disappeared entirely as part of Venezuela’s enforced disappearance campaign.
Opposition groups have accused the government of making a limited public release of what they say is an “unacceptable mockery” of the Venezuelan people.
Opposition leader Maria Colina Machado met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Monday, urging him to intervene and work together to secure the release of hundreds of political prisoners still in detention.
Leo called for the protection of civil and human rights in Venezuela and said he was closely monitoring developments in Latin American countries with “deep concern.”
Machado is scheduled to meet with US President Donald Trump on Thursday, a senior White House official told CNN.
Allegations of abuse and conditional release
Alfredo Romero of the Penal Forum warned that the release was conditional, as it did not end the legal process and could carry the risk of rearrest.
The family of Venezuelan-Spanish activist Rocío San Miguel appeared to support this claim, saying that the former political prisoner had not been completely released, but was under “precautionary measures as an alternative to imprisonment, recognized within the framework of the legal process.” It added: “She is still prohibited from speaking in public.”
Venezuela’s prisons said on Monday that those released were linked to “acts related to the subversion of the constitutional order and threats to the stability of the state,” but did not mention any demands or conditions allegedly given to those released. CNN has contacted the Venezuelan government regarding this matter.
Despite the enforced silence, some returning foreign former detainees have spoken out about what life was like in prison.
“I was afraid they would kill me,” said Italian businessman Mario Brullo, 52, who was arrested in late 2024 and arrived in Rome on Tuesday.
“My family in Italy thought I was dead. It was a real kidnapping,” he said, according to the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
“I told the guards that dogs also have daily needs. We are less than dogs. They took us into the yard for an hour a day, five days a week. They made us sleep on the ground with cockroaches.” In a statement quoted by La Stampa, he described the prison as “worse than Alcatraz.”
The businessman said the abuse he suffered was not physical, but psychological, with his family cutting off contact with him for almost a year.
CNN has reached out to the Venezuelan government regarding the abuse allegations.
Alberto Tolentini, a humanitarian worker who was also arrested in November 2024, said upon arriving in Italy that he was happy, but that happiness “comes at a very high price,” according to a statement read out by his lawyer. “These endless 423 days of suffering will never go away. From now on, we must live days of peace and awareness to erase the bad memories and overcome the suffering of the last 14 months,” he said.
“Our thoughts are with all those still detained and their families, and we hope they will soon experience the joy of release,” he added.
