The interim Venezuelan government has freed at least four Americans who were imprisoned in Venezuela, a source familiar with the matter told CNN on Tuesday.
It marks the first known release of American detainees since the ouster of Nicolás Maduro and comes as the interim Venezuelan government, led by Delcy Rodríguez, has begun freeing dozens of political prisoners.
“We welcome the release of detained Americans in Venezuela,” a State Department spokesperson said Tuesday. “This is an important step in the right direction by the interim authorities.”
A State Department team traveled to Venezuela to help with the release, according to a senior State Department official.
CNN previously reported that at least five Americans had been detained in Venezuela in recent months. The Maduro government had a long history of detaining Americans to be used for political leverage with the US government.
CNN has reached out to the US State Department for comment. The release of the Americans was first reported by Bloomberg.
CNN has reached out to the Venezuelan government for additional comment.
The Trump administration has called for the release of all political prisoners in Venezuela. It is among a number of demands of the interim government made by the administration, which says it has the economic and military leverage to force Rodríguez and her government to cooperate.
Last week, Venezuela began releasing a number of high-profile prisoners, including opposition politicians, in what its government called a gesture “to seek peace.” The pace of the releases has progressed far slower than many had hoped, with hundreds of families continuing to wait in agony for their loved ones to be freed.
Of the more than 800 people considered arbitrarily detained for political reasons, the government had released only 56 individuals as of Monday evening, according to human rights organization Penal Forum.
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump said Venezuela had “started the process, in a BIG WAY, of releasing their political prisoners.”
“Thank you! I hope those prisoners will remember how lucky they got that the USA came along and did what had to be done,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Michael Rios and Gonzalo Zegarra contributed to this report.
