Venezuela frees key opposition figures after US demands. Here’s the latest on the release of political prisoners
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Venezuelan opposition figure Juan Pablo Guanipa was among several high-profile political prisoners freed on Sunday, marking the latest effort from the government to satisfy US demands for the release of all those held for arbitrary or political reasons.
Guanipa, a key ally of opposition leader María Corina Machado, was freed after more than eight months in prison, his son Ramón Guanipa announced on X.
Shortly after walking out of a detention center in Caracas, Guanipa uploaded a video on social media, declaring, “Today we are being released. Much to discuss about the present and future of Venezuela, always with the truth at the forefront.”
Guanipa was arrested in May 2025, following claims by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, made without evidence, that he was involved in an alleged “terror” plot against regional and legislative elections. Guanipa has repeatedly denied the accusation.
Machado celebrated the news of the latest releases. “My dear Juan Pablo, counting down the minutes until I can hug you! You are a hero and history will always recognize it,” she wrote on social media.
Another of Machado’s allies, lawyer Perkins Rocha, was also released on Sunday, but under strict restrictions, according to his wife María Constanza.
She shared a photo of the two embracing, with a caption that read: “The embrace in our home finally happened!!!! We have already spoken with our children. Perkins Rocha has been released under very strict precautionary measures. Now we continue to advocate for full freedom.”
Human rights group Foro Penal said it had confirmed that at least 30 political prisoners were released by Venezuela on Sunday, according to the group’s director, Alfredo Romero.
Others who were freed include Luis Somaza, a member of the Popular Will party, and Jesús Armas, an activist and former opposition councilman.
Venezuela’s opposition and human rights groups have long accused the country’s authoritarian regime of using arbitrary arrests as a tool of political persecution and to suppress dissent. Foro Penal estimates that hundreds of additional political prisoners still remain behind bars.
The Chavista government has denied that it holds people for political reasons, arguing that those in prison have committed crimes.
Sunday’s releases come days after Venezuela’s National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez promised relatives of political prisoners that “all detainees” would be freed. Rodríguez, the brother of acting president Delcy Rodríguez, said the process would be completed “no later than” Friday, February 13.
His announcement comes as the acting socialist government moves forward with an amnesty bill that could lead to the mass release of prisoners – some of whom have been held since 1999, when strongman leader Hugo Chávez came to power – as a first step toward what officials describe as national reconciliation.
Although the number of people being held has decreased in recent weeks after the government announced the release of “a significant number of people” days after the US captured President Nicolás Maduro, rights groups and family members believe that the pace of releases has been slow.
So far, more than 380 people have been freed from prison, according to Foro Penal, while the government claims to have released more than 800.
