The announcement contradicts claims by local rights groups that no more than 70 prisoners have been released in recent days.
Published on January 14, 2026
Venezuela’s top lawmaker says more than 400 people have been released from prison, contradicting claims by rights groups that only 60 to 70 prisoners have been freed in recent days, amid ongoing calls for the release of those imprisoned for political reasons.
Jorge Rodriguez, president of the National Assembly, made the announcement Tuesday during a parliamentary session.
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“The decision to release certain prisoners, not political prisoners, but politicians who had broken the law and violated the Constitution, people who called for invasion, was granted,” Rodriguez told parliament.
He said more than 400 prisoners had been released, but did not provide a specific timetable.
Rodriguez and U.S. President Donald Trump said a large number of prisoners would be released as a gesture of peace following the Jan. 3 kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces.
The release of political prisoners in Venezuela has been a long-standing call from rights groups, international bodies and opposition figures.
The Venezuelan government has always denied detaining people for political reasons and said it had already released most of the 2,000 people detained after protests against the disputed 2024 presidential election.
Human rights groups estimate there are between 800 and 1,200 political prisoners in Venezuela and have said the number of prisoners released since last week is between 60 and 70, and have denounced the slow pace and lack of information surrounding the releases.
Bloomberg News reported that at least one US citizen was released from prison on Tuesday.
Venezuela’s Prison Services Ministry said at least 116 prisoners were released Monday.
The United States controls Venezuela’s oil resources
Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado has been a leading voice demanding the release of prisoners, some of whom are her close allies.
She is expected to meet with Trump on Thursday in Washington, DC. The same day, Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez plans to send an envoy to the US capital to meet with senior officials, Bloomberg News reported.
Meanwhile, the United States continues to take control of oil shipments to and from Venezuela following Maduro’s kidnapping.
The U.S. government has requested arrest warrants to seize dozens of additional tankers linked to the Venezuelan oil trade, according to a Reuters report.
The US military and Coast Guard have already seized five ships in international waters in recent weeks that were carrying Venezuelan oil or had done so in the past.
Trump imposed a naval blockade on Venezuela to prevent U.S.-sanctioned tankers from shipping Venezuelan oil in December, a move that virtually crippled the country’s oil exports.
Shipments have now resumed under US supervision and, as the Trump administration says, it plans to control Venezuela’s oil resources indefinitely.
