US urges Venezuela to release remaining political prisoners

The United States has urged Venezuela to release the remaining political prisoners held in the South American country, during talks between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Oliver Blanco on Monday. More than 1,000 political prisoners have been freed since US forces seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a military raid on Caracas on 3 January and took him to New York, where he faces trial on drug-trafficking and torture charges. However, the Venezuelan prisoners' rights group Foro Penal says 322 people remain in detention. At Monday's meeting, Rubio called for the release of those still held and discussed reforms aimed at laying the groundwork for free, fair, and credible elections, according to the US state department. The release of political prisoners has long been a demand of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025. Machado returned to Venezuela on 25 October after living in exile for almost a year, and one of her first meetings was with relatives of political detainees. Many of those in detention were arrested in the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election. The National Electoral Council, which is dominated by government loyalists, declared the incumbent Maduro the winner, even though copies of the voting tallies collected by the opposition and verified by independent media suggested the opposition candidate had won. The Carter Center, which sent independent observers, said the election could not be considered democratic. A UN fact-finding mission found that in the months that followed, the Venezuelan government orchestrated a harsh repression against people perceived as political opponents or who simply expressed dissent or critical views against the authorities. After US forces seized Maduro, his loyal vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez, was sworn in as interim president. While Rodríguez has the backing of the Trump administration, opposition parties within Venezuela have expressed impatience with the slow pace of reforms. In Monday's statement, the US state department stressed that it remained committed to President Donald Trump's three-phase plan for Venezuela, consisting of stabilisation, economic recovery and political reconciliation, and democratic transition. A week ago, Rubio told journalists that Venezuela's election infrastructure had to be replaced in order for fresh elections to be valid. "Not in 10 years, not in five years, not in two years; it needs to happen quickly under the timelines that we've established," he insisted. Days later, Rodríguez told Venezuelans in a televised address that there would be elections under a renewed electoral authority, though she did not give a timeline. Machado, by contrast, has been pushing for elections to be held in 2027. At one point she suggested 24 July 2027, the anniversary of the birth of independence hero Simón Bolívar, but she has since returned to calling for a vote at some point in the next year.