Several Americans detained in Venezuela have been released, according to the U.S. State Department and multiple news reports, as Venezuela’s interim authorities also move forward with a broader prisoner-release process. The announcements come amid sharply different public counts of how many prisoners have been freed overall, with Venezuelan officials citing numbers in the hundreds while rights groups report far fewer verified releases.
U.S. officials did not publicly give an exact number of Americans released. Different outlets, citing people familiar with the matter, described different tallies, including at least four Americans released on Tuesday and one released on Monday, and at least three Americans freed as of Tuesday evening.
What the US said about the releases
The State Department said it welcomed the release of detained Americans in Venezuela and called it an important step in the right direction by the interim authorities. CNN reported that the interim Venezuelan government freed at least four Americans who had been imprisoned in the country, citing a source familiar with the matter. The CNN report also included a State Department spokesperson statement that the U.S. appreciated the releases and viewed them as a move in the right direction.
ABC News reported that the State Department did not provide the exact number of Americans released. An individual familiar with non-public details told ABC that four Americans were released together on Tuesday and that one American was released quietly on Monday. The New York Times reported that at least three Americans had been released by Tuesday evening, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Venezuela’s wider prisoner-release effort
The American releases were reported alongside an unfolding effort by Venezuela’s interim authorities to free additional detainees. Venezuela’s Ministry of Penitentiary Services said 116 inmates had been freed “in the past few hours,” according to reporting published by The Straits Times and NBC News. Rights group Foro Penal said earlier that day that releases had reached only 41 people, including 24 freed overnight, according to The Straits Times and NBC News.
Venezuela’s National Assembly head Jorge Rodríguez had said a “significant number” of Venezuelans and foreigners imprisoned in the country would be released, ABC News reported. ABC also reported that Jorge Rodríguez described the planned releases as a gesture to “seek peace” following the military operation that deposed Nicolás Maduro. CNN described Delcy Rodríguez as leading the interim Venezuelan government as it began freeing dozens of political prisoners.
Dispute over the numbers
Venezuelan officials and rights groups offered different public counts for how many prisoners have been freed. U.S. News, citing Reuters, reported that Jorge Rodríguez said more than 400 people had been released from prison as part of a process presented as a peace initiative. In the same report, human rights organizations said the number of releases was between 60 and 70, and they criticized the slow pace and limited information about who was freed.
ABC News reported that as of Tuesday evening, Foro Penal had confirmed 56 prisoners it said were detained for political reasons had been freed, and the group criticized a lack of government transparency. ABC also reported that Venezuela’s government rejected Foro Penal’s count and instead reported a much higher figure of 400 on Tuesday afternoon. ABC said the government did not provide evidence, a timeframe, or names, making it hard to assess who was released and why they had been jailed.
Context: past swaps and international pressure
ABC News described prisoner releases as one of the rare points of connection between Washington and Caracas, noting past swaps involving detained citizens. ABC reported that in July, Venezuela released 10 jailed U.S. citizens and permanent residents in exchange for getting back “scores of migrants” deported by the United States to El Salvador under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. CNN also reported that Venezuela under Maduro had a history of detaining Americans to use as political leverage in negotiations with the U.S. government.
The New York Times reported that the latest releases are the first involving U.S. citizens since U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro and took him to the United States to face federal charges tied to the drug trade, and that he pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court. The Straits Times similarly reported that the prisoner releases came after a week of political turmoil following Maduro’s capture by the United States and his appearance in a New York court on drug trafficking charges. The U.S. News report said Venezuela’s government maintains it does not hold political prisoners and claims detainees have been charged with legitimate crimes.
Machado’s Vatican meeting
In parallel with the release debate, PBS reported that Pope Leo XIV met privately at the Vatican with Venezuelan opposition figure and Nobel Peace Prize recipient María Corina Machado. PBS said Machado asked the pope to help press for the release of many political detainees in Venezuela, and the meeting later appeared in the Vatican’s daily bulletin without details. PBS also reported that Pope Leo has voiced deep concern about Venezuela and has called for the protection of human and civil rights in the country.
