Angel Gonzalez
Special for La Jornada
La Jornada Newspaper
Friday, January 9, 2026, p. 3
Caracas. The government of Venezuela yesterday began the release of “a significant number” of prisoners, national and foreign, “for the purposes of contributing and collaborating in the effort that we must all make for national unity and peaceful coexistence,” reported the president of the National Assembly Jorge Rodríguez.
The parliamentarian, older brother of the acting president Delcy Rodríguez, noted that this gesture by the government and State institutions should be considered “with a broad intention in the search for peace to ensure that our republic continues its peaceful life and in search of prosperity.”
He thanked the former president of the Spanish government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero; to the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and to the government of Qatar for their intermediations in conversations with political factors “that abide by the Constitution.” He stressed that the announced releases are a “unilateral gesture” by the government to strengthen peace.
According to the organization Foro Penal, there were 806 prisoners considered “political” in the country, including those who participated in vandalism after the July 2024 elections, in which Nicolás Maduro was re-elected. That figure would include, according to the same source, 105 women, one teenager and 86 foreign citizens.
During the meeting that the president in charge, Delcy Rodríguez, had on Wednesday night with a commission of deputies who came to notify her of the installation of the new Parliament, the opposition deputy Stalin González gave her a folder with a list of detained people that his political group believes should be released. González reported in X that this list was provided by Foro Penal. They confirm benefit to five Spaniards
The Spanish Foreign Ministry, José Manuel Albares, confirmed that five Spanish citizens were released.
Jorge Rodríguez also reported that the High Level Commission for the Liberation of President Nicolás Maduro Moros and his wife Cilia Flores was installed.
“We are not going to rest until we achieve the release of Nicolás and Cilia; all our efforts, all our diplomatic, legal, political, human and multilateral capacities will be deployed in this cause of justice and peace,” he said at a press conference before beginning the first ordinary session of the national parliament.
