The Venezuelan regime released a handful of American prisoners on Tuesday, a step U.S. officials described as a positive move by the allies of the deposed authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro.
A vigil was held in Caracas on Tuesday to demand freedom for political prisoners in Venezuela.
U.S. officials released few details about the American prisoners. Maduro, whom the U.S. ousted in a midnight incursion on the capital, Caracas, this month, has long used U.S. citizens as bargaining chips, whether innocent or guilty of the crimes, American officials have said in the past.
“We welcome the release of detained Americans in Venezuela,” a State Department spokesperson said. “This is an important step in the right direction by the interim authorities.”
The release is part of a trickle of political prisoners being freed by the regime as a gesture of goodwill to the U.S., where President Trump has said he is now in control of Venezuela following Maduro’s capture. Many of them were held in an intelligence-service prison known as the Helicoide, where hundreds of political detainees are still languishing.
U.S. officials didn’t disclose the identities of the Americans, what crimes they were charged with, or where they were being held. Venezuelan authorities didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The release of the Americans was reported earlier by Bloomberg and CNN.
Trump has praised the release of political prisoners. In a social-media post Saturday, he said, “Venezuela has started the process, in a BIG WAY, of releasing their political prisoners. Thank you! I hope those prisoners will remember how lucky they got that the USA came along and did what had to be done. I HOPE THEY NEVER FORGET! If they do, it will not be good for them.”
A United Nations fact-finding mission in Venezuela said this week that the release of prisoners was going far too slowly. Of about 800 being held, about 50 had been released as of Monday, the mission said.
“This falls far short of Venezuela’s international human rights obligations,” the mission said, adding that Maduro employed “arbitrary detention as a tool of repression.”
Shortly after Trump returned to the White House last year, six Americans were released from detention in Venezuela after an American official made a rare visit to the country. In May, Venezuela released an imprisoned U.S. Air Force veteran in hopes of improving relations with the U.S.
Not long after that, the U.S. military began a large buildup in the Caribbean Sea, striking alleged drug boats purportedly tied to Maduro, blocking Venezuelan oil exports and eventually launching the operation that seized him.
