Venezuela has released Former opposition candidate Enrique Marquez and prominent Venezuelan-Spanish rights activist Rocío San Miguel and four other Spanish citizens, local rights group Foro Penal confirmed on Thursday (9 January).
Marquez, 62, had supported opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez in the 2024 presidential elections.
He was freed alongside Biagio Pilieri, an opposition party leader and lawmaker who had publicly criticised the government, marking another step in a series of recent prisoner releases in the country.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares confirmed San Miguel’s release, along with Andrés Martínez, José María Basoa, Ernesto Gorbe and Miguel Moreno, calling the move a “positive step”.
Spain said the releases followed assurances from Caracas that foreign and domestic detainees would be freed.
This development comes after Venezuela’s top lawmaker Jorge Rodríguez statement that a significant number of both foreign and Venezuelan prisoners would be released within hours.
More than 800 political detainees have reportedly been held in Venezuela as part of a long‑running crackdown on dissent, and recent releases include prominent opposition figures and activists, although the total freed so far remains unclear.
Human rights group Foro Penal estimates there were about 863 people detained in Venezuela for political reasons as of late December 2025, many arrested after the disputed 2024 election and charged with broadly defined offences.
The releases come amid a week of political turmoil in Caracas following the U.S. ouster of President Nicolás Maduro, his arraignment in New York on narcoterrorism charges and the swearing-in of interim President Delcy Rodríguez.
A U.S. announcement that it would refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude held under sanctions followed shortly after.
Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado, whose close allies remain detained, has repeatedly demanded the release of political prisoners.
The government denies allegations that detentions are used to suppress dissent.
Rights group Foro Penal estimates that more than 800 political prisoners remain in Venezuela, including at least 86 foreign nationals from the United States, Spain and other countries.
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