CARACAS, Jan 17: Dozens of journalists, government critics and activists have been freed in Venezuela since the US military deposed leader Nicolas Maduro this month.
Rights NGO Foro Penal said it counted 90 political prisoner releases since January 8, while interim president Delcy Rodriguez reported that 406 people have been freed since December.
Still, despite pressure from Washington, several prominent opposition figures remain behind bars.
Here are four key names to watch:
- Juan Pablo Guanipa -
As a politician, 61-year-old Guanipa is an important ally of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
He was arrested in May 2025 on accusations of conspiring with the US government to overthrow Maduro.
His son Ramon Guanipa said he receives dozens of messages and calls every day following the government's announcement of impending prisoner releases.
"Until I see a photo of my dad free, I won't believe it," the younger Guanipa told AFP.
"We know it's a slow process...but we know it will end well. We have hope and we're staying strong."
Guanipa's last public appearance was on January 9, 2025, when he accompanied Machado at a rally protesting Maduro's inauguration for a third consecutive term following a disputed election.
He was charged with terrorism, money laundering and incitement to violence and hatred.
Guanipa was a member and vice-president of the opposition-controlled Parliament elected in 2015 but systematically stripped of its powers by institutions loyal to Maduro.
He was elected governor of the oil-producing state of Zulia in 2017, but did not take office because he refused to be sworn in before a Constituent Assembly created by the government whose legitimacy he did not recognize.
- Rafael Tudares -
The son-in-law of opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia was arrested in January 2025 after being intercepted by hooded men while on his way to school with his two children in what his family has called a "forced disappearance."
He was charged with terrorism and eventually sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Gonzalez Urrutia, in exile in Spain, is widely considered the rightful winner of Venezuela's 2024 presidential election.
He has described Tudares's arrest and conviction as political retaliation.
His wife, Mariana Gonzalez de Tudares, said on X Friday she had had her "first contact and conversation" with her husband behind bars since his arrest. It lasted 25 minutes.
"I found Rafael quite affected physically and emotionally," she said.
"That moment was a relief and, at the same time, a painful reminder: no one who is unjustly imprisoned and forcibly disappeared can be well."
- Javier Tarazona -
Tarazona, director of the rights NGO Fundaredes, has been imprisoned since July 2021 on charges of "terrorism," "treason" and "incitement to hatred."
"We're waiting, always praying and trusting in God that Javier will be released soon," his brother Rafael Tarazona told AFP on Friday.
Javier Tarazona is known for his role in reporting clashes between military forces and guerrilla groups along the porous 2,000-kilometer (1,240-mile) Colombia-Venezuela border.
Fundaredes accused the Maduro government of harboring Colombian guerrilla leaders in Venezuela.
- Freddy Superlano -
A close ally of Machado, Superlano was jailed after challenging Maduro's claim to election victory in 2024.
He is being held in a prison east of Caracas since being moved from the feared El Helicoide center, a torture site, according to rights advocates.
"There's no need to prolong this distress any further," his wife Aurora Silva told AFP, decrying the long wait.
"They have prolonged the anguish of the families," she lamented.
A former lawmaker, Superlano was disqualified from holding political office after winning the governorship of Barinas -- a former stronghold of the Chavismo movement named after Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez -- in 2021.
- The freed -
Among those released so far are Spanish-Venezuelan rights activist Rocio San Miguel, arrested in 2024 over her purported role in an alleged plot to assassinate Maduro.
Also free is Enrique Marquez, a former opposition presidential candidate accused of involvement in an alleged coup plot that envisioned swearing in Gonzalez Urrutia as president at a Venezuelan embassy abroad.
The Venezuelan press union says 19 of its members have also been released.
Related story
Maduro shows military might in Independence Day celebration
